Dieter Ferring

Still Stable after all This...?: Temporal Comparison in Coping with Severe and Chronic Disease

Temporal comparison theory is used as a conceptual framework for studying coping with life-threatening illness. Propositions derived from this theory were investigated in a questionnaire study on cancer patients (N = 100). Results reveal high rates of perceived change in the majority of the life domains included in the study, suggesting that consistency could not be maintained in most patients. Furthermore, a disproportion of perceived positive and negative life changes emerged, the latter being more prominent. Change perceptions were related to gender, age, and time elapsed since diagnosis. The relationships between positive and negative change on one hand and adjustment indicators on the other indicated that negative change correlated significantly whereas positive change was not associated with adjustment to illness.

Emotional relationship quality of adult children with ageing parents: on solidarity, conflict and ambivalence

Emotions towards a relationship partner provide relevant and specific information about relationship quality. Based on this assumption the present study was performed to identify different types of emotional relationship quality of middle-aged adult children with their ageing parents. This was done by cluster analytic procedures in a sample of 1,208 middle-aged adult children (482 men, 726 women). Using ratings of positive and negative emotions towards their mother and father as grouping variables, the same four-cluster solution emerged for both the child–mother relationship and the child–father relationship. Clusters were labelled as amicable, disharmonious, detached and ambivalent relationships. Results showed that especially amicable relationships clearly prevailed followed by ambivalent, detached and disharmonious relationships. Clusters differed significantly with respect to gender of adult child, willingness to support, expected parental support and overt conflicts. In a cross-classification of cluster membership regarding the child–mother relationship (four clusters) and the child–father relationship (four clusters), all possible 16 combinations were observed, with a considerable degree of divergence regarding the type of relationship quality within the same family. Results are discussed with respect to types of emotional relationship quality, within family differences and the intrafamilial regulation of relationship quality.

A Meta-Analysis on the Effectiveness of Bilingual Programs in Europe

The effectiveness of bilingual programs for promoting academic achievement of language minority children in the United States has been examined in six meta-analyses. The present meta-analytic study investigates this topic for the first time in the European context. Thorough literature searches uncovered 101 European studies, with only 7 meeting the inclusion criteria. Two studies were excluded from further analyses. Results from the random-effects model of the five remaining studies indicate a small positive effect (g = 0.23; 95% confidence interval [0.10, 0.36]) for bilingual over submersion programs on reading of language minority children. Thus, this meta-analysis supports bilingual education—that is, including the home language of language minority children—in school instruction. However, the generalizability of the results is limited by the small number of studies on this topic. More published studies on bilingual education in Europe are needed as well as closer attention to the size of the effects.

Soziale Netze im Alter: Selektivität in der Netzwerkgestaltung, wahrgenommene Qualität der Sozialbeziehungen und Affekt

Zusammenfassung. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wurden Vorhersagen bezuglich der Netzwerkkomposition im Alter aus der sozioemotionalen Selektivitatstheorie abgeleitet und einer empirischen Prufung unterzogen. Im einem querschnittlichen Altersgruppenvergleich wurde zum einen gepruft, ob altere Menschen durch Selektivitat in der Netzwerkgestaltung zu beschreiben sind und ihr soziales Netz einen vergleichsweise hoheren Anteil emotional nahestehender Personen aufweist. Zum anderen wurde in Erweiterung zu bisherigen Uberprufungen der Theorie untersucht, inwieweit das soziale Netz im Alter neben dem Kriterium der emotionalen Nahe durch positive und negative Beziehungsaspekte zu beschreiben ist. In einem letzten Schritt wurden die Effekte der Selektivitat und des wahrgenommenen Ausmases an positiven und negativen Beziehungsaspekten auf die Haufigkeit von positivem und negativem Affekt uberpruft. Die Befunde bestatigen die bisherige Befundlage zur veranderten Netzwerkkomposition im Alter. Zudem konnte gezeigt werden...

''Still the same and better off than others?'': social and temporal comparisons in old age

Cognitive adaptation in the elderly and the motivated use of temporal and social comparisons set the conceptual frame for the present study. Three research questions were investigated in a sample of 2.129 persons aged between 50 and 90 years. First, the direction of social and temporal comparisons for three domains (physical fitness, mental fitness, psychological resilience) was studied, and findings did show that especially lateral followed by upward comparisons were most frequent under both perspectives; downward comparisons clearly showed the least frequency. Second, the distribution of comparison directions was investigated across four age groups. These analyses showed that upward comparisons increased and lateral comparisons decreased across age groups; differential results were observed for the domains under consideration. Third, the relation between social and temporal comparisons and self-esteem was studied. Results obtained here indicated a motivated use of specific comparison directions since downward social comparisons and upward temporal comparisons were most frequent in persons with low self-esteem. Taken together, the study underlines the different functions of social and temporal comparisons in adulthood and old age; it indicates a predominant need for consensus and consistency, and it highlights the importance of self-esteem in cognitive adaptation.

Struktur und Folgen elterlicher Ungleichbehandlung von Geschwistern: Forschungsstand und -desiderate

Zusammenfassung. Der Stand der empirischen Forschung zu Struktur und Folgen elterlicher Ungleichbehandlung von Geschwistern wird zusammenfassend dargestellt und bewertet. Nach einer Erlauterung der Konzepte “elterliche Ungleichbehandlung“ (EU) und “elterliche Bevorzugung“ (EB) werden die einschlagigen Messmethoden beschrieben. Sodann wird die Befundlage zu den Folgen von EU resp. EB fur die beteiligten Geschwister sowie fur die Geschwister- und die Eltern-Kind-Beziehung referiert. Als wesentliche Desiderate kunftiger Forschung werden festgehalten: (1) Untersuchung der Struktur und Folgen von EU uber Kindheit und Jugend hinaus auch im Erwachsenenalter, (2) Differenzierung und psychometrische Abbildung von EU nach Bereichen, Akteuren und zeitlichem Bezug sowie nach Ausmas und Richtung und (3) Analyse vermittelnder Prozesse zwischen EU und diversen Folgen unter Rekurs auf Theorien sozialer Vergleiche sowie gerechtigkeits- und emotionstheoretische Ansatze.

Psychological factors associated with the uptake of measles immunization: findings and implications for prevention.

A cross-sectional study of 8204 children was performed to investigate the prevalence of immunization against measles, mumps and rubella and possible determinants of immunization uptake. The study was approached from a Lewinian perspective on preventive behaviour. Seventy-one questions referring to the guardian of the child, his or her partner, the household and the child, as well as to immunization-related experiences and situational topics were asked. Two psychological variables were studied: health locus of control and subjective relevance concerning measles. The immunization rate was 77.7 percent [95 percent confidence interval 76.8-78.6]. Multiple logistic regression yielded the following odds ratios for non- uptake of measles immunization: natural health orientation 8.74 [6.72-11.37]; advice of paediatrician 6.02 [4.67-7.75]; dangerousness of measles 2.00 [1.53-2.60]; marital status 1.87 [1.31-2.51]; assessed reliability of vaccination 1.57 [1.23-2.01]; smoking 1.55 [1.21-1.98]; and number of siblings 1.55 [1.21- 1.98]. Parents or guardians of immunized children were more internal and assessed measles as more relevant than those of non- immunized children.

Designing for older people: a case study in a retirement home

This paper discusses the design process of a system aiming to support daily life of older people in a retirement home. This system called Sammy was designed on a participatory basis by a multidisciplinary team. The main results are the importance of communicating with all the stakeholders regarding both strengths and weaknesses of the new system, the importance of the social factors in system acceptance, the need to combine various evaluation methods during the design process, the importance of contextual factors and the need to take into account the dynamics of population in a retirement home.

Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: Current State and Gaps of Research

Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to an evaluation of an individual’s life from his or her own perspective. It contrasts sharply with evaluations made from the point of view of external observers (researchers or policymakers), which are based on objective criteria related to health, education, income or other aspects (Diener, 2006). Recently, prominent SWB researchers have argued forcefully in favour of supplementing traditional objective indicators of well-being or quality of life (such as economic indicators) with indicators of SWB (thus, people’s evaluations and feelings about their lives). This should provide the public and politicians with more complete and relevant information for public discussion and political decision-making (see Diener, Kesebir and Lucas, 2008). In our opinion, these arguments apply with equal measure to the quality of life and SWB of older adults. The following list is an overview of policy questions about these issues. The list comprises five sets of questions that will in part be answered in later sections of the chapter.

Elemente subjektiver Krankheitstheorien: ihre Bedeutung für die Krankheitsbewältigung, soziale Interaktion und Rehabilitation von Krebskranken

In dem vorliegenden Beitrag sollen die grundlegenden Fragestellungen und Zielsetzungen des Forschungsprojektes „Elemente subjektiver Krankheitstheorien“ (Filipp et al. 1987) beschrieben werden. Dieses Forschungsprojekt zielt ab auf eine systematische und umfassende Beschreibung und Analyse subjektiver Krankheitstheorien im Umfeld von Krebserkrankungen. „Subjektive Krankheitstheorien“ werden dabei als individuelle Wissens- und Uberzeugungssysteme aufgefast, in denen krankheitsbezogene Vorstellungen und Deutungen, Ursachenannahmen sowie Verlaufserwartungen und Sinndeutungen des Krankheitsgeschehens in spezifischer Weise organisiert sind und die sich unter Rekurs auf ganz unterschiedliche (u. a. gedachtnispsychologische, handlungs- und attributionstheoretische) Ansatze abbilden lassen sollten. Dabei wird angenommen, das sowohl (Krebs)patienten selbst wie auch Angehorige von Patienten, das medizinische Personal und auch Personen, die bislang weder beruflich noch privat in Kontakt zu Krebskranken standen, solche subjektiven Krankheitstheorien fur sich aufgebaut haben und das in Abhangigkeit vom Ausmas subjektiver Betroffenheit Elemente subjektiver Krankheitstheorien in Inhalt und Struktur variieren konnen.