Community Influences on Adjustment in First Grade: An Examination of an Integrated Process Model

We examined the impact of neighborhood characteristics both directly and indirectly as mediated by parent coaching and the parent/child affective relationship on behavioral and school adjustment in a sample of urban dwelling first graders. We used structural equations modeling to assess model fit and estimate direct, indirect, and total effects of neighborhood structural and social characteristics on parenting behavior and child outcomes. Observed physical incivilities in the neighborhood were associated with lower levels of parent eliciting behavior and higher levels of child behavior problems. The effects of neighborhood structural characteristics were mediated partially through neighborhood community involvement with children, which had a direct significant impact on parent eliciting behavior and an indirect effect on child behavior problems. Neighborhood community involvement with children was associated with higher levels of parent eliciting behavior and lower levels of child behavior problems. Observed physical incivilities had a significant indirect association with poor school adjustment and a marginally significant association with positive school adjustment to first grade. Neighborhood community involvement with children was more strongly associated with positive school adjustment than poor school adjustment.     

父母消极抚养方式与父母冲突和青少年社会适应的关系

以720名小学、初中和高中生为被试,采用问卷法,探讨父母消极抚养方式与父母冲突和青少年社会适应的关系,并检验父母消极抚养方式在父母冲突与青少年适应间的中介作用。结果发现：（1）与孩子有关的父母冲突显著多于与父母自身有关的冲突,初中生报告的两种冲突显著多于小学生;母亲消极抚养显著多于父亲,父母对男生的消极抚养显著多于女生,父母对初中生的消极抚养显著多于小学生;青少年的抑郁、学习问题较多,在抑郁、不良行为上存在显著的性别主效应,女生抑郁多于男生,男生的不良行为多于女生。在抑郁、学习问题和不良行为上存在显著年级主效应,初、高中生的抑郁、学习问题和不良行为显著多于小学生;（2）与孩子或父母有关的冲突越多,父母消极抚养越多;（3）父母消极抚养越多,青少年抑郁、不良行为、学习问题越多;（4）父母消极抚养在父母冲突与青少年社会适应中起部分中介作用。     

Mediating effects of family social support on child psychological adjustment in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

This study assessed the mediating effects of social support on psychological adjustment in children having to cope with the ongoing chronic strain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Disease activity, family social support, and peer social support were entered into hierarchical multiple regression analyses to statistically predict internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Family social support was a statistically significant predictor of child psychological adjustment for both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, accounting for 22% of the variance in each. These findings are consistent with the stress-social support-psychological adjustment relationship that has received empirical attention in studies on physically healthy children. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for primary and secondary prevention efforts for those chronically ill and handicapped children who are at increased risk for psychological adjustment problems.     

Negative emotionality,attachment quality,and behavior problems in early childhood

Negative emotionality, as well as attachment security and disorganization, are seen as major contributors to social adjustment and maladjustment in childhood. However, relatively little is known about whether infant negative emotionality and attachment quality operate together to affect developing behavior problems. The present study thus aims to contribute to this question. Participants were 64 healthy firstborn children and their primary caregivers. Negative emotionality was assessed at the infant ages of 4, 8, and 12 months using laboratory routines. At 18 months, the Strange Situation procedure was conducted to assess infant attachment security and disorganization, and at 30 months, the child's behavior problems were assessed within a structured clinical interview. Attachment security and attachment disorganization were significantly associated with subsequent behavior problems. There was no significant relation between infant negative emotionality and behavior problems. However, there were indications of a stronger association between attachment disorganization and behavior problems in infants high in negative emotionality. The results underpin the importance of attachment quality as well as negative emotionality in social adjustment. Disorganized attachment precedes poor adjustment, especially in infants high in negative emotionality.     

儿童社会生活适应量表的编制与应用

本研究编制的儿童社会生活适应量表具有较高的信度和效度,该量表包含五个因素:亲社会行为、居家、生活自我管理、情绪监控和社会交往。我国儿童的社会生活适应总体上存在显著的性别差异,具体体现在亲社会行为、居家、生活自我管理、情绪监控方面,女生显著高于男生。从年级的发展趋势看,儿童社会生活适应总体上呈上升趋势,他们的社会生活适应能力在不断增强。     

Optimism and coping as determinants of psychosocial adjustment to rheumatoid arthritis

Psychosocial adjustment in 66 patients with chronic rheumatoid arthritis, with a mean duration of 12 years with the disease, were evaluated in a prospective design, with 62% of the sample followed up 16 months later. It was predicted that dispositional optimism would predict adjustment over time and that perceived support and perceived control would be related to psychosocial adjustment at the time of concurrent measurement. At Time 1, psychosocial adjustment was associated with greater optimism and perceived support and less disability. Optimism at Time 1 was the only significant predictor of changes in adjustment at Time 2 controlling for Time 1 adjustment and Time 2 disability. It was found that optimism temporally precedes increases in psychosocial adjustment. In terms of coping strategies, wishful thinking was related to poorer social adjustment, whereas problem-focused coping was marginally related to positive adjustment. Neither coping strategy predicted adjustment across time. Optimism at Time 1 did predict problem-focused coping at Time 2. Perceived social support regarding a specific circumstance at a given point in time enables one to persist in solving a task. Interventions to enhance the quality of life of individuals coping with progressive deteriorative disease must look at the influence of their behavior and attitude on those who provide care for them.     

Impact of interpersonal problem-solving training on preschoolers' social competency

In order to test Shure and Spivack's theoretical position that a child's ability to verbally generate solutions to interpersonal problems and think about their consequences is directly related to the child's behavioral adjustment, preschoolers were tested on verbal problem-solving skills and their classroom behavior was rated by their teachers. Further, their behavior was observed by independent observers. No significant relationship between problem-solving skills and behavior was found. Following assessment, 54 of these children completed an 11-week training program, designed by Shure and Spivack, to improve their ability to think through and verbally generate solutions to interpersonal problems and to examine the possibility of mediation of such training to behavioral improvement. Preschoolers' ability to verbally generate alternative solutions to problems significantly increased due to training, however, this increase did not have an ameliorative effect on behavioral adjustment.     

母亲元情绪理念与学前儿童社会适应的相互作用关系

采用追踪设计对438名学前儿童母亲进行问卷调查研究,主要探讨了母亲元情绪理念与学前儿童社会适应的相互作用关系。交叉滞后分析结果表明：（1）相邻两次测量的母亲各元情绪理念之间,社会适应各指标之间均具有中等程度的稳定性;（2）同一时间点的母亲各元情绪理念与儿童社会适应各指标之间均显著相关;（3）母亲元情绪理念与儿童社会适应之间部分存在着相互作用关系：控制了变量自身的连续性后,前测的母亲情绪教导显著正向预测后测的儿童敏感合作;前测的母亲情绪不干涉显著正向预测后测的儿童愤怒攻击、焦虑退缩行为;反过来,前测的儿童敏感合作能正向预测后测的母亲情绪教导,显著负向预测情绪不干涉、情绪摒除和情绪紊乱;前测的焦虑退缩能显著正向预测后测的母亲情绪摒除和情绪紊乱。     

Wrapping community-based mental health services around children with a severe behavioral disorder: An evaluation of project wraparound

During the past two decades there has been a significant increase in community-based mental health and educational services for children and youth with serious emotional and behavioral problems and their families. However, in the vast majority of programs there are no reliable longitudinal data on the adjustment of the children that are served. Project Wraparound was a community-based individualized treatment program which served children and youth with severely maladjusted behavior and their families by providing intensive home and school-based services. The purpose of this paper is to provide a longitudinal analysis of client and family adjustment data. Data on client adjustment within the home and characteristics of the home environment were obtained at intervals of 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. Data on client adjustment in school was obtained at four points over a period of 2 years. The results from 19 cases indicate that substantial change occurred on measures of the home environment and client adjustment in the home with no significant change in adjustment in the school. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Perceived similarity, proactive adjustment, and organizational socialization

The present study explores how perceived demographic and attitudinal similarity can influence proactive behavior among organizational newcomers. We propose that newcomers who perceive themselves as similar to their co-workers will be more willing to seek new information or build relationships, which in turn will lead to better long-term adjustment. Results from a three-wave field investigation of newcomer proactive behavior show that newcomer perceptions of surface-level similarity to the rest of the work group in education and gender increased proactive adjustment behavior. Contrary to our expectations, perceived similarity in terms of age decreased proactive adjustment behavior—in other words, newcomers who were significantly different from their co-workers in age engaged in more proactive adjustment behaviors. Deep-level similarity in terms of work style was associated with higher levels of role clarity, but this relationship was not mediated by proactive adjustment behavior.     

Adjustment problems experienced by children during cross-cultural orientation: a pilot study.

A study was undertaken to investigate the adjustment problems of children aged 8-10 years when they relocated from their native countries to Vienna, Austria. There was a moderate correlation between anxiety and adjustment to changes in the physical and material environment and a significant correlation between anxiety and changes in social support systems. Adjustment to changes in parental behavior and changes in language demands both showed a low negative correlation with anxiety. Children who had spent the least time in Vienna showed greater evidence of anxiety and stress than did children who had lived in the city for at least 1 year.     

Socioemotional functioning of creative preschoolers

This study investigated the relationship between original thinking and socioemotional characteristics of 40 preschoolers, ranging in age from 44 to 68 mo. (M = 56.2 mo.). Socioemotional behavior was assessed by teachers on two ratings, the Kohn Social Competency and the Child's Behavior Traits scales. Creative potential was assessed by the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure which measures ideational fluency. Contrary to expectations, no statistically significant differences in psychosocial adjustment were found between the more and less creative preschoolers on a median split. A significant effect for sex was detected on six of seven socioemotional variables examined, with girls scoring higher than boys on over-all adjustment. Similarly, more positive attributes of preschool girls are indicated in areas of functioning that traditionally have been reported to be characteristic of boys.     

Prediction of early social and academic adjustment of children from the inner city

Investigated predictors of five measures of early school adjustment for an ethnically diverse cohort of 683 inner-city kindergartners and first graders. Data from 2 consecutive years were collected from teachers, school records, and children. A multiple-regression preduction model significantly explained children's competence behavior, problem behavior, reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and school absences. Prior adjustment and sociodemographic factors explained a majority of the variance in adjustment. Perceived quality of parent involvement was signifcantly related (in the expected direction) to all five outcomes. Exposure to life events was significantly associated in the expected direction with competence behavior, problem behavior, and school absences but not with reading and mathematics achievement. Together, parent involvement and life-event variables explained as much as 12% of the variance in adjustment independent of sociodemographic and prior adjustment factors. The role of family and school factors in the adjustment of children at risk is discussed [corrected].     

THERAPIST DEFENSIVENESS AND MARITAL THERAPY PROCESS AND OUTCOME

Abstract

This study examined the effect of couple socioeconomic status (SES); pretherapy marital adjustment; and therapist, husband, and wife defensiveness during the third session of marital therapy on posttherapy marital adjustment. Participants were 22 therapists and 88 couples. Each therapist treated 4 couples, 2 from the middle SES level and 2 from the lower SES level. Path analyses revealed that for husbands higher marital satisfaction before therapy was associated with higher adjustment at the end of therapy, but defensive therapist behavior during therapy was associated with lower posttherapy adjustment. A similar pattern was found for wives, but this should be interpreted with caution owing to potential dependencies in the wives' posttherapy adjustment scores. Neither SES nor pretherapy adjustment predicted therapist defensive behavior in therapy, and SES did not predict marital therapy outcome variance. Results suggest that therapist defensive behavior may reflect a style or characteristic of some marital therapists.     

Fleeting Signs of the Course of Life: Facial Expression and Personal Adjustment

In this article, we consider whether facial expressions of emotion relate in theoretically interesting ways to personal adjustment. We first consider the conceptual benefits of this line of inquiry. Then, to anticipate why brief samples of emotional behavior should relate to personal adjustment, we review evidence indicating that facial expressions of emotion correspond to intrapersonal processes and social outcomes. We then review studies showing that facial expressions relate in theoretically significant ways to adjustment after the death of a spouse, in long-term relationships, and in the context of chronic psychological disorders.     

Is personal growth initiative associated with later life satisfaction in Chinese college students? A 15‐week prospective analysis

Personal growth initiative (PGI) is presumed to foster positive change leading to positive psychological adjustment. Accordingly, in this study we examined PGI as a predictor of life satisfaction 15 weeks later in a sample of 152 Chinese college students. Time 1 PGI was found to explain a significant amount of unique variance in Time 2 life satisfaction, even after controlling for Time 1 life satisfaction and Time 2 PGI. Specifically, (lower) intentional behavior and planfulness at baseline emerged as significant predictors of later life satisfaction. No evidence was found indicating that life satisfaction at Time 1 accounted for any significant amount of unique variance in PGI processes at Time 2, after controlling for baseline PGI processes and concurrent life satisfaction. Overall, the present findings are the first to demonstrate the importance of PGI as a prospective predictor of positive psychological adjustment in adults.     

Longitudinal Behavioral and Academic Adjustment in Children with HIV Infection

This study investigated; the behavioral adjustment and academic status of children with HIV infection through serial evaluations over a ten-year period. The parents of children were assessed with Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist Parent Forms and the children were administered the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement at regular intervals as part of their treatment in the HIV Program of a children’s hospital. Children with HIV were found to have behavioral adjustment within normal limits over time. Aggressive behavior was noted to decrease over time. Academic achievement mirrored IQ status, unlike other studies, which have reported poorer achievement than expected for IQ. Math skills appeared to improve over time. Thus, these findings suggest children with HIV infection did not show significant behavioral disturbance across time, however, aggressive behavior appeared to decrease. Academic achievement was stable over time.     

Relations between self-serving cognitive distortions,psychopathic traits,and antisocial behavior in a non-clinical sample of adolescents

The aim of the present study was to assess the relative contributions self-serving cognitive distortions and psychopathic traits to adolescent antisocial behavior. Participants were 972 high-school students who completed self-report questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that self-serving cognitive distortions, psychopathic traits, as well as their interaction term were significant predictors of antisocial behavior in both genders after adjustment for the main other cognitive, psychopathological and sociofamilial variables. High levels of self-serving cognitive distortions were associated with more extensive antisocial behavior among participants with higher scores on psychopathic traits. This result may have implications for prevention and treatment.     

Relations between self-serving cognitive distortions, psychopathic traits, and antisocial behavior in a non-clinical sample of adolescents

The aim of the present study was to assess the relative contributions self-serving cognitive distortions and psychopathic traits to adolescent antisocial behavior. Participants were 972 high-school students who completed self-report questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that self-serving cognitive distortions, psychopathic traits, as well as their interaction term were significant predictors of antisocial behavior in both genders after adjustment for the main other cognitive, psychopathological and sociofamilial variables. High levels of self-serving cognitive distortions were associated with more extensive antisocial behavior among participants with higher scores on psychopathic traits. This result may have implications for prevention and treatment.     

父母元情绪理念与儿童社会适应：父母情绪反应的中介作用

采用追踪设计对459名儿童的父母进行问卷调查，旨在考察父母元情绪、情绪反应与儿童社会适应的复杂作用关系。研究结果表明：（1）在控制了前测儿童敏感合作后，父亲的问题关注反应在父亲的情绪教导和儿童的敏感合作之间起中介作用；（2）在控制了前测儿童社会适应后，母亲的鼓励表达在母亲的情绪教导和儿童的违纪攻击、害羞焦虑之间起中介作用，母亲的问题关注反应在母亲的情绪教导和儿童的敏感合作之间起中介作用，母亲的苦恼反应在母亲的情绪教导、情绪摒除和儿童的敏感合作、害羞焦虑之间起中介作用。