Indirect influence of maternal social contacts on mother-child interactions: A setting event analysis

Fourteen mother-child dyads who had sought psychological help for severe interaction problems took part in a study that investigated the relationship between maternal social interactions with adults outside the family and mother-child interactions in the home. Social interactions outside the family were based on maternal self-reports; mother-child interactions in the home were based on direct observations and included both base-rate and sequential measures. Results indicated that mothers were significantly more aversive toward their children on days in which they had themselves experienced a high proportion of aversive interactions with adults than on days in which they had not. This higher level of aversiveness was evident in their responses to both aversive and nonaversive child behavior and could not be attributed to any corresponding change in child behavior. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.This work appeared first as a paper presented at the 92nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, August 1984. The research data reported in this article were generated by support from the National Institute of Mental Health, Crime and Delinquency Section, Grant No. R01-1068-58, to Robert G. Wahler. His permission to use these data is gratefully acknowledged.     

Gender concept development of preschool-aged children in the United States and Egypt

Thirty-one American and 31 Egyptian children were given the Slaby-Frey Gender Concept Test to measure gender understanding of children from two cultures assumed to differ in level of androgyny. The subject's sex, age, parent's education, and siblings' sex and age were explored in relation to gender concept. A multivariate analysis of variance (Nationality × Sex of Subject) yielded a significant nationality effect. American children had a higher mean score on gender identity than Egyptian children. In addition, a Pearson product-moment correlation revealed significant positive relationships between the age of the subject and two gender constructs, identity and stability. Future research on specific cognitive, developmental, and cultural influences on the gender development of young children was proposed.     

Confounding as a problem in relating life events to health status in elderly individuals

Explored two types of confounding relevant to research relating major life events to physical illness in elderly individuals: (a) contamination of life events lists by health-related and subjective items; and (b) failure to control for illness existing prior to the life event assessment period. Community-residing elderly individuals (M = 70.4 years) completed two measures of health status in each of two waves of testing. During the second wave, participants also completed a life events list. Independent judges categorized the life events as health-related or not and further categorized non-health-related events as subjective or objective. Results indicated that life events-illness correlations were influenced by the presence of confounded items and that when illness present prior to the life event assessment period was controlled the relationship between confounded life events and illness decreased. These results underscore the importance of assessing possible sources of confounding when conducting life event illness research with elderly individuals.     

Book reviews

Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins: Laughter in the History of Religion. Ingvild Sæud Gilhus, 1997 London, New York: Routledge 173 pp., £45.00 (hb) ISBN 0–415–16197–5

Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. David Westerlund, ed., 1996 London: Hurst & Companyμ xii +428 pp., £14.95 ISBN 1–85065–241–4 (pb.)

Religion and Resistance Politics in South Africa. Lyn S. Graybill, 1996 Westport, Connecticut: Praeger/Greenwood Press 157 pp., £44.95 (hb) ISBN 0–275–95141–3

Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia Christopher S. Queen & Sallie B. King, eds., 1996 Albany, NY: State University of New York Press 446 pp., US$24.95 ISBN 0–7914–2844–3

Religious Pluralism and Christian Truth. Joseph S. O'Leary, 1996 Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press xiii + 269 pp., £45.00 ISBN 0–7486–0727–7

Church, State and Religious Minorities. Tariq Modood, ed., 1997 London: Policy Studies Institute 96 pp., £10.95 ISBN 0 85374 724 5

The Coming Deliverer: Millennial Themes in World Religions. Fiona Bowie, ed., 1997 Cardiff: University of Wales Press 264 pp., £9.95 (pb) ISBN 0–7083–1338–8

Zoroastrians in Britain. John R. Hinnells, 1996 Oxford, Clarendon Press xiv + 336 pp., £42.00 (hb) ISBN 0–19–826193–4

From the Holy Mountain: A Journey in the Shadow of Byzantium. William Dalrymple, 1997 London, Harper Collins 484 pp., illustrated, £18.00 ISBN 0–0025–5509–3

Jerusalem Today: What Future for the Peace Process?. Ghada Karmi, edv 1996 Reading: Ithaca Press xix +191 pp., £25.00 ISBN 0–86372–204–0

Judaism Since Gender. Miriam Peskowitz & Laura Levitt, eds., 1997 London: Routledge 229 pp., £14.99 (pb), £45.00 (hb) ISBN 0–415–91461–2 (pb), ISBN 0–415–91460–4 (hb)

Muslim Communities in the New Europe. Gerd Nonneman, Tim Niblock & Bogdan Szajkowski, eds., 1996 Reading: Ithaca Press 346 pp, £35.00 (hb) ISBN 0–86372–192–3

Congregation and Community. Nancy Tatom Ammerman, 1997 New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press xvi + 434 pp., US$55.00 (hb), US$24.00 (pb) ISBN 0–81352–334–6 (hb), ISBN 0–81352–335–4 (pb)

Against the Stream: The Adoption of Traditional Christian Faiths by Young Adults. Richard P. Cimino, 1997 Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America & Religion Watch 128 pp., US$46,00 (hb), US$26,00 (pb) ISBN 0–7618–0574–5 (hb), ISBN 0–7618–0575–3 (pb)

Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society. Irwin Altman & Joseph Ginat, 1996 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press xv + 512 pp., £55.00 (hb), £19.95 (pb) ISBN 0–521–56169–8 (hb), 0–521–56731–9 (pb)

Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain: 1860–1940. Simon Szreter, 1996 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 710 pp., £50.00 ISBN 0–521–34343–7

Implicit Religion in Contemporary Society. Edward I. Bailey, 1997 Kampen, Netherlands: Kok Pharos Publishing House; Weinheim, Germany: Deutscher Studien Verlag 302 pp., Dfl.69.00, £23.00 ISBN (Kok) 90–390–0581–8; ISBN (DSV) 3–89271–694–3

Geography of Religions in Russia. Alexei D. Krindatch, 1996 Decatur, Georgia: Glenmary Research Center 72 pp., 47 maps, US$29.95 (Paper/Spiral Bound) ISBN 0–914422–25–1

Believing in Australia: A Cultural History of Religions". Hilary M. Carey, 1996 St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin xviii + 270p., £16.95 (pb) ISBN 1–86373–950–5

Icelandic Spiritualism: Mediumship and Modernity in Iceland. William H. Swatos, jr. & Loftur Reímar Gíssurarson, 1997 New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers 269 pp., US$32.95 (hb) ISBN 1–56000–273–5

The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious Age. Michael F. Brown, 1997 Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: Harvard University Press 214 pp., £14.50 (hb) ISBN 0–674–10882–5

Listening People, Speaking Earth: Contemporary Paganism. Graham Harvey, 1997 London: Hurst & Co. 250 pp., £27.50 (hb), £9.95 (pb) ISBN 1–85065–271–6 (hb), ISBN 1–85065–272–4 (pb)     

Inductive generalization in 9- and 11-month-olds

Using little models, we showed 9- and 11-month-old infants events in which animal or vehicle properties were demonstrated, such as a dog drinking from a cup or a car giving a ride. The infants were tested on imitation of these properties on the same exemplars as used for the modeling, on generalization to other exemplars from the same domain, and on generalization to exemplars from an inappropriate domain. Infants generalized the properties broadly to both typical and novel exemplars within the appropriate domain, and rarely to exemplars from the inappropriate domain. It is concluded that at least by 9 months infants have formed global concepts of animals and vehicles that control the way infants learn the characteristic properties of these classes.     

Adolescents' Possible Selves and Their Relationship to Global Self-Esteem

Recent research indicates that adolescent girls'self-esteem is lower than that of boys, and adolescence has been identified as a particularly problematic period for female self-esteem. However, many studies use global self-esteem measures that mask important differences within the domains of self-concept that contribute to self-esteem. Further, some self-esteem measures assess components of male self-esteem but overlook aspects of female self-esteem. The possible selves approach was used to identify categories of adolescent male and female self-concept that correlate with self-esteem. Subjects were 212 high-school students. The sample was primarily (96%)Caucasian. Results indicate that female self-esteem is related to perceived likelihood of hoped-for and feared possible selves in multiple domains, whereas male self-esteem is related only to the likelihood of one domain of hoped-for possible selves.