Work and Mexican American parent–adolescent relationships: The mediating role of parent well-being.

This study of Mexican American two-parent families (N = 246) examined the role of parents' well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, role overload) as a potential mechanism through which parent occupational conditions (i.e., self-direction, hazardous conditions, physical activity, work pressure) are linked to parent–adolescent relationship qualities (i.e., warmth, conflict, disclosure). Depressive symptoms mediated the links between maternal and paternal work pressure and parent–adolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure. For mothers, depressive symptoms also mediated the links between self-direction and mother–adolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure; for fathers, role overload mediated the links between work pressure and hazardous conditions with father–adolescent warmth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent–adolescent discrepancies in adolescents’ competence and the balance of adolescent autonomy and adolescent and parent well-being in the context of Type 1 diabetes.

This study examined whether intrafamily discrepancies in perceptions of the adolescent’s competence and independence were associated with autonomy and well-being for adolescents and parents. The ways in which mothers and fathers consistently differed from their adolescent across measures of independence and competence regarding Type 1 diabetes, a stressful context for families, were examined with the latent discrepancy model. A sample of 185 adolescents (mean age = 12.5 years, SD = 1.3), their mothers, and participating fathers completed measures of the adolescent’s independence in completing diabetes tasks, problems with diabetes management, adherence to the medical regimen, measures of well-being, and metabolic control. The latent discrepancy model was conducted via structural equation modeling that generated latent discrepancies from the adolescent for mothers and fathers. Both mothers and fathers viewed the adolescent’s competence more negatively than did the adolescent. These discrepancies related to more parental encouragement of independence and adolescent autonomy but also to poorer metabolic control and poorer parental psychosocial well-being. The results are interpreted within a developmental perspective that views discrepancies as reflecting normative developmental processes of autonomy but as being associated with disruptions in well-being in the short term. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sequential interactions in the parent–child communications of depressed fathers and depressed mothers.

Parental depression predicts adjustment problems and depression in offspring, yet little is known about the factors that explain this intergenerational transmission. In the present study, the authors examined one model suggesting that families with a depressed member may respond differently to positive and negative communications than families without a depressed member differences that have been theorized to adversely impact offspring development. The authors compared the sequential patterns of parent–child interaction among families with depressed mothers, depressed fathers, and nondepressed parents. Positivity suppression, defined as decreased rates of positivity following a positive communication from other family members, characterized the interactions of families with a depressed father, but not those with a depressed mother or no depressed parent. Father–child positivity suppression and low base rates of positivity were associated with child behavior problems, but not after accounting for paternal depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mediating role of extreme peer orientation in the relationships between adolescent–parent relationship and diabetes management.

The study examined whether the quality of the adolescent–parent relationship was associated with better diabetes management in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes by decreasing adolescents' extreme peer orientation. Adolescents (n = 252; 46% male and 54% female) aged 10 to 14 years with Type 1 diabetes completed assessments of extreme peer orientation (i.e., tendency to ignore parental advice and diabetes care to fit in with friends), adolescent–parental relationship, and adherence; HbA1c scores indexed metabolic control. Adolescents with higher quality relationships with parents reported less peer orientation and better diabetes care. The mediational model revealed that adolescents' high quality relationships with their parents (mother and father) were associated with better treatment adherence and metabolic control through less peer orientation. It is likely that high quality adolescent–parent relationships may be beneficial to adolescent diabetes management through a healthy balance between peer and parental influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital behavior and the security of preschooler–parent attachment relationships.

Longitudinal and concurrent relations among positive and negative marital behaviors in 2 contexts and preschoolers' security of attachment were examined for 53 families. At 6 months postpartum, couples were observed in their homes during couple discussion and family play. At 3 years, parents completed the Attachment Q-Set (E. Waters, 1987); marital and parenting behavior was also observed. Interparental hostility during family play at 6 months predicted less secure preschooler–mother attachment. Greater marital conflict at 3 years was associated with less security with mother and father, whereas positive marital engagement at 3 years was associated with more secure child-father attachment. Mothers' parenting partially explained the linkages between marital behavior and child–mother attachment. These results highlight the impact of positive and negative marital behaviors on children's abilities to use their parents as a secure base. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational cultural dissonance in parent–adolescent relationships among Chinese and European Americans.

Generational cultural gaps (assessed as the mismatch between adolescents' ideals and perceptions of the parent–adolescent relationship) were investigated among Chinese youth with immigrant parents and their European American counterparts who have been in the United States for generations and assumingly do not have intergenerational cultural gaps. The authors of the study examined the associations of such generational gaps with adolescents' behavioral problems and whether youth's appreciation of Chinese parent–adolescent relationships (parental devotion, sacrifice, thoughtfulness, and guan) described by the notion of qin would moderate the relationship between discrepancies and youth's adjustment. A total of 634 high school students (M = 15.97 years; 95 and 154 first- and second-generation Chinese American respectively, and 385 European Americans) completed measures of parental warmth, parent–adolescent open communication, qin, and psychological adjustment. The U.S.-born Chinese American adolescents' ideals exceeded perceptions of parents' warmth and open communication to a greater degree than it did for European American adolescents (ps     

Adolescent–parent interactions in middle-class African American families: Longitudinal change and contextual variations.

Family interactions were examined longitudinally over 2 years in 79 middle-class African American families with early adolescents. Mothers and adolescents (as well as fathers and adolescents and triads in 2-parent families) were videotaped discussing a conflict for 10 min. A macro-coding system (J. G. Smetana, J. Yau, A. Restrepo, & J. L. Braeges, 1991) was modified to be culturally sensitive to African American families. Interaction ratings were reduced, through principal-components analyses, into composite variables. After control for family income, mothers' communication in triadic interactions became less positive over time. Both mothers' and fathers' communication was more positive in dyadic than triadic interactions. In triadic interactions, mothers validated sons more than daughters, and in dyadic interactions with either parent, boys were more receptive to parents than were girls. Findings extend previous research on adolescent–parent relationships to African American families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and development of the father–infant relationship in the first year.

This study investigated links between maternal employment and fathers' parenting quality when their infants were 4 and 12 months old. Sixty-three fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants and completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in caregiving, parenting stress, and marital quality, and mothers reported on children's temperament. Fathers whose wives either did not work outside the home or worked part time were more sensitive and responsive to their children when they were more involved in caregiving; men whose wives worked full time exhibited more negative affect and behavior when they participated more in child care. Men whose wives were not employed also were more positive in their interactions when they were happier with their marriage, whereas men whose wives worked either part time or full time exhibited a negative relation between parenting behavior and marital quality. Maternal work circumstances were not related to fathers' parenting stress; rather, marital quality and child temperament predicted parenting stress at 4 and 12 months for all fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Affect dynamics, affective forecasting, and aging”: Correction.

Reports an error in "Affect dynamics, affective forecasting, and aging" by Lisbeth Nielsen, Brian Knutson and Laura L. Carstensen (Emotion, 2008[Jun], Vol 8[3], 318-330). The first author of the article was listed as being affiliated with both the National Institute on Aging and the Department of Psychology, Stanford University. Dr. Nielsen would like to clarify that the research for this article was conducted while she was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University; her current affiliation is only with the National Institute on Aging. The copyright notice should also have been listed as “In the Public Domain.” (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-06717-002.) [Correction Notice: The same erratum for this article was reported in Vol 8(5) of Emotion (see record 2008-13989-013).] Affective forecasting, experienced affect, and recalled affect were compared in younger and older adults during a task in which participants worked to win and avoid losing small monetary sums. Dynamic changes in affect were measured along valence and arousal dimensions, with probes during both anticipatory and consummatory task phases. Older and younger adults displayed distinct patterns of affect dynamics. Younger adults reported increased negative arousal during loss anticipation and positive arousal during gain anticipation. In contrast, older adults reported increased positive arousal during gain anticipation but showed no increase in negative arousal on trials involving loss anticipation. Additionally, younger adults reported large increases in valence after avoiding an anticipated loss, but older adults did not. Younger, but not older, adults exhibited forecasting errors on the arousal dimension, underestimating increases in arousal during anticipation of gains and losses and overestimating increases in arousal in response to gain outcomes. Overall, the findings are consistent with a growing literature suggesting that older people experience less negative emotion than their younger counterparts and further suggest that they may better predict dynamic changes in affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent–child acculturation, parenting, and adolescent depressive symptoms in Chinese immigrant families.

Using a sample of 388 father–adolescent and 399 mother–adolescent dyads in Chinese immigrant families, the current investigation tested Portes and Rumbaut’s (1996) assertion that generational dissonance may indicate a family context that places children at increased risk for adverse outcomes. Study findings suggest that a high discrepancy in father–adolescent acculturation levels relates significantly to more adolescent depressive symptoms. The study further demonstrates that the quality of the parenting relationship between fathers and adolescents operates as a mediator between father–adolescent acculturation discrepancy and adolescent depressive symptoms. Specifically, a high level of discrepancy in American orientation between fathers and adolescents is associated with unsupportive parenting practices, which, in turn, are linked to more adolescent depressive symptoms. These relationships are significant even after controlling for the influence of family socioeconomic status and parents’ and adolescents’ sense of discrimination within the larger society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal-spatial and visuospatial coding of number–space interactions.

A tight correspondence has been postulated between the representations of number and space. The spatial numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect, which reflects the observation that people respond faster with the left-hand side to small numbers and with the right-hand side to large numbers, is regarded as strong evidence for this correspondence. The dominant explanation of the SNARC effect is that it results from visuospatial coding of magnitude (e.g., the mental number line hypothesis). In a series of experiments, we demonstrated that this is only part of the story and that verbal-spatial coding influences processes and representations that have been believed to be purely visuospatial. Additionally, when both accounts were directly contrasted, verbal-spatial coding was observed in absence of visuospatial coding. Relations to other number–space interactions and implications for other tasks are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and gender in the college classroom: A quantitative analysis of faculty–student interactions and perceptions.

Students and instructors from 24 classrooms across 8 departments at a major university were observed in this study to (a) assess for sex differences in faculty–student interactions and in students' perceptions of their college classroom environment, (b) compare student perceptions of their college classroom interaction patterns with observed faculty–student interactions, and (c) assess a variety of demographic characteristics together to determine their singular and/or interactive effects on faculty–student interaction patterns and student perceptions. Male and female students did not differ in their classroom participation or perceptions, and instructors did not interact differently with the male and female students. Student perceptions strongly correlated with their own behaviors and with instructor behaviors. Classroom interactions and student perceptions varied on the basis of different demographic characteristics including instructor sex, class size, instructor monitoring of gender–race equity in the classroom, gender relevance of the course, and the sex ratio of the class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader–member exchange and affective organizational commitment: The contribution of supervisor's organizational embodiment.

In order to account for wide variation in the relationship between leader–member exchange and employees' affective organizational commitment, we propose a concept termed supervisor's organizational embodiment (SOE), which involves the extent to which employees identify their supervisor with the organization. With samples of 251 social service employees in the United States (Study 1) and 346 employees in multiple Portuguese organizations (Study 2), we found that as SOE increased, the association between leader–member exchange and affective organizational commitment became greater. This interaction carried through to in-role and extra-role performance. With regard to antecedents, we found in Study 1 that supervisor's self-reported identification with the organization increased supervisor's expression of positive statements about the organization, which in turn increased subordinates' SOE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The association between parent–child conflict and adolescent conduct problems over time: Results from a longitudinal adoption study.

A handful of prior adoption studies have confirmed that the cross-sectional relationship between child conduct problems and parent–child conflict at least partially originates in the shared environment. However, as the direction of causation between parenting and delinquency remains unclear, this relationship could be better explained by the adolescent's propensity to elicit conflictive parenting, a phenomenon referred to as an evocative gene–environment correlation. In the current study, the authors thus examined the prospective relationship between conduct problems and parent–child conflict in a sample of adoptive families. Participants included 672 adolescents in 405 adoptive families assessed at 2 time points roughly 4 years apart. Results indicated that parent–child conflict predicts the development of conduct problems, whereas conduct problems do not predict increases in parent–child conflict. Such findings suggest that evocative gene–environment correlations are highly unlikely to be an explanation of prior shared environmental effects during adolescence. Moreover, because the adolescents in this study do not share genes with their adoptive parents, the association between conduct problems and parent–child conflict is indicative of shared environmental mediation in particular. Implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An actor–partner interdependence model of spousal criticism and depression.

Although perceived criticism is relational, most theory and research concerns only relatives' criticism toward patients and not the converse. With a sample of 33 depressed patients and their spouses, we take a fully relational approach to criticism by testing an actor–partner interdependence model (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). Patient intended criticism was especially strongly associated with depressive symptoms for wives, whereas patient perceived criticism was especially negatively related to depressive symptoms for husbands. Nondepressed partner intended criticism was positively related to patient depressive symptoms, but nondepressed wife perceived criticism was negatively related to husband depressive symptoms. The importance of including patient intended and partner perceived criticism as well as examining sex differences in models of criticism and depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict and the quality of young children's peer play behavior: The mediating and moderating role of parent–child emotional reciprocity and attachment security.

Parent–child attachment security and dyadic measures of parent–child positive and negative emotional reciprocity were examined as possible mediators and moderators of the connection between marital conflict and children's peer play behavior. Eighty parents were observed in a laboratory play session with their 15- to 18-month-old child. Subsequently, at 36 months children were observed interacting with peers at their child care setting. Connections between marital conflict and children's positive peer interaction were mediated by mother–child attachment security, mother–child positive emotional reciprocity, and father–child negative emotional reciprocity. Connections between marital conflict and children's negative peer interaction were mediated by mother–child positive emotional reciprocity and father–child attachment security. Parent–child attachment security and negative emotional reciprocity emerged as important moderators of the connection between marital conflict and children's peer play behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The unique effect of paternal depressive symptoms on adolescent functioning: Associations with gender and father–adolescent relationship closeness.

Prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample of 451 families were used to assess the unique contribution of paternal depressive symptoms to adolescent functioning. Results indicated that paternal depressive symptoms were significantly related to subsequent depressive symptoms in adolescent offspring; this association remained significant after controlling for previous adolescent depressive symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, gender, and family demographic variables. Adolescent gender and perception of father–adolescent relationship closeness moderated this association such that paternal depressive symptoms were positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms for girls whose relations with fathers lacked closeness. These findings add to a growing literature on the interpersonal mechanisms through which depression runs in families, highlighting the need for future investigation of paternal mental health, adolescent gender, and intrafamily relationship quality in relation to adolescent development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child–parent attachment and children's peer relations: A quantitative review.

The central premise of attachment theory is that the security of the early child–parent bond is reflected in the child's interpersonal relationships across the life span. This meta-analysis was based on 63 studies that reported correlations between child–parent attachment and children's peer relations. The overall effect size (ES) for child–mother attachment was in the small-to-moderate range and was quite homogeneous. ESs were similar in studies that featured the Strange Situation and Q-sort methods. The effects were larger for peer relations in middle childhood and adolescence than for peer relations in early childhood. ESs were also higher for studies that focused on children's close friendships rather than on relations with other peers. Gender and cultural differences in ESs were minimal. The results for the few studies on father–child attachment were inconclusive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prospective three generational study of fathers’ constructive parenting: Influences from family of origin, adolescent adjustment, and offspring temperament.

This prospective, intergenerational study considered multiple influences on 102 fathers’ constructive parenting of 181 children. Fathers in the 2nd generation (G2) were recruited as boys on the basis of neighborhood risk for delinquency and assessed through early adulthood. The fathers’ parents (G1) and the G2 mothers of G3 also participated. A multiagent, multimethod approach was used to measure G1 and G2 constructive parenting (monitoring, discipline, warmth, and involvement), G2 positive adolescent adjustment, and problem behavior in all 3 generations, including G3 difficult temperament and externalizing problems in early and middle childhood, respectively. Path modeling supported direct transmission of G1 constructive parenting of G2 in late childhood to G2 constructive parenting of G3 in middle childhood. Of note, G1 parenting indirectly influenced G2 parenting through G2 positive adjustment but not through G2 adolescent antisocial behavior. G1 parenting influenced G2 parenting in both early and middle childhood of G3. G2 parenting influenced G3 problem behavior but not vice versa. Intergenerational continuities in parenting persisted, even when additional influences were considered. Transmission pathways are not limited to life-course adversity. Rather, constructive parenting is maintained, in part, by engendering positive adjustment in offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Molecular dynamics simulation of the transport properties of molten LiF–NaBr and LiF–KBr

A molecular dynamics simulation of molten LiF–NaBr and LiF–KBr mixtures at a temperature of 1280 K is performed over a wide concentration range to calculate the self-diffusion coefficients of the ions forming these mutual mixtures. It is found that the concentration dependence of the self-diffusion coefficient of the lithium cation in LiF–NaBr has an extremal character with a minimum, the position of which corresponds to the equimolar composition of the mixture.