中晚期青少年的个人规划及其与亲子、朋友沟通的关系

采用未来取向问卷（中文版）、亲子沟通和朋友沟通问卷调查了1741名高中生和大学生,从探索和投入两个方面考察了中晚期青少年个人规划的基本特点以及亲子沟通、朋友沟通与个人规划的关系。研究发现：青少年对未来教育的探索和投入水平高于未来职业和婚姻/家庭;从青少年中期到晚期,个体对不同领域的探索与投入遵循不同的发展模式;女青少年对未来教育的投入更多,而男青少年对未来婚姻/家庭的探索和投入更多;城市青少年对未来教育的探索和投入更多,而农村青少年对未来婚姻/家庭的投入更多。亲子沟通对中晚期青少年成就领域的规划具有较大影响,且影响大于朋友沟通,而朋友沟通对青少年未来婚姻/家庭规划的影响更大     

北京中学生的消费价值观与消费行为

对北京青少年的消费价值观和消费行为进行了探索性研究 ,被试为 13～ 19岁中学、职高及技校在校各年级学生 4193人 (男 10 86人 ,女 2 387人 ) ,用自编的中学生消费问卷、青少年亲子关系问卷、个人主义 -集体主义量表进行集体施测。因素分析结果表明 ,消费价值观包含保持勤俭传统、追求现代生活和消费压力 3个因素 ,北京大多数中学生的消费价值观是倾向于保持勤俭传统 ,贫富差距和消费能力的差距对大多数中学生来说没有构成压力。因素分析结果将青少年的消费行为分为谨慎型、流行型、实际型和攀比型 4种消费行为类型 ,谨慎型消费是北京中学生消费行为的主流。消费价值观与消费行为之间有着特定的关系。根据消费社会化理论对影响青少年消费价值观和行为的因素进行了分析 ,结果表明家庭社会经济地位和亲子关系都对青少年的消费模式产生影响。     

Adolescents' aggressive and prosocial behavior: associations with jealousy and social anxiety

The authors examined how relational aggression, physical aggression, and proactive prosocial behavior were associated with jealousy and social anxiety in a diverse sample of 60 middle school students. After the authors controlled for gender and race, jealousy predicted relational aggression and proactive prosocial behavior, but it did not predict physical aggression. Additionally, social anxiety predicted proactive prosocial behavior. Adolescents who were more jealous in their peer relationships also tended to engage in relational aggression and proactive prosocial behavior, and adolescents who were more socially anxious also tended to be proactively prosocial. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and suggest directions for future research.     

Narrative Therapy's Relational Understanding of Identity

We describe how we think of identity as relational, distributed, performed, and fluid, and we illustrate the use of this conceptualization within a narrative worldview. Drawing on the work of Michael White, we describe how this relational view of identity leads to therapeutic responses that give value to interconnection across multiple contexts and that focus on becoming rather than on being. We show how a narrative worldview helps focus on the relational, co‐evolving perspective that was the basis of our early attraction to family therapy. We offer detailed examples from our work of practices that help us stay firmly situated in a relational worldview that is counter to the pervasive influence of individualism in our contemporary culture.     

The longitudinal association between social status insecurity and relational aggression: Moderation effects of social cognition about relational aggression

Previous research has shown that adolescents’ insecurity about their social status is related to their use of relational aggression. However, little is known about how adolescents’ social cognition may moderate this association. Employing a mixed-method approach and a short-term longitudinal design, this study addresses this issue by examining the moderation effects of attribution and outcome expectancies regarding relational aggression on the associations between social status insecurity and relational aggression among 476 Chinese adolescents (238 girls). The main results showed that self-serving attributions and instrumental outcome expectancies strengthened the positive and longitudinal association between social status insecurity and self-reported relational aggression. The findings of this study enrich our knowledge about the social cognitive processes pertinent to peer status and relational aggression among adolescents.     

Addressing Culture,Gender, and Power with Asian American Couples: Application of Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy

Asian Americans juggle the intersections of multiple social identities and societal discourses as they respond to experiences of immigration, marginalization, and patriarchy, integrate collectivist and individualistic family values, and form families and intimate relationships. In this study we examine what we have learned as we apply Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) with heterosexual couples of Asian heritage. SERT begins with sociocultural attunement and the assumption that relationships should mutually support each partner. Drawing on case examples, we illustrate how we practice sociocultural attunement as couples respond to the relational processes that comprise the Circle of Care (mutual influence, vulnerability, attunement, and shared relational responsibility). We emphasize three key socioemotional themes that intersect with gender: (1) intangible loss; (2) quiet fortitude/not burdening others; and (3) duty to the family.     

Relation of Depression and Anxiety to Self‐ and Peer‐Reported Relational Aggression

The primary purpose of this multimethod and multimeasure study was to identify how the peer relationships of Australian adolescents (ages 9–15 years; N = 335) at school, including relational aggression and victimization, correlated with their symptoms of depression and anxiety. Moreover, relational aggression and victimization were measured via both self‐ and peer report, and discrepancies between reports were considered as correlates of symptoms and peer relationship status. Adolescents who reported more symptoms of depression and anxiety also self‐reported more relational victimization and reported their peers as less trustworthy. Adolescents who overreported their own relational victimization and aggression compared with peer report had more symptoms compared with those who agreed with their peers or underreported their aggression and victimization. Adolescents who underreported their own aggression were not only more socially prominent but were also more disliked by their peers. When considered independent of self‐reports, no measure of peer‐reported peer status, aggression, or victimization was associated with depressive symptoms; but adolescents reported as more accepted by their peers had fewer anxiety symptoms. Longitudinal research should be conducted to examine adolescents' increasing socioemotional problems as correlates of discrepancies between self‐ and peer reports of relational aggression and victimization. Aggr. Behav. 38:16‐30, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Natural Mentoring,Academic Motivation,and Values Toward Education Among Latinx Adolescents

We examined the roles of relational and instrumental relationship quality with natural mentors and academic intrinsic motivation on Latinx adolescents’ perceived economic values of education. Participants were 256 Latinx youth (M = 15.07 years old; 116 boys, 140 girls) who completed surveys in 9th and 10th grades. Path analyses indicated significant cross‐sectional effects in 9th grade such that instrumental quality was associated with more perceived benefits of education, and relational quality was associated with fewer perceived limitations of education. Neither instrumental nor relational quality in 9th grade was associated with either benefits or limitations of education in 10th grade. Instrumental relationship quality in 9th grade, however, did have an indirect effect on perceived benefits of education in 10th grade through intrinsic motivation. Implications for research on natural mentoring with Latinx adolescents are discussed.     

Ambiguous Loss in Transnational Families’ Adolescents: An Exploratory Study in Ecuador

In psychosocial migration literature, the perspective of ambiguous loss has been relevant to articulate personal and relational experiences in the context of transnational families and ongoing separation. Most studies have focused on adult members’ experiences of transnational families, but research exploring ambiguous loss in adolescents whose parents have migrated is still lacking. The present study aimed to explore adolescents’ lived experiences of parental migration. In a pilot explorative study, 14 adolescents with at least one parent who migrated were interviewed about their lived experiences of transnational parent-child relationships and ongoing parent-child separation. Data analysis identified four themes in participants’ accounts: practices of separation creating confusion; current relationship with migrant parents permeated by ambiguity; distrustful representations of migrant parents; and family and social dynamics reactivating the pain of loss. The findings reveal how in the context of parental migration, patterns of separation and ongoing relational processes, compounded by the uncertainty of reunification and an exclusionary social fabric, constitute core elements that shape adolescents’ lived experiences of parent-child relationships characterized by ambiguity.     

The Social Ecology of Parental Monitoring: Parent–Child Dynamics in a High‐Risk Peruvian Neighborhood

While parental monitoring is understood to protect adolescents from engaging in risk behaviors, little is known about how the family dynamics involved in parental monitoring differ across sociocultural contexts. We sought to gain an in‐depth understanding of parent–child relationship dynamics and parental knowledge of adolescents’ activities in an urban Peruvian neighborhood with high levels of crime and adolescent substance use. We conducted 15 in‐depth interviews and two focus groups with adolescents and 12 in‐depth interviews with mothers sampled from a secondary school in Callao, Peru. Our findings emphasize the importance of parent–child confianza (trust) as a foundation for parental awareness of adolescents’ lives and activities. Participants in our sample characterized confianza as encouraging adolescent disclosure and shaping how parental solicitation and rules were interpreted by adolescents. Participants described how confianza was rooted in features of the parent–child relationship, including shared parent–child time, parental affection, adolescent perceptions of parents’ ability to give good advice, and awareness of how parents would react to delicate topics. Participants linked these family dynamics, in turn, to economic hardship, parental feelings of sacrifice and stress, perceptions of neighborhood risk, and gender norms limiting fathers’ involvement in caregiving. Results have implications for the planning and adaptation of family‐based prevention programs for use in high‐risk contexts in Latin America.     

Self-construals and values in different cultural and socioeconomic contexts

In this study the authors investigated (a) how individuational and relational self-orientations, as well as self-directed and other-directed values, are related to one another, and (b) how these self- and value orientations differ across 2 cultural (i.e., 422 Turkish and 441 American university students) and 2 socioeconomic status (SES) groups (i.e., 186 lower SES and 167 upper SES Turkish high school students). Across cross-cultural and SES groups, individuational and relational self-orientations appeared to be not opposite but distinct orientations, as predicted by the Balanced Integration-Differentiation (BID) model (E. O. Imamoglu, 2003). Furthermore, both Turkish and American students with similar self-construal types, as suggested by the BID model, showed similar value orientations, pointing to both cross-cultural similarities and within-cultural diversity. Individuational and relational self-orientations showed weak to moderate associations with the respective value domains of self-directedness and other-directedness, which seemed to represent separate but somewhat positively correlated orientations. In both cross-cultural and SES groups, students tended to be high in both relational and individuational self-orientations; those trends were particularly strong among the Turkish and American women compared with men and among the upper SES Turkish adolescents compared with lower SES adolescents. Results are discussed as contesting the assumptions that regard the individuational and relational orientations as opposites and as supporting the search for invariant aspects of psychological functioning across contexts.     

Familial Influences on Dating Violence Victimization Among Latino Youth

Despite theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that the family environment plays a central role in Latino youth development, relatively little is known about how family processes influence dating violence victimization among Latino adolescents. To address this gap in the literature, we used data from 210 Latino parents and their 13- to 15-year-old adolescents to examine associations between several different family processes, including both parenting practices (parent monitoring, parent–adolescent communication) and aspects of the family relational climate (family cohesion, family conflict, acculturation conflict) and psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence victimization. Consistent with expectations, lower levels of family cohesion and higher levels of family and acculturation conflict were associated with risk for dating violence victimization, although associations varied depending on victimization type. In contrast, neither parental monitoring nor parent–adolescent communication was significantly associated with any type of dating violence victimization. In addition, we found that parent, but not teen, Anglo-American acculturation was associated with higher dating violence victimization risk. Findings suggest that family-based dating abuse prevention programs for Latino youth should seek to increase family cohesion and decrease family conflict, including acculturation-based conflict.     

Family conflict shapes how adolescents take risks when their family is affected

Numerous studies have established that the social context greatly affects adolescent risk taking. However, it remains unexplored whether adolescents' decision‐making behaviors change when they take risks that affect other individuals such as a parent. In the current study, we sought to investigate how the social context influences risky decisions when adolescents' behavior affects their family using a formalized risk‐taking model. Sixty‐three early adolescents (M_age = 13.3 years; 51% female) played a risk‐taking task twice, once during which they could make risky choices that only affected themselves and another during which their risky choices only affected their parent. Results showed that adolescents reporting high family conflict made more risky decisions when taking risks for their parent compared to themselves, whereas adolescents reporting low family conflict made fewer risky decisions when taking risks for their parent compared to themselves. These findings are the first to show that adolescents change their decision‐making behaviors when their risks affect their family and have important implications for current theories of adolescent risk taking.     

Healing Intergenerational Wounds: An Integrative Relational–Neurobiological Approach

Old resentments and unfinished business from the family of origin can constrain adults in current relationships with parents or siblings and negatively affect relationships with partners or children. This article explores how old wounds get reactivated in current relationships and contribute to the intergenerational transmission of painful legacies and trauma. Building on intergenerational family theory and interpersonal neurobiology, the dynamics of reactivity and pathways for growth are explored. While much of the time the human brain is on autopilot, driven by habits and emotional reactivity, we are capable of bringing prefrontal thoughtfulness and choice to close relationships. Rather than being victims of parents or our past, we can become authors of our own relational life. Interventions are offered to help adult clients “wake from the spell of childhood,” heal intergenerational wounds, and “grow up” relationships with family of origin. The damage caused by parent‐blaming in therapy is explored and contrasted with Ivan Boszormenyi‐Nagy's emphasis on rejunctive action and cultivating resources of trustworthiness in intergenerational relationships. The family is considered both in its cultural context—including stressors and resources for resilience—and in its life cycle context. Aging in the intergenerational family is discussed, focusing on ways adult children and their parents can grow and flourish with the challenges at this time of life. Throughout, the theme of relational ethics—how we can live according to our values and “reach for our best self” in intergenerational relationships—informs the discussion.     

Age-appropriate behaviors: a comparison of three generations of females

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in older adolescent and adult females' perceptions of age-appropriate behavior in adults. Subjects were three generations of maternally related females (95 older adolescents, 78 mothers, 83 grandmothers) who were administered a questionnaire designed to assess age-appropriate behaviors in three broad categories: recreation, occupation/career, and family. Major findings were that older adolescents were most tolerant of behaviors performed by individuals at varying ages while older women most closely ascribed to age constraints, and that the greatest agreement on appropriateness of age constraints concerned family relationships while least agreement concerned recreational activities. Results support the view that adolescents' values on family issues are consistent with those of their parents, and suggest that adherence to age norms increases throughout the life span or are the result of generational differences in socialization.     

Survivors' Narratives of the Impact of Parental Suicide

The impact of parental suicide on surviving children and their family system has received inadequate research attention. Using a qualitative narrative methodology with thematic analysis, we explored the short‐term and lifelong impact of parental suicide among 10 adults who, as children or adolescents, had lost a parent through suicide. The suicide triggered a wide range of structural and relational changes to the family, resulting in a cascading series of negative outcomes. These systemic issues are discussed and recommendations made about support structures for bereaved children and their families. Limitations of the study are discussed and future research directions identified.     

Adolescents' family obligation and activities in rural and urban Vietnam: Implications for social change

This study examined how urbanisation may modify adolescents' values and activities concerning family obligation by surveying 572 adolescents (M_age = 15.75, SD = .73) in rural and urban Vietnam. Compared with their rural peers, urban adolescents reported a stronger sense of family obligation but spent less time actually engaging in family assistance, findings that were partly explained by urban households' less financial hardship and higher parental education levels. As expected, stronger family obligation values were associated with greater family assistance activities across rural and urban Vietnam. However, stronger family obligation values were associated with more study hours only in urban Vietnam, indicating that urbanisation may broaden the meaning of family obligation to encompass the academic domain. Additionally, weaker family obligation values were associated with more employment hours only in rural Vietnam, suggesting that rural adolescents with little attachment to the traditional value of family obligation may pursue autonomy through employment outside the home. In traditionally familistic societies undergoing urbanisation, family obligation may take on different meaning depending on adolescents' ecological settings that construct cultural values and behavioural norms.     

Family Communication Patterns and Relational Maintenance Behavior: Direct and Mediated Associations with Friendship Closeness

In this study, both face‐to‐face and online relational maintenance behaviors were tested as mediators of family communication patterns and closeness with a same‐sex friend. Participants included 417 young adults recruited from communication courses at a large university in the Midwestern United States. The obtained structural model demonstrated that family communication patterns are associated with friendship closeness though face‐to‐face and online maintenance behaviors fully mediate this association. Specifically, young adults from high–conversation‐orientation families engage in more face‐to‐face maintenance behaviors, which are positively associated with friendship closeness. These findings inform understanding of how family communication patterns influence extrafamilial relationships, suggesting that parents’ cognitions and communication behaviors are associated with children’s social well‐being.