Dispositional, Environmental, and Context-Specific Predictors of Children's Threat Perceptions in Everyday Stressful Situations

Threat appraisals are a key component of the coping process, yet little is known about the factors that influence children's perceptions of threat during stressful situations. The present study examined predictors of threat perceptions in response to everyday stressors among 215 fourth and fifth graders, and their parents and teachers. Children's internal resources, the family environment, and qualities of the stressful encounter were studied for their contributions to perceptions of threat. Children's ratings of maternal and paternal acceptance and maternal ratings of family expressiveness were associated with lower perceptions of threat; children's ratings of other-culpability were associated with higher perceptions of threat. Although threat perceptions were associated with coping behavior, threat perceptions did not mediate associations between family, contextual, or dispositional influences and coping. Results are discussed in terms of current stress and coping theory.     

Achievement and identity in college-age vs. adult women students

This study tested a developmental hypothesis with respect to Fear of Success (FOS), Identity Status, and the relationship between the two. Forty college students, equally divided between regular college-age women (18–23) and adult college women (over age 30), were given a multiple-choice and a projective measure of FOS; they were then interviewed regarding exploration and commitment in five content areas: vocation, family vs. career priority, politics, religion, and sex roles. The hypothesis that the adult students would exhibit less FOS than their college-age counterparts was confirmed with both measures of FOS. Chi-square analysis also revealed that a significantly higher proportion of the adult students was classified as identity-achieved and a lower proportion as identity-diffuse than the college-age students. The influence of life experience on the relationship between FOS and each identity status could not be tested due to an insufficient number of identity achievers in the college-age subsample; when the relationship of FOS to identity status was examined for the total sample, however, foreclosures and achievers manifested significantly less FOS than diffusions and moratoriums.Doctoral candidate in developmental psychology with major interests in adolescent and adult learning and development.Associate Professor, interested primarily in personality and developmental psychology with emphasis on ego and moral development.     

The Influences of Family and Place on Rural Adolescents’ Educational Aspirations and Post-secondary Enrollment

Despite the large contingent of students living in rural areas, existing research on the processes that precede the college enrollment of rural adolescents is limited. With a particular focus on gender, this study investigated rural adolescents’ perceptions of family and place and how these perceptions related to their educational aspirations and subsequent college enrollment using a nationwide sample of rural adolescents (N?=?3456; 52.5% female). Female adolescents reported higher academic achievement, educational aspirations, parental expectations, and family responsibility and enrolled in two-year and four-year institutions at greater rates compared to male adolescents, who reported significantly higher rural identity and perceptions of job opportunities in the rural community. Utilizing a multiple group moderated mediation approach, the results provided evidence that adolescents’ increased perceptions of their parents’ educational expectations were associated with increased educational aspirations and college enrollment and that adolescents’ increased perceptions of job opportunities in their rural community were associated with decreased educational aspirations. In addition, the results showed that gender moderated the relation between perceptions of job opportunities in the rural community and postsecondary enrollment. These findings highlight how the developmental resources of family and place relate to adolescents’ educational aspirations and subsequent postsecondary enrollment.     

Adolescence,embodiment and gender identity in contemporary india: Elite women in a changing society

This article is based on primary research among young middle-class women in school in India. It attempts to understand the processes in families and schools that contribute to the reproduction and creation of a class and gender specific habitus, as well as the factors that lead to the formation of a particular kind of identity that is located in the transitory moment of both reproduction and change in contemporary Indian society. It is argued that recolonization is the most significant social process in the postcolonial culture that constitutes urban, Indian society, and this undoubtedly shapes gender identity in different ways. The family is the ground on which the heterosexual patriarchal ideal is nurtured and sustained. At the same time, the influence of peer group cultures on young women's and men's perceptions of their embodied selves and gender identity is significant. Their perceptions of their identities are grounded in prevailing media images and clearly young women and men consciously create, devise, and formulate their own rules for conduct, appearance, and self-presentation within the complexity that is characteristic of a changing society.     

Family First? The Costs and Benefits of Family Centrality for Adolescents with High-Conflict Families

Youth who do not identify with or value their families (i.e., low family centrality) are considered to be at risk for maladjustment. However, the current study investigated whether low family centrality may be adaptive in negative family contexts (i.e., high family conflict) because youth’s self-worth should be less tied to the quality of their family relationships. Multilevel models using daily diaries and latent variable interactions using longitudinal questionnaires indicated that, among a sample of 428 Mexican American adolescents (49.8% male, M _age?=?15.02 years), lower family centrality was generally detrimental to youth’s well-being. However, for youth in adverse family environments, low family centrality ceased to function as a risk factor. The present findings suggest that family centrality values play a more nuanced role in youth well-being than previously believed, such that low family centrality may be an adaptive response to significant family challenges.     

Families with Daughters,Families with Sons: Different Challenges for Family Relationships and Marital Satisfaction?

In a longitudinal study, the links between family relations and marital relations were examined in families with early adolescent children. Over the course of 4 years, 128 mother–father–adolescent triads were investigated annually. They completed questionnaires assessing family climate and marital relationships. Longitudinal analyses revealed that the initially large discrepancies between adolescents' and their parents' perceptions of family cohesion, support, and expressiveness decreased significantly over time. As adolescents approached late adolescence, however, the family members' perceptions of a lowered family closeness increasingly converged. Families with sons experienced stronger emotional distancing than families with daughters. However, the emphasis on adolescent independence was highly similar in families with daughters and sons, as was the extent to which rules and organization determined family life. Mothers and fathers did not depict their marital relationships as particularly critical during their children's early adolescent years. Moreover, in families with daughters, husbands and wives did not experience more marital conflict than in families with sons. The consistent associations revealed between marital communication, family closeness, and the opportunity for personal growth within the family suggest a bilateral focus for the study of parent–adolescent relationships.     

Predictors of the quality of the home environment that adolescent mothers provide for their school-aged children

The primary question addressed in this study is, What factors distinguish between adolescent mothers with school-aged children who are providing relatively supportive home environments for their children, and their peers who are providing less supportive care? Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth merged mother- child data set were used to address this question. Variables from four major categories were useful in identifying mothers who were at greatest risk for providing less supportive environments: (1) characteristics of the mother, (2) characteristics of the family of origin, (3) current SES level, and (4) the composition of the mother's household.     

Mother-daughter dyads view the family: Associations between divergent perceptions and daughter well-being

Divergent perceptions (or disagreements) within the mother-daughter dyad and the association of such divergence with daughter's affective and behavioral well-being were examined in the current study. One hundred sixty-one mother-daughter dyads (daughters aged 14–18 years; mothers aged 37–59 years) completed paper- and-pencil measures assessing their perceptions of family cohesion and family conflict; daughters also rated their own depressive affect and dieting behavior. While the means for groups of mothers and daughters on family cohesion and conflict were similar, dyads varied substantially in their level of agreement. Disagreements on family cohesion were associated with daughter dieting behavior; maternal employment status was more highly associated with daughter depressive affect than either family conflict or cohesion. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for studying the divergent perceptions of family members, and for family systems and relationship approaches to understanding the family.The research presented in this paper was supported by the W. T. Grant Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Portions of this paper were presented at the 3rd biennial meetings of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Atlanta, Georgia.Received Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Research interests include the interplay among developmental processes during transitions into and out of adolescence.Received Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota. Research interests include familial adaptation to chronic illness and the role of family processes in self-image and depression during adolescence.Received Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include girls' psychological adaptation to pubertal change, biosocial aspects of female reproductive events, and development of biologically and socially at risk children and adolescents.     

The Effects of Gender and Family,Friend, and Media Influences on Eating Behaviors and Body Image During Adolescence

The current study expands upon body image research to examine how gender, self-esteem, social support, teasing, and family, friend, and media pressures relate to body image and eating-related attitudes and behaviors among male and female adolescents (N = 177). Results indicated that adolescents were dissatisfied with their current bodies: males were concerned with increasing their upper body, whereas females wanted to decrease the overall size of their body. Low self-esteem and social support, weight-related teasing, and greater pressures to lose weight were associated with adolescents’ negative body esteem, body image, and eating attitudes. Females displayed more high risk eating behaviors—which were associated with more psychosocial risk factors—than males, whose high risk attitudes and behaviors were only associated with low parental support and greater pressure to be muscular. Reducing adolescents’ perceptions of appearance-related pressure from family and friends may be key for enhancing body image and decreasing links between low self-esteem and negative eating behaviors and weight-related perceptions. Rheanna N. Ata is currently a research assistant at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center, Miriam Hospital/Brown University. She is interested in body image and eating disorders and completed this research during her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross. Alison Bryant Ludden is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on social relationships and problem behaviors during adolescence, with a special interest in school as a developmental context. She is an assistant professor of psychology at the College of the Holy Cross. Megan M. Lally is currently a graduate student in psychology at Pepperdine University. She completed this research during her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross.     

“Strangers in the new homeland?” Gendered citizenship among non-Jewish immigrant women in Israel

As part of the recent wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union (FSU), about 300,000 non-Jews came to Israel as spouses of Jews or partly-Jewish offspring of ethnically-mixed families. The purpose of this article is to examine the experiences of non-Jewish women, wives of Jewish husbands, who came to Israel after 1990 under the Law of Return. The study is based on the qualitative analysis of 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews with these immigrant women, aiming to explore their perceptions of religious practices, Jewish holidays, conversion (giyur), and their political views — in order to understand their constructions of Israeli citizenship. The issues of citizenship and loyalty to the Jewish state are resolved by Russian immigrant women in a variety of ways. Some women (a small minority) opt for ethno-national citizenship through religious conversion — giyur, typically for the children's sake. Others prefer to become part of Israeli society through experiences connected to the military service of their children and grandchildren, which can be seen as a version of republican citizenship. For most women in this study, the process of getting closer to the Israeli society and its traditions often occurred via embracing local culinary customs and specific holiday foods. In any case, the gender roles as wives and mothers appeared to be central in our informants' understanding of Israeli citizenship. The adoption of political views of Israeli Right and militant anti-Arab discourse also served as a venue for their ‘nationalization’ through republicanism.     

人口再生产价值视角的女性生育和劳动权益保障

近年来,我国生育政策进行了几次调整,体现了国家对人口再生产在社会发展中重要性的认同,但是生育率未能得到有效提升,而女性在劳动力市场遭受歧视的现象依然广泛存在.研究认为,生育与工作家庭的冲突是我国生育现状的主要影响因素,而"全面三孩"政策可能加剧这种冲突.研究建议:应以人口再生产与物质生产理论为基础,重新审视人口再生产在...     

Adolescent Stressors,Coping Strategies,and Psychological Health Studied in the Family Context

The present study examined adolescents' stressors, coping, and psychological health in the family context in 42 adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 18. Perceptions of intergenerational stressors and coping strategies were examined for congruence by comparing adolescents' self-reports to parents' reports on their adolescents. Adolescents' reports on their parents were also compared to parents' reports on themselves. This study also specified family environment dynamics in relation to the study variables. Hypotheses that more congruent adolescent and parent perceptions about each other's stressors and coping were related to more cohesive family environments and more adaptive copings were generally supported. Family environment variables and congruent coping were related to psychological health symptoms as well. The findings contribute to current knowledge about the study variables examined in the context of the family.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Attitudes Toward Their Children's Academic Performance and Children's Perceptions of Their Academic Competence

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Do mothers' and fathers' attitudes towards their children's academic performance influence children's perceptions of their academic competence?...     

The Nationalization of Motherhood and the Stretching of its Boundaries: Shelihot Aliyah and evacuees in Eretz Israel (Palestine) in the 1940s

This article examines perceptions of motherhood as they developed during the late 1940s in the midst of the national struggle for independence in Eretz Israel (Palestine). It considers two case studies in which mothers who were ‘recruited’ by the emerging nation were temporarily separated from their children. The first case concerns women emissaries (Shelihot) who were called to help in Jewish refugee camps in Europe after the Holocaust. The second case involves mothers who were not evacuated with their children from their settlements during the War of Independence but remained, instead, at the front line. These situations led to the development of new perceptions of women and motherhood, which were shaped and matured during the national struggle for independence. The two case studies are used as lenses to explore women's own experiences and perceptions against the backdrop of the intensified idealization of motherhood in times of emergency circumstances.     

Adolescent perception of family climate and adaptation to residential schooling

The article investigates the role that adolescents' perceptions of the family plays as he/she adapts to living away from home. Family atmosphere perceptions of adolescents who study at a residential school and adolescents who live at home were evaluated. The adaption of these two groups of adolescents, as perceived by their teachers, was also evaluated. Results have shown differential contributions of family dimensions to adolescent adaptation in residential and nonresidential schooling. Results are discussed in connection with the process of adolescent separation from the family and the increased impact of the peer group.In 1987–1988, Visiting Faculty, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. Received his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Research interests include developmental and family processes in normal and handicapped children and adolescents.     

Examining Perceptions About Mental Health Care and Help-Seeking Among Rural African American Families of Adolescents

Rural African American children living in poverty have a higher prevalence rate of mental health disorders than their urban counterparts. While access to mental health services is lacking in resource scarce rural communities, African American rural residents may also be the most likely to confront significant barriers to care and help-seeking. Studies of mental health help-seeking behavior among rural families are rare, even rarer are studies of African Americans living in these areas. To address this gap, the current study examined perceptions about help-seeking for adolescents with mental health problems among rural African American families. Data were obtained from African American mothers in rural Georgia to assess their perceptions of the mental health service system, help-seeking processes, and service experiences. A mixed-method approach was implemented, integrating a quantitative survey (n = 163) with qualitative interviews (subsample n = 21). Most of the mothers expressed confidence in mental health care providers’ to help. Preferred sources of support, however, were family, church, and schools. Community stigma towards children with mental health problems and their families was a frequently endorsed perceived barrier to help-seeking. Although cultural mistrust was one of the two most frequently endorsed barriers in the survey, it did not emerge as a universal barrier to help-seeking for the mothers in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and practice include addressing family concerns about stigma, preferences for informal support and non-specialty services in addressing adolescents’ mental health problems, and building community resources to enable all youth to participate in community life.     

Correlates of drug abuse in adolescents: A comparison of families of drug abusers with families of nondrug abusers

This study was designed to compare drug-abusing adolescents and their families with nondrug-abusing adolescents and their families by (1) a comparison of the adolescents on measures of self-esteem and perceived parental behavior, (2) a comparison of the parents of drug-abusing adolescents with the parents of nondrug-abusing adolescents on child-rearing attitudes and on distortion in perceived parental behavior, and (3) an identification of the salient factors contributing to the prediction of drug-use in adolescents. The subjects in this study were 26 clinical inpatient drug-abusing adolescents and their parents and 26 nondrug-abusing adolescents and their parents. Testdata consisted of the adolescent's self-esteem score on the Self Esteem Inventory (SEI), the adolescent's factor score on the Child's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory—Revised (CRPBI-R), and the parents' scale score on each of the five factors of the Parent Attitude Survey (PAS). Findings indicate that the adolescent's self-esteem and perception of parental behavior, the ability of the parents to predict the child's parental perceptions, and the professed parental attitudes toward confidence and responsibility in child rearing all combine to suggest a set of factors differentiating the drug-abusing adolescent from the nondrug-abusing adolescent.