Indicators Of Adjustment Research Articles

Toward a more Complex Understanding of Acculturation and Adjustment

This study examined possible links between acculturation and adjustment in 182 Vietnamese youths living in a primarily Anglo-American community. Extending past work, the present research employed a more complex perspective on both acculturation—cast as separate levels of involvement in the native and host cultures—and adjustment—measured across personal (distress, depression, self-esteem), interpersonal (family relationships), and achievement (school grade point average) domains. Results indicated that, as expected, involvement in the U.S. culture predicted positive functioning across all three adjustment domains, and involvement in the Vietnamese culture predicted positive family relationships. Contrary to hypotheses, involvement in the Vietnamese culture related negatively to personal adjustment (i.e., distress). These findings are discussed in terms of the apparent complexities of the acculturation-adjustment link, particularly with regard to the utility of viewing acculturation from a two-dimensional framework and the need to consider the type of adjustment indices examined and the social contexts in which ethnic groups reside.

Psychosocial Adjustment among Children Conceived via Donor Insemination by Lesbian and Heterosexual Mothers

This study examined the relations among family structure (e.g., number of parents, parental sexual orientation), family process (e.g., parents' relationship satisfaction, interparental conflict), and the psychological adjustment of children who had been conceived via donor insemination. The 80 participating families, all of whom had conceived children using the resources of a single sperm bank, included 55 families headed by lesbian and 25 families headed by heterosexual parents. Fifty families were headed by couples and 30 by single parents. Participating children averaged 7 years of age. Results showed that children were developing in normal fashion, and that their adjustment was unrelated to structural variables such as parental sexual orientation or the number of parents in the household. These results held true for teacher reports as well as for parent reports. Variables associated with family interactions and processes were, however, significantly related to indices of children's adjustment. Parents who were experiencing higher levels of parenting stress, higher levels of interparental conflict, and lower levels of love for each other had children who exhibited more behavior problems.

Irrational beliefs, individualism-collectivism, and adjustment

Ellis (1994) has argued that a failure to actualize both personal individualism and social collectivism is irrational and leads to maladjustment. In a test of these assumptions, two measures of irrational beliefs—the Survey of Personal Beliefs (SPB) and the Belief Scale—were correlated with indices of individualism, collectivism, and psychosocial adjustment. Both individualism and collectivism had positive and negative mental health implications. Values associated with each covaried directly. The validity of several SPB subscales was challenged, but data for especially the Belief Scale confirmed that individualistic and socially oriented forms of actualization can be part of a balanced functioning of personality.

Concern about aspects of body image and adjustment to early stage breast cancer.

Several authors have suggested that patients adjust more poorly to breast cancer if they are heavily invested in body image as a source of their sense of self-worth. This prospective study examined this possibility, looking at two aspects of concern about body image as predictors of several indices of adjustment over the first postoperative year. At diagnosis (and again a year later) 66 women with early stage breast cancer reported how much they valued a) a sense of body integrity (or intactness) and b) a good physical appearance. The day before surgery, a week afterward, and at 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month follow ups, they reported on their mood. At presurgery and at follow ups they also rated their attractiveness and sexual desirability and reported on frequency of sexual interaction. At follow-ups they also indicated how much their illness and treatment were interfering with social and recreational activities. Initial investment in appearance was related to distress across the postsurgical year. In contrast, investment in appearance made women more resilient against deterioration in their perceptions of attractiveness. Concern about body integrity did not strongly predict emotional distress, but it related to adverse impact on social and recreational activities in the follow-up period, to deterioration in feelings of sexual desirability, and to feelings of alienation from the self (feeling "not like yourself anymore"). Body image is often thought of in terms of physical appearance, but there is also a body image pertaining to integrity, wholeness, and normal functioning. People who are greatly concerned about either aspect of their body image are vulnerable to poorer psychosocial adjustment when confronting treatment for breast cancer. The poorer adjustment takes a different form, however, depending on the nature of the patient's body-image concern.

GRANDPARENTS’ AND PARENTS’ VIEWS ABOUT THEIR FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S ADJUSTMENT TO KINDERGARTEN

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceptions of family characteristics by three family dyads (maternal grandparents, paternal grandparents, and parents), as well as the relationship of these perceptions with the adjustment of young children in these families to kindergarten. Grandparents and their adult children (parents) described their current families by completing the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (D.H. Olson, J. Portner, & Y. Lavee, 1985). Due to significant Pearson product‐moment correlations between cohesion and adaptability in the three dyads, the relationships between grandparents’ and parents’ descriptions of their families and between family perceptions and children's adjustment to kindergarten were explored using partial correlations. Despite the similarities on family dimensions between generations, we found unique influences of parents, maternal, and paternal grandparents on three unrelated indices of children's adjustment to kindergarten.

Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting Practices and Social and School Performance in Chinese Children

The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and social and school adjustment in Chinese children. A sample of second grade children, aged eight years, and their parents in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, participated in this study. The children were group administered a peer assessment measure of social behaviour and a sociometric nomination measure. Teachers completed a rating scale on school-related social competence and problems for each child. Data concerning child-rearing practices were obtained from parents. In addition, information on children’s academic and social competence was obtained from school records. It was found that authoritarian parenting was associated positively with aggression and negatively with peer acceptance, sociability-competence, distinguished studentship and school academic achievement. In contrast, parental authoritative style was associated positively with indices of social and school adjustment and negatively with adjustment problems. The results indicated that, inconsistent with the argument in the literature (e.g. Steinberg, Dornbusch, & Brown, 1992), authoritative and authoritarian parenting practices were relevant to social and academic performance in Chinese children.

Mechanisms Linking Genetic and Social Influences in Adolescent Development

opment. On the one hand, current studies of the social environment, using improved methods, report sizable associations between en vironmental factors, such as par enting practices, and indices of adjustment, such as antisocial be havior (e.g., see Kellam & Rebok, 1992; Patterson, 1993; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989; Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992; Reiss et al., 1995). On the other hand, there is convincing evidence that genetic influences account for a substantial percentage of indi vidual differences on the same measures, including antisocial be havior, among children and ado lescents (Edelbrock, Rende, Plo min, & Thompson, 1995; Lyons et al, 1995; Rowe, 1983). In many of these studies, genetic and psycho social factors each account for half or more of the variance in the same

Substance use and personal adjustment among disadvantaged teenagers: A six-month prospective study

Using a 2-wave longitudinal design with a 6-month interval, associations were examined between substance use and emotional/behavioral adjustment among 138 inner-city ninth-grade students. Substance use was operationalized in terms of self-reported severity of problems associated with use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. Adjustment was measured based on various sources including ratings by the self, by peers, and by teachers, as well as school records. Cross-sectional data indicated that drug use showed associations in expected directions with all indices of adjustment with the exception of peer-rated sociability. Longitudinal analyses indicated that high levels of drug use early in the year were related to subsequent increases in behavioral and emotional maladjustment. Early maladjustment, across different domains, conversely, was minimally associated with escalations in drug use. Results are discussed in terms of mechanisms potentially underlying prospective associations, as well as implications for interventions.

Sports participation in individuals with spinal cord injury: demographic and psychological correlates.

The factors associated with involvement in sport were surveyed in a sample of 121 adults (aged 16 to 60 years) with spinal cord injury. The subjects responded to a questionnaire requesting data on personal characteristics and injury variables, and completed measures of depression (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale) and trait anxiety (Spielberger's State Trait Anxiety Inventory). Univariate analysis showed that although sport participants (n = 67) did not differ significantly from nonparticipants (n = 54) on any of the psychometric measures, they were younger, had sustained their injury at an earlier stage, reported higher incomes, and were less likely to have sustained cervical-level damage. A hierarchical discriminant function analysis revealed that the significant predictors discriminating sport participants from nonparticipants were age and income. These findings suggested that, at least for this sample of individuals with spinal cord injury, post-injury involvement in sport was not specifically associated with indices of psychological adjustment.

Family history assessment of personality disorders: II. Association with measures of psychosocial functioning in direct evaluations with relatives.

To test the convergent validity of the Family History Interview for Personality Disorders (FHIPD), as well as the general utility of informants' reports of personality disorders, we explored the relationship between proband informant reports of Axis II diagnoses on the FHIPD and relative reports of various indices of psychosocial adjustment. Subjects were the first degree relatives (n = 454) of 224 probands participating in a family study of mood and personality disorders. Relatives provided information on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID), the Personality Disorder Examination (PDE), and other variables reflecting aspects of psychosocial dysfunction that are common in personality disorders. Proband informants were interviewed about their relatives using the FHIPD Proband informant reports of personality disorders on the FHIPD were associated with a variety of forms of psychosocial dysfunction as determined in direct assessments with the relatives, even for those with no diagnosable Axis II psychopathology dysfunction as determined in direct assessments with the relatives, even for those with no diagnosable Axis II psychopathology on direct interview. These results support the convergent validity of the FHIPD, and suggest that informants may provide important information on Axis II psychopathology that is not obtained from direct interviews with the subjects themselves.

Validity of the Basic Personality Inventory in a Correctional Setting

This study investigates the validity of the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) with a sample of 101 adult male offenders in a medium security institution. The criterion measures consisted of self-ratings (i.e., bipolar dimensional and adjective ratings), correctional officer ratings, and institutional adjustment (i.e., contact with medical staff, verbal warnings, institutional charges, days segregated, and cell maintenance). The majority of the scales corresponded well to the self-ratings. The Denial, Persecutory Ideation, Anxiety, and Thinking Disorder scales had poor convergent and discriminant validity with the correctional officer ratings. Interpersonal Problems, Alienation, and Impulse Expression scales predicted behavioral adjustment indexes. The results are summarized in relation to the higher order factors of emotional adjustment, antisocial orientation, cognitive functioning, and social or self-perception. Overall, the BPI scales adequately measure psychopathology and adjustment within a correctional setting.

Cognitive and Behavioral Predictors of Communication in Clinic-Referred and Nonclinical Mother-Adolescent Dyads

JANET S. REED Missouri Institute of Mental Health ERIC F. DuBow Bowling Green State University* This study examines the relation between mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of one another's behavior and their actual communication behavior during a problem-solving task. Forty mother-adolescent dyads completed self-report and observational measures of conflict and negative beliefs regarding the other. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that adolescents' negative beliefs about their mothers significantly contributed unique variance in predicting adolescent negative communication, beyond the effects of maternal communication behavior. Thus, treatment of parent-adolescent conflict should address adolescents' and parents' perceptions of one another, as well as their problemsolving behavior. Key Words: adolescence, cognitions, communication, observational measures, parent-child relations. An estimated 15% to 20% of adolescents aged 12 through 17 years experience significant levels of parent-adolescent communication problems, to the point that they may feel distressed enough to seek professional help (Montemayor, 1983). Researchers associate poor parent-adolescent communication with schizophrenia, aggression, low academic achievement, problems in social competence, difficulties with individuation, suicidal behavior, depressive symptomatology, and low self-esteem (Demo, Small, & Savin-Williams, 1987; Isberg et al., 1989; Tesser, Forehand, Brody, & Long, 1989). Only a few investigators (Alexander, Barton, Waldron, & Mas, 1989; Vincent Roehling & Robin, 1986) have examined the role of perceptions or interpretations of the other's behavior in relation to parent-adolescent communication. This type of investigation, which forms the basis for our study, is important because individuals' cognitions are increasingly cited as potential determinants of behavior. From the social learning perspective, psychological functioning is determined by the environment, by the behavior of the individual, and by factors associated with the person (Robinson & Jacobson, 1987, p. 122). PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COMMUNICATION BEHAVIOR Both self-report and observational measures of parent-adolescent communication have been associated with adolescent adjustment indices such as self-esteem (Demo et al., 1987; Isberg et al., 1989), grade point average, cognitive competence, social competence, acting-out behavior, and depressive symptoms (Alexander 1973a, 1973b; Prinz, Foster, Kent, & O'Leary, 1979; Tesser et al., 1989). These associations were generally stronger among male adolescents than among female adolescents. Researchers have employed observational methods to examine the bidirectional nature of parent and adolescent communication behavior or reciprocity as defined in the family systems literature (Alexander 1973a, 1973b). Alexander found that observed negative communication between parents and their delinquent adolescents was moderately to highly correlated, as was positive communication among parents and their nondelinquent adolescents. Both self-report and observational measures of parent and adolescent communication behaviors are important assessment methods. Although selfreport methods assess the insider's perspective of events, direct observation yields the outsider's perspective (Robin, Koepke, & Nayar, 1986). Self-report methods provide information about an individual's perceptions but may be subject to significant social desirability effects (Smith & Forehand, 1986). Observational methods, on the other hand, provide information about an individual's behaviors during interactions but are based on a limited amount of interaction time. ROLE OF PARENT AND ADOLESCENT COGNITIONS Parents' and adolescents' cognitions (e.g., family belief systems, expectations, and attributions of another) may be related to the behaviors that parents and adolescents exhibit toward one another, as well as to adolescent adjustment. …

Mixed messages: Implications of social conflict and social support within close relationships for adjustment to a stressful life event.

The authors examined the impact of women's perceptions of negative (conflict) and positive (support) exchanges with their mothers, partners, and friends before having an abortion on negative (distress) and positive (well-being) indexes of adjustment after the abortion. Preabortion conflict and support from the partner predicted postabortion adjustment in the same affective domain: Conflict uniquely predicted distress, whereas support uniquely predicted well-being. Within-source interactions were observed between support and conflict from mothers and friends. Women who perceived high support from their mothers or friends were more distressed if they also perceived them as sources of high conflict than if they perceived them as sources of low conflict. Among women who perceived their mothers or friends as nonsupportive, no relationship was observed between conflict and distress. Cross-source buffering was not observed.

Engagement in gender normative versus nonnormative forms of aggression: links to social-psychological adjustment.

Although many important advances have been made in our understanding of childhood aggression in recent years, a significant limitation of prior studies has been the lack of attention to the possible moderating role of gender in the links between aggression and social-psychological adjustment. To address this issue, the author evaluated the adjustment status associated with engagement in gender normative versus gender nonnormative forms of aggression for both boys and girls. Indexes of social-psychological adjustment assessed included teacher and self-reports of internalizing and externalizing difficulties (N = 1.166 children 9-12 years old). Results showed that children who engaged in gender nonnormative forms of aggression (i.e., overtly aggressive girls and relationally aggressive boys) were significantly more maladjusted than children who engaged in gender normative forms of aggression and children who were nonaggressive.

An Examination of Race Differences in Patients' Psychological Adjustment to Cancer

Although African Americans are at increased risk of cancer morbidity and mortality, very little is known about their psychological adjustment. African American males may be at especially high psychological risk, considering their disproportionately higher cancer mortality. Subjects were 42 African American and 56 White adults similar in age, cancer stage, marital status, and socioeconomic status. Analyses revealed no significant race or gender effects on global indices of psychological adjustment, depression, or anxiety. However, African Americans were more likely than Whites (a) to use avoidant coping strategies in dealing with the exigencies of their illness, (b) to report more cancer-related disruption in family relations, and (c) to identify fewer individuals in their social support network. No significant race differences were found on a measure of health care satisfaction. These findings highlight the need to provide a more comprehensive examination of individual, family, and socioecological variables and their relationship to psychological adaptation among minorities with cancer.

Development and validation of the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory (TRGI).

The article describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory (TRGI). An initial questionnaire was constructed from multiple sources of information. Three factor analytic studies were conducted to refine the TRGI and determine its factor structure, which consists of a Distress factor and three cognitive factors, Hindsight-Bias/Responsibility, Wrongdoing, and Lack of Justification. The TRGI has high internal consistency and adequate temporal stability. In validity studies with Vietnam veterans and battered women, TRGI scales and subscales were significantly correlated with other measures of guilt and with measures of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and other indexes ofadjustment. Findings support the conceptualization of trauma-related guilt as a multidimensional construct and highlight the role of cognitions in the experience of guilt and posttrauma psychopathology.

Positive and negative psychosocial sequelae of bone marrow transplantation: implications for quality of life assessment.

Life-threatening disease can trigger positive effects such as greater appreciation for life and enhanced interpersonal relationships. Little research has examined these salutary effects or their association with quality of life (QOL). Adult bone marrow transplantation (BMT) survivors (n = 90) were interviewed regarding psychosocial sequelae of BMT and completed indices of QOL and psychological adjustment. Thematic analysis was used to code interview responses into discrete categories of negative and positive sequelae. Multiple regression analyses indicated POSTOTAL scores were inversely associated with time post-BMT and positively associated with negative prognostic factors at BMT. Scores on indices of QOL and psychological adjustment were significantly correlated with reports of negative post-BMT sequelae but unrelated to positive sequelae. It was concluded that life-threatening disease can trigger positive sequelae that can contribute to QOL. However, standard QOL indices may not measure this positive QOL dimension, thus yielding a potentially incomplete picture of current QOL.

Psychosocial correlates of dyslexia across the life span

AbstractThis series of four studies examined the psychosocial functioning of children, adolescents, and adults with developmental dyslexia. One sample of nonreferred dyslexic and nondyslexic men, and three different samples of dyslexic and normally achieving control children and adolescents were studied. The child samples included both clinic-referred and nonreferred populations, and sibling and nonsibling control designs. Variables assessed included depressive and ADHD symptomatology, self-concept and, in the adult sample, socioeconomic status and other life adjustment variables.We found that, across three samples, children and adolescents report lower global self-worth and lower perceived competence in scholastic domains, more depressive symptomatology, and (both by self- and parent report) more ADHD symptomatology than normal achievers. In contrast, adult dyslexic men, while also perceiving themselves as less intelligent than their peers, reporting more generalized psychological distress, and showing less social mobility, were nonetheless comparable to their peers in terms of global self-worth, depressive symptomatology, and other indices of adult adjustment and satisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of a developmental “niche-finding” model, in which the shift into adult life may foster more constructive experiences and internal processes.

Adjusting to Criminal Victimization: The Correlates of Postcrime Distress

This article explores the correlates of immediate and short-term psychological distress among victims of burglary, robbery, and nonsexual assault. A panel design was employed. Crime victims were interviewed within 1 month following the incident and again 3 months later. Four sets of predictors were examined: demographics, previctimization adjustment and stress, features of the crime incident, and victims' perceptions. Measures of distress included a range of standard indices of adjustment and symptomatology. Demographic characteristics and victim perceptions accounted for the greatest proportions of variance in the outcome measures at Time 1 and Time 2. The strongest predictors of psychological adjustment at the end of 3 months included adjustment after 1 month, education, victim injury, victims' beliefs that their lives had been endangered during the crime episode, and victims' appraisals of the world as meaningful. Implications for treatment and directions for future studies are discussed.

Protecting The Low Income Earner: Minimum Wage Determination In Australia

AbstractThe Minimum Wage, in various variants, has been an important part of Australian wage determination for over a century. This paper documents the development of the minimum wage and in so doing highlights the pivotal role of the Sunshine Harvester case. That case left a number of legacies which are examined in other parts of the paper. These include the bifurcated nature of wage determination, consideration of family size, the sexual division of labour and wages, the conflict between needs and capacity to pay, wage adjustment indexes and the role of minimum wages in a decentralised wages system.