The Changing Nature of Adolescent Friendships Longitudinal Links With Early Adolescent Ego Development

Although success in managing evolving peer relationships is linked to critical adolescent outcomes, little is known about the specific factors that lead to success or failure in peer relationship development across adolescence. This longitudinal study examines the role of adolescents' level of ego development as a predictor of the future course of several facets of friendship development in early adolescence. Ego development was assessed in a community sample of adolescents at age 13. Several facets of adolescent friendship were also assessed at 13 and then reassessed 1 year later, including adolescent intimate behavior during a supportive interaction with their best friends, adolescent reports of psychological security in their friendships, and peer-rated popularity. As predicted, ego development not only explained concurrent levels of peer functioning but also predicted markers of change over time in each of the assessed domains of peer functioning. Implications for ego development in increasing our understanding of individual differences in adolescent friendship development are discussed.     

Site Distance, Gender, and Knowledge of Geographic Sites

The primary purpose of the experiments presented in this report was to study systematically the geographic site-name, associative memory of male and female college students (predominantly White and middle class) for locations that varied in distance: local, national, and international sites. In the first experiment, participants were to match listed names of campus buildings and local cities with their marked locations on maps. In the second experiment, under a site-name memory, a site-name/map-aid memory, and a map-aid/name-aid memory (site-name associative memory) condition, participants were to recall or match as many of the 50 US states and the 25 largest US cities as they could. In the third experiment, the participants were to match a listed grouping of the world’s largest bodies of water and continents, a set of countries, and the world’s largest cities, with their marked locations on maps. In the first experiment, men matched significantly more local cities than did women; in the second experiment, men recalled significantly more of the cities under the site-name/map-aid and the map-aid/name-aid memory conditions than did women; and in the third experiment, men matched significantly more sites on all three maps than did women. The absence of gender differences for campus buildings and states may have been a product of the participants having had extensive opportunities to learn these sites. That men displayed greater knowledge of cities and international sites suggests that they have a greater interest in geography than do women. Because of the limitations of the methodology used, the gender differences favoring men could not be interpreted as primarily a product of nature or of nurture, and thus it was concluded that they were a joint product of nature and nurture.     

Weight-related words associated with figure silhouettes

Antifat attitudes and obesity bias are prevalent in Western society; however, little is known about the social meanings and connotations of weight-related words such as fat, overweight, and obese (e.g., Robison & Erdman, 1998). The purpose of this study was to explore college students' perceptions of weight-related terminology. Participants (n=131) completed a modified figure rating scale in which they identified male and female figure silhouettes most associated with a variety of weight-related words and personal characteristics. Additionally, participants completed a word association task and provided definitions of five weight terms. Results indicated that participants grouped weight terms into two groupings (i.e., "slender" and "heavy" weight terms) both in the figure rating task and in the word association and definition tasks. Both male and female participants selected smaller female figure silhouettes for the weight terms overweight, large, fat, and normal weight than for the male figure silhouettes. Moreover, associations between weight-related words and personal characteristics, including normal weight -physically fit and overweight -lazy, were found. The results suggest that weight-related words carry with them social meanings and values that reflect an "ideology of blame."     

Calling, vocational development, and well being: A longitudinal study of medical students

The present study investigated the relation of calling to the vocational development and well-being of a sample of medical students. Students were surveyed at two time points: prior to beginning the first year of medical school and prior to beginning the third year of medical school. At each time point, calling moderately correlated with positive vocational development and life meaning. At Time 2, participants had higher levels of vocational development relative to Time 1 and lower levels of calling and life satisfaction relative to Time 1. Calling at Time 1 did not significantly predict vocational development or life meaning at Time 2. However, vocational development and life meaning at Time 1 each significantly predicted calling at Time 2. Students who were able to view their lives as more meaningful and advanced in their vocational development over time also endorsed higher levels of a career calling. Implications for research and practice are discussed.