Formal operations and the imaginary audience.

Replicated D. Elkind and R. Bowen's (see record 1979-25769-001) investigation of adolescent egocentrism and tested the relation between the imaginary audience and operational thought. 142 children and adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 18 yrs, were administered a Piagetian-based written test of operational thought and the Imaginary Audience Scale (IAS). Several of Elkind and Bowen's results were replicated; however, the present study does not support the hypothesis that imaginary audience scores would be highest among Ss whose formal operational abilities were beginning to be established. Present findings indicate that concrete operations are necessary and sufficient to produce the increased subjectivity that characterizes the adolescent personality. The present authors discuss the nature of the measure of operational thought, the qualitative differences between the Transient and Abiding Self subscales of the IAS, and the relation between adolescent egocentrism and formal operations. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent egocentrism and cognitive functioning during late adolescence

The relationship between adolescent egocentrism and post-formal thinking was examined in 163 college undergraduates. Participants were administered the Imaginary Audience Scale and the Social Paradigm Belief Inventory. Results showed that females had higher levels of adolescent egocentrism than did males. A weak negative correlation between egocentrism and cognitive reasoning was found for females during late adolescence. The findings are consistent with Peterson and Roscoe's (1991) study of egocentrism in older adolescent females.     

Imaginary audience behavior in children and adolescents.

The Imaginary Audience Scale (IAS), consisting of 2 subscales—the Transient Self (TS) and the Abiding Self (AS) scale—was administered to 697 Ss at the 4th-, 6th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade levels. The scale assesses young people's willingness to reveal different facets of themselves to an audience. Some of the Ss were given the test twice to obtain reliability data, and some of the other Ss were also tested on measures of self-esteem and locus of control (e.g., Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children) to obtain validity data. Results show that the IAS has reasonable reliability and construct validity. Results also show that 8th graders were significantly less willing than older or younger Ss to reveal their transient and abiding selves to an audience. Girls tended to be more reluctant than boys to reveal themselves to an audience. Results support the imaginary audience construct and warrant further use of the IAS. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental analyses of two formal operational structures: Combinatorial thinking and conditional reasoning.

Investigated developmental patterns for combinatorial thinking and conditional reasoning abilities and explored the possibility of an interrelationship between these formal operational structures in preadolescents and adolescents. 10 males and 10 females (IQ > 110) at each of the 5th-, 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade levels were given (a) 2 verbal and 1 quantitative combinatorial thinking tasks and (b) a 30-item conditional reasoning test (2-wk intertest interval). Analysis of variance for the verbal combinatorial thinking revealed that 7th and 8th graders scored significantly higher than 5th graders, and that male 6th graders scored higher than female 6th graders while female 7th graders scored higher than male 7th graders. Analysis of quantitative thinking scores also revealed a significant (positive) effect for grade level but no sex * grade level interactions. Conditional reasoning scores for 8th graders were also significantly higher than Ss' scores at any other grade level. These overall findings support Piaget's contention that formal operational structures emerge during early adolescence; however, the nonsignificant correlations between Ss' scores on the 2 types of tasks fail to confirm his contention of an integration of formal operational competencies during this period. Methodological problems with the Piagetian clinical approach are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitions, depressive symptoms, and development in adolescents.

Examined the generalizability of cognitive models of depression to adolescents and explored developmental differences with regard to depressotypic cognitions. Self-reported depressive symptoms and various hypothesized cognitive correlates (e.g., automatic thoughts, attributions, dysfunctional attitudes) were investigated in a sample of 688 adolescents in Grades 7–12. Measures of normative adolescent cognitions (e.g., egocentrism, self-consciousness) also were included. There was a strong association between negative thinking and depression in adolescents. There was no association between depressogenic thinking and age, nor did the strength of the association between negative cognitions and depression vary from early to middle adolescence. Finally, negative cognitions were associated with self-report measures of both depressive and anxious symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Egocentrism and ego resiliency: Personality characteristics associated with perspective-taking from early childhood to adolescence.

Examined the longitudinal relation between ego resiliency and egocentrism in 58 females and 53 males who were assessed independently from 3 to 14 yrs of age. Measures of Level 1 and Level 2 egocentrism were administered to the Ss at 3 yrs of age, and personality evaluations (the California Child Q-Set) were obtained at 3, 4, 7, 11, and 14 yrs of age in the form of Q-sort ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. Ss' intelligence was measured with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) when they were 4 yrs of age. The relation between egocentrism and ego resiliency was observed to depend on level of egocentrism and S's sex. For females, both Level 1 and Level 2 egocentrism were negatively correlated with ego resiliency concurrently at 3 yrs of age, but no long-term implications of egocentrism emerged. For males, Level 1 egocentrism was consistently negatively associated with ego resiliency from early childhood into adolescence. However, Level 2 egocentrism displayed no concurrent or any dependable longitudinal relation with ego resiliency. Findings support the usefulness of invoking personality characteristics to explain variations in cognitive-developmental levels among individuals. Possible interpretations of the relation between egocentrism and ego resiliency and the sex differences in the pattern of results are discussed. (72 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of egocentrism.

Briefly explains construct validation and applies it to egocentrism. Conceptual and operational referents of this construct are organized into 3 categories: visual/spatial egocentrism (what does the other see), affective egocentrism (what does the other feel), and cognitive/communicative egocentrism (what is the other thinking). Several kinds of reliability information are reported, and construct validity is evaluated primarily by examination of the relationships among measures of egocentrism within and between categories. Although interrater reliability and interrater agreement were found to be uniformly high for all egocentrism measures examined in a review, and the measurement reliability was usually adequate, a few tasks were not internally consistent. Overall, the construct validity of egocentrism was not supported, since most task intercorrelations were low and often nonsignificant. An alternative interpretation of the data based on cognitive constructs and task- and response-specific variables is proposed. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental analysis of performance on Piaget's formal operations tasks.

Presented 80 6th-, 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade female students with 10 of the Piagetian formal operations tasks. Scores were assigned to each task protocol on the basis of performance criteria for the substages of preoperations, early and late concrete operations, and early and late formal operations. Analyses of the data indicated that as grade increased, mean scores on the 10 tasks also increased. Although the results suggest that formal thinking begins to emerge between 12 and 15 yrs of age, not even the oldest age group consistently evidenced formal operations performance across all tasks. The task main effect was highly significant and post hoc analyses indicated that there were significant differences between tasks in level of performance. The task differences are discussed in terms of performance factors operating in this study as well as in previous formal operations research. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Syndrome of problem behavior in adolescence: A replication.

An earlier study of ours that used data collected in 1972 found that a single common factor accounted for the positive correlations among a number of adolescent problem behaviors, including problem drinking, marihuana use, delinquent-type behavior, and precocious sexual intercourse. The present maximum-likelihood factor analyses replicated this finding on new samples of male and female 11th- and 12th-grade students tested 13 years later, in 1985. The findings lend further support to the concept of a syndrome of problem behavior in adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of self-esteem across the life span.

Two studies examined the rank-order stability of self-esteem from age 6 to 83: Study 1 was a meta-analysis of 50 published articles (N = 29,839) and Study 2 analyzed data from 4 large national studies (N = 74,381). Self-esteem showed substantial continuity over time (disattenuated correlations ranged from the .50s to .70s), comparable to the stability found for personality traits. Both studies provided evidence for a robust developmental trend: Self-esteem stability was low during childhood, increased throughout adolescence and young adulthood, and declined during midlife and old age. This trend could not be explained by age differences in the reliability of self-esteem measures, and generally replicated across gender, ethnicity, self-esteem scale, nationality (U.S. vs. non-U.S.), and year of publication. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents with developmental psychopathology in adulthood

We conducted a comparative study of the outcomes at 7 years and at 17 years after initial diagnosis of 77 cases of adolescent developmental psychopathology. The results suggest that the prognosis of adolescent developmental psychopathology could be derived at 5-6 years after commencement of medical treatment. The parent-child relationships during infancy to adolescence, considered to affect the long-term prognosis of adolescent developmental psychopathology, was studied. It is believed that the emotional bond between parents and children in early to middle childhood are vital which seems to affect their relationships during pre-adolescence to early adolescence and to the development of adolescent turmoil. It can be considered vital that the development of the infantile provocative state during preadolescence to early adolescence should progress to a more mature ability to negotiate and which forms the core of adolescent turmoil. The function of the latter will bring better results to adolescent developmental psychopathologies.     

Evaluating the discriminant and convergent validity of developmental constructs: Another look at the concept of egocentrism.

Reviews and reanalyzes an application by M. E. Ford (see record 1980-05161-001) of the multitrait-multimethod matrix developed by D. Campbell and D. Fiske (see record 1960-00103-001) to correlational data on the concept of egocentrism. The criteria by which reliability is evaluated, the interpretation of negative evidence in convergent/discriminant validation, and task selection and scoring are examined. Problems associated with statistical control of age in developmental data and with age-appropriate assessment are also outlined. To avoid both false-negative and false-positive conclusions in construct validation research, developmentalists should give greater weight to psychometric considerations in task construction, data collection, and meta-analyses. It is suggested that the correlational data in the literature cannot support an evaluation of either convergent or discriminant validity of the concept of egocentrism. Separate sets of egocentrism tasks for assessing spatial, affective, and cognitive/communicative egocentrism in early, middle, and later childhood are suggested as a way of approaching the validation process. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Galton's data a century later.

Analyzed F. Galton's (1885, 1892) data on the sensory, psychomotor, and physical attributes of 1,639 females and 4,849 males. The reliability of the measures, developmental trends in mean scores, correlations of the measures with age, correlations among measures, occupational differences in scores, and sibling correlations are described. Developmental trends during later childhood, adolescence, and early maturity are compared to those described in contemporary developmental psychological literature. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood depressive symptoms and adolescent cigarette use: A six-year longitudinal study controlling for peer relations correlates.

Objective: To examine potential pathways between childhood depressive symptoms and adolescent cigarette use, controlling for potential “third variable” causes. Design: Participants included 250 youth (60% girls) who were in Grades 4 to 6 at study outset and in Grades 10 to 12 (M age = 16.78) at a 6-year follow-up. At Time 1, children completed measures of depressive symptoms, as well as peer nominations of peer acceptance, rejection, and aggressive behavior. Main Outcome Measures: Time 2 measures included adolescents’ own and close friends’ cigarette use, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behaviors; parents also reported on adolescent behaviors. Results: Higher levels of childhood depressive symptoms and aggressive behavior were associated longitudinally with cigarette use in adolescence. After controlling for other associations, higher levels of childhood depressive symptoms also were associated with higher levels of friends’ cigarette use in adolescence and higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms; each of these adolescent outcomes was concurrently associated with cigarette use. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms in childhood may lead to altered developmental trajectories that either directly or indirectly contribute to adolescent outcomes, including cigarette use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic and emotional functioning in early adolescence: longitudinal relations, patterns, and prediction by experience in middle school

Adopting a motivational perspective on adolescent development, these two companion studies examined the longitudinal relations between early adolescents' school motivation (competence beliefs and values), achievement, emotional functioning (depressive symptoms and anger), and middle school perceptions using both variable- and person-centered analytic techniques. Data were collected from 1041 adolescents and their parents at the beginning of seventh and the end of eight grade in middle school. Controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses in Study 1 showed reciprocal relations between school motivation and positive emotional functioning over time. Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle school learning environment (support for competence and autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional functioning after accounting for demographic and prior adjustment measures. Cluster analyses in Study 2 revealed several different patterns of school functioning and emotional functioning during seventh grade that were stable over 2 years and that were predictably related to adolescents' reports of their middle school environment. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of schooling for multiple adjustment outcomes during adolescence.     

Genetic and environmental influences on the relationships between family connectedness, school connectedness, and adolescent depressed mood: Sex differences.

This study investigated (a) genetic and environmental contributions to the relationship between family and school environment and depressed mood and (b) potential sex differences in genetic and environmental contributions to both variation in and covariation between family connectedness, school connectedness, and adolescent depressed mood. Data are from 2,302 adolescent sibling pairs (mean age?=?16 years) who were part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Although genetic factors appeared to be important overall, model-fitting analyses revealed that the best-fitting model was a model that allowed for different parameters for male and female adolescents. Genetic contributions to variation in all 3 variables were greater among female adolescents than male adolescents, especially for depressed mood. Genetic factors also contributed to the correlations between family and school environment and adolescent depressed mood, although, again, these factors were stronger for female than for male adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical adolescent psychology: What it is, and what it needs to be.

This commentary on the special section on clinical adolescent psychology (G. Holmbeck & P. Kendall, 2002) reviews and critiques the conceptual and empirical articles that this compilation comprises. As articulated in the conceptual contributions to this collection, two fundamental principles should guide research on the etiology, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorder and dysfunction during adolescence: First, drawing on the field of developmental psychopathology, the study of clinical adolescent psychology should focus on the trajectories of disorder that precede, characterize, and follow adolescence. Second, drawing on the literature on normative adolescent development, the study of clinical adolescent psychology must proceed with an explicit recognition of the unique biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and contextual features that define adolescence as a developmental period. Although the study of clinical adolescent psychology, as evidenced by this collection of articles, is appropriately grounded in the broader enterprise of developmental psychopathology, less progress has been made with respect to die integration of the study of clinical phenomena in adolescence with the study of normative adolescent development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a Psychometrically Sound Internet Addiction Scale: A Preliminary Step.

The Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) is a self-report instrument based on the 7 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) substance dependence criteria and 2 additional criteria recommended by Griffiths (1998). The IAS was administered to 233 undergraduates along with 4 measures pertaining to loneliness and boredom proneness. An item reliability analysis reduced the initial scale from 36 to 31 items (with a Cronbach's alpha of .95). A principal-components analysis indicated that the IAS consisted mainly of one factor. Multiple regression analyses revealed that Family and Social Loneliness and Boredom Proneness were significantly correlated with the IAS; Family and Social Loneliness uniquely predicted IAS scores. No evidence for widespread Internet addiction was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on self-estimate ability in adolescence.

Discusses the contradictory results obtained in R. J. Tierney and A. Herman's study on self-estimate ability in adolescence with those obtained in R. P. O'Hara and Tiedeman's similar study (see PA, Vol. 51:Issue 2 and 35:3279). Differences in S populations (grade, sex, type of high school, social class values), statistical treatments (canonical correlations and interaction effects), and the use of the Work Values Inventory may account for the positive results obtained in O'Hara's study and the negative ones of Tierney. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mayo cognitive factors scales: Derivation of a short battery and norms for factor scores.

G. E. Smith et al (see PA, Vol 80:4129 and 24183) confirmed that 5 factors underlie the covariance structure of a core battery of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R), Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised (WMS—R), and Auditory Verbal Learning Test administered to the Mayo's Older Americans Normative Studies sample and to an independent clinical sample. In the present study, full factor scores generated by this 5-factor model were used as criterion variables in the development of a short battery. It was determined that 16 of the 24 subtests were sufficient to explain substantial variance in the 5 factor scores. However, 1 additional immediate memory subtest must be administered as a prelude to a delayed recall test. Thus, a collection of 17 subtests are offered as a short battery for older persons. Norms for the calculation of Mayo Cognitive Factor Scales scores are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)