Family learning environment: The subjective view of adolescent males and females

This study investigates sex differences in two aspects of family learning environment as subjectively viewed by adolescents: parents' educational expectations and relationships with parents. Analysis of the data collected from 105 young Israeli adolescents (65 males and 40 females) shows sex differences in both aspects of family learning environment. These differences are (a) a negative relation between idealistic expectations and academic performance for females and a positive relation between realistic expectations and academic performance for males, and (b) a positive relation between estimated similarity with father and academic performance for females and a negative relation between social emotional relationship with father and academic performance for males. These sex differences are viewed in light of the greater complexity of female identity as it is related to low achieving females' perceived pressure to improve academic performance and high achieving females' feeling closer to their fathers.Received Ph.D. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Current research interests include social aspects of adolescents' development and schooling with special emphasis on adolescents' self-image and future time orientation.     

The adolescent as mother: Early risk identification

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

The school failure as tutor: An exploratory approach

This paper describes a pilot program in the use of high school near dropouts as tutors for young children. The work is set in the context of adolescent developmental tasks and draws its rationale from the general human tendency to reach mastery by turning passivity into activity. We ask whether adolescents who have experienced a decade of school failure and misery might use the opportunity for a new form of more active contact with the schools to master old failures. We reasoned that the very area of failure, where these adolescents show apparent uninterest through truancy and minimal work, must be a highly emotionally charged one (albeit negatively) precisely because it is an area of failure. After describing the setting and the rationale, we analyze the experience for several tutors from the point of view of their relationship to (1) the tutees, (2) the tutor-supervisor, (3) the group of adolescent tutors, and (4) the social system of the elementary school.Received Ph.D. from Department of Social Relations, Harvard University, 1956. Main current research interest is in the developmental process.This work was conducted while on the staff of the Department of Psychiatry, Bronx Municipal Hospital Center. Currently Instructor, Department of Psychiatry, Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Received Ph.D. from School of Education, New York University, 1971. Main current interest is in early childhood development.     

Parental influence on adolescent sexuality: Implications for parents as educators

While parents may not be recognized as disseminators of sexual information, positive and negative sexual messages are communicated by parents to their children, both verbally and nonverbally. The results of this study indicate that the impact of parental messages upon the sexuality of youth appears relatively straightforward for males, but quite complex for females. This article suggests educational approaches that can be used to recycle early parental sexual messages.This study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, #HD 10689-02. David J. Kallen, Department of Pediatrics/Human Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University was the principal investigator.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Current research interest is Human sexuality.Received Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. Current research interest is Relationships.     

Models of adulthood: An ethnographic study of an adolescent peer group

In this article a middle class adolescent peer group is studied in a community setting using ethnographic techniques. The purpose of the study is to describe the group's relationship to adults and to uncover the adult reference group after which the group modeled itself. Although this group was organized to help poor people in the United States and abroad and had extensive contact with adults who could be described as change agents working to close the economic gap between rich and poor, this group modeled itself after middle class adult managers. The youths were attracted to the change agent adults only in so far as they satisfied their desire for equal status interaction with adults. Attempts by the group to establish closer contact with their adult models were in conflict with their desire to maintain autonomy from adult domination. The concluding section compares the findings of this study to two ethnographic studies of adolescent groups that used secondary school sites.Received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Main research interest is applying ethnographic techniques to the study of educational process. Currently studying the urban principalship with a grant from the Spencer Foundation.     

The high school “Junior Theme” as an adolescent rite of passage

This paper examines high school research projects as an adolescent transitional episode that demarks acquisition of a capacity for prolonged creative effort. Whereas tests of courage are important in many subsistence societies, in ours a valued quality of adulthood is the ability to think and act on one's own. Self-report data from 154 students working on a Junior Theme are employed to illustrate the psychological significance of this kind of rite. The students report a range of emotional states that are well out of their normal school experience. Many go through a process of personal involvement and self-searching that resembles an identity quest. As a result of the project students feel they have acquired a new status, one that separates them from the uninitiated and puts them closer to the status and power of an autonomous adult.Received his Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago. Research interests include adolescent emotional development, the ecology of daily life, and gerontology.     

An approach to evaluating adolescent adaptive processes: Validity of an interview-based measure

The authors present an initial exploration, of the validity of 15 scales designed to assess adaptive ego processes in adolescence. These scales are rated solelyThis study was supported by the Youth Development Project of the Joslin DRTC (NIH AM 20530-01), grants from the Psychoanalytic Research Fund of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the Spencer Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Harris Trust, National Instutute of Mental Health, a Research Scientist Award (K-05-MH-70178) (Dr. Hauser), the Maternal and Child Health Research Grants Program, and a Faculty Scholar Award of the William T. Grant Foundation (Dr. Beardslee).Clinical director, Department of Psychiatry, The Children's Hospital; and assistnt professor in psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Received M.D. from Case-Western Reserve University. Currently studying adaptation and intervention with youngsters at high risk for psychopathology.Chief of psychiatry, Joslin Diabetes Center; and associate professor in psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Received M.D. from the University of Chicago. Currently studying psychosocial consequences of diabetes mellitus.Associate professor in psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Received M.D. from Yale University and Ph.D. from Harvard University (psychology). Currently studying family contexts of adolescent development and outcomes in diabetic adolescents.Director of evaluation research, The Children's Unit of McLean Hospital. Received Dipl. Psych. from Freie Universitat, Berlin (clinical psychology); Ed.D. from Harvard University (School of Education). Currently studying relationships between psychopathology and development among adolescent psychiatric patients.Research associate, Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe Colleges; and instructor of psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. Received Ed.D. from Harvard University (School of Education). Currently studying adolescent and family coping processes in response to stressful events.Currentlyand tudying research methodology and statistics.M.S.W., Smith College School of Social Work. Currently attending Dartmouth Medical School.     

An eight-year follow-up: Outcome from adolescent compared to adult onset anorexia nervosa

Seventy-five women were traced and reassessed on average eight years after the onset of anorexia nervosa. All patients received treatment and 88% were hospitalized at least once. Comparisons between early (11–15 years; N=35), late (16–18 years; N=24) adolescent and adult (19–27 years; N=14) onset revealed no significant differences in outcome for age at onset. For 70% of adolescent and 42% of adult onset patients the outcome was good, meaning that the weight was within ± 15% of norm with regular cyclical menstruation,17% and 21% had an intermediate, and 9% and 21%, respectively, had a poor outcome, 5.3% had died. Taken together, 59% had physically recovered and were free of any eating disorder. Severity of illness reflected in a low body mass index, excessive exercise, and poor psychosocial functioning at intake were poor prognostic indicators;length of illness and food restriction or bulimia as eating patterns were unrelated to outcome. The observation that all women with chronic anorexia nervosa, and even a third of those who had physically recovered from anorexia nervosa, qualified for one or more psychiatric diagnoses suggests that the psychosocial correlates of anorexia nervosa require further study.Supported by grant MH ROI35585-01A1.Received an M.D.-Ph.D. degree from Albert-Ludwig University in Freiburg, Germany. Research interests have been depressive disorders, eating disorders, in particular anorexia nervosa, and more recently women's health.Received M.D. degree from the University of Illinois in Chicago, Illinois. Research interest is in preventive medicine.     

The adolescent self-concept: A functional determinant of consultant preference

The consultant preferences of adolescents were examined in relation to self-worth and locus of control. A total of 247 subjects, 122 males and 125 females, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, completed questionnaires indicating self-worth and locus of control orientation. These subjects also rated their preference for four generic consultant categories (a familiar adult, an adult expert, a familiar peer, or peer expert) in three hypothetical problem situations—an impersonal problem, an interpersonal problem with a peer, and an interpersonal problem with a parent. Analyses were conducted on the dependent measure of preference scores. A six-way analysis of variance was conducted with the independent variables of age, sex, self-worth, locus of control, and the repeated measures of situation (across three levels) and consultant choice (across four levels). The results reveal a significant three-way interaction between age, sex, and consultant choice. The results also indicate a significant four-way interaction between self-worth, locus of control, situation, and consultant choice. This interaction between personality variables, problem domain, and consultant characteristics contains practical implications for prevention and intervention.Has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology. Primarily interested in social and emotional development.This research was partially supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Grant Nos. 410-89-0546 and 410-92-0486 awarded to the first author. We are grateful to the children who agreed to participate in this study, and to the parents, principal, and teachers upon whose cooperation we depended.     

The adolescent experience of pregnancy and abortion: A developmental analysis

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

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.     

The social context of adolescent self-esteem

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

Identity development and formal operations as sources of adolescent egocentrism

The self-concerns and social expectations that are part of the identity development process may lead adolescents to think that others survey them for signs of individuality. The novelty of identity development may also lead to feelings of uniqueness and invulnerability. The imaginary audience and personal fable may therefore stem from identity development and not from the emergence of formal operations. In this study high school and first-year university students (N=255) completed measures of adolescent egocentrism, identity development, and formal operations. Egocentrism was moderately associated with higher scores on identity crisis and identity achievement, and with lower scores on identity diffusion. There was no significant relationship between egocentrism and the emergence of formal operations.Received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Victoria. His main interests are in personality, social and developmental psychology.Currently completing a master's degree at Lakehead University. Interests are in social and clinical psychology.     

The satisfaction with life scale: Psychometrics properties in an adolescent sample

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was developed in the United States as a multiitem scale for the overall assessment of life satisfaction as cognitive-judgmental process, rather as a measurement of specific satisfaction areas (e.g., health, energy). The present study attempted to extend the applicability of the SWLS by investigating specific aspects of reliability and validity in a different cultural context (Portugal) with adolescents. In line with previous American findings, reliability figures were found to be favourable. SWLS scores were affected by sex and sociocultural level. In addition, SWLS scores showed to be predictably associated with psychological measures: loneliness, social anxiety, shyness, self- concept, and physical attractiveness. The variables that best predicted satisfaction were overall self-concept, loneliness, and physical attractiveness.Received a Ph.D. in normal and abnormal anthropology from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) in 1980 and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Faculty of Psychology (Porto) and an Aggregation in Psychology from Faculty of Psychology (Coimbra) in 1990. Research interests include migration and cross-cultural social migration.The author wishes to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Sex,power, and dependency: The politics of adolescent sexuality

This study examines the social psychological determinants of adolescent sexual activity. Drawing on power-dependency theory within a social exchange framework, a conceptual model of adolescent sexuality is developed and tested using survey data on 288 teenagers. It is hypothesized that attributes of power (confidence with members of the opposite sex, popularity, opposite-sex friends, and egalitarian gender role attitudes) would indirectly decrease sexual activity (participation in unwanted sex and the extent of intimate sexual behaviors) through their negative effect on dependence (discomfort with physical appearance, the need for self-disclosure and closeness, the need for physical gratification in sex and the need for emotional gratification in sex). The findings indicate that the model is a good predictor of the sexual activity of adolescent males for whom dependency is an important determinant of sexual behavior. When the model is estimated separately for the Black and white teenagers, distinct patterns are observed for the Black females. Black females' participation in unwanted sex is far below the average for the other subgroups, and the most influential factor in decreasing coercion for Black females is nontraditional gender role attitudes.This research was supported in part by awards from the Phyllis Diness Foundation and the John Fletcher Hurst Fellowship of the American University, and a Drescher research leave provided by the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.Received Ph.D. from The American University in 1989. Research and teaching interests include social psychology, gender, and culture.     

Pregnancy in the single adolescent girl: The role of cognitive functions

Interviews were conducted with 211 single adolescent girls, free of known psychiatric disturbance, who had undergone an elective abortion at a metropolitan municipal hospital. Besides providing help for the possible emotional stress connected with their situation, it was learned to what extent they were acquainted with birth control methods and had actually attempted to avoid their pregnancy. Similar data relating to birth control were obtained in interviews with a group of 200 single adolescents pregnant for the first time, and from 50 girls serving as controls who had effectively practiced birth control for at least 6 months. The great majority of the girls came from the same socioeconomic background, close to the subsistence level. The results indicate that about three-fourths of the pregnancies were unintended. Besides the implied external difficulty involved in finding a congenial low-cost birth control clinic, three psychological cognitive mechanisms were uncovered which virtually block the conversion of birth control knowledge into its successful practice. This finding suggests that adolescent out-of-wedlock pregnancies do not exclusively arise from motivational factors.Received M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University, New York. Associated with René A. Spitz, M.D. (Denver), for many years. Collaborated on latter's book,The First Year of Life, International Universities Press, New York, 1965. Current interests are in psychology of adolescence and infancy; prenatal psychological phenomena.     

The outcome of adolescent anorexia nervosa: Findings from Berlin and Sofia

As part of a multisite collaborative outcome study of eating disorders in adolescence, two samples from West Berlin and Sofia were compared. The study was based on a systematic evaluation of the clinical status during the first inpatient treatment after onset of the disorder, and personal interviews with the former patients at follow-up. Despite the differences in the cultural background, the clinical features, the diagnostic pattern, the developmental histories, the family background, and the follow-up findings were remarkably similar. The mortality rate was higher in the West Berlin than in the Sofia sample. However, the outcome in terms of the distribution of eating disorders was similar in the surviving patients of the two samples.Received M.D. and Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Major research interests are eating disorders, developmental psychopathology, and neuropsychiatry.Received M.D. at the University of Sofia. Major research interest is in eating disorders.     

Identity development and perceived parental behavior as sources of adolescent egocentrism

Adolescent egocentrism involves heightened self-consciousness and feelings of uniqueness (O. Elkind [1967], Egocentrism in Adolescence, Child Development, Vol. 38, pp. 1025–1034). Some studies have found that adolescent egocentrism is associated with identity development, and other studies have found that egocentrism is associated with perceptions of parental behavior. The purposes of this investigation were to simultaneously examine the associations between these variables (1) to determine whether identity development and perceived parental behavior display separate or overlapping associations with adolescent egocentrism, and (2) to clarify the directions of the relationships between these variables. Four hundred eighteen subjects from 12 to 21 years of age completed established measures of identity development, perceived parental behavior, and egocentrism. Identity development was more strongly and consistently related to egocentrism (egocentric adolescents tended to be identity achieved or to be experiencing an identity crisis), whereas perceived parental behavior accounted for little additional variance. The results also clarify differences between the two primary measures of adolescent egocentrism (the Adolescent Egocentrism Scale and Imaginary Audience Scale).Received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Victoria. His main interests are in personality, and social and developmental psychology.