"Don't lock me out": life-story interviews of family business owners facing succession

This qualitative study used a grounded theory methodology to analyze life-story interviews obtained from 10 family business owners regarding their experiences in their businesses with the goal of understanding the complexities of family business succession. The grounded theory that emerged from this study is best understood as a potential web of constraints that can bear on the succession process. Coding of these interviews revealed four key influences, which seem to have the potential to facilitate or constrain the family business owner's approach to succession. Influence 1, "The business within," captures intrapsychic dynamics of differentiation and control. Influence 2, "The marriage," addresses how traditional gender roles shape succession. Influence 3, "The adult children," examines the role of having a natural (accidental, organic, passively groomed) successor. Influence 4, "The vision of retirement," captures the impact of owners' notions of life post-succession. Family therapists frequently encounter family systems in which the family business is facing succession. Even if succession is not the presenting problem, and even if the business owner is in the indirect (rather than direct) system, this research reminds clinicians of the importance of the family's story about the family business. Therefore, clinical implications and recommendations are included.     

Individual Self,Relational Self,Collective Self: Hierarchical Ordering of the Tripartite Self

The individual self comprise unique attributes, the relational self comprises partner-shared attributes, and the collective self comprises ingroup-shared attributes. All selves are fundamental components of the self-concept, with each being important and meaningful to human experience and with each being associated with health benefits. Are the selves, however, equally important and meaningful? We review a program of research that tested four competing theoretical views suggesting that the motivational hub of human experience is (a) the individual self, (b) the relational self, (b) the collective self, or (c) determined by contextual or cultural factors. The research furnished support to the view that the individual self is the primary form of self-definition. We discuss alternative explanations and implications. We end with the introduction of a theoretical model, the boomerang model, that has the potential to integrate the diverse literature on the topic.     

The Backyard Politics of Attitudes Toward Immigration

Using two survey experiments, I reconsider the role that the racialized physical traits and level of assimilation of salient immigrants play in shaping attitudes toward immigration. In the first experiment, a nationwide sample of 767 White, non‐Latino adults was exposed to a story about a family of undocumented immigrants living in the Unites States who were at risk of deportation. Subjects were randomly assigned to view a version of the story in which the immigrants were depicted with light skin and stereotypically Eurocentric features, or dark skin and stereotypically Afrocentric features, and their level of assimilation to mainstream American culture was suggested to be high or low. Similar to previous research, the study's results show that assimilation has a direct effect on attitudes toward immigration. Yet in contrast to previous studies, the racialized physical traits proved to be a much more important factor in shaping attitudes toward immigration than previously demonstrated. The role of an immigrant's racialized physical traits was replicated in a second survey experiment of 902 White, non‐Latino adults. Overall, the findings shed new light on how media depictions of immigrants are affecting immigration attitudes, as well as the nuanced ways that race continues to shape public opinion in the United States today.     

Interactive Links Between Theory of Mind,Peer Victimization,and Reactive and Proactive Aggression

This study investigated the relation between theory of mind and reactive and proactive aggression, respectively, as well as the moderating role of peer victimization in this context. The 574 participants were drawn from a longitudinal study of twins. Theory of mind was assessed before school entry, when participants were 5 years old. Reactive and proactive aggression as well as peer victimization were assessed a year later in kindergarten. Results from multilevel regression analyses revealed that low theory of mind was related to a high level of reactive aggression, but only in children who experienced average to high levels of peer victimization. In contrast, a high theory of mind was related to a high level of proactive aggression. Again, this relation was especially pronounced in children who experienced high levels of peer victimization. These findings challenge the social skills deficit view of aggression and provide support for a multidimensional perspective of aggressive behavior.     

Early Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Prediction from Clique Isolation,Loneliness, and Perceived Social Acceptance

This study examined whether clique isolation predicted an increase in depressive symptoms and whether this association was mediated by loneliness and perceived social acceptance in 310 children followed from age 11–14 years. Clique isolation was identified through social network analysis, whereas depressive symptoms, loneliness, and perceived social acceptance were assessed using self ratings. While accounting for initial levels of depressive symptoms, peer rejection, and friendlessness at age 11 years, a high probability of being isolated from cliques from age 11 to 13 years predicted depressive symptoms at age 14 years. The link between clique isolation and depressive symptoms was mediated by loneliness, but not by perceived social acceptance. No sex differences were found in the associations between clique isolation and depressive symptoms. These results suggest that clique isolation is a social risk factor for the escalation of depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Implications for research and prevention are discussed.     

Stereotype threat: the moderating role of Locus of Control beliefs

The goal of the present study was to test the moderating role of Locus of Control beliefs on performance deficits typically associated with stereotype threat. The results from Experiment 1 were consistent with predictions. First, consistent with the Stereotype Threat model, participants showed a decrease in performance when the task was perceived as a potential test of the in‐group's negative stereotype (lacking logical mathematical intelligence in the case of women and lacking social intelligence in the case of men). Most important, participants' Locus of Control beliefs were found to moderate participants' vulnerability to stereotype threat: individuals with an Internal Locus of Control, although generally performing better, showed a sharper decrease in the stereotype threat condition compared to individuals with External Locus of Control beliefs. Experiment 2 replicated the results from Experiment 1. Findings are discussed in relation to the psychological characteristics of Internal Locus of Control that may render individuals more vulnerable to the negative effects of stereotype threat. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Testing the relationships among negotiators’ motivational orientations, strategy choices, and outcomes

Previous research has established two-way relationships among negotiators’ motivational orientations, strategy choices, and outcomes. This article focuses on the less often investigated three-way relationship among these variables. A log-linear analysis demonstrated that in individualistically oriented dyads, low joint gain was associated with high levels of substantiation, demand, and proposal modifications. Joint gain improved when negotiators made multi-issue offers, used positional arguing, and introduced non-reciprocal sequences based on priority information. In cooperatively oriented dyads, high levels of priority information, process management, and reciprocal sequences characterized optimum outcomes. We conclude that optimum outcomes result from (a) multi-issue offers and indirect information under an individualistic orientation and (b) reciprocity and direct information under a cooperative orientation.     

Examining dosage effects on prevention outcomes: Results from a multi-modal longitudinal preventive intervention for young disruptive boys

The present study examined (a) the predictive effect of disruptive boys' attendance to a prevention program (i.e., dosage) on post-intervention academic achievement and behavior and (b) the potential moderating effects of child and family characteristics in this context. The 3-year intervention program included reading, self-regulation, and social skills training for the boys, parental support and skills training for parents, and teacher support. A multiple-screening procedure selected 58 disruptive, low socioeconomic status boys at the age of 6 years for program participation. Multiple regression analyses and logistic regression analyses showed that the number of program sessions attended did not contribute to the prediction of boys' post-intervention disruptive behavior. However, the number of attended sessions was positively related to boys' post-intervention likability, as well as to their post-intervention writing, reading, math, and human science performances. Interaction terms revealed that family constellation moderated the link between program dosage and likability and math success, respectively, whereas boys' IQ moderated the links between dosage and boys' success in writing and math. The discussion stresses the importance of dosage-effect analysis and the examination of moderating variables in this context.