Parental Attachment and Adolescents' Perception of School Alienation: The Mediation Role of Self-Esteem and Adjustment

The present study examined the relationship between adolescents' attachment to parents and their feelings of alienation in the school context by considering the mediating role of adjustment and self-esteem. It was proposed that the degree of attachment to one's parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, which in turn predicted possible school alienation. A total of 227 students completed self-report measures on parental attachment, adjustment, self-esteem, and alienation from school. Results were consistent with the attachment theory and related literature that posits that (a) secure attachment to parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, (b) secure attachment to parents was negatively associated with feelings of school alienation, and (c) adjustment and self-esteem were a crucial mediators between attachment to parents and school alienation. In addition to enhanced adjustment, the self-esteem of adolescents may be an additional factor in reducing alienation at school. The results also supported the mediator role of self-esteem in the relationship between attachment to parents and adjustment. Finally, the relationship between self-esteem and school alienation were shown to be fully mediated by adjustment. The results were discussed in the context of responsibilities of teachers and school counselors, which may provide both students and parents with the skills to improve social functioning in the school context.     

Parental self-esteem and behavior problems in children: Similarities between mothers and fathers

The relationship between parental self-esteem and behavior problems in children was investigated using 1624 married couple's responses from the National Survey of Families and Households. The sample was weighted to be nationally representative in terms of race and ethnicity. It was hypothesized that the existence of behavior problems among children would be associated with low self-esteem among parents and that the parent's gender, child's gender, parents' gender role attitudes, and parental employment would moderate this relationship. The results indicated that parental self-esteem is negatively associated with behavior problems in children. However, none of the moderating variables had a significant impact. This suggests that the relationship between parental self-esteem and behavior problems among children is robust and does not vary appreciably with the gender of the parent, the gender of the child, the attitudes of the parent, or the employment of the parent.     

Interpersonal influences on adolescent materialism: A new look at the role of parents and peers

What causes adolescents to be materialistic? Prior research shows parents and peers are an important influence. Researchers have viewed parents and peers as socialization agents that transmit consumption attitudes, goals, and motives to adolescents. We take a different approach, viewing parents and peers as important sources of emotional support and psychological well-being, which increase self-esteem in adolescents. Supportive parents and peers boost adolescents' self-esteem, which decreases their need to turn to material goods to develop positive self-perceptions. In a study with 12–18 year-olds, we find support for our view that self-esteem mediates the relationship between parent/peer influence and adolescent materialism.     

A tale of two countries: Singaporean and Chinese parents' emotion socialisation during childhood and the relation to adolescents' emotion regulation

This study examined the conceptualisation of Singaporean and Chinese parents' emotion socialisation in childhood and the relation to adolescents' emotion regulation with 601 adolescents aged 12–15. For both Singaporean and Chinese parents, we examined the factorial structure underlying six parental reactions to children's negative emotions, and the relations between the established factors with adolescents' cognitive reappraisal and response suppression. The findings revealed differences in the conceptualisation of parental reactions for Singaporean and Chinese parents, with the three- and four-factor models indicating good fit, respectively. For Singaporean parents, the factor comprising Expressive Encouragement, Emotion-Focused and Problem-Focused reactions was positively correlated with male adolescents' cognitive reappraisal, and the factor comprising Punitive and Distress Reactions was positively related to female adolescents' response suppression. For Chinese parents, the Expressive Encouragement factor was positively correlated with male adolescents' cognitive reappraisal. These findings on cultural differences in the factors underlying parental reactions and their relations with adolescents' emotion regulation support the emotion competency framework for understanding parents' emotion socialisation across cultures.     

Effect of peer presence on adolescents' risk-taking is moderated by individual self-esteem: An experimental study

Prior research suggests that the presence of peers increases adolescents' risk-taking. However, it is not clear whether the effect of peer presence is moderated by individual characteristics such as self-esteem, since individuals with low self-esteem are more susceptible to peer influence theoretically. The present study examined this problem using an adapted Stoplight Game in an experiment. A final sample of 140 adolescent students aged 14–18 (M = 16.25 ± 0.73 years, 61 girls), divided into two groups—low self-esteem and high self-esteem, according to their self-esteem scores, completed a risk-taking task either alone or in the presence of a same-sex peer. The results indicated that peer presence increased adolescents' risk-taking, specifically for those with low self-esteem, while those with high self-esteem were not affected by peer presence. The findings are helpful for our understanding of peer influence on adolescent risk-taking and the moderating role of the self and have practical implications for preventing and intervening adolescents' risk-taking via increasing their self-esteem.     

Adolescents' individuation,romantic involvement,and mothers' wellbeing: A comparison of three family structures

This study compared concurrent as well as longitudinal associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing, in nuclear families with both biological parents and in single-mother and stepfather families. It relied on data from the first two waves of a longitudinal study in Germany (N = 436). Maternal wellbeing was assessed from mothers' reports of their sense of family mastery and self-esteem. Adolescent development was assessed from adolescents' reports of three aspects of individuation and of their romantic involvement. For single mothers and mothers in nuclear families, the associations between maternal wellbeing and adolescents' development were inconsistent. Mothers in stepfather families with daughters profited from their daughters' growing detachment. The results suggested that the associations between adolescent development and maternal wellbeing are family structure specific, and observable concurrently and across a one-year time period. The discussion considers the different demands and living situations of the three family structures.     

Goal Orientations of Young Male Ice Hockey Players and Their Parents

In this study, the researchers investigated the relationship between parent and player dispositional goal orientations associated with playing youth hockey. The authors used the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (J. L. Duda ? J. Whitehead, 1998) to measure task and ego orientation in 123 boys (10-13 years old) and 1 of their parents. Sons rated their own goal orientations for hockey and their perceptions of their parent's goal orientations. Parents rated their goal orientations for their son and their perceptions of their son's goal orientations. Mothers and fathers did not differ in their goal orientations for their son. Travel-team and nontravel-team players did not differ. For ego orientation, the son's self-ratings correlated significantly with the parent's goals for the son, but not for task orientation. Sons reported being significantly more ego-oriented than their parents desired. Sons perceived that their parents had goal orientations similar to their own. The data from this study are congruent with the assertion that parents socialize their children's goal orientations and that ego orientation may be more salient and easily communicated than task orientation.     

Are ethnic minority adolescents at risk for problem behaviour? Acculturation and intergenerational acculturation discrepancies in early adolescence

The present study investigated the adjustment of Indian adolescents living in Britain as well as the links between parents' and adolescents' acculturation styles and the adolescents' problem behaviours. The sample consisted of 68 young adolescents (31 Indian and 37 English) between the ages of 10 and 13, and their mothers and fathers. Mothers, fathers and adolescents reported about their own acculturation style, and parents also reported on their adolescents' problem behaviour. Overall Indian adolescents exhibited more internalizing problems than did their English peers. Furthermore, within the Indian group, the more Westernized mothers were in their acculturation style, the higher the level of externalizing problem behaviour their adolescents exhibited. In addition, the more traditional adolescents were the more internalizing problems they displayed. Finally, Indian adolescents experienced more internalizing problems when their parents were more Western or less traditional than the adolescents themselves. These findings highlight the importance of examining not only parental acculturation style, but also the parent–child acculturation discrepancy as a risk factor for problem behaviour.     

Perception de la maladie et adhérence thérapeutique chez des enfants asthmatiques

This study had two objectives. The first one was to adapt and validate the Revised-Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) for children and their parents. The second one was to assess the influence of parent's and children's asthma perception and parent's involvement in treatment on adherence among children suffering asthma. One hundred and forty-six asthmatic children (8–12 years old) and ninety-two parents completed the Revised-Illness Perception Questionnaire and a therapeutic adherence scale. Children who have a good understanding of their illness and who think that their treatment control their asthma, have a better therapeutic adherence. The originality of this research lies in the use of the Illness Perception Questionnaire among children; this could be used in other chronic pediatric diseases.     

Like parent,like child? Development of prejudice and tolerance towards immigrants

Although intergroup attitudes are assumed to develop due to the influence of parents, there is no longitudinal evidence supporting this claim. In addition, research on socialization of intergroup attitudes has omitted possible effects of adolescents on their parents. We also know little about the conditions under which intergroup attitudes are transmitted. This two‐wave, 2 years apart, study of adolescents (N = 507) and their parents examined the relations between parents and adolescents' prejudice and tolerance from a longitudinal perspective. The study tested whether parental prejudice and tolerance would predict over‐time changes in adolescents' attitudes and whether adolescents' prejudice and tolerance would elicit changes in parental attitudes. Additionally, it explored whether some of the effects would depend on perceived parental support. Results showed significant bidirectional influences between parents and adolescents' attitudes. In addition, adolescents who perceived their parents as supportive showed higher parent–adolescent correspondence in prejudice than youth with low parental support. These findings show that intergroup attitudes develop as a result of mutual influences between parents and adolescents. Hence, the unidirectional transmission model and previous research findings should be revisited. The results also suggest that parents' prejudice influence adolescents' attitudes to the extent that youth perceive their parents as supportive.     

Stressed parents: a dyadic perspective on perceived infant temperament

The study employed the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) to test whether one parent's experiences of recent life events as more stressful (the PSS) are associated with the same parent's own (the actor effect) and the other parent's (the partner effect) perceptions of the infant temperament as more negatively and/or less positively tuned (the IBQ; n=584 parents, 292 dyads). The results indicated that the more stress one parent reported the more negatively tuned were the same parent's own, and the other parent's perceptions of the infant. Perceptions of the infant temperament were least positive for members of parent dyads who were more, relative to less, similar in the experienced stress. The associations were independent of the parent gender and the parent‐reported level of trait anxiety. The findings augment prior knowledge on the factors that steer parental perceptions, and suggest that the dyadic perspective may offer valuable insight into the dynamics of interacting within a family consisting of two biological parents and an infant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parent-child conflict and psychological maladjustment: a mediational analysis with reciprocal filial belief and perceived threat

Empirical research has shown that parent–child conflict is positively related to poor adjustment in adolescents; however, the underlying processes have not been adequately examined. To explore the possible mediating pathways, reciprocal filial belief and perceived threat were chosen to represent two likely mechanisms accounting for how parent–child conflict harms adolescents' perceptions of their relationship with their parents and their self‐perceptions within their cognitive‐appraisal framework. The former operates by attenuating children's affection towards their parents and the latter by lowering their self‐perceptions. This study also distinguishes internalizing from externalizing problems in order to examine whether lower reciprocal filial belief more strongly mediates the relation between conflict with parents and adolescents' externalizing problems and whether perceived threat more strongly mediates the relation between conflict with parents and adolescents' internalizing problems. Hypotheses are as follows: (1) the more parent–child conflict adolescents report, the less reciprocal filial belief they recognize, which, in turn, leads to more maladjustments, especially externalizing ones; (2) the more parent–child conflicts adolescents report, the more threat they perceive, which, in turn, leads to more maladjustments, especially internalizing ones. Participants consisted of 603 Taiwanese adolescents (226 males and 377 females) aged 15 to 19 (average age=16.95; SD=0.78). Structural equation modelling analyses confirmed the hypotheses. However, the three direct effects of conflict on internalizing problems, aggression, and deviant behaviour were still significant. In addition, a greater effect of the paternal than the maternal role on the link between conflict and attenuated reciprocal filial belief, and between perceived threat and internalizing problems, was identified. Implications for understanding the mediation processes responsible for all indirect effects, even the subsidiary ones, and the greater impact of conflict with the father than with the mother are discussed. Limitations of the study and considerations for future research are also addressed.     

Sun protection behaviour of children and their parents at the beach

Abstract

The present study observed the sun protection behaviour of 8–12 year old children and their parents on the beach. Interviews with children and parents were then conducted to examine possible influences on sun protection and the relationship between observed and self reported behaviour.

The sample consisted of 50 children and 68 parents. All 50 children were observed and interviewed. All the parents were observed and 33 were interviewed. Indices of sun protection cover were computed as a sum of clothing and sunscreen cover. Most parents and children were inadequately covered against the sun. Factors related to children's sun protection included parent's cover and the child's tan level. The relationship between attitude to sun protection and observed behaviour could not be examined as all children and parents indicated they thought it was important to protect their skin against the sun.

Inconsistencies between observed and self-reported sun protection were found for children who were not protecting themselves. The possibility that self-report may overestimate actual protective behaviour is discussed.     

青少年自我价值感量表研究结果的元分析

采用元分析法对1998年到2011年间使用青少年自我价值感量表为工具的研究结果进行整合分析。结果发现,近十年来青少年自我价值感水平在各维度或层次上高于全国常模,且没有显著的性别差异;与年级常模相比,多数因子高于常模,中学生部分特殊自我价值感因子与常模差异不显著;青少年自我价值感的年代效应显著;研究目的、报告质量、地区、出版年代等因素仅对某些特殊自我价值感有影响,而对总体自我价值感没有系统的影响。     

Adolescents' relationships with mother and father and their links to the quality of romantic relationships: A classification approach

Adolescents' relationships with parents are considered to be a major learning source and emotional base for developing expectations and styles of behaviour in close relationships. Using a longitudinal sample of late adolescents from nuclear families drawn from the German Family Panel pairfam (N = 720; mean age: 18.6 years), we investigated how adolescents' relationships with both parents influenced their romantic relationship quality one year later. Bagged (Averaged) Binary Recursive Partitioning was used to compare features of adolescents' relationships with mother and father (relatedness, negative conflict, emotional insecurity, and parental dominance) in respect of their importance in predicting similar aspects of romantic relationship quality. Overall, our findings suggest some degree of domain-specific continuities in adolescents' relationships with parents and partner, particularly for negative conflict, as well as more global effects for most features of the parent–adolescent relationship. Emotional insecurity with mother was most broadly linked to all features of adolescents' romantic relationship. Overall, adolescents' relationship with mother was found to be more influential than their relationship with father. The findings are discussed with reference to a behavioural systems perspective and attachment theory.     

Fathers' and mothers' perceptions of their preschool children's emergent literacy

This study examined parent's perceptions of their preschool children's emergent literacy. Of particular interest was the relationship of several children's characteristics (age, gender, and achievement) to the predictions of fathers and mothers. Fathers and mothers of 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls were asked to predict their children's performances on six measures of emergent literacy: letter naming, auditory discrimination, context-dependent word recognition, storybook orientation, writing, and interest. In comparing these predictions with children's actual performances, both fathers and mothers were found to significantly overestimate their children's performances on over half of the measures. Parents made appropriate differentiations for the age of the child. Furthermore, the accuracy of predictions did not differ significantly between parents of boys and girls. On most measures, a higher degree of association was found between the predictions of mother and father than between either parent's prediction and child's performance.     

Training young parents to identify and report their children's illnesses.

We developed a comprehensive training program to teach young parents what symptoms to look for to judge the severity of their children''s illnesses, what to do at home to comfort their children, and when to consult their children''s physician or take them for emergency treatment. Three pairs of subjects received training that included written handouts, verbal instructions, modeling, positive practice, and verbal reinforcement. Skill acquisition was assessed by a behavioral test in which parents assessed, treated, or reported a simulated illness in a child. Written materials when used alone did not improve the parent''s ability to identify and report children''s illnesses. Modeling and role-playing followed by positive practice were successful in teaching these parents skills that were maintained for 3 months without additional training or instruction.     

Adolescent Parental Attachment and Academic Motivation and Performance in Early Adolescence1

In this study, the links between adolescents' attachment to parents and academic motivation and performance were examined while considering problem behaviors and perceived teacher support as potential mediators of those links. Participants were 121 early adolescents who completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) to assess the quality of attachment to their mothers and fathers. Adolescents' attachment to both parents was positively associated with academic motivation. These significant links were mediated by adolescents' perceptions of support from teachers. Results are discussed in light of the different mechanisms that can relate attachment quality to adolescents' academic motivation and performance.     

儿童青少年自尊发展理论建构与实证研究

自尊是包含能力和价值的重要心理资源,是个体心理健康的核心。多年来,我们围绕自尊开展了一系列理论建构及其相关的实证研究。其中,理论建构包括对自尊内涵和本质的探寻、"倒立的金字塔"自尊结构模型的建构。同时,运用多种方法对个体自尊的发展进行了实证研究,包括婴幼儿早期自尊的观察研究、小学生自尊发展与学校适应的关系研究、青少年自尊发展特点横向和纵向比较、特殊群体自尊与心理健康的关系研究。最后,运用实验方法分析了诱发失败情境下自尊对不良情绪的缓冲作用,不同自尊类型被试的记忆偏向和情感反应。这些研究为丰富国内自尊领域的研究成果做出了贡献。     

Is separation anxiety in adolescents and parents related to parental differentiation of self?

The current study examined the relationship between separation anxiety in adolescents after their transition to middle school, on the one hand, and differentiation of self and separation anxiety in their parents, on the other hand. The sample included 88 adolescents from northern Israel, together with their biological parents. Adolescents' separation anxiety was found to be negatively associated with maternal I-position (IP). In terms of gender differences, mothers' levels of emotional reactivity and fusion with others were higher than fathers', while fathers' levels of IP and emotional cut-off were higher than mothers'. Furthermore, parents' levels of differentiation of self were negatively correlated with their own levels of separation anxiety. The study found an absence of gender differences in separation anxiety, both for parents and adolescents. Also, parents' separation anxiety was not related to adolescents' separation anxiety. The results indicate that differentiation of self among mothers is a significant characteristic in understanding adolescents' separation anxiety. On a practical level, this study has the potential to increase the awareness of teachers, school counsellors and psychologists of those familial sources that promote and increase adolescents' separation anxiety.