Sex Role Conceptualizations in Adolescents and Adults.

Sex role development was studied in seventh graders, twelfth graders, and adults. A 1976 cross-sectional study by Urberg and Labouvie-Vief was replicated 2 years later and the results examined for evidence of age and cultural change in degree of sex role stereotyping. Twelfth graders were found to be the most stereotyped and adults the least, with no significant differences between older and younger adults. Cultural change was evident for some of the traits examined, but the degree to which the subjects used stereotypes did not change. Male and female subjects described themselves in almost identical terms but engaged in stereotyping when describing an opposite-sex ideal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoeducational consultations with parents of conduct-disordered older adolescents.

This paper presents an approach to treatment of conduct-disordered behavior in older adolescents. The nature of the dysfunctional personality traits of the patient is discussed at length as are the possible roles of the parents and organic factors in both the etiology and maintenance of the disorder. As most of these adolescents are antagonistic to both traditional individual and family-based approaches, an alternative method is outlined which emphasizes an extensive psychoeducational consultation process with the parents as the main focus of treatment. Two types of dysfunctional parental patterns are considered: the over-involved parents and the underinvolved parents, and the nature of the consultation process with both groups is illustrated. The possible beneficial effects of the work are discussed both for the parents and the adolescent patient. Potential pitfalls and particular subtleties of the process are detailed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of psychosocial well-being among overweight adolescents: The role of the family.

An ethnically diverse sample of at-risk-for-overweight and overweight youths (body mass index greater than the 85th percentile for age and gender; n = 667 male participants, and n = 684 female participants) completed a school-based survey measuring family variables (connectedness, mealtime environment, and weight commentary), psychosocial well-being (depressed mood, body satisfaction, and self-esteem), and unhealthy weight-control behaviors; all measures were assessed concurrently. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that measures of general family connectedness, priority of family meals, and positive mealtime environment were significantly positively associated with psychological well-being and inversely associated with depressive symptoms and unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Familial weight commentary (i.e., weight-based teasing and parental encouragement to diet) was associated with many indicators of poor psychological health. The authors conclude that greater psychosocial well-being and fewer unhealthy weight-control behaviors are associated with making family time at meals a priority, creating a positive mealtime atmosphere, and refraining from weight commentary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adjudicative competence in adolescent defendants: Judges' and defense attorneys' views of legal standards for adolescents in juvenile and criminal court.

Although courts have increasingly required that adolescent defendants be competent to proceed with adjudication, the legal standard for competence in juvenile court is not yet settled. As a first step toward obtaining greater clarification in legal standards, in this study the authors surveyed 338 judges and defense attorneys regarding their beliefs about competence standards. Judges and defense attorneys believe that it is particularly important for juveniles to have competence-related legal capacities, compared to adults. However, lower levels of competence were considered necessary for juveniles adjudicated in juvenile court than for juveniles adjudicated in criminal court. Developmental immaturity was seen as moderately important to juveniles' competence, although it was rated as less important than mental disorders or cognitive impairments. Furthermore, relatively few judges appear to agree that adolescents should be found incompetent on the basis of developmental immaturity alone. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

One-session treatment of specific phobias in youth: A randomized clinical trial in the United States and Sweden.

One hundred and ninety-six youth, ages 7–16, who fulfilled Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for various specific phobias were randomized to a one-session exposure treatment, education support treatment, or a wait list control group. After the waiting period, the wait list participants were offered treatment and, if interested, rerandomized to 1 of the 2 active treatments. The phobias were assessed with semistructured diagnostic interviews, clinician severity ratings, and behavioral avoidance tests, whereas fears, general anxiety, depression, and behavior problems were assessed with self- and parent report measures. Assessments were completed pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 6 months following treatment. Results showed that both treatment conditions were superior to the wait list control condition and that 1-session exposure treatment was superior to education support treatment on clinician ratings of phobic severity, percentage of participants who were diagnosis free, child ratings of anxiety during the behavioral avoidance test, and treatment satisfaction as reported by the youth and their parents. There were no differences on self-report measures. Treatment effects were maintained at follow-up. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social class privilege and adolescent women’s perceived career options.

This qualitative study examined the perceived career options of 10 White adolescent young women who experienced social class privilege in their families of origin. The model of contextual privilege and career selection for adolescent White women emerged from the data, and it describes how social class privilege, gender, achievement expectations, experiences, and verbal messages may influence perceived occupational possibilities. The model includes 4 categorical groups: (a) Social Class Identity and Perceptions, (b) Shared Perceptions of Achievement and Expectations, (c) Exposure, and (d) Evaluating Career Options. The findings suggest that social class privilege contributes to the perception of numerous career options. Yet it also contributes to a process wherein participants unintentionally limit their career aspirations to a very narrow range of options. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

同伴教育在青少年预防艾滋病教育中的运用

一直以来青少年艾滋病预防教育效果不佳,这和教育目的不明确、教育内容缺乏针对性、教育模式滞后及教育方法单一有关。艾滋病同伴教育是中国红十字会为预防艾滋病而推广的一个项目,在青年人中挑选合适的人选,让他们普及艾滋病的预防知识,同龄人讲述自身经历和体会,更易唤起身边同伴的心灵共鸣。对同伴教育的方式,活动内容、意义进行了阐述,指出这种互动、感化的教育方式更容易触动心灵,具有讲授、灌输等单项交流所不可及的效果。     

Family Communication and Religiosity Related to Substance Use and Sexual Behavior in Early Adolescence: A Test for Pathways Through Self-Control and Prototype Perceptions.

This research tested predictions about pathways to substance use and sexual behavior with a community sample of 297 African American adolescents (M age: 13.0 years). Structural modeling indicated that parent-adolescent communication had a path to unfavorable prototypes of substance users; quality of parent-adolescent relationship had paths to good self-control, higher resistance efficacy, and unfavorable prototypes of sexually active teens; and religiosity had inverse direct effects to both substance use and sexual behavior. Self-control constructs had paths to prototypes of abstainers, whereas risk taking had paths to prototypes of drug and sex engagers and direct effects to outcomes. Prototypes had paths to outcomes primarily through resistance efficacy and peer affiliations. Effects were also found for gender, parental education, and temperament characteristics. Implications for self-control theory and prevention research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cortical brain regions engaged by masked emotional faces in adolescents and adults: An fMRI study.

Face-emotion processing has shown signs of developmental change during adolescence. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used on 10 adolescents and 10 adults to contrast brain regions engaged by a masked emotional-face task (viewing a fixation cross and a series of masked happy and masked fearful faces), while blood oxygen level dependent signal was monitored by a 1.5-T MRI scanner. Brain regions differentially engaged in the 2 age groups were mapped by using statistical parametric mapping. Summed across groups, the contrast of masked face versus fixation-cross viewing generated activations in occipital-temporal regions previously activated in passive face-viewing tasks. Adolescents showed higher maxima for activations in posterior association cortex for 3 of the 4 statistical contrasts. Adolescents and adults differed in the degree to which posterior hemisphere brain areas were engaged by viewing masked facial displays of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How do adolescents process smoking and antismoking advertisements? A social cognitive analysis with implications for understanding smoking initiation.

Youth tobacco use has increased substantially in the United States during the past decade. This increase can be attributed, in part, to the potency of cigarette advertising and relative ineffectiveness of antismoking advertising. In this article, the authors argue that an understanding of the effects of these 2 competing forms of advertising on youth smoking is limited in current theoretical treatments and that an integrative theoretical perspective has yet to be advanced. The authors argue that the elaboration likelihood model (R.E. Petty & J.T. Cacioppo, 1986) offers a framework with sufficient explanatory power in this domain. Prevention and legislative interventions may benefit from this analysis, which ultimately may help to decrease youth tobacco use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)