Parent–Child Relations,Conduct Problems and Cigarette Use in Adolescence: Examining the Role of Genetic and Environmental Factors on Patterns of Behavior

This study investigated genetic and environmental influences on the associations between mother–child relationship quality (warmth and hostility) and adolescent conduct problems and cigarette use. Participants included 601 mothers and adolescent twin pairs (aged 12–17 years). Mothers and adolescents provided separate reports of mother-to-child warmth and hostility. A combined measure of mother and adolescent reported conduct problems was used while adolescents provided reports of their cigarette use. Analyses were conducted using bivariate genetic analyses of correlated factors models and regression analyses of monozygotic twin differences. Genetic influences were found for most ratings of the parent–child relationship, with evidence of gender and/or rater-specificity for some measures. The relationship between mother–child hostility with adolescent conduct problems and cigarette use was influenced by genetic and environmental effects. Evidence was found for shared environment effects on the relationship between mother–child warmth and conduct problems. Examining monozygotic twin differences provided further support for non-shared environmental influence on the relationship between mothers’ expressions of hostility and low warmth and adolescent adjustment. Findings are discussed in relation to the interplay between genetic and environmental effects underlying links between parent–child relations and adolescent behavior problems.

Gender issues in the interface of family experience and adolescents' friendship and dating identity

This study focuses on the role of family experience in adolescents' conception of the self in the context of friendship and dating relationships. Three issues are addressed: the extent of sex differences in adolescents' friendship and dating identity, how links between family experience and friendship and dating identity might differ for males and females, and whether mothers and fathers play distinctive roles in such development. A sample of Caucasian two-parent families, each including an adolescent who was a high school senior, was observed in a family interaction task designed to elicit the expression and coordination of a variety of points of view. Each adolescent was also given an interview assessing exploration and commitment in friendship and dating identity. Only one sex difference was found in identity, with females more committed in their conceptions of dating relationships than males. The key finding of the study concerns the distinctive patterns of family interaction associated with friendship and dating identity. For females, separateness in family interaction was related to their friendship identity exploration, whereas for males, the links between family interaction and exploration all involved connectedness. The different contingencies may reflect the interplay between different societal patterns of support and restriction of males' and females' exploration.This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD-92819 and HD-17983) and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and from the University Research Institute and the Institute of Human Development and Family Studies of the University of Texas at Austin.Received her Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Minnesota. Research interests include the role of family and peer relationships in the development of individual and relational competence, and the interface of family, peer, and school contexts in the development of children and adolescents.Received his Ph.D. in child psychology from the University of Minnesota. Research interests include the role of the family in adolescent personality development and identity formation, career development, and adoptive family relationships.     

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

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

Struggling and surviving: The life style of European immigrant breadwinning mothers in American industrial cities, 1900–1930

Immigrant working mothers created strategies to meet increasingly competing demands of family and job. Despite their wage-earning capacity and rising expectations, ethnic mores, patriarchy, poverty and discrimination perpetuated a rigid family hierarchy which precluded freedom for these women to seek alternatives to their traditional life styles.     

Which Minority is Appeased? Coalition Potential and Redistribution in Latvia and Ukraine

This article tests fiscal appeasement, needs-based and coalition potential hypotheses for redistribution in post-Soviet Latvia and Ukraine. I argue that the government's decision to reward a minority population depends on the coalition potential of minority parties and voters. In Latvia, the non-participation of minority parties in governing coalitions means that the distribution of spoils among coalition partners does not benefit the regions in which Russian speakers live. In Ukraine, on the other hand, voters and parties in western Ukraine have been sought out by Russian-speaking politicians from eastern Ukraine, and the districts of western Ukraine received preferential treatment as a result.     

The people v. the principle of legality in the People's Republic of China

The history of the People's Republic of China (PRC) since 1949 makes it apparent that the principle of legality is ideological anathema to the Party leadership there. In Western jurisprudence, in anthropology of law and in the nascent field of sociology of law, the development of the principle of legality has consistently been seen as a necessary foundation for the positive evolution of any legal system. The use of law in China in the recent past raises fundamental questions about this premise. The Chinese experience suggests a new hypothesis as to legal development for laboratory and field testing. This article will review the Chinese experience and formulate that hypothesis.     

A planned approach for transferring research knowledge

Several sources are quoted that substantiate the concept that for technology to be effectively used it is necessary to disseminate the technology using a variety of means. The paper then goes on to describe in detail the Forest Service approach to technology dissemination. Some data is shown that substantiates the effectiveness of the Forest Service planned approach to the transferring of research knowledge.