Parents' and teachers' beliefs about adolescents: Effects of sex and experience

Three studies examine beliefs that parents and teachers have about adolescents. A distinction is made between category-based beliefs (concerning adolescents as a group) and target-based beliefs (concerning individual adoles cents). In Study 1, 90 late elementary and junior high school teachers indicated degree of agreement with a set of category-based statements about adolescents. Parents of early adolescents in Study 2 (N=1272) responded to category- and target-based statements. Study 3 compares the responses of teachers in Study 1 and parents in Study 2. Both teachers and parents endorsed beliefs that adolescence is difficult, and that adults can have an impact. Compared to fathers, mothers believed more in difficulty and in the negative effects of biological change on behavior. Parents of daughters believed adolescence is more difficult than parents of sons. Among teachers, amount of experience with adolescents was positively associated with the belief that adolescence is a difficult period of life. For parents, the effect of amount of experience was mixed. Experience had a greater impact on the category-based beliefs of teachers than parents. Possible influences on the origins and modification of beliefs are discussed.Received Ph.D. in psychology from The University of Michigan. Research interests: adolescent development, effects of pubertal development on social development, hormones and behavior in early adolescence, and family processesCurrently on leave from The University of Michigan. Received Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles. Research interests: development of self-concept, subjective task value, interests, and activity preferences, especially during early and middle adolescence. Dr. Eccles is also investigating the impact of school and family experiences on these constructs.Received Ph.D. in psychology from The University of Michigan. Research interests: the impact 6f family stress on adolescent development and family decision-making practices.Received Ph.D. in educatiqn from The University of Michigan. Research interests: adolescent development, middle years education, teacher beliefs, and classroom processes.Received M. A. in education from the University of Michigan. Research interests: adolescent development, classroom environments, and supporting beginning teachers.Received Ph.D. in social work and psychology from The University of Michigan. Research interests: family processes and development.Portions of this paper were presented at the 1987 biennial meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development. This research was made possible by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH31724-04, -05) to Jacquelynne S. Eccles, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD17296-01, -02, -03,S1) to Jacquelynne S. Eccles.     

Dynamik und Verbreitung des Matthäus-Effekts

This study traces the reception of Robert Merton’s concept and label, the “Matthew Effect”, from its origin four decades ago to the present day. It has been cited more often as time has passed and its influence has become increasingly wide-spread. The paper reviews the meaning Merton intended the concept to have and why it is of special significance for this author. The diffusion of the Matthew effect is shown through many fields of inquiry (including but not limited to psychology, public health, criminology, and education) and ultimately the popular discourse. Drawing on an analysis of the contents of all publications with the term in their titles, the paper shows that as the use of the Matthew effect spread, so too has the diversity in its applications and the changes in its meaning. Further, the term has been uncoupled from the identity of its originator, that is, while Merton’s name and the proper references continue to be cited, the term itself has also acquired an independent existence. The uncoupling of authors from their term-and-concepts is shown to occur in the case of other sociologists, suggesting that the processes of “uncoupling” and what Merton called “obliteration by incorporation”, are as he observed, a general phenomenon in the scientific literature. So too does the meaning of terms become blurred as they spread and sometimes even acquire connotations altogether different from their origins.     

Adding immigrants to microsimulation models

Forecasts of the financial status of Social Security's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs and forecasts of the effects of various OASDI policy options on Americans would be improved if information about the earnings and labor force behavior of various population subgroups were included in projection models. Focusing on the projection of immigrant earnings, this article proffers a conceptual basis for incorporating immigration into microsimulation models. Key results from research on immigrant earnings, as described in the first article in this trilogy--"Research on Immigrant Earnings"--are linked to methods for forecasting individual earnings in microsimulation models. The research on immigrant earnings also inspires new methods for forecasting earnings in microsimulation models as well as the projection of immigrant emigration. Forecasting immigrant earnings and emigration is discussed in the context of a "closed system"--that is, forecasts are only made for a given population, which is represented in the base sample of the microsimulation model. The third article in our trilogy--"Incorporating Immigrant Flows into Microsimulation Models"--explores how to project immigrant earnings in the context of an "open system," which includes future immigrants.     

Yassir Arafat

Development Theory and the Three Worlds. by Bjorn Hittne, London: Longman. 1990. 296pp.

Eurocentrism. by Samir Amin, London: Zed Books. 1989. 157pp.

Communist Agriculture: farming in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. edited by Karl‐Eugen Wädekin, London: Routledge. 1990. 131pp. £25.00hb

The Informal Economy: studies in advanced and less developed countries. edited by Alejandro Portes, Manual Castells and Lauren A Benton, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989. 327pp. £12.00pb

The Next Generation: lives of Third World children. by Judith Ennew and Brian Milne, London: Zed. 1990. 226pp. £7.95pb

Ethnicity in World Politics. Third World Quarterly 11 (4), October 1989

Uprooting Poverty: the South African challenge. by Francis Wilson and Mamphele Ramphele, London: W W Norton. 1989. 400pp. £18.95hb

Yours for the Union: class and community struggles in South Africa. by Baruch Hirson, London: Zed. 1989. 230pp     

The Commonwealth,Apartheid, and the Role of Micro-states

In the 1980s, the debate surrounding South Africa apartheid consumed the Commonwealth. While superficially this discussion might appear to have had little relevance to the interests of micro and small state members of the Commonwealth, the behemothic nature of apartheid presented significant challenges to such states. This article attempts to assess the varied ways in which South African apartheid affected the diplomatic strategies of micro-states within the political landscape of the Commonwealth, and how it could be perceived as both a hindrance to their agendas, as well a potential tool in the fight to amplify their voices. Micro-states used the egalitarian structure of the Commonwealth and combined it with the prominence of apartheid in international debate to both elevate their status and even to garner support for their own personal concerns. Apartheid’s reframing of the international conversation had broad reverberations which affected Commonwealth responses to a variety of seemingly disparate issues. This culminated in the ejection of Fiji from the Commonwealth in the aftermath of the 1987 coup due to concerns over racial discrimination, emblematising the all-pervasive nature of the apartheid debate within the Commonwealth.     

Work in the interstices: Woman in academe

Stress and anger are inevitable responses on the part of a woman entering the men's sanctuary of the University, and will be aggravated by her not recognizing that the University has been from its beginnings a patriarchal institution and is committed to remaining so. She fails to recognize the pollution sanctions that are levelled against her, interpreting them as personal, and thus struggles with imaginary foes. Hope lies not in confronting these mystifying primitive taboos directly, for she can never be admitted to the secret society and may not really want to be, but in drawing on the larger tradition of learning itself to renew the principles of education in general, and in particular her own work.     

Variation in the growth and incidence of medical malpractice claims

This study analyzes the incidence of medical malpractice claims since 1976, using data drawn from the 1982 core survey of the American Medical Association's Socioeconomic Monitoring System. The data show that, on average, physicians incurred twice as many claims per year in the years 1976 to 1981 as they did during their careers prior to that period. Using Tobit analysis, we find the annual frequency of claims to be greater among surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGs), physicians in group practice, and physicians in states which apply the legal doctrine of informed consent. In addition, we find that the number of years since medical residency is positively related to physicians' claims incidence during the first 27 years of practice, and that OBGs and medical specialists who spend more time with their patients per office visit incur fewer claims.     

Deliberate ingestion of foreign bodies as a form of self-harm among inpatients within forensic mental health and intellectual disability services

Deliberate foreign body ingestion is a significant issue in prison and psychiatric settings. It is associated with serious physical complications, including bowel obstruction, perforation and haemorrhage. Episodes of deliberate foreign body ingestion were identified retrospectively from 5417 incident records from two inpatient forensic services (one mental health and one intellectual disability) over a one year timeframe, using related search terms. Rates were compared according to gender, diagnosis and level of security. Incidents of deliberate foreign body ingestion were found to occur on average every 2.7 days across the study population, with 133 incidents recorded over a one year period, accounted for by 27 patients. Women and patients in lower levels of security were significantly more likely to engage in deliberate foreign body ingestion. Staff responses to this behaviour were highly variable. Deliberate foreign body ingestion occurs frequently within inpatient forensic services, and can have significantly detrimental physical implications for affected patients. Further research should investigate the psychiatric and intellectual disability profile of such individuals in further detail, as well as exploring patient narratives; both of which will help inform development of treatment strategies.