Family narrative interaction and children's sense of self

Family narratives about the shared past may be a particularly significant site for preadolescents' emerging sense of self both as an individual and as a member of a unified family. We examined the relations between family narrative interaction style when reminiscing and preadolescents' sense of self. Results indicated three narrative interaction styles that describe the extent to which families discuss or fail to discuss their past in integrated and validating ways. Specifically, conversations with a coordinated perspective incorporated information from all members and were related to higher self-esteem, especially in girls. Conversations with an individual perspective, in which family members took turns telling their thoughts and feelings about the event without integration among the perspectives, were associated with a more external locus of control, especially in boys. Conversations with an imposed perspective, in which one family member was in charge of the conversation or in which unpleasant exchanges between members occurred, were not associated with either self-esteem or locus of control. Implications of these narrative interaction styles for children's developing sense of self are discussed.     

The validity and clinical utility of the MMPI-2 Malingering Depression scale

In this study, we examined the validity and clinical utility of the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Graham, Tellegen, Dahlstrom, & Kaemmer, 2001) Malingering Depression scale (Md) in relation to the MMPI-2 F scales (F, F(B), F(P)) to detect feigned depression. Overall, the F(B) scale and the F/F(P) scale combination were the best single predictors, although the Md scale did discriminate successfully cases of feigned depression from patients with bona fide depression. The Md scale added predictive capacity over the F scales, and the F(B) scale and the F/F(P) scale combination added predictive capacity over the Md scale; however, the actual increase in the number of cases predicted was minimal in each instance. In sum, although the Md scale is able to detect accurately feigned depression on the MMPI-2 (predictive validity), it does not confer a distinct advantage (incremental validity) over the existing standard validity scales-F, F(B), and F(P).     

Positive impression management and its influence on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory: a comparison of analog and differential prevalence group designs

Participants (n = 22) completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) as part of an authentic job application. Protocols produced by this group were compared with "analog" participants (n = 23) who completed the NEO PI-R under standard instructions and again under instructions designed to mimic the test-taking scenario of the job applicants (the "fake-good" condition). Participants completing the NEO PI-R under fake-good instructions and the job applicants scored lower on the Neuroticism and higher on the Extraversion scales than did the participants responding under standard instructions. Analog participants in the fake-good condition scored higher on the Extraversion and lower on the Agreeableness scales than did the job applicants. These results suggest that outcomes from analog designs are generalizable to real-world samples where response dissimulation is probable.     

Self-esteem and memory

This article describes two potential bases for memory bias associated with global self-esteem. According to the mood-congruence model, activation of either dimension of self-esteem (self-competence or self-liking) produces an affective state that facilitates retrieval of traces that are consistent with that state while hindering retrieval of traces that are inconsistent. According to the relevance model, activation of either dimension results in superior encoding of matching negative content by individuals who are low on the dimension. Three studies were conducted to determine which model best accounts for the pattern of bias across distinct content categories. Results were generally consistent with the relevance model.     

Investigating individual differences in children's real-time sentence comprehension using language-mediated eye movements

Individual differences in children's online language processing were explored by monitoring their eye movements to objects in a visual scene as they listened to spoken sentences. Eleven skilled and 11 less-skilled comprehenders were presented with sentences containing verbs that were either neutral with respect to the visual context (e.g., Jane watched her mother choose the cake, where all of the objects in the scene were choosable) or supportive (e.g., Jane watched her mother eat the cake, where the cake was the only edible object). On hearing the supportive verb, the children made fast anticipatory eye movements to the target object (e.g., the cake), suggesting that children extract information from the language they hear and use this to direct ongoing processing. Less-skilled comprehenders did not differ from controls in the speed of their anticipatory eye movements, suggesting normal sensitivity to linguistic constraints. However, less-skilled comprehenders made a greater number of fixations to target objects, and these fixations were of a duration shorter than those observed in the skilled comprehenders, especially in the supportive condition. This pattern of results is discussed in terms of possible processing limitations, including difficulties with memory, attention, or suppressing irrelevant information.     

Organization structure as a moderator of the relationship between procedural justice,interactional justice,perceived organizational support,and supervisory trust

Organizational justice researchers recognize the important role organization context plays in justice perceptions, yet few studies systematically examine contextual variables. This article examines how 1 aspect of context--organizational structure--affects the relationship between justice perceptions and 2 types of social exchange relationships, organizational and supervisory. The authors suggest that under different structural conditions, procedural and interactional justice will play differentially important roles in determining the quality of organizational social exchange (as evidenced by perceived organizational support [POS]) and supervisory social exchange (as evidenced by supervisory trust). In particular, the authors hypothesized that the relationship between procedural justice and POS would be stronger in mechanistic organizations and that the relationship between interactional justice and supervisory trust would be stronger in organic organizations. The authors' results support these hypotheses.     

Beyond Cinderella: relevant reading for young adolescents about stepfamilies

With the number of stepchildren increasing, it is important that books about stepchildren and stepfamilies be available in schools and other settings. Juvenile fiction is a good medium for exposing children to the complexities of stepfamily living, for reducing stereotypes, and for providing role models. This article examines and reviews adolescent fiction with step themes. By providing titles of recommended stepfamily literature, the teacher or helping professional can facilitate an adolescent's adjustment to stepfamily life and not leave him feeling that being in a stepfamily means living like either Cinderella or the Brady Bunch. A list of recommended books is included.     

Deviant sexual arousal,offense history,and demographic variables as predictors of reoffense among child molesters

The present study examined selected demographic and offense history variables and deviant sexual arousal as predictors of reoffense in a group of 35 untreated child molesters. The measure of deviant sexual arousal was based on laboratory measures of sexual preference using penile plethysmography. Factor analysis of the predictor variables yielded three factors. The measure of deviant arousal, the amount of force used in the offense, whether or not the offender had intercourse with the child victim, and the number of previous victims loaded on the first factor, called Sexual Deviance. IQ and socioeconomic status loaded on the second factor, called Social Status. Age of the offender and age of the victim loaded on the third factor, called Offender Age. Entering the sets of three factor scores as predictors in a multiple correlation, over 20% of the variance in recidivism was explained, but the factor Sexual Deviance was the only significant predictor of recidivism (p < .02). Almost 30% of the variance in number of reoffenses was explained, and both Sexual Deviance (p < .01) and Social Status (p < .10) were significant predictors. A cluster analysis identified a group of offenders characterized by low SES and low IQ who also showed higher sexual deviance scores and a high rate of reoffense.     

Optimism, self-mastery, and symptoms of depression in women professionals

The construct validity and predictive utility of dispositional optimism were examined in a sample of 192 women professionals. By using covariance structure modeling with latent variables, opotimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985) and self-mastery (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) were found to be empirically distinct, although substantially correlated, constructs. Furthermore, although optimism and self-mastery were significant and negatively correlated with symptoms of depression, only self-mastery was independently associated with symptom levels. In addition, no evidence was found that optimism and self-mastery interact to influence depressive symptoms. These results suggest that the apparent predictive power of optimism may derive from its substantial overlap with self-mastery. Implications for the assessment and interpretation of optimism and self-mastery are discussed.