Personality,Problem Solving,and Adolescent Substance Use

The major aim of this study was to examine the role of social problem solving in the relationship between personality and substance use in adolescents. Although a number of studies have identified a relationship between personality and substance use, the precise mechanism by which this occurs is not clear. We hypothesized that problem-solving skills could be one such mechanism. More specifically, we sought to determine whether problem solving mediates, moderates, or both mediates and moderates the relationship between different personality traits and substance use. Three hundred and seven adolescents were administered the Substance Use Profile Scale, the Social Problem-Solving Inventory–Revised, and the Personality Experiences Inventory to assess personality, social problem-solving ability, and substance use, respectively. Results showed that the dimension of rational problem solving (i.e., effective problem-solving skills) significantly mediated the relationship between hopelessness and lifetime alcohol and marijuana use. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results were discussed.     

Child-rearing antecedents of intergenerational relations in young adulthood: a prospective study.

Data gathered from mothers on parenting and family climate when almost 1,000 children in the Dunedin, New Zealand, longitudinal study were 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, and 15 years of age were used to predict intergenerational relations between young adult children (age 26) and their middle-aged parents. Analyses focused on distinct developmental epochs revealed greater prediction from the middle-childhood and early-adolescent periods than from the early-childhood years: most indicated that more supportive family environments and child-rearing experiences in the family of origin forecasted more positive and less negative parent-child relationships (in terms of contact, closeness, conflict, reciprocal assistance) in young adulthood, though associations were modest in magnitude. Some evidence indicated that (modestly) deleterious effects on intergenerational relations of experiencing relatively unsupportive child-rearing environments in 1 but not 2 (of 3) developmental periods studied could be offset by relatively supportive family environments in the remaining developmental periods.     

Mothers and Children as Informants of Bullying Victimization: Results from an Epidemiological Cohort of Children

Stressful events early in life can affect children’s mental health problems. Collecting valid and reliable information about children’s bad experiences is important for research and clinical purposes. This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children. We assessed bullying victimization in the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 1,116 families with twins. We collected reports from mothers and children during private interviews, including detailed narratives. Findings showed that we can rely on mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: both informants provided information which adhered to the definition of bullying as involving repeated hurtful actions between peers in the presence of a power imbalance. Although mothers and children modestly agreed with each other about who was bullied during primary and secondary school, reports of bullying victimization from both informants were similarly associated with children’s emotional and behavioral problems and provided similar estimates of genetic and environmental influences. Findings from this study suggest that collecting information from multiple informants is ideal to capture all instances of bullying victimization. However, in the absence of child self-reports, mothers can be considered as a viable alternative, and vice versa.     

The manifestation of transference during early psychotherapy sessions: Exploring an alternate data source for therapist narratives in transference research

Introduction: Previous transference studies have compared in‐session client narratives about significant others to in‐session client narratives about the therapist, limiting data to the information that clients are willing to share with the therapist. Method: The first three sessions of 30 therapies with high‐functioning individuals were examined using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method. Client narratives about others were drawn from the psychotherapy sessions and client narratives about the therapist were drawn from a Participant Critical Event (PCE) interview conducted after the third session of therapy. Results: Factor analyses of the CCRT components indicated several relational patterns: a complementary pattern of relating characterised by a devaluation of the therapist and idealisation of others; a concordant relational transfer where clients feel bad with both the therapist and others; and as clients experience control issues with significant others, they wish to adopt a submissive stance toward the therapist. The results suggest that the source of therapist narratives may influence the results of transference research.     

Psychoanalytic and musical perspectives on shame in Donizetti's Lucia Di Lammermoor

Two disciplines, psychoanalysis and music, are synthesized here with an eye to the origins and vicissitudes of shame and guilt as seen in the emotional disintegration of the eponymous heroine of Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor. Lucia's affects and her intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics are heard in the music itself. A psychoanalytic and musical analysis of the opera, taking Lucia's dynamics as a quasi-substitute for clinical material, illuminates the intersections between certain theoretical aspects of the two disciplines. Both manifest and latent themes are expressed through the music of Donizetti's score.     

Gender differences in moral orientation: a meta-analysis

C. Gilligan's (1982) critique of L. Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning and her assertion that two modes of moral reasoning (justice and care) exist have been the subject of debate within the field of psychology for more than 15 years. This meta-analysis was conducted to review quantitatively the work on gender differences in moral orientation. The meta-analysis revealed small differences in the care orientation favoring females (d = -.28) and small differences in the justice orientation favoring males (d = .19). Together, the moderator variables accounted for 16% of the variance in the effect sizes for care reasoning and 17% of the variance in the effect sizes for justice reasoning. These findings do not offer strong support for the claim that the care orientation is used predominantly by women and that the justice orientation is used predominantly by men.     

THE VIEW FROM DOWN HERE

In this article, graduate students and one faculty member respond to the innovative methods presented in this issue. We identify three theoretical and methodological tensions that shape our interest in and willingness to work with these methods. The first questions whether the strengths of doing qualitative research outweigh the limitations. The second involves feminist research ideals and how attainable they are. The third explores epistemological tensions between qualitative and quantitative research. Although intrigued by the data these methods generated and by their underlying epistemology, we question the status of certain qualitative research in psychology. We contend that the criteria by which qualitative research is evaluated must be made more explicitly before quantitatively trained researchers will incorporate these methods into their own work.