A Longitudinal Study of the Developmental Trajectories of Parental Attachment and Career Maturity of South Korean Adolescents

This study tested the developmental trajectories of career maturity (CM) and parental attachment (PA), the longitudinal influence of both, and gender as a moderator. Findings showed developmental progressions in adolescents’ PA and CM over 4 years. The change in PA was positively related to the developmental change in CM. For gender, there was a statistically significant difference in the initial status of CM and PA but no significant difference in developmental change. This study verified the longitudinal influence of PA on CM and showed that the cross‐sectional effect of predictors on CM needs to be distinguished from the longitudinal effect in future studies.     

Parental Influence and Academic Achievement among Middle School Students: Parent Perspective

This study examined the effects of parental influence on middle school students' academic achievement. The sample included 32 parents of middle school students. The questionnaire measured: parental pressure and support; parental help, monitoring, and press for literacy; and communication. There was a relationship that approached significance between communication and academic achievement: as communication increased, academic achievement increased. There was also a relationship that approached significance between parental help, monitoring, and press for literacy and parents' highest level of education: the higher the level of education of parents, the more involved parents were. The implication for school social workers is discussed.     

Attachment Representations and Parental Memories of Incarcerated Fathers

This article presents the findings of a study designed to apply attachment theory concepts to a group of incarcerated fathers in a minimum-security facility. Participants in this convenience sample were either immediate graduates of a 13-week parenting skills program or currently involved in the parenting skills program. This exploratory study sought to examine first, whether the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) could effectively determine current mental representations of attachment relationships with a group of incarcerated fathers. Secondly, to gain further knowledge of this population regarding the impact of familial aspects by use of a survey measure, along with two other standardized measures were implemented. Thirty-eight voluntary subjects participated in the intensive AAI in scheduled individual sessions, completing child abuse additional measures. Differences among a three-category adult attachment classifications and five-category attachment classifications were identified. Both qualitative and quantitative results are discussed.     

The Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children: An Emerging Need for Effective Interventions

The increasing number of children with incarcerated parents constitutes perhaps one of the largest at-risk populations in the United States. Short- and long-term effects of parental incarceration are difficult to quantify; however, the current literature indicates that this population is negatively responding to major shifts in family structure, and is vulnerable to economic stress and adverse interpersonal issues. Service providers are seeking appropriate intervention strategies to address the resultant issues of parental incarceration. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of research on effective practice methods. This paper reviews the literature on the potential implications parental incarceration has on children, and discusses service providers’ concerted efforts to allay the consequences. Recommendations for appropriate data collection and identification of relevant gender, developmental, and cultural interventions are provided.     

Romantic Attachment Among Young Adults: The Effects of Parental Divorce and Residential Instability

Using an attachment theory perspective, variation in adult romantic attachment style outcomes were examined according to childhood experiences of parental divorce and residential instability. The sample was made up of 172 young adults who were recruited using snowball sampling via online social networking. A statistical difference on adult romantic attachment style was not found between individuals who experience parental divorce and those who did not, and parental conflict and stability of residence patterns did not have a statistical impact on attachment avoidance or anxiety. However, conflict, residential stability, and time with nonresidential parent statistically improved the predictive ability of attachment anxiety among those whose parents had divorced. Specifically, time with nonresidential parent moderated adult romantic attachment anxiety.     

Parental Divorce and Romantic Attachment in Young Adulthood: Important Role of Problematic Beliefs

In the current study 45 university students with either divorced or continuously married parents were surveyed about their romantic attachment, positive emotionality, depressive symptomology, self-esteem, and, when applicable, their retrospective beliefs about their parents’ marital dissolution. Findings revealed that parental divorce did not predict attachment insecurity, depression, or low self-esteem. In fact, adult children of divorced parents (ACDP) reported increased compassion, awe, enthusiasm, and perspective taking. Among ACDP, a composite factor representing increased fear of abandonment, peer rejection, and maternal blame was positively associated with adult attachment anxiety, even while controlling for parental conflict and divorce-related socioenvironmental disruption. Results are discussed in terms of their support of a complex understanding of the long-term effects of parental divorce, and in their inconsistency with a purely pathogenic model of parental divorce.     

Parental Modeling, Attachment, and Supervision as Moderators of Adolescent Gambling

Utilizing Jessor’s Problem Behavior Theory as a theoretical foundation, 116 male and female students in grades 9–12 (mean age 16.8) from a Midwestern urban high school were surveyed to determine the prevalence and relationship among gambling behavior and parental and peer influences. To measure these variables, the following instruments were used: The SOGS-RA, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Parent Scale, and The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Parental Monitoring and Supervision Scale. Almost all of the students (91%) reported gambling at least once in their lifetime while 36.2% reported gambling once a week, 19% reported gambling on a daily basis, and 26% were classified as problem gamblers (10% using the “narrow” SOGS-RA criteria). Parental gambling was related to levels of past year gambling as well as increased likelihood of being classified as a problem gambler. Increased parental attachment was also associated with decreased levels of adolescent gambling, while decreased parental trust and communication resulted in increased problem gambling. Measures of parental monitoring and supervision found similar outcomes in that increased monitoring and supervision resulted in lower levels of adolescent gambling. Additionally, when peer influences were moderated by parental influences, there was a moderating effect on gambling behavior. This study illuminates the continued importance parents play in both risk enhancing and risk inhibiting influences on adolescent participation in problem behaviors.     

Impact of Postdivorce Sibling Structure on Adolescent Adjustment to Divorce

A sample (N = 222) of middle school, high school, and college students were surveyed with regard to their adjustment to their parents’ divorces in specific domains, including coparenting, financial strain, and overall adjustment. With time since the divorce covaried, youth living with half-siblings, stepsiblings, or both (HSS) rated their experiences consistently more positively than youth living with full biological siblings only (FBS). HSS youth reported stronger perceptions that life has gotten better, parents are working together to raise them, and there are no lingering financial effects. There were no main effects for age, but an interaction of sibling structure and gender found male adolescents in the FBS group sometimes had more negative ratings than any of the other groups. Our findings contrast with prior studies suggesting that HSS youth do not adjust as well as FBS youth.     

The Impact of American Media Exposure and Self-Esteem on Chinese Urban Adolescent Purchasing Involvement

This study based on a sample of 429 Beijing high school students shows that Chinese urban adolescents’ purchasing involvement can be predicted by the adolescents’ self-esteem. Individuals’ self-evaluation motivates them to get involved in family purchasing activities. This study suggests that Chinese consumer involvement is potentially shaped by both cognitive factors (e.g., self-esteem) and social factors (e.g., media use). However, the study indicates that exposure to American mass media does not have significant impact on adolescents’ family purchasing involvement. This finding raises possibilities for further investigation in the area. Limitations and suggestions for future studies are provided.

Social Exclusion and Parental Incarceration Impacts on Adolescents' Networks and School Engagement

Although prior research links parental incarceration to deleterious outcomes for children during the life course, few studies have examined whether such incarceration affects the social exclusion of children during adolescence. Drawing on several lines of scholarship, the authors examined whether adolescents with incarcerated parents have fewer or lower quality relationships, participate in more antisocial peer networks, and feel less integrated or engaged in school. The study applies propensity score matching to survey and network data from a national sample of youth. Analyses indicated that children with incarcerated parents have more antisocial peers; the authors found limited evidence that parental incarceration adversely impacts peer networks and school integration domains. The results suggest that the impacts of parental incarceration on adolescents' social lives have less to do with isolation than with the types of peers adolescents befriend. Findings provide support for the idea that parental incarceration may adversely affect children's social exclusion.     

The Meaning of Crying Based on Attachment Theory

Crying is inborn attachment behavior which, according to attachment theorists John Bowlby and Margaret Ainsworth, is primarily an appeal for the protective presence of a parent. Infant crying triggers corresponding caretaking behavior in the parents. These reciprocal behaviors help establish and maintain the parent-child attachment bond. Crying continues throughout life to be a reaction to separation and loss, to carry an attachment message, and to trigger caretaking responses. Crying can be classified according to the stage of the grieving process to which it corresponds: protest or despair. The absence of crying when it would be expected or appropriate corresponds to an unresolved grief reaction representing detachment. Each type of crying and noncrying elicits different caretaking responses with interpersonal, clinical, and cultural implications.     

School Connectedness Buffers the Effects of Negative Family Relations and Poor Effortful Control on Early Adolescent Conduct Problems

This study examined the unique and interactive contributions of school connectedness, negative family relations, and effortful control to subsequent early adolescent conduct problems. Data were collected from 476 adolescents when they were initially in the 6th and 7th grades and again 1 year later. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that even after controlling for negative family relations, effortful control, baseline levels of conduct problems, and gender, school connectedness contributed to decreasing subsequent conduct problems. Examination of 2- and 3-way interactions indicated that high levels of school connectedness offset the adverse effects of negative family relations for boys and girls and the adverse effects of low levels of effortful control for girls. Findings underscore the role of school connectedness as a protective factor for early adolescent conduct problems.     

Adolescent Online Gambling: The Impact of Parental Practices and Correlates with Online Activities

We present results from a cross-sectional study of the entire adolescent student population aged 12–19 of the island of Kos and their parents, on the relationship between their Internet gambling and respective parental practices, including aspects of psychological bonding and online security measures. The sample consisted of 2,017 students (51.8% boys, 48.2% girls). Our results indicate that gender, parenting practices as perceived by the adolescents and distinct patterns of adolescent Internet activities are among the best predictor variables for Internet gambling. Security practices exercised by the parents failed to make an impact on the extent of Internet gambling, demonstrating the need for specific measures to tackle this phenomenon since the provision of simple education on the dangers of the Internet is not sufficient to this regard.     

Support Network Connectedness in the Lives of Community-Dwelling Rural Elders and Their Families

Rural elders face challenges when accessing assistance from family, neighbors, and paid helpers. This support is essential to allow them to remain community dwelling as they develop physical challenges that limit their ability to care for themselves. This qualitative study followed a group of 16 rural elders with physical limitations for 1 year. In-depth interviews were conducted with them and eight members of their support networks, including five family members, to explore how rural older adults create and maintain support networks that allow them to remain community dwelling despite physical challenges that limit their self-care. The research question is, “How do members of the support network connect with each other to maximize the effectiveness of the network?” Family members coordinated assistance to maximize the abilities and availability of various network members. In addition, family members worked together with other family members, neighbors, and paid helpers to assist the elder. These strategies enhanced the ability of the network to assist the rural elder and also lessened the burden of care by dispersing it among network members.     

School attachment and official delinquency status in the People's Republic of China

This research examines the effect of school attachment on the likelihood of being an officially sanctioned delinquent using data for a sample of youths in Tianjin, China. Our statistical analyses are organized around a conventional, integrated causal model that draws upon Western criminological theories of delinquency. The results of multivariate regression analyses reveal that school attachment and school quality are inversely related to an indicator of official delinquency status. A measure of association with delinquent peers similarly exerts a significant but positive effect on official delinquency status. Our analyses are consistent with perspectives on delinquency developed in the West, suggesting that these perspectives are reasonably generalizable. We conclude with a discussion of new directions for further comparative research on delinquency in China.     

Female Adolescents, the Experience of Violence, and the Meaning of the Body

Female adolescents who have experienced violence often struggle to maintain a sense of agency and control over their own bodies—bodies that have been objectified through direct physical assault. In order to understand more fully the impact of direct violence on the meaning of the body for female adolescents, the author discusses normative aspects of the meaning of the body and their relationship to the developmental processes of individuation and connectedness as well as subjectivity and objectivity. Case vignettes are used to explore the intersection of violence and the meaning and use of the body for female adolescents. Implications for intervention are proposed.     

Associations between Students’ Perceptions of the Psychosocial School Environment and Indicators of Subjective Health in Finnish Comprehensive Schools

The study examined how far students’ perceptions of the psychosocial school environment are associated with self‐rated health, life satisfaction and subjective health complaints. Students’ perceptions were associated with one or more indicators of subjective health. Perceived health was better in direct proportion to positive perceptions. Student relations and school strain were the factors that stood out in both genders, with regard to all the health indicators. School engagement, parental support and educational aspiration were found to be important for overall perceived health of the students. This study indicates the importance of the psychosocial school environment for students’ health.     

The Effects of Parental Resources on Adolescent Perceptions of Parental Rewarding and Punishing: Persuasive Appeals

The present study examined the impact of parental socioeconomic resources on adolescent perceptions of parental rewarding and punishing persuasive message strategies. It was argued that parents with greater socioeconomic resource bases are equipped better than lesser endowed parents to invoke rewarding and punishing persuasive appeals. Using Marwell and Schmitt's typology of rewarding and punishing persuasive strategies, one hundred and ninety adolescents ranging from seventh to twelfth grade were sampled from two midwestern communities. Results provide some support for the influence of parental socioeconomic resources on adolescent perceptions of parental rewarding and punishing persuasive appeals. However, a secondary analysis revealed adolescents' age and gender affect their perceptions more than parental resources.     

The Impact of Parental Remarriage on Children

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 61 studies was undertaken to determine the impact of parental remarriage on the academic achievement and psychological well-being of children, of which the vast majority were adolescents. Separate analyses were done on studies that did and did not use sophisticated controls in their analyses. Comparisons were made between children from remarried versus intact families as well as children from remarried and divorced or widowed single-parent families. Children from remarried family structures achieved academic levels that were generally more than two-tenths of a standard deviation lower than children from intact families. Children from remarried families also achieved somewhat lower levels than children from corresponding single-parent family structures. The difference between children from remarried families and children from intact families was nearly two- tenths of a standard deviation for measures of psychological well-being, for studies that did not use sophisticated controls and was somewhat less for studies that did use sophisticated controls. The significance of these results is discussed, doi: 10.1300/J002v40n04_05     

The Longitudinal Influence of Coparenting Conflict on Parental Negativity and Adolescent Maladjustment

This study addresses two limitations of coparenting research: first, little research on coparenting has been conducted with families of adolescents, and second, there is little understanding regarding the child and family contexts in which coparenting is most salient. The longitudinal relation of coparenting conflict to parenting and adolescent maladjustment across 3 years was investigated among 516 2-parent, 2-adolescent families. Coparenting conflict predicted as much or more unique variance in parenting and adolescent adjustment as did marital quality and disagreement together. After controlling for stability, coparenting conflict predicted mothers' and fathers' negativity and adolescent antisocial behavior (but not depression). Importantly, the influence of coparenting conflict in all cases varied as a function of family type, adolescent gender, or initial level of antisocial behavior, or all. The implications of these results for family processes in different relational and developmental contexts are discussed.