Adult Books

Abstract

MOTHERS AND THEIR ADULT DAUGHTERS: MIXED EMOTIONS, ENDURING BONDS, By Karen L. Fingerman, PhD Reviewed by Nancy L. Ashton, PhD     

Adult Career Transitions

This article reviews and analyzes the different perspectives on career transitions discussed in the September 1995 issue of The Career Development Quarterly. The articles in this issue share common threads in their perspectives on career stages, the relation of cognitive factors and career challenges, and the impact of gender differences on career transitions. This article also discusses career transitions during relocation and factors, such as being part of a dual career couple, that may buffer the financial burden of career transitions.     

Adult sexual resocialization

This paper reports on an exploratory study of gay husbands. The social construction of reality framework is employed in addressing a central question: how do gay husbands structure a reality that allows them to solve their contradictory statuses? A four-cell typology is presented of husbands who participate in same-sex sexual behavior by living arrangement and occupational autonomy. Discussion follows on their lifestyles. Strategies of coping, career patterns of coming out, and processes of gay identity development are detailed. Major findings include: (1) gayness and traditional heterosexual marriage are discordant; (2) gay husbands achieve a sense of increased psychological well-being as their stigmatized careers progress. Analysis of the changes in the respondents' lives indicates suggestions toward a theory of adult sexual resocialization.     

The Developmental Trajectory of Nonadjacent Dependency Learning

We investigated the developmental trajectory of nonadjacent dependency learning in an artificial language. Infants were exposed to 1 of 2 artificial languages with utterances of the form [aXc or bXd] (Grammar 1) or [aXd or bXc] (Grammar 2). In both languages, the grammaticality of an utterance depended on the relation between the 1 st and 3rd elements, whereas the intervening element varied freely. High variability of the middle element is known to contribute to perception of nonadjacent dependencies (Góomez, 2002), but the developmental trajectory of such learning is unknown. Experiment 1 replicated the study of Gómez with a younger age group and a more subtle variability manipulation. Twelve‐month‐olds failed to track nonadjacent dependencies under conditions tested here (Experiments 2a and 2b), but by 15 months, infants are beginning to track this structure (Experiment 3). Such learning has implications for understanding how infants might begin to acquire similar structure in natural language.     

Listening to Older Adult Parents of Adult Children With Mental Illness

This article uses qualitative research and narrative analysis to examine the experience of women age 55 and older who are parents caring for adult children with mental illness. Knowledge about the conflicts of older parents with dependent children is underdeveloped. In this study, analysis of women's stories about parenting in later life reveal that the women have two sets of feelings: wanting to be free from the responsibility of caregiving and feeling responsible to continue the support and protection of their adult vulnerable children. The women's conflicts are palpable and are found in the ideational themes of the narratives, as well as the structure of how the narratives are spoken. The discussion highlights the relevance of the theory of ambivalence for clinical practice when working with older women who are caregivers for their adult dependent children.     

Parenthood and Adult Development

No abstract available for this article.     

Adult Children of Divorce

Female and male adult children of divorce (ACDs) provided retrospective ratings of their relationships with their moth- ers and fathers prior to and after parental separation, and also eva- luated their current relationships with each parent. Pre-, post-separa- tion and current relationships with mothers were more positively evaluated than those with fathers. Post-separation ratings of relation- ships with each parent were lower than those obtained on pre-separa- tion scales, with some recovery evidenced on current relationship scales. The critical importance of parental cooperation, particularly for ACDs' relationships with their fathers, was especially indicated by the present findings. A positive relationship with one parent was also found to have contributed in a negative fashion to ACDs' posi- tive evaluations of their relationshiv with their other oarent follow- ing separation. Research utilizing 'a longitudinal apl;roach is sug- gested in order to further examine the differential qualities of ACDs' ongoing relationships with each of their parents.     

Becoming Adult in America

Sociological Forum -     

Adult sibling relationship questionnaire

This paper presents testing results, as well as the German translation of the “Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire” (“ASRQ”), a self-report measure that can be used to raise information on adult sibling relationships. The “ASRQ” consists of 81 items spread over 14 scales. The questionnaire assesses qualitative features of sibling relationships in young adulthood and beyond. The items on the 14 scales are combined to form 3 higher-order factors: “Warmth”, “Conflict” and “Rivalry”. Results of a sample of adults (N=388) confirms that the German version of the “ASRQ” can be very well used as an objective and reliable self-report measure. The analysis of psychometric data confirms early research results on the one hand and point to the necessity of additional research on sibling relations in adulthood on the other hand.     

Service Patterns of Adult Survivors of Childhood Versus Adult Sexual Assault/Abuse

This analysis compared the characteristics and service patterns of adult survivors of childhood sexual assault/abuse and adult survivors of adult sexual assault/abuse. Utilizing data from sexual assault crisis centers serving survivors in a Midwestern state over a six year period and controlling for revictimization, we describe and compare the demographic characteristics, referral sources, and service patterns of the two groups. Results indicate that paths into service differ for the two groups. Furthermore, adult survivors of childhood sexual assault/abuse obtain significantly more hours of service and service contacts on average than adult survivors of adult sexual assault/abuse. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns

The ability to discriminate the trajectories of moving objects is highly adaptive and fundamental for physical and social interactions. Therefore, we could reasonably expect sensitivity to different trajectories already at birth, as a precursor of later communicative and defensive abilities. To investigate this possibility, we measured newborns' looking behavior to evaluate their ability to discriminate between visual stimuli depicting motion along different trajectories happening within the space surrounding their body. Differently from previous studies, we did not take into account defensive reactions, which may not be elicited by impending collision as newborns might not categorize approaching stimuli as possible dangers. In two experiments, we showed that newborns display a spontaneous visual preference for trajectories directed toward their body. We found this visual preference when visual stimuli depicted motion in opposite directions (approaching vs. receding) as well as when they both moved toward the peripersonal space and differed only in their specific target (i.e., the body vs. the space around it). These findings suggest that at birth human infants seem to be already equipped with visual mechanisms predisposing them to perceive their presence in the environment and to adaptively focus their attention on the peripersonal space and their bodily self.     

Wellness in Adult Gay Males

Abstract

Adult gay males face significant social stigma, internalize negative societal messages related to their sexual orientation, and experience difficulties related to disclosing their sexual orientation to others, particularly to parents. Although the effects of these challenges in terms of pathology have been established, the relationship among internalized homophobia, self-disclosure, self-disclosure to parents, and wellness has not been examined. The results of a study of these variables among 217 gay males are presented and discussed.     

Adult Perspectives on Children's Autonomy

A representative sample of 1,002 Los Angeles adults respondedto vignettes on parent-child conflict by indicating their supportfor the position of either the parent or the child. Adults'perspectives on children's rights to autonomy were examinedin the nine substantive areas of education, privacy, appearance,religion, economics, sexual conduct, access to media, politicalparticipation and public responsibility, and social participation.In all these areas, there is a lack of consensus about children'srights among adults. Social characteristics of the sample, however,correlate with views on this issue in ways consistent with ageneral liberal-conservative orientation.     

Adult Children of Divorce Revisited

Abstract

The prevalence of families experiencing divorce has lead to an increase in studies examining the consequences of parental divorce for children and also for young adults. The literature, especially focusing on young adults, is characterized with inconsistent findings. The purpose of this study was to explore these young adults' accounts, their attitudes toward cohabitation, marriage, and divorce, their dating behavior, and trust and commitment issues for them. Results based on sixty in-depth interviews indicated that parental conflict, quality of parents' new relationship(s), and parents' supportiveness during and after divorce were important factors affecting these respondents' attitudes and behavior. Age at which divorce occurred seemed to affect trust and commitment the most.     

Some Dimensions of Adult Status

Quand la femme changea radicalement tout à coup de statut en revenant aux Etudes a plein temps entre les âges de trente et de cinquante ans, cette innovation rendit explieites un certain nombre de postulats au sujet des rôles de l'adulte dans notre société quant à la définition du rôle, la compétence qu'il requiert, le pragmatisme de notre vie sociale et la variété des tâches que l'adulte y détient. Elle mit à jour aussi le caractére des relations interpersonnelles implicite dans le statut de l'adulte.
Le dilemme des étudiants adultes c'est que, si le contenu de leurs rôles est défini, leurs expectatives au sujet de rapports réciproques n'étaient pas satisfaites.