More on Goddard and the Kallikak family photographs.

Discusses retouching of the Kallikak family photographs in H. H. Goddard's (1912) study of mental retardation and heredity, with reference to analyses by R. E. Fancher (see record 1987-31600-001) and S. J. Gould (1981), and concurs with Fancher that the retouching was probably not done for deceitful purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Henry Goddard and the feeble-mindedness of Jews, Hungarians, Italians, and Russians.

Comments on R. Herrnstein's (1981) criticism of Albee for attributing to H. Goddard (1913, 1917) the statement that "83% of the Jews, 80% of the Hungarians, 79% of the Italians, and 87% of the Russians were 'feeble-minded'," on the basis of Binet tests given to a sample of immigrants at Ellis Island. The present author maintains that it is not Goddard's statement, but L. J. Kamin's (1974) and that Kamin's 2 reference notes on Goddard appear to be reversed and neither contains the page number of Goddard's table from which the information was taken. A reproduction of Goddard's table is presented for further clarification. It is emphasized that Goddard did not conclude that the high percentage of feeble-mindedness was evidence of a hereditary defect in immigrants. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fancher on Gould, Goddard, and historical interpretation: A reply.

Contends that R. E. Fancher's (see record 1988-31600-001) evidence concerning intentions behind retouching of photographs of the Kallikaks in H. H. Goddard's (1912) study of mental retardation and heredity fall far short of challenging S. J. Gould's (1981) findings on the same topic. Further, Fancher's citation may misrepresent J. D. Smith's (1985) work on Goddard. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations and situational information as cocontributors to covariation assessment: A reply to Goddard and Allan.

Goddard and Allan (1988) suggest that the Alloy and Tabachnik (1984) covariation assessment model is too vague to make specific predictions concerning subjects' covariation assessments and, thus, that it is not useful in integrating the animal and human literature. In this reply, I address the general issue of the model's testability and predictive power and discuss specific examples of experimental findings that Goddard and Allan claim are inconsistent with the model. I show that two themes characterize their examples of "inconsistent" empirical findings and that both of these themes are based on an inadequate understanding of our framework. I also illustrate that their claims that we misinterpreted literature are unjustified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological issues in research with refugees and immigrants.

A growing number of psychologists are becoming involved in research with migrants, particularly those from developing countries. This article highlights the unique methodological difficulties in research with refugees and immigrants. The main examples given are from Indochinese refugees and Pacific Island immigrants to New Zealand. Six areas of difficulty are identified: (1) contextual differences between migrants and the receiving society, (2) conceptual problems with translation of instruments, (3) sampling difficulties, (4) linguistic problems, (5) observation of etiquette, and (6) personality characteristics of researchers. Recommendations are made to resolve some of the difficulties encountered in each area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graham Valentine Goddard (1938-1987).

On January 15, 1987, Graham Valentine Goddard, aged 48, drowned in the Deception River on a hiking trip in the Arthur Pass area of New Zealand's South Island. As a measure of his humanity, Graham Goddard leaves behind a very large number of good friends, both professional and private. He will be best remembered by the academic and science communities as the father of "kindling," in relation to long-term potentiation and its physiological analogy to the memory process, but will be remembered by his friends as an ever thoughtful man with boundless curiosity and integrity, a good father and husband, and a dear friend. He is sincerely missed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Parental autonomy support and ethnic culture identification among second-generation immigrants.

Born and raised in the United States, children of immigrants often face conflict over whether to endorse the norms and traditions of the family's country of origin (the natal culture) or those of mainstream U.S. society (the host culture). The authors hypothesized that when immigrant parents allow children to make their own choices concerning their cultural identity, their children will be more likely to internalize the natal culture and will experience greater well-being. Ninety-nine college-aged 2nd-generation immigrants rated their well-being, perceptions of their mother's and father's autonomy support, and their endorsement of both natal and U.S. cultures. Results demonstrated that paternal, but not maternal, autonomy support predicted greater well-being and greater endorsement of the natal culture and that immersion in the natal culture predicted some indices of well-being. Several explanations for the possibly greater significance of paternal versus maternal autonomy support in the context of immigrant families are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The academic trajectories of children of immigrants and their school environments.

Data from approximately 14,000 children in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey--Kindergarten Cohort were analyzed to examine the associations between children's immigrant status and their academic trajectories from kindergarten to 3rd grade, with particular attention to the effects of school environments. Growth curve modeling results indicated that most children of Latin American origin improved their reading and math scores faster than non-Hispanic White children, thus narrowing their initial score gap and sometimes even surpassing White children by 3rd grade. In contrast, although they maintained higher reading and math scores, children from East Asia and India showed decreasing scores over time, which tended to narrow their initial score advantage over non-Hispanic White children. School-level factors accounted partially for these differences. Particularly in terms of the academic trajectories, children of Latin American origin responded more to school-level factors than did children of Asian origin, who responded more to child and family background, with the exception of children from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, who responded more to school-level factors. Simulation results point to the importance of school resources for the academic trajectories of children of immigrants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fifty years of language maintenance and language dominance in bilingual Hispanic immigrants.

Spanish language tests of 801 Cuban and Mexican immigrants showed no evidence of language loss during 50 yrs of US residence; a few years after immigration, their English vocabulary approximated that of English monolinguals. The critical-age hypothesis was not supported for the acquisition of English vocabulary when English schooling and language usage were controlled by multiple regression. Most Ss continued to speak about as much Spanish as English, but read, wrote, and heard (on TV and radio) far more English than Spanish. Under these conditions, Ss maintained Spanish dominance on tests of vocabulary recognition, lexical decision, and oral comprehension. Dominance was task specific and shifted to English on a category generation task about 12 yrs after immigration. No evidence of bilingual language interference was found; this is attributed to the strong Spanish foundation of the participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building healthy communities with immigrants and refugees

Immigration fueled by large population shifts across international borders will be an ongoing phenomenon throughout the world for the foreseeable future. Forces raising concern for the development of healthy immigrant communities in the United States are the scapegoating of immigrants as the cause of many of the problems of society, a growing lack of tolerance for diversity, and the need for rapid acculturation. A construct of what constitutes healthy communities for immigrants is discussed. The construct is built around the concepts of convergent stereotyping, solidarity, and agency. To help build healthy communities, transcultural nurses must assist other nurses and health care providers to function from a transcultural posture to develop culture competence, reconceptualize how immigrants are viewed, avoid reductionism of the immigrant experience into a psycho-emotional phenomenon, and actualize human development as part of community development.     

Cultural norms shaping research group interviews with Chinese American immigrants.

Practical knowledge on how to tailor research methods for Asian Americans is relatively scarce despite the rapid population growth of this ethnic group and the ongoing calls for greater cultural competence among researchers. Based on a 4-year qualitative study of family and cultural issues in diabetes management among Chinese American immigrants, this article presents data-based analyses of culturally nuanced group interview processes, and recommendations for conducting culturally appropriate group interviews. Group interview processes were prominently shaped by four cultural norms: sensitivity to social hierarchy, monitoring public display of strong emotions, face concerns, and emphasis on group harmony. Strategies for facilitating open and dynamic group interviews in the presence of these norms were identified. Skillful facilitation of group processes, either by accommodating or diffusing norms, was required to promote participant rapport and encourage disclosure of everyday experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative identity in young immigrants

Immigrants experience conflicting values more frequently than "native" citizens. When experienced by immigrants in their teens, clashing values can give rise to feelings of rejection, as well as a negative self-image and image of others; in some cases, these opposing values even lead to family breakups. The identity crisis worsens if the messages conveyed by the social environment are contradictory or incoherent. If these messages present negative aspects, the self-image is threatened by being discredited, for example in the case of racist stereotypes and xenophobic reactions. The most dangerous response is the internalization of a discredited image. Youth react aggressively or repress a racist experience by negating it. For some, assimilation goes as far as putting down one's very own community. On the other hand, some will place enormous value on their differences and follow a strategy that can lead to political activism, which is not without its own forms of excess. These various strategies depend on specific factors: cultural traits, political trends, community links.     

Clinical observations of a Cantonese cognitive-behavioral treatment program for Chinese immigrants.

In this article, the authors describe our clinical observations about the process of delivering a Cantonese-language cognitive- behavioral therapy program to treat depression in Hong Kong immigrants to Vancouver, Canada. Our experiences indicated that standard referral and assessment procedures were not optimal for this population. Other factors that required consideration were how to convert Cantonese terms for dysphoric affect into English equivalents and how to implement cognitive modification strategies when dealing with culture-syntonic beliefs about social relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)