Perceived parental authority: Reasonable and unreasonable

A questionnaire study of 844 teenagers from four midwestern high schools focused on phenomena associated with their perceptions of which parent was the real boss and of how reasonable this boss was in dealing with the adolescent. Father was perceived to be the family authority about three times more often than was mother, although sons tended to see father as boss more often than did daughters, who tended to see mother as boss more often than did sons. Paternal and maternal authorities did not differ in perceived reasonableness. When either mother or father was perceived as a reasonable authority, the teenagers saw mother as highly involved, objective, and as enjoying life. Perception of high reasonableness in paternal authority was associated with the perception of father as involved, objective, enjoying life, and as not rigorous in his expectations for the child's compliance and achievement.     

Parental criticism and the adolescent experience

In a questionnaire study of 883 high school students, subjects were asked the extent to which their parents criticized them for 18 criticizable behaviors or attitudes. Over 50% of the respondents reported being criticized for being disobedient, lazy, and messy—issues central to family life. Further analyses indicated a relationship between perceived criticism and self-image. The more criticism the teenager perceived for a specific behavior or attitude (e.g., being selfish), the more likely that teenager was to perceive himself/herself as being that way. The differential impact of criticism in the context of parental rejection was also explored.Received M.D. from Rush Medical College. Research interests are birth order and adolescence.Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Research interests are adolescence and psychotherapy.     

Transregional security cooperation after September 11, 2001

The aim of this article is to answer the question what kind of global security architecture emerged after September 11 and what functions Europe, East Asia and the United States assumed in this triadic structure. The empirical findings reveal that the transpacific security cooperation is the strengthening link in this global security structure, the transatlantic security cooperation the weakening one and the Asia–Europe Security Cooperation is to be seen as the emerging link. In order to explain these different institutional manifestations of transregional cooperation, different theories of International Relations are applied to the three cases. It comes as no surprise that neoinstitutionalism and constructivism offer the best insights into the formation and development of international institutions.

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Longitudinal investigation of the relationship among maternal victimization, depressive symptoms, social support, and children's behavior and development

This article is a longitudinal investigation of the relationships between maternal victimization, maternal functioning, and children's behavior and development. Participants include 203 mother-child dyads from a low-income population recruited from pediatric primary care clinics. Data are collected when children are 4 and 8 years of age. Child outcomes are evaluated using maternal, teacher, and child self-report and objective measures of cognitive and academic functioning. Maternal victimization history is associated with maternal depressive symptoms, low levels of maternal social support, child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, and low levels of child socialization. Child behavior problems identified at age 4 are enduring and persist to age 8. The effects of maternal victimization history on both internalizing behavior problems and socialization are mediated by maternal depressive symptoms. The effects of maternal depressive symptoms on externalizing behavior problems, socialization, and anger are mediated by maternal social support. Clinical implications of findings are discussed.