Adoptees' portrayal of the development of family structure

Young adult adoptees and nonadoptees provided retrospective accounts of family relationships from infancy to young adulthood. Adoptive families were portrayed as more cohesive and adaptable than nonadoptive families. Adoptive fathers were recalled as being closer to their children then were nonadoptive fathers in the years preceding adolescence. Within the same time frame, adoptive mothers were drawn in a less hierarchical relation to their children than were other parents. Also, while adoptive males saw themselves as presently unconnected to their adoptive parents, adopted females perceived themselves as more connected to their parents in the present than any other period of time. Openness of communication and acknowledgment of difference in adoptive family formation varied with graphic retrospective accounts. Results were considered in terms of discontinuities between reported observations of adoptive families and adoptees' personal reflections on family developmental history.Received PhD in clinical psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Book. Research interests: adoptive family relations, social attributions of children and their parents.Received M.A. from the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. Research interests: development of identity, adoption.Received Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Toronto. Research interests: attribution, jealousy, parents' theories of child psychology.     

Boundary Revisions: the Deconstruction of Moral Personality in Rawls, Nozick, Sandel and Parfit

The boundaries between selves and within selves are notions that have been subject to constant readjustment in the debates between liberals and communitarians. Through the archetype theories of Rawls, Nozick, Sandel and Parfit this essay re-enacts the deconstruction of one of the intuitive certainties of earlier liberal thought. Counterintuitive alliances are struck across the liberal-communitarian divide in demonstrating that the impersonality required by any theory of justice puts pressure on every notion of personality within it. Parfit radicalizes the problem of identity for everyone, permitting us to view old problems from new perspectives.     

Cognitive development,epistemic doubt,and identity formation in adolescence

This study was undertaken to evaluate the part that nascent skeptical doubt plays in shaping the course of adolescent social-cognitive development. It is argued that the intellectual changes that accompany the acquisition of formal operational competence set in motion a series of developments that seriously undermine the typical adolescent's previous sense of epistemic certainty. An epistemic model is proposed, leading to the hypothesis that, in response to such doubts, young persons adopt one of several contrasting interpretive strategies, each of which dictates much about their subsequent solutions to the problems of identity formation and commitment. To evaluate these hypotheses, 96 high school aged young people were classified as being either concrete or formal operational. Those subjects who were clearly classifiable (N=70) were administered Adams' Objective Measure of Ego identity Status and the Epistemic Doubt Interview, which permits identification of realistic, defendedly realistic, dogmatic/skeptical, and rational epistemic stances. A relationship between cognitive and epistemic development was found. Only formal operational subjects appreciated the generic nature of the doubt undermining their epistemic certainty. Predictions regarding the anticipated relation between epistemic stance and ego identity status were supported, revealing that only postrealist epistemic stances were routinely associated with membership in the moratorium or achieved identity statuses. The results are taken as strong support for the claim that epistemic doubt plays a central role in shaping the course of adolescent social-cognitive development.This research was partially supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship awarded to the first author.Obtained Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of British Columbia. Research interests are focused upon the areas of overlap among cognitive, epistemic, and moral development, and the identity formation process through the adolescent years.Obtained Ph.D. in psychology from The University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include epistemic and social-cognitive development in children and adolescents, and young children's developing theories of mind.     

Moderating effects of self-esteem on the use of ethnicity and academic standing as determinants of interpersonal acceptance

The influence of self-esteem on the use of status considerations as determinants of interpersonal acceptance was studied in a sample of 722 Israeli students from integrated junior high schools. The students completed a self-esteem questionnaire as well as the Interpersonal Relation Assessment Technique, a measure assessing willingness to engage in activities of increasing intimacy with classmates. Data analysis indicated a general preference for targets of higher educational level and high-status ethnic origin. These categorical preferences were more pronounced among high rather than low self-esteem students, irregardless of their own educational standing or ethnic origin. The findings were consistent with the thrust of cost-benefit analyses suggested by social exchange theories, in which self-esteem is viewed as one's globalized perception of social worth. The results suggest that individuals with high self-esteem may be more likely to see themselves as equals to higher status others and seek out their company than would their low self-esteem counterparts. Alternately, those with high self-esteem may be more motivated by social ambition and less by fear of rejection.Received doctorate from UCLA. Studies issues related to self-esteem and social relationships, as well as stress and coping in childhood and adolescence.Received doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. Research deals with interethnic relations, religious education, and post traumatic stress disorders.     

Gender differences associated with young people's emotional reactions to sexual intercourse

The differences between male and female adolescents' emotional reactions to their most recent occasion of sexual intercourse were examined. The sample included 932 sexually active Australian secondary school students who completed a self-report questionnaire concerning their sexual behavior. The majority of young people reported that they felt happy or good following their most recent occasion of sex. Females were more likely than males to report negative emotions such as feeling bad and used, but there was no difference between the percentage of males and the percentage of females who reported feeling guilty. Girls were more likely to feel bad, used, or guilty last time if they were drunk/high or had sex with someone who was not a steady partner. Boys who had sex with someone other than a steady partner last time were more likely to feel guilty. Peer and parental influences were also associated with feelings of guilt. Girls who were more confident that they could talk to one of their parents/guardians about sex, and boys who believed that most of their peers were sexually active, were less likely to have felt guilty.Received B.A. (Hons) from University of Queensland. Research interests include adolescents mental and sexual health.Received B.A.(Hons) from University of Queensland. Interested in the areas of sex roles and sexual behavior among adolescents.Received Ph.D. from Murdoch University. Research interests include population studies of sexual behavior and mental health.Received M.B.B.S., M.D. from University of Sydney. Research interests include adolescent health, psychological response in disasters, coping with grief and loss and living with HIV/AIDS.     

The effects of cashing-out food stomps on household food use and the cost of issuing benefits

The recent report produced by Vice President Gore's committee on government efficiency highlights the importance of streamlining government operations. But often there are trade-offs between administrative streamlining and accomplishing substantive program objectives. This article examines these tradeoffs in the context of the Food Stamp Program, an important component of the United States' safety net for providing low-income assistance. We estimate impacts on both administrative costs and substantive outcomes (participant food expenditures) resulting from issuing program benefits in the form of checks rather than the usual food coupons. The findings, which are based on experimental tests of the cashout approach in parts of Alabama and California, suggest that significant cost savings can be attained through cashout but that these savings may be achieved at the cost of weakening the program's ability to achieve its substantive objective of encouraging food use.     

The State of American Federalism, 1994-1995

Federalism, as a concept and as a reality, received assistancefrom a variety of sources during 1994–1995. Opinion pollsrevealed a public strongly supportive of shifts in the balanceof power between federal and state governments. The new Republican-controlledCongress, bent on devolving authority to the states, busieditself with an ambitious legislative agenda. The DemocraticPresident pursued his principles of federalism and intergovernmentalrelations by supporting the unfunded mandates bill and by increasingthe use of the administrative waiver. The U.S. Supreme Courtbolstered federalism with its rulings in cases such as Lopez,a state challenge to the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act.The new mood in Washington, D.C. was complemented by state leadersanxious to take on the challenges of a rebalanced federal system