Gary E. Stollak

Toward a more Complex Understanding of Acculturation and Adjustment Cultural Involvements and Psychosocial Functioning in Vietnamese Youth

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.

Recall of childhood neglect and physical abuse as differential predictors of current psychological functioning

The differential effects of neglect and physical abuse on psychological functioning are not well understood. The present study examined the relationship between reported neglect and physical abuse and symptomatology and attachment styles in a sample of 236 male and 276 female undergraduates. In contrast to physical abuse, which must involve some parental involvement in a childs life, neglect is characterized by a lack of parent-child interaction. As such, it was hypothesized that childhood neglect would be more predictive of symptomatology and dysfunctional attachment styles than would physical abuse. Results confirmed the expected relationship between neglect and more severe psychological problems and anxious attachment styles. Implications of these results point to the need to focus both empirically and theoretically on neglect and physical abuse as potentially separate moderators of psychosocial functioning.

The intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment: A comparison of social learning and temperament models

This family study examined two models regarding the intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment. The model based on social learning assumptions asserted that corporal punishment influences aggressive child behavior. The model based on temperament theory suggested that aggressive child behavior impacts upon parental use of corporal punishment. Participants were 1,536 parents of 983 college students. Corporal punishment was assessed from father, mother, and child perspectives. Path analyses revealed that the social learning model was most consistent with the data.

Sex differences in bystander reactions to physical assault

Abstract In a “psychodrama” situation, a “spontaneous” fight occurred between two male and/or female accomplices. As predicted, significantly more male Ss attempted to interfere with the fight than did female Ss. Contrary to prediction, however, none of six male Ss interferred when a male was “injuring” a female. A number of possible explanations for this latter finding were presented, among them the speculation that males obtained vicarious sexual and/or hostile gratification from seeing a male “hurt” a female.

Insensitivity to children: Responses of undergraduates to children in problem situations

A study focused on insensitivity of adults to children was presented and discussed. The responses of 100 male and 100 female college undergraduates to hypothetical parent-child problem situations indicated a general lack of communication concerning the childs and their own feelings. However, when the problems involved adult needs being aroused and thwarted, theSs′ responses were both more insensitive and destructive than when the confrontation centered around only the childs aroused needs. In the latter case theSs did focus their communications more on the childs feelings and how he or she could express them. The results have implications for understanding effective adult behavior and reciprocal adult-child influences on the development of child-behavior dysfunctions.

Affect regulation and the breadth of interpersonal engagement.

This study investigated the hypothesis that the breadth of responsiveness to a social event rests on adaptive capacities that permit an individual to experience those subjective states evoked by the interaction. Individuals with high or low ego adaptability were placed in same- or mixed-sex dyads with another person of the same level of adaptability and asked to complete a series of stimulating social interaction tasks. Analysis of videotapes made of these interactions, scored for verbal and nonverbal behaviors that reflect emotional and interpersonal engagement, strongly confirmed the hypothesis. In addition, post hoc explorations suggested that ego adaptability supported emotional expressiveness across social contexts, whereas its effect may have been attenuated by gender-related display rules for the more interpersonal forms of social engagement

Sensitivity to Children: Helping Undergraduates Acquire Child Care Giving and Mental Health Skills

A program designed to train and utilize students as mental health agents working with normal and clinic-referred children.

Gender role and person-perception accuracy

The relationship between gender role and person-perception accuracy was examined in this research. Young adults who were masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated in their gender role interacted with a child, and with a peer, in role-playing situations that focused on parenting and marital behaviors. The accuracy with which subjects predicted the childs perception of them, and the accuracy with which they perceived the interpersonal traits of the peer, were assessed. The results indicated that androgynous subjects were clearly superior in predicting the childs perceptions of them, but were no better than the other gender-role groups in terms of peer perceptions. Rather, females were more accurate than males in perceptions of gender-related traits. Implications of this research for the relationship between gender role and parenting behavior, and directions for future research that examines person-perception accuracy, are discussed.