Psychological Pragmatics in Preadolescents: Sociomoral Understanding, Self-Worth, and School Behavior

This study examined individual differences in the relations among preadolescents' sociomoral understanding and self-understanding, teacher and peer ratings of school behavior. Two hundred and thirty-nine preadolescents (M = 11.9 years; 127 girls and 112 boys) completed tasks concerning perceptions of competence, vocabulary, and peer-rated social competence. Students also participated in a story-telling interview that assessed sociomoral understanding and self-understanding. Results indicated links between various self-concept dimensions and (a) teacher ratings of academic competence, peer aggression (both physical and relational), and prosocial behavior; and (b) general vocabulary ability. Both sociomoral understanding and self-understanding were found to be linked to perceived academic competence for boys only. Independent of vocabulary ability, girls scored higher than boys on perceived behavioral conduct, teacher ratings of relational aggression (Grade 6 only), and self-understanding, particularly a sense of self-agency. Content analysis showed that girls were more likely than boys to refer to their parents when discussing their sense of self-agency. Independent of vocabulary ability, boys scored marginally higher than girls on sociomoral understanding. Results are discussed in terms of curricular implications for inter- and intrapersonal understandings.     

论上博简《孔子诗论》与《毛诗序》阐释差异--兼论《毛诗序》的作者

上博《孔子诗论》简的问世,不仅为我们研究先秦《诗》学提供了宝贵的实物证据,也为我们研究汉代《诗》学提供了难得的参比材料.把上博《孔子诗论》简与《毛诗序》进行比较,探讨它们《诗》学阐释的差异,可以为我们研究《诗》在秦汉之际的衍变提供帮助.     

女性主义视角下的广告女性形象探析

广告构图中的女性形象,无论是作为性客体的美女,还是极具"女性气质"的家庭主妇、职业女性,都是自然化性别差异观点的直接产物。生物学结构的等级观念支配着包括广告在内的媒介和大众关于性别的话语,看似远离意识形态的商业广告,实际上却代表了包含政治意义的男性霸权文化,广告在性政治层面的暴力倾向应当引起高度重视,广告的女性形象在隐性强化着两性不平等。     

Parental Monitoring Mediates the Effects of Age and Sex on Problem Behaviors Among African American Urban Young Adolescents

Adolescent delinquency, drug use and aggression remain societal concerns. These problems are more common with adolescent boys than girls, and tend to increase with age. Although a lack of parental monitoring has been found to be related to problem behaviors, the mediating role of monitoring on the relationship of sex and grade to problem behaviors has not been directly studied. This paper examined parental monitoring as a mediator of the relationship of sex and age to delinquency, drug use, and aggression in a sample of urban African American young adolescents. Our findings indicated that in general, boys and older adolescents reported higher rates of delinquency, drug use, and aggressiveness. Boys and older adolescents also indicated less monitoring by parents. Parental monitoring was found to mediate the effects of sex and grade on some of the behavioral problems.     

Self-Esteem Enhancing Reasons for Having Sex and The Sexual Behaviors of African American Adolescents

A sample of 146 African American adolescents living in impoverished neighborhoods with high HIV rates participated in the Chicago HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project (CHAMP), a longitudinal study of adolescent HIV risk exposure. The current study examined self-reported reasons why African American adolescents may participate in risky sexual behavior. Adolescents completed a questionnaire regarding their sexual behaviors and reasons for having sex at Wave 3 of data collection. Findings from the study revealed that females used condoms less consistently while males had more sexual partners and sexually debuted earlier. Regression analyses also indicated that males were more likely to endorse self-esteem enhancing reasons for having sex and those who did also reported a higher number of sexual partners. Males were more likely to endorse power-related reasons for having sex and those who did tended to sexually debut earlier. Across both genders, results suggested that those adolescents who endorsed more self-esteem enhancing reasons for having sex were less likely to use condoms consistently. Implications for prevention programs and future research are discussed. Doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology Program at Loyola University Chicago. She received her Master of Arts from Loyola University Chicago in Clinical Psychology. Her research interests are in HIV/AIDS prevention in African American communities, particularly amongst adolescent girls. Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Clinical Training at Loyola University. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. His interests lie in family relations during early and late adolescence, developmental psychopathology, the interface between developmental psychology and clinical child psychology, pediatric psychology (e.g., adolescents with physical disabilities), statistical applications in psychology, and research design. Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received her Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis Her research interests lie in normative developmental processes during the transition to adolescence.     

The Influence of Pubertal Timing on Alcohol Use and Heavy Drinking Trajectories

Early pubertal timing has been associated with increased alcohol use, drunkenness, and alcohol use disorders in both boys and girls during adolescence. It is not clear, however, whether the effect of early pubertal timing persists into late adolescence and young adulthood, whether its effect differs by gender, and if contextual factors (e.g., peer alcohol use) amplify such effect. This study attempts to address these questions by examining the trajectories of alcohol use and heavy drinking from early adolescence to young adulthood in males and females using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Results show that for both males and females, early pubertal timing was associated with higher alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories. These effects persisted into young adulthood and were found to be stronger for males than for females. Moreover, there was a significant interaction effect between friends’ drinking and pubertal timing on alcohol use and heavy drinking trajectories; but the interaction effect also differed for males and females. These findings suggest that early pubertal timing is a risk factor for alcohol use and has long-term implication for individuals’ health. Michael Biehl’s research focuses on adolescent development and problem behaviors. He is particularly interested in developmental pathways leading to substance use and affective disorders and how different contexts influence these developmental pathways. Misaki Natsuaki is interested in how adolescent problem behavior changes over time. Her research focuses particularly on the effects and timing of transitional events, such as puberty, on trajectories of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence. Xiaojia Ge’s research focuses on interaction effects of biological and social contextual factors on socioemotional development. He is particularly interested in how pubertal timing affects adolescent development.     

大学生思想状况的性别差异研究

男女大学生在政治思想、政治信仰、价值观、道德观上存在明显差异,这种差异是性别差异本身、社会文化因素以及学生成长环境因素长期作用的结果。高校思想政治工作必须重视男女差异,必须根据男女大学生的特点有针对性地开展性别差异教育。     

Friendship and Attachment Among Heterosexual and Sexual-Minority Youths: Does the Gender of Your Friend Matter?

One-hundered and sixty-eight sexual-minority and heterosexual youths aged 15–24 completed questionnaires to assess gender and sexual orientation differences in the percentage of same-gender peers in youths' friendship networks, the gender of their best friends, and their degree of attachment to these friends. Most youths had predominantly same-gender peer networks and same-gender best friends. Notable gender differences emerged among sexual minorities. Female sexual-minority youths reported heightened participation in close same-gender friendships, whereas sexual-minority male youths showed the opposite pattern. Unlike all other groups, male sexual-minority youths had more cross-gender than same-gender friends and were more attached to their best friends than were heterosexual males. They were also less attached to their romantic partners than were heterosexual males. It is suggested that male sexual-minority youths might become highly attached to friends to compensate for low expectations of intimacy with male romantic partners. Cultural factors contributing to these gender differences in sexual-minority youths' experiences are discussed.     

Sex differences in self-reported delinquency and official records: A multiple-group structural modeling approach

There has been a large increase in research in the last 10 years or so on the nature, extent, and causes of female delinquency, especially on how patterns differ from those of male delinquency. Few research efforts, however, have systematically examined sex differences in the reliability and construct validity of the most common technique used in causal research-the self—report method. The present study addresses this issue by empirically examining male-female differences in self-report reliabilities and the effect of the prevalence and incidence of delinquent behavior on official contact (i.e., arrest, court referrals). Multiple-group covriance structure models are employed to test hypotheses of measurement and structural invariance. The major conclusion is that while self-report measurement parameters (e.g., reliabilities) may differ, the structural link between the prevalence and incidence of delinquent behavior and official contact is generally invariant with respect to sex.     

Cross-National Adolescent Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Reports: Analyses of Mean Scores and Response Style Differences

Although numerous cross-national studies have assessed life satisfaction among adults, similar studies using adolescent samples have been rare. To address this shortage of research, a total of 1338 youth adolescents from two individualistic nations (Ireland, USA) and two collectivistic nations (China, South Korea) were administered the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994) to assesses general life satisfaction and satisfaction with family, friends, school, self, and living environment. Responses were analyzed to assess potential cross-national differences in (a) mean levels of life satisfaction, and (b) response styles, specifically acquiescence and extreme responding. Mean scores revealed positive ratings by adolescents from all four nations across all domains, with the exceptions of satisfaction with school experiences (Ireland, South Korean, USA), living environment (China, South Korea), self (South Korea), and general life satisfaction (South Korea). Results also revealed significant response style differences across all MSLSS domains. Significant gender and gender-by-nation effects were observed for both mean score and response style differences, although the effect sizes were small. The implications of these findings were discussed, particularly with respect to “individualistic” vs. “collectivistic” cultural differences. Rich Gilman is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky. His research interests include positive well-being among youth, perfectionism, and socially ostracized adolescents. Scott Huebner is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Carolina. His research interests involve the conceptualization, measurement, and implications of positive psychological well-being constructs among youth. He is a fellow of Division 16 of the APA and the International Society for Quality of Life Studies. Lili Tian is Associate Professor at South China Normal University. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Beijing Normal University. Her major research interests include adolescent's school well-being, acculturation of immigrant children and personality assessment. Nansook Park is Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island. She received her Ph.D. from University of South Carolina. Her major research interests among youth include character strengths and virtues, positive experience and life satisfaction and how they are related to well-being, family functioning, health and education. Jenny O’Byrne received her BA in the Department of Counselling & Psychotherapy from the Dublin Business School. Recent research interests focus on child and adolescent development, and she recently completed her pre-clinical training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with the Lincoln Centre in London. Dina Sverko is a research assistant at the University of Zagreb (Croatia). She received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Triest (Italy). Her major research interests include personality assessment and health psychology. Miriam Schiff is lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) at the Hebrew University School of Social Work and Social Welfare in Jerusalem. Her major research interests include trauma and substance use, and general mental health among adolescents in clinic settings. Heather Langknecht received her Ed.S. from the University of Kentucky in 2004. She currently works as a school psychologist at Virginia Beach Public Schools (Virginia). Her primary research interests are cross-national quality of life issues among children and youth.