Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS): Development and Validation with Adolescents and Young Adults

The present paper describes the development of a new scale, the Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS), and research findings obtained with this instrument. Based on Youniss' (1980) theory, this scale assesses the extent of perceived mutual reciprocity in adolescents'/young adults' relations with their parents. An initial pool of 51 items was administered to 141 unmarried undergraduates along with measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and consultant choice to indicate construct validity. Item analyses and reliability procedures produced a 43-item scale. A second study of 1602 students between the ages of 13 and 25 examined further issues: cross-replication, cross-validation, reliability with young adolescents, reliability over time, criterion and construct validity, and age-related differences in scores. In addition to POPRS and the scales used in Study 1, measures included three global statements, attachment to parents, attitude to private personal authority, and scores on an open-ended interview. Results from both studies demonstrated high reliability, and construct and criterion validity. Furthermore, a significant age effect supports Youniss' theory of a developmental transformation in parent-child relations beginning in late adolescence and continuing in early adulthood.     

Transformation and the Woman in Stiletto Pumps

Abstract

This essay uses memoir to discuss transformative experience in the context of ongoing development. The relationship with an idealized teacher laid a foundation to observe and understand the world in a reflective stance influenced by Freud's theories. This beginning personal worldview evolved, through decades of intentional study and clinical training, into a consolidated psychoanalytically informed theory of practice.     

Post-migratory milieu and the wellbeing of adolescent immigrants

Viewed from a psychoanalytic-developmental perspective, migration recaptures separation individuation conflicts and therefore may hinder or facilitate the personal development of adolescents. One of the factors that determine the outcome of migration in adolescents is the post-migratory milieu. The focus of this study is on an educational-residential program for unaccompanied adolescent immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel that provides a structured and supportive post-migratory milieu. The respondents were 573 students in the program, aged 14–18. They reported a lower level of psychological distress than that previously found among their peers who immigrated with their parents and were living in the community. Group support and positive relationships with surrogate parental figures were among the strongest predictors of psychological wellbeing. These results and implications of the study, beyond the specific program and setting, are discussed.     

Do adolescent risk behaviors mediate health and school bullying? Testing the stress process and general strain frameworks

Adolescent bullying is a significant public health issue in the United States. The health consequences of bullying may vary, however, according to the social position and characteristics of victims and bullies within the bullying subculture. For example, research suggests that bully involved youth are more likely to engage in risky health behaviors, including social withdrawal, tobacco, and alcohol use. Yet, the extent to which health outcomes are shaped by involvements in bullying or the risk behaviors associated with bullying remains unclear. In this study we assess the extent to which risk behaviors mediate the links between health outcomes of bully-involved youth using data from the Health Behavior of School Aged Children 2005–2006 Study (N = 8066). School-level fixed-effects regression models assessed whether risk behaviors mediate relationships between bullying statuses and somatic and depressive symptoms. Results show that mediational risk behavior pathways vary across outcomes for youth situated differently in the bullying subculture, with substantially more mediation for bullies than victims. This study advances the current bullying and health research by accounting for risk behavior pathways linking bullying and health.     

The Effects of Background Characteristics of Attorneys and Judges on Decision Making in Domestic Relations Court

The purposes of this research were: (1) to determine whether background characteristics of attorneys and judges affect the awarding of child support orders and (2) to determine whether institution of 1987 Ohio child support guidelines provides predictable and fair child support awards. It was concluded that the two sets of background characteristics had separate effects on the awarding of child support oders. Attorney's background characteristics affected receipt of child support awards. Judges' background characteristics affected amount of child support awards. Institution of the 1987 Ohio child support guidelines did not provide predictable and fair child support awards. Attorneys were found to be reluctant to win child support awards for their clients. Judges with low integrity scores were found to be deviating from the 1987 Ohio child support guidelines.     

On the Relation of Personal Experience to Early Adolescents' Reasoning About Best Friendship Deterioration

The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between early adolescents' generalized beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution and conflict experiences in their own best friendships. An additional goal was to assess whether early adolescents' self-esteem moderated this association. Participants listed their beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution, indicated whether conflicts described in a series of vignettes had occurred in one of their best friendships, and described two conflicts they had experienced in their best friendships. They also judged the seriousness of the vignette and personally experienced conflicts. As predicted, early adolescents included conflict issues they had experienced personally more frequently in their causal inventories than conflict issues that they had not experienced personally. However, contrary to predictions, the perceived seriousness of the conflicts did not influence their inclusion in participants' causal inventories. While high and low self-esteem adolescents had similar beliefs about the causes of best friendship deterioration and dissolution, low self-esteem adolescents perceived their conflicts as more serious and their friendships as more fragile.     

近十年来我国青少年艾滋病相关研究综述

通过对近十年来我国青少年艾滋病相关研究的全面回顾,归纳了当前我国青少年艾滋病的流行态势,梳理了青少年艾滋病的相关认知、态度、行为及其需求,并分析了当前我国青少年艾滋病的防治对策。在此基础上,就目前研究存在的问题及其未来研究方向提出了具体的建议。     

Attachment Representations and Time Perspective in Adolescence

This study examines the relationship between attachment to parents and peers, time perspective and psychological adjustment in adolescence. 2,665 adolescents (M age = 17.03 years, SD = 1.48) completed self-report measures about parent and peer attachment, time perspective, sympathy and self-determination. Subjects were divided into four groups based on their parent and peer attachment scores: high parent and high peer attachment, low peer and low parent, high parent and low peer, low parent and high peer. Higher levels of negative past of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory were revealed, by post hoc analyses, in the group with low attachment to parent and peer. Unlike adolescents with low attachment to parents, adolescents who reported a secure attachment to parents had higher scores on positive past, hedonistic present, and future. Adolescents with high attachment to parent and peer and adolescents with high parent but low peer attachment had the highest scores on competence and authonomy.     

Understanding responsibility: Adolescents' views of delegation and follow-through within the family

Most studies of responsibility emphasize judgments about blame, with cognitive sophistication as the major basis for variations in judgments. The present study explores an alternative. The judgments are about actions that should be taken, with interpersonal relationships as the major basis. In the situations considered, one sibling asks another to take on a job normally done by the asker. The judgments have to do with the responsibility to follow-through, and with the implementation of responsibility (appropriate as against inappropriate ways to remind, give details, or check that the job has been done). Among 14- and 18-year-olds, the majority regarded follow-through as an obligation, with some variation as a function of circumstances. Judgments about appropriate and inappropriate implementation showed a concern with avoiding both negative attributions and the appearance of coercion, in line with the nature of the relationship. Age differences were not significant but gender, in combination with age, was a factor on some judgments. Overall, the results point to the feasibility and the value of considering responsibility in terms of appropriate actions and of linking the analysis of judgments about responsibility to analyses of relationships.     

Health-Promoting Influences of the Family on Late Adolescent Functioning

This study examined whether potentially modifiable health-promoting family factors during mid-adolescence (age 15) predicted adaptive functioning in late adolescence (age 18) among members of a working-class community cohort. Family factors included feeling valued in the family, cohesion, and social support. Late adolescent outcomes covered developmentally salient areas: academic functioning; mental health; suicidal behavior; and social, psychological, and behavioral functioning. Our findings demonstrate that a positive adolescent family milieu is related to both adaptive outcomes and a reduced likelihood of serious difficulties, including mental and behavior problems. Although each hypothesized health-promoting factor was significantly associated with multiple areas of age 18 functioning, the patterns of association differed by type of family factor. Taken together, results suggest that the family remains an important social context during mid-adolescence and that to be most effective programs designed by practitioners aimed at strengthening families should target multiple features of the family environment.