Managing terror when self-worth and worldviews collide: Evidence that mortality salience increases reluctance to self-enhance beyond authorities

Terror management theory posits that one’s self-esteem and worldview operate jointly to manage mortality concerns. Accordingly, past research shows that mortality salience (MS) increases self-enhancement and worldview defense. The current research is the first to examine MS effects when self-enhancement threatens to undermine aspects of the worldview, in this case the credibility and status of worldview-representative authorities. MS led to reluctance to self-enhance following positive personality test feedback when the test was judged negatively by institutional authorities (Study 1a), as well as unwillingness to contradict self-esteem threatening feedback sanctioned by authorities (Study 1b). Mortality salient participants also rated themselves higher on valued dimensions unless it meant viewing themselves more positively than their parents (Study 2) and admired political icons (Study 3). Taken together, these results show that MS increases self-enhancement unless doing so challenges important representatives of the worldview. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

初中生家庭功能类型与其价值观形成的关系探讨

采用亲密度与适应性量表中文版（FACESⅡ-CV）和价值观自测问卷对259名绍兴市区初中生进行了调查,结果发现：（1）亲密度高、情感联系强的家庭更容易形成符合社会规范的价值观,而情感联系弱的家庭容易形成自我中心的价值观;（2）适应性强、应变功能高的无规律型家庭有利于自律、内控的自我导向价值观的形成,并对从众型和冷漠型价值观的形成具有抑制作用;（3）家庭亲密度与适应性功能水平和踏实型价值观类型存在显著的正相关,适应性功能水平与功利型和冷漠型价值观类型存在显著的负相关。     

The Age of Uncertainty: Parent Perspectives on the Transitions of Young People with Mental Health Difficulties to Adulthood

For young people aged 16–24, the transition from adolescence to young adulthood involves predictable and unpredictable changes and they may encounter challenges in their roles, relationships, and responsibilities. Young people with mental health difficulties face additional challenges as they and their families navigate this transition. As a result, families commonly experience anxiety, uncertainty, frustration, and turbulent relationships. After learning to become advocates to secure appropriate services for their children, in late adolescence and young adulthood, parents are likely to find themselves excluded from their children’s treatment planning and services. This article reports findings from a recent qualitative study of the experiences and perceptions of 42 family members supporting their children with mental health difficulties during the transition years. Family members described their goals for their children, their frustrations trying to access appropriate services for their children, and their strategies to provide the support their children needed. Recommendations are for service providers to connect transition age youth with practical assistance and supportive mentoring relationships. Family members requested service providers to consider them as resources and potential collaborators in supporting young people with mental health difficulties to live successful lives in the community.     

Family Functioning and Coping Behaviors in Parents of Children with Autism

We analyzed family dynamics and coping behaviors of parents with a child with an autistic spectrum disorder. Previous research suggests that moderate levels of cohesion and adaptability are associated with higher levels of positive coping, and that the more coping strategies a family implements, the greater their satisfaction with family functioning. Using a family systems approach, the relationships among the familial variables of cohesion, adaptability, and social support were evaluated for their contributions to coping in the family unit. We also compared the responses of mothers and fathers. Surprisingly, for these parents of children with autism, those who rated their family as enmeshed implemented more positive coping strategies than did those from other cohesion styles. This finding suggests that the enmeshed style may be more adaptive for a family that encounters extreme challenges. Notably, mothers and fathers agreed on all variables except for perception of social support from family and friends. Mothers perceived more social support from family and friends. The results lead to several interesting suggestions for future research.     

Assessing ADHD-related Family Stressors with the Disruptive Behavior Stress Inventory (DBSI): A Replication and Extension

The Disruptive Behavior Stress Inventory (DBSI) was developed to provide information related to the occurrence and severity of stressors that result from having a child with ADHD. Data provided in the initial 2002 study by Johnson and Reader (Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 9, 51–62) provided good preliminary support for the reliability of the DBSI, as well the ability of the scale scores to differentiate primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD. The present study was an attempt to replicate major findings of the 2002 study using an additional larger sample and extend it by conducting item-level analyses to determine the degree to which individual DBSI items differentiate primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD. Results provided additional support for the reliability and validity of the DBSI by replicating major findings from the 2002 study and further suggesting that a large majority of the 40 items individually differentiate between primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD.     

对我国性别刻板印象的分析

心理学在当代中国迅速发展,其中对性别刻板印象的研究也十分全面。本文探讨了性别刻板印象的表现,分析了影响其产生的因素,并进一步介绍了减弱性别刻板印象的对策。     

Age trends in children's time-sharing performance

To investigate developmental differences in time-sharing performance, 60 boys, 20 in each of three age groups (7-, 10-, and 13-year-olds) performed an auditory matching task and a tracking task alone and concurrently, the latter under two sets of instructions. Decrements produced by concurrent performance were compared for the three age groups. When the time-shared tasks were presented as equally important, time-sharing produced significantly greater proportional decrements in the tracking performance of the younger children and for all age groups tracking task decrements were directly related to matching task difficulty. Subsequently, the children were instructed that one or the other of the tasks was more important and that they were to improve their performance on that task. All three age groups showed a significant improvement on the task emphasized by instructions. The relationship of the results to two models of information processing is discussed.     

Sex differences in the structure of intelligence: A confirmatory factor analysis

The LISREL model of Jöreskog and Sörbom was used to perform a comparative factor analysis on intelligence data from four sex by generation groups. The covariance matrices for 10 psychometric ability measures were used to isolate Spatial and Verbal Intelligence factors. Results from a series of factor analysis models indicated substantial invariance in the factor pattern and factor covariance matrices, although the hypothesis of complete invariance in factor pattern was rejected. The groups did differ in observed and unique variances. The results were basically consistent with the hypothesis that males and females have similar intellectual structure, which would have been obscured had standardized factor analysis been employed. There were also sex and generation differences in the Spatial and Verbal factor means.     

The development of alertness

Two experiments explored variation in the alerting process across age and warning interval as well as the effects of alertness on subsequent processing. Experiment 1 obtained alertness functions for a group of 5-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and adults. Results revealed strong age differences in speed of alerting and in maintenance of alertness over a 1-sec interval. Five-year-olds alerted more slowly than older groups and sustained optimal alertness less well. Both groups of children showed more variability in alerting functions compared with adults. Experiment 2 examined the degree to which age differences in processing speed were attributable to differential speed and maintenance of alerting. Masking functions obtained across variations in the alerting interval revealed that when level of alertness was optimal in both 5-year-olds and adults, minimal age differences in processing speed were observed. During short, nonoptimal alerting intervals, speed of processing in adults was faster than in 5-year-old children. The pattern of results across studies suggested that alertness can fluctuate over time in young children, that level of alertness affects subsequent perceptual processing speed, and that developmental variation in speed and maintenance of alertness can partly explain observed age differences in processing speed. The potential role of alertness in more complex cognitive tasks is discussed.     

Elkind on egocentrism

The purpose of this paper is to respond to D. Elkind's (1985, Developmental Review, 5, 218–226) reply to D. Lapsley and M. Murphy's (1985, Developmental Review, 5, 201–217) critique of the adolescent egocentrism theory. After a reprise of the issues in contention, we address the problem of theoretical consistency and self-other differentiation in Dr. Elkind's (1967, Child Development, 38, 1025–1034) theory. The role of formal operations in the Lapsley and Murphy (1985) account of the imaginary audience and personal fable is revised, and the empirical support for Elkind's theory is reviewed. We conclude that there are good conceptual and empirical grounds for doubting the major assumptions of the adolescent egocentrism theory, and that the Lapsley and Murphy (1985) framework has promise in suggesting theoretical integration with other approaches to the self.