Menarcheal status and parent-child relations in families of seventh-grade girls

The associations between menarcheal status and several child-rearing and outcome variables were examined for mother-daughter and father-daughter dyads. All variables were assessed with questionnaires as an extension of earlier observational studies. Analyses were conducted via multiple regression analyses wherein menarcheal status was treated as a continuous variable and was entered into the regression equation as a set of power polynomial terms. The results indicated that most of the significant relations occurred for the mother-daughter dyad, and most of these relations were curvilinear. When menarche occurs at or around the modal time, changes in parent-child relations may be best thought of as temporary perturbations, but when menarche occurs early the effects may persist.The research reported here was funded by Father Flanagan's Boys Home, Inc., and by a grant to the senior author from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Family Relations in Early Adolescence.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Harvard University.Received his M.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University.Received her M.S. in counseling psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.Received his M.S. from the University of Nebraska.She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Cornell University.     

Why don't girls misbehave more than boys in school?

Reviewing research on sex differences in school misbehavior and delinquency, the author speculates on six possible reasons why girls appear to misbehave less than boys despite the fact that girls are characterized by more personal problems during adolescence. Several reasons including the possibility that girls' misbehavior is inaccurately reported are rejected as insufficient to account for the discrepancy between boys' and girls' misbehavior. On the basis of existing evidence, the author concludes that a combination of personal characteristics (i.e., high need for affiliation and low aggressiveness) and external pressures (parental and teacher expectations and attitudes) function to inhibit misbehavior in girls. Some indications that the situation is changing are reported.Received his Ph.D. in education from the State University of New York at Albany. Main interests include adolescent behavior problems, school discipline, and alternative schools.     

Body image satisfaction in adolescent girls and boys: A longitudinal study

In a longitudinal developmental study, 90 girls and boys participated in a psychological investigation, and were medically examined when they were 11, 13, 15, and 18 years old. Their satisfaction with the various parts of their body was assessed by means of a questionnaire. Satisfaction was highest at age 18, with males on average more satisfied than females at all age levels. There was a fairly constant pattern of critical body features for each of the sexes. However, individual satisfaction varied greatly as a function of age and developmental level, with late maturers tending to be more satisfied than early matures at ages 11 and 18. The correlations between body image satisfaction and other variables varied as a function of the age and sex of the subjects, and are discussed in relation to the growth process.This research was supported by the Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation.Received Ph.D. from the University of Turku, Finland. Research interest is the life process of adolescents.     

Body image satisfaction,dieting beliefs,and weight loss behaviors in adolescent girls and boys

Body image and weight loss beliefs and behaviors were assessed in 341 female and 221 male high school students. Estimates of body dissatisfaction varied depending on the measurement strategy used. Despite having similar weight distributions around the expected norm, girls were significantly more dissatisfied with their bodies than boys. Body Mass Index was positively related to body dissatisfaction in girls and boys, while higher exercise levels were related to higher body satisfaction in boys. Nearly two-thirds of girls and boys believed being thinner would have an impact on their lives, but the majority of girls believed this would be positive while the majority of boys believed this would be negative. Thirteen percent of female subjects reported using one or more extreme weight loss behavior at least weekly. Beliefs regarding the effectiveness of different weight loss measures were assessed. Weight loss behaviors in this Australian sample appear similar to comparable U.S. samples.Received Ph.D. from University of Tasmania. Main research interest in body image, weight loss behaviors, and eating disorders.Received Ph.D. from University of Connecticut. Main research interest in body image, eating disorders and weight loss behaviors.Dietitian degree from Melbourne University, Melbourne. Main research interest in eating practices and clinical outcome.M.D. from University of Melbourne, D.P.M. from U.K. FRC Psych. Main research interests in eating disorders.B.B.Sc.(Hons.) received from La Trobe University, Melbourne, B.A. received from University of Minnesota, Duluth. Main research interest in attitudes and attributions.B.A. Received from University of Minnesota, Duluth. Main research interest in adolescence and eating disorders.     

Maternal aspirations,socialization, and achievement of boys and girls in the white working class

Analysis of the scholastic achievement of 150 white pre-teen-age boys and girls in relation to their mothers' aspirations for them, selected socialization practices, and their social origins helps explain disparities in scholastic achievement between working class and middle class children as well as disparities in achievement within the working class. Mothers in this stratum, as a rule, do not articulate high educational and occupational aspirations for their children, especially for girls. Yet, girls exhibit significantly higher achievement than boys and their achievement is conditioned more by maternal aspirations than that of boys. Girls' greater responsiveness to their mothers' aspirations and their higher scholastic ability are due to the fact that white working class mothers engage in more early interaction and employ less coercive discipline with daughters than with sons. Boys' achievement is more responsive to variations in maternal practices than to maternal aspirations. Although not typical, mothers who interact much with their sons early in life and who do not employ coercive discipline produce high-achieving sons. Otherwise, they do not, whatever aspirations they hold for their sons. For girls, maternal aspiration is the more critical determinant of achievement. Downwardly mobile women, those working class women with middle class origins, differ from the stable women in their stratum in that they have equally high aspirations for daughters and sons. As a result of their mothers' high aspirations and more enlightened practices, the daughters of downwardly mobile women are the highest achievers in the white working class. Their sons, however, are underachievers, mainly because downward mobiles adopt the prevailing pattern of their class of destination and rely more on coercive discipline in socializing boys.This research is supported by Welfare Administration, HEW, under grants CRD-371-C2-9 and 10-P-56018/5-4.A revised and extended version of a paper given at the Society for the Study of Social Problems, August 1970, under the title, White Working Class Women and Their Families.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University, New York, New York. Major present research interests are structural determinants of variations in patterns of socializing children, intergenerational changes in socialization practices and beliefs, and the effects of family structure and socialization on children in different structural contexts.     

Correlates of drug abuse in adolescents: A comparison of families of drug abusers with families of nondrug abusers

This study was designed to compare drug-abusing adolescents and their families with nondrug-abusing adolescents and their families by (1) a comparison of the adolescents on measures of self-esteem and perceived parental behavior, (2) a comparison of the parents of drug-abusing adolescents with the parents of nondrug-abusing adolescents on child-rearing attitudes and on distortion in perceived parental behavior, and (3) an identification of the salient factors contributing to the prediction of drug-use in adolescents. The subjects in this study were 26 clinical inpatient drug-abusing adolescents and their parents and 26 nondrug-abusing adolescents and their parents. Testdata consisted of the adolescent's self-esteem score on the Self Esteem Inventory (SEI), the adolescent's factor score on the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory—Revised (CRPBI-R), and the parents' scale score on each of the five factors of the Parent Attitude Survey (PAS). Findings indicate that the adolescent's self-esteem and perception of parental behavior, the ability of the parents to predict the child's parental perceptions, and the professed parental attitudes toward confidence and responsibility in child rearing all combine to suggest a set of factors differentiating the drug-abusing adolescent from the nondrug-abusing adolescent.     

Some observations on humor and laughter in young adolescent girls

Some of the functions of humor and laughter in two groups of young adolescent girls were studied. When humor was successful and giggling and laughter a pleasureful release, the material, spontaneous talk and jokes, resonated with current developmental tasks. Among them were those dealing with bodily changes, early relationships with boys, disguised masturbatory wishes, and ambivalent feelings toward mothers. Some cognitive aspects of joking are examined. Humor worked when frightening words could be reduced to familiar or diminutive ones. Humor failed when content was too grownup: when the subject matter stimulated frightening fantasies of male penetration and damage and frightening images of the mature female body or fears of punishment.Received Master's degree in social science at the University of Chicago and Master's degree in psychiatric social work at Adelphi University. Was a supervisor and teacher of psychiatric residents and psychiatric social workers from 1955 to 1974 in the Adolescent Mental Hygiene Clinic of the Bronx Muncipal Hospital and director of the School Consultation Program sponsored by the Department of Child Psychiatry. Has had a long-time research and clinical interest in the borderline adolescent and, in addition, is interested in the interplay of psychiatry, mythology, and archeology.     

Problem boys in young adulthood: Teachers' ratings and twelve-year follow-up

In an earlier paper we reported that teachers' ratings of child guidance clinic children were associated with the children's global adjustment in young adulthood. Teachers' ratings, especially the peer relations measure, far surpassed other data sources in predicting general adult mental status. Other sources were developmental history, social history, family information, and psychiatric and psychological evaluations. The purposes of the present investigation were to evaluate mother-son reliability on adulthood information, and to determine whether teacher-rated behaviors of clinic boys predicted specific adult behaviors or were only globally related. Interviewed separately when sons were young adults, mothers and sons closely agreed on sons' adult behavior, with mothers somewhat underreporting sons' negative behaviors. The major finding was that one teacher-rated item,fails to get along with other children, was closely associated with a wide spectrum of adult behaviors. This was not due to the peer relations indicator serving as a global statistic reflecting general childhood impairment. It was also found that composite scores of childhood and adulthood bad conduct were significantly related to each other.Data collection was funded by NIMH Grant #MH-23441-02A1, and by the William T. Grant Foundation, Loretta K. Cass, Principal Investigator. The authors bear sole responsibility for the data analyses and interpretation presented here.Received Ph.D. from University of Oklahoma. Current research interests are in prediction of adult mental status from childhood indexes.Received Ph.D. from Washington University. Current research interests are in life history research, particularly alcoholism and schizophrenia.Received B. A. from Washington University.     

Chinese migrant women and families in Britain

This article examines the mode of understanding and experiences of family relationships of Chinese migrant women in Britain. In contrast to much existing research work on the patterns and experiences of postwar settlement of unskilled Chinese male labourers in Britain, the focus here is on the life stories of 41 Chinese women with different migration trajectories and varying economic and cultural capital. Their oral testimonies reveal Chinese women's diverse expectations and experiences of migrant family relationships and their different strategies to achieve self-fulfillment both within and outside the confines of the migrant family. For some women, migration brings opportunities for a fulfilling and independent lifestyle. They are successful in negotiating their way around and sometimes out of their initial familial and social position. For others, they bear the disproportionate cost and labour of familial strategies of advancement and remain vulnerable to the most constraining aspects of diasporic existence.     

Substance use and its relationship to conduct problems and delinquency in young boys

The paper presents lifetime and six-month prevalence of substance use by 1st, 4th, and 7th graders (N=2573). Smoking and alcohol consumption was surprisingly high even for 1st graders. The use of developmentally more advanced substances, such as marijuana, was associated with the use of substances that typically emerge earlier, such as beer. Significantly more of the multiple substance users in the 1st and 4th grade were already engaged in a variety of conduct problems and delinquent acts than were either single users or nonusers. The findings show that substance use, even at Grades 1 and 4, is an indicator of boys who commit a wide variety of problem behaviors. For the 7th graders, the use of marijuana was especially associated with the commission of more serious delinquent acts. Multiple substance use reported by the 7th graders also signified a higher frequency and volume of use. The results of the study are related to a developmental conceptualization of conduct problems, delinquency and substance use.Research interests: antisocial behavior and substance use.Research interests: the development of antisocial behavior and substance use; familial processes leading to deviant behavior; the prediction of delinquency.Research interests: development of concealing antisocial behaviors and processes that affect such development.     

Family processes and adolescent adjustment in intact and remarried families

This study examines whether family processes that predict positive and negative developmental outcomes are the same in intact and remarried families. Surveys were administered to 758 tenth graders from intact families and 95 from stepfather families. Measures of cohesion, democratic decision-making style, permissiveness, and conflict were used to predict self-rated depression, worry, and self-esteem. Remarried and intact families provide similar family environments for permissiveness and democratic decision making. Remarried families are more conflictual and less cohesive than intact families. In both family types, conflict had negative effects, and cohesion and democratic decision-making had positive effects on adolescents' adjustment. In remarried families, but not intact, permissiveness was related to higher self-esteem.Received Ph.D in developmental psychology from The University of Michigan. Research interests include family influences on adolescent identity development and the effects of divorce and remarriage on adolescent adjustment.Received M.S. in child clinical psychology from Pennsylvania State University. Research interests include family processes in stepfamilies and the impact of family structure on adolescent development.     

Family interaction patterns among families with normal,disturbed, and drug-abusing adolescents

The relationships between family interaction patterns and the symptomatology of the individual family member are central to many therapeutic approaches. This study was designed to determine whether family interaction patterns differ significantly among three groups of families defined according to the adolescent offspring's symptoms. Thirty families were evaluated in a one-hour interview while three observers behind a one-way mirror rated verbal behavior and the quality of interaction between father, mother, and adolescent. Assessed behaviors included the ability to reach a decision, decision time, scapegoating, and double-bind messages. In addition, the quality of the family's interaction was assessed at four different times during the interview. The results established that the three family groups did not differ demographically. A comparison of the two disturbed family groups yielded no significant differences, with the exception of the adolescent's presenting problem and behaviors. The normal group was significantly different from the other two groups in frequency of scapegoating of the adolescent and the ability to reach a decision. Additionally, the normal families displayed clearer communication, more freedom of expression, more cooperation, and greater sensitivity among members. Several variables did not discriminate the normal group from the disturbed family groups.Received her Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College. Research interests are adolescent psychopathology as it relates to family, group psychotherapy with adolescents, and use of the therapeutic milieu.     

Comparison of adolescents' perceptions and behaviors in single- and two-parent families

This study investigated the self-concepts, school achievement, occupational aspirations, vocational maturity, and perceptions of parents of children from two-parent and single-parent homes. The sample contained 559 children, 19% from single-parent homes. A multivariateF indicated children from two-parent homes had significantly higher school grades and occupational aspirations. There were also significant differences in children's perceptions of relationships with fathers, but not with mothers. It was argued that family structure has an impact on adolescents' perceptions and behaviors.Received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Current research interests include the impact of family structure on the family and related issues.Received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. Current research interests include family research.     

gURL scenes and grrrl zines: the regulation and resistance of girls in late modernity

This article explores the images of ‘girlpower’ and ‘girls as risk-takers’ as important sources for the analysis and management of young women's experiences and behaviours under late modernity. It then focuses on what is known as the grrrlzine culture as a site where these contemporary images of girlhood are challenged and deconstructed. It is argued that grrrlzines create a community for young women within which they can participate in debates about the meaning of girlhood under late modernity. Grrrlzines offer spaces for young women to discuss and organize among themselves, and in particular to wrestle with and parody contemporary images of girlhood. In doing so, they help to complicate and advance feminist youth studies approaches to the role of the public/private split in girls' cultures, places for youth resistance and the ‘problem’ of girls' silence and invisibility in the context of late modernity. The article examines the ways grrrlzines appear to be complicit in the silencing of young women by insisting on expression only within liminal spaces. However, it is suggested that this constitutes an important attempt on the part of some young women to evade new regulatory regimes that operate primarily by inciting them to speak.