Maternal socialization goals, parenting styles, and social-emotional adjustment among Chinese and European American young adults: testing a mediation model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults' adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants' adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults' academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

Psychophysics of Kinesthesis

A horizontal straight-arm movement was used to determine the relationship between the physical stimulus continuum and the psychological continuum of kinesthetic extent of arm movement. A power function with an exponent of 1.075 best described this relationship. In addition, to classify extent of movement as belonging to either a prothetic or metathetic continuum, the category scale was derived. According to the functional criteria described by Stevens (1957), extent of movement was subserved by a metathetic process which would indicate that, for the present task, judgments were made through the use of positional cues rather than amplitude cues.     

The Effect of Hypophysectomy on Personality in Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer as Revealed by the Rorschach Test

This study tested the hypothesis that assertive and nonassertive people have different personality profiles and self-actualizing values. Results indicated that assertive and nonassertive groups differed significantly, in terms of their personality profiles based on the Personality Research Form, and their self-actualization profiles based on the Personal Orientation Inventory, supporting the tested hypothesis.     

Family assessment: Centripetal and centrifugal family systems

Abstract

A consideration of interactional style is useful to both researchers and clinicians interested in family assessment. This paper offers data and process evaluation scales designed to determine family interactional style, conceptualized as a continuum ranging from centripetal (CP) to centrifugal (CF), and containing at the midpoint a mixed area in which facets of both the CP and the CF styles are found.     

Clinical Notes on the Diversity in Lesbian Lives

The concept of the representational world, first devised to accommodate the research data of the Hampstead Index and intended to supplement the structural point of view, has since expanded into a central conceptual tool of contemporary psychoanalysis. As developed by the Sandlers, affective states and experiences are the core of all mental representations, giving psychological meaning, force, and direction to the objects represented. The emphasis on affective components, conscious and unconscious, has enriched psychoanalysis by fostering communication with neighboring disciplines. A clinical vignette illustrates the embeddedness of affective valences in internal representations.