Parental Perceptions of Individual and Dyadic Adjustment as Predictors of Observed Coparenting Cohesion: A Cross‐National Study

Over the past 20 years, systemically guided approaches to understanding early family processes have helped to provide greater clarity concerning the interplay among individual, dyadic, and family level processes. Parental depression, marital functioning, and child adjustment in particular appear to be reliable predictors of coparental and family level functioning. Indeed, cohesion at the level of the family group covaries in theoretically meaningful ways with these indicators of individual and dyadic adjustment. In this study, two collaborating research groups (one in Switzerland, the second in the United States) partnered to examine whether similar patterns of relationships exist among individual and marital adjustment and coparenting processes in families of 4‐year‐old children. Using similar constructs but disparate and occasionally dissimilar measures, both groups measured parent‐reported depression, marital satisfaction, and child behavior problems. Coparenting cooperation and warmth were observed during family interactions. Despite differences between samples and evaluation tools, similar results were found for the Swiss and U.S. samples. A model with depression, marital satisfaction, and child symptoms as predictors of a latent factor of observed coparenting cooperation and warmth showed good fit to data in both samples, suggesting the model was relevant for each. Parameter estimation showed that higher coparenting cooperation and warmth was predicted by lower maternal depression and higher child internalizing symptoms. The common significant effects despite differences in assessment paradigms and instrumentation are of substantive interest. Future directions pertinent to the coparenting questions addressed in this research are discussed.     

Connections in the classroom: Separating the effects of instructor and peer relatedness in the basic needs satisfaction scale

When applying self-determination theory to educational settings, evidence suggests that the basic psychological need of relatedness is actually multi-dimensional, which could result in differential influences on intrinsic motivation. Thus, this study proposes a modification to the operationalization of relatedness. The relatedness items from the adapted Basic Satisfaction Needs at Work scale were altered so that items asked students to separately report the amount of connection they feel with their instructors and peers, as opposed to the original items that asked them to more broadly reflect on people in their course. College students (556 female, 321 male) completed a questionnaire assessing their basic psychological needs, including the two new relatedness subscales, motivation, and academic outcomes. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original relatedness scale should, in fact, be treated as two-dimensional. In addition, of all the basic psychological needs, instructor relatedness was most predictive of student interest/enjoyment in the course and self-reported effort. Conversely, peer relatedness did not significantly predict any outcome variables. Study implications, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.

     

African-American Teenagers’ Stories of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Cultural differences in illness perceptions and treatment access of teens with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are evident yet under studied. The purpose of this qualitative paper is to explore how African-American teenagers describe and narrate stories about their lives with ADHD. Data were gathered from four African-American teens in the Southern United States through a qualitative experience sampling method, and stories were analyzed using narrative analysis framed within the context of African-American rhetorical traditions. We argue that the study of teen-constructed narratives and culturally-situated talk are tools that can improve communication between healthcare providers and teens by illuminating the ways teens construct their personalized realities of ADHD.     

Family metaphors and moral intuitions: how conservatives and liberals narrate their lives

This research examines life-narrative interviews obtained from 128 highly religious and politically active adults to test differences between political conservatives and liberals on (a) implicit family metaphors (G. Lakoff, 2002) and (b) moral intuitions (J. Haidt & C. Joseph, 2004). Content analysis of 12 key scenes in life stories showed that conservatives, as predicted, tended to depict authority figures as strict enforcers of moral rules and to identify lessons in self-discipline. By contrast, liberals were more likely to identify lessons learned regarding empathy and openness, even though (contrary to prediction) they were no more likely than conservatives to describe nurturant authority figures. Analysis of extended discourse on the development of religious faith and personal morality showed that conservatives emphasized moral intuitions regarding respect for social hierarchy, allegiance to in-groups, and the purity or sanctity of the self, whereas liberals invested more significance in moral intuitions regarding harm and fairness. The results are discussed in terms of the recent upsurge of interest among psychologists in political ideology and the value of using life-narrative methods and concepts to explore how politically active adults attempt to construct meaningful lives.     

Perceptions of Sexual Intent: The Impact of Condom Possession

This study examined whether knowing that a victim of a sexual assault was carrying a condom influenced perceptions of her sexual intention and subsequent judgments of the sexual assault. Participants  ( N = 165)  read a vignette describing a date that culminated in an alleged sexual assault. Condom possession (carrying a condom, not carrying a condom) of both the female and male target was systematically varied. When the woman was carrying a condom, the woman was perceived as more sexually willing and the sexual assault claim perceived as less valid. In contrast, the male target's condom possession had little impact on judgments.     

Framing heterosexism in lesbian families: a preliminary examination of resilient coping1

The goals of this study are to examine the kinds of difficulties children face vis‐à‐vis heterosexism, how families help their children cope with these difficulties, and how coping leads to children's resilience. The experiences of six daughters of lesbian parents, ranging in age from 7 to 16, were empirically investigated through semi‐structured interviews with parents and children. Analysis included open and focused coding. Results suggest heterosexism is evident, but does not seem to negatively impact children's development. Themes include: how parents prepare their children to deal with heterosexism and how parents and children cope with incidents. Results elucidate the findings of previous studies, call for more qualitative research, and suggest future research directions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marian Images: Madonna and Hodigitria

The Madonna of Western religious art and the articulation of Marian theology is enunciated in Kathleen C. Ford's piece entitled Portrait of Our Lady. This paper is a companion piece focusing on the Hodigitria, Mother of God, an Eastern liturgical icon and its theological and psychological influence on the clinical treatment of a young woman. The client's recurrent turtle metaphor is discussed for clinical significance. In both portraits, Madonna and Hodigitria, the centrality of the mother image is essential. Kathleen emphasized the influence of the Great Mother Archetype in art and religion and the ancillary theme of containing and contained. The emphasis in this companion paper is the mother image as theologically and psychologically relational, communal, interpathic and companioning.     

Heroin Use Among Southern Arrestees: Regional Findings From the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program

The identification of jurisdictional drug use patterns is critical to counselors who address substance abuse proactively. In the current study, heroin use data were analyzed from adult arrestees who were surveyed between 1990 and 1997 through the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring program.     

Goal specificity effects on hypothesis testing in problem solving

Previous research has found that having a nonspecific goal (NSG) leads to better problem solving and transfer than having a specific goal (SG). To distinguish between the various explanations of this effect requires direct evidence showing how a NSG affects a participant's behaviour. Therefore we collected verbal protocols from participants learning to control a linear system consisting of 3 outputs by manipulating 3 inputs. This system was simpler than the one we had used previously, so in Exp. 1 we generalized our earlier goal specificity findings to this system. In Exp. 2 protocol analysis confirmed our prediction (based on dual-space theories of problem solving) that NSG participants focused on hypothesis testing whereas SG participants focused on the goal. However, this difference only emerged over time. We also replicated the goal specificity effect on performance and showed that giving participants a hypothesis to test improved performance.