Self-concept as a factor in the quality of diets of adolescent girls

The effect of self-concept on the quality of diets of adolescent girls was investigated. Scores for self-concept as measured by the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) and fat area values were obtained from 160 15-year-old girls. Twenty-four-hour dietary recall interviews were conducted with a random subsample of 40 girls. Mean dietary adequacy ratios (MARs) were calculated to assess dietary quality. Girls in this study had larger arm fat areas than did their national counterparts. Mean intakes of energy and nine nutrients met or exceeded their respective RDAs except for vitamin A, calcium, and iron. MAR values were correlated positively with Self-Satisfaction scores and negatively with carbonated beverages, candy, and baked desserts. Fat area values were correlated negatively with Physical Self scores. Significant predictors of MAR values below 80% were Total Conflict, Moral-Ethical Self, Family Self, Identity, and Physical Self scores.     

Affective quality of family relations and adolescent identity exploration

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescent pubertal status, the affective quality of family relations, and the early adolescent's exploration of a sense of ego identity. Fifty-one intact families with adolescents in the seventh grade agreed to participate. Each family member completed a battery of questionnaires designed to assess familial adaptation to pubertal growth and identity exploration. The results reveal that the affective quality of parent-adolescent relationships and the pubertal status of the adolescent appear to influence the adolescent's exploration of ego identity. The need to establish the functional significance of familial adaptation to adolescent pubertal growth for identity development is discussed.     

Attachment,temperament, and ego development in young adulthood

Attachment and temperament have each been thought to contribute to personality development; however, few empirical studies have examined the relations between the two. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate, in young adulthood, the relations among attachment, temperament, and two aspects of ego development, namely,overall ego development and ego development with respect tointimacy. One hundred and seven college students served as participants. Sixty one percent classified themselves as securely attached and 39% as insecurely attached. A factor analysis of the Emotionality-Activity-Sociability (EAS) Temperament Survey for Adults yielded a primary factor (labeled negative emotionality) that accounted for 41% of the variance. A regression analysis then revealed that both attachment status and temperament predicted overall ego development; however, only attachment status predicted ego development with respect to intimacy. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The association between patterns of family functioning and ego development of the juvenile offender.

The present study revealed an association between the family configurations of cohesion and adaptability and juvenile offenders' level of ego development. This association was explained by four post hoc comparisons which revealed that functional perspectives of family cohesion and adaptability by the juvenile offender and one or both parents were associated with higher levels of ego development. Lower levels of ego development were associated with (a) shared dysfunctional perspectives of the family dimensions by the juvenile offender and both parents, and (b) a functional perspective of the family dimensions by the juvenile offender which was not shared by either parent. These results were based on 61 nonchronic juvenile offenders and their parents who were assessed by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales II. The offenders' level of ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test.     

Preventing the development of body issues in adolescent girls through intervention with their mothers

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Healthy Girls Project, an ecologically based, targeted prevention program aimed at discouraging the development of body-related problems in middle-school girls via an intervention directly and only with their mothers. Participants were 31 seventh- and eighth-grade girls and their mothers. The empirically based intervention comprised a series of 4 weekly workshops that had both interactive psychoeducational components and behavioral components (e.g., homework to do with daughters, modeling activities). The study design was experimental, with mother–daughter dyads randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a wait-list control group. Daughters completed pretest (i.e., pre-workshop) measures, posttest measures, and, 3 months later, follow-up measures. Results indicated that at both posttest and follow-up, girls whose mothers were in the intervention group perceived less pressure from their mothers to be thin. At follow-up, these girls also showed a lower drive for thinness. Results were mixed regarding group differences in body dissatisfaction levels at posttest and at follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for targeted prevention efforts aimed at girls during their middle-school years.     

Eating behaviour, body image, and self-esteem of adolescent girls in Malaysia

This cross-sectional study was undertaken with 489 secondary school girls, ages 15-17 years, to examine disordered eating behaviours of adolescent girls in Malaysia and to estimate associations with body weight, body-size discrepancy, and self-esteem. Dietary restraint, binge eating, body image, and self-esteem were assessed using the Restrained Eating scale of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire, the Binge Scale Questionnaire, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, respectively. Pearson correlations estimated associations between variables. There were 3.1% underweight, 9.8% at risk of being overweight, and 8.6% overweight girls. A total of 87.3% were dissatisfied with their own body size. Dietary restraint and binge eating were reported by 36.0% and 35.4%, respectively. Body Mass Index (r = .34, p < .01) and body-size dissatisfaction (r = .24, p < .01) were significantly associated with dietary restraint and binge eating, but self-esteem (r = -.20, p < .001) was significantly associated only with binge eating.     

Body piercing,tattooing, self-esteem,and body investment in adolescent girls

Postmodern perspectives of body piercing and tattooing interpret these as signifiers of the self and attempts to attain mastery and control over the body in an age of increasing alienation. In this exploratory study, 79 adolescent females, ages 15 to 18 (M = 16.08, SD = 1.36), completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI; Coopersmith, 1981), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, 1978), the Body Investment Scale (BIS; Orbach & Mikulincer, 1998), and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-2; Spielberger, 1996). Analyses revealed that body piercings and tattoos were significantly correlated with trait anger (Angry Reaction subscale scores). A multiple regression analysis indicated that three of the dependent variables (Trait Anger-Reaction, BDI, and Feeling subscale of the BIS) were predictors of the total number of body piercings and tattoos.     

Father absence, menarche and interest in infants among adolescent girls

In this study we examined the relationship between menarche and interest in infants among adolescent girls, and the effects of early environment, particularly of father absence from home, on both variables. Eighty-three girls ranging in age from between 11 and 14 years served as study participants. Interest in infants was assessed through their preferences for photos and silhouettes of animal and human faces of infants versus adults. Information on menarche and the early family environment was obtained with questionnaires and interviews. Variation in menarcheal status or timing of menarche was associated with some differences in interest in infants. There was little or no evidence, however, that suggested a direct causal relationship between these variables. Instead, both menarche and interest in infants were independently associated with early father absence from home such that father-absent girls exhibited earlier menarche and greater attraction to infant visual stimuli than father-present girls. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that father absence is associated with a developmental trajectory characterized by earlier readiness for reproduction and parenting.     

Acculturation, parent-adolescent conflict, and adolescent adjustment in Mexican American families

We tested an acculturation model in a community sample of Mexican American families (146 mothers, 137 fathers, and 146 adolescents) that proposed that differences between parents and adolescents in acculturation would be associated with parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent adjustment problems. Contrary to hypotheses, we found that families who exhibited an acculturation gap were not more likely to report parent-adolescent conflict or adolescent adjustment problems. In fact, familial conflict and adolescent sexual experience were associated with high levels of acculturation among adolescents and their parents. Pending replication, these findings suggest that both parent and children acculturation may independently predict familial processes and youth outcomes, irrespective of an acculturation gap. Future research should consider other factors aside from acculturation differences that might account for parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent adjustment in Mexican American families.     

On ego development and the structure of personality

present a theory of ego development as composed of several substructures related so that achievement of a given stage in one substructure is necessary but not sufficient for achieving the corresponding stage of another. The postulation of an exact relation belies what is known of the texture of human behavior and is premature in the absence of precise measurement of the several substructures and precise matching of stages. An alternative, the empirical method of simultaneously constructing a measure of ego development and portraits of the several stages, which Snarey et al. criticize for lack of strict logical coherence, is in the best tradition of contemporary science. The stage portraits are “prototypes” or “fuzzy sets.” Any mental structure can be divided into substructures, but the most general, superordinate structure is likely to prove most useful.     

Supplication and appeasement in conflict and negotiation: The interpersonal effects of disappointment, worry, guilt, and regret

This study examined the social effects of emotions related to supplication and appeasement in conflict and negotiation. In a computer-simulated negotiation, participants in Experiment 1 were confronted with a disappointed or worried opponent (supplication), with a guilty or regretful opponent (appeasement), or with a nonemotional opponent (control). Compared with controls, participants conceded more when the other experienced supplication emotions and conceded less when the other experienced appeasement emotions (especially guilt). Experiment 2 replicated the effects of disappointment and guilt and showed that they are moderated by the perceiver's dispositional trust: Negotiators high in trust conceded more to a disappointed counterpart than to a happy one, but those with low trust were unaffected. In Experiment 3, trust was manipulated through information about the other's personality (cooperative vs. competitive), and a similar moderation was obtained.     

Predicting adolescent posttraumatic stress in the aftermath of war: Differential effects of coping strategies across trauma reminder,loss reminder,and family conflict domains

Background and Objectives: The vast majority of youth who lived through the Bosnian war were exposed to multiple traumatic events, including interpersonal violence, community destruction, and the loss of a loved one. This study examined factors that predict post-war psychological adjustment, specifically posttraumatic stress, in Bosnian adolescents. Design: Regression analyses evaluated theorized differential relations between three types of post-war stressors – exposure to trauma reminders, loss reminders, and intrafamilial conflict – specific coping strategies, and posttraumatic stress symptom dimensions. Methods: We examined 555 Bosnian adolescents, aged 15–19 years, to predict their long-term posttraumatic stress reactions in the aftermath of war. Results: Findings indicated that post-war exposure to trauma reminders, loss reminders, and family conflict, as well as engagement and disengagement coping strategies, predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms. Secondary control engagement coping responses to all three types of post-war stressors were inversely associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms, whereas primary control engagement coping responses to family conflict were inversely associated with hyperarousal symptoms. Disengagement responses to trauma reminders and family conflict were positively associated with re-experiencing symptoms. Conclusions: These findings shed light on ways in which trauma reminders, loss reminders, and family conflict may intersect with coping responses to influence adolescent postwar adjustment.     

Changes in ego development in the wake of September 11

In a longitudinal study using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), we examined changes in ego development in response to the events of September 11, 2001. A sample of 24 individuals responded to the WUSCT in both the summer and fall of 2001, before and after the events of September 11. A significant decrease in mean ego level was found following September 11, as well as more equivocal support for an increase in variability in responses to the WUSCT.     

Factorial validity of the Bulimia Test-Revised in adolescent boys and girls.

The present study examined the psychometric properties and principal components structure of the Bulimia Test Revised (BULIT-R; [Thelen, M.H., Farmer, J., Wonderlich, S. & Smith, M. (1991). A revision of the Bulimia Test: the BULIT-R. Psychological Assessment, 3, 119-124.]) using a sample of early adolescent males and females. Three hundred and six girls (mean age = 13.66; S.D. = 1.12) and 297 boys (mean age = 13.89: S.D. = 1.13) from grades 7-10 completed the BULIT-R as part of a larger study investigating disordered eating in early adolescence. In comparison to the 5 factors identified in adult female samples, the factor analysis identified four similar factors for adolescent boys and girls: bingeing, control, normative weight loss (dieting and exercise) and extreme weight loss behaviors (vomiting, diuretics and laxatives). The findings highlight similarities between boys and girls and differences in the factorial nature of the BULIT-R for adult and adolescent samples. The BULIT-R also demonstrated good reliability with adolescent samples and adequate concurrent validity with the DFT, DEBQ and binge eating as defined by the DSM-IV criteria. The emergence of bingeing and control as two distinct factors is an important distinction that needs to be considered when attempting to provide accurate incidence rates of binge eating and bulimic symptomatology in adolescents.