Stepparents’ Attachment Orientation,Parental Gatekeeping,and Stepparents’ Affinity-Seeking with Stepchildren

Remarried stepfamilies are a sizable portion of American families; in a 2011 Pew Center survey, 42% of respondents reported at least one stepfamily member. Family clinicians and researchers suggest that stepparents’ ability to develop close bonds with stepchildren may be critical to the well-being of couple and family relationships. Using actor-partner interdependence models to analyze dyadic data from 291 heterosexual remarried stepfamily couples, we explored factors related to stepparents’ efforts to befriend their stepchildren. Specifically, we evaluated how remarried parents’ gatekeeping and stepparents’ perceptions of their attachment orientations were associated with their own and their spouse's perceptions of stepparents’ affinity-seeking behaviors. Securely attached stepparents and stepparents with anxious attachment orientations engaged more frequently in affinity behaviors than did stepparents with avoidant attachment orientations; there was no difference between securely attached and anxious stepparents. Stepparents’ reports of parents’ restrictive gatekeeping were strongly and negatively associated with both stepparents’ and parents’ reports of stepparent affinity-seeking (actor and partner effects). Parents’ reports of their own restrictive gatekeeping were also negatively (but more weakly) associated with parents’ reports of stepparent affinity-seeking. Implications for families, clinicians, and relationship researchers and theorists are discussed.     

Stepfamily Relationship Quality and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Problems

The stepfamily literature is replete with between‐group analyses by which youth residing in stepfamilies are compared to youth in other family structures across indicators of adjustment and well‐being. Few longitudinal studies examine variation in stepfamily functioning to identify factors that promote the positive adjustment of stepchildren over time. Using a longitudinal sample of 191 stepchildren (56% female, mean age = 11.3 years), the current study examines the association between the relationship quality of three central stepfamily dyads (stepparent–child, parent–child, and stepcouple) and children's internalizing and externalizing problems concurrently and over time. Results from path analyses indicate that higher levels of parent–child affective quality are associated with lower levels of children's concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1. Higher levels of stepparent–child affective quality are associated with decreases in children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 2 (6 months beyond baseline), even after controlling for children's internalizing and externalizing problems at Wave 1 and other covariates. The stepcouple relationship was not directly linked to youth outcomes. Our findings provide implications for future research and practice.     

Structural complexity and the quality of stepfather-stepchild relationships

This research examined the effects of structural complexity and sex of stepchild on the quality of stepfather-stepchild relationships. Sixteen simple stepfather families (the wife had custody of a child from a previous marriage, but the stepfather has no biological children) and 16 complex stepfather families (the wife had custody of a child from a previous marriage, and the stepfather was a noncustodial biological parent) with half of each type (N = 8) having a male and half having a female, 9-12-year-old target child participated in a multimethod-multimeasure assessment of the stepfather-stepchild relationship. Families were recruited from marriage license records, and data collection was accomplished in a single three-and-a-half-hour home visit. Dependent variables included: (a) questionnaire measures of love and detachment relationship dimensions independently obtained from parents, stepparents, and (step)children, and (b) proportions of positive and negative stepparent and stepchild communication behaviors derived from videotaped interaction tasks. Findings revealed that simple and complex stepfather families did not differ on any questionnaire or behavioral measures. Girls, however, engaged in a lower proportion of positive verbal and greater proportion of negative problem-solving behaviors toward their stepfathers than boys did. Stepfathers did not differ on proportions of communication behaviors emitted toward boys and girls. No sex-of-child differences were obtained on the questionnaire measures. Directions for future research on structural complexity and stepfather families are discussed.     

A Typology of Interactional Patterns Between Youth and Their Stepfathers: Associations with Family Relationship Quality and Youth Well‐Being

Stepfamilies are an increasingly common family form, many of which are headed by a resident mother and stepfather. Stepfather–child relationships exert notable influence on stepfamily stability and individual well‐being. Although various stepfather roles have been observed, more research is warranted by which stepfather–child interactions are explored holistically and across a variety of life domains (e.g., recreational, personal, academic, and disciplinary). Thus, the primary purpose of the current study is to explore varying interactional patterns between youth and their stepfathers. A latent class analysis is conducted using a representative sample of 1,183 youth (53% female; mean age = 15.64 years, SD = 1.70 years; 62% non‐Hispanic White) residing in mother–stepfather families from Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Latent‐class enumeration processes support a four‐class solution, with latent classes representing inactive, academically oriented, casually connected, and versatile and involved patterns of youth–stepparent interaction. Notable differences and similarities are evident across patterns with respect to family relationship quality, youth well‐being, and socio‐demographic characteristics. Differences are most stark between the inactive and versatile and involved patterns. Ultimately, the results showcase notable variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns, and one size does not necessarily fit all stepfamilies. Family practitioners should be mindful of variation in youth–stepparent interactional patterns and assist stepfamilies in seeking out stepparent–child dynamics that are most compatible with the needs and dynamics of the larger family system.     

Task complexity,student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL,and task performance

Background. The study deepened our understanding of how students’ self‐efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine‐tuned task‐specific level. Aim. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self‐efficacy beliefs, domain‐related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Sample. Participants were 120 second‐year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. Method. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants’ prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self‐efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post‐tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self‐efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self‐efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self‐efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Conclusions. Our findings indicate that students’ prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self‐efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self‐efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use.     

Relationships among self‐construal,gender, social dominance orientation,and interpersonal distance

The present research focuses on the cognitive embodiment of physical proximity, through interpersonal distance’s relationship with self‐construal, gender, and social dominance orientation. Previous work showed that more independent self‐construal was associated with higher distancing preferences of participants, and that females tend to have higher interdependent self‐construal that lead them to prefer less interpersonal distance. We expected to replicate these findings. However, due to the relationship between power and interpersonal distance, it was argued that gender and perceptions regarding the social hierarchy would also play a role in predicting interpersonal distance. More specifically, it was predicted that while females who accept social hierarchies between males and females would prefer more distance when interacting with males, males would not differ in their preference for social distance. One hundred participants (67 female) completed the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance Scale, Independent and Interdependent Self‐Construal Scales and the Social Dominance Orientation Scale. Interdependent self‐construal was negatively correlated with overall preferred interpersonal distance. Moreover, females high on social dominance orientation preferred larger interpersonal distance from male adult strangers than from female adult strangers. The findings provide further support for the embodiment of self‐construal by showing that psychological closeness and heteronomy are related to physical closeness. The findings also highlight the importance of investigating communal sharing and authority ranking dimensions simultaneously when focusing on interpersonal distance as well as differentiating females’ interpersonal sensitivity due to low power with their high affiliation.     

Children’s Post-Divorce Living Arrangements and School Engagement: Financial Resources,Parent–Child Relationship,Selectivity and Stress

Children’s post-divorce living arrangements have become increasingly heterogeneous the past decades, because of the rise in shared residence and stepfamily formation. This study investigates how post-divorce living arrangements (i.e. the combination between residential arrangement and stepparent presence) are related to children’s school engagement. The focus is put on different explanations of the relation between living arrangements and school engagement, namely financial resources, parent–child relationship, selectivity and stress. Structural equation models are performed on a sample of children with divorced parents from the Leuven Adolescent and Family Study data 2008–2011 (n?=?1630). First, the results show that stepfamilies have higher financial resources than single-parent families, but these higher financial resources are not directly related to children’s school engagement. Second, parent–child relationship is an important mediator between post-divorce living arrangements and school engagement. The results suggest that shared residence is related to a better fatherchild relationship and in this manner improves school engagement. The relation between stepparent presence and the parent–child relationship is less straightforward, and the findings suggest that the combination of residential arrangement, stepfather and stepmother presence should be taken into account. Third, children’s sociodemographic characteristics, time since divorce and level of pre-divorce conflict function as selection mechanisms, as they are related to both post-divorce living arrangements and children’s school engagement. Finally, the findings indicate that the complexity of multiple part-time residential figures is stressful to children. This may partially counterbalance the benefits of such systems, via the better parent–child relationship and the higher financial resources.     

The positive and negative semantic dimensions of relationship satisfaction

Semantic differential items were reconfigured to assess relationship satisfaction across separate positive and negative attitude dimensions. Study 1 (N = 1,656) supported a 2‐factor model for the Positive and Negative Semantic Differential (PN–SMD), as well as its convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity over the 16‐item Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; J. L. Funk & R. D. Rogge, 2007) using known correlates of relationship satisfaction as criteria. Study 2 (N = 89) replicated the convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity findings of Study 1 using different criterion measures, the CSI, a bipolar semantic differential measure designed for assessing relationship satisfaction, and an existing 2‐dimensional measure of relationship satisfaction. The authors demonstrated across studies that the PN–SMD captures criterion‐relevant information about ambivalence versus indifference toward the relationship—associations that are only detectable when using a 2‐dimensional satisfaction measure.     

Emotional intelligence and health‐related quality of life in institutionalised Spanish older adults

This study explores the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of Spanish older adults who are institutionalised in long‐term care (LTC) facilities. One hundred fifteen institutionalised individuals (47.82% women; 88.3 ± 7.9 years) from southern Spain completed a set of questionnaires that included measures of EI, health and personality. Data were analysed via hierarchical regression. After controlling for personality and sociodemographic variables, the EI dimensions, emotional comprehension and emotional facilitation, accounted for part of the variance in several HRQoL facets. These dimensions could have an important role in the HRQoL of residents in LTC. Moreover, the use of a performance measure addresses the limitations of previous studies that have relied on self‐report measures. These aspects underscore the importance of the results of this study.     

Introducing the Expectations and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT): Development,Psychometric Evaluation,and Suggested Use in Practice and Research

While it is known that client factors account for the largest proportion of outcome variance across treatment modalities, little is known about how clients’ characteristics affect the process and effectiveness of couple therapy. To further knowledge in this area, we created a brief, practice‐friendly measure, the Expectation and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT). Three self‐report scales assess clients’ Outcome expectations (e.g., I expect our relationship to improve as a result of couple therapy) and role expectations for Self (e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns) and Partner (e.g., I expect my partner to blame me). Three Cognitive‐Behavioral, Emotionally Focused, and Family Systems preference scales use a forced‐choice format to measure the comparative strength of respondents’ preferences for interventions broadly reflective of each approach. A large item pool was developed from relevant literature and clinical experience and refined based on face and content analyses with two panels of experienced couple therapists and researchers. Across four studies with 1,175 participants, the scales’ internal consistency reliabilities were similar and their construct validity was supported with confirmatory factor analyses and significant correlations with several established measures, including expectation measures developed for individual psychotherapy and measures of attitudes toward professional help seeking and valuing personal growth. Across all studies, participants had stronger role expectations for themselves than their partners, although gender effects differed by sample. We discuss how to use the 15‐item EPSCT in clinical practice and in future research as a predictor of couple therapy processes and outcomes.     

Remarriage As A Trigger of Parental Alienation Syndrome

Maladaptive efforts to adjust to remarriage can provoke or exacerbate parental alienation syndrome. The remarried parent, the other parent, the stepparent, and the child each may contribute to the disturbance. Underlying dynamics include jealousy, narcissistic injury, desire for revenge, the wish to erase the exspouse from the child’s life in order to “make room” for the stepparent, competitive feelings between the exspouse and stepparent, the new couple’s attempt to unite around a common enemy and avoid recognition of conflicts in the marriage, the child’s attempt to resolve inner conflict, and parent-child boundary violations. These dynamics are discussed and suggestions for treatment are offered.     

Police interview competencies: assessment and associated traits

The present study empirically examines the structure of police interview competencies in self‐reports of 230 police investigators suggesting five major underlying dimensions, that is, ‘Careful‐tenacious’, ‘Controlled‐non‐reactive’, ‘Dominant‐insisting’, ‘Communicative’ and ‘Benevolent’. These dimensions discriminate performance in a series of interview vignettes, grouped in terms of type of case (interviewing a suspect, a witness or a victim) and type of suspect. In addition self‐ratings on these dimensions are related to self‐estimated interview effectiveness in the same vignettes. Participants are further administered the NEO PI‐R (Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Professional manual: Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) and NEO five‐factor‐inventory (NEO‐FFI). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources), enabling an examination of the relationship between the competence dimensions and their personality trait building blocks. The implications of this study for the development and coaching of police interview competencies are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Spanish version of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) adult attachment questionnaire

A Spanish adaptation of the Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) measure of the 2 dimensions of adult attachment (K. A. Brennan, C. L. Clark, & P. R. Shaver, 1998) was created using a back‐translation procedure. Called the ECR‐S, the new scale displays the same 2‐factor structure as the English‐language ECR in both university and community samples and is reliable in both the internal consistency and the temporal stability senses. In a sample of married and cohabiting couples, the 2 subscales of the ECR‐S, anxiety and avoidance, are orthogonal and correlate with other theoretically appropriate variables (scores on K. Bartholomew and L. M. Horowitz’s, 1991, measure of adult attachment style, relationship status, and various dimensions of love and couple satisfaction). Cross‐cultural differences between American and Spanish results are briefly discussed.     

The influence of personal,relational, and contextual factors on forgiveness communication following transgressions

The way that individuals adapt to stress in their romantic relationships plays a major role in determining relational satisfaction. This study used the Vulnerability‐Stress‐Adaptation Model as a framework to examine how individuals adapt to a relational transgression in their romantic relationships. This study examined individuals' attachment dimensions and perceived relational equity as factors that influenced how they used forgiveness strategies following a relational transgression. The results revealed that both attachment dimensions and perceptions of relational equity inform our understanding of the strategies that individuals use to communicate forgiveness to a romantic relationship partner. Furthermore, the results suggest that the communication of forgiveness has important implications for relational satisfaction.     

The Performance Effects of Outcome-Based Incentive Pay Plans on Sales Organizations: A Contextual Analysis

The contextual role of sales volatility, the complexity of customers’ purchase decisions, and the level of monitoring on the performance impact of incentives are examined. Results reveal that the use of an incentive plan is positively related to all three dimensions of organizational performance. This relationship is moderated positively by the customers’ purchase decisions and negatively by sales volatility and monitoring. In addition, the contextual role of sales volatility, the complexity of customers’ purchase decisions, and the level of monitoring differ according to the performance measure used. Implications of the findings are presented, followed by limitations and future research directions.     

An association between mothers’ speech clarity and infants’ speech discrimination skills

The quality of speech directed towards infants may play an important role in infants’ language development. However, few studies have examined the link between the two. We examined the correlation between maternal speech clarity and infant speech perception performance in two groups of Mandarin‐speaking mother–infant pairs. Maternal speech clarity was assessed using the degree of expansion of the vowel space, a measure previously shown to reflect the intelligibility of words and sentences. Speech discrimination in the infants (6–8 and 10–12‐month‐olds) was measured using a head‐turn task. The results show that mothers’ vowel space area is significantly correlated with infants’ speech discrimination performance. Socioeconomic data from both parents show that the result cannot be attributed to parental socioeconomic factors. This study is correlational and therefore a causal relationship cannot be firmly established. However, the results are consistent with the view that maternal speech clarity directly affects infants’ early language learning.     

Searching hard versus searching smart: The role of search process quality in an internship context

Based on a self‐regulatory approach, we propose that students searching for an internship following a high‐quality process will show greater search success. In a sample of 191 Belgian final year students looking for an internship, the quality of students’ search process was positively related to both self‐reported and objective search outcomes, beyond the mere intensity of their search. Specifically, reflection related positively to students’ satisfaction and perceived fit with their internship, as well as to organizations’ assessment of students’ internship performance. Planning related positively to the speed of finding an internship. Furthermore, the four search process quality dimensions explained incremental variance in these outcomes beyond a unidimensional measure of metacognitive activities, supporting the added value of our multidimensional approach.     

Effects of similarity of life goals,values, and personality on relationship satisfaction and stability: Findings from a two‐wave panel study

Using data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; n = 3,674 heterosexual couples), this study examines the impact of partners’ individual levels and dyadic similarity concerning life goals, values, and personality traits on relationship satisfaction and union dissolution. Controlling for partners’ individual characteristics and for relationship duration, it was found that similarity on specific dimensions and stereotype‐adjusted profile correlations exerted significant yet small positive effects on both partners’ relationship satisfaction. These effects largely translated into beneficial indirect effects on union dissolution 1 year later (Wave 2, n = 2,820). Moderator analyses indicated the existence of some effect heterogeneity across relationship duration and types. Generally, partners’ respective individual characteristics appeared to predict relationship outcomes better than dyadic similarity measures.     

Transparency of Assessment Centers: Lower Criterion‐related Validity but Greater Opportunity to Perform?

Assessment centers (ACs) are popular selection devices in which assessees are assessed on several dimensions during different exercises. Surveys indicate that ACs vary with regard to the transparency of the targeted dimensions and that the number of transparent ACs has increased during recent years. Furthermore, research on this design feature has put conceptual arguments forward regarding the effects of transparency on criterion‐related validity, impression management, and fairness perceptions. This study is the first to examine these effects using supervisor‐rated job performance data as the criterion. We conducted simulated ACs with transparency as a between‐subjects factor. The sample consisted of part‐time employed participants who would soon be applying for a new job. In line with our hypothesis, results showed that ratings from an AC with nontransparent dimensions were more criterion valid than ratings from an AC with transparent dimensions. Concerning impression management, our results supported the hypothesis that transparency moderates the relationship between self‐promotion and job performance, such that self‐promotion in the nontransparent AC was more positively related to job performance than self‐promotion in the transparent AC. The data lent no support for the hypothesis that participants’ perceptions of their opportunity to perform are higher in the transparent AC.     

Differential Associations Between Psychopathy Dimensions,Types of Aggression,and Response Inhibition

Findings on executive functioning in psychopathy are inconsistent. Different associations between psychopathy dimensions and executive functioning might explain contradicting findings. This study examined the role of psychopathy dimensions and types of aggression in response inhibition among 117 male adolescents (53 antisocial delinquents and 64 controls). Participants completed a self‐report measure of aggression and a GoNoGo task. Psychopathy dimensions were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. Although high scores on the antisocial dimension and reactive aggression were associated with poor response inhibition, the affective–interpersonal dimension, proactive aggression, and verbal intelligence (IQ) were related to better response inhibition (two‐factor model). Associations with the affective–interpersonal dimensions did not reach significance. Exploratory analyses showed that affective and antisocial facets accounted for the obtained opposing associations of the affective–interpersonal and antisocial psychopathy dimensions with response inhibition. The interpersonal and lifestyle facets (four‐facet model) were unrelated to response inhibition. Results could not be explained by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Findings suggest differential associations between the psychopathy dimensions, types of aggression, and response inhibition. Therefore, a dimensional approach to psychopathy and related concepts, such as aggression, might strongly improve diagnostic procedures. Global scores could mask important differential associations. Aggr. Behav. 38:77‐88, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.