Attachment-related differences in perceptions of an initial peer interaction emerge over time: Evidence of reconstructive memory processes in adolescents

This study examined whether attachment, assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996) was linked to how adolescents reconstructed their memory for an initial interaction with an unfamiliar peer. Adolescents (N = 189, 62% female) completed a 10-min laboratory task with a student whom they did not know. Immediately following this task, adolescents rated their perceptions of the interaction. Adolescents completed the same perception measure 2 weeks later. Although adolescents classified as secure and insecure on the AAI did not differ in how they perceived unfamiliar peers initially, attachment-related differences emerged over time. Insecure adolescents remembered the interactions as less positive and more negative and also reported being treated with greater hostility than they had initially reported 2 weeks earlier. In contrast, secure adolescents' memories for the negative aspects of the interaction and for hostile treatment remained stable, although, like insecure adolescents, they remembered the conflicts as being less positive than initially reported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Attachment and God representations among lay Catholics, priests, and religious: a matched comparison study based on the Adult Attachment Interview

Based on the idea that believers' perceived relationships with God develop from their attachment-related experiences with primary caregivers, the authors explored the quality of such experiences and their representations among individuals who differed in likelihood of experiencing a principal attachment to God. Using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), they compared attachment-related experiences and representations in a group of 30 Catholic priests and religious with a matched group of lay Catholics and with the worldwide normal distribution of AAI classifications. They found an overrepresentation of secure-autonomous states regarding attachment among those more likely to experience a principal attachment to God (i.e., the priests and religious) compared with the other groups and an underrepresentation of unresolved-disorganized states in the two groups of Catholics compared with the worldwide normal distribution. Key findings also included links between secure-autonomous states regarding attachment and estimated experiences with loving or nonrejecting parents on the one hand and loving God imagery on the other. These results extend the literature on religion from an attachment perspective and support the idea that generalized working models derived from attachment experiences with parents are reflected in believers' perceptions of God.     

In the eye of the beholder: subjective and observer ratings of middle-class African American mother-adolescent interactions

Middle-class African American mothers and adolescents (n=81) participated in a dyadic interaction task in early adolescence (M=13.06 years, SD=1.27) and then again 2 years later (M=15.01 years, SD=1.27). Following the task, mothers and adolescents rated their own and their partner's support and involvement in the task; observers rated videotaped interactions for the same dimensions. African American mothers perceived adolescents' behavior in the interactions more positively than did observers, and both mothers and observers viewed mothers' behavior as more positive than adolescents' behavior. With observers' ratings controlled, early adolescents' more negative perceptions of their mothers' interactions led to less trust and communication with mothers 2 years later, but subjective understanding did not influence later ratings of conflict intensity.     

青少年和母亲知觉的差异及其与青少年问题行为的关系

从辽宁辽阳市选取605名小学五年级至初中二年级、高中一年级至高中三年级学生及其母亲为被试,探讨青少年与其母亲对父母冲突知觉的差异,以及这种知觉差异与青少年问题行为的关系。要求青少年和其母亲分别报告父母过去一年中在10个方面的冲突频率,同时要求青少年报告自己在过去一年中20种问题行为的发生频率。研究发现：青少年对父母冲突的知觉明显比母亲消极,但是到了高中．两者知觉的差异不再明显;青少年与母亲在指向父母自身冲突方面的知觉差异大于指向孩子的父母冲突方面两者的知觉差异;青少年知觉到的父母冲突多于母亲知觉到的父母冲突的人数比例高于青少年知觉到的父母冲突少于母亲知觉到的父母冲突的人数比例;青少年与母亲对父母冲突知觉的差异会增加青少年出现问题行为的可能性。     

Marital conflict patterns: Links with family conflict and family members’perceptions of one another

The goal of this study was to explore the effects of marital conflict on conflict patterns in the family, and on family members’perceptions of one another. Sixty‐eight two‐parent families with adolescent twins participated, with parents reporting on the conflict patterns used by the marital dyad, and by themselves in interaction with each of their twins, and adolescent twins reporting on their interactions with each other. In addition, all four family members engaged in a videotaped decision‐making interaction and then made global ratings of each other on five dimensions. Links were obtained between marital conflict patterns and parent‐child conflict patterns, and between parent‐child conflict patterns and those used in sibling relationships. In contrast, marital conflict patterns were unrelated to sibling conflict patterns. Similarly, links were found between marital conflict and fathers’perceptions of their children, and between father‐child conflict and children's perceptions of each other. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical models of conflict resolution and the transmission of conflict patterns within the family.     

Adolescent Adjustment to Perceived Marital Conflict

The cognitive-contextual framework of Grych and Fincham (1990) and the emotional-security framework of Davies and Cummings (1994) were used to explore both the direct and indirect pathways between marital conflict and adolescent adjustment. Two hundred and three non-clinic adolescents (114 females and 89 males) from intact families completed self-report questionnaires concerning their adjustment behavior, perceptions of parental conflict, and attachment to parents and peers. Marital conflict was found to have a direct effect upon adolescent adjustment, with adolescents from high-conflict homes displaying greater adjustment difficulties. Indirect effects of conflict were evident through both the adolescents' cognitive appraisals of conflict, and the adolescents' perceptions of the parent-child relationship. Differential gender effects were obtained, highlighting the importance of adolescent gender as a mediating variable. These findings were used to propose that an integrated, cognitive-emotional framework might be necessary to fully understand the conflict/adjustment relationship.     

Southeast Asian immigrants' perceptions of good adolescents and good parents

The authors examined the extent to which Southeast Asian immigrant parents and adolescents agree on what it means to be a "good" parent and a "good" adolescent. Thirty-six parents and 37 adolescents of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese descent participated in a series of focus groups. Content analyses of their discussions showed that good adolescents were obedient, helpful around the house, and respectful to parents and elders, and good parents were those who provide for, nurture, and monitor children's activities. The findings suggest that ideas about good parents and good adolescents are influenced by both the parents' traditions and by adolescents' acculturation to American values.     

Adolescents' attachment representations and developmental tasks in emerging adulthood

The association between attachment representations and adolescents' coping with 3 developmental tasks of emerging adulthood-leaving home, advancing in the capacity for mature intimacy, and developing individuation-was examined. Israeli male adolescents (N = 88) were administered the Adult Attachment Interview during their high-school senior year. A year later, they and their friends reported on the adolescents' adjustment to mandatory military service. Three years later, participants and their parents reported on the adolescents' capacity for intimacy using an in-depth interview and on their individuation. An autonomous state of mind was associated with better coping with basic training and with a higher capacity for mature intimacy but was not associated with markers of individuation. The results highlight the importance of attachment representations in shaping an individual's developmental trajectory.     

Perceptions of the parent-adolescent relationship: a longitudinal investigation

A self-report measure of conflict and aspects of warmth in the parent-child relationship was completed by 1,330 11-year-old twins, 1,176 of whom completed the inventory again 3 years later. On average, adolescents' perceptions of the quality of the parent-child relationship declined consistently and moderately between age 11 and age 14. Conflict with parents increased, whereas all aspects of warmth decreased; changes were significantly greater for girls than boys. Variances increased with age, primarily because of increases in the magnitude of genetic effects. Heritability estimates ranged from .09 to .31 at intake and .35 to .45 at follow-up and tended to be higher for boys than girls. Changes in the parent-child relationship are interpreted as reflecting genotype-environment correlation processes whereby adolescents increasingly influence their relationships with their parents.     

Apples and Oranges: Divergent Meanings of Parents' and Adolescents' Perceptions of Parental Influence

This study examines the hypothesis that effective parental influence stems from the qualities of the parent-adolescent relationship rather than from explicit efforts to alter adolescents' behaviors. Adolescents' versus parents' perceptions of parental influence as predictors of parent-adolescent relationship quality and of adolescents' social functioning are examined using observational and multireporter data obtained from a sample of 167 adolescents (90 female, 77 male; age M = 13.34 years, SD = 0.65), their parents, and their same-sex peers. Analyses revealed that adolescents' and parents' perceptions of parental influence were uncorrelated with one another and were differentially related to qualities of adolescents' relationships with parents and friends. Adolescents' perceptions of high parental influence were linked to observations and self-reports of warm, supportive relationships with parents (particularly mothers). In contrast, parents' reports of high influence were linked to lower levels of adolescent autonomy with parents and friends and less relatedness with mothers and friends.     

The impact of maternal employment on children's perceptions of parents and personal development

This study assessed the impact of maternal employment on young adolescents' self-concept, school achievement, vocational development, and the perceptions of their parents. It also assessed the impact of maternal employment in nonintact homes. Multivariate F tests indicated no significant differences in the subjects' perceptions of either parent or in their educational and vocational development that could be attributed to maternal employment. Similar results were reported in nonintact families.     

Accurate and biased perceptions of responsive support predict well-being

The current research examined effects of accurate and biased perceptions of romantic partners’ responsive support provision on perceivers’ well-being. Perceivers discussed a personal problem with their romantic partners (“targets”). Perceivers’ perceptions of targets’ responsive support following the discussion were related to external indicators of targets’ behavior, but these perceptions also were predicted by perceivers’ sentiments toward targets, suggesting that processes underlying perceivers’ perceptions were a blend of both accuracy and bias. In addition, both accurately perceived and biased perceptions of targets’ responsiveness predicted perceivers’ personal well-being (i.e., affect, coping, self-efficacy) and interpersonal well-being (i.e., more positive sentiments toward targets) immediately after the support interaction, 2 weeks later, and 6 months later. Results suggest that accurate and biased cognition during interpersonal interactions can have important consequences for perceivers’ personal and interpersonal well-being through effects on perceived partner responsiveness.     

Generalized and specific attachment representations: unique and interactive roles in predicting conflict behaviors in close relationships

The authors expected that associations between the representations individuals possess regarding romantic partners and their conflict behavior would be moderated by generalized attachment representations (GAR). To test this premise, college students (N =130) were administered two attachment measures and were observed during conflict negotiation with their partners. The Relationship Styles Questionnaire assessed specific representations regarding partners and GAR were measured by the Adult Attachment Interview. The relationship between romantic partner representations and conflict tactics were dependent on GAR. Individuals who possessed secure GAR generally displayed good conflict management skills, regardless of their attachment representations regarding their romantic partners. Individuals who held more anxious or avoidant perceptions of romantic partners displayed more problematic conflict tactics if they possessed insecure GAR; however, these associations were dependent on the type of conflict behavior and the type of insecure GAR. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Interparental conflict and risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents: a cognitive-emotional model

This study used a cognitive-emotional model to examine the relations between multiple dimensions of interparental conflict and health risk behaviors among young adolescents. Participants were 151 Mexican American adolescents and their parents. At initial individual interviews, parents reported on conflict with their spouses, and adolescents reported on their parents' conflict, their appraisals of the conflict, their emotional distress, and their acculturation level. At 6-month follow-ups, adolescents reported on their risk behaviors, including substance use and sexual activity. In general, adolescents' acculturation level was not related to their risk behaviors. More frequent conflict, more conflict about the adolescent, more adolescent involvement in the conflict, and poor conflict resolution were related to greater emotional distress. More conflict about the adolescent, mothers being more demanding/dominating during conflict, and more adolescent involvement in the conflict were related to greater risk behaviors. Adolescents' cognitions mediated the link between two dimensions of parental conflict, frequency and resolution, and emotional distress. Adolescents' emotional distress mediated the association between adolescent involvement in parental conflict and adolescents' risk behaviors.     

Mind games: the mental representation of conflict

Perception and misperception play a pivotal role in conflict and negotiation. We introduce a framework that explains how people think about their outcome interdependence in conflict and negotiation and how their views shape their behavior. Seven studies show that people's mental representations of conflict are predictably constrained to a small set of possibilities with important behavioral and social consequences. Studies 1 and 2 found that, when prompted to represent a conflict in matrix form, more than 70% of the people created 1 of 4 archetypal mixed-motive games (out of 576 possibilities): Maximizing Difference, Assurance, Chicken, and Prisoner's Dilemma. Study 3 demonstrated that these mental representations relate in predictable ways to negotiators' fixed-pie perceptions. Studies 4-6 showed that these mental representations shape individuals' behavior and interactions with others, including cooperation, perspective taking, and use of deception in negotiation, and through them, conflict's outcomes. Study 7 found that the games that people think they are playing influence how their counterparts see them, as well as their counterparts' negotiation expectations. Overall, the findings document noteworthy regularities in people's mental representations of outcome interdependence in conflict and illustrate that 4 archetypal games can encapsulate fundamental psychological processes that emerge repeatedly in conflict and negotiation.     

Understanding marital conflict 7 years later from prenatal representations of marriage

We examine how representations of marriage, assessed prenatally, predict different types of marital conflict (cooperation, avoidance/capitulation, stonewalling, and child involvement in parental conflict) at 7 years postpartum (N=132 individuals). We assessed representations of marriage prenatally by interviewing spouses about their own parents' marriage, and then rated the content and insightfulness of their memories. Results show that marital representations characterized by higher insight predict higher cooperation and lower child involvement in parental conflict, whereas content of marital representations was not a significant predictor of marital conflict. Further, individuals who remember negative memories from their parents' marriage with high insight were lowest on child involvement in parental conflict, whereas those who remember negative memories with low insight were highest on child involvement in parental conflict. Finally, women who remember negative content with high insight report the highest cooperation, whereas women who remember negative content with low insight report the lowest cooperation. For men, however, marital representations were less effective in predicting later cooperation. We conclude that marital representations, even when assessed prenatally, influence certain types of marital conflict 7 years later. Using such findings, therapists could help spouses gain insight into how the memories of their parents' marriage relate to the use of specific conflict strategies in their marriage.     

The role of illness perceptions in the attachment-related process of affect regulation

Abstract

Based on the predictions of the attachment theory and the Common Sense Model of illness perceptions, the current study focused on the role played by illness perceptions in explaining the path linking attachment orientations to negative affect during recovery from cardiac illness. We predicted two putative mechanisms: (1) illness perceptions would mediate the direct association between attachment-related insecurity (especially attachment anxiety) and levels of distress at follow-up and (2) illness perceptions would interact with attachment orientations (attachment avoidance in particular) in explaining patients' distress. The sample consisted of 111 male patients admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit of the Meir Medical Center, located in the central region of Israel. Patients completed a measure of attachment orientations during hospitalization (baseline). One month later, patients' illness perceptions were measured. Patients' depression and anxiety symptoms were measured at baseline and at the six-month follow-up. The associations between attachment-related anxiety and anxiety symptoms at follow-up were fully mediated by illness perceptions. Attachment-related avoidance was found to interact with illness perceptions in the prediction of depressive symptoms at follow-up. The findings shed light on the possible dynamics among personality, cognitive appraisals, and affect regulation efforts when coping with illness.     

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of adolescent storm and stress: relations with parenting and teaching styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents and teachers differed in their views of adolescent storm and stress, and to examine the relations of these reported perceptions with parenting and teaching behaviors. Subjects were parents and teachers of middle and high school students in three school districts in the Midwest. Storm and stress beliefs were identified as parents' and teachers' perceptions of conflict, moodiness, and risk-taking behavior. Scales assessing classic/conforming and positive adolescent behaviors also were included. Self-report assessments of parenting and teaching were administered as well. Results indicated that whereas both parents and teachers held storm and stress beliefs, teachers maintained stronger perceptions than parents. Teachers also endorsed higher classic/conforming and lower positive behaviors than did parents. The results further indicated that parents' perceptions of storm and stress were related to their degree of parental responsiveness; but teachers' perceptions were not related to their teaching style. These results suggest that stereotypic beliefs of the adolescent period continue to be maintained, and that these may influence how adults interact with adolescents.     

Personal values as a mediator between parent and peer expectations and adolescent behaviors.

The current study examined the mediating role of adolescents' personal values on the relation between maternal and peer expectations for prosocial behaviors and adolescents' self-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors. One hundred thirty-four adolescents (mean age = 16.22 years, 54% girls) completed measures of their own values and behaviors, as well as their perceptions of the positive expectations that their mother and their best friend(s) had for their (the adolescents') prosocial behaviors. Stepwise regression analyses suggested that adolescents' personal prosocial values mediated the relation between adolescents' perceptions of both maternal and peer expectations and adolescents' prosocial behaviors. In addition, for boys, perceptions of positive peer expectations were directly and negatively related to antisocial behaviors. The current study has important implications for parents, educators, and practitioners who are concerned about promoting adolescents' positive behaviors and discouraging negative behaviors.     

Leaving home or still in the nest? Parent-child relationships and psychological health as predictors of different leaving home patterns

In this study, the author examines the patterns of leaving home in a sample of 93 participants and their parents. The quality of parent-child relationships, psychological symptomatology in adolescence and young adulthood, and attachment representation were assessed longitudinally from mid-adolescence to young adulthood. Attachment representation, adolescent autonomy, and parent-adolescent conflict were found to be important predictors of the timing of leaving home. In-time leavers were more securely attached and had been granted high autonomy during adolescence, compared with participants who had left home later or had returned to reside in the family home. Young adults with nonnormative leaving home patterns also showed higher percentages of insecure attachment representations and lower percentages of involvement with a romantic partner. Participants residing with their parents were, according to their parents' perceptions, less psychologically healthy.