Toward a distinctive community psychology: An ecological metaphor for the conduct of community research and the nature of training

In conclusion, I have attempted today to cast the current status of the field of community psychology within the framework of partial paradigm acquisition—to slightly revise Ray Lorion's phrase, of promises kept, and promises still to keep—and have outlined one fledgling perspective which, I hope, will stimulate discussion and debate about the field's future. In focusing on the conceptual connections among community research, the research relationship with citizens, and the training of community psychologists, I have put my money on the unfinished business of integrating the historical values of the field with its research and training efforts. If, when conducting our work, be it as Director of a CMHC, research scientist, social activist, or mental health practitioner, we “see,” we have a world view that focuses on the community-embeddedness of our programs and the persons they are designed to serve, if we develop a perspective that centers on the creation and expansion of resources for our community, and if our actions for the quick fix are embedded in a vision about the long haul, then we can, by both wordand deed, assert both the distinctiveness of community psychology and further the aspirations underlying the creation of our field. Let me close by sharing with you the only paradigm joke I know. Fortunately, it's on target for my purpose here today. René Descartes is attending a cocktail party and is approached by a waiter. Would you care for a cocktail, Mr. Descartes?, the waiter says. “I think not,” says Descartes, and promptly disappears. For Descartes, paradigm premises held consequences for ensuing behavior. Let us remember Descartes.     

Means—ends problem-solving skills,life stress,and social support as mediators of adjustment in the normative transition to high school

Examined the transition of adolescents from middle school to high school through a longitudinal research design. Consistent with other studies, results indicate that the transition is associated with declines in grade point average and attendance, and that these changes persist or worsen over the course of the freshman year. Life stress and social support from family, friends, and school personnel each showed expected relationships with some outcome variables, though these varied in pattern and magnitude. Furthermore, there was some indication that these sources could be used in multivariate analyses in assessing their relationship to outcomes. Finally, means-ends problem-solving skills did not predict levels of posttransition support. Results are seen as supporting a differential model of the role of individual and environmental resources in the high school transition, especially with regard to the negative changes in grades and attendance and the pattern of correlations between social support sources and outcomes.     

Immigrant adolescents behaving as culture brokers: a study of families from the former Soviet Union

In immigrant families, culture brokering (CB) occurs when children mediate the new culture for their family. The authors examined CB in Russian immigrant adolescent-mother dyads (N=226) to determine the types and amounts of CB that Russian adolescents performed, why adolescents assumed the CB role, and how the role affected adolescent and familial functioning. The present results indicated that most adolescents reported CB for their families (89%). Children of families that more recently arrived in the U.S., with mothers who were less American-language acculturated, culture brokered more. Higher levels of CB related to (a) higher adolescent stress and reports of problems at home and with friends and (b) lower feelings of school membership. Parent-reported problems at home did not relate to CB. The authors discussed implications for future research on the role of the child as culture broker.     

Community Violence as It Affects Child Development: Issues of Definition

The state of the art of definition of community violence as it relates to child development was examined in terms of the definitions used in 23 empirical studies. In all cases community violence was defined in terms of what were assumed to be measurements obtained as linear combinations of a priori numerical weighting of responses to questions--asked either of a child or of the parent of a child--about experiencing and/or witnessing and/or hearing about instances of violence. Thus, the definitions can be seen to represent the perspectives of 2 kinds of observers--the child or the child's parent--and 3 levels of closeness to violence--experiencing, witnessing, or hearing about violence. Combining these perspectives and levels, the following 8 different definitions could be seen to be used in the practice of 1 or more of the 23 empirical studies: Child Self-Report (perception) of either (1) experiencing, or (2) witnessing, or (3) experiencing and witnessing, and hearing about violence; or Parent Report (perception) of the Child (4) experiencing, or (5) witnessing, or (6) experiencing and witnessing and hearing about violence, or (7) = (1) + (4), or (8) = (3) + (6). In almost all the examples of research definitions it was assumed implicitly and without test of the assumption that different violent events were interchangeable, and usually it was assumed (again without test) that the magnitudes of different violence events were equal. Usually, an unstated theory of stress appeared to guide the measurement definition, but in one study definitions were developed and tested in terms of a clearly-stated theory of learning. It was concluded that definition of community violence is a measurement problem; that very likely it is multidimensional; that it could be more nearly solved if better attention were given to specifying it in terms of theory that can be put to test and by attending to basic assumptions and principles of measurement.     

Adolescent culture brokering and family functioning: a study of families from Vietnam

In immigrant families, culture brokering (CB) refers to the ways in which children and adolescents serve as mediator between their family and aspects of the new culture. This study focused on the debate in the literature about whether CB implies "role reversal" in the family and "adultification" of the adolescent or whether CB is better understood as simply one of the many ways that immigrant children contribute to family functioning. Results indicated a mixed picture with respect to this debate. Greater amounts of adolescent CB were indeed related to higher adolescent reports of family conflict, but also to greater family adaptability. In addition, the amount of CB was unrelated to family satisfaction and family cohesion. Secondary questions centered on the relationship of CB to adolescent and parent demographic and acculturation variables. Here, CB was related to parent acculturation patterns but not those of adolescents. Implications for future research on the CB role are discussed.     

Acculturative hassles and immigrant adolescents: a life-domain assessment for Soviet Jewish refugees

In a sample of 146 adolescents, the authors developed and validated a measure of acculturative hassles for Soviet Jewish refugees. They based the measure on an ecological perspective, which focuses on hassles involving person-environment transactions occurring in life domains of school, family, peers, and language. The authors reviewed conceptual and methodological issues in existing instruments and incorporated efforts to address current limitations into instrument development. The measure was correlated with psychological distress, level of acculturation to Russian and U.S. cultures, and outcomes in life domains; it contributed to outcomes over and above effects of nonacculturative hassles. Implications for measurement of acculturative hassles are discussed.     

Determinants and Consequences of Child Culture Brokering in Families from the Former Soviet Union

Child culture brokering occurs when immigrant children help their families navigate the new culture and language. The present study develops a model of the child culture broker role that situates it within the family and community economic and acculturative contexts of 328 families from the former Soviet Union. Path analysis was utilized to explore the relationships of community and family economic and cultural contexts with child culture brokering, child emotional distress, and family disagreements. All children reported some culture brokering for their parents. Less English proficient parents with lower status jobs, and living in areas with more Russian speaking families tended to utilize their children as brokers more often. Further, community economic conditions also predicted brokering indirectly, mediated by parent job social status. Brokering was related to child emotional distress and family disagreements. Further, culture brokering was a mediator of the impact of parent job social status on both child emotional distress and family disagreements. These results add to our understanding of the culture broker role and emphasize the utility of approaching research on it from an ecological perspective.