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.     

Young adults' evaluations of themselves and their parents as a function of family structure and disposition

Young adults (N=349) were asked to evaluate, in a counterbalanced fashion, their mothers, fathers, and themselves. They also evaluated their families. Individuals from happy families were found to rate themselves significantly higher and their mothers somewhat higher than did their counterparts from unhappy families. Evaluations of fathers were not found to vary as a function of family happiness. Evaluations of fathers, but not mothers or subjects themselves, were found to vary significantly depending upon the structure of their family environments. Heider's attribution theory seems to be able to account for these varied findings.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1972. Current research interests are primarily focused upon social and personality development.     

Situational variation in moral judgment: In a stage or on a stage?

Two issues were examined in this study—the consistency of moral judgment across different types of dilemma and different social contexts, and the relationship between the structure (stage) of moral judgment and the content of moral decisions. Forty subjects were given two hypothetical dilemmas about business decisions and two standard Kohlberg dilemmas. Half the subjects directed their responses to a business audience, half to a philosophical audience. Responses to the moral dilemmas were scored in accordance with the Colby and Kohlberg (1987) scoring manual. Stage of moral reasoning was found to be significantly higher on the Kohlberg dilemmas than on the business dilemmas. A significant interaction between type of dilemma and audience was attributed to the tendency of subjects directing their responses to a business audience to interpret one of the business dilemmas in terms of the moral order of business, but for subjects directing their responses to a philosophy audience to treat it as a philosophical dilemma. The other business dilemma evoked uniformly low-level moral judgments. The amount of selfishness intrinsic in subjects' moral choices on the business dilemmas was significantly negatively correlated with moral maturity on the business dilemmas, but not with their moral maturity on Kohlberg's test. These results are interpreted as more consistent with models of moral development such as those advanced by C. G. Levine ([1979] Stage Acquisition and Stage Use: An Appraisal of Stage Displacement Explanations of Variation in Moral Reasoning, Human Development, Vol. 22, pp. 145–164), J. Rest ([1983] Morality, in: P. H. Mussen [ed.], J. H. Flavell and E. Markman [Vol. eds.], Handbook of Child Psychology [Vol. 3, 4th ed.], John Wiley & Sons, New York), and R. Harré ([1984]) Personal Being: A Theory for Individual Psychology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts), which posit a relatively wide range of within-person stage use and emphasize the determining power of social situations, than with the more constructivistic model of moral development of Colby and Kohlberg (1987).This research was supported by Grant No. 410-87-1115 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.Received B.A. and M.A from Simon Fraser University. Research interests include moral development, and the influence of social interaction and language on the development of reasoning.Received Ph.D. from Harvard University. Research interests include moral development, altruism, and self-deception.     

Ego identity status,ego development,and locus of control in college women

This study examined the relationship of identity status to ego development and locus of control in 75 college women. The identity statuses did not differ significantly in self-reported locus of control, but did differ on the depth measure of ego development. Consistent with identity theory and with previous research with males, identity achievers and moratorium (incrisis) women were more advanced in their ego development than fore-closure and diffusion women.This article is based in part on the doctoral dissertation of Sheila D. Ginsburg, Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy degree, University of Missouri—St. Louis.Received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri—St. Louis. Current research interests include normative and dysfunctional development in children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at State University of New York at Buffalo. Research interests include personality and social development of adolescents and young adults.     

Psychosocial Adjustment and Family Relationships: A Typology of Italian Families with a Late Adolescent

The importance of family relationships in human development and adjustment has always been recognized in psychological studies. The present study aims to construct a typology of families with a late adolescent and to analyze the family relationships present in each type. The typology, constructed using family satisfaction—a global index of family functioning—as the discriminate variable, took into account eight types. This study is focused on the two extreme types of the typology: Families with adequate functioning or satisfied families and Families with inadequate functioning or dissatisfied families. These two types of families were compared according to variables such as: (a) parent-child communication and its topics and (b) the family's decision-making process on topics related to the adolescent and his/her future orientation. All subjects completed a questionnaire composed of different scales. The results show substantial differences in the two family types regarding both family functioning and the role played by mothers and fathers. Satisfied families give evidence of a better communication process than the dissatisfied ones, greater sharing between parents and adolescents and, finally, a decision-making process based mostly on sharing and support. Moreover, in satisfied families the father has the role of social mediator. In this way, he succeeds in part in restoring equilibrium to the relational imbalance in favor of mothers so typical of Italian families.     

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.     

Who stays? who leaves? an examination of sex differences in staying and leaving

This article examines some of the major variables associated with the staying and leaving process, particularly as it operates similarly or differentially for male and female adolescents. Sixty attitude statements about aspects of school, parents, peers, teachers, and value orientations were obtained from 796 adolescents and factor analyzed. This subset of independent variables, together with a set of personality and ability measures, was then used to predict staying or leaving status. The discriminant analysis was undertaken using leaving status and sex (LVSEX) as the dependent variable. Using a stepwise solution method of discriminant analysis, two significant functions were identified-the first suggesting a sex dimension, the second a stayer-leaver dimension.Received Ph.D. from La Trobe University. Current research interest is adolescent development.Received Ph.D. from University of N.S. W. Current research interest is mathematical reasoning in adolescence.     

Toward the development of an objective assessment of ego-identity status

Four investigations were completed to develop a self-report measure of ego-identity status. Following James Marcia's definition of diffusion, moratorium, foreclosure, and identity achievement status, a series of Likert-type items were constructed and validated for use in the study of ego-identity formation. Convergent-divergent, concurrent, and predictive validity and test-retest reliability are documented in the reported data. Cross-sectional data suggest the measure will be sensitive to intraindividual change in identity formation. The new Objective Measure of Ego-Identity Status allows researchers to use either a typology or a distribution of stage responses in future longitudinal investigations.This research was supported by a Division of Research Grant at Utah State University.Received his Ph.D. in human development from the Pennsylvania State University. Current research interests include adolescent personality and social development, interpersonal attraction, and family relations.Received her M.S. from Utah State University and is currently a doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University.Received his B.S. from Utah State University and is currently a graduate student at that institution.     

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.     

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

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

Son of joe: Continuity and change among white working class adolescents

The present article focuses upon the much-neglected topic of white working class youth — the children of another other America. Based upon the available literature as well as upon a recent program of ethnographic research, the institutional settings — community, family, school — within which working class youth grow up are examined with particular emphasis on their climate and values. Attention is paid to the heterogeneity contained within this segment of the population pointing to four distinct types: collegians, greasers, hippies, and those encapsulated in family life. The article points to factors that promote a potential increase in residential social class homogeneity that, in turn, promotes class values, social and personal expectations, and modal relationships that increasingly diverge from the norms of an urban-industrial middle class society and that in considerable measure either contribute to a growing conservative alienation from the larger society or make adjustments to that society more problematic for its youth. The emergent picture of white working youth in part resembles that of youth in general, but in a more significant measure is much different from that found in either higher or lower social strata.This research was supported by USPHS-NIH Contract 70-511 and USPHS-NICHD Grant No. 04156.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Research interests include post childhood socialization, social change and deviance, and urban social studies.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Main research interest is social change and deviance.Candidate for Ph.D. in Sociology from Northwestern University. Main research interests are social stratification, youth, and social change in an industrial society.     

Implicit theories of intelligence and self-perceptions of academically talented adolescents and children

Beliefs about intelligence can vary from the view that it is stable to the view that it is unstable. Third through eleventh grade academically talented students (n =153) rated their beliefs on the stability of intelligence using a 6-point Likert scale. They also rated themselves on similar scales for how smart and hardworking they thought they were, and how much they liked hard tasks. Students' views of the stability of intelligence paralleled a normal distribution, with almost one-half having borderline views that can be easily modified to match environmental demands. Approximately 9% of these talented students were at risk for underachievement based on their self-perceptions of relatively low ability and the belief that intelligence is stable. High school students believed intelligence was more stable than elementary students and females described themselves as being harder workers than males. Findings may account for the differing academic experiences and performance of academically talented students over time.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from University of Maryland Baltimore County. Research interests include self-perceptions, achievement, motivation, metacognition, and family factors that contribute to the development of academic talent.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. Research interests include gender differences, cognitive styles, and exceptional ability. Her other interests include gifted-learning disabled students and international education.     

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.     

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

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

Evaluation of a Psychoeducational Program to Help Adolescents Cope

Over 20% of a sample of 706 young adolescents identified themselves as experiencing difficulties and being in need of specific help in coping. A psychoeducational Program Helping Adolescents Cope was offered to 112 of those. This was adapted, with permission, from the Coping with Stress Course, devised by Albano et al. (1997). Participants progress was monitored and evaluated using qualitative and quantitative measures. The psychoeducational Program was found to be significantly effective in reducing participants depression scores, in reducing their reliance on unproductive means of coping and overall in helping them cope. This article presents the methodology used, key results and discusses the implications of this work for professionals working with adolescents in the area of prevention and coping.Claire Hayes is a clinical and educational psychologist who has recently moved from her post of lecturer in the National University of Ireland Maynooth to develop the Break through Anxiety service as a private practitioner. She received her PhD in Education/Psychology from Dublin City University, Ireland. Her major research interests are in how psychological theories, such as cognitive behavioural theory, can be taught as a means of prevention and copingMark Morgan is Head of Education in St. Patricks College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, which is part of Dublin City University. He received his PhD in social psychology from the London School of Economics. His research has mainly been in the area of literacy, educational disadvantage and substance use, particularly the evaluation of prevention programmes.     

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

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

Contextual,cognitive, and adolescent factors associated with parenting in adolescence

In this study, we examined predictors of parenting during adolescence from three domains: the contextual (i.e., stress, support, marital satisfaction), social-cognitive (i.e., beliefs about adolescence), and child (difficulty). Fifty-three mothers and 38 fathers of 13–18 year olds were interviewed and rated on three dimensions of parenting—involvement, autonomy support, and structure. Parents completed questionnaires assessing predictor variables. Results indicated that, for mothers, higher numbers of recent stressful events were associated with less provision of structure and more control. For fathers, relations between views of adolescence and parenting were in evidence; while for both mothers and fathers strong relations between adolescent difficulty and parenting emerged. Relations between perceived difficulty of adolescent and parenting were more apparent in conducive than nonconducive contexts. The differential results for mothers and fathers are interpreted in terms of mothers' greater involvement and less role latitude than fathers. Parents' resources, experience, and expectations are considered in understanding why predictors might be associated with parenting variables.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from University of Rochester. Research interests include motivational development, parenting, self- and emotion-regulation. Also investigating factors affecting parenting, especially parent involvement.Received a Master's degree from New York University. Current interests involve interpersonal processes in depression.Received a Master's degree from Clark University. Research interests include the development of self-regulation with particular interest in the effects of power, authority, and responsibility on the socialization and disciplining of young children.Received Master's of Social Work degree from Columbia University. Current interests include factors that facilitate adolescents developing connections with the community.     

Chinese Adolescent Immigrants: Factors Related to Psychosocial Adjustment

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

The life concept in female college students: An exploratory analysis

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