A Comparison of Dependent and Self-Critically Depressed Hospitalized Adolescents

One hundred ninety-four hospitalized adolescents were administered the Adolescent Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ-A). The DEQ-A factors (dependency, self-criticism) correlated well with independent measures of depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and suicide risk. After controlling for depression, self-criticism and dependency showed differential associations with hopelessness, violence potential, and impulsivity. A subgroup of 84 inpatients identified as either highly self-critical or highly dependent based on the DEQ-A was also compared for differences in personality and symptomatic behavior. Self-critical and dependent patients exhibited equally high levels of depression, hopelessness, suicidality, and low self-esteem. Few differences were observed in personality or symptomatic behavior between the two groups. These findings, while extending previous research that relied on community samples of young adults, provide only mixed support for a distinction between these two categories of depression.     

Adolescent Self-Handicapping,Depressive Affect,and Maternal Parenting Styles

Most research on self-handicapping has focused on adults. Only a few studies have examined self-handicapping in adolescents or the particular characteristics of the family environment that are associated with self-handicapping. Adolescents (N = 141) and their mothers completed a series of questionnaires assessing adolescent self-handicapping, adolescent dysphoria, and parenting variables in mothers, including parenting styles (care and overprotection) and parenting stress due to situational variables, parent–child dysfunctional interactions, and behavioral characteristics of the child. Results showed (a) that self-handicapping was positively related to age in girls, but not in boys, (b) that there was a strong relation between self-handicapping and dysphoria in both boys and girls, (c) that mother-rated care negatively predicted self-handicapping in girls beyond the effects due to girls' dysphoria, and (d) that maternal care moderated the relationship between self-handicapping and dysphoria in boys. Maternal care and depressive affect in young persons are independently related to self-handicapping behaviors in adolescents. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the hypothesized etiology of self-handicapping.     

Discrimination Distress During Adolescence

Amidst changing patterns of accommodation and conflict among American ethnic groups, there remains a paucity of research on the nature and impact of racial and ethnic discrimination on development in multiethnic samples of youth. The Adolescent Discrimination Distress Index along with measures of caregiver racial bias preparation and self-esteem was administered to 177 adolescents drawn from 9th–12th graders self-identified as African American, Hispanic, East Asian, South Asian, and non-Hispanic white. Youth from all ethnic backgrounds reported distress associated with instances of perceived racial prejudice encountered in educational contexts. Instances of institutional discrimination in stores and by police were higher for older youth and particularly for African American and Hispanic teenagers. Encounters with peer discrimination were reported most frequently by Asian youth. Reports of racial bias preparation were associated with distress in response to institutional and educational discrimination and self-esteem scores were negatively correlated with distress caused by educational and peer discrimination. The importance of research on discrimination distress to understanding adolescent development in multiethnic ecologies is discussed here.     

Book Review: Facing the Decisions One Should Make and the Decisions One Wants to Make

Authors of two recent books, Smart Choices and The Win-Win-Solution, offer negotiation practitioners some new twists on how they can improve their decision-making processes. In the first book, Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa present a five-part PrOACT system, which features: an assessment of the problem; determination of objectives; exploration of alternatives; comprehension of the consequences; and dealing with tradeoffs. The second book, by Brams and Taylor, outlines four settlement options that are available to decision makers, but advocates an adjusted winner approach. The authors have devised a system in which individuals' subjective assessments of particular items in dispute receive point totals, which can then be divided in an equitable manner. In effect, the authors show readers how to deal with the decisions they should make, and those they want to make.