Adolescent girls in distress: a high-risk intersection

Adolescent girls in distress are at high risk due to their location at the intersection of three populations at risk: adolescents, females, and those in social distress. The first part of this article specifies the parameters of the population in terms of behavioral and personality features, based on empirical research in Israel as well as the United States. The second part discusses the main characteristics of each of the three populations, with special emphasis on the components of transition in each. The third part develops an integrative theoretical model that illustrates the uniqueness of this group and its problems, and that may serve as a basis for the development of diagnostic and treatment tools for helping these girls. In this model, the profiles of adolescents in general, adolescent boys, adolescent girls, and adolescent girls in distress are compared. The comparison is made in terms of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development, interpersonal relationships, and status in the family. Comparison of the profiles reveals that adolescent girls in distress are located at the extreme end of the spectrum of the six developmental areas. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the inconsistency between messages on various levels: explicit versus implicit; intrafamilial versus social; and expectation versus opportunity. It is concluded that the specific needs of this group require the establishment of an appropriate policy as well as a variety of strategies, including nonconventional techniques, for creating a multidimensional intervention program.     

Analyzing mothers' speech to young autistic children: A methodological study

The development of a technique for analyzing mothers' speech to young children is described. The need for such a measure arose from two linked studies of autistic children, one comparing them with developmental dysphasic children and the other evaluating the results of a home-based approach to treatment. A 17-category system was developed which could encompass almost all the types of speech shown by mothers of young autistic and normal children and which differentiated between the speech used by different mothers in a way that was meaningfully related to the child's level of language development. The categories proved to be easily applicable and to show good inter-observer reliability. Tape-recordings made during home observations were found to be the best source of speech samples. The problems of time sampling, length and nature of speech sample, and observer effects are discussed.We are most grateful to our colleagues Dr. Lionel Hersov and Mr. William Yule for many helpful suggestions in developing the measures and for their comments on an earlier draft of the paper. The study is supported by a grant from the (British) Department of Health and Social Security.     

Qualitative insights into the relationship between socioeconomic status and students’ academic achievement goals

Recent research using quantitative methodologies and an emerging social psychological theory of socioeconomic status (SES) has found an association between students’ SES and their academic achievement goals. As a new area of research in the achievement goal tradition, there has been little investigation of the contextual influences upon particular goal orientations in divergent SES contexts. To explore these influences, focus groups were conducted with 24 secondary school students aged 16–17 years attending a high and a low SES school in New South Wales, Australia. These teenagers were approaching a ‘developmental deadline’ which required immediate decisions about future work and education pathways. As such, they could be experiencing a period of heightened contextual influences. Directed content analysis of the focus groups observed the broad distinctions in achievement goals seen in previous quantitative studies. However, the analysis elucidated some of the ways in which norms and values in different SES contexts influenced the adoption of particular goal orientations. In some cases, the same orientation had markedly different contextual influences stemming from students’ SES backgrounds. From these exploratory findings, we argue for further research into the factors which influence the adoption of different achievement goals by students from different SES backgrounds.