The Relationship Between Perceived Parental Attitudes and Shyness among Turkish Youth: Fear of Negative Evaluation and Self-esteem as Mediators

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between three perceived parental attitudes and shyness, testing self-esteem and fear of negative evaluation as mediators. The study used a total of 492 undergraduate students in Turkey. Data was collected through measures of shyness, fear of negative evaluation, self-esteem, and perceived parental attitudes. The proposed model was estimated using path analysis. Goodness of fit statistics showed that the model fit the data well. Results indicated that parental acceptance/involvement predicted self-esteem; perceived parental strictness/supervision predicted fear of negative evaluation; and perceived parental psychological autonomy predicted self-esteem. Self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between parental acceptance/involvement and shyness, whereas it fully mediated the relationship between parental psychological autonomy and shyness. Fear of negative evaluation fully mediated the relationship between parental strictness/supervision and shyness. In addition, the relationship between self-esteem and shyness was partially mediated by fear of negative evaluation. The findings provided evidence for the propositions that parental attitudes are important in the development of self-image and fears of rejection which result in the experience of shyness.     

Can Life Be Evaluated? The Jewish Halachic Approach vs. The Quality of Life Approach in Medical Ethics: A Critical View

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of requests formercy killings by patients and their relatives. Under certain conditions,the patient may prefer death to a life devoid of quality. In contrast to thosewho uphold this quality of life approach, those who hold the sanctity oflife approach claim that life has intrinsic value and must be preservedregardless of its quality. This essay describes these two approaches,examines their flaws, and offers a golden path between the two extremepositions.We discuss the halachic and the secular views, arguing for a balancebetween the sanctity of life and the quality of life. We argue that, indeed,such a balance exists in practice, and that life is important, but it is not sacred. Life can be evaluated, but quality of life is not the solecriterion.     

Family Members' Retrospective Perceptions of Intrafamilial Relationships

Parents and daughters in 21 families of women with borderline personality disorder (BPD), 23 women with restricting anorexia nervosa (AN), and 25 women without clinical histories (NC) responded to the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the Beavers Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI). On the PBI, BPD daughters' perceptions differed from both their parents' whereas AN daughters' perceptions differed from their mothers'. On the SFI, both groups reported less family health than their parents. On both instruments, nonclinical daughters' perceptions were congruent with the parents'. These findings have implications for researchers and therapists for integrating and utilizing the varying perceptions of family members.     

Experiences of peer aggression and parental attachment are correlated in adolescents

Whether levels of parental attachment differentiate how individuals are peer victimised was studied in 13, 14 and 15 year olds (N = 204), who completed a modified version of the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scales (DIAS) and the parent sections of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Results showed a moderate negative correlation between Total Victimisation scores and Total Attachment scores (r = −.254, p = .001, CI₉₅ = [−.38, −.12]); the magnitude of correlations was similar for subscale scores and for data on both mother and father considered separately; data did not differ by gender of the respondent. Attachment to mother significantly exceeded attachment to father. The factor structure of the self-report DIAS was explored and a hierarchical solution suggested that it measures general experience of victimisation along with two lower order factors defined by experiences of either direct or indirect aggression.     

The role of familiarity in dietary development

The rise in inadequate and unhealthily diets in children has led investigations to examine the development of food preferences. This review outlines the ways in which children choose between foods made available to them and the subsequent shaping of their own habitual diet. Children are liable to form preferences to certain hedonic foods, and to exhibit neophobic reactions to the unfamiliar. Unfamiliar foods can elicit anxiety and suspicion. Trust and liking of a once novel food can be gained through exposure, increasing familiarity towards that food. This review examines: visual familiarity (awareness of foods within their environment); taste familiarity (knowledge and experience of the taste of foods); contextual familiarity (knowledge of how foods should be presented); and categorical familiarity (which family foods belong to). The influence of familiarity is also explained with regards to both positive and negative associative learning. These associations are influenced by the specific presentation and the social environment of a novel food. The potential benefits of understanding the nature of children’s learning and preference development for the promotion of healthy nutrition to both parent and child are discussed.     

Links between parental psychological violence, other family disturbances, and children's adjustment

In a sample of 143 parent-child dyads from two-parent and separated families, this investigation documented the links between parental psychological violence and separation or divorce, severity of parental conflict, triangulation of the child in this conflict, and polarized parent-child alliances. The unique and combined contributions of all these variables to children's behavior problems were also assessed. Participants were parents, mostly mothers, and their 10-12-year-old child. They were recruited through schools, community organizations, and newspapers. Questionnaires were administered at home. Findings suggest that separated families undergo more relational disturbances than two-parent families (more severe conflicts, more triangulation, stronger parent-child alliances), but the amount of parental psychological violence was similar in both groups. Psychological violence was associated with the severity of parental conflict, especially in two-parent families. Triangulation of the child in parental conflict was another correlate of psychological violence. Once all variables were controlled for, psychological violence remained the only significant correlate of children's externalized behavior problems. These findings raise the importance of preventing psychological violence toward children, especially in families plagued with severe parental conflicts.     

Children's engagement and competence in personal recollection: effects of parents' reminiscing goals

Parents' goal orientations in parent-child reminiscing were examined in this study, where 28 preschoolers (mean age = 46 months) experienced a standardized event. Dyads discussed the event that evening, with parents randomly assigned to either an "outcome-oriented" or a "process-oriented" condition. Outcome-oriented parents, who were told that children subsequently would be tested on event-related recall, were more controlling in these conversations compared with process-oriented parents, who were told that children's personal perspective would be assessed. Parents did not differ in their provision of structure. Children were interviewed 2 weeks later. Autonomy support in the parent-child conversation predicted children's engagement in the interview. Parental structure predicted children's recall of details and the coherence of their memories. Effects of parental reminiscing styles for children's memory and motivation to reminisce are discussed.     

Foundations of generativity: Personal and family correlates of emerging adults’ generative life-story themes

Recently, the Eriksonian midlife personality strength of generativity has been described as existing in many forms and in persons of differing ages (McAdams, 2001). In this longitudinal study, narratives of life “turning points” and significant accomplishments were examined for generative themes in 32 adolescent/emerging adults (aged 16 and 20 years). We also explored these emerging adults’ volunteering behavior, prosocial reasoning, and parental influence as potential factors in generativity. Several parenting factors when adolescents were 16 (parents’ autonomy-encouraging practices, their emphasis on caring in stories of family value teaching, and adolescents’ reports of authoritative parenting style) were associated with more generative themes in narratives at age 20. Adolescents’ levels of prosocial reasoning, volunteering behavior, and personal value choices were also associated as expected with generative theme usage at age 20 in life stories, supporting the meaningfulness of this construct in emerging adulthood.     

Interests and Neonates: There Is More to the Story than We Explicitly Acknowledge

Although there are many different moral arguments concerning the use of Best Interests in neonatal decision-making, there seems in practice a firm commitment to application of the concept. And yet, there is still little reflection given by practitioners about what employing a Best Interest determination means in infant care. The following lays out a comprehensive taxonomy of interest-sources in order to provide for more robust considerations of what constitutes best interests of/for neonates.