Verbal giftedness and sociopolitical intelligence: Terman revisited

This paper reports on a three-year study of sociopolitical intelligence-defined as the ability to formulate viable solutions to moral, social, and political problems—in adolescence. From an initial sample of 659 intellectually gifted 12- and 13-year-olds, 58 students with the highest SAT-V scores were selected for study. From a later sample of 506 equally gifted 13- and 14-year-olds, 120 students were selected using measures of verbal intelligence (DAT), social insight, and creative potential, as well as academic and nonacademic achievement. On the basis of a variety of personality and cognitive measures the students in both samples were found to be unusually mature and well adjusted but to vary considerably in sociopolitical intelligence. These results suggest in partial agreement with Terman's earlier findings concerning the gifted, that above a certain level of tested intelligence the critical determinants of effective, practical performance may be personality and biographical variables.This research was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation to the first author.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkely. Major interests are personality theory and moral developmentReceived her Ph.D. in psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are personality theory and medical psychology.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are education and developmental psychology.Graduate student in psychology, The Johns Hopkins University. B. A. University of Oregon, 1973. Major research interest is personality correlates of high-level achievement.Main research interest is the development of sociopolitical achievement.     

Psychosocial Aspects of Body Mass and Body Image Among Rural American Indian Adolescents

This study examines the psychosocial risks associated with body weight (BMI) and body image in a southeastern, rural Lumbee American Indian community. A total of 134 adolescents (57% female) were surveyed over 2 years at ages of 13 and 15 years. On average, boys (55%) were more likely to be overweight or obese than were girls (31%). BMI was related to a variety of weight control efforts including onset and frequency of smoking, dieting, and body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction was associated with peer relations, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and somatization in adolescence. Longitudinally, psychological health, peer competence, and ethnic identity were associated with positive body image. In boys, early ethnic identification was associated with the development of later body image. Implications of findings for ethnic- and gender-specific interventions are discussed.On faculty at Tulane University. Received PhD in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Minnesota. Major research interests are developmental psychopathology and personality, and diverse topics in American Indian mental health.Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. A graduate student in the developmental psychology. Received BS in psychology from Tulane University in 2004. Major research interests include developmental psychopathology, emotion regulation, and biological responses to stress.Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. A doctoral student in developmental and school psychology at Tulane University. Received MS in psychology from Tulane University and BA in psychology from CUNY Hunter College. Major research interests are social and personality development, developmental psychopathology, minority mental health, and the impact of hearing loss on social and cognitive development.     

Chinese adolescents' self-concept as measured by the offer self-image questionnaire

This article reports results of a study of self-image among 426 adolescents from the Republic of China (Taiwan). Self-image was studied through use of a Chinese translation of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. Subjects were from public schools and a factory setting in the Republic of China. Implications for understanding Chinese youth as well as problems in doing cross-cultural research are discussed.Received M.A. from the University of Chicago. Major interests are crosscultural differences in socialization, and social gerontology.Received M.A. from Case Western Reserve University. Major interests are hospital social work and family counseling.     

Adolescent idolization of pop singers: Causes,expressions, and reliance

The study examines the phenomenon of adolescents' idolization of pop singers. Male and female adolescents from three age groups (ages 10–11, 13–14, and 16–17) were compared with regard to the intensity of idolization, its behavioral manifestations, causes for selecting the idol, and reliance for knowledge on the idol. The results of self-reports indicated that the phenomenon of idolization, expressed especially in worshipping and modeling, is strongest in the youngest age group and decreases in intensity with age. Also, it was found that girls idolize singers more than boys. The youngest age group, especially girls, rely on singers with regard to knowledge concerning personal matters. These findings were explained within the frameworks of gender differences, adolescence characteristics, and youth culture development.This paper was prepared while the first and the third authors were on sabbatical at the Department of Psychology, Maryland University, College Park, Maryland.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Hebrew University, 1974. Research interests include school psychology, social cognition, and media psychology.Received Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, 1974. Research interests include political psychology, social psychology, and social development.Received Ph.D. in statistics from the Hebrew University, 1976. Research interests concern applied statistics and nonparametric statistics.Received MA in clinical child psychology, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University.     

Perceived Social Environment and Adolescents’ Well-Being and Adjustment: Comparing a Foster Care Sample With a Matched Sample

Previous research has demonstrated that former foster care youth are at risk for poor outcomes (e.g., more problem behaviors, more depression, lower self-esteem, and poor social relationships). It is not clear, however, whether these findings reflect preemancipation developmental deficits. This study used 163 preemancipation foster care youth and a matched sample of 163 comparison youth. Results showed that foster-care youth did not differ from the comparison sample on measures of well-being, including depressed mood, problem behavior, and self-esteem. Foster care youth reported higher levels of work orientation, but lower levels of academic achievement, aspirations, and expectations. In addition, compared to the matched sample, foster care youth perceived better social environments with respect to their important nonparental adults (VIPs) and peers, but poorer social environments relating to their parents. These differences in social environments may have offset each other and resulted in similar levels of psychological well-being for the two groups of youth. Regression analyses further showed that social environments were linked to selected adolescent outcomes, and nonparental VIPs were especially important for the foster care sample.Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine. Current interests: Cross-cultural study of adolescent well-being, at-risk youth.Received PhD in clinical psychology from Radcliffe College, Harvard University. Current interests: Role of culture, family, peers, and nonparental adults in adolescent developmentReceived PhD in developmental psychology from University of Michigan. Current interests: Cross-cultural human development; neural bases of language and mathematical learningReceived PhD in developmental psychology from University of Strathclyde. Current interests: Life-span development, motivation and developmental regulation, control and health     

Drug culture expertise and substance use

This study concerns the relationship between knowledge of drug culture and substance use. Results from a sample of 2,635 middle and high school students indicate that (1) knowledge of drug culture is positively correlated with substance use; (2) drug knowledge is more reliable and coherent in older youth; (3) drug knowledge is unrelated to other kinds of knowledge acquired in school; (4) youth exposed to peers' substance use in school have more drug knowledge; and (5) the earlier young people begin using drugs and alcohol, the more they know about the drug culture. Results suggest that knowledge of the drug culture may be an unobtrusive indicator of substance use problems.This project was made possible by a grant from the Tulsa Psychiatric Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include school dropouts, substance use, delinquency, identity, narcissism, and health. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include school dropouts, substance use, delinquency, personal commitments, identity, narcissism, and health.Received Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in personality psychology. Research interests include moral development and personality.     

Defendant characteristics and judgment behaviors of adolescent mock jurors

Fictitious court cases involving child abuse were presented to 140 male undergraduates and 140 male junior high school students to determine if the tendency to deal harshly with alleged criminals is dependent upon certain defendant characteristics. Results indicate that younger adolescent jurors give longer sentences than older adolescent jurors, and male defendants receive longer sentences than female defendants. While no significant main effects for case content were found, younger jurors gave longer sentences and attributed more responsibility to a parent who beat his/her child, while older adolescent jurors attributed more responsibility and prescribed longer sentences to a parent who burned the child. Implications for future research with adolescent jurors are discussed.Received Ph.D. from Lehigh University, Major interests include adolescent and adult personality and social development, developmental abnormalities, and jury behavior.Received Ph.D. from Lehigh University. Major interests are personality and sex-role development, and psychology and the law.Received Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Major interests are cognitive development, guilt feelings, and jury behavior.     

The personality correlates of differential verbal and mathematical ability in talented adolescents

This paper describes the personality correlates of differential verbal and mathematical ability in very bright adolescent boys (N=182). The results indicate that there are few mean personality differences between two groups of boys formed on the basis of high scores on measures of either verbal or quantitative ability. On the other hand, within each of these groups there are dependable personality correlates of differences between verbal and quantitative ability. In particular, boys with high verbal relative to their quantitative scores seem independent, rational, reflective, and mature, regardless of their vocational or academic preferences.Work on this paper was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois.Received her Ph.D. in psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are personality theory and medical psychology.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the Johns Hopkins University. Major interests are education and developmental psychology.Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. Major interests are personality theory and moral development.     

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.     

Perception of epistemic authorities by children and adolescents

The study investigated children's and adolescents' perceptions of epistemic authorities in various knowledge domains. Children and adolescents from 4th, 8th, and 12th grades were asked to evaluate their father, mother, teacher, and friends as epistemic authorities in nine areas of knowledge content. In general, the results indicated that the perception of parents as epistemic authorities decreases with age. Nevertheless, children and adolescents continue to consider one or both parents to be the most important epistemic authorities. The perception of friends as epistemic authority increased relative to other sources in the social domains of knowledge. The perception of teachers as epistemic authority decreases with age, but in the formal knowledge domain it remains relatively stable.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests concern media psychology, knowledge formation, and school psychology. Requests for reprints should be sent to Amiram Raviv at Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel 69978.Received Ph.D. in psychology from University of Pittsburgh. Research interests concern political psychology, social psychology of knowledge, and stereotyping.Received Ph.D. in statistics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Research interests concern nonparametric statistics and applied statistics.Received M.A. degree in clinical child psychology from Tel Aviv University.     

Older adolescents' engagement in casual sex: Impact of risk perception and psychosocial motivations

The relationship between attitudes for casual sex and casual sex behavior was investigated for a group of older adolescents between the ages of 17 and 19. In addition, factors that influence casual sex orientations were studied. Models of behavior that emphasize disease issues as a primary determinant of casual sex behavior were compared with models that emphasize a broader range of social-psychological motivations. Results showed that the relationship between attitudes and behavior was stronger for females than males. In addition, disease-related variables were found to be correlated with behavior in a direction opposite to what traditional disease models would predict. The results were interpreted in the context of a behavioral inference model. It was found that casual sex behavior is more heavily influenced by a broad range of social-psychological motivations as compared to disease-based variables. Implications for educational interventions were developed.Received Ph.D. in education from Stanford University. Major research interests are in self-efficacy and adolescent sexual risk behavior.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana. Major research interests are in parent-adolescent communication and quantitative methods.Received M.A. in psychology from the University at Albany, State University of New York. Major research interests are in attitudes and attitude change.     

Delinquent recidivists: Vulnerable children

This study examines the relationship between vulnerability factors and recidivism by testing the hypothesis that first offenders who repeat delinquencies display more high-risk factors than those who do not repeat delinquencies. Four factors are identified which distinguish recidivists from nonrecidivists in a sample of first offenders matched by age and sex. Results are discussed from an epidemiological and early-intervention perspective.Data collected in 1980 were supported by the Research Associates, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Received MSW from University of Michigan, 1972. Major research interests are juvenile delinquency and early intervention.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, 1957. Major research interests are classification, juvenile delinquency, and psychological test development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from State University of New York at Buffalo, 1971. Research interests are cognitive development and mental health-care delivery.     

Self-esteem,self-concept stability,and aspects of ethnic identity among minority and majority youth in the Netherlands

This study investigates the relationship between ethnic identity and self-feelings among minority and majority youth living in the Netherlands. Contrary to existing studies, not only global self-esteem is assessed but also self-concept stability, and in addition, not only ethnic group membership was studied but also different aspects of ethnic identity: ethnic group identification and ingroup evaluation. There were no significant differences between minority and majority youth for global self-esteem and for self-concept stability. In addition, among the various ethnic groups there was only a small group who reported fluctuating self-feelings. However, as predicted, minority youth identified more strongly with their ethnic group and evaluated their group more positively than Dutch contemporaries. It is concluded that research should pay attention to the different aspects involved in order to understand more fully the possible consequences of ethnic minority identity for psychological well-being.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Major research interests are in self-concept and identity among minority youth, and in interethnic relations.     

Parental influences on the development of adolescent autonomy and identity

Two studies were undertaken to examine parental influences on autonomy and identity development. In Study 1, 262 adolescents in seventh and eleventh grades were given Kurtines's autonomy measure, Simmons's identity measure, and Elder's questions regarding the adolescents' perceptions of their parents' autocratic, democratic, or permissive parenting styles. Study 2 was a replication with 168 subjects. Across both studies it was found that sex-role socialization is more influential for automony development than is either level of parental power or age. Both age and father's use of democracy were the most influential variables on identity development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Major interests are adolescent social cognition and social development.Received Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Major interests are cognitive development and theories of personality.     

Impact of higher alcohol prices on alcohol-related attitudes and perceptions of suburban,middle-class youth

This study investigated the potential effects of alcohol price increases on alcohol-related attitudes and perceptions of youth. Data were collected through a survey of high school students conducted after the federal excise taxes on alcohol beverages were increased in January 1991. Survey data lend support to previous research showing that higher alcohol prices contribute to lower alcohol consumption by youth, as well as to a decrease in related problems such as driving while intoxicated. Survey data also suggest that a price of around $7.50 for a six-pack of beer or a four-pack of wine coolers would discourage purchases by youth. Further studies are called for to substantiate and to expand on these findings with more diverse adolescent populations.Received M.P.H. in health education from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Research interests are alcohol-impaired driving, alcohol taxation, and other alcohol policy issues. To whom correspondence should be addressed.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from Syracuse University. Research interests are impaired driving, adolescent risk taking, substance abuse, and health threat perception.Received M.S. in counseling from Bowie State University. Research interests are alcohol and drug abuse prevention, history of alcohol and drug abuse, and alcohol-impaired driving.The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the organizations with which they are affiliated. Computer time for this research was supported through funds from the Computer Science Center at the University of Maryland at College Park.     

Keeping the faith: Psychosocial correlates of activism persistence into middle adulthood

This study was conducted to determine certain ideological, personological, lifestyle, and familial correlates of activism persistence into middle adulthood. Almost 15 years following their arrest for participation in the Free Speech Movement, 30 former Berkeley activists responded to a political activity scale and measures selected to tap variables in each of the contextual domains. Although persisters did not differ from nonpersisters with respect to most lifestyle dimensions, they were distinguished by more radical beliefs, stronger repudiation of Protestant ethic values, and a stronger family legacy of social concern. The results provide more support for theories of activists' adult development based on notions of generational continuity, rather than generational rebellion.received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Major interests are politics and personality and politics and clinical psychology.Received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. Major interests are adult development and health psychology.     

The Structure and Stability of Externalizing and Internalizing Problem Behavior During Early Adolescence

The first aim of this study was to examine the structure of externalizing and internalizing problem behavior during early adolescence. Our second aim was to determine the stability of these problems for boys and for girls over time. A total of 650, 13–14-year-olds filled out (an expanded version of) the Youth Self-Report [YSR; Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 Profile. Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, Burlington] 2 times with a 1-year interval. By using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to test a series of competing models, a hierarchical model provided the best representation of the structure of problem behavior at both Time 1 and Time 2: externalizing and internalizing problem behavior represent distinct aspects but the model also demonstrates the existence of comorbidity at a higher level. This model appeared to be stable over time for both boys and girls. The relative stability of problem behavior was found to be high for boys and girls. Absolute stability for both externalizing and internalizing problems appeared to be higher for boys scoring in the lower range of problem behavior. Senior Researcher, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Received PhD in social sciences, University of Amsterdam. Major research interests include problem behavior, family relations, and peer relations during adolescence. Full Professor, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Received PhD in social sciences: child and family studies, from University of Nijmegen. Major research interests include adolescent social development, problem behavior, and family relations during adolescence. Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Received PhD in psychology, University of Amsterdam. Major research interests include family influence on childhood illness and problem behavior.     

Memories of menarche: Age,preparation, and prior knowledge as determinants of initial menstrual experience

The relationships between age at menarche, preparation for menarche, and initial experience of menarche, were assessed in a retrospective questionnaire administered to 97 college-aged women. The more knowledgeable a girl was prior to menarche, the more adequate she perceived her preparation for menarche to have been; and the older she was at the time of menarche, the more likely she was to report a positive initial experience. These data support clinical anecdotes describing initial responses to menarche, and provide information about the factors which can moderate the extent to which menarche is experienced as a traumatic and disruptive event.Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Hartford, Conn., April 1980.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Tufts University. Major interests are psychobiology and adolescent development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Clark University. Major interests are clinical psychology and personality development.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. Major interest is cognitive development.     

Correlates of adolescent pessimism: A study of the beck hopelessness scale

This study examines correlates of the Beck Hopelessness Scale within an adolescent population. Consistent with studies employing adults as subjects, Hopelessness scores were found to be associated with depression and external locus of control. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between Hopelessness scores and an index of general maladjustment. The Hopelessness measure was, however, found to be unrelated to self-reported health status.Data for this study were collected as part of a larger investigation involved with the development and validation of an adolescent measure of life stress which was funded by a grant to the senior author from the University of Washington Graduate School Research Fund.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Northern Illinois University. Major interests are clinical-child psychology and psychopathology of children and adolescents.Major interests are clinical-child psychology and suicide.     

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.