Developmental changes in coping: situational and methodological influences

Previous studies on the development of coping have shown rather inconsistent findings regarding the developmental trajectories for different coping dimensions. The aim of this study is to search for possible influences that might explain these inconsistencies. The analysis focuses on methodological influences (longitudinal vs. cross-sectional assessments) and situational influences. Two samples of children were traced longitudinally with yearly assessments from grade 2 to 5 (sample 1, N =432) and from grade 4 to 7 (sample 2, N =366). A third sample (N =849) was added with cross-sectional assessments from grade 2 to 7. The assessed coping dimensions were related to (a) problem solving, (b) seeking social support, (c) palliative coping, (d) externalizing emotional coping, and (e) avoidant coping. The use of the coping strategies had to be assessed for six stress-evoking situations. The results show only small differences between the longitudinal and the cross-sectional coping assessments. There are, however, clear situational influences on the choice of the coping strategies and also on the resulting developmental trajectories.     

A two-year follow-up investigation of parenting and peer influences on tobacco use onset among Italian early adolescents

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of peer and family influences on tobacco use onset among Italian early adolescents at two-year follow-up. Participants were 161 adolescents aged 11 to 12 (M = 11.14, SD = 0.39; 49% female) living in the northwest of Italy. Multiple logistic regressions were used. Results indicated that increases in positive family climate were negatively associated with lifetime smoking among non-smokers at two-year follow-up. Additionally, parental knowledge of child daily activities decreased lifetime smoking at two-year follow-up. Moderation analyses revealed that parental knowledge reduced the effect of peers' influence on youth smoking onset at two-year follow-up. This study underlined the influence of parenting practices in preventing early smoking initiation in Italy.     

Self-critical perfectionism and daily affect: dispositional and situational influences on stress and coping

This study of university students (64 men and 99 women) examined both dispositional and situational influences of self-critical (SC) perfectionism on stress and coping, which explain its association with high negative affect and low positive affect. Participants completed questionnaires at the end of the day for 7 consecutive days. Structural equation modeling indicated that the relation between SC perfectionism and daily affect could be explained by several maladaptive tendencies associated with SC perfectionism (e.g., hassles, avoidant coping, low perceived social support). Multilevel modeling indicated that SC perfectionists were emotionally reactive to stressors that imply possible failure, loss of control, and criticism from others. As well, certain coping strategies (e.g., problem-focused coping) were ineffective for high-SC perfectionists relative to low-SC perfectionists.     

Effects of situational power on automatic racial prejudice

This study examined the influence of situational power on automatic racial prejudice. White females anticipated participating in either an interracial or same-race interaction in one of two roles: superior or subordinate. Their racial attitudes were measured via the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Results revealed that both the racial composition of the anticipated dyad and participants’ situational roles influenced automatic racial attitudes. Specifically, whites assigned to the high-power role of a superior of a black individual revealed more racial bias than whites assigned to the lower-power role of a subordinate. By contrast, situational power had no influence on the automatic bias of whites anticipating same-race interactions. These results reveal the manner in which situational power hierarchies serve to reinforce existing social stratification. Implications for diversity efforts and attitude change are discussed.     

Environmental and individual influences on Australian young adults' likelihood of attending university: a follow-up study

In this longitudinal study, which is a follow-up analysis of a previous investigation (K. Marjoribanks, 2002a), the author examined environmental and individual influences on the likelihood of Australian young adults attending university. Participants were 5,181 Anglo-Australian (parents born in Australia, English was the language of the family), 460 Asian, 699 English (parents born in England), 746 European, and 163 Middle Eastern students (M age = 14.7 years, when the study began). The analyses indicated that Asian, European, and Middle Eastern young adults were more likely to attend university than were young adults from Anglo-Australian and English families, and young women had higher odds of attending university than did young men. Family social status variations in the likelihood of university attendance could be explained by differences in individual characteristics and proximal learning environments. Adolescents' individual characteristics and proximal learning environments combined to have a large independent association with the decision to attend university.     

An 8-year study of multiple influences on drug use and drug use consequences

Multiple long-term influences on young adult drug use and abuse were tested within an interactionist perspective using latent-variable causal models. Intrapersonal influences included early drug use and social conformity. Proximal interpersonal influences were captured by perceived peer drug use, perceived adult drug use, and family disruption. More distal influences included perceptions of community approval or disapproval for drug use. Outcome measures included not only use of drugs but also disruptive drug use (getting high at work or school) and self-admitted problems with drugs. Data were obtained from 654 participants at three equally spaced time points during an 8-year longitudinal study that began when the subjects were in junior high school. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the adequacy of the hypothesized measurement model. Subsequently, a structural equation, or path model, was used to examine the across-time relations among the latent and manifest variables. Stability effects were found for all repeatedly measured latent variables across the 4-year spans. Social conformity strongly influenced other latent variables across time. Early drug use and perceived adult drug use were prominent predictors of young adult drug use, whereas prior drug use predicted disruptive drug use and a lack of social conformity predicted problems with drug use. Early adult alcohol use predicted later disruptive drug use and problems with drug use. Perceived adult drug use generally influenced later alcohol use, whereas peer drug use influenced later cannabis and hard-drug use. Implications for prevention and treatment using a multicausal interactionist perspective are discussed.     

Young adult outcome of children with "situational" hyperactivity: a prospective,controlled follow-up study

To examine the importance of symptom pervasiveness in ADHD, we conducted a prospective, 12-year follow-up study of boys (ages 6–12) considered hyperactive at school and home (Pervasive ADHD), boys considered hyperactive by teachers but not parents (School Only ADHD), boys considered hyperactive by parents but not teachers (Home Only ADHD), and nonhyperactive comparisons. Follow-up was completed on 82–94% participants. Clinicians interviewed participants and their parents, blind to childhood status. At follow-up, antisocial disorder was significantly more prevalent among Pervasive and School Only ADHD (29% for both) than Home Only ADHD (0%) and comparisons (8%). In a similar manner, severity of behavioral problems distinguished groups (Pervasive, School > Home, comparisons), as did educational attainment and academic performance (poorest for Pervasive and School). These findings stress the validity of teacher reports in the diagnosis of ADHD.     

Social information processing and sociometric status: Sex,age, and situational effects

Theoretically based measures of social information-processing patterns in specific situations were developed and administered to popular, average, socially rejected, and socially neglected girls and boys in the first, third, and fifth grades (total n=95). Measures included interpretations of peers' intentions, quantity and quality of responses generated to problematic stimuli, evaluations of responses, and enactments of particular responses. Three kinds of situations were generated empirically as stimuli: being teased, being provoked ambiguously, and initiating entry into a peer group. Deviant children (rejected and neglected) were found to respond deficiently compared to average and popular children, but only in the situation in which they were teased. Older children performed more competently than younger children in all three situations. Interactions among gender, sociometric status, and age also were found. Findings were interpreted as evidence of the elusiveness and complexity of social information-processing defects among low sociometric status children.The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the staff of the Monroe County Community School Corporation in the conduct of this research. This research was supported by an Indiana University doctoral dissertation grant and an Indiana University Women's Studies Grant awarded to the first author, and by NIMH Grant 37062 awarded to the second author. The authors wish to thank Steven R. Asher and Kenneth H. Rubin for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Familial influences on television viewing and aggression: A sibling study

Familial influences on aggressive behavior and TV viewing were investigated in a survey of adolescent siblings. Same-sex siblings resembled one another in aggression (brothers, r = 0.59; sisters, r = 0.52) and in their exposure to violent TV programs; opposite-sex siblings were dissimilar. Within individuals, the frequency of watching crime and action programs correlated nonsignificantly with aggression. Two other variables, however, were associated with aggression: identification with aggression and aggression consequences. These relationships also held up between families (BF, covariance of sibling' averages) and within families (WF, covariance of sibling' differences). The latter WF relationship indicated that one sibling was typically the more extreme on both aggression and its correlate than a brother or sister. These results were interpreted in light of behavioral genetic data that suggest substantial genetic influences, few common environmental influences, and large within-family environmental influences on personality development.     

Sex differences: A study of the ear of the beholder

Male and female adult Ss, while performing an unrelated task, heard a single infant awakening. The infant was labeled a girl or a boy. The dependent variable was how quickly Ss responded to the crying infant. Females responded more quickly to the girl than to the boy. Males responded equally slowly to boy and girl. A questionnaire on sex differences in fragility showed that females and males tend to disagree with the proposition that girls are more fragile than boys. Thus, the females' faster response to a crying girl cannot be accounted for by a belief in sex-differential fragility. Correlations between fragility beliefs and response times to an infant indicate that sex-differential belief-behavior relationships are not the same for males and females.     

Genetic and environmental influences on applied creativity: A reared-apart twin study

Applied creativity involves bringing innovation to real-life activities. The first reared-apart twin study assessing genetic and environmental origins of applied creativity, via Draw-a-House (DAH) and Draw-a-Person (DAP) tasks, is presented. Participants included 69 MZA and 53 DZA twin pairs from the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. Drawings were evaluated by four artists and four non-artists. Genetic effects were demonstrated for the DAP (.38–.47), but not for the DAH. Creative personality showed genetic effects (.50), and modest, but significant correlations with scores on the two drawings (rs = .17–.26). Both genetic and nonshared environmental influences underlie variance in applied creativity. Individuals concerned with enhancing creativity among students and others may better understand individual differences in performance and training.     

Achievement behavior: A situational interpretation

A situational interpretation of achievement behavior is proposed. This interpretation assumes that the reward contingencies of the immediate situation determine whether performance will be high or low. The results of four experiments supported the prediction that women and men will improve their performance if high achievement is associated with external rewards and will only decrease their performance when low achievement is associated with external rewards. In four additional experiments it was shown that both women and men will describe themselves as high in intellectual ability or as low in ability as a direct function of external rewards contingencies. The differences between situational and personality interpretations of achievement behavior are discussed, as well as the viability of the concept of fear of success and internalized sex roles as explanatory constructs.     

A study of motivational influences on academic achievement

This study examined the influence of motivation on academic achievement. The theoretical rationale for the study is grounded in bridging two influential yet isolated literatures of motivation: goal setting theory and achievement goal theory. Although it is clear that academic performance should be influenced by assigned learning goals, surprisingly, goal setting theory has rarely been used as a theoretical framework to further our understanding of academic performance. College students enrolled in an introductory course were given assigned performance or assigned learning goals. Internal achievement goals were assessed and academic performance was measured. Results indicated that to ensure academic success the most advantageous goals a teacher should assign in a classroom are “assigned learning goals”. Additionally, the combination of internal mastery achievement goals and performance-approve achievement goals predicted academic performance, thereby supporting a multiple achievement goals perspective. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.     

Sex differences in attribution: A Norwegian study

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the effect of sex on actor and observer attributions of success and failure. It was predicted that, contrary to American results in similar studies, Norwegian males and females would tend to be largely similar in their attribution of success and failure. Only same-sex attributions were explored. Subjects were asked to attribute causality along a set of six standard causal dimensions. The results showed that sex had a relatively minor effect on attributions, compared to the effects of attributor role and task outcome. Only in their attributions of ability did men and women differ to some degree in that women were more likely to use lack of ability as an explanation for own failure. The study concludes that cross-cultural research is needed in order to better assess the normative impact on attribution.     

Achievement motivation and entrepreneurial success: A follow-up study

A seven-year follow-up study of agricultural entrepreneurs of high and low achievement motivation was conducted. The findings indicate that agriculture entrepreneurs with high n-Ach continue to increase their productivity more than their counterparts. In addition, the data lend support to the thesis that n-Ach is stable over time.     

Sex of leader and subordinate role stress: A field study

This research examines the relationship between sex of leader and subordinate perceptions of two dimensions of role stress — role conflict and role ambiguity — as moderated by subordinate job level, age, and sex. Interaction effects for sex of leader also are investigated. Subjects are 184 supervisory and nonsupervisory employees of a psychiatric hospital. Results suggest that sex of leader does not significantly affect subordinate role conflict and role ambiguity. Most interactions were nonsignificant.