Daphne M. Keats

Comparative Research on the Social Determinants of Adolescent Drinking

Previous research concerned with social influence and with adolescent behaviors has suggested the utility of distinctions between modeling and normative influence, parental and peer influence, instrumentality and internalization, internalization through own norms versus preferences, and among cultural contexts. Most studies investigate the effects of variables derived from only one or a few of these distinctions. In this study, interviews conducted in Australia, France, Norway, and the United States provide data to examine the utility of these distinctions for the prediction of alcohol use by adolescents. As predicted, internalization rather than instrumentality is the reason for effective social influence in all four countries, and internalized effects occur by means of preferences rather than own norms. Both peer modeling and peer norms have significant, internalized effects on adolescent drinking in allfour countries, and parental modeling has significant, internalized effects on adolescent drinking in Australia and France, but not in Norway and the United States. Contrary to predictions, parental norms are related to adolescent drinking in Australia and the United States, but not in France and Norway. Reasons for these findings and their implications for studies of social influence and adolescent behavior are discussed.

The Effects of Work Environment and In-Group Membership on the Leadership Preferences of Anglo-Australians and Chinese Australians:

The effects of in-group membership and work environment on the leadership preferences of Anglo-Australians and Chinese Australians were examined. Leadership styles were based on Misumis PM theory. Subjects were sixty Anglo-Australian and sixty Chinese Australian males, all of whom were full-time white-collar employees in large organizations. Leadership profiles, vignettes describing different work environments, and in-group/out-group membership scenarios were constructed. Although PM-type leadership was clearly the most popular style of leadership with both cultural groups, the leadership preferences of the Chinese Australians were more affected by the work environment than were those of the Anglo-Australians. The in-group/out-group effect on leadership preferences was not significant for both cultural groups. There were cultural differences in the rank orderings of the four leadership styles. A significant in-group/out-group effect was found for the rank orderings of both cultural groups. Despite clear cultural differences in leader selection and rank orderings, Bontempos INDCOL Scale did not detect cultural differences in individualism-collectivism.

Cross-Cultural Studies in Child Development in Asian Contexts

Over a number of years, the author has been involved in crosscultural research with Asian and Australian children and adolescents. This article will review some of the work done with and by some of the authors colleagues in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and China. These countries are all multicultural, yet the contributions of these Asian researchers to the role of cultural factors in development are not as well known as they should be. Some reasons for this situation will be discussed. In each of these countries, far-reaching changes now challenge traditional cultural values in family relations and child-rearing practices. The author highlights some of the most significant differences in Asian and Western approaches to child-rearing practices and discusses these in the context of some dominant religious, social, philosophical, and ideological positions.

The Effect of Language on Concept Acquisition in Bilingual Children

The aim was to determine whether logical concepts acquired in one language could be transferred to another language. Subjects included 35 children bilingual in Polish and English, 31 children bilingual in German and English, and a control group of 34 Australian children, none of whom was able to conserve weight. After pretesting in one language, they were trained in the acquisition of the concept of weight using the other, then posttested in the previous language. One month later, delayed posttests were given in both languages. Results showed that the concept was acquired in either language, and there was some generalization to other concepts. Results gave some support to the Piagetian standpoint that a concept may be considered independently from the language by which it is acquired. Interference between languages was indicated in the German group in that the earlier they had learned English, the poorer was their final performance in both languages.

Work Cognitions in Multicultural Interaction

This study investigates the influence of ethnic cultural background and multicultural interaction on the structure of individual work cognitions. Subjects drawn equally from the Aboriginal, Anglo-Saxon, Chinese, and Lebanese Australian cultural communities responded to the Work Cognitions Questionnaire, an instrument designed to measure cultural and personal achievement goals and work values. The rank-ordering pattern of Cultural Goals, Personal Goals, and Work Values were positively correlated (all p <. 0001) within each cultural group. Multidimensional unfolding revealed that not only did the structure of achievement goals and work values vary between the four cultural groups, but that in environments where cultural groups interact, cognitive transition was found among individuals of minority ethnic groups who moved away from ethnic work norms, and moved toward work norms of the dominant cultural group. The variations in work cognition structures are explained in the basis of the culture-specific achievement structure, which effectively accounts for the dynamic of culture and cultural interaction at both the group and individual levels of cognitive functioning.

Using the cross-cultural method to study the development of values

Abstract The focus of this research has been the creation, testing and elaboration of a model of values development which involves the development of cognitive abilities but also takes interpersonal demands and the cultural context into account. The use of the cross-cultural method makes it possible to separate the processes of values thinking, which may have some common characteristics across different cultural groups, from the values held, which derive from the childs culture. The issues are discussed using examples from data obtained from Malay, Indian, Chinese and Australian adolescents.

Parents, Friends, Siblings, and Adults: Unfolding Referent Other Importance Data for Adolescents

Abstract Few studies have yet examined the importance of referent others. One reason for avoiding this topic may be ignorance of appropriate methods for analyzing data. This paper reports two comparative studies of referent others for adolescents. (One study compared four Western countries, the other a Western country with the major ethnic groups in Malaysia.) Data were analyzed by means of the unfolding method. Adolescents were found to rank parents first in importance, followed by friends, adults, and then siblings. Parents were perceived as less similar to friends than they were to siblings or adults. Rankings of referent others varied more by question content than by nationality. Techniques and advantages of the unfolding method are spelled out.

Concept Acquisition in Malaysian Bilingual Children

Following earlier work with Polish- and German-speaking children in Australia, a group of five-year-old Malaysian children bilingual in English and Malay and English and Chinese were pretested in both languages. They were then trained in one language on the conservation of weight, posttested on their other language, and again from one to two months later in both languages. Immediate improvements were obtained after training, but other untrained control groups also showed improvement on the delayed posttest. These results are considered together with the previous results. It is concluded that language plays a minor part in the acquisition of cognitive concepts and that young children will perform at a slightly higher level on these tasks if tested in their native language.