Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs最新文献

The purpose of this study was to examine older brother correlates of younger brother drug use in the context of parental influences and younger brother personality. The sample consisted of 278 White male college students and their oldest brothers, who volunteered to answer self-administered questionnaires. Results indicated that 3 domains of influence each had an independent impact on younger brother drug use: (a) parent-younger brother relationships and parent drug use, (b) older brother-younger brother relationships and older brother drug use, and (c) younger brother personality. Modeling of nondrug use and a strong attachment relationship in the parent-younger brother and sibling dyads, as well as younger sibling traits of conventionality, had strong links to low younger brother drug use. Our findings highlight the importance of modeling and mutual parent-child attachment relationships as well as sibling relationships as they relate to the possible etiology of drug use.

Theories of epistemological development are reviewed. A framework describing variations in adolescents' and adults' intuitive conceptions of knowledge is proposed. Within the proposed framework, naive epistemologies are conceptualized in terms of their assumptions concerning (a) the nature of the knowledge acquisition process, (b) the degree of correspondence between knowledge and reality, (c) the certainty of knowledge, (d) the commensurability of knowledge across individuals, (e) the degree to which knowledge forms or inheres in a coherent system of thought, (f) the nature of meaning, (g) the appropriate procedures for evaluating competing beliefs, (h) the nature and role of authorities as sources of knowledge and justification, and (i) the nature of reality. This framework is used to describe possible developmental changes in adolescents' and adults' concepts of knowledge and to suggest how future researchers might address core issues concerning epistemological development.

Adolescents' (N = 378) perceptions of and satisfaction with parenting styles, perceived parent-adolescent conflict, perceived frequency of parent-adolescent communication and related feelings, perceived parent-adolescent relationship, and mental health were assessed with rating scales and structured interviews on 2 occasions separated by 1 year. Results showed that the questionnaire and interview measures at each time could be grouped into 2 stable factors: Paternal Parenthood Qualities (PPQ) and Maternal Parenthood Qualities (MPQ). Although both factors generally had significant concurrent and longitudinal correlations with adolescents' mental health, PPQ at Time 1-predicted changes in adolescent life satisfaction, hopelessness, self-esteem, purpose in life, and general psychiatric morbidity at Time 2, whereas MPQ at Time 1 did not predict those changes. Adolescents' mental health at Time 1 was found to predict changes in MPQ but not PPQ at Time 2. Relative to maternal qualities, paternal qualities were generally found to exert a stronger impact on adolescent psychological well-being.

Four 1st-grade boys who were lagging cognitively were taught class-inclusion and sequencing strategies via a multiple baseline design with the learning-set approach to instruction. All of the boys gained significantly when taught class inclusion; these gains endured while the boys were taught sequencing. Three of the 4 made significant gains when taught sequencing; these gains also proved enduring. These conceptual gains were accompanied by IQ gains averaging 9.25 points, as assessed by the Slosson Intelligence Test (R. L. Slosson, 1982). The boys also made significant gains in academic achievement as measured by the Diagnostic Achievement Battery-2 (P. L. Newcomer, 1990). The results support past research on the effectiveness of instruction in class inclusion. They also suggest that the ability to understand sequences may be an important step in cognitive development.

Poor readers and reading age level matched controls performed a primed picture-naming task and a lexical decision task; their vocabulary performance was also assessed. Picture-naming data showed that poor readers were slower in the repeated prime condition only. This effect could not be explained by differences in vocabulary. Semantically related primes were ineffective compared with the repeated prime condition. Lexical decision data replicated the nonword reading deficit hypothesis: Poor readers were slower, particularly on the pseudowords and nonwords. A separately conducted analysis of the real word data showed strong effects of acquisition age. Late-acquired words had longer reaction times. Vocabulary performance as the covariate could explain the between-groups effects on this task. Semantic processing, as it is involved in picture naming, and phonological processing, as it is involved in decoding printed words, appear to be 2 relatively independent sources of reading deficits.

This comprehensive review of information processing theory together with multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis methods is used to examine proposed models, developing taxonomies, and treatment for schizophrenia. Studies cited link attention deficit with schizophrenia, suggest that for some tasks, the irregular performance of people with schizophrenia is the major problem, add evidence of treatment effects on sufferers' mental organization, provide a critique of current diagnostic instruments, and highlight the importance of supporting coping skills. The author concludes that multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis are important tools for the development of theory and knowledge and act as a check against theoretical bias.

The main objectives of this article are to describe the effects of mediated learning experience (MLE) strategies in mother-child interactions on the child's cognitive modifiability, the effects of distal factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, mother's intelligence, child's personality) on MLE interactions, and the effects of situational variables on MLE processes. Methodological aspects of measurement of MLE interactions and of cognitive modifiability, using a dynamic assessment approach, are discussed. Studies with infants showed that the quality of mother-infant MLE interactions predict later cognitive functioning and that MLE patterns and children's cognitive performance change as a result of intervention programs. Studies with preschool and school-aged children showed that MLE interactions predict cognitive modifiability and that distal factors predict MLE interactions but not the child's cognitive modifiability. The child's cognitive modifiability was predicted by MLE interactions in a structured but not in a free-play situation. Mediation for transcendence (e.g., teaching rules and generalizations) appeared to be the strongest predictor of children's cognitive modifiability. Discussion of future research includes the consideration of a holistic transactional approach, which refers to MLE processes, personality, and motivational-affective factors, the cultural context of mediation, perception of the whole family as a mediational unit, and the "mediational normative scripts."

In recent years, a growing number of behavior therapists have expressed concern over the current state of the behavioral therapy movement. Some of the major problems raised center on current overload and fractionization, the lack of a coherent overall picture, the loss of identity, and the influx of cognitivism. In an attempt to enhance understanding of the factors responsible for the current crises in the behavior therapy field, the author provides a historical overview of the behavioral movement from its original conception to its current state. An argument is made that the solution to the afore-mentioned problems resides in the readoption of the underlying philosophy of science that originally gave birth and purpose to the field.

This longitudinal study is an examination of the relationship between marijuana use and the assumption of adult roles, as well as the relationship between assuming adult roles and the likelihood of later marijuana use. Data were collected at 5 points in time from childhood through early adulthood (late 20s) by means of a structured questionnaire. Participants' marijuana use and the assumption of adult roles, including employment, marriage, parenthood, and living arrangements, were measured, and the data were analyzed with logistic regression analyses. A history of marijuana use was associated with an increased risk of adopting more unconventional adult roles, such as postponement of marriage, having a child out of wedlock, and unemployment. These results suggest that frequent prior marijuana use may adversely affect one's ability to successfully assume conventional adult roles. Furthermore, controlling for earlier marijuana use, marriage during early adulthood significantly decreased the risk of later marijuana use.

In this study, a model that specified the effects of socioeconomic and psychological resources on physical and mental health was investigated. It was hypothesized that (a) both kinds of resources would affect physical and mental health more strongly in older than in younger adults, and that (b) socioeconomic resources would exert stronger effects in men, whereas psychological resources would exert stronger effects in women. Data were collected in an Israeli national sample. Structural modeling analyses indicated that the model fit the data. A comparison of 4 groups of participants (2 age groups--18-39 and 40-84--and both genders) showed that, for men, the respective effects of socioeconomic and psychological resources on physical and mental health were strong in the older, but not in the younger, group. For women, socioeconomic resources had nonsignificant effects, whereas psychological resources had strong effects on mental health in both age groups; psychological resources also had a moderate effect on physical health in the older group. The results suggest that the contribution of personal resources to health is regulated by the joint impact of age and gender, presumably involving shifting roles and vulnerabilities of men and women across the life span.