Childhood family structure and young adult behaviors

This paper examines a wide variety of forms, and full histories, of family structure to test existing theories of family influences and identify needs for new theories. The focus is on links between childhood family structure and both completed schooling and risk of a nonmarital birth. Using a 27-year span of panel (PSID) data for U.S. children, we find that: (a) change is stressful, (b) timing during childhood is relevant, (c) adults other than parents are important, and (d) two more recently studied family structures (mother-with-grandparent(s) and mother-with-stepfather) do not fit the molds of existing theories. The findings suggest that new theories should consider allocation of resources and reasons people group into family structures. Received: 11 September 1998/Accepted: 27 March 2000     

Achievement in a Relational Context: Preferences and Influences in Female Adolescents

Friends' influence on achievement‐related choices in female adolescents was investigated using the Thematic Apperception Test (H. Murray, 1943), in the context of self‐in‐relation theory (J. V. Jordon, A. G. Kaplan, J. B. Miller, I. P. Stiver, & J. L. Surrey, 1991). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) Achievement‐related stimuli will elicit stories with more unfavorable and conflicted outcomes than will affiliation stimuli; (2) Thematic representation of achievement will be more homogeneous in more highly cohesive peer groups. A multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures yielded significant results for Hypothesis 1. Thematic analysis of stories supported Hypothesis 2, showing peer group influence on achievement strivings in female adolescents.     

Brain Electrical Activity Associated With Cognitive Processing During a Looking Version of the A‐Not‐B Task

This work was designed to investigate individual differences in brain electrical activity during a looking version of the A‐not‐B task. It was proposed that this spatial task required the cognitive skills of working memory and inhibitory control, each associated with frontal lobe function. Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded from 54 8‐month‐old infants during baseline and task. Only high performers on the looking task exhibited increases in 6‐ to 9‐Hz EEG power from baseline to task. These task‐related changes were evident at frontal and posterior scalp locations. High performers on the looking task exhibited lower EEG coherence values at right hemisphere frontal locations relative to the low performers. These lower coherence values were evident during baseline and task. All infants showed increased frontal‐parietal coherence during the spatial working memory task relative to baseline values. These data confirm previous cognitive neuroscience work associating frontal lobe function with cognitive performance levels during infancy.     

Career Techniques and Interventions: Themes From an International Conversation

The need for appropriate, timely, and increasingly comprehensive career development and education programs continues to escalate. It is interesting that despite the differences in cultures, religions, economies, political systems, and education structures, many countries face similar challenges when designing and implementing career development programs. Sharing and adapting career development interventions and techniques cross‐culturally appear to be viable strategies for implementing or enhancing programs, provided the concepts and materials are tailored to the countries' unique requirements.     

Book review

Journal of Labor Research -     

Agricultural policies and development: A socioeconomic investigation applied to Sri Lanka

This paper explores the interrelationship between agricultural policies and development by means of a dynamically recursive, computable general equilibrium model applied to Sri Lanka. The agricultural policies investigated include elimination of the food subsidy, land reform, and technical change in agriculture. The goals considered are the levels and growth rates of GNP and employment, the distribution of income, and the real income level of the lowest income group. The study provides a quantitative assessment of the association between policies and goals and identifies the key economic mechanisms in this association.     

Understanding communities of neglectful parents: child caregiving networks and child neglect

This article focuses on family social networks and the community of caregivers of neglected children. If neglect is part of family functioning, who watches over the children? Using a case study approach, this study researched 12 children and their parents. Several concepts, such as multiple caregiving and kin keepers, revealed that study children were cared for by many people. Social network mapping used in this study indicated that families were not isolated from the larger community, had various forms of negative and positive social support, were low income, and were involved in substance abuse and domestic violence. Understanding the patterns that emerge from the complex web of family, friends, social service agencies, and the larger social community in which neglected children live can result in better community building.