Dimensions of adolescent self-images

Using techniques derived from information theory, structural dimensions of adolescent self-images were studied. Within a sample of 58 adolescents, patients and normals, a variety of self-images were obtained using a specially designed Q-sort. The initial hypothesis predicted, on the basis of previous findings, that the idealized self-images would be more polarizedfor the patients. This hypothesis was only partiallyconfirmed. the self-idealization was significantly more polarized in the patient group. But the other two idealizations (those based on parental expectations) did not reflect a patient-normal difference. Rather, a significant three-way interaction of sex, age, and psychiatric status was found for these self-images, as well as for the current self-image. The consistent pattern in these three-way interactions was that late-adolescent boys polarized their self-images if they were in the normal group and had structurally complex (nonpolarized) self-images if they were in the patient group. The paper concludes by discussing the meaning of these findings. A framework for interpreting polarization is proposed and applied to the results. In addition, the notion of a Self-Image Profile is formulated and further elaborated. Finally, the relevance of these studies to other personality research and clinical observations is considered.This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award, Number K1-70-178, to S.T.H.Received M.A. in social anthropology from Harvard University and M.D. from Yale University. Candidate, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, 1969-. Currently studying self-image and cognitive development in populations of normal and psychiatrically impaired adolescents, from individual and group perspectives.Received M.D. from the University of Chicago; attended the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute (1952–1954) and the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute (1954–1961). Presently on staff of Washington School of Psychiatry and Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. Major research interests are adolescence and the family and psychoanalytic-oriented treatment in conjunction with a ward or in-patient milieu therapy. Specific interest is identity formation of adolescence.     

On the adolescent process as a transformation of the self

The purpose of this paper is to clarify and extend the psychoanalytic theory of adolescence. Three sources of data are used: biographical source material about Freud's adolescence, introspective accounts from the self-analysis of psychoanalysts, and other biographical vignettes and reports from the psychoanalytic literature. It is proposed that a change in the self emerges as the pivotal focus during adolescent development. An intense peer relationship serves to maintain narcissistic balance and the cohesion of the self. This allows deidealization of archaic parental imagoes and their transformation into newly internalized idealizations. The newly acquired idealizations consolidate into a stable ego ideal which eliminates the need for an alter ego relationship. The self-objects chosen for these new idealizations are related to the need to overcome specific disappointments in the archaic self-objects. The stability of the new ideals depends on the invulnerability of the idealized self-objects. Transient states of narcissistic disequilibrium manifest as turmoil. Presented at a meeting of The Chicago Psychoanalytic Society on May 23, 1972.Received M.D. from the University of Maryland; psychiatric training at the Cincinnati General Hospital; graduate of The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Main interests are the development of psychoanalysis from a historical perspective and the psychology of adolescence.Received M.D. from New York University; psychiatric training from Associated Psychiatric Faculties of Chicago; graduate of The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Main interest is the intellectual history of psychoanalysisReceived M.D. from the University of Chicago; psychiatric training at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago; graduate of The Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Main interest is psychoanalytic metapsychology of development.     

Late adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Relationships among deidealization,autonomy, relatedness,and insecurity and implications for adolescent adjustment and ego identity status

Questionnaire data from 376 undergraduates (mean age=19.3 years) were used to test a model describing interrelationships among deidealization, relatedness, autonomy, and insecurity in late adolescents' relationships with their parents. As expected, deidealization predicted greater autonomy and less relatedness (i.e., more disengagement), greater disengagement predicted greater insecurity, and greater insecurity predicted less autonomy. However, disengagement from parents proved to be a double-edged sword in that it was linked not only to insecurity, but also to feelings of greater separateness and self-directedness in relation, to parents. Additional analyses identified significant associations between the adolescent/parent relationship variables and the adolescents' psychological health and ego identity status.Received her Ph.D. from Yale University. Major interests are in parent/child relationships during late adolescence and young adulthood.Received her B.A. from University of Virginia and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adolescent development and pediatric psychology.Received her B.A. from Duke University and M.A. from Michigan State University. Major interests are in adult children of alcoholics and adolescent separation/individuation.     

Effects of Pubertal Timing on Communication Behaviors and Stress Reactivity in Young Women During Conflict Discussions with their Mothers

Individuation, a process whereby adolescents gain autonomy from their parents while maintaining emotional relatedness, is displayed by characteristic styles of verbal exchanges. Negotiating this developmental transition is often stressful for adolescents and their parents. This study deals with the association between pubertal timing, communication behaviors, and stress reactivity assessed during young females’ conflict discussions with their mothers. A sample of N = 32 girls (age 9–13, T1) was grouped by pubertal timing. Years later (age 17–22, T2) they were followed up and videotapes of daughter–mother conflict discussions were evaluated. Salivary alpha-amylase was used to assess the stress reactivity. Results revealed that young women who had entered puberty early were higher in striving for control and separation in interactions with their mothers, and displayed higher stress levels. These results pointed to less successful individuation in late adolescence/young adulthood compared to on-time and late maturing age mates.

Gender,Religion and an Immigrant Minority: Jewish women and the suffrage movement in Britain c.1900–1920

Middle- and upper-class Jewish women enjoyed less equality within their faith communities than Christian counterparts. They were represented in every strand of the suffrage movement, and in 1912 formed the Jewish League for Woman Suffrage (JLWS), modelled on similar Christian leagues. A study of the origins of the JLWS, and its relations with parallel organisations, shows religious difference to have been no barrier, and even conducive to, cross-denominational collaboration. The JLWS confounded (largely male) communal expectations that it would not influence London's East End, and would exacerbate prejudice against Jews. Post-1918, Jewish women were denied the level of equality within their faith congregations achieved by their Christian peers.     

Hungarian adolescents' self-concept

Hungarian and United States adolescents' self-image was studied using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ). In Hungary, 1,163 younger and older male and female adolescents were studied using a Hungarian translation of the OSIQ. Analyses of endorsement patterns of OSIQ items showed that Hungarian and American adolescents endorsed many items in the same way. Similarities in endorsement patterns were much more common between the two countries than were differences. Analyses of OSIQ scales showed that for most scales younger Hungarian adolescents reported better adjustment than younger American adolescents. Differences were not as great or reversed in the older age groups. Implications for cross-cultural studies of adolescent self-image were drawn based on these results.Received M. D. from the Semmelweis Medical university in Budapest. Research interest is complex somato-mental health care of adolescents.Received M. D. from the University of Chicago. Major interests are concepts of mental health and the developmental psychology of adolescence.Director, Forensic Psychology, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center. Received J. D. from the University of Chicago School of Law; received Ph. D. in human development from the University of Chicago. Research interests are adolescence and delinquency.Professor of Psychology, Northwestern University. Received Ph. D. in psychology from the University of Chicago. Major interests are psychotherapy research and adolescence.     

The “impulsivity index”: Its application to juvenile delinquency

An objective, composite index of impulsivity, made up of three measures of reactivity to color on the Rorschach and amount of discrepancy between performance and verbal IQ on the Wechsler Scales, is proposed. It was predicted that impulsiveness as measured by this index would be associated with self-perception of impulsivity. Moreover, it was predicted that impulsiveness, whether objectively or subjectively measured, would tend to be associated with a history of greater and more frequent delinquency. The major hypotheses were confirmed. In addition, the data suggested that delinquents from higher socioeconomic levels may be more impulsive than their lower class counterparts. Additional work on refining and validating the impulsivity index is indicated.This work has been supported by Grant No. A70-15 from the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission.Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Human Development at the University of Chicago. Major research interest is in cognitive development during adolescence.Received M.D. from the University of Chicago. Major research interests are the developmental psychology of adolescence and the etiology of juvenile delinquency.Received M.D. from Marquette University. Major research interests are in juvenile delinquency and psychotherapy of adolescents.Currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Human Development at the University of Chicago. Major research interest is in juvenile delinquency.     

Family factors associated with schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa

This paper reports results of a longitudinal prospective study of 65 families first assessed when they presented at a psychological clinic with a disturbed adolescent offspring. Fifty-two of the index offspring were followed up five years later and assessed using Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). Parental attributes of communication deviance and negative affective style were associated with offspring who later manifested disorders of the extended schizophrenia spectrum. Comparison of this sample with anorectic and non-anorectic inpatient groups revealed unique patterns in the families of anorectics, which were different from those identified in the preschizophrenic cases.The research described in this paper was supported by NIMH grants 08744 and 14584.This paper was presented as the keynote address at the conference entitled The Psychology of Adolescence at the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training, Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, June 19–20, 1981.Received his Ph.D. from University of Washington. Current research interest is family Associated with the onset and course of major psychology.     

Attachment,individuation, and risk of suicide in late adolescence

Security of attachment and level of individuation from parents and peers was examined among 126 undergraduates, 42 with a history of suicidality, 42 who were currently depressed with no history of suicidality, and 42 normal controls. Suicidality was defined as history of serious suicidal ideation or suicide attempt. As predicted, students with a history of suicidality exhibited both the lowest security of attachment as well as the least degree of individuation in their current relationships with parents. In contrast, they were similar to depressed and control students on security of peer attachment and level of individuation from peers. Students with a history of suicidality rated their parents and mother as emotionally absent in childhood to a significantly higher degree than depressed and normal controls. This effect was independent of depression but not from gender. History of suicidality is more strongly associated with family instability than with parental divorce. Absence of parents as emotionally available attachment figures at a time when such availability is critical heightens adolescents' vulnerability to suicide.This research is based on the author's doctoral dissertation in clinical psychology, Boston University. The author was previously Clinical Fellow in Psychology, Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School.Major interests include attachment, suicidality, and adolescent family relationships.     

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.     

Biological and ecological factors in the expression of adolescent self-esteem

The relationship between self-esteem and pubertal maturation is examined based on results of the first two years of a six-year naturalistic longitudinal study of the ecology of self-esteem during adolescence. A random sample of 40 seventh-grade adolescents of both sexes from all socioeconomic classes was selected from a local junior high school. Four measures of pubertal maturation level were obtained for participants during each year of the study. Self-esteem was assessed by means of a repeated measures self-report technique. Each adolescent carried a beeper paging device and responded in writing to beeps that occurred on a random schedule eight times daily. Males were significantly higher in self-esteem than females. The developmental pattern for the relationship between self-esteem and pubertal maturation differed between boys and girls. Three ecological contextual variables were explored: setting, activity, and participants. Physical setting was significantly associated with level of self-esteem. Activities and participants present were not significantly predictive of self-esteem. Results are discussed in terms of the onset and timing of pubertal maturation and its influence on self-esteem.This paper is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1–5, 1980. The research project is supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, to the second author.University of Notre Dame. Received her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Major interest are adolescent and human lifespan development, and divergent thinking.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Major interests are adolescent development, self-esteem, and ethology.     

Adolescent males with urogenital anomalies: Their body image and psychosexual development

Three midadolescent males with major congenital urogenital anomalies and multiple surgical repairs are described. Each patient had suffered repeated profound insults to body image concepts and gender identity from infancy onward, now clearly reflected in his psychosocial behavior and in figure drawings. Of major importance is the total lack at any time of counseling and emotional support as a part of comprehensive management. A plea is made for awareness of the psychological effects of such disorders and the need for long-range therapeutic planning from early childhood through adolescence to develop sound compensatory modes of coping with this stress.Formerly fellow in adolescent medicine, New York University Medical Center, at the time the material for this report was collected. Received his M.D. and pediatric training at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston City Hospital. Research interests include comprehensive health care for adolescents and the effects of illness on adolescent psychological development.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from Heed University, Miami, Florida, and training in psychology and child development at New York University. Research interests include the psychological effects of hospitalization on children and youth, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental assessment in infancy.Received her M.D. from the University of Rochester, pediatric training at University of Minnesota Hospitals and Babies Hospital, New York City, and training in adolescent medicine at Beth Israel Hospital, New York. Research interests include psychological effects of illness and hospitalization in adolescents, legal rights of minors, and adolescent sexuality.     

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.     

Eating disorders among high performance athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine whether athletes in certain sports display a higher tendency toward eating disorders than athletes in other sports. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) was administered to 191 athletes (104 females, 87 males). The athletes were classified into three groups (i.e., sport classes) according to type of sport. Overall, 10.6% of the female athletes and 4.6% of the male athletes scored over 30 in the EAT, placing them in the anorexic range. The prevalence of the results for the female athletes is comparable to other research on college university populations, while male athletes appeared to have a higher tendency toward eating disorders than the general population. Significant differences between sport classes were found for only among the female athletes' groups. Activities that emphasize leanness and athletes in weight-matched activities were related to higher EAT scores than in nonweight-restricting activities. The study indicates that different groups of athletes may be at different risks for developing eating disorders.Received Master of Education in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta. Major areas of research interest include sports psychology and eating disorders.Received Doctorate in Counselling Psychology from the University of Calgary. Major areas of research interest include health psychology and counselor education.     

“I've got a lot to do and i don't think i'll have the time”: Gender differences in late adolescents' narratives of the future

The present study examined gender differences in late adolescents' future narratives.Thirty-nine male and 43 female late adolescents (M=20.01 years) completed 90-minute individual interviews assessing dimensional and thematic aspects of the future narrative as well as psychological profile characteristics (abstract reasoning, psychological distress, self-concept, and self-esteem). As predicted, gender differences emerged in the anticipation and projected timing of adulthood transition events. More females than males anticipated marriage and parenthood; females also anticipated younger ages at marriage and parenthood than males. Examination of adolescents' narratives of the life course beyond the adulthood transition revealed greater extensionoverall among males than females. No gender differences in extension or densitywere obtained for the anticipated occupational domain, and no gender differences were obtained in extension in the family domain. Female adolescents, however, anticipated more events in the family domain than did males. The findings are discussed in terms of the implicit theories of adulthood that inform adolescents' future narratives.This research was supported, in part, by a grant awarded to the first author by the National Science Foundation (Differential Perceptions of the Family Environment).Received Ph.D. from Boston University in Developmental Psychology. Research interests include future narratives, self-perception, and cognition.Research interests include cognition, schema theory, and gender.     

From family to peer: A review of transitions of influence among drug-using youth

The research concerning relative and independent influences of family and peers upon adolescent drug use is reviewed. Although conflict between family and adolescents is one of the oldest, most predictable, and—in Western society—probably least avoidable of developmental conflicts, the sharp focus upon this conflict in the context of adolescent drug use is a more recent development. As interest and concern regarding adolescent drug use has grown, so has the research seeking to explain this behavior. Much of this research has focused upon the role of family and peer influence. After a brief review of the theories which support either the greater impact of family or peer influence on adolescent behavior, a more specific review of the literature concerning the role of these influences on adolescent drug use is presented. The outline of this presentation is derived from Kandel's theory of stages of drug use. Finally, a summary of research findings and specific suggestions for future research are made.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Research Analysis and Utilization Review, Drug Abuse and the American Adolescent, September 1980, Rockville, Md.; and at the 88th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, September 1980, Montreal. Conclusions drawn are not necessarily those of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.Received an M.S. degree in communication research from the Boston University School of Public Communication, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in social and community psychology from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Major current interests are the role of the family in the drug use of one or more of its members, drug abuse policy research, and social ecological research approaches to the study of drug use.     

Adolescent thinking ála Piaget: The formal stage

Two of the formal-stage experiments of Piaget and Inhelder, selected largely for their closeness to the concepts defining the stage, were replicated with groups of average and gifted adolescents. This report describes the relevant Piagetian concepts (formal stage, concrete stage) in context, gives the methods and findings of this study, and concludes with a section discussing implications and making some reformulations which generally support but significantly qualify some of the central themes of the Piaget-Inhelder work. Fully developed formal-stage thinking emerges as far from commonplace among normal or average adolescents (by marked contrast with the impression created by the Piaget-Inhelder text, which chooses to report no middle or older adolescents who function at less than fully formal levels). In this respect, the formal stage differs appreciably from the earlier Piagetian stages, and early adolescence emerges as the age for which a single path model of cognitive development becomes seriously inadequate and a more complex model becomes essential. Formal-stage thinking seems best conceptualized, like most other aspects of psychological maturity, as a potentiality only partially attained by most and fully attained only by some.This work has been supported by NIMH Research Career Development Award K3-MH-18, 701.Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, AECM. Received Ph.D. in physics from MIT, M.D. from University of Minnesota, adult and child/adolescent psychiatry training at AECM; graduate of New York Psychoanalytic Institute. Main current interests are developmental psychology and psychopathology of adolescence and young adulthood.     

Content scaling of affect in adolescent speech samples

Data are reported which extend the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales for the content analysis of speech samples to adolescents. The data were gathered on 112 youngsters aged 11–18 stratified by age, race, and sex in a balanced design. Girls had higher Anxiety scores and relatively lower scores on Hostility Directed Inward, Ambivalent Hostility, and Social Alienation and Personal Disorganization than did boys. Blacks spoke less words and expressed more Overt Hostility Outward than did Whites. These latter scores increased with age, as did Hostility Directed Inward. The affect scores for this normative group are also compared to those for normal adults and to an adolescent clinic and a juvenile delinquent population. Correlations with three paper-and-pencil inventories (Adolescent Life Assessment Checklist, Defense Mechanisms Inventory, and Rotter I-E scale) are presented.This study was partially funded by The Adolescent Clinic, Inc., Joseph Rauh, M.D., Director, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children's Hospital Medical Center.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University, St. Louis; received a Foundations Fund for Research in Psychiatry interdisciplinary research-teaching grant, 1959–1965. Current research interests include test development, evaluation, and personality research.and a licensed psychologist with the State of Ohio. Received her M.A. from the University of Cincinnati. Current research interests include verbal behavior, psychotherapeutic efficacy, and dream research.Received her M.D. from Medical College of Georgia at Augusta; interned at Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago. Current research interests include stress, coping, and adaptation in children and adolescents.     

Friends' interests: A cluster-analytic study of college student peer environments,personality, and behavior

A 27-item measure was developed to assess college peer environments in terms of friends' interests as perceived by individual students. Four dimensions of friends' interests were identified in cluster analyses: Collegiate Activities, Intellectual Pursuits, Apathy or Alienation, and Traditional Adult Orientation. In contrast to previous studies that have focused on peer environment characteristics which were proximal to specific behaviors, the comparatively distal Friends' Interests dimensions were capable of accounting for variation on an array of social, psychological, and behavioral measures. In general, the Collegiate and Traditional clusters were related to a relatively conventional set of individual personality and behavioral variables among college-age men and women; on the other hand, the Intellectual and Apathy dimensions were associated with more unconventional or liberal personality characteristics and behaviors.The research reported here is based on the author's dissertation, which was carried out within a larger longitudinal study of The Socialization of Problem Behavior in Youth, supported by NIAAA Grant No. AA-00232, R. Jessor, principal investigator. The research was conducted while the author was a graduate student in social psychology - personality, and a research assistant at the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colarado. This article is Publication No. 174 of the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Major interests include social environment assessment and program evaluation.     

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.