Gary D. Stockdale

Individualism, Collectivism, and Delinquency in Asian American Adolescents

Although the study of delinquency has previously focused on identifying individual, family, peer, and social risk and protective factors, little empirical research has studied cultural factors and their relations to delinquency. In a large community sample of 329 Chinese, Cambodian, Laotian/Mien, and Vietnamese youths, individualism was positively related to, and collectivism negatively related to, self-reported delinquency, with partial mediation through peer delinquency (PD). Although the percentage of variance in delinquency attributable to individualism–collectivism was small compared to PD, it cannot be discounted as trivial. The results also supported the measurement and structural invariance of these associations across the 4 ethnic groups.

The Relationship of School, Parent, and Peer Contextual Factors with Self-Reported Delinquency for Chinese, Cambodian, Laotian or Mien, and Vietnamese Youth

The study of delinquency has focused on examining the relative predictive value of school, parent, and peer contextual variables, but relatively little research has included Chinese and Southeast Asian youth. Using data from a larger, community-based research study with 329 Chinese, Cambodian, Laotian or Mien, and Vietnamese youth, the authors found that peer delinquency was the strongest predictor of self-reported delinquency. However, its predictive power for the Chinese group is about one half that of the other groups. School attachment negatively predicted delinquency for Chinese and Vietnamese and for males and females but not for Cambodian and Laotian or Mien. Parent Attachment and parent discipline were found to be nonsignificant predictors. LISREL analyses also indicated measurement and structural invariance across ethnic groups, providing support for cross-cultural comparisons. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Developmental relations and patterns of change between alcohol use and number of sexual partners from adolescence through adulthood.

We explored two unanswered questions about the role of alcohol use in sexual behavior. First, we considered whether alcohol use temporally precedes and predicts changes in sexual behavior assessed as the number of sexual partners, whether the reverse pattern holds, or whether the association reflects a common, external cause. Second, we assessed whether associations between these behaviors change as adolescents transition to adulthood. These questions were addressed with a bivariate dual change latent difference score model. Drinking frequency and number of yearly sex partners were assessed 8 times across a 13-year period in a sample of 553 individuals. Assessment began when participants were in the 9th grade (age: M = 15.11 years, SD = 0.43). In addition to an association between the individual growth trajectories of these behaviors, alcohol use was a leading indicator of changes in number of sex partners throughout adolescence, but the reverse pattern was not supported. Of importance, the predictive association could not be explained by individual differences in impulsivity, excitement seeking, conduct problems, hostility/aggression, conventional attitudes, gender, or divorce. Finally, in a developmentally meaningful pattern, alcohol use ceased to significantly predict changes in the number of sexual partners as adolescents transitioned to adulthood.

Reciprocity in parenting of adolescents within the context of marital negativity.

The authors investigated the degree to which parents become more similar to each other over time in their childrearing behaviors. Mothers and fathers of 451 adolescents were assessed at 3 points in time, with 2-year lags between each assessment. Data on parent warmth, harshness, and monitoring were collected by parent self-report, adolescent report, and observer ratings of family interactions. After controlling for earlier levels of parenting, parent education, and adolescent deviancy, spouses parenting and marital negativity were significant predictors of later parenting. Marital negativity tended to be a stronger predictor of fathering than mothering. For fathers, associations between spouses parenting and later fathering were strongest in marriages characterized by low negativity.

Trait Dissociation and the Subjective Affective, Motivational, and Phenomenological Experience of Self-Defining Memories

The present research reports 2 studies that examine the relation between nonpathological trait dissociation and the subjective affect, motivation, and phenomenology of self-defining memories. In Study 1 (N=293), participants retrieved and rated the emotional and motivational experience of a general and a positive and negative achievement-related memory. Study 2 (N=449) extended these ratings to relationship-related memories and the phenomenological experience of the memory. Dissociation was associated with incongruent affect in valenced memories (e.g., positive affect in a negative memory) and memories that were visually incoherent and saturated with power motivation, hubristic pride, and shame, regardless of valence or domain. The present findings demonstrate that autobiographical memories, which integrate emotional, motivational, and phenomenological components, reflect the emotional and motivational processes inherent to dissociation.

Predicting Change in Substance Use and Substance Use Cognitions of Mexican Origin Youth during the Transition from Childhood to Early Adolescence

In the present study we examined changes in substance use and intentions to use substances for over 300 Mexican origin youth during the period from fifth to seventh grade. Consistent with the Family Stress Model, the findings showed that external stressors like economic pressure and ethnic discrimination increased maternal emotional distress which, in turn, reduced effective parenting. This stress process increased risk for youth use and intentions to use. However, when mothers remained effective parents, risk of use declined. Moreover, traditional cultural values involving family and religion reduced risk for involvement with substances during this developmental period. Thus, maternal effective parenting and cultural values increased resilience to substance use for Mexican American youth.

Complexity, Usefulness, and Optimality: A Response to Foster (2010)

In his commentary, Foster (2010) made arguments at 2 levels, offering a broad critique of statistical or methodological approaches in developmental psychology in general together with critical comments that applied only to our recent article (Dogan, Stockdale, Widaman, & Conger, 2010). Certain criticisms by Foster aimed at the field as a whole appear to be justified, whereas others seem overly broad and of dubious validity. In addition, Foster ignored the full range of methodologies used by both developmental psychologists and economists to pursue the identification of causal processes. Other critical remarks by Foster were directed specifically at our article, and many of these are simply incorrect, reflecting Fosters failure to recognize the standards in developmental psychology or his failure to note specific comments or descriptions we provided in our article. Future exchanges regarding methodological innovations and priorities in developmental psychology and economics should enrich and inform one another, rather than taking the form of one field dictating to the other the correct way to pursue science.