Ad A. Vermulst

The Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS): Some Psychometric Properties

The present study aimed to develop a short, easily administered, psychometrically sound, and valid instrument to assess the severity of compulsive Internet use. A set of criteria was determined based on the addiction literature. Next, the internal consistency and convergent validity were determined, and the set was tested as a one-factor solution in two representative samples of heavy Internet users (n = 447 and n = 229) and in one large convenience sample of regular Internet users (n = 16,925). In these three studies, respondents were asked about their online behavior and about problems related to Internet use. In the first study, the Online Cognition Scale (OCS) was included to determine concurrent validity. The newly developed Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) contains 14 items ratable on a 5-point Likert scale. The instrument showed good factorial stability across time and across different samples and subsamples. The internal consistency is high, and high correlations with concurrent and criterion variables demonstrate good validity.

Compulsive Internet Use Among Adolescents: Bidirectional Parent–Child Relationships

Although parents experience growing concerns about their children’s excessive internet use, little is known about the role parents can play to prevent their children from developing Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). The present study addresses associations between internet-specific parenting practices and CIU among adolescents, as well as the bidirectionality of these associations. Two studies were conducted: a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 4,483 Dutch students and a longitudinal study using a self-selected sample of 510 Dutch adolescents. Results suggest that qualitatively good communication regarding internet use is a promising tool for parents to prevent their teenage children from developing CIU. Besides, parental reactions to excessive internet use and parental rules regarding the content of internet use may help prevent CIU. Strict rules about time of internet use, however, may promote compulsive tendencies. Finally, one opposite link was found whereby CIU predicted a decrease in frequency of parental communication regarding internet use.

Work-family conflict and its relations to well-being: the role of personality as a moderating factor

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of the Big Five personality dimensions as possible moderating factors between two types of work–family conflicts: work interference with family (WIF); and family interference with work (FIW); and their relationship to well-being in the domains of work and family generally as well. The participants were fathers (n=296) who took part in a national family research project in the Netherlands in 1995. All fathers were employed full-time. The results showed that emotional stability moderated the relationships between WIF and job exhaustion and between WIF and depression. In addition, agreeableness moderated the relationship between FIW and marital satisfaction. Consequently, emotionally stable fathers were protected from negative effects of WIF on well-being at work (job exhaustion) and on general well-being (depression). In the same way, agreeable fathers were protected from negative effects of FIW on marital satisfaction. Besides these moderating effects, both WIF and FIW and emotional stability and agreeableness had main effects on well-being.

Some psychometric properties of the Ghent Parental Behavior Scale

Summary: The theoretical basis of the Ghent Parental Behavior Questionnaire (GPBS) originates from social-learning theories. Parents rate the frequency of their behavior toward a target child between 8 and 14 years old, and children rate the behavior of their parents. Confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for a solid factor structure in different samples. Nine scales are distinguished: Positive parenting, Monitoring, Rules, Discipline, Inconsistent discipline, Harsh punishment, Ignoring, Material rewarding, and Autonomy. It is also feasible to distinguish two second-order factors: Support and Negative control. The internal consistency is acceptable to good. Correlations between ratings of parents and children are positive and significant. We also find evidence for the assumption that positive parenting is negatively associated with problem behavior and stress in parenting, and, in addition, that inadequate parenting is positively related to problem behavior and stress in parenting.

What It Takes to Forgive: When and Why Executive Functioning Facilitates Forgiveness

To establish what it takes to forgive, the present research focused on the cognitive underpinnings of the forgiveness process. We conducted four studies that examined and supported the prediction that executive functioning (a set of cognitive control processes) facilitates forgiveness. First, a correlational study revealed a positive relation between executive functioning and dispositional forgiveness (Study 1). Second, a longitudinal study demonstrated that executive functioning predicts the development of forgiveness over a period of 5 weeks after the offense (Study 2). Finally, two experiments examined when and why executive functioning facilitates forgiveness. Specifically, and in line with predictions, Studies 3 and 4 showed that executive functioning facilitates forgiveness only in the case of relatively severe (as compared with mild) offenses. Furthermore, Study 4 provided evidence for a psychological mechanism underlying the relation between executive functioning and forgiveness by demonstrating the mediating role of rumination about the offense. Implications of these findings for the literature on forgiveness and the role of executive functioning in interpersonal relationships more generally are discussed.

Frequency and Quality of Parental Communication as Antecedents of Adolescent Smoking Cognitions and Smoking Onset

The present study examines whether aspects of parental communication about smoking function as antecedents of adolescent smoking cognitions. In this longitudinal full-family study (428 families), parent and adolescent reports were used to assess parental communication. Concepts of the Theory of Planned Behavior were measured among adolescents. Differences between older and younger siblings within the family were examined. Cross-sectionally, frequency and quality of communication were associated with smoking cognitions. Longitudinally, only quality of communication preceded smoking cognitions. This effect was mainly found for younger siblings. The results of this study emphasize the importance of quality of parental communication rather than frequency. Communication patterns based on mutual respect and equality help to prevent adolescent smoking onset.

Family Environment, Educational Aspirations, and Academic Achievement in Two Cultural Settings

This study tested a four-step model consisting of family background, perceived parental support and demandingness, educational aspirations, and academic achievement. The model was estimated on data collected from eighth graders (N = 686) growing up in two cultural settings: transition to modernity (Israeli Arabs) and Western (Israeli Jews). LISREL analyses performed separately for the four ethnicity-by-gender groups showed good fit of the model and supported the predicted differences in the links between the latent variables across ethnicity and gender. Specifically, family background had direct and indirect effects on the academic achievement of Arab but not Jewish adolescents. The indirect family background-academic achievement path showed gender differences only for the Arab adolescents via educational aspirations for girls and parental demandingness for boys, and parental demandingness was directly related to academic achievement of Arab boys and Jewish adolescents. Discussion explained ethnic and gender differences in terms of demographic and sociocultural conditions.

The indirect link between perceived parenting and adolescent future orientation: A multiple-step model

The indirect links between perceived mothers’ and fathers’ autonomous-accepting parenting and future orientation were examined in a mediational model consisting of five steps: perceived mothers’ and fathers’ autonomous-accepting parenting, self-evaluation, and the motivational, cognitive representation, and behavioural components of future orientation. Empirical estimates were carried out by LISREL on data collected from 458 (224 girls) Israeli Jewish adolescents (11th graders) regarding two prospective life domains: career and family. These estimates showed a good fit between the theoretical model and four domain-by-gender estimates (girls’ and boys’ career, and girls’ and boys’ family). Similar to recent findings, only few gender differences were found; particularly, girls scored higher on the motivational component applied to career (counter-hypothesis) and on all three components applied to prospective family. Discussion highlighted the pivotal functions of self-evaluation in linking between perceived parenting and the motivational component, and of the motivational component in linking between self-evaluation and the cognitive and behavioural components.

Parent-child relationships, partner relationships, and emotional adjustment: a birth-to-maturity prospective study.

This study examined whether detrimental childhood relationships with parents were related to partner relationship quality and emotional adjustment in adulthood. The authors tested a theoretical model in which (a) low-quality parent-child relationships were related to conflict and low-quality communication with parents in adolescence, (b) parent-adolescent conflict and low-quality communication were linked to low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood, and (c) low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood were predictive of low-quality partner relationships as well as depression, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with life at midlife. Multi-informant data were used from 212 Swedish individuals who were followed from birth into adulthood. Results demonstrated that, as hypothesized, negative parent-child bonds were indirectly related to low-quality partner relationships and dissatisfaction with life in adulthood (but not anxiety and depression) through conflictual parent-adolescent communication and low-quality partner relationships in young adulthood.

Long-Term Effects of Family Functioning and Child Characteristics on Problem Drinking in Young Adulthood

Several studies have shown that disturbances in the parent-child relationship in childhood are related to patterns of alcohol abuse in adolescence and young adulthood. Recently some researchers, however, argue that whether poor parenting is detrimental depends on specific child characteristics. Hence, instead of examining overall effects of parenting, it might be more appropriate to search for specific child-environment effects that lead to problematic drinking patterns. In this paper, we investigate the interplay between child characteristics (lack of self-control and aggression) and parenting on problematic alcohol use in young adulthood. Data were used from a longitudinal study that followed 301 children and their parents for a period of 10 years. Both parents and their children were interviewed on parenting practices and child characteristics when the child was a young adolescent (mean age of 12 years at time 1) and extensive information on problematic alcohol use was gathered when the participants were young adults (mean age was 22 at time 3). Findings showed strong effects of childhood aggression (men only) and poor family functioning on enhanced levels of problem drinking in young adulthood. Further, the combination of high levels of aggression and low levels of family functioning were related to problem drinking in men, whereas the combination of low parental control and low levels of affection expression were related to problem drinking in women.