Correlates of Wisdom‐Related Performance in Adolescence and Adulthood: Age‐Graded Differences in “Paths” Toward Desirable Development

Across time and cultures, wisdom has been nominated as the ideal endpoint of development. Evidence suggests that the beginnings of wisdom are observed in adolescence. But are the correlates of wisdom‐related performance in adolescence different from those in adulthood because of differences in developmental status? To answer this question, heterogeneous samples of German adolescents (N=148, 14–20 years) and adults (N=143, 35–75 years) responded verbally to 2 wisdom‐related tasks and completed a psychometric battery involving measures of intelligence, personality, and the personality–intelligence interface. As predicted, in the adolescent sample intelligence and personality emerged as the strongest unique predictors of wisdom‐related performance. In contrast, in the adult sample the interface measures were the strongest unique predictors. Implications for the facilitation of positive development in adolescence are discussed.     

Maternal narration about parenting pride and regret is related to youth emotion regulation

As they respond to children's emotions, mothers socialize children's emerging emotion regulation. Mothers' own autobiographical narratives likely reflect in part habitual ways of expressing and managing emotions—ways that may in turn influence the way mothers respond to their children's emotions. We examined features of mothers' narratives about parental pride and regret experiences, and assessed whether these were associated with parental socialization of emotion and the emotion regulation repertoire of their children. Two hundred thirty‐seven mothers with children ranging from 8 to 17 years of age provided two narratives about parental pride and parental regret experiences. Parental emotion socialization and children's emotion regulation were assessed via self‐ and informant‐report using a multi‐measure, multi‐observer approach. We found that features of the way mothers narrated their experiences with a particular child related to their parenting of that child, and that child's emotion regulation. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for emotion‐related parenting, and the potential importance of parent narratives.     

When I hurt others,and when I get hurt: Integrating victim and perpetrator experiences of harm into a sense of moral agency

In a social world, occasionally we all will harm others, as well as be harmed. Previous research has focused largely on how perpetration and victimization events are distinct rather than on how they might be integrated with one another, jointly shaping moral agency. We report on an exploratory qualitative analysis of narratives about perpetration and victimization. Our sample included 30 participants divided evenly by gender and age (ages 11–12, 16–17, and 19–26). Our aims were: (a) to identify potential forms of integration in moral agency across perpetration and victimization; (b) to explore developmental paths in integration; and (c) to examine forms of integration that were not tied directly to the construction of moral agency. We found three frequent integration patterns: harm was similarly understandable in perpetrator and victim narratives; harm was similarly incomprehensible in perpetrator and victim narratives; and harm was understandable in perpetration narratives but incomprehensible in victim narratives. Other forms of integration suggestive of how diminished moral agency can be reclaimed via narrative also were identified.     

Responsive Listening in Long-Married Couples: A Psycholinguistic Perspective

Positive and responsive listening behavior benefits marital satisfaction, but previous reports have examined emotionally positive behavior confounded with responsive behavior, and focused primarily on younger marriages. Psycholinguistic views of listening suggest that responsive listening is distinct from emotionally positive listening. The former may change with an aging relationship, while the latter is unlikely to do so. Long-married couples share extensive common ground about recurrent conflicts, reducing the need for some listening behaviors. We observed 79 younger and older married couples, happily and unhappily married, discussing conflicts. We coded listening behaviors indicative of attention and comprehension (responsiveness) as well as those expressing emotions. We expected that older married couples would display lower frequencies of responsive listening behaviors than middle-aged couples. Results provide conditional support for this hypothesis. Implications for research on marital communication and aging are discussed.     

To err is human: Forgiveness across childhood and adolescence

This study examined children's and adolescents' narrative accounts and evaluations of an instance when they forgave a peer and an instance when they did not forgive, as well as their definitions of what it means to forgive. The sample included 100 participants in three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year olds). Regardless of age, forgiveness and non‐forgiveness accounts differed in interpersonal features, such as how they responded when hurt and whether the peer apologized. The psychological features of the experiences involving their own thoughts and feelings also distinguished between events that were forgiven and those that were not, but did so for 16‐year olds and, sometimes, for 11‐year olds, but never for 7‐year olds. The distinct ways in which younger and older children narrated their experiences also were reflected in their evolving definitions of what it means to forgive, though children's definitions revealed aspects of their thinking not captured in their narratives. Finally, children at all ages judged forgiving favorably but, with age, their evaluations of not forgiving became less negative. These findings challenge the narrow conceptual and methodological lenses through which forgiveness had been examined, and underscore meaningful age differences in the ways children make sense of and evaluate forgiveness and non‐forgiveness.