WOMEN'S RESPONSES TO UNWANTED SEXUAL ADVANCES: THE ROLE OF ALCOHOL AND INHIBITION CONFLICT

In this study we investigated how alcohol consumption affects women's responses to unwanted sexual advances in a hypothetical dating situation. Sixty female social drinkers participated in a 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment, which examined the effects of moderate alcohol intoxication and relationship characteristics on behavioral responses to unwanted sexual advances. Hypotheses were tested regarding the influence of inhibition conflict on intoxicated participants. As predicted, intoxicated women were more likely than sober women to consent to their dating partner's sexual advances in high conflict situations. Additionally, alcohol consumption increased women's estimated likelihood of responding passively. These findings aid in explicating the relationship between alcohol consumption and women's increased vulnerability to sexual assault.     

Reciprocal influences between parents' marital problems and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior

The present study examines reciprocal associations between marital functioning and adolescent maladjustment using cross-lagged autoregressive models. The research involved 451 early adolescents and their families and used a prospective, longitudinal research design with multi-informant methods. Results indicate that parental conflicts over child rearing predicted adolescent depressive symptoms and delinquency. In turn, these adolescent problems exacerbated parental conflicts over child rearing. Furthermore, conflict over child rearing served as the nexus through which more generalized marital dissatisfaction and adolescent adjustment problems were reciprocally interrelated. This research replicates earlier observations that marital problems intensify adolescent maladjustment and extends the literature by demonstrating that adolescent problems also predict marital conflict and ultimately marital dissatisfaction. In sum, the present study demonstrates that marital dissatisfaction, conflict over child rearing, and early adolescent adjustment difficulties are interwoven in a dynamic family system marked by reciprocity along these dimensions.     

Adaptations to Ovulation

ABSTRACT— In socially monogamous species in which males heavily invest in offspring, there arises an inevitable genetic conflict between partners over whether investing males become biological fathers of their partners' offspring. Humans are such a species. The ovulatory-shift hypothesis proposes that changes in women's mate preferences and sexual interests across the cycle are footprints of this conflict. When fertile (mid-cycle), women find masculine bodily and behavioral features particularly sexy and report increased attraction to men other than current partners. Men are more vigilant of partners when the latter are fertile, which may reflect evolved counteradaptations. This adaptationist hypothesis has already generated several fruitful research programs, but many questions remain.     

Psychological predictors of young adults' drinking behaviors

Path analyses using data from 72 men and 78 women between 22 and 32 years of age compared two models linking personality (conflict resolution styles, intimacy maturity, and occupational identity status) and social roles (family and work status) to young adults' alcohol use. Poor conflict resolution skills and less adult work statuses best accounted for men's excessive drinking, and problems with intimacy best accounted for women's use of alcohol to alleviate emotional distress. In addition, poor conflict resolution skills partly mediated the effects of parent's drinking on son's alcohol consumption. Occupational identity status and intimacy maturity correlated with men's use of drugs rather than men's alcohol use.     

Maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms and family conflict: An autoregressive cross-lagged examination of competing models in multi-stressed mothers and adolescents

Maternal and adolescent depression are challenges that often co-occur. Many studies have drawn bivariate associations between maternal depressive symptoms, adolescent depressive symptoms, and family conflict, but few have examined reciprocal effects. Even among extant studies, there is a lack of clarity related to directionality of influence. Three competing theoretical models may explain the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms, adolescent depressive symptoms, and family conflict, and these processes may differ by adolescents’ sex. Using three time points of data from 187 diverse mother-adolescent dyads, we fit a taxonomy of autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models to simultaneously evaluate the competing theoretical models and also examine differences by sex using multiple-group analyses. Results indicate a symptom-driven model whereby adolescent depressive symptoms predicted increases in family conflict. Sex differences were also found. For males, but not females, greater adolescent depressive symptoms predicted subsequent increases in maternal depressive symptoms, which then predicted lower family conflict—possibly indicating maternal disengagement/withdrawal. Our findings suggest addressing adolescent depressive symptoms in order to prevent family conflict and that distinctive targets for the prevention/intervention of family conflict should account for differences by adolescents’ sex.     

Associations Between Maternal Mental Health and Child Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Does Prenatal Mental Health Matter?

This study examined associations between elevated symptoms of prenatal depression or anxiety and offspring emotional and behavioral problems during mid to late childhood taking into account the impact of later maternal mental health symptoms. The sample consisted of 2,891 women and their children (49 % male) from a prospective, community-based study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Women completed measures of depressive (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and anxious (Crown Crisp Experiential Index) symptoms at regular intervals beginning in pregnancy. Mothers and teachers assessed offspring emotional and behavioral problems using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire when children were 10–11 years old. Multivariable regression models were fit to address study hypotheses. Exposure to elevated symptoms of maternal depression during pregnancy was associated with increased total offspring emotional and behavioral problems, even after controlling for later maternal mental health problems and a range of sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics, according to mothers’ but not teachers’ reports. Similarly, children exposed to elevated symptoms of maternal anxiety during pregnancy were reported to have increased total emotional and behavioral problems by mothers but not by teachers. We found support for modest associations between elevated symptoms of maternal depression and anxiety during the prenatal period and certain domains of offspring emotional and behavioral problems in mid to late childhood above and beyond the impact of later maternal mental health problems. These findings highlight the need for additional clinical and research attention to the prenatal period and to both maternal depression and anxiety.     

Mothers’ and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Family Environment and Adolescent Social-Emotional Functioning

Research has emphasized the importance of the relationship between family functioning and adolescent behavioral development. The present study examines family environment and social-emotional functioning of primarily minority adolescents, viewed from both adolescents’ and mothers’ perspectives. Participants were a school-based sample of adolescents with and without risk for emotional and behavioral disabilities and their mothers (N = 86 dyads). Results suggested an association between the mothers’ views of their adolescent children’s problem behaviors and the adolescents’ self-ratings of risk-taking behaviors across 5 years. Overall, mothers of the at risk youth receiving special education services reported higher ratings of youth problem behaviors, but results also indicated that mothers of the at risk adolescent boys not receiving special education services perceived greater depressive symptoms in their children and more family conflict in their homes. Mothers of youth at risk but not receiving special education services experienced higher levels of stress associated with being a parent than mothers of the not-at-risk adolescents. The parent measures of adolescent behavior and depressive symptoms, family conflict, and parental stress were not predictive of the social-emotional functioning of these adolescents in the multilevel models. Implications of these findings for early identification and family focused intervention programs are discussed.     

Characteristics of children of alcoholics: putative risk factors, substance use and abuse, and psychopathology.

A sample of 253 children of alcoholics (COAs) and 237 children of nonalcoholics (non-COAs) were compared on alcohol and drug use, psychopathology, cognitive ability, and personality. COAs reported more alcohol and drug problems, stronger alcohol expectancies, higher levels of behavioral undercontrol and neuroticism, and more psychiatric distress in relation to non-COAs. They also evidenced lower academic achievement and less verbal ability than non-COAs. COAs were given Diagnostic Interview Schedule alcohol diagnoses more frequently than non-COAs. The relation between paternal alcoholism and offspring alcohol involvement was mediated by behavioral undercontrol and alcohol expectancies. Although gender differences were found, there were few Gender X Family History interactions; the effects of family history of alcoholism were similar for men and women. When gender effects were found, they showed greater family history effects for women.     

Family Support and Conflict: Prospective Relations to Adolescent Depression

The relations between family support, family conflict, and adolescent depressive symptomatology were examined longitudinally in a sample of 231 female and 189 male adolescents and their mothers. Structural equation models revealed that less supportive and more con-flictual family environments were associated with greater depressive symptomatology both concurrently and prospectively over a 1-year period. Conversely, adolescent depressive symptomatology did not predict deterioration in family relationships. Depressive symptomatology and, to a greater extent, family characteristics showed high levels of stability over the 1-year period. Counter to our expectations, the relations between family variables and depressive symptomatology were similar for boys and girls. The results suggest that the quality of family interactions is relevant for understanding the development of depressive symptoms in adolescents.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Parental and Children’s Depressive Symptoms in the Context of Interparental Relationship Functioning

Using longitudinal, multi-informant data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study tested associations between trajectories of parental and child depressive symptoms from ages 11 to 15 years. Consistent with predictions, changes in mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptoms were positively associated with change in children’s depressive symptoms over time. In addition, youth characteristics of sex and pubertal development moderated the trajectories, with children more advanced on pubertal development showing higher initial levels of depressive symptoms, and girls demonstrating steeper slopes of depressive symptoms over time. The context of interparental relationship functioning (i.e., marital conflict, marital conflict resolution) moderated both the trajectories of child depressive symptoms and the interplay between parental and child depressive symptoms in ways largely consistent with hypotheses. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of treating youth depressive symptoms with a consideration of the broader family context, including parental and interparental functioning.     

Community violence, family conflict, and preschoolers' socioemotional functioning

This study examined the relations among family conflict, community violence, and young children's socioemotional functioning and explored how children's social cognition and mothers' psychological functioning may mediate the outcomes associated with this exposure. Mothers of 431 Head Start preschoolers completed questionnaires about their family demography, exposure to community violence, family conflict, and children's distress symptoms. Children were administered a social cognition assessment, and teachers rated their behavior. Results showed that mothers' reports of children's co-witnessing of community violence were positively associated with police department crime rates, children's distress symptoms, and teachers' ratings of aggression. A path analysis revealed that children's social awareness and mothers' depressive symptoms partially mediated the effects of community violence and family conflict on outcomes for children.     

Caregiver depressive symptoms and observed family interaction in low-income children with persistent asthma

This study examined the relationship between caregiver depressive symptoms and observed parenting behaviors and family processes during interactions among 101 urban, low-income Africtan American families with children with persistent asthma. Caregivers (primarily female) were assessed on four dimensions (i.e., warmth/ involvement, hostility, consistent discipline, relationship quality) in three videotaped interaction tasks (loss, conflict, cohesion). The results indicated that increased depressive symptoms were significantly associated with lower warmth/involvement and synchrony scores and greater hostility scores during the loss and conflict tasks. In the total sample, the highest levels of hostility and the lowest levels of warmth/involvement were found for the conflict task; nevertheless, caregivers with moderate/severe depressive symptoms showed a significantly greater increase in hostility from the loss to the conflict task than caregivers with minimal/mild depressive symptoms. The findings highlight the salience of considering task content in family observational process research to expand our understanding of depressed and nondepressed caregivers abilities to modulate appropriately their behaviors and affect across various family interactions. Implications for improving asthma management for low-income children with persistent asthma are discussed, including the utility of multidisciplinary interventions that combine asthma education with family therapy.     

Tightly linked systems: reciprocal relations between maternal depressive symptoms and maternal reports of adolescent externalizing behavior

The frequently observed link between maternal depressive symptoms and heightened maternal reporting of adolescent externalizing behavior was examined from an integrative, systems perspective using a community sample of 180 adolescents, their mothers, fathers, and close peers, assessed twice over a 3-year period. Consistent with this perspective, the maternal depression-adolescent externalizing link was found to reflect not simply maternal reporting biases, but heightened maternal sensitivity to independently observable teen misbehavior as well as long-term, predictive links between maternal symptoms and teen behavior. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted relative increases over time in teen externalizing behavior. Child effects were also found, however, in which teen externalizing behavior predicted future relative increases in maternal depressive symptoms. Findings are interpreted as revealing a tightly linked behavioral-affective system in families with mothers experiencing depressive symptoms and teens engaged in externalizing behavior and further suggest that research on depressive symptoms in women with adolescent offspring should now consider offspring externalizing behaviors as a significant risk factor.     

家庭压力源影响青少年抑郁体验:冗思的中介机制

采用方便抽样法从山东某初中和某高中抽取570名学生做问卷调查,考察家庭压力源对青少年抑郁体验的影响,特别是冗思作为应对方式的中介作用。路径分析的结果显示:(1)家庭冲突和父母期望均显著正向预测抑郁体验,且家庭冲突的预测作用更强,家庭规范对抑郁体验的预测作用不显著;(2)家庭冲突和父母期望均显著正向预测青少年冗思,家庭规范对冗思的预测作用不显著;(3)冗思显著正向预测抑郁体验;(4)冗思在家庭冲突与抑郁体验之间以及父母期望与抑郁体验之间均起中介作用。总体来看,冗思是家庭压力影响青少年抑郁体验的内部机制之一。     

Parental Separation and Children's Behavioral/Emotional Problems: The Impact of Parental Representations and Family Conflict

In this longitudinal study, we examine whether the effect of parental separation on kindergarten children's behavioral/emotional problems varies according to the level of family conflict, and children's parental representations. One hundred and eighty seven children were assessed at ages 5 and 6. Family conflict was assessed using parents' ratings. Children's parental representations were assessed using a story-stem task. A multiinformant approach (parent, teacher, child) was employed to assess children's behavioral/emotional problems. Bivariate results showed that separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations were associated with children's behavioral/emotional problems. However, in multivariate analyses, when controlling for gender and symptoms at age 5, we found that children of separated parents who showed negative parental representations had a significantly greater increase in conduct problems between 5 and 6 than all other children. In terms of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity, symptoms at 5 and (for hyperactivity only) gender were the only predictors for symptoms 1 year later. Our results suggest that kindergarten children's representations of parent-child relationships moderate the impact of parental separation on the development of conduct problems, and underline play and narration as a possible route to access the thoughts and feelings of young children faced with parental separation.     

Undesirable Effects of Working While in College: Work-School Conflict,Substance Use,and Health

Inter-role conflict occurs when the demands of one area of an individual's life interfere with the responsibilities of another area. Although a large body of research exists on the health effects of the inter-role conflict between work and family (work-family conflict or WFC), far less exists on the inter-role conflict between work and school (work-school conflict or WSC). Given that over two-thirds of college students have outside employment while enrolled in classes, and the potentially negative effects of WSC, a further understanding of WSC is an important part of supporting student health and well-being as well as the health and well-being of the workforce. This study analyzed data from 2,055 participants drawn from a Web-based survey of four geographically and ethnically diverse educational institutions across the United States. Participants reported their current employment characteristics as well as their alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use, depressive symptomatology, and physical health. Participants with higher WSC reported higher levels of substance use and depressive symptomatology and worse physical health. Further analyses revealed the pattern of results to be consistent with the notion that the subjective experience of conflict between work and school created an aversive psychological state, and that state impacted substance use and health.     

Demanding kin relations and depressive symptoms among low-income African American women: mediating effects of self-esteem and optimism

Association of demanding kin relations, depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and optimism was assessed among 130 low-income African American women. Demanding relations with kin were positively associated with depressive symptoms and negatively linked to self-esteem and optimism. Self-esteem and optimism were negatively associated with depressive symptoms and mediated the association of demanding relations with kin and women's depressive symptoms. Findings were discussed in terms of the detrimental effects of demanding social relations with kin and the possible role that other relationships may play in compensating for poor relations with extended family.     

Protective behavioral strategies and the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students

Approximately 40% of college students reported engaging in heavy episodic or "binge" drinking in the 2 weeks prior to being surveyed. Research indicates that college students suffering from depression are more likely to report experiencing negative consequences related to their drinking than other students are. The reasons for this relationship have not been well-studied. Hence, the purpose of this study was to determine whether use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS), defined as cognitive-behavioral strategies an individual can use when drinking alcohol that limit both consumption and alcohol-related problems, mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences among college students. Data were obtained from 686 participants from a large, public university who were referred to an alcohol intervention as a result of violating on-campus alcohol policies. Results from structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related negative consequences. Implications for clinicians treating college students who report experiencing depressive symptoms or consuming alcohol are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Family and childhood adjustment in cystic fibrosis

Family adaptation has been commonly associated with the psychological adjustment of chronically ill children. However, few studies have attempted to systematically evaluate this association and its relationship to illness severity. We studied 44 children ages 7 to 15 and their families at a large cystic fibrosis center and obtained measures of 1) impact of illness on the family; 2) family functioning; 3) behavioral adjustment; 4) social competence; 5) ratings of anxiety, depressive, and eating disorder symptoms; and 6) ratings of illness severity and duration. Impact of illness on the family and overall family dysfunction were significantly correlated with illness severity, but not duration. However, impact of illness on the family was significantly correlated with internalizing behavioral symptoms, while family dysfunction was correlated with depressive symptomatology. These findings suggest that illness-related stress is primarily reflected in general emotional and behavioral symptoms, with familial adaptation either ameliorating or exacerbating their development into depressive symptomatology.     

Parent–Teen Interactions as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents with Headache

This study investigated parent–adolescent conflict, family functioning, and adolescent autonomy as predictors of depressive symptoms in adolescents with primary headache. Frequent headaches during adolescence can have a negative impact on activity levels and psychological functioning. Depression is particularly prevalent in adolescents with headache but little research has examined the role of parent–teen interactions in predicting depressive symptoms. Thirty adolescents diagnosed with migraine or chronic daily headache completed self-report measures of pain intensity, parent–adolescent conflict, family functioning, and depression. Adolescents and their parents also participated in three videotaped interaction tasks, scored by independent raters to assess adolescent autonomy. Regression models revealed that pain intensity, parent–adolescent conflict, and autonomy predicted depressive symptoms. Higher levels of conflict, poorer family functioning and lower levels of autonomy were associated with more depressive symptoms. This study highlights the association between parent–teen interactions and psychological functioning in adolescents with primary headache. Implications for intervention are discussed.