Interparental conflict and risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents: a cognitive-emotional model

This study used a cognitive-emotional model to examine the relations between multiple dimensions of interparental conflict and health risk behaviors among young adolescents. Participants were 151 Mexican American adolescents and their parents. At initial individual interviews, parents reported on conflict with their spouses, and adolescents reported on their parents' conflict, their appraisals of the conflict, their emotional distress, and their acculturation level. At 6-month follow-ups, adolescents reported on their risk behaviors, including substance use and sexual activity. In general, adolescents' acculturation level was not related to their risk behaviors. More frequent conflict, more conflict about the adolescent, more adolescent involvement in the conflict, and poor conflict resolution were related to greater emotional distress. More conflict about the adolescent, mothers being more demanding/dominating during conflict, and more adolescent involvement in the conflict were related to greater risk behaviors. Adolescents' cognitions mediated the link between two dimensions of parental conflict, frequency and resolution, and emotional distress. Adolescents' emotional distress mediated the association between adolescent involvement in parental conflict and adolescents' risk behaviors.     

Hotep's Story: Exploring the Wounds of Health Vulnerability in the US

A wide variety of forms of domination hasresulted in a highly heterogeneous health riskcategory, ``the vulnerable.' The study of healthinequities sheds light on forces thatgenerate, sustain, and alter vulnerabilities toillness, injury, suffering and death. Thispaper analyzes the case of a high-risk teenfrom a Boston ghetto that illuminatesintersections between ``race' and class in theconstruction of vulnerability in the US.Exploration of his ``wounds' helps specify howlarge-scale social and cultural forces becomeembodied as individual experience of disparatehealth risk. The case demonstrates that healthinequities would not occur if resources –employment, income, wealth, education, housing,profiling in the legal system, and health care– were more justly managed in keeping withstandards outlined in the Universal Declarationof Human Rights. Professional responses to the``wounds of vulnerability' may reveal importantaspects of who we are and what our work asscholars, practitioners, and advocates mustbecome.     

Adjusting To a New Racial Climate: Maintenance of Personal Integrity

This paper will focus on the writer’s experience as a native New Yorker relocating to Montgomery, Alabama. The writer will share how he adjusted and coped with overt discrimination and racism in the context of the high school in which he attended there-a majority white high school on the “other” side of town. The writer will share how he employed the following coping mechanisms as methods of adjusting to his new environment: translating emotional experiences into words (relaxation and talk therapy), involvement with other black positive peers, careful assessment before acting, withdrawal and avoidance, and consuming African-American literature.     

Time trends in the adjustment of Swedish teenage girls: a 26-year comparison of 15-year-olds

The aim of this study was to investigate stability and change over 26 years in self-reported adjustment of Swedish teenage girls. Data were collected with the same questionnaire from two school-cohorts in a middle-sized Swedish community: 522 girls attending Grade 8 (approximately at age 15) in 1970, and 529 girls attending Grade 8 in 1996. The first cohort was part of the longitudinal research programme Individual Development and Adaptation (IDA). In most domains, adjustment problems were approximately as common in 1996 as in 1970, with two exceptions: more girls reported problems with self-esteem and antisocial problems in 1996. In the antisocial domain, a polarization process was indicated, with an increase also in the number of girls without adjustment problems. In the relational domains, especially peer relations, there was an increase in positive adjustment. The results are discussed in relation to earlier findings and to social changes during the period.     

Adolescent Psychopathy and Personality Theory—the Interpersonal Circumplex: Expanding Evidence of a Nomological Net

The construct validity of psychopathy was examined in a sample of 114 male and female young offenders (M_age = 15.16) at a southeastern detention center. The interpersonal circumplex served as a framework of general personality from which to examine the construct of adolescent psychopathy. A supplementary analysis of the psychopathy measures and the Big 5 factors of personality was also conducted using a matrix approach. Measures included: (a) Antisocial Process Screening Device (P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, 2001); (b) Child Psychopathy Scale (D. R. Lynam, 1996); (c) Psychopathy Checklist—Youth Version (A. E. Forth, D. S. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, 2003); and (d) Interpersonal Adjective Scales Revised—Big 5 Version (P. Trapnell & J. S. Wiggins, 1991; J. S. Wiggins, 1995). Results showed substantial convergence among the three psychopathy measures. In addition, meaningful associations between psychopathy and constructs within the interpersonal circumplex and broader domains of the Big 5 were obtained. Two psychopathy scales correlated to a higher degree than expected with neuroticism. These findings provide evidence linking personality theory to the concept of child and adolescent psychopathy, thereby adding to its construct validity. However, they do so with the caveat that youth may also be displaying some characteristics of neuroticism, suggesting that worry and anxiety may accompany psychopathic features in earlier developmental stages. The implications of the current study are discussed.     

The Impact of the Big Five Personality Traits on Reports of Child Behavior Problems by Different Informants

The present study compared ratings of a standardized sample of child behavior problems across informants and examined the effects of informant personality traits on child behavior ratings by mothers, teachers, and group-care workers. Participants were 55 clinic-referred children, aged 6–12 years. All informants watched and rated the same 17-min videotaped behavior sample of a familiar target child. Independent trained observers rated the same videotapes to provide criterion ratings. Informants personality traits were assessed using the NEO Five Factor Personality Inventory. Results showed that mothers reported fewer behavior problems than did the professionals, that the informants who were familiar with the child reported more behavior problems than did the independent observers, and that higher levels of informant neuroticism were related to higher ratings of child behavior problems in the case of the professionals, but not in the case of the mothers. In addition, group-care workers who were less extraverted and open were likely to report more child behavior problems than group-care workers with normal levels of extraversion and openness. Finally, no relations were found between agreeableness or conscientiousness and ratings of child behavior. Findings suggest that professionals who work with children are not immune to distortions based on their own personality.     

师生关系与中小学生学校适应性的关系

师生关系作为儿童人际关系的一部分,是儿童社会化的重要内容,对儿童的学校适应产生重要影响。本研究运用问卷法、访谈法等对6个年级867名中小学生进行测查,以了解中小学生师生关系对学生学校适应性的影响。结果表明:(1)中小学生学校适应性与师生关系之间存在显著正相关;(2)师生关系是影响学生学校适应性的重要因素。其影响程度从大到小依次为:亲密性、主动性、合作性;年龄也影响学生的学校适应性,但程度较小。     

Interpersonal Dependency in Child Abuse Perpetrators and Victims: A Meta-Analytic Review

Meta-analysis of studies assessing interpersonal dependency in child abuse perpetrators (N of studies = 7) and victims (N of studies = 9) indicated that perpetrators have higher dependency levels than nonabusing controls (d = 0.43), and child abuse victims have higher dependency levels in early adulthood than people who were not abused as children (d = 0.47). An array of other personality traits and disorders showed comparable associations with abuse suggesting that in both populations increased dependency reflects a generalized increase in pathology and distress. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed, and suggestions for future research on dependency and abuse are offered.     

Evaluating Genetic Counseling: Client Expectations,Psychological Adjustment and Satisfaction with Service

Periodic evaluations of genetic counseling services are useful for determining the effectiveness of counseling in meetings its psycho-educational aims, as well as identifying where improvements to the service may be made. This study aimed to evaluate the genetic counseling services provided by Genetic Services of Western Australia (GSWA) to determine the impact of counseling on client expectations, satisfaction with the service, and psychological adjustment, defined as wellbeing and perceived personal control (PPC). A total of 122 clients participated in a self-administered survey conducted pre- and post-counseling. Client expectations of the service as a means of providing information were met, and opportunities for counselors to meet client’s expectations of psychological support were identified. Furthermore, counseling was found to maintain and enhance psychological wellbeing of clients. The role of counseling in facilitating the development of PPC was a key contributor to a high sense of satisfaction in clients.