Continuity of type a behavior during childhood,preadolescence, and adolescence

The continuity of Type A behavior during childhood, preadolescence, and adolescence was studied in 1403 randomly selected children. The subjects' Type A behavior was evaluated by their mothers and also self-rated by preadolescents and adolescents using the AFMS (Type A Behavior for the Finnish Multicenter Study) questionnaire, which is a method based on the Matthews Youth Test for Health and the Swedish version of the Jenkins Activity Survey. The results showed that when mothers' assessments were used, Type A behavior was very highly and homotypically stable during the periods studied, and there were no sex- and age-related differences. Among the different components of Type A pattern, impatience-aggression exhibited slightly greater stability than leadership-sense of responsibility. Mothers' assessments had predictive significance in the self-ratings given three years later, especially in girls, while the continuity of the self-ratings over adolescence was rather low.Received Ph.D. from University of Helsinki. Research interests: psychosomatics, behavioral medicine and social development of a child.     

Current contradictions in adolescent theory

This article points out two contradictions in current adolescent theory. The first is between the classical point of view, espousing the notion of storm and stress, and the empirical view, supporting a concept of adolescence as relatively peaceful and harmonious. The latter approach, however, creates a second contradiction because it does not explain how young people cope with the major adaptations demanded as a result of changes in their physical, social, and emotional spheres of life. The article examines the status of concepts such as the generation gap and identity crisis and concludes with the formulation of a focal theory of adolescence which attempts to resolve the contradictions discussed earlier.Received his B.A. from McGill University, Montreal, and Ph.D. from University College, London. Is both a developmental and clinical psychologist. Major interests include adolescence and the preschool years.     

The life space and socialization of the self: Sex differences in the young adolescent

In this conclusion we examine the implications of the special issue findings for the development of the self. We discuss how well the young adolescent experiences in schoolwork, maintenance, talk, and leisure provide bases for an evolving adjstment to the adult roles of work, love, and play. Gender differences clearly emerged in the experience of daily life; children entered adolescence with differences in how time is experienced already firmly established, and by midadolescence these differences were intensifying. Our data support the three heuristics of communion versus agency, gender intensification, and the public versus private dichotomy. Concern is raised as to the viability of traditional sex role socialization when adult roles may demand more egalitarian behavior.     

Was Mead wrong about coming of age in Samoa? An analysis of the Mead/Freeman controversy for scholars of adolescence and human development

This paper presents an analysis of the Mead/Freeman controversy with a focus on Mead's claim that coming of age in 1920s Samoa was accomplished with relative ease. It is concluded that, while Mead appears to have engaged in some inappropriate generalizations to the rest of Samoa from the small island of Ta'u, Freeman's counterevidence to support his claim that adolescence on Ta'u would have been problematic is weak and easily dismissed. Accordingly, Freeman's claim to have refuted Mead's findings is based on evidence that itself is easily refuted. Thus, Mead's pioneering study, which was the first to argue that adolescent storm and stress is not universal, continues to stand the test of time.Received Ph.D. in sociology from York University, Toronto, Canada. Research interests include the empirical investigation of Eriksonian theory, cross-cultural and historical analyses of youth and adolescence, higher education and personal development, and gender roles.     

Work and leisure relationships: An exploration of life possibilities during adolescence

This study explored the relationship between leisure preferences and work/occupational aspiration for adolescents in Singapore and Australia. Three hypothesized relationships between the domains of spillover, compensation, and segmentation were investigated. Except for females in the Australian sample, it appeared that adolescents saw leisure preferences and occupational aspirations as two independent spheres of their personal futures, supporting the segmentation hypothesis.Received Ph.D. from La Trobe. Research interests include adolescence and youth.Received Ph.D. from University of Sydney. Research interests include longitudinal data analysis.     

Culture,Biology, and Evolution: The Mead–Freeman Controversy Revisited

Derek Freeman argues that the central issue in the Mead–Freeman controversy is evolution. He views Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa as not only misleading about Samoa but as a sacred text that promoted an antievolutionary paradigm among American cultural anthropologists. A review of Mead's writing on culture, biology, and evolution demonstrates that contrary to Freeman's claim, Mead favored an evolutionary approach throughout her career. Moreover, while Mead's book was a popular text and a bestseller, it was not a sacred text among anthropologists. Freeman's misrepresentation of the historical record concerning Mead's views and the place of Coming of Age in anthropology raises major questions about his scholarship.     

Depression,Suicidal Ideation,and Substance Use Among Continuation High School Students

This study examines the structural relationships among depression, suicidal ideation, gateway substance use (including cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana), and hard substance use (including cocaine, stimulants, and inhalants) in a sample of continuation high school students at high risk for drug abuse. When the model was examined separately by ethnic group (Latino and Caucasian) and gender, significant differences among the factor correlations emerged. Compared to Latinos and females, Caucasians and males, respectively, demonstrated a greater number of significant relationships among the factors. For Latinos and females, only the depression and suicidal ideation factors were significantly correlated with each other, as were the gateway and hard substance use factors. For Caucasians and males, four of the six factors were significantly intercorrelated. One implication is that mood enhancement may be a particularly important reason for hard substance use among Caucasian and male adolescents.     

Longitudinal Links Between Perceptions of Adolescence and the Social Beliefs of Adolescents: Are Parents’ Stereotypes Related to Beliefs Held About and by Their Children?

This study examined: (1) relations between parents prior stereotypes about adolescence and their later beliefs about their own child during early and middle adolescence, (2) relations between parents stereotypes and their own childs behaviors during middle and late adolescence, and (3) the role of congruency between mothers and fathers beliefs about adolescence in predicting their childs behavior. The results revealed significant relations between parents prior stereotyped beliefs and their specific beliefs about their own children during the 7th and 10th grades. In addition, the relations between parents prior stereotypes and their adolescent childrens behaviors measured at 3 and 5 years later (10th and 12th grades) were estimated. Parents stereotypes about adolescence significantly predicted their childrens behaviors in both 10th and 12th grades. Finally, the congruency between mothers and fathers stereotyped beliefs was significantly related to their childrens behaviors in the 10th and 12th grades. Parents who had consistent and strong stereotypes about adolescence had adolescent children with more deviant peers than parents with consistent, but less-stereotyped views.Portions of this paper were presented at the 2002 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Adolescence, New Orleans, LA. This research was made possible by grants from NSF, the Spencer Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation to Jacquelynne Eccles and Bonnie Barber.Professor of Psychology, and Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan. Current interests include the development of social cognitive processes during childhood and adolescence, and gender differences in achievement motivation, self-perceptions of achievement, and parents influences on achievement.Doctoral Candidate and Research Assistant, Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include gender socialization and activity involvement during adolescence.Research Associate, North Carolina Center for Nursing. Received MS in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Current interests include adolescent development.     

Adolescents' moral dilemmas: The context

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which outlines the kinds of real-life moral dilemmas adolescents spontaneously present in open-ended semiclinical interviews. A coding procedure is introduced which delineates three aspects of these moral dilemmas, conflicts, context, and content, and an analysis is done of the category labeled context. One hundred forty-eight adolescents from two school settings were interviewed. The results show that the majority of both boys and girls in these samples describe moral conflicts in the context of a relationship, particularly involving friends. However, boys are more likely than girls to focus on the the self as the context of the moral dilemma with no other relational context present and significantly more girls than boys focus on relationships rather than self.The authors thank the Dodge, Klingenstein and Kendall Foundations for funding these studies.Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University, M.Ed. from Boston University, and A.B. from Ohio University. She was the Project Director for Carol Gilligan on a coed high-school study. Her present research interests are preservice teacher training and women's development.She is the Project Director of a longitudinal study of moral and social development in female children and adolescents and is the editor ofA Guide to Reading Narratives of Moral Conflict and Choice for Self and Moral Voice. Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University and B.A. is from Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. Her research focuses on a developmental analysis of narratives of relationship in girls.Her B.A. is from Brown University and her research interests are in female development and children of alcoholics.     

Toward analysis of the relations among the youth counterculture,telephone hotlines,and anonymity

During the 1960s, there emerged a youth culture which had two major orientations: the Counterculture and the Movement. We are well informed about this youth culture, its social values, social norms, and emergent social roles (e.g., hippie, freak, radical, dropout). Part of these social and political movements was the creation of alternative, counterculture, or radical human service programs. Early examples were free medical clinics, drop-in centers, and telephone hotlines. Among the actual differences in these programs compared to older, established human service agencies was (is) the prominent position of the social value of client anonymity. This notion of client anonymity is examined in the attempt to understand its role in the relations among themes of the Counterculture, individual youth, their peers, and youth-serving agencies.Holds degrees in social work and public health and is currently completing a report of a national survey of hotlines and youth crisis programs and working with others in editing papers for a monograph from a conference on evaluating hotlines. The survey data will appear in that publication.     

The Role of “Very Important” Nonparental Adults in Adolescent Development

Two hundred one adolescents of diverse ethnic backgrounds (mean age = 16.7 years) reported whether they considered any adult other than their parents to be a very important person (VIP) in their lives, and described various attributes of the VIP and their relationship with this individual. Perceived VIP characteristics—especially perceived involvement of the VIP in behavior that is uniformly illegal (e.g., theft) or illegal for adolescents (e.g., alcohol use)— were robust predictors of boys' self-reported misconduct and had modest links with their level of self-reported depressive symptomatology. In contrast, VIP attributes showed their strongest linkages to girls' depressive symptoms, with perceived VIP warmth and acceptance related to a lower incidence of depressed mood. Regression analyses indicated that these VIP attributes contributed uniquely to the explanation of misconduct and depressive symptoms even when analogous parental and friend attributes were included in the models. In view of the findings of this exploratory study, several future research directions are suggested, including research on the mechanisms through which VIP effects may be transmitted.     

Separation-Individuation and Psychological Adjustment in Late Adolescence

This study examined associations between several late adolescent separation-individuation issues (as assessed with the Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence, SITA) and psychological adjustment (as assessed with the basic scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI and MMPI-2). Participants were 428 undergraduate college students (265 completed the MMPI and 163 completed the MMPI-2). For each SITA scale, participants were classified as high scorers or low scorers if they scored in the upper or lower thirds of the scale distributions, respectively. Findings revealed both quantitative and qualitative differences across the separation-individuation dimensions with respect to associations with the MMPI/MMPI-2. Overall, the separation anxiety, engulfment anxiety, and dependency denial scales were more highly associated with maladjustment than were the other SITA scales. The adjustment outcomes of various approaches to managing closeness and distance in interpersonal relationships during late adolescence are discussed.     

Introduction: The changing life space of early adolescence

The socialization of children and adolescents is shaped by how they spend their time. This special issue maps the daily experience of white American 5th–9th graders, describing both the quantities of time they spend in different contexts and the affective states associated with these contexts. Each paper examines a separate segment of daily activity (e.g., schoolwork, talking, sports), employing data from a common study in which 401 participants provided experience sampling reports at random times during their daily lives when cued by a pager. The findings show substantial age and sex differences, indicating significant changes in the daily life space of girls and boys between preadolescence and early adolescence. Implication for socialization to healthy adult adjustment in love, work, and play are discussed in each paper.Received Ph.D. from Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago, Research focuses on daily experience associated with health and psychopathology in adolescence and across the life span.Received Ph.D. from Committee on Human Development, University of Chicago. Current research interests: pubertal development, precursors of eating disorders, and the effects of maternal employment on young adolescents.     

A measure of risk taking for young adolescents: Reliability and validity assessments

Researchers often define adolescent risk taking in terms of individual behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, early sexual activity, and reckless driving. It is not clear whether these behaviors defined by adults as risky have the same meaning for adolescents. This paper describes the development and preliminary testing of an instrument to assess risk taking among young adolescents. The six item scale was constructed by asking small groups of eighth grade boys and girls to describe things that teenagers your age do for excitement or thrills. The measure was then used in a longitudinal study of 758 young adolescents from three rural counties in Maryland. The scale shows good reliability, as indicated by coefficient alpha and factor analyses. Eighth-grade scores on the scale are associated with the initiation of sexual activity and substance use in ninth grade among virgins and nonusers of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pills in eighth grade.     

Chinese Adolescent Immigrants: Factors Related to Psychosocial Adjustment

Chinese adolescent immigrants from the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) are a rapidly growing and understudied group of minority youth. This study examined several factors related to the psychosocial adjustment of 113 Chinese youth who had immigrated to the U.S. from the P.R.C. The study was designed to delineate the relationship between psychosocial adjustment and several demographic variables, family functioning variables, English language proficiency, and value orientation (collectivism vs. individualism). Results indicate the following: (1) participants who received higher family conflict scores, lower family organization scores, and higher authoritarianism scores reported lower levels of psychosocial functioning; (2) participants who preferred to use English reported more individual psychosocial adjustment problems than those who preferred to use Chinese; and (3) the relationship between language preference and adjustment was mediated by value orientation. Results indicated that Chinese adolescent immigrants who preferred English were less collectivistic and that lower collectivism scores were linked to lower levels of psychosocial functioning.     

Educational trajectory and “action orientation”: Grade and track differences

A life-span developmental perspective suggests that variations in social context will lead to differences among individuals in their action orientations. An action orientation is defined by an individual's values, control beliefs, goal orientation, and decision-making perspective. To investigate differences in the action orientations of adolescents embedded in different contexts, 83 sophomore and senior high school students on either a vocational training or college-preparatory trajectory participated in the study. A discriminant function analysis of action orientations showed that the action orientations of vocational training and college-preparatory students differed: College-preparatory students had a career preparation action orientation and vocational students had an adult preparation action orientation; also, sophomores may have had a socializing orientation. The findings are discussed in terms of the developmental tasks facing students in different grades and on different life-course trajectories. Received Ph.D. from West Virginia University. Research interests are cognitive and social cognitive development in cultural and institutional contexts.Received Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Research interests include adult developmental and problem solving.     

“Comorbidity” of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive problems in adolescence

The purpose of this study was to examine in a sample of 11,516 secondary school students the extent to which different behavioral, emotional and cognitive problems (a) reflected one or more underlying common factors; (b) actually cooccurred; and (c) were single problems. Principal Component Analyses were performed and percentagewise techniques were used. PCA demonstrated that one or more general syndromes could not by far account for all of the variance of the variables. The results suggest the existence of adolescent subgroups with divergent comorbidity patterns: those who primarily report one single symptom; those who report concurrent symptoms either exclusively in the category of behavioral problems or exclusively in the category of emotional and cognitive problems; and those who report concurrent symptoms in both categories. This distinction between different subgroups has important theoretical, diagnostic, and treatment implications.     

The life concept in female college students: An exploratory analysis

In the present study a two-part animism questionnaire was devised and administered to 200 female undergraduate students who had fairly extensive course backgrounds in science. When these students were asked to classify each of 15 objects as living or nonliving, 67% (N=134) gave evidence of apparent animistic thought. Yet when the subjects were asked to choose which of several statements reflected their own definition of living, 66% (N=132) claimed that only plants and animals are living. Scientific background did not relate to performance on either section of the questionnaire. Results indicate that although the primary orientation of many young adults toward the word living is not a biological one, most college students areable to classify stimuli according to this criterion.Received her Ph.D. in lifespan developmental psychology from West Virginia University in 1971. Primary research interest is cognitive functioning after childhood.     

Evaluation of Theft,Lying, and Fighting in Adolescence

The nature of age and gender differences in the evaluation of three everyday immoral behaviors was analyzed with a 21-item questionnaire. The items included examples of theft, lying, and fighting expressed both as omissions and commissions, commissions further specified with positive motives, negative motives, duress, or provocation. Three age groups were included in the study: pre-adolescents, midadolescents, and late adolescents (N = 2594). The most important findings were that boys accepted all immoral acts better than girls, the immoral peak in midadolescence, the low differentiation between the different types of acts in preadolescence, and the flexible usage of different rationales in middle and late adolescence.     

Youth Self-Report of Behavioral and Emotional Problems in a Swiss Epidemiological Study

The Youth Self Report (YSR) was used in a Swiss epidemiological study with 1093 subjects aged 10–17 years. Internal consistency was good for the second-order factors Internalizing Problems, ExternalizingProblems, and the Total Problem Score, whereas it was less satisfactory for almost all syndrome scales. In general, internal consistency coefficients were slightly lower in the Swiss sample than in the U.S. sample. Correlations between the syndrome scales resulted in good replications of the original findings as obtained in the U.S. normative sample. Effect analyses showed that sex is more important than age and nationality (indigenous vs. immigrant subjects). However, all effects were small. Correspondence between YSR and Child Behavior Checklist scores showed that agreement between adolescents' and parents' reports is relatively small.