Cigarette Smoking in Young Adults: Childhood and Adolescent Personality,Familial, and Peer Antecedents

Three models (independent, interdependent, and mediational) were hypothesized in this study, to examine the interrelation of personality, family, and peer determinants and their effects on tobacco use by young adults. Mothers were first interviewed about their children when they were between the ages of 1 and 10 years old. Three subsequent interviews were conducted with the children when they reached adolescence and young adulthood. Results show support for the mediational model. In accordance with family interactional framework conceptions, there was a sequence in patterning: from parenting during early adolescence; to personality and peer factors, extending to smoking in late adolescence; and culminating in smoking in adulthood. With a developmental approach, a number of psychosocial measures were related in both younger and older children. Nevertheless, some interesting developmental differences emerged. The findings suggest at least four possible targets for therapeutic or preventive intervention: the parent, the child, the adolescent, and the peer group.     

Depressive Mood in Female College Students: Father-Daughter Interactional Patterns

The interrelationship of sets of father and daughter factors in explaining depressive mood in normal female adolescents was examined. Separate questionnaires were given to 403 college students and their fathers. A mediational model was found, in which two sets of paternal variables were related to the daughter personality set, which in turn was related to her depressive mood. In addition, protective personality attributes of the daughter served both to offset the impact of paternal risk factors and to further strengthen paternal protective factors to reduce frequency of depressive mood. Comparisons are made with an earlier study of sons' depressive mood (Brook, Brook, Whiteman, & Gordon, 1983).     

Individuality and Contextual Influences on Drug Dependence: A 15-Year Prospective Longitudinal Study of Adolescents From Harlem

In this 15-year longitudinal study the authors investigated individual and contextual factors that predispose adolescents from a disadvantaged urban area to drug dependence in adulthood. Adolescents were recruited from schools serving East Harlem in New York City. Of the 838 participants followed to adulthood, 59% were women, 55% were African American, and 45% were Puerto Rican. Self-report data were obtained on externalizing and internalizing problems, substance use, and contextual influences across adolescence and young adulthood. Drug dependence was assessed in adulthood. Multivariate logistic regressions of drug dependence were performed on the whole sample and separately by gender. Each of the domains was associated with adult drug dependence. Although mean gender differences were found, most associations of risk factors with drug dependence did not vary significantly by gender. Treating externalizing and internalizing problems, reducing substance use, and providing coping skills for adverse contextual influences in adolescence and young adulthood may reduce the likelihood of becoming drug dependent in adulthood.     

Maternal Psychiatric Disorders, Parenting, and Maternal Behavior in the Home During the Child Rearing Years

Data from the Children in the Community Study, a community-based longitudinal study, were used to investigate associations between maternal psychiatric disorders and child-rearing behaviors. Maternal psychiatric symptoms and behavior in the home were assessed in 782 families during the childhood and adolescence of the offspring. Maternal anxiety, depressive, disruptive, personality, and substance use disorders were independently associated with current and subsequent parenting difficulties and other problems in the home during the child rearing years, after co-occurring disorders and offspring behavior problems were controlled statistically. Maternal personality disorders were most consistently associated with problems in the home during the child rearing years. Less than 1 of 3 mothers with disorders reported having received treatment. Those who received treatment were significantly less likely to experience multiple difficulties in the home during the child rearing years. These findings suggest that maternal psychiatric disorder may be an important determinant of problematic maternal behavior in the home during the child rearing years. Improved recognition and treatment of maternal psychiatric disorders may help to reduce the amount of maladaptive parenting behavior that many youths might otherwise be likely to experience.     

The Effects of Parental Tobacco and Marijuana Use and Personality Attributes on Child Rearing in African-American and Puerto Rican Young Adults

We assessed the effect of the interrelationship of mothers’ and fathers’ tobacco and marijuana use with their personality attributes on some of their child rearing behaviors. We used a longitudinal design to analyze the data of 258 males and females who were seen four times over a 13-year period from early adolescence through young adult parenthood. Thirty-one percent of the multiple regression analyses revealed significant interactions between the effect of tobacco or marijuana use and a personality attribute on child rearing. The majority of these significant interactions suggested that protective personality characteristics were offset by substance use risks resulting in less adequate child rearing. If these results are substantiated in an experimental intervention, it suggests that having resilient personality attributes does not protect against the negative effects of tobacco or marijuana use on child rearing.     

Linkage of Oedipal Dangers and Mastery to Theodor Herzl's Zionism

This paper demonstrates that Herzl's development of political Zionism was largely a reflection of his improved mastery of Oedipal dangers. Before his Zionism, he had been a total assimilationist. This was manifested in the nature of his disdainful attitude towards the Jewish masses and in idealization of selected non-Jews, as well as in his conflicted Jewish identity. In his thirties, various external events undermined the assimilationist approach; other events, plus ego maturation, allowed a more effective mastery of Oedipal dangers. Thus, he was able to react more appropriately and creatively to intensifying anti-Semitism by developing Zionism that reflected increased honor, manliness, and reconciliation.     

The effects of trichotillomania disclosure on peer perceptions and social acceptability

Many individuals with trichotillomania (TTM) do not disclose their condition to others. Although disclosure may have beneficial effects, little is known about the consequences of it. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a brief, simplified preventative disclosure of TTM. Young adults (N = 225) read one of four vignettes, which varied in a 2 (male versus female character) × 2 (preventative disclosure of TTM versus nondisclosure) design, and answered several questions regarding the character in the vignette. Although some potential positive effects of disclosure were found (e.g., reduced likelihood of misattribution), some areas of concerns also surfaced. The findings suggest that a brief, simplified preventative disclosure of TTM led to an increase in negative social perceptions compared to non-disclosure. More specifically, those characters that disclosed TTM were evaluated more negatively and more socially rejected than those that did not disclose. However, the overall perceptions of persons with noticeable hair loss, regardless of disclosure status, were not necessarily negative. Implications of the findings, limitations to the study, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Investigating healthcare providers' knowledge of trichotillomania and its treatment

Given the low prevalence rate and rather secretive nature of trichotillomania, it is uncertain how much trichotillomania-related knowledge physicians and psychologists possess, what the perceived role of a psychologist is in the treatment process, what level of familiarity practitioners have with effective treatments and whether providers have resource materials available for patients. In a postal survey of 501 psychologists and physicians in the USA, providers responded correctly to 61% of the general knowledge items about trichotillomania. Most providers believed that psychologists may play a variety of roles in the clinical management of the disorder. Although providers were fairly accurate about the effectiveness of certain treatments for trichotillomania (e.g. medication, habit-reversal), a number of non-empirically supported treatments were endorsed as being effective. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of healthcare providers did not have resources or referral information available for patients with trichotillomania. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed.