A typology of family social environments.

A sample of 100 families measured on ten dimensions of their social environments was subjected to cluster analysis to develop an empirically based taxonomy of families. Six distinctive clusters of families were indentified: Expression-Oriented, Structure-Oriented, Independence-Oriented, Achievement-Oriented, Moral/Religious-Oriented and Conflict-Oriented. The clusters showed systematic differences in background characteristics such as size, ethnic minority composition, drinking patterns, and family disturbance and incongruence. Some evidence that certain clusters of families are composed of different sub-clusters was presented. An empirically derived taxonomy of the social environments of families may help to understand how different family environments are linked to different family outcomes.     

Rampage school shooters: A typology

A number of researchers have sought to identify the features that school shooters have in common in terms of family life, personalities, histories, and behaviors. This article examines the cases of 10 rampage school-shooters in an effort to find out not only how they are alike, but also how they differ. Based on available information, these youths are categorized into three types: traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic. Out of the 10 shooters discussed, three were traumatized, five were psychotic, and two were psychopathic. The three traumatized shooters all came from broken homes with parental substance abuse and parental criminal behavior. They all were physically abused and two were sexually abused outside of the home. The five psychotic shooters had schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, including schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder. They all came from intact families with no history of abuse. The two psychopathic shooters were neither abused nor psychotic. They demonstrated narcissism, a lack of empathy, a lack of conscience, and sadistic behavior. Most people who are traumatized, psychotic, and psychopathic do not commit murder. Beyond identifying the three types of rampage shooters, additional factors are explored that may have contributed to the attacks. These include family structure, role models, and peer influence.     

Sibling relationships in early adulthood: A typology

This investigation attempted to classify adult sibling relationships into a small number of discrete types and to describe those sibling relationship types in terms of the relative warmth, conflict, and rivalry experienced by members of the sibling dyad. Adult participants (N= 267), ranging in age from 17 to 56 years, were asked to complete surveys describing their relationship with the biological sibling who was closest in age to themselves. Using the theoretical categories developed by Murphy (1993) in her study of young siblings, a retrospective questionnaire was constructed to classify the respondent's relationship with his or her sibling as Caretaker, Buddy, or Casual. Along with these three groups, a fourth type of sibling relationship was detected that closely resembled the Loyal subgroup described by Gold (1989) in her study of sibling relationships among the elderly. Differences among these four groups were assessed with the Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire developed by Lanthier and Stocker (1993). Group differences are summarized, and several potential developmental paths from childhood to adulthood for the various types of sibling relationships are outlined.     

Dynamics of goal pursuit and personality make-up among emerging adults: typology, change over time, and adaptation

In recent years young people's lives have been characterized by postponement of developmental timetables, inconsistencies of transitions, and loss of direction in life. Data from a longitudinal study of Israeli young adults show that the capacity for setting realistic work and love goals reflects inner strengths and is associated with adaptive outcomes. Less-articulated love and work goals are associated with underlying personality difficulties and are predictive of less stable and less adaptive outcomes. The interplay of goal constellations and personality constructs, and its association with adaptive and less adaptive outcomes is presented and discussed.     

A new typology of fathering: defining and associated variables

Our goal was to identify different types of parenting based on self‐report measures of fathers' involvement and parental attitudes. The present investigation studied 468 two‐parent, French Canadian families with at least one child between 0 and 6 years of age, living in a disadvantaged environment. The study, conducted on a sample of fathers, revealed the presence of the three basic types of parenting identified by Baumrind (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive), and also of a new type of parenting (stimulative parenting). The fathers in this latter group provide more emotional support to children and are more stimulating, as is evidenced by the greater psychological presence of children in the father's cognitions and by the fact that they more frequently introduce their children to new activities. These fathers are characterized by more secure social relationships. The father's parental stress level was found to be the most important variable discriminating between different types of fathering. Authoritarian and authoritative fathers are more at risk of maltreating their children because their more favourable attitude towards the use of physical punishment is combined with greater parental stress, less parental involvement of mothers, and a larger number of children in the home. Authoritarian fathers are even more at risk of maltreating their children because of more difficult family socioeconomic conditions, particularly lower levels of maternal education and income. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fascination,fear, and pornography: A phenomenological typology

Continental Philosophy Review -     

Accuracy and adaptation of reaching and pointing in pitched visual environments

Visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and the ability of subjects to reach with an unseen limb to targets placed at VPEL were measured in a statically pitched visual surround (pitchroom). VPEL was shifted upward and downward by upward and downward room pitch, respectively. Accuracy in reaching to VPEL represented a compromise between VPEL and actual eye level. This indicates that VPEL shifts reflect in part a change in perceived location of objects. When subjects were provided with terminal visual feedback about their reaching, accuracy improved rapidly. Subsequent reaching, with the room vertical, revealed a negative aftereffect (i.e., reaching errors that were opposite those made initially in the pitched room). In a second study, pointing accuracy was assessed for targets located both at VPEL and at other positions. Errors were similar for targets whether located at VPEL or elsewhere. Additionally, pointing responses were restricted to a narrower range than that of the actual target locations. The small size of reaching and pointing errors in both studies suggests that factors other than a change in perceived location are also involved in VPEL shifts.     

Family functioning and the social adaptation of hearing-impaired youths

This study examined the associations between important aspects of family functioning and the adjustment of hearing-impaired youths. Participants were 75 hearing-impaired youths and their hearing parents. The dependent variables were mothers' and fathers' ratings of child behavior problems and social competence. Independent variables included parental symptomatology, parental ratings of family stress, and family members' perceptions of family cohesion and family adaptability. Demographic characteristics and the youth's degree of hearing loss and mode of communication were used as control variables. Results from multiple regression analyses showed that parental ratings of the youths' behavior problems were linked with parental symptomatology, and that maternal ratings of the youths' behavior problems were associated with low family adaptability. Parental ratings of the youths' social competence were predicted by family stress. Overall, key aspects of family functioning accounted for considerably more variance than did the control variables. The methodological and conceptual implications of the findings are discussed.     

A typology of dispersal prisoners

Despite the importance of maximum security dispersal prisons in England, and the plethora of studies on adult male prisoners, there is no published research on the dispersal prison population. The current study reports the results of a cluster analysis of demographic and criminological data on a large sample of this population. These results present a taxonomy of six subgroups of offenders. The taxonomy is essentially heuristic and requires replication and cross-validation. However, it presents a useful model to both describe the dispersal prison population and, importantly, to consider the question of optimal management strategies for the identified subgroups.     

Family environments of women who return to college

This study investigated various aspects of the impact of family environments when mature married women return to college. Thirty-nine women who had returned to college and their husbands were compared to 39 nonreturnees and their husbands on the Moos Family Environment Scale and the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale. It was found that there were both positive (e.g., intellectual-cultural) and negative (e.g., greater conflict) aspects of family environments of returning women. The findings' implications for counseling such populations of college women are discussed. The need for longitudinal studies in this area to determine the impact on the family created by a woman's return to school is suggested.This research was part of a master's thesis by the senior author.     

A typology of mid-life career changers

This study examines the motivations for and the outcomes of mid-life career change among a sample of 73 men who had left professional and managerial careers between the ages of 34 and 54. Measures of personal desire for change and external pressure to leave were dichotomized to produce a typology of career changers: Drift-outs, Opt-outs, Force-outs, and Bow-outs. The four types of changers were found to differ on a number of variables, including: amount of education completed, additional schooling undertaken to change careers, time taken to make the change, radicalness of change, and the importance of personal values in deciding to leave their former careers. Overall, respondents were found to be highly satisfied with their career redirection.     

A developmental typology of adolescent personality

The purpose of the current study is to examine whether Block's personality types (i.e. Resilients, Undercontrollers and Overcontrollers) are replicable as developmental trajectories. We applied a Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) framework to five‐ annual‐wave data on a sample of early to middle adolescents (n = 923). Our results showed that Block's Resilients, Undercontrollers and Overcontrollers are indeed replicable as developmental trajectories across adolescence. These developmental types were related to problem behaviour in a similar way as types found in studies using cross‐sectional data. As such, Resilients reflected low levels of problem behaviour, Undercontrollers had high levels of delinquency and Overcontrollers had high levels of depression. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A typology of the here-and-now: issues in group therapy

This article categorizes the range of here-and-now issues and behaviours that occur in group therapy and are the legitimate concern of the group. It distinguishes those internal events that occur as an integral part of the group process from those external issues that occur in members daily lives and that they bring to the group for its attention. These problems are further categorized by whether they are structural in nature or interactionist in nature. Thus here-and-now group behaviors can be categorized by whether they are (1) internal structural, (2) internal interactionist, (3) external structural, or (4) external interactionist.     

Family demographics of clinically referred children: What we know and what we need to know

Published empirical studies were reviewed to establish family demographics of clinically referred children and adolescents. Data on parental marital status were collected from studies of referred and nonreferred children and adolescents in six empirical journals. Data on family socioeconomic status (SES) and child race or ethnicity were also collected. Based on 86 studies that presented parental marital status, 56.4% of clinically referred children and adolescents live with both their biological mother and biological father. Family SES data were difficult to summarize because of the different methods of presenting this information. When considering race and ethnicity, 86% of the children and adolescents in the clinical samples were Caucasian American. Of the studies that were originally reviewed, 80.4% did not include parental marital status and 36. 7% did not include SES, race, or ethnicity of the participants. There were no significant differences between journals in the rates of inclusion of family demographic data. In addition to revealing family demographic information about children and adolescents who participate in clinical research, these data highlight the lack of consistency in the presentation of family demographic data in published research. Suggestions are provided to help researchers colled and present meaningful family demographic data in clinical and nonclinical research with children and adolescents.This study was completed with support from the Division of Sponsored Research at the University of South Florida and preparation of this article was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R29 49601-02 to the first author. We express our gratitude to Georgetta Bosco and Tracy Burbine for their diligent data collection in the library.     

Temperament and typology

This paper takes a cue from Harvard neuroscientists Jerome Kagan and Nancy Snidman's (2004) comment that Jung's work on typology has remarkable relevance to their research on neurobiological correlates of temperament and develops the links between the theorists separated by almost a century. The paper begins with a brief review of temperament traits in personality psychology. Kagan and Snidman's 11‐year longitudinal study is then analysed and correlated with Jung's psychological attitude types of introversion and extraversion, demonstrating that Jung's close empirical observations of human nature fit explicitly with objective measurements of neurobiological sensitivity thresholds and their expression in temperament. Emerging research on neurobiologically sensitive adults and children from Aron (1997, 2004, 2011) and differential susceptibility theory (DST) is presented as extrapolating the same links between temperament and physiological sensitivity found in Jung's introversion and Kagan and Snidman's high‐reactive type. The paper concludes with a consideration of the subjective psyche as a necessary aspect to understanding the self and human consciousness as whole.