The draw a person test and young state hospital patients

Because of the increasing number of adolescents being admitted to state hospitals, because of the continuing need for appropriate testing materials for these patients, and because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that the social factors of Ethnicity and Work Habits are significantly related to DAP test performance by male subjects, while Diagnosis is significantly related to DAP test performance by female subjects. A subject's performance on the MMPI and the Revised Beta Examination was not found to be significantly related to his performance on the DAP.Received B.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1967 and M.S. in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.Received B.S. in psychoogy from Stephen F. Austin University in 1965, M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1967, and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Alabama in 1971. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation with emphasis on learning theory and cognitive development.Received B.A. in education and psychology from Baylor University in 1963, M.A. in education from Baylor University in 1967, and Ed.D. in educational psychology from Baylor University in 1970. Research interest is applied research in mental health and mental retardation.Received B. S. in mathematics from William and Mary University in 1960, M.S. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1962, and Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1967. Research interest is statistical methodologies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received A.S. in data processing from Date Junior College, Miami, Florida, in 1966, B.A. in mathematics from the University of South Florida in 1968, and M.S. in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. Research interest is statistcal methodolgies in the field of mental health and mental retardation.Received B.S. in psychology from Texas A & M University in 1970 and M.S. in psychology from Stephen F. Austin University in 1971. Research interest is child and adolescent psychology and etiology of deviant behavior.     

Drawings of the opposite sex: Continued use of the draw a person test and young state hospital patients

The Draw A Person test has continued to be one of the most frequently utilized psychological tests with children and adolescents. This is especially true for the child/adolescent populations in state hospitals. Because of the frequent criticism leveled against the DAP's validity, this study was undertaken in order to provide normative data for the DAP with this particular clinical population. Previous research has focused on the drawings of the same sex as the subjects; this study deals with the characteristics of the drawings of the opposite sex. The subjects were 84 male and 66 female psychiatric patients from the Adolescent Unit (AU) at Rusk State Hospital. As each patient was admitted to the AU, he was scheduled for psychological testing, with the DAP, the Revised Beta, and the MMPI being a part of this testing. The results of this study indicate that IQ ranking is the most significant factor affecting DAP test performance by male subjects. IQ ranking was not found to significantly influence the drawings by females. Neither MMPI test performance nor social background factors were shown to significantly affect DAP test performance. It is suggested that in order for the DAP to become a more objectively utilized personality technique, a scoring method should be developed that takes into account the overall quality of the drawing in conjunction with the individual details of each area of the figure drawn. More focus should also be given to the characteristics of the opposite-sex figure drawn by the subjects and its potential interpretation.Received his M.S. degree in psychology from North Texas State University in 1968. Current interests include establishment of residential psychiatric facilties for children and adolescents, development of new treatment modalities for children and adolescents (i.e., Wilderness Camping Programs for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents), and understanding and developing working knowledge of the criminally insane child or adolescent.Received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Alabama. His research interests include program evaluation and psychometric studies of psychological tests.Received his B.A. degree in mathematics at the University of South Florida in 1968 and his M.S. degree in statistics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1970. His current interest is mental health statistics.Received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University in 1975. His current interest is in assertion training.     

The influences of chronic illness and ego development on self-esteem in diabetic and psychiatric adolescent patients

Self-esteem as measured by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory [Coopersmith, S. (1967),The Antecedents of Self-Esteem, Freeman, San Francisco] and ego development as measured by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test [Loevinger, J., and Wessler, R. (1970),Measuring Ego Development, Vol. I, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco] were evaluated in three groups of early adolescents: diabetic patients, nonpsychotic psychiatric patients, and a nonpatient group of high-school students. We found that low levels of ego development were associated with low levels of global and domain-specific self-esteem in all three subject groups. Levels of self-esteem among diabetic patients were not significantly different from those of nonpatients. While psychiatric patients had significantly lower self-esteem levels than the other groups, this difference was accounted for by preconformists, i.e., those at the lowest stages of ego development. Psychiatric patients reaching higher ego levels showed self-esteem levels indistinguishable from those of the diabetics and nonpatients.This study was supported by the youth development project of the Joslin DRTC (NIH AM20530-01), a grant from the Joslin Diabetes Center (NIH-BRSG), and NIH Grant AM27845. The authors thank John Houlihan, M.A., for statistical and computer consultations and Jennifer Johnson for data analyses.Received M.D. from The University of Chicago. Currently studying psychosocial consequences of diabetes mellitus.Received M.D. from Yale University and Ph.D. from Harvard University (Psychology). Currently studying family contexts of adolescent development.Received Ed.D. from Harvard University (School of Education). Currently studying family coping processes in response to stressful events.Received Dipl. Psych. from Freie Universitat, Berlin (Clinical Psychology). Currently studying relationships between psychopathology and development among adolescent psychiatric patients.     

The relationship of observed maternal behavior to questionnaire measures of parenting knowledge,attitudes, and emotional state in adolescent mothers

Although relationships have been found between maternal psychological characteristics and cognitive and emotional outcomes in children, the behaviors which may mediate these relationships are seldom examined. This is especially true for adolescent mothers, whose children are thought to be at high risk for adverse outcomes. In this study, adolescent mothers in two special programs completed questionnaires measuring perception of the newborn (Neonatal Perception Inventory), knowledge of influences on child development (Infant Caregiving Inventory), and emotional state (General Health Questionnaire); they were also systematically observed while interacting with their infants in a naturalistic situation. Specific maternal behaviors were found to vary with the age of the mother and of the baby. Mothers with neutral or negative perceptions of their infants touched them less than did mothers with positive perceptions. Degree of emotional disturbance was inversely related to the amount of time that the mother looked at her infant while in physical contact.This research was supported in part by NIH Biomedical Research Support Grant No. BRS 507 RR 05445-19 to Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.Received her Sc.D. in mental hygiene (comparative behavior) from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests include relationships between observable behavior and reported psychological states, and behavioral and emotional disorders of children.Received her Ph.D. in population dynamics from Johns Hopkins University. Main interests are adolescent health and pregnancy and population changes influencing perinatal health.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from George Peabody College. Main interests include parenting of infants and children's rights.Received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida. Main interests include adolescent health and utilization of health services by children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Iowa. Main interests are infant and child development, with focus on measurement of developmental status and its determinants.     

The ecology of adolescent activity and experience

Twenty-five adolescents reported their daily activities and the quality of their experiences for a total of 753 times during a normal week, in response to random beeps transmitted by an electronic paging device. In this sample adolescents were found to spend most of their time either in conversation with peers or in watching television. Negative affects were prevalent in most activities involving socialization into adult roles. Television viewing appears to be an affectless state associated with deviant behavior and antisocial personality traits. The research suggests the importance of a systemic approach which studies persons' activities and experiences in an ecological context. The experiential sampling method described in this paper provides a tool for collecting such systemic data.The research reported herein was partially funded through PHS Grant 5-R01MH-22883-03.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Latest books includeBeyond Boredom and Anxiety (1975), dealing with the experience of enjoyment, andThe Creative Vision (1976), about problem finding in art.Current interests are problems of juvenile delinquency and aging.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Research interests include the sociology of science and the role of women.     

The determinants of parenting competence in adolescent mothers

Recent research has implicated the maternal behavior of adolescent mothers as a significant factor in the high rate of developmental delays observed in infants of young mothers. In the present study, the interaction of 58 low-income adolescent mothers and their infants was observed and standardized and projective tests were administered. Factor analysis indicated that the variables of overall self-esteem and maternal efficacy explained 66% of the variance in terms of maternal self-perception, while expressivity and facilitation accounted for 83% of the variance in maternal behavior. Self-esteem and self-efficacy were more positively associated with involvement with the infant's father than with the mother's family of origin. On the other hand, support from the father was negatively associated with parenting competence. The capacity to interpret infant emotions was crucial to the development of parenting competence. Overall, the associations between the determinants of parenting competence and the quality of mother-infant interaction showed significant variations according to the age of the adolescent, suggesting a need to move away from use of maternal age as a continuous variable. Also required is the development of parenting models that recognize that the determinants of competence are different for adolescents than for adult women.     

The social context of adolescent self-esteem

The global self-esteem of adolescents was examined in relation to two aspects of their daily lives: (a) the perceived quality of their relationships with parents and peers; and (b) their self-evaluation in the areas of school, popularity, and athletics. The quality of relationships with parents made significant contributions to the explained variance in self-esteem of both boys and girls. The quality of peer relationships made a significant additional contribution for girls but not boys. The importance of parent and peer relationships to self-esteem did not vary as a function of age for either sex. Self-evaluation of popularity was related to girls' global self-esteem, while evaluation of school performance was more important for boys.Received her Ph.D. from George Peabody College. Research interests include adolescent stress and coping, and parent-child relationships.Received his M.D. from Medical College of Georgia. Research interests include stress, eating disorders, and pregnancy in adolescents.     

The relative importance of parents and friends in adolescent decision making

In this study 175 older adolescents (83 males, 92 females) nominated their parents, particularly their mothers, then friends of the same sex, as people most important in their lives. While parents were rated as more important than friends overall, problems were more frequently discussed with close friends. Using a matched sampling design, the adolescents' own mothers, fathers, and a close friend of the same sex also responded to a scale where parents' or friends' opinions might be sought as part of adolescent decision making. As predicted, parents were perceived as most important in certain future-oriented areas, whereas for current decisions, friends' opinions were more valued. Several areas of possible parent-peer conflict were also identified.Current interest is the role of social and cultural factors in the development and maintenance of adolescent drinking and other drug use.     

Fathers,adolescent daughters and gender in a low-income South African community

Knowledge about father–adolescent daughter relationships is mostly based on research in North-American and European contexts. Furthermore, it tends to rely on either fathers' or daughters' perspectives, and not on dyadic data. Informed by a social constructionist perspective, this study investigated the fatherhood constructions of fathers and adolescent daughters in a South African low-income community. We used Charmaz' social constructionist grounded theory method. Forty-two interviews were conducted separately with fourteen fathers and their adolescent daughters. Five conceptual categories were identified: (i) Predominance of fathers' provider role; (ii) Fathers and daughters having an ‘understanding’ in which daughters apparently complied with fathers authoritarian positions; (iii) explicit expressions of affection were mostly limited to special occasions; (iv) Fathers wished a better future for their daughters and attempted to keep them on track to such a future and (v) lastly, Fathers' expected daughters to follow their instructions and not their bad examples. Our findings highlight the influential and constricting role of dominant masculine and feminine gender notions in the discourses and practices of the fathers and adolescent daughters in our study. However, some evidence of contestations were present that suggests the potential of a shift towards more equitable gender relations.     

Crisis and vulnerability in adolescent development

It was argued that adolescent development should be studied from a more relational and structural approach (cf. Damon and Hart, 1982). In the first study of 5986 Chinese students, two distinct self-concept dimensions were included and their relations to one another and to locus of control, extraversion, and test anxiety were compared across six primary and secondary grade levels. This was in contrast to past studies' focus on the overall change of single or global aspects of self-concept. It was found that self-concept of academic ability increased with age, whereas self-concept of appearance decreased with age. Both self-concepts were closely related. Locus of control was more related to self-concept appearance, and test anxiety to self-concept of academic ability. Extraversion was related only to self-concept of appearance. These relations existed mainly in adolescents (especially girls) and not in younger children. Midadolescence was found to be a critical period as both self-concepts showed quite drastic changes. Tentative evidence showed that the transition from sixth to seventh grade tended to have a dampening effect on the two self-concepts. Results from a second study of 701 secondary school students that included more self-concept dimensions lent further support to the findings of the first study. Crisis and vulnerability in adolescent development are discussed in the qualitative analysis of the relational changes.Ph.D. in social psychology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Research interests: Value and self-concept development, parental infuences, and deviant behaviors.     

Adolescent psychiatric inpatients: Characteristics,outcome, and comparison between discharged patients from a specialized adolescent unit and nonspecialized units

We have recently studied the outcome of school-aged children treated in day hospital and inpatient psychiatric units using four operationally defined preadmission child and parent/family variables as predictors of outcome. Our studies have provided considerable support for these preadmission variables singly and/or in combination in predicting poor outcome in school-aged children in these hospital settings. The present study describes the prevalence of these variables and their ability to predict outcome in two groups of adolescent psychiatric inpatients in the same hospital: one group placed on a specialized adolescent unit and one group placed on other inpatient psychiatric units. The findings indicate that overall there is a lower prevalence of the preadmission variables in the adolescent group compared to the school-aged inpatient group. In the adolescent group, only the preadmission variable of severe aggressive/destructive behavior predicted poor outcome. There appears to be a greater prevalence of severe behavioral disturbance in the group of adolescents discharged from the specialized adolescent unit compared to adolescents discharged from other psychiatric units, and an associated poorer outcome in the former group. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications for the hospital-based evaluation and treatment of aggressive and severely disturbed adolescents are discussed.This paper was presented in part at the 144th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, May 1991.Received M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Research interests are outcome of youth treated in psychiatric programs, aggression and conduct disorder, and children of substance-abusing parents.Received M.A. in psychology from the New School for Social Research. Research interests are psychobiology, affective disorders, and metabolic regulation.     

Introspectiveness and adolescent development

This study introduces a measure of introspectiveness for adolescents aged 12–18 and investigates its association with several aspects of adolescent development. Introspectiveness—the tendency to deveote diffuse attention to thoughts and feelings about the self—increased during adolescence, and may be stimulated by discontinuities associated with adolescent development, other kinds of discontinuities, and parental introspectiveness. Also, introspectiveness was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms, and may help explain the increase in symptom reporting during this developmental period. Highly introspective adolescents participated in more artistic activities and spent more time alone than those low on introspectiveness. Finally, highly introspective college students chose self-oriented academic majors, which may have implications for future occupational development. Together these results suggest that the concept of introspectiveness may increase our understanding of several important aspects of this developmental period.This research was supported by grants from the William T. Grant Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and NIMH Grant No. 39590. An earlier version was presented at the 1984 annual convention of the American Sociological Association in San Antonio, Texas.Research interests include medical sociology and health and illness behavior among adolescents and older adults.Received a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Research interests include medical sociology, health care policy, and aging research.Received an M.A. from Rutgers University. Research interests include adolescent development and therapy.     

The adolescent as mother: Early risk identification

Adjustment to parenting is a difficult process for the adolescent. This research attempted to identify easy-to-use maternal postpartum screening dimensions to predict two-month adjustment among 28 primipara adolescents. The results suggest several predictors of adjustment: initial parenting attitudes, preparation for parenting including involvement in instruction as well as specific knowledge areas, infant holding style, and aspects of social functioning. Postpartum risk screening may be a feasible way to identify intervention needs. Early screening would encourage early involvement in preventive programs. It would also provide a framework for evaluation and improvement of services to young mothers.Received Ph.D. from University of Pittsburgh. Current research interests include early adjustment characteristics, temperament as an individual difference, and cross-cultural adjustment patterns.clinical developmental psychologist in private practice. Received Ph.D. from University of Chicago. Current research interests in adolescent parenting, pediatric psychology, and the grief process.     

The adolescent as theorist: An interpretive view

This article advances a way of conceptualizing the adolescent as theorist derived from interpretive sociology. This formulation of the adolescent as theorist is contrasted to that available within Piagetian theory. It emphasizes the practical and the occasioned nature of theoretical activity and shows it in everyday settings. Interview conversation between an adolescent and an adult is used as empirical illustration. This formulation of the adolescent as theorist is offered as a means of entry to the scientific constitution of the adolescent as a practitioner of world building who uses the same available resources and does the same sense-making work as any competent member in a culture.Received Ph.D. from University of Toronto. Current interests are the social and scientific constitution of the adolescent, and interpretive methodologies in the study of adolescence.     

Trends in dating patterns and adolescent development

A developmental scheme has been proposed which recognizes clusters of variables of adolescent behavior in the area of heterosexual object relationship development. These periods-(I) stage of sexual awakening (13–15), (II) stage of practicing (14–17), (III) stage of acceptance (16–19), (IV) stage of permanent object choice (18–25)-reflect the developing capacity of object relationship and are a a recapitulation on a higher level of functioning of the separation-individuation operations of the infant. The dating patterns at these levels of development provide a sensitive indication of growth, and unworked-through development is reflected in immature patterns. The current trends in dating described are considered to be a function of the prolongation of adolescence and not pathological.Graduate of the Chicago Medical School, psychiatric training at The University of Michigan Neuropsychiatric Institute and the Institute for Juvenile Research, Chicago. Major interests research in child and adolescent development and the affective disorders.Graduate of Woman's Medical College, Philadelphia. Psychiatric training at the Menninger Foundation and the Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Institute, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago. Pediatric training at the University of Iowa Hospitals. Current interest child development.     

The Performance-Verbal IQ discrepancy in differentiated subgroups of delinquent adolescent boys

Evidence for Wechsler's Performance-Verbal IQ sign of adolescent psychopathy in the test results of undifferentiated groups of delinquents has been variable. In view of the heterogeneity of delinquency as a clinical syndrome, the validity of Wechsler's sign was reexamined for psychopathic, neurotic, and subcultural delinquent boys defined according to Quay 's behavioral classification system. Only the psychopathic group scored significantly higher on the Performance Scale than on the Verbal Scale. However, the number of adolescents in each group obtaining higher Performance than Verbal IQs did not significantly differ. Additional group comparisons indicated that the psychopaths earned markedly lower scores on the Comprehension subtest that did the other groups. The findings were interpreted in light of characteristics common to most delinquents regardless of personality orientation.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Major interests are clinical child and developmental psychology.     

The association between divorce and late adolescent grandchildren's relations with grandparents

While researchers have documented the possible effects of divorce on children's interpersonal relationships with significant others (e.g., parents, siblings, peers), research efforts examining the role of grandparents within these children's social networks are limited. For the present study, 588 late adolescent college students (266 males, 322 females) completed the Network of Relationships Inventory (W. Furman and D. Buhrmester [1985] Children's Perceptions of the Personal Relationships in Their Social Network, Developmental Psychology, Vol. 21, pp. 1016–1024) and frequency of contact estimates on each available biological grandparent. One hundred sixty-eight students were from families in which their biological parents had been divorced for more than two years. The remaining late adolescents were from intact families (i.e., biological parents still married). As hypothesized, late adolescent grandchildren from divorced families indicated less satisfactory relationships with paternal grandparents. In addition, granddaughters from divorced families indicated poorer relationships with parental grandparents when contrasted to grand-daughters in intact families and grandsons from divorced families. However, visible and phone contact with grandparents played a major role in sustaining relationships with grandparents for grandchildren from divorced families. Granddaughters, in general, also reported stronger relations with maternal grandmothers, regardless of group status. Explanations are offered for these results, as well as suggestions for future research.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Current research interests include the study of intergenerational relationships, and the development of coping skills throughout the life span.     

The adolescent experience of pregnancy and abortion: A developmental analysis

Discernible trends in the largely inconclusive survey-oriented literature on adolescent pregnancy and abortion suggest that demographic idiosyncracies or neurotic predispositions are the significant correlates of illegitimacy. An in-depth study of a homogeneous population of 13 unwed pregnant adolescents suggests a strong developmental determinant. The experience of pregnancy and abortion is heavily determined by the stage-specific conflicts of early, middle, and late adolescence. From an analysis of interview and projective materials, three clinically and statistically significant patterns of the experience and motivation for pregnancy emerge, one for each of the three adolescent substages. It is suggested that similar developmental paradigms could be applied to a wide range of adolescent issues.This paper is based on a dissertation written in 1972 at the University of Michigan.Received Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She is presently working at the University of Michigan Health Service as a psychologist. She plants to continue studies of problems connected with feminine adolescent development.     

The role of the high school professional in identifying and managing adolescent suicidal behavior

The ongoing contact of adolescents with high school staff may provide an opportunity for the early identification and effective management of suicidal behavior. In this study, the knowledge, attitude, and experience of 80 high school professionals regarding adolescent suicide were assessed through semistructured personal interviews. Respondents identified more than 30 signs of potential vulnerability — manifestations of depression, verbal and written cues, isolation, and self-destructive behaviors. Among predisposing factors, those related to alienation within the family were most prominent. Other important risk factors were low self-esteem, difficulty in peer relationships, and economic or ethnic differences from other students. When suicidal behaviors occurred, respondents saw students and staff as attempting to be helpful; families were more often viewed as defensive.     

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.