Fatherless adolescents' feelings about their mothers--a pilot study

Data from a study on feelings of Jerusalem high school students about their parents were used to explore fatherless adolescents' feelings about their mothers. Only eighteen such cases were found in this population and they were divided into two groups: twelve girls and six boys. The boys and the girls from two-parent families served as control groups. Statistical evaluation showed that fatherless adolescent girls perceived their mothers as significantly less benevolent (p less than 0.01) than girls from two-parent families of similar sociodemographic background. In the smaller group of boys no differences were found.     

Late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships

This study examined late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships. Participants were 88 European Americans (mean age = 19 years) who reported 3 self-defining memories of their choosing and were selected for the study because they reported a memory about parents and/or peers. Memory narratives were coded for themes of separation, closeness, and conflict and for 2 kinds of meaning: learning lessons and gaining insight. Parent memories emphasized separation more so than peer memories, which emphasized closeness. Within parent memories, however, separation and closeness were equally prevalent. Parent separation was exemplified by experiences of parental divorce, parent closeness by comforting a grieving parent, and peer closeness by episodes of first-time romance. Conflict was more prevalent in parent than peer memories and was associated with meaning-making. Findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of self-defining memories for illuminating contexts of relationship development in late adolescence and for understanding the emergence of identity and the life story.     

The interplay between parental behaviors and adolescents' sports-related values in understanding adolescents' dropout of organized sports activities

Using short-term longitudinal data, the primary goal of the present study was to examine the interplay between adolescents’ sports-related intrapersonal (e.g., sports values) and interpersonal factors (e.g., perceived parental involvement) in relation to sports dropout. A secondary goal was to explore the direction of effects in the association between intra- and interpersonal factors. A total of 420 adolescents (39% girls, M_age = 14.06; SD_age = 0.33) responded to a set of survey questions over two consecutive years. Results from structural equation modeling suggested that parental involvement predicted adolescents’ dropout one year later, via sports values. Further, the results suggested that the direction of influence is mainly from parents to adolescents. Overall, the findings indicate that adolescents whose parents attend their practices and games perceive sports activities as fun, important and useful; as a result, adolescents are less likely to dropout. The findings offer an improved understanding of how parents’ behaviors may influence adolescents’ dropout of organized sports.     

Life values of Finnish adolescents and their beliefs about the values of peers and adults

In the context of a longitudinal developmental study, 182 girls and boys (90 from Helsinki, 92 from North Karelia) were asked, at the ages of 15 and 18, about their life values and their beliefs about the values of their peers and of adults. The pattern of their own values, which were mainly concerned with human relations, self-actualization, and economic matters (at 15) or health (at 18), differed from those they believed to be characteristic of their peers and, especially, of adults. At 15, peers were often seen to value social success and to be comparatively tough; adults were considered to be oriented towards economic values. The differences between own values and beliefs about the values of others are discussed with reference to the pattern of communication between adolescents and their peers and adults; experienced expectations of peer groups; and adolescents' motivation to grow up into an adult world the (judged) values of which they only partly share.     

Younger and older adolescents' thinking about commitments

One hundred and sixty-three adolescents listed factors they consider or would consider when choosing a career and a romantic partner, and defined "commitment" in an open-ended essay. Male and female ninth graders, twelfth graders, and college juniors, from public and private schools served as subjects. Gender, grade, and type of school differences were found in the types and number of different types of factors listed for the above commitments, but not in the number of factors listed. Conceptions of the nature of commitment became more complex with grade, and differed as a function of gender and of type of school. Females listed more "internal" factors than did males for romantic commitments. Males described commitment more contractually, women more affectively. Older students focused more upon long-term and internal concerns, and defined "commitment" more in terms of cognitive processing and emotional attachment than younger students. Implications for related areas of work are discussed.     

Increasing mentally retarded adolescents' verbalizations about current events

The effects of antecedent and consequent events on the verbal behavior of three institutionalized mentally retarded adolescents were examined. Verbal statements, related to current national and international events, were recorded after exposures to television news programs. The study examined the accuracy of verbalizations as a function of: (1) exposures to television news presentations in massed (i.e., viewing the entire news program before an opportunity to describe it) versus distributed from (i.e., viewing each news item separately with each followed by an opportunity to describe it), and (2) contingent tokens and social praise for correct verbal responses (i.e., statements corresponding to news items presented). Both the temporal distribution of news presentations and the reinforcement procedures improved the accuracy of verbal statements emitted by the subjects.     

Suicidal adolescents' perceptions of their family environment.

This study examined the extent to which adolescents' perceptions of their family environments were associated with suicidal behavior. Fifteen suicidal adolescents, 14 psychiatric controls, and 14 normal controls rated their families on cohesiveness, adaptability, parent-adolescent communication, parental caring, and parental over-protectiveness. Suicidal adolescents rated their families as the least cohesive and most rigid of the 3 groups, suggesting that adolescent suicidal behavior may occur when isolation is experienced within an inflexible family system. Suicidal and psychiatric control adolescents rated their families as similarly dysfunctional along the remaining variables, and as more dysfunctional than families of normal control adolescents. The implications of these findings are discussed, and it is suggested that several characteristics commonly attributed to families of suicidal adolescents may actually be general risk factors for adolescent psychopathology, rather than for suicidal behavior specifically.     

Early adolescents' experiences with, and views of, Barbie

There has been a great deal of debate over the influence of Barbie dolls on girls' developing self-concept and body image. Two qualitative studies were conducted to gather information about early adolescents' experiences with, and perspectives on, the controversial toy. In Study 1, focus groups with twenty 6th-grade girls suggested that they have ambiguous feelings toward the doll and the feminine sexualized image it represents. Study 2 gathered essay responses from fifty 7th- and 8th-grade boys and girls regarding their experiences with, and opinions on, Barbie dolls. Participants reported both positive and negative feelings toward the doll and its influence on girls' development.     

Impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of values in Spain

The relationship of parenting styles with adolescents' outcomes was analyzed within a sample of Spanish adolescents. A sample of 1456 teenagers from 13 to 16 years of age, of whom 54.3% were females, reported on their parents' child-rearing practices. The teenagers' parents were classified into one of four groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful). The adolescents were then contrasted on two different outcomes: (1) priority given to Schwartz's self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence) and conservation (security, conformity, and tradition) values and (2) level of self-esteem (appraised in five domains: academic, social, emotional, family and physical). The results show that Spanish adolescents from indulgent households have the same or better outcomes than adolescents from authoritative homes. Parenting is related with two self-esteem dimensions--academic and family--and with all the self-transcendence and conservation values. Adolescents of indulgent parents show highest scores in self-esteem whereas adolescents from authoritarian parents obtain the worst results. In contrast, there were no differences between the priority given by adolescents of authoritative and indulgent parents to any of the self-transcendence and conservation values, whereas adolescents of authoritarian and neglectful parents, in general, assign the lowest priority to all of these values.     

Democracy begins at home: Democratic parenting and adolescents' support for democratic values

Although it is generally assumed that support for democratic values and beliefs develops as a result of social learning, the concrete socializing circumstances through which this occurs are less obvious. This study investigated the relationship between democratic family functioning and democratic values of adolescents. Adolescents' (N = 1,341, 16- to 17-year-olds) reports on their parents' psychological control, autonomy granting, warmth, and behavioural control were considered predictors of adolescents' democratic orientation. The results demonstrated that the democratic functioning of families was positively related to adolescents' support for democratic values when controlling for the effects of gender, political experience, authoritarianism, empathy, and political activism. Additionally, this study examined the possible role of empathy as a mediator in the relation between democratic family functioning and adolescent's democratic values. The results show that empathy was a partial mediator of a family's contribution to adolescents' democratic orientation.     

Preadolescents' and adolescents' online communication and their closeness to friends

The 1st goal of this study was to investigate how online communication is related to the closeness of existing friendships. Drawing from a sample of 794 preadolescents and adolescents, the authors found that online communication was positively related to the closeness of friendships. However, this effect held only for respondents who primarily communicated online with existing friends and not for those who mainly talked with strangers. The 2nd goal was to refine 2 opposing hypotheses, the rich-get-richer and the social compensation hypotheses. Consistent with the rich-get-richer hypothesis, socially anxious respondents communicated online less often than did nonsocially anxious respondents. However, socially anxious respondents perceived the Internet as more valuable for intimate self-disclosure than did nonsocially anxious respondents, and this perception in turn led to more online communication. This result is consistent with the social compensation hypothesis. Online communication and closeness to friends increased with age. There was a curvilinear relationship between age and perceived value of the Internet for intimate self-disclosure, such that 15-year-olds were at the epitome of online self-disclosure. Girls were closer to friends and more socially anxious than were boys.     

Maternal values and parenting and Estonian,German, and Russian adolescents' friendship satisfaction

The study examined the extent to which the sociocultural context shapes mothers' values and parenting patterns and moderates associations between adolescents' perceptions of mothers' acceptance and control and adolescents' friendship satisfaction. Questionnaire data were collected from a total of 834 Estonian, German, and Russian middle adolescents and their mothers. The findings indicated culture‐specific patterns and meanings of parenting. In all cultures, mothers who valued interdependence more highly considered children's social‐oriented characteristics more important. German and Russian maternal behavior was linked to their parenting goals. For instance, German mothers who considered adolescents' obedience more important were more controlling. Although boys and girls perceived mothers' behavior somewhat differently, maternal acceptance (but not control) predicted both boys' and girls' friendship satisfaction in all cultures.     

Parent-child communication about sex and young adolescents' sexual knowledge and attitudes

Previous studies indicate that adolescents whose parents talk to them about sex tend to be less sexually active and more likely to use an effective means of contraception. This study sought to determine the relationship between parent-child communication about sex and young adolescents' reproductive and contraceptive knowledge and sexual attitudes. Twenty-two 12- to 14-year-olds and their parents completed sexual-knowledge, sexual-attitude, and contraceptive-choice questionnaires. Families were divided into high-communication and low-communication groups. There were no significant differences in the sexual knowledge, attitudes, or contraceptive choices of the children in the two groups, but the correlation between parents' and children's sexual attitudes in the high-communication group was significantly higher than that of the low-communication group. Although this was a correlational study, it seems likely that the similarity in sexual values was the result of parent-child discussion about sex.     

The role of peer groups in male and female adolescents' task values and physical activity

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the role of peer groups and sex in adolescents' task values and physical activity. The participants were 330 Finnish Grade 6 students (173 girls, 157 boys), who responded to questionnaires that assessed physical education task values during the spring semester (Time 1). Students' physical activity was assessed one year later (Time 2). The results indicated that adolescent peer groups were moderately homogeneous in terms of task values toward physical education and physical activity. Girls' peer groups were more homogeneous than those of boys in regards to utility and attainment values. Furthermore, the results for both girls and boys showed that particularly intrinsic task value typical for the peer group predicted group members' physical activity. The findings highlight the important role of peer group membership as a determinant of future physical activity.     

Family contexts, individualism-collectivism, and adolescents' aspirations for their futures

Relations were examined among family contexts, parents' individualistic-collectivistic value orientations, and adolescents' aspirations. Data were collected from 456 Australian families using two surveys when the subjects were 11 and 16 years old, respectively. Findings indicated that family ethnicity had large associations with parents' individualistic-collectivistic value orientations, but that these orientations were not associated with adolescents' aspirations, after taking into account differences in family contexts.     

Significant others: Italian adolescents' rankings compared with their parents.

In a study of social context in which adolescents live from an intergenerational perspective, the purpose was comparison of significant others of the generation of Italian adolescents (n = 595) and their parents' recalled others significant during adolescence (397 fathers and 416 mothers). Analysis showed the predominance of parents and above all the mother as the most significant others for both generations during adolescence. Further, today's adolescent generation attributed less importance to other unrelated adults than their parents recalled.     

Seeds of wisdom: adolescents' knowledge and judgment about difficult life problems

The present study examined adolescents' wisdom-related knowledge and judgment with a heterogeneous sample of 146 adolescents (ages 14-20 years) and a comparison sample of 58 young adults (ages 21-37 years). Participants responded to difficult and ill-defined life dilemmas; expert raters evaluated these responses along 5 wisdom criteria. Our findings confirmed that in contrast to adulthood, adolescence is a major period for normative age-graded development in knowledge about difficult life problems. Adolescents performed at lower levels than young adults but also demonstrated substantial age increments in performance. As expected, adolescents' performance varied as a function of criterion and gender. These results hold implications for research on adolescent development and for the development of wisdom-related knowledge and judgment.     

An investigation of Taiwanese early adolescents' views about the nature of science

This study developed a Pupils' Nature of Science Scale, including the subscales of the invented and changing nature of science, the role of social negotiation on science, and cultural context on science, to assess early adolescents' views about the nature of science. More than 6,000 fifth and sixth graders in Taiwan responded to the Scale. The study revealed that the adolescents had quite different perspectives toward different subscales of the nature of science. Moreover, male adolescents tended to express more constructivist-oriented views toward the nature of science than did their female counterparts. The adolescents of different grades and races also displayed varying views toward the nature of science.     

Intergenerational transmission of values: family generativity and adolescents' narratives of parent and grandparent value teaching

In this longitudinal study, we compared family stories told by 32 Canadian adolescents at ages 16 and 20 about how parents and grandparents had taught them values. Relations to parents' and children's levels of generativity were also examined. Adolescents' stories of grandparent value teaching were less readily recalled and less interactive in their content compared with stories about parents. Stories of value teaching by more generative parents were more likely to involve specific episodes, to be more interactive, to be more likely to emphasize caring content, and to be less likely to have their message rejected by the teens. Similarly, when parents were more generative, adolescents' stories about grandparents' value teaching were also more likely to involve specific and interactive episodes. Finally, stories told about parents and grandparents that were more positive on these dimensions predicted higher generative concern scores for the adolescents themselves, measured subsequently at age 24. Adolescents' stories about parent and grandparent socialization in more generative family contexts thus have features that suggest a more compelling process of intergenerational value transmission.     

The influence of parent negative emotional expression on adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with their parents

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parent affective expression in interactions and adolescent perceptions of their relationship. Observational and self-report data were collected on 85 intact families with adolescents in grades 5 to 9 (n = 44 males, 41 females). Each parent and adolescent took part in two 8-minute conversations–one about an activity they reported enjoying together and one about a disagreement or area of conflict. Conversations were coded on a speaker turn basis for positive, negative, neutral, mixed, and altered affect (kappa = .76). Physical maturation was related to adolescent perceptions of increased negative communication quality in all parent-adolescent dyads. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that expression by fathers of negative and mixed affect significantly predicted adolescent perceptions of communication quality, psychological autonomy, and firm/lax control, in addition to the effects of adolescent pubertal maturation. Mother affective expression in interactions was less consistently related to adolescent perceptions of relationship satisfaction. Implications for the salience of father versus mother affective expression in interactions with adolescents are discussed.