Children and adolescents as producers of their own development

Interest in the historically changing contexts of human life has been associated with the elaboration of a life-span view of human development. This view holds that all levels of the context, including the biological, psychological, and sociocultural, change in reciprocal relation to one another. As a consequence of being embedded in a context which they both influence and are influenced by, children and adolescents may promote their own development. One way this occurs is that as a consequence of their characteristics of physical and behavioral individuality people promote differential reactions in their socializing others (e.g., parents, teachers, or peers); these reactions feed back affecting further development. My colleagues and I have conducted research that describes such child and adolescent contributions to development. We have focused on characteristics of physical individuality, such as body type and physical attractiveness, and on characteristics of behavioral individuality, such as behavioral style or temperament. Findings from these studies are conceptualized in terms of a person-context “goodness-of-fit” model. Adaptive development is associated with congruence, or fit, between a person's attributes of individuality and the demands of his or her setting. Implications of this research for illustrating the use of the life-span perspective, and for theory in and practice of intervention, are discussed.     

The role of anxiety in the Career Decision Making of liberal arts students

Liberal arts students (N = 341) completed parallel halves of the A-State portion of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) before and after completion of either a career-planning questionnaire consisting largely of Harren's Assessment of Career Decision-Making (ACDM) instrument (treatment group) or a set of consumer preference marketing questions (control group). As hypothesized, the treatment group showed an increase in post-test anxiety as compared to pretest responses; level of expressed anxiety in the control group pre- and post-test did not change significantly. Additionally, state anxiety (at both points in time) in the treatment group was found to relate to most of the ACDM measures operationalizing the career-planning model of Harren and his associates, thus confirming that anxiety is both another indicator of student lack of success in the career planning process and a justifiable extension of their model. Anxiety was found to relate more weakly to specific career concerns, suggesting that students are not fully aware of the source(s) of their anxiousness. Further, two key scales from Harren's model (dependent decision-making style and occupational commitment) were found to be related to specific career concerns, indicating that those measures are reftective of actual student concerns in successful career planning. Further research should seek to demonstrate the development of these relationships between career planning and anxiety over time.     

Primary influencers of initial vocational choices for college women

This study of 597 entering college women investigated the characteristics of people they named as the primary influencers for their initial choices of major. College major was considered analogous to vocational field since the sample of students overwhelmingly gave career goals as reasons for choosing a particular major. Characteristics of these primary influencers were compared with those of a sample of individuals influencing male choices. In addition, characteristics of influencers were compared between those influencing females choosing traditional and nontraditional majors. The results indicate that most students, regardless of gender, were influenced by males, particularly fathers. However, a notable percentage of female students, especially those in traditional fields, were influenced by females. Students whose primary influencers were in fields closely related to their own vocational choices reported being more certain of their choices than students citing influencers in unrelated fields. These findings have implications for model-observer similarity, and may necessitate distinguishing between influential people who provide reinforcement for a choice of major and those who provide specific vocational modeling as well as reinforcement for that choice.     

Return of fear: The role of inhibition

In a previous study investigating the relationship between subjective, physiological and behavioural changes during treatment of specific phobias, a marked between-session increase was found in subjective fear after high, but not after low intensity phobic stimulation although the groups showed similar fear ratings and heart rates immediately after treatment (Grey et al, 1979). It was hypothesized that the high intensity stimulation led to ‘treatment fatigue’; a state of deactivation, the recovery from which led to a return of fear.In this study high intensity in vivo stimulation was used for the treatment of phobic subjects under conditions of distributed and massed practice. No differences emerged between treatment conditions. A small group of Ss with a conspicuously high heart rate (mean level 120 bpm) when rating zero fear, showed a significant increase in fear after one week's interval, although they had shown similar improvement to the Ss during treatment. Subjects in both treatment conditions showed lower heart rate at all post-treatment assessments than pre-treatment. The high initial heart rate Ss continued to have higher heart rate than other Ss throughout the experiment, although they showed a decrease after treatment. It was only these Ss with desynchronously high heart rate, i.e. high heart rate with zero fear ratings, who suffered a return of fear, whereas high heart rate during high fear did not predict either response to treatment or return of fear. A further finding was a lack of correlation between the behavioural and physiological indices of fear, namely, between distance and heart rate at high levels of fear.     

Training research in aging on the fluid ability of inductive reasoning

The modifiability of older adults' performance on Induction tasks was examined through cognitive training. The posttraining performance of 52 older adults ($\text{X}\text{age = 70.3}\text{years}$) was assessed with regard to a transfer-of-training paradigm and maintenance of training effects at three posttests (one week, one month, six months). A pattern of differential training transfer across the posttest battery of fluid and crystallized intelligence measures was predicted, with the largest training effects expected for near transfer (Induction) measures. The predicted pattern of training transfer was obtained at one-week and one-month posttests, with significant training effects to the nearest Induction measure. Large retest (practice) effects across posttests also occurred for training and control groups. This research contributes to the position that modifiability of intellectual performance through cognitive intervention extends across the adult life span.     

Genetic mediation of sex differences in horizontality: A rejoinder

Neither M. G. McGee (Developmental Review, 1981, 1, 289–295) nor M. J. Allen, M. A. Wittig, and K. Butler (Developmental Review, 1981, 1, 284–288) suggest any alternative explanation for our finding that water-level performance appears to have an X-linked genetic basis. The power calculations of Allen et al. are found to be faulty, and McGee confuses the hypothesis we tested with a weaker hypothesis. Although the X-linked genetic model is not an adequate model of water-level performance the water-level data fit the X-linked model far better than color blindness and HCN data McGee presents as exemplars of X-linked characteristics.     

Causal patterns related to post high school employment satisfaction

A linear recursive path model was developed and evaluated using a combined male and female sample, and separate male and female samples in an attempt to identify causal relationships of in-school student characteristics to satisfaction in post high school employment. The statistical methodology used was Path Analysis. A total of ten student characteristic variables were used in the model. The findings indicate that overall job satisfaction is related to variables which are associated with the affective domain. These variables are: Occupational Values-Interest and Satisfaction and Salary, and Vocational Maturity. Overall, employment satisfaction was twice as predictable for the female sample as it was for the combined sample and it was not at all predictable for the male sample.     

A factorial investigation of career salience

A series of career salience items were factor analyzed and related to several indices of occupational choice behavior. Three factors emerged from the factor analysis: (1) the relative priority of a career; (2) general attitudes toward work; and (3) career advancement and planning. Factor 2 was significantly related to the choice of a congruent occupation for males and to the choice of an “ideal” occupation for males and females. Factor 2 was also most highly related to self-esteem for both sexes.     

Job-seeking behavior: A segment of vocational development

This paper reports two companion studies which establish that there is a significant relationship between an individual's personality characteristics and his pattern of job-seeking behavior. Individuals who are tough-minded, independent and nonneurotic had specified job goals and self-actualized behavior. They were highly successful in obtaining jobs. Individuals who were sensitive, dependent and neurotic had vague goals and passive behavior. They failed to get jobs. Individuals who exhibited a mixture of the cited characteristics and behavior were also exploring career options. They had a modicum of success in obtaining jobs. Job-seeking behavior as a process of vocational development is discussed.