Adjudicated Mexican American Adolescents: The Effects of Familial Emotional Support on Self-Esteem,Emotional Well-Being,and Delinquency

This article examines relationships between familial emotional support, self-esteem, emotional well-being, and delinquency in 58 adjudicated Mexican American adolescents who were on probationary status with the juvenile justice system. Results indicated that maternal emotional support was negatively correlated with delinquency, and positively correlated with emotional well-being. In addition, regression analyses revealed that familial emotional support significantly predicted delinquency and emotional well-being, with maternal emotional support accounting for most of the total variance. Unlike previous findings in the general delinquency research, familial emotional support was unrelated to self-esteem. These results offer several insights into the nature and effects of Mexican American familial emotional support on an adolescent's behavioral and emotional adjustment.     

Beyond relationship reciprocity: A consideration of varied forms of children's relationships

The present research extends the use of a new scheme for classifying children's peer relationships that (a) jointly evaluates friendship and antipathy nominations and (b) includes nonreciprocated friend and antipathy nominations. Findings revealed that 12.1% of all classroom dyads (total dyads = 2,313) were unbalanced relationships, in which one child perceived a friendship but was disliked by the other child. Furthermore, having high frequencies of “befriending but disliked” relationships was associated with poor social competence and having high frequencies of “disliking but befriended” relationships was associated with good social competence. Results support the use of this new classification scheme by highlighting the common nature of unbalanced relationships and by establishing the association of unbalanced relationships to peer social competence outcomes.     

Teaching Creative Writing Skills to Primary School Children in Hong Kong: Discordance Between the Views and Practices of Language Teachers

Although creativity has been valued in ancient and contemporary Chinese literature, the degree to which creativity is valued and incorporated into teaching by Chinese language teachers is not known. This information is important given that creativity has been increasingly recognized in the education literature as a component of effective writing. The purpose of this study was to compare the views of Chinese language teachers in Hong Kong about creativity and the acquisition of creative writing skills by primary school children, and their teaching practices. A total of 449 Chinese language teachers, employed at primary schools throughout Hong Kong completed a survey questionnaire. The 14‐item questionnaire focused on teachers' views of creativity, their perceptions of how to develop students' creativity, their awareness of creative writing strategies, and teaching practices related to creative writing. With respect to the definition of creativity, teachers identified imagination foremost, followed by inspiration, and original ideas. Teachers identified developing students' confidence, and providing an open atmosphere as essential means of fostering creativity. Despite the apparent value of creativity expressed by the teachers and their familiarity with methods for enhancing creativity, the majority reported using traditional methods of teaching writing. Strategies are recommended for reconciling this discrepancy, and promoting creative writing skills by primary school teachers in Hong Kong and other Chinese speaking societies.