Successful Development: Childhood Antecedents of Adaptive Psychosocial Functioning in Adulthood

The study was part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development. Data on developmental background for 131 women and 130 men consisted of variables for (1) emotion regulation at age 8, (2) cognitive–motivational orientation at age 14, and (3) family circumstances, and data on adult outcomes for variables concerning psychosocial functioning at age 36. Links between the childhood and adulthood variables were investigated using the LISREL model which consisted of two parts, the measurement model and the structural equation model. Two correlating latent factors emerged from adult outcomes for men and women: Social Functioning, consisting of external criteria for successful development (stability of career line, controlled drinking, socialization) and Psychological Functioning, consisting of internal criteria (self-esteem and psychological well-being). Only Social Functioning was explained by developmental background. High emotion regulation in childhood was a more robust antecedent of good social functioning in men than in women.     

The antecedents and correlates of agreeableness in adulthood

Data from a 25-year prospective study of 194 individuals indicated that teacher and peer reports of aggression, compliance, and self-control at age 8 distinguished high-agreeable from low-agreeable adults at age 33. Profile analyses revealed two behavioral types in childhood and two personality types in adulthood, with considerable continuity in the composition of these high- and low-agreeable types over time. High-agreeable childhood types had fewer disobedience and concentration problems than low-agreeable childhood types, and among boys, high-agreeable childhood types had better school grades and fewer behavior problems than their low-agreeable counterparts. High-agreeable adulthood types reported less alcoholism and depression, fewer arrests, and more career stability than did low-agreeable adulthood types.     

Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation in adulthood

This longitudinal study examined the role of Extraversion and Neuroticism as antecedents of emotion regulation and dysregulation among 89 women and 81 men. When participants were 27 years old, their Extraversion and Neuroticism were assessed with the standardized version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. At age 33, they completed the Big‐Five Personality Inventory, an authorized adaptation of the NEO Personality Inventory. Emotion regulation, operationalized as an active attempt to turn a negative emotion toward a more positive direction, and measured by the Repair subscale of the Meta‐Regulation Scale, and emotional social support, as measured by the Life Situation Questionnaire, were assessed when participants reached 36 years of age. Emotional ambivalence, a type of emotion dysregulation, was also assessed in this wave. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that prior Neuroticism led to higher emotional ambivalence and lowered use of Repair at age 36. Prior Extraversion, on the other hand, was linked to lower emotional ambivalence at age 36. Extraversion also led to higher attempts to rely on emotional social support to regulate emotions, but less interest in using Repair. Correlational findings revealed that Extraversion and Neuroticism showed differential continuity between ages 27 and 33. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aggression in television programs in Finland

A detailed coding system was constructed to study the frequency and salience of aggression in TV programs broadcast on Finnish television. Salience of aggression was measured by the brutality index which consisted of ratings concerning the (1) program context, (2) seriousness, (3) justification, and (4) dramatization of aggressive acts. When compared to previous studies of TV-violence, the rate of aggression in Finnish TV was moderate with 3.5 aggressive acts per program hour. Only 14% of aggressive acts portrayed brutal aggression, which was mostly seen in fictional films and serials. A clear 9 pm watershed was not seen in Finland, since aggressive acts were distributed quite evenly during the TV time. Aggressiveness of a program was not related to its popularity among viewers. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc. ©1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Personal goals and personality traits among young adults: Genetic and environmental effects

To assess genetic and environmental contributions to personal goals, 1279 twins aged 20-26 filled in Personal Project Analysis and NEO-FFI inventories. Personal goals relating to education, the respondent’s own family, friends, property, travel and self showed primarily genetic and unique environmental effects, whereas goals related to parents and relatives showed both shared and unique environmental effects. The variation in goals related to health, work, hobbies and life philosophy was attributable to non-shared environmental effects. Openness to experience and personal goals related to family, education and property shared a significant amount of genetic influence. The same was true for extraversion and self-related goals, and agreeableness and goals related to property.     

Types of work-family interface: well-being correlates of negative and positive spillover between work and family

The aim of the present study was to test the structure of the work-family interface measure, which was intended to take into account both the positive and negative spillover between work and family demands in both directions. In addition, the links among the types of work-family spillover and the subjects' general and domain-specific well-being were examined. The sample (n = 202) consisted of Finnish employees, aged 42, who had a spouse/partner. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a four-factor model, including negative work-to-family spillover, negative family-to-work spillover, positive work-to-family spillover, and positive family-to-work spillover, was superior compared to the other factor models examined. Path analysis showed, as hypothesized, that the negative work-to-family spillover was most strongly related to low well-being at work (job exhaustion) and next strongly to low general well-being (psychological distress), whereas the negative family-to-work spillover was associated with low well-being in the domain of family (marital dissatisfaction). Positive work-to-family spillover was positively related both to well-being at work and general well-being. Inconsistent with our expectations, positive family-to-work spillover was not directly related to any of the well-being indicators examined.     

Long-term self-monitoring of weight: a case study

The aim of this study was to examine the self-monitoring of weight on a daily basis over a long period of time in order to understand the process of weight regain. An obese female client measured her weight every morning over a period of 10 years. The subject made a total of 2081 weight measurements. Thus, her weight was measured on 67% of all possible days. After the initial weight loss a pattern of gradual weight gain was observed. The subject gained weight during August and September, and at the end of December, in particular. Furthermore, her weight increased slightly at the weekends. This case study highlights the advantage of self-monitoring of weight on a daily basis. Individual patterns of weight change possibly associated with season and weekly variation may be crucial when obese subjects try to maintain their weight after weight loss. However, it may take several months or even years to detect the weekly and yearly rhythms or other patterns in the data. Thus, self-control of weight is problematic, since patterns in the weight regain process are difficult to detect. This may be one reason why self-control of weight is so difficult.