Identity development, parental and peer support in adolescence: results of a national Dutch survey

The aims of this study were to examine the development and structure of identity throughout adolescence, and the influence of parents and peers on identity development. A representative sample of Dutch adolescents, aged 12 to 14, completed the Utrecht-Groningen Identity Development Scale (U-GIDS). This instrument encompasses separate scales for commitment in exploration for relational, school, and occupational identity. The results show that relational identity becomes consistently stronger as adolescents grow older. Less consistent developmental trends were found for school identity, and no developmental trends for occupational identity. A different identity structure was found in different groups of adolescents. For girls the relational identity is much more important than school or occupational identity. The same difference was found in adolescents aged 21 to 24 vs. their younger peers. Identity development is mostly influenced by peers, with parents having only an additive positive influence.     

The company they keep: Relation of adolescents' adjustment and behavior to their friends' perceptions of authoritative parenting in the social network.

Approximately 4,500 14- to 18-year-olds completed questionnaires concerning their parents' practices and their academic achievement, psychosocial competence, behavior problems, and internalized distress. Independent reports from participants' friends were used to measure authoritativeness in the peer network. Parental authoritativeness in the network benefits adolescents above and beyond the positive impact of parental authoritativeness at home. Network authoritativeness was associated with lower levels of delinquency and substance use among all participants, lower levels of school misconduct and peer conformity for boys, and greater psychosocial competence and lower levels of psychological distress among girls. The beneficial impact of network authoritativeness on adolescent behavior is (a) mediated mainly through its effect on adolescents' peers and (b) greatest among adolescents who perceive their own parents to be relatively more authoritative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of family and peers in the development of prototypes associated with substance use.

Prior research and theory suggest that adolescents often experiment with substances to acquire desired social images. However, little research has addressed the developmental precursors leading to favorable evaluation of substance users. This study tested a model of parental and peer influence on adolescent prototypes using a longitudinal data set of 463 rural adolescents. For both drinking and smoking, positive prototypes of substance users were best predicted by peer affiliations. Adolescents who affiliated with peers who practiced and encouraged substance use developed more positive prototypes of people who drink and smoke. These social images, in turn, predicted subsequent use of alcohol and cigarettes. In contrast to peers, parents had little direct influence on prototypes but did indirectly affect images through the adolescents' choice of peers. Unexpectedly, there was evidence of a negative modeling effect of parental substance use, such that parental smoking predicted more negative prototypes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kenosis and Alterity in Christian Spirituality.

Kenosis (self-emptying) and alterity (otherness) are central elements of Christian spirituality that also have potential relevance for psychoanalytic practice. Clinical illustrations are offered to illustrate this potential relevance, along with a contemporary paraphrase of Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. Kenosis has a way of enfolding alterity: The "me" and the "not me" end up being more related than is initially apparent. [Reprinted with permission from Minding Spirituality, by Randall Lehmann Sorenson, 2004, in L. Aron & J. M. Davies (Eds.), Relational Perspectives Book Series (Vol. 24), Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press. Copyright 2004 by The Analytic Press.] (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of personality, environmental, and DICA variables to adolescent hopelessness: a neural network sensitivity approach

OBJECTIVE: This study identified critical factors from a set of psychiatric diagnoses, personality traits, and family and social support variables that relate to hopelessness in adolescents. METHOD: One hundred fifty adolescents were selected in a systematic sample from 1,700 high school students; they completed the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory, the Parental Bonding Questionnaire, the Social Support Questionnaire, the Hopelessness Scale for Children and were interviewed by trained clinicians on the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents. Selected variables were chosen for a back-propagation neural network model and for subsequent sensitivity and statistical analysis. RESULTS: Sensitive adolescents and adolescents with less impulse control scored high on hopelessness. Forceful adolescents were less hopeless. CONCLUSIONS: Using the neural network models, the authors suggest that assertive training as well as group activities that increase cooperativeness may ameliorate hopelessness.     

Parenting and psychological adjustment of adolescent immigrants in Israel.

Parental and familial factors and their association with adolescents’ mental health were examined among former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants and nonimmigrants in Israel. Questionnaires regarding parental control, inconsistency, and rejection, in addition to adolescent–family connectedness and psychological disorders, were administered to 83 FSU immigrants and 106 nonimmigrant adolescents. According to the results, FSU adolescents are less connected to their families, experience their parents as less warm and more inconsistent in their childrearing behavior, report that their mothers subject them to a higher level of control, and the psychological disorders among them are more widespread than among nonimmigrant adolescents. Maternal control, maternal temporal inconsistency, and maternal and paternal rejection were associated with psychological disorders only among nonimmigrant adolescents. No such association was found among FSU adolescents, suggesting that FSU mental health problems are associated with immigration and cultural and social factors, rather than parental and familial factors. A comprehensive intervention program is required to provide support and assistance to help immigrants overcome their psychological distresses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic disease and perceived developmental progression in adolescence

This study examined whether chronic illness causes delays in adolescents' perceived developmental status. Longitudinal data were obtained from 86 adolescents afflicted with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 103 healthy adolescents. The adolescents annually completed a questionnaire pertaining to their current developmental status and their desired future developmental status in 11 age-specific developmental tasks. Health status and physical maturity were also determined. In the first year of the study, the diabetics reported delays compared with their healthy peers in some developmental tasks, particularly physical maturity and an independent lifestyle. However, the overall developmental progression perceived by chronically ill adolescents was impressive. The difficulty of balancing normative development with the demands of chronic illness is discussed.     

Transitions in social influence at adolescence: Who induces cigarette smoking?

A common theme in life-span developmental psychology is that during adolescence there is a decrease in parental influence on the child and an increase in peer influence. Researchers who have examined this transition have shown that its dynamics vary with type of behavior. The influence of parents and peers on children's smoking behavior is examined in both preadolescents (398 11-yr-olds) and adolescents (449 14-yr-olds). By using a structural equation model with multiple indicators, methodological problems that have plagued earlier research in this area are avoided. It is concluded that peer influence increases during adolescence. There is also a nonsignificant decrease in parental influence. For preadolescents, parents and peers seem equally influential; for adolescents, peers are more influential. These results have implications for public health intervention programs. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of recidivism and social adjustment among training-school delinquents.

Sought to identify the best predictors of delinquent recidivism and social adjustment among training school graduates and to compare delinquents' interpersonal response patterns with those of their parents. Ss were 30 male incarcerated property offenders aged 14–15 yrs. Data were collected pertaining to Ss' behavior before, during, and after incarceration. Parental Acceptance, Number Pre-Incarceration Nondelinquent Best Friends, and Delinquent's Total Interpersonal Effectiveness were significant predictors of recidivism. Parental Acceptance and Pre-Incarceration School Performance were significant predictors of Placement Setting Adjustment. Percent Structured Leisure Time and Pre-Incarceration School Performance were significant predictors of Post-Incarceration Work/School Performance. Ss whose fathers were characterized as aggressive on the basis of sons' reports tended to be significantly more aggressive than Ss with nonaggressive fathers, according to staff reports. Finally Ss who coped relatively effectively in interpersonal situations according to self-reports and staff reports tended to have parents who also coped effectively in similar situations, according to sons' reports. (French summary) (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spiritual issues in counseling: Clients' beliefs and preferences.

The current study assessed psychotherapy clients' beliefs about the appropriateness of discussing religious and spiritual concerns in counseling, clients' preferences for such discussion, and identified explanatory variables for these beliefs and preferences. These variables were assessed using the Client Attitudes toward Spirituality in Therapy survey; the Index of Spiritual Experiences (J. D. Kass, R. Friedman, J. Leserman, P. C. Zuttermeister, & H. Benson, 1991); the Expectations About Counseling-Brief Form (H. E. A. Tinsley, 1982); the Religious scale of the Counseling Appropriateness Check List (R. Warman, 1960); the Socially Desirable Response Set-5 Scale (R. D. Hays, T. Hayashi, & A. L. Stewart, 1989); and the Religion Section of the Mooney Problem Check List-Adult Form (L. V. Gordon & R. L. Mooney, 1950). Clients believed religious concerns were appropriate for discussion in counseling and had a preference for discussing spiritual and religious issues in counseling. Spiritual experience was the most potent variable for explaining preferences for discussing spiritual issues. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prion protein immunohistochemical staining in the brains of monkeys with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

BACKGROUND: Spirituality is receiving greater attention in the medical literature, especially in the family practice journals. A widely applicable instrument to assess spirituality has been lacking, however, and this has hampered research on the relationship between spirituality and health in the clinical setting. METHODS: A new instrument, called the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale, was designed to be widely applicable across religious traditions, to assess actions as well as beliefs to address key components not assessed in other available measures, and to be easily administered and scored. The instrument is a questionnaire containing 26 items in a modified Likert-type format. Following careful pretesting, the instrument was administered to 50 family practice patients and 33 family practice educators. The validity and reliability of the instrument were then evaluated. RESULTS: By several measures, instrument reliability and validity are very good, with high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .92); strong test-retest reliability (r = .92); a clear four-factor structure; and a high correlation (r = .80) with another established measure of spirituality, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. CONCLUSIONS: The Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS) appears to have good reliability and validity. Compared with other instruments that assess spirituality, the SIBS has several theoretical advantages, including broader scope, use of terms that avoid cultural-religious bias, and assessment of both beliefs and actions. More testing is underway to further assess its usefulness.     

Peer and parental influences on male adolescent drinking

Using data from males aged 16-19 in Buffalo, NY, the present study examines two social mechanisms by which parents and peers influence adolescent drinking--behavioral and attitudinal transmission--and compares the patterns of behavioral and attitudinal transmission for parents and for peers. The study also assesses the relative importance of parents and peers in accounting for adolescent alcohol behavior. The findings indicate that both alcohol behavior and attitudes of parents and peers are significant predictors of adolescent drinking. However, the prediction patterns are reversed. Parental attitudes are more important than parental alcohol behavior, while peer alcohol behavior is more important than peer attitudes. Overall, peers have more influence on adolescent drinking than parents. There is a significant interaction of parental alcohol-related attitudes and age, which indicates that parental alcohol-related attitudes exert a greater effect on younger (i.e., age 16-17) males' alcohol use.     

Physical punishment and signs of mental distress in normal adolescents

Adolescents (375 males and 496 females) were administered the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the General Well-Being Scale (GWB), the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), and two questions about each parent, supplementing the PBI, tapping violent punitive behavior. Signs of mental distress in adolescents and reported physical punishment from parents were analyzed. Results indicated that greater physical punishment was associated with higher levels of psychiatric symptoms and lower general well-being. These results persisted after controlling for parental attitudes, as quantified by the PBI, and socioeconomic status. The findings of this study can contribute to efforts to raise public awareness of the negative consequences of physical punishment on the mental health of children.     

Substance use among incarcerated adolescents: associations with peer, parent, and community use of substances

This study of incarcerated adolescents documents the number and proportion of incarcerated adolescents who use cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs; examines substance use among the adolescents' peers, parents, and community members; and examines associations between incarcerated adolescents' use of substances and substance use by peers, parents, and community members. Questionnaire data indicated that substance use was common among incarcerated adolescents as well as among the adolescents' peers, parents, and community members. Logistic regression analyses revealed that, similar to patterns observed in the general population, peer substance use was the strongest predictor of substance use among incarcerated adolescents.     

Perceived parental social support and academic achievement: An attachment theory perspective.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 66(4) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2008-10478-001). This article, which appeared in the Personality and Individual Differences section was accepted for publication by Guest Editor Irwin Sarason. We wish to thank Professor Sarason for his help and to apologize for our oversight in not acknowledging this contribution.] Tested the extent to which parental social support predicted college GPA among undergraduates. A sample of 418 undergraduates completed the Social Provisions Scale—Parent Form (C. E. Cutrona; see record 1990-01422-001) and measures of family conflict and achievement orientation. American College Testing (ACT) Assessment Program college entrance exam scores (American College Testing Program, 1986) and GPA were obtained from the university registrar. Parental social support, especially reassurance of worth, predicted college GPA when controlling for academic aptitude (ACT scores), family achievement orientation, and family conflict. Support from parents, but not from friends or romantic partners, significantly predicted GPA. Results are interpreted in the context of adult attachment theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic socialization and the academic adjustment of adolescents from Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds.

Ethnic and generation differences in the frequency and types of ethnic socialization messages that 524 eleventh-grade adolescents from Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds received from their parents were examined. Results indicated that adolescents from both Mexican and Chinese backgrounds reported more cultural socialization and preparation for bias messages than their peers from European backgrounds. Chinese adolescents reported more promotion of mistrust messages than their peers with European backgrounds. Moreover, promotion of mistrust messages negatively predicted academic achievement, whereas positive cultural socialization messages accounted for the higher levels of motivation among adolescents from Chinese and Mexican backgrounds as compared with their equally achieving peers from European backgrounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between parental controlling behavior and perceptions of control of preadolescent children and adolescents

Previous research has suggested that a noncontrolling, independence-encouraging parenting style is correlated with children's having an internal locus of control. In the present study, children's and adolescents' reports of parent behaviors were used. Parental acceptance and child-centeredness were found to be related to more internal control beliefs in both preadolescent children and adolescents. Parental controlling behavior, however, was related to more internal control beliefs in preadolescent children and more external control beliefs in adolescents. The relationships among structure, parent controlling behavior, and the age and developmental level of children are discussed.     

Children's Beliefs About Parental Divorce Scale: Psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity.

This study evaluated the psychometric characteristics of the Children's Beliefs About Parental Divorce Scale with three nonclinic samples (N?=?170; mean age?=?11.06 years). The findings revealed evidence of six subscales (Peer Ridicule and Avoidance, Paternal Blame, Fear of Abandonment, Maternal Blame, Hope of Reunification, and Self-Blame); moderate item-total correlations and Cronbach alphas within each scale; and moderate 9-week test-retest reliability. The number of problematic beliefs varied by family structure but generally not by age, gender, or length of parental separation. When age was controlled for, children with many problematic beliefs were found to be anxious, to have poor self-concepts in areas related to parents, and to report little social support. However, total problematic beliefs were unrelated to parents' and teachers' ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Findings are discussed in terms of models of children's divorce adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived parent-child relationships and early adolescents' orientation toward peers.

Examined the links between children's perceptions of the manner in which they and their parents adjust their relationships during early adolescence and early adolescents' orientation toward parents and peers. A sample of 1,771 children completed self-report questionnaires during the spring of their 6th and 7th grades. As predicted, early adolescents who believed their parents asserted and did not relax their power and restrictiveness were higher in an extreme form of peer orientation. Also as predicted, those who perceived few opportunities to be involved in decision making, as well as no increase in these opportunities, were higher in both extreme peer orientation and peer advice seeking. Discussion focuses on the importance for parent–child relationships to adjust to early adolescents' changing developmental needs, as well as the implications of early adolescent peer orientation for later development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Epilogue: Watching for light: Spiritual psychology beyond materialism.

The special section and subsequent commentary on “Watching for Light: Spiritual Psychology Beyond Materialism” has initiated a discussion in our collective scholarly space predicated on the possibility that consciousness can exist independently from matter. Our contemporary colleagues in the physical sciences of physics, biology, and engineering have embraced this discussion to great theoretical benefit and enthusiasm within their fields. As theory and research in a spiritually oriented psychology builds outward from this discussion, we have ground to explore well beyond merely empirical proof of the premise; there exists an entirely new vista to emanate from this set of possibilities. The articles and commentaries over these two issues of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (PRS) propose a set of bearings for exploring new ground within research. Among the major themes to emerge are four sets of possibilities, which in this epilogue I offer as being among areas for creative exploration and innovative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)