SOCIAL INFLUENCE, SELF-REFERENT IDENTITY LABELS, AND BEHAVIOR

Self-referent identity labels are frequently argued to be a central component of the self and to be important in the planning of conduct. Despite the attractiveness of this argument, relatively little research has yet appeared that supports it, and studies of the etiology and effects of self-referent labels often fail to control for the confounding effects of preferences, norms. or other conceptions that are known to affect conduct. In this paper, propositions are argued concerning the causes and independent effects of self-referent labels. Some of these propositions are then tested in two studies, one concerned with alcohol use among adolescents in four Western countries, the other focused on alcohol and tobacco use among American high-school and undergraduate students. Both studies found strong ties between reports of peer modeling and respondents self-referent labels and that the latter had significant and independent effects on reported behaviors. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.     

The Effect of the Primary Caretaker's Distress on the Sexually Abused Child: A Comparison of Biological and Foster Parents

Secondary trauma experienced by sexually abused children has only recently been explored in the literature. The scant findings suggest that out-of-home placement, the family's reaction to disclosure, and the emotional functioning of mothers may impact upon the emotional well-being of the sexually abused child. This study reports findings of data collected from 26 biological and 45 non-relative primary caretakers of molested children (n = 71). The data indicate significant differences between the two groups of caretakers with regard to maternal distress and support, and a strong relationship between the distress of the caretaker and symptomatology of the child. Significant predictors of child symptomatology and maternal support are reported, and recommendations for practice and policy applications are discussed.     

The Shag‐Band Menace: Tracing the Spread of a Contemporary Legend

The internet enables analysts to better track rumors and contemporary legends through time and space. Comments about sex bracelets reveal waves of concentrated attention; the spread of particular variants display a similar pattern. The diffusion of such stories reflects constructions of childhood and adolescent sexuality as social problems.     

Causal Evidence for Exclusively Positive Parenting and for Timeout: Rejoinder to Holden,Grogan-Kaylor,Durrant, and Gershoff (2017)

Abstract

In our initial article we raised concerns about a paradigm we called “Exclusively Positive Parenting” (EPP). This paradigm opposes all negative disciplinary consequences, including timeout and privilege removal. We argued that the empirical support for EPP was insufficient. Researchers should not rely on insufficient causal evidence to replace well-established parenting perspectives that combine positive parenting with appropriate firm control. In reply, Holden et al. defended EPP. In this rejoinder to them we do two things. First, we use their citations to evaluate the limited causal evidence (four randomized studies) for what EPP supports. Second, we summarize the evidence for timeout, which EPP opposes. To do that, we offer the first known meta-analysis of the overall effectiveness of timeout, based on 24 studies with strong causal evidence for its effectiveness with young oppositional defiant children (6 randomized clinical studies; 18 small-N experimental designs). We call for parenting researchers to synthesize positive parenting techniques and disciplinary consequences based on adequate causal evidence.     

Young Adult Migration from a Northern Plains Indian Reservation: Who Stays and Who Leaves

We evaluated how ambitions, community ties, monetary sufficiency, employment, and alcohol consumption related to whether young American Indian adults had moved from their Northern Plains reservation. Of 518 Northern Plains reservation residents in 1993, we located 472 in 2003–2005 and found that 89 lived more than a four-hour drive from the reservation. Coding the 472 as to whether they had stayed on/near the reservation or moved away, we ran logistic regressions on data they reported in 1996 to determine which demographic and attitudinal variables were associated with having moved. We found ambitions and goals were more associated with moving away than were ties to the community, which in turn were more related than monetary and personal characteristics that promote independence and prosperity. The more importance they placed on getting a good education or carrying on the tribe’s traditions, the more likely they were to have moved away. We found too that the odds of moving away decreased with greater alcohol consumption. Tribal council members and college administrators therefore may wish to promote policies that increase opportunities for young adults to achieve higher education goals while remaining on reservation to carry on tribal traditions. Benefits may also come from encouraging and assisting reservation members studying off-reservation to return after completing their education. These findings would argue too for greater investment in alcohol services for reservation-dwelling populations.     

The Value of a Probability Forecast from Portfolio Theory

A probability forecast scored ex post using a probability scoring rule (e.g. Brier) is analogous to a risky financial security. With only superficial adaptation, the same economic logic by which securities are valued ex ante – in particular, portfolio theory and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) – applies to the valuation of probability forecasts. Each available forecast of a given event is valued relative to each other and to the “market” (all available forecasts). A forecast is seen to be more valuable the higher its expected score and the lower the covariance of its score with the market aggregate score. Forecasts that score highly in trials when others do poorly are appreciated more than those with equal success in “easy” trials where most forecasts score well. The CAPM defines economically rational (equilibrium) forecast prices at which forecasters can trade shares in each other’s ex post score – or associated monetary payoff – thereby balancing forecast risk against return and ultimately forming optimally hedged portfolios. Hedging this way offers risk averse forecasters an “honest” alternative to the ruse of reporting conservative probability assessments.     

Essay-Comment: On the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships—Australian Government Publishing Service,Canberra, 1977.

“Strange thing—human relationships—for a Government to set up a Royal Commission on.” That is a comment I have heard more than once. It has been accompanied by an aloofness, a slight irritability, keeping the Report at arm's length and unread. That is from one section of the public. There are many other reactions. And there are our colleagues, many of whom have said how very important the Report is, and they have read it. Midway between these and other polarized viewpoints stands the Report itself, a long important essay in societal self-awareness. No wonder it has aroused much contradictory response.     

The Assessment of Elaborated Role‐play in Young Children: Invisible Friends,Personified Objects,and Pretend Identities

Role‐play (i.e., pretending in which children imagine and act out the part of another individual) was assessed with child interviews and parent questionnaires about invisible friends, personified objects, and pretend identities in a sample of 208 young children. Children who engaged in role‐play did not differ from other children in age or vocabulary comprehension. However, they were better able to generate a pretend conversation than other children and were rated by their parents as less shy. The overall pattern of results suggests that the capacity to interact with imaginary others (in and out of the lab) is more closely associated with individual differences in personality than developmental level.     

Characteristics of chinese‐american children with problems∗

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