Ethnic Differences in Parents' Attitudes toward Girls' Use of Aggression

Few studies have attempted to explain ethnic differences in female aggression. The degree to which ethnic differences exist in the influence of parents' approval of aggression on their preadolescent daughters' use of physical, verbal, and relational aggression was explored in a sample of 97 parent-child dyads. Results indicate that European American parents were more disapproving of their daughters' aggressive behavior than were African American parents. Parents' attitude toward aggression was predictive of European American girls' use of physical and verbal aggression and African American girls' use of relational aggression. Implications for aggression prevention and intervention for girls are discussed.     

Measuring Abuse Sequelae: Validating and Extending the Trauma Symptom Checklist–40

This study used the Trauma Symptom Checklist–40 (TSC–40) to index both childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and childhood physical abuse (CPA) in a college student sample of both men and women (N = 441). Although the TSC–40 was designed as a measure of CSA trauma, this study concludes the measure is appropriately reliable for indexing the traumatic sequelae of CPA as well as CSA in nonclinical samples. This study also explored the effects of gender and abuse severity on resulting symptomatology, finding that women and severely abused individuals report the most negative sequelae. Both CSA and CPA emerged as significant explanatory variables in TSC–40 scale scores beyond gender, supporting its validity for indexing traumatic sequelae in nonclinical samples.     

Preface

Summary

Child victimization is a serious and on-going problem in the United States and throughout the world. In 2000, an estimated 900,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in the United States. New and different responses to child maltreatment will have to be developed and implemented in response to the increasingly diverse contexts and situations within which maltreatment occurs. Emerging trends in adult-child boundary violations are explored within this volume from a cross-section of disciplines, including law, sociology, criminal justice, psychology, and health services. The selections analyze issues critical to child maltreatment and offer intriguingly different perspectives of present and future issues related to child abuse.     

Factors Predicting Dating Violence Perpetration Among Male and Female College Students

This study examined the importance of witnessing parental violence, experiencing childhood violence, problems with alcohol, length of relationship, relationship satisfaction, anger management skills, and partner's use of physical and psychological aggression for male and female perpetrators of dating violence in college. For males, partner's use of physical aggression, low anger management skills, and high relationship satisfaction were the strongest predictors of physical aggression. For females, partner's uses of physical and psychological aggression were the most important predictors of their use of physical aggression. The model in this study was a good predictor of male violence, accounting for 81% of the variance; however, it only accounted for 51% of the variance in female violence.     

Consequences of Child and Adult Sexual and Physical Trauma among Deaf Adults

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consequences of sexual and physical trauma among a sample of deaf adults. Thirty-two men and 45 women completed the Life Event Checklist (LEC), the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire–20 (SDQ–20) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. In this sample, 40.6% of the male participants and 53.3% of the female participants had experienced some type of sexual trauma during their lifetimes. Physical trauma was reported by 75% of males and 71.1% of female participants. For those who had experienced childhood sexual trauma, the odds ratio of revictimization in adulthood was 6.69. Sexual trauma also rarely occurred by itself. Two thirds of all participants with sexual trauma histories also reported some type of physical abuse. Participants with sexual trauma histories displayed significantly more symptoms of PTSD and depression than people without such trauma history. Physical and sexual abuse represent significant problems in the deaf community. The authors include a call for the development of targeted intervention attempts to prevent further victimization in deaf child and adolescent populations.     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Personality Dysfunction and the Management of Chronic Medical Illness: A Community Health Sample

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of personality disorders on perceived health status, self-efficacy for management of the chronic illness, and physician perception of patient health. A total of 607 patients with self-identified chronicillness(es) volunteered to participate in the study. Out of this sample, 147 had collaborative physician data indicating a chronic illness. The final sample was 143 due to incomplete data. Results suggested that maladaptive personality characteristics, as measured by the Short-Form of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (SCATI), were related to a number of important factors that influence self-management of chronic illnesses. When the personality constellations were broken into 3 groups (normal, subclinical, and clinical) significant differences were found on the 3 groups of dependent variables (Subjective Health, Self-Efficacy, Physician Appraisal) for the different personality disorders. These data provide useful information on several factors that influence effective disease management. Clinical implications and directions for future research are provided.     

Parent,child, and contextual predictors of childhood physical punishment

Data gathered over the course of an 18‐year longitudinal study of 1025 New Zealand children were used to: (a) develop a profile of the maternal, child, and contextual factors associated with differing levels of exposure to maternal physical punishment, and (b) identify the key predictors of maternal physical punishment as reported by young people at age 18. Results revealed the presence of clear linear associations between the extent of young people's reported exposure to physical punishment and a wide range of maternal, child, and contextual factors. The key predictors of physical punishment suggested that the psychosocial profile of those mothers at greatest risk of physically punishing or mistreating their child was that of a young woman with a personal history of strict parenting who entered motherhood at an early age, and who was attempting to parent a behaviourally difficult child within a dysfunctional family environment characterized by elevated rates of inter‐parental violence and childhood sexual abuse. These findings were consistent with a cumulative risk factor model in which increasing risk factor exposure is associated with increasing levels of child physical punishment/maltreatment. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

婴儿物理因果感知能力的发展

继Michotte(1963)用两个发生碰撞的小球对成人的物理因果理解进行研究以来,许多研究者使用该碰撞情境对婴儿的物理因果感知进行了一系列的研究,并得出了许多颇有争议的结论。本文结合近几年国外对婴儿物理因果感知能力的相关研究,阐述了婴儿感知简单物理情境中的因果关系能力的发展,评价了用来解释婴儿物理因果感知的模块理论与信息加工理论,以期对婴儿期的物理因果感知有一较全面的了解。     

大学生自信发展特点的研究

本研究选取931名大学生为被试,采用自编“大学生自信问卷”?考察了大学生自信的年龄特点、性别差异及学校类型差异。结果表明：大学生自信总水平差异显著,除社交自信外,整体自信、学业自信和身体自信均存在极显著性别差异,男生高于女生;大学生在整体、学业和身体自信及其分维度上存在显著年级差异：一、四年级显著高于二、三年级,其中三年级自信度明显低于其它年级;学业、社交、身体自信及其分维度存在显著学校类型差异,非重点大学学生显著高于重点大学学生;年级和学校类型在身体自信、整体自信、学业自信、社交自信及其某些层面上存在显著交互作用;性别和学校类型在身体自信某分维度的交互作用达显著水平。