A developmental perspective on bullying

In this paper, we examined the forms and relationship contexts of bullying in adolescence. Using cross‐sectional data, we assessed grade and sex differences in self‐reports of bullying and sexually harassing peers, as well as reports of dating aggression from1896 students from early to late adolescence. Reports of bullying others were highest around the school transition, with lowest levels at the end of high school. Boys reported more bullying and sexual harassment than girls. Sexual harassment of same‐ and opposite‐sex peers increased over the early adolescent years and leveled off in later high‐school years. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of indirect or physical aggression with a dating partner. Adolescents who bullied were at increased risk for the other forms of relationship aggression. These data highlight bullying as a relationship problem and point to the need for prevention programs to curtail the use of power and aggression in adolescent relationships. Aggr. Behav. 32:376–384, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Counselors and Physicians Providing Mental Health Services: An Integrated Approach

The authors argue that there is a clear link between mental and physical health issues. A wellness‐based approach to integrated health care, such as the one described in this article, may allow older clients to be empowered to make lifestyle changes that can improve the quality of their lives and reduce physical illness.     

Attachment in donor‐conceived adults: Curiosity,search, and contact

Donor‐conceived (DC) people represent a unique population with atypical family structures. This study examined whether individual differences in attachment predict adults' self‐reported curiosity about their donor conception identity, as well as attempts to find the donor and establish contact. Data were collected from 488 DC people from the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). People who were high in attachment‐related anxiety were more curious than others about their donor conception. Despite this curiosity, however, highly anxious people were more disengaged from donor conception and were not more likely than others to search for or have made contact with their donor. These findings suggest that insecure attachment—particularly attachment anxiety—may contribute to people's willingness to incorporate donor conception into their identities.     

Young adult international adoptees' search for birth parents

This study examines international adoptees and factors associated with searching for birth parents. A total of 1,417 international adoptees in The Netherlands, aged 24 to 30 years, were divided into 4 groups: uninterested nonsearchers, interested nonsearchers, searchers, and reunited searchers. In total, 32% of adoptees had searched. Although the majority of searchers were well-adjusted, they had more problems--mainly internalizing problems--than uninterested nonsearchers. These problems, however, were not caused by the search itself. It is concluded that searching is the product of natural curiosity influenced by external factors such as the divorce of adoptive parents and the options for searching.     

Violated wishes about division of childcare labor predict early coparenting process during stressful and nonstressful family evaluations

Prior research has indicated that expectant parents overestimate the extent to which fathers will take part in the “work” of parenting, with mothers often becoming disenchanted when these expectations are violated following the baby's arrival. In this study, we examine the role of violated wishes concerning childcare involvement in accounting for variability in maternal and paternal marital satisfaction, and in early coparenting behavior as assessed during family‐interaction sessions. The results indicate possible negative effects of violated wishes on the enacted family process and confirm previous findings regarding the effects of marital satisfaction. In addition, we uncovered differences in the way that violated maternal wishes are related to coparenting during playful and mildly stressful family interactions.     

Whose depression relates to discrepancies? Testing relations between informant characteristics and informant discrepancies from both informants' perspectives

This study examined whether mothers' and children's depressive symptoms were each uniquely related to mother-child rating discrepancies on a multidimensional dyadic construct: domains associated with parental monitoring (i.e., Child Disclosure, Parental Knowledge, and Parental Solicitation). Participants included a community sample of 335 mother/female-caregiver and child dyads (182 girls, 153 boys; 9-16 years old). Children's depressive symptoms were consistently related to each of the three domains of mother-child discrepancies. Mothers' depressive symptoms were related to perceived discrepancies in two domains (Child Disclosure and Parental Knowledge). Furthermore, these relations could not be accounted for by other informant characteristics (maternal stress, child age, child gender, child ethnicity). Findings provide important empirical support for theory suggesting that both informants' perspectives meaningfully contribute to their discrepancies in perceived behavior. Consideration of both informants' perspectives leads to valuable information as to whether any particular characteristic is an important correlate of discrepancies.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue scale for use with pregnant and postpartum women

Although fatigue is a common experience for pregnant women and new mothers, few measures of fatigue have been validated for use with this population. To address this gap, the authors assessed psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF) scale, which was used in 2 independent samples of pregnant women. Results indicated that the psychometric properties of the scale were very similar across samples and time points. The scale possesses a high level of internal consistency, has good convergent validity with measures of sleep quality and depression, and discriminates well from a measure of social support. Contrary to previous evaluations of the MAF, data strongly suggest that the scale represents a unidimensional construct best represented by a single factor. Results indicate that the MAF is a useful measure of fatigue among pregnant and postpartum women.     

Pathways of Influence: Marital Relationships and Their Association with Parenting Styles and Sibling Relationship Quality

We investigated the associations among marital relationship quality, mothers’ parenting styles, and young children’s sibling relationship quality drawing on the principles of family systems theory. Survey data were collected from 130 mothers who had a target child (mean age = 4.6 years) with a sibling close in age. The sample consisted of participants who self-identified as Mexican-American (49%), European-American (20%), and Taiwanese in Taiwan (24%). Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of marital relationships on children’s sibling relationship quality through parenting styles and the reciprocal association between sibling relationship quality and parenting styles. The findings revealed evidence of a direct effect of marital relationships on sibling relationship quality and bidirectional relations between sibling relationships and parenting styles. The importance of research on bidirectional associations between sibling relations and parenting styles is discussed.     

Parenting and adolescent well-being in two European countries

The main and interactive effects of parental behavioral control and parental support on adolescent adjustment were examined with students ages 15-19 in Italy (N = 391, 59.1% male) and The Netherlands (N = 373, 45.3% male). In general, parental support was associated with better adjustment and parental control was associated with worse adjustment. However, parental control as well as age and sex moderated the effects of parental support on psychological discomfort and expectations of future success. Positive self-perceptions were less well predicted. Further, there were more moderated effects in the Dutch sample than in the Italian sample. Generalizability of the contributions of parenting behavior to adolescent adjustment outside of a North American context is discussed.     

Work-life benefits and organizational attachment: Self-interest utility and signaling theory models

This study examines two competing theoretical explanations for why work-life policies such as dependent care assistance and flexible schedules influence organizational attachment. The self-interest utility model posits that work-life policies influence organizational attachment because employee use of these policies facilitates attachment. The signaling model posits that these policies facilitate attachment indirectly through perceived organizational support. Regression analyses explored both models using a sample of 286 full time employees. Results supported both the signaling model and the self-interest utility model. For women, the availability of work-life benefits influenced organizational attachment irrespective of use, and these effects were mediated by support perceptions, consistent with the signaling model. In contrast, the self-interest model was also supported for men only. Specifically, the availability and use of flexible schedules interacted in predicting affective commitment among men such that flexible schedule availability was positively related to commitment only when use was high and negatively related to commitment when use was low. Dependent care assistance and schedule flexibility also interacted in predicting affective commitment, turnover intentions, and perceived organizational support, suggesting that the effect of policy implementation may depend on what other policies are already offered by the organization. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for theory and organizational practice.