Self-esteem in childhood and adolescence: Vaccine or epiphenomenon?

Recent accounts of the adaptive significance of self-esteem during childhood and adolescence have varied dramatically and fueled the emergence of a “self-esteem debate.” On one side of the debate, self-esteem is portrayed as a powerful positive influence on youth adjustment. By contrast, the other side has argued that hypothesized effects of self-esteem do not exist at all. A review of empirical findings suggests that both views are oversimplified and inaccurate. The adaptive implications of self-esteem during childhood and adolescence instead appear to be complex and differentiated, ranging from highly beneficial to possibly even negative. Recent results indicate the importance of considering (a) multiple, distinct facets of self-esteem; (b) the moderating influence of youth characteristics, environmental experiences, and processes in the formation and maintenance of self-esteem; and (c) bidirectional, recursive linkages between self-esteem and adaptive functioning throughout development. The adaptive implications of self-esteem for children and adolescents also appear to be most usefully investigated within the context of broader frameworks that allow for consideration of the role of self-esteem as an intervening or mediational process and its interdependent relationships with other aspects of the developing self-system. Implications for interventions designed to enhance youth self-esteem are discussed.     

Slower eating rate reduces the food intake of men, but not women: implications for behavioral weight control

This study tested a central tenet of behavioral weight control: does slower eating rate reduce food intake and positively affect appetite ratings. This study used direct behavioral observation of participants' (n=48; 25BMI35) eating behavior using Universal Eating Monitors. Food intake and ratings of "desire to eat" (collected each minute during meals) were represented as a function of time. Based on an acclimation meal, participants' eating rate was modified by instructing them to eat a bite of food when prompted by a computer, which generated three types of meals: (1) baseline (eating rate was the same as the acclimation meal), (2) reduced-rate (eating rate was reduced by 50%), and (3) combined-rate (eating rate at the beginning of the meal was identical to that of the acclimation meal, subsequently eating rate was reduced by 50%). All meals were ad libitum. Slower eating rate during the reduced-rate and combined-rate meals resulted in less food intake compared to the baseline meal for men, but not women. Ratings of desire to eat, normalized for the amount of food consumed, were lower during the combined-rate meal for men and women. Thus, this basic premise of behavioral weight control was supported for men, but not for women.     

The effects of group membership and social context on information organization

Self-categorization theory posits that the perception of group members is flexible and determined by the comparative social context as well as by group membership. Subjects read about either four ingroup or outgroup target persons in the context of four additional stimulus persons who were members of either the same group as the target persons (intragroup context) or the other group (intergroup context). Individualized and attribute-wise information organization was assessed on the basis of information clustering in free recall. As predicted, differential processing of ingroup information occurred as a function of the salient social context; in an intragroup context, ingroup information was organized significantly more by person than in an intergroup context. Conversely, ingroup information tended to be clustered more by attribute in an intergroup than in an intragroup context. Clustering of outgroup information was not sensitive to changes in the social context. The results indicate that the perception of group members may be based on more than group membership alone. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of prenatal cocaine and genotype on intermale agonistic behavior in Mus musculus

We exposed the pups of three F₁ genotypes of mice to a daily regime of cocaine by injecting their mothers (all C57BL/10J strain) on days 7–18 of gestation with 20 mg/kg subcutaneously. Pups of the cocaine and control groups did not differ on measures of maternal and pup health or size. Male pups were weaned and isolated at 21 days of age and their behaviors measured in an intermale aggression situation at about 80 days of age. Treated and untreated males of each F₁ genotype were paired in dyads with either a C3H/HeJ (hawk-like) or AKR/J (retaliator-like) standard tester male. Standard tester males were not exposed to cocaine. Cocaine treatment alone reduced the overall level of aggression in dyads, and in interaction with genotype or the standard tester it altered the behavior of dyads in all phases of social interaction: the initiation, content, and outcome. Standard testers used as behavioral probes, differentiated cocaine and control males with respect to their stimulus and behavioral qualities. Aggr. Behav. 23:183–196, 1997.© 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Triangulating School Climate: Areas of Convergence and Divergence Across Multiple Levels and Perspectives

Students often have differing perceptions of their school's climate. Although these subjective perceptions can be meaningful outcome predictors, discrepancies create challenges for those seeking to globally characterize or intervene to improve the climate of a school. Trained, independent  observers can provide insights on perceptible and ostensibly malleable aspects of the school; however, the extent to which these observations help us to understand differences in students’ report of school climate has not been examined. To study this, we assessed convergence and divergence between independent observers’ assessments and students’ perceptions of school climate at the classroom and school levels. Data come from the Maryland Safe and Supportive Schools Initiative (MDS3), which included 20,647 students and observations of 303 teachers in 50 high schools. Students responded to survey items regarding safety, engagement, and environment; independent observers assessed teachers’ classroom practices and the school physical environment. A three-level model partitioned variance to the individual, classroom, and school levels. The variance in students’ climate perceptions was primarily between students, with most classroom and school intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranging from 0.01 to 0.08, though one was as high as 0.20; however, observations explained large percentages of between-school variation in climate (58%–91%). Findings suggest the potential utility of outside observations for explaining school-level variation in school climate to inform decision-making and future research.     

Using the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies to Decolonize Counseling Practice: The Important Roles of Theory,Power, and Action

The Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2015) ask counselors to “apply knowledge of multicultural and social justice theories” (p. 8). Counselors who implement the MSJCC in this manner have the opportunity to critically examine traditional counseling theories that were developed within a predominantly White and Western framework, that reproduce North American and European colonist ideology if not contextualized, and that neglect Indigenous approaches to healing (Tuck & Yang, 2012; Watkins & Shulman, 2008). In this article, the authors present 4 key multicultural and social justice theories that can support counselors in adopting a decolonizing paradigm and implementing the MSJCC in their practice with clients: relational-cultural theory (Miller, 1976), critical race theory (Bell, 1995), intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991), and liberation psychology (Martín-Baró, 1994).