The self-image of adolescents: A study of four cultures

This paper describes the utilization of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ) for research purposes on a variety of adolescent populations and demonstrates the OSIQ's effectiveness in meaningfully separating normal, juvenile delinquent, and emotionally disturbed adolescents; older and younger teenagers; males and females. It also considers the utilization of the OSIQ in four different cultures (United States, Ireland, Australia, and Israel) and concentrates on the results obtained when the OSIQ is given adolescents in these four cultures. It discusses the findings and points to some of the methodological problems which are inherent in doing cross-cultural research.Presented at the American Educational Research Association meeting in San Francisco, California, April 20, 1976.Received his M.D. from the University of Chicago. He interned at the University of Illinois and took his psychiatric residency at Michael Reese Hospital and University of Chicago. He is a graduate of the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Chicago. Major interests have been concept of mental health and the developmental psychology of adolescence.Received his Ph.D. in human development from the University of Chicago. Research interests are adolescence and delinquency.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago. Major interests are psychotherapy research and adolescence.     

Ethnicity and adjustment: A study of the self-image of Anglo-, Greek-, and Italian-Australian working class adolescents

Two measures of adjustment, the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory and the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire, were administered to a sample of 450 working class Anglo-, Greek-, and Italian-Australian adolescents in years 9 and 11 of 9 Melbourne high schools. Anglo- and Greek-Australian adolescents scored similarly and significantly higher than Italian-Australians on a number of subscales, suggesting that culture conflict may be an influential factor in the adjustment of Italian-Australians, but not Greek-Australians. Significant differences between the minority groups, in favor of Greek-Australians, were interpreted as resulting from the relative differences in institutional support for and press toward assimilation of the two groups.     

The self-image of physically abused adolescents

Thirty physically abused adolescents were compared via the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire to thirty nonabused adolescents who were from a similar background. Another control group was comprised of normal adolescents tested by Offer, Ostrov, and Howard (1981). Results showed that physically abused adolescents feel worse in a number of areas when compared to nonabused adolescents. These areas include family relations, emotional stability, psychopathology, impulse control, coping skills, as well as poorer overall self-image. Implications are drawn for the professional's treatment of abused children and their responsibility to report abuse.This study was completed as part of the first author's doctoral dissertation at California Graduate Institute.Received Ph.D. from California Graduate Institute. Current research interests are psychoanalytic therapy and adolescent development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.     

A self-image questionnaire for young adolescents (SIQYA): Reliability and validity studies

This article describes a questionnaire measure of self-image designed for young adolescents. It represents a downward extension of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire and utilizes nine scales from that instrument: Emotional Tone, Impulse Control, Body Image, Peer Relationships, Family Relationships, Mastery and Coping, Vocational/Educational Goals, Psychopathology, and Superior Adjustment. This 98-item questionnaire elicits responses on a 6-point Likert-type scale. The alpha coefficients for each scale are high, indicating a high degree of internal consistency among the items. The validity of this instrument is examined through factor analyses and through the association of these scales with other measures of self-image. The results suggest that this questionnaire provides a useful way to assess self-image among young adolescents.This research was supported by Grant MH 30252/38142 to Anne Petersen.Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1973. Research interest is biopsychosocial development in adolescence, with a focus on sex differences.Research interests are vocational development and contextual influences on development in early adolescence.Research interests are the influences of adolescent and parent development on family relationships.Received M.D. from the University of Chicago. Research interests are the psychology and psychopathology of adolescents.Current research interests are social cognition and peer relationships during early adolescence.     

Transcultural comparisons of self-image in German and United States adolescents

Based on the Offer Selfimage Questionnaire (OSIQ), the selfimage of German and United States adolescents was compared. The German study was based on OSIQ protocols from 365 adolescents in West Berlin while the American sample comprised adolescents drawn from seven cities in the United States. With respect to three scales, United States adolescents report better adjustment than do the German adolescents. These scales were Mastery of the External World, Vocational and Educational Goals, and Superior Adjustment. In general, these two Western societies share more similarities than differences in the selfimages of their adolescents.Received M.D. and Ph.D in Psychology from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Research interests are high-risk studies, child psychiatric epidemiology, and adolescence.Received M.D. from the University of Chicago. Major interests are concepts of mental health and the developmental psychology of adolescence.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.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Chicago. Major interests are psychotherapy research and adolescence.     

Perception and experience of types of social stress and self-image among adolescents

Eighty-four 16–18-year-old male and female volunteers were sampled to test the relationship of ratings and experience of four types of social stressors (developmental transitions, induced transitions, daily hassles, and circumscribed events). Also the relationship of self-image as measured by the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire to each type of stressor was studied. Contrary to previous research, we did not find correlations between ratings and experience, and observed minimal gender differences in ratings, experience levels, and psychopathology. Several differences in impact were found when stressor types were differentiated. Apparently, developmental transitions are least stressful for adolescents and daily hassles are most influential on their self-image. Gender differences were noted in the perceived change required by types of stressors and the manner in which stressors impacted on self-image. These results suggest that it is important to distinguish type of Stressors by type of adjustment process required, and that previously reported gender differences are less a matter of global differences or affects of specific Stressors than a matter of variations in perceived adjustment required and aspect of functioning impacted.Based on a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., August 26, 1986. This work was conducted in part while the senior author was a Clinical Research Training Fellow in Adolescence (funded by T32 MH 14668) at the Institute for Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Research and Training, Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center in a program also sponsored by the Departments of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry, University of Chicago, and the Adolescent Programs of the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. Support was also provided by an award from the DePaul University Council.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Tennessee. Current research interests are prevention of delinquency, family systems theory, and adolescent development.Current research interest is obesity in children.Current research interests are family functioning assessment and delinquency.     

Adolescent conceptions of the homeland: A cross-cultural study

Irish (135) and United States (123) subjects, aged from 8 to 17 years, wrote essays on their respective homelands. A content analysis revealed that American subjects, as they grow older, identify the homeland increasingly with its political ideals, while Irish subjects identify theirs with certain psychological ideals which they associate with the rural culture and landscape. Irish essays tended to be longer and more varied, and they showed a higher level of affective development. Profiles of the homeland on 7 semantic differential scales showed the break-up of a halo effect in the Irish sample. Adolescents in both countries showed a transition from concrete to abstract topics with age. The implications of these findings for research on the adolescent self-image are discussed.     

Parental criticism and young adolescent self-disclosure: A cross-cultural study

Criticism by mothers and fathers, as well as young adolescents' perceptions of parental criticism and their self-disclosure to parents, was assessed for a sample of 80 families. Of these, 40 were resident in Australia (20 Anglo-Australian and 20 Greek-Australian) and 40 were resident in Greece (20 professional and 20 working-class). There were no differences between the groups in amount of criticism by parents nor in adolescents' perceptions of criticism. Greek- and Anglo-Australian adolescents disclosed significantly less to parents than did the Greek adolescents. For Greek-Australian adolescents there was an inverse relationship between self-disclosure on a number of topics and perceived levels of parental criticism. The results were interpreted in terms of cultural differences between the groups and adaptive behaviors of the Greek-Australian adolescents.This research was supported by a University of Melbourne grant to the first author.Received Ph.D. from University of Melbourne. Research interests include the social context of adolescent development.Received Ph.D. from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Research interest is in cognitive development through the life span.Received Ph.D. from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. Research interest is in cognitive development through the life span.     

Sex,sex roles,and self-image

The purpose of this research was to compare the self-images of male and female children in order to determine whether females were at a particular disadvantage and, if so, why. A random sample of 1988 children from grades 3–12 were interviewed in Baltimore in 1968. Findings show more disturbance among White adolescent females than among White males or Black females: White girls become much more self-conscious and show greater self-image instability and somewhat lower self-esteem. Three sets of factors appear to explain part of these differences: (1) attitudes toward present and future sex role, (2) peer relationships in general and opposite sex relationships in particular, and (3) attitudes toward changing looks in adolescence.The work of the first author is currently supported by a Research Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, No. 5-K1-MH-41, 688-03. The work was also partly supported by USPHS Grants 1-F3-MH-41, 688-01 and MH-197541-01.The data were collected in 1968.Received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and has been interested in the social determinants of the self-image and in studies of the social psychological consequences of organ transplantation.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and is interested in social psychology in general and sex roles in particular.     

A cross-cultural comparison of sociopsychological factors in alcohol use among adolescents in Israel,France, and the United States

The correlates of alcohol use by adolescents are compared in three cultures with different prevalences of alcohol use: France, with high prevalence; Israel, with low prevalence; and the United States, in the middle. In all three countries, significant others, parents and peers, are more powerful predictors of alcohol use than are the adolescent's personal attributes, such as attitudes, behaviors, and demographic characteristics. Cross-cultural differences appear in the relative importance of parents and peers and in the structure of influence of parents and peers as role models. Parents are more important role models in Israel than in the other two cultures, while peers are more important in the United States than in France or in Israel.This research was partially supported by Research Grants DA01902, DA00064, and Research Scientist Grant K05-DA00081 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and by the Center for SocioCultural Research on Drug Use, Columbia University.Received Ph.D. from Stanford University. Main interests are mathematical sociology, social stratification, and adolescent substance use.Received Ph.D. from Columbia University. Main interests are adolescent socialization, substance use, and psychiatric epidemiology.     

Body type,body esteem,school, and leisure: A study of overweight,average, and underweight adolescents

This study considered the characteristics, sports and leisure involvement, and social relations of approximately 1000 15- to 16-year-old pupils categorized as overweight, underweight, or average in terms of ponderal index scores. Academic attainment, social class and physical education teachers' perceptions were also considered. While results showed that pupils with average physiques were superior to the other two groups in fitness, the main and consistent contrasts among groups revolved around teachers' perceptions, body image, and peer group involvement. Thus overweight and underweight adolescents appeared at some disadvantage in certain social and educational encounters.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen. Main research interests include social factors influencing education, adolescence, sports psychology, community education, and social psychology.Currently completing her M.S. in community health at the University of Nottingham, after which she will take an appointment with the Scottish Health Education Unit in Edinburgh. Received her M.Ed. from the University of Aberdeen. Main interests are handicapped children and sex education.     

A survey of adolescent military family members' self-image

The Offer Self-Image Questionnaire was administered to 135 adolescent military family members, ages 13 through 18. The data suggest that the usual demands placed on the military family do not deter the adolescent from developing a healthy self-image.The contents herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center or the Department of Defense.Received his M.D. from Tulane University. Research interests are adolescence and substance abuse.     

Alcohol Use, Outcome Expectancies, and HIV Risk Status among American Indian Youth: A Latent Growth Curve Model with Parallel Processes

Alcohol use is cited as a risk factor for exposure to HIV infection through risky sexual behavior, especially among adolescents. From Social Cognitive Theory, positive outcome expectancies about the use of alcohol have often been presented as a critical aspect of alcohol use. Yet little is known about how they might be related to different aspects of HIV risk. Using latent growth curve modeling with data from 292 American Indian youth across seven years, both alcohol use and positive expectancies increased significantly; a lower-risk group showed significantly slower increases in both. Changes in alcohol use and outcome expectancies were significantly interrelated, providing support for reciprocal influence between the two constructs. Positive alcohol outcome expectancies may provide a preventive intervention point worthy of further consideration as influencing alcohol use and lowering HIV sexual risk among adolescents.Associate Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Michigan State University. Her major research interests are adolescent development among minority youth with an emphasis on positive and problem behaviors.Associate Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan. Her major research interests are in areas of American Indian mental health and services research.Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan. Her primary research interests are in demography and contextual effects of individual health behavior, with a special emphasis on adolescent development.In addition to the above people, the Project Team included Sonia Bauduy, Cathy A.E. Bell, Cecelia K. Big Crow, Dedra Buchwald, Nichole Cottier, Amy D. Dethlefsen, Ann Wilson Frederick, Ellen M. Keane, Shelly Hubing, Natalie Murphy, Angela Sam, Jennifer Settlemire, Jennifer Truel, and Frankee White Dress.     

Undivided interest and the growth of talent: A longitudinal study of adolescents

Based on theoretical considerations drawn from John Dewey and others, and using the Experience Sampling Method to longitudinally investigate a group of talented high school students,undivided interest was operationalized as times when the students felt above average spontaneous interest (i.e., excitement, openness, and involvement) while also reporting above average goal-directed interest (i.e., that their task was important to their goals). Results showed that after adjusting for the effects of family background, scholastic aptitude, and other individual differences, undivided interest while doing talent-related activities was positively correlated with independent assessments of talent area performance three years later: the level of mastery students achieved as indicated by their school records, the ratings students received from their talent area teachers, and the students' assessments of their own level of engagement. Highly engaged students reported over twice as much undivided interest in comparison to a group of disengaged students, who reported more divided interest (i.e., more of what Dewey referred to as fooling—high spontaneous involvement with no goal direction; and more drudgery—low spontaneous involvement and high goal direction). These findings held regardless of whether the teenagers were talented in math, science, music, or art. The implications of the study are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of attention and cognitive development, as well as unproductive educational philosophies that pit these important dimensions of experience against each other.Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Chicago. Main research interests are adolescent development within the family and the role of interest in learning and development.Received Ph.D. in human development from the University of Chicago. Main research interests are optimal experience and creativity.     

Personality characteristics of black youth: A cross-cultural investigation

The view that black youth frequently manifest disordered personalities and negative self-concepts is examined through a comparison of the responses of black and white female adolescents from differing cultural and social class backgrounds to an Adjective Check List. While dissimilar from white female adolescents in many important respects, black subjects scored high on indices of personal adjustment and did not describe themselves in negatively valued terms. In fact, black girls from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who are generally portrayed as particularly prone to pathology and negative self-evaluations, describe themselves in more favorable terms than black and white subjects from middle class backgrounds. Moreover, U.S. and Jamaican black subjects describe themselves in surprisingly similar fashion, and differ in similar respects from their white American counterparts, thereby providing some evidence for the impact of a common cultural heritage on black personality cross-nationally.This study was supported by NIMH Grant RO1 MH26104.Received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Current interests are cross-cultural research and psychotherapy research, especially the impact of race on psychotherapy process and outcome.     

Trajectories of Substance Use Among Young American Indian Adolescents: Patterns and Predictors

Substance use often begins earlier among American Indians compared to the rest of the United States, a troubling reality that puts Native youth at risk for escalating and problematic use. We need to understand more fully patterns of emergent substance use among young American Indian adolescents, risk factors associated with escalating use trajectories, and protective factors that can be parlayed into robust prevention strategies. We used growth mixture modeling with longitudinal data from middle-school students on a Northern Plains reservation (Wave 1 N = 381, M age at baseline = 12.77, 45.6 % female) to identify subgroups exhibiting different trajectories of cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. We explored how both risk (e.g., exposure to stressful events, deviant peers) and protective (e.g., positive parent–child relationships, cultural identity) factors were related to these trajectories. For all substances, most youth showed trajectories characterized by low rates of substance use (nonuser classes), but many also showed patterns characterized by high and/or escalating use. Across substances, exposure to stress, early puberty, and deviant peer relationships were associated with the more problematic patterns, while strong relationships with parents and prosocial peers were associated with nonuser classes. Our measures of emergent cultural identity were generally unrelated to substance use trajectory classes among these young adolescents. The findings point to the importance of early substance use prevention programs for American Indian youth that attenuate the impact of exposure to stressful events, redirect peer relationships, and foster positive parent influences. They also point to the need to explore more fully how cultural influences can be captured.     

Ethnic Identity and Mental Health in American Indian Youth: Examining Mediation Pathways Through Self-esteem,and Future Optimism

Mental health functioning in American Indian youth is an understudied topic. Given the increased rates of depression and anxiety in this population, further research is needed. Using multiple group structural equation modeling, the current study illuminates the effect of ethnic identity on anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behavior in a group of Lumbee adolescents and a group of Caucasian, African American, and Latino/Hispanic adolescents. This study examined two possible pathways (i.e., future optimism and self-esteem) through which ethnic identity is associated with adolescent mental health. The sample (N = 4,714) is 28.53 % American Indian (Lumbee) and 51.38 % female. The study findings indicate that self-esteem significantly mediated the relationships between ethnic identity and anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behavior for all racial/ethnic groups (i.e., the total sample). Future optimism significantly mediated the relationship between ethnic identity and externalizing behavior for all racial/ethnic groups and was a significant mediator between ethnic identity and depressive symptoms for American Indian youth only. Fostering ethnic identity in all youth serves to enhance mental health functioning, but is especially important for American Indian youth due to the collective nature of their culture.     

An evaluation of de Jong-Giervald's loneliness model with Australian adolescents

This study concerns the prevalence of loneliness in a sample of adolescent Australian college students and examines the predictors of loneliness in this group, in particular the impact of social network characteristics, social network appraisal, the functions of friendship, and the psychosocial variables of identity and intimacy (Erikson, 1978) within the context of de Jong-Giervald's (1987) model of loneliness. One hundred and thirty- eight college students aged between 17 and 20 years from one regional and one city tertiary institution were surveyed to ascertain the level of experienced loneliness as measured by the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russellet al., 1980). Measures of intimacy and identity were obtained using the Erikson Psychosocial State Inventory (Rosenthalet al., 1981) while the functions of friendship in general and of a specific same- sex close friend were those established in a previous study (Moore and Boldero, 1987). Comparison of the levels of loneliness reported with those found by other studies suggested that Australian adolescents are no less vulnerable to the experience of loneliness than their American counterparts. In addition, while no quantitative sex differences in loneliness were found, qualitative differences emerged. Specifically, although psychosocial intimacy was the best predictor of loneliness for both male and female, the other independent predictors were different. For males having fewer same- sex friends and an inability to share feelings with a specific same- sex friend predicted loneliness whereas for females social network appraisal, the ability to engage in mutual aid with a specific same-sex friend, living with family, and psychosocial identity were important. These differences were discussed in terms of the impact that the differential socialization of male and female has on ability of adolescents to engage in close and satisfying interpersonal relationships. Suggestions for intervention were made.This research was supported by a grant from the Research and Development Committee, Melbourne College of Advanced Education.An earlier verison of this paper was presented at the Children and Families at Risk Conference, Ballarat, Australia, April 1989.Received M.A. in Psychology from University of Auckland, New Zealand. Ph.D. in Psychology at University of Melbourne currently being assessed. Current interests include interpersonal relationships of adolescents and adults.Received Ph.D. in Counseling from Florida State University. Current interests include psychology as applied to educational issues and adolescent development.