Jacqueline V. Lerner

Difficult Temperament and Drug Use: Analyses from the New York Longitudinal Study

This study examined the role of the Thomas and Chess conceptualization of “difficult” temperament or behavioral style and tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use in the 133 subjects of the New York Longitudinal Study. Results indicate that the possession of difficult temperamental characteristics (slow adaptability, withdrawal responses, negative mood, high intensity of reactions, and biological irregularity) at age five and in early adulthood are associated with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana use in young adulthood. Further results indicate that the continued use of marijuana throughout adolescence and alcohol and tobacco use from ages thirteen through sixteen were related to the subjects difficult temperament characteristics in young adulthood.

A Longitudinal Study of Negative Emotional States and Adjustment from Early Childhood through Adolescence.

The relations among various negative emotional and behavioral characteristics (e.g., aggression, anxiety, undercompliance, depressive mood) and adjustment were examined through use of data from the 31-year-old New York Longitudinal Study. 75 white, middle-class children were rated on these negative characteristics from infancy to adolescence. Measures of family, peer, and personal adjustment were also obtained. Because of the longitudinal nature of the data, we were able to use structural equation models to address the following questions: (1) How stable are these negative behaviors from early life through adolescence? (2) What is the degree of relation between these emotional characteristics and adjustment in childhood and adolescence? and (3) To what degree do these emotional characteristics differentially predict multiple adjustment dimensions in adolescence? 2 factors of negative emotional behavior, labeled as Aggression and Affect, respectively, were identified in early and late childhood and were found to have relatively high stability of individual differences. Aggression significantly predicted adolescent maladjustment, whereas Affect had no independent prediction of maladjustment. Moreover, emotional problems provided better prediction of adolescent adjustment problems than did earlier childhood adjustment ratings.

Physical Attractiveness and Psychosocial Functioning among Early Adolescents

Male and female adolescents who differed in physical attractiveness (PA) were also expected to differ in peer and parent relations, classroom behaviors, and self-perceptions, with adolescents higher in PA expected to score more favorably than those lower in PA. To test these expectations, sixth graders from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study were longitudinally assessed at the beginning, middle, and end of sixth grade. Across time, adolescents who saw themselves as competent were rated similarly by their teachers and had better peer and parent relations than was the case with the adolescents who saw themselves as less competent. As expected, PA was associated with these differences. Within and across time, adolescents higher in PA tended to have more favorable ratings than did adolescents lower in PA. The stimulus information value of PA for cuing a stereotype regarding attractiveness is discussed.

Effects of Affirmation and Acceptance on Incorporation of Opposing Information in Problem-Solving

Summary In an experiment on the way effective problem-solvers discuss opposing opinions to understand and incorporate their ideas, 33 college men and women discussed a dilemma with confederates (Cs) who took an opposing view. In the affirmation condition, Cs positively evaluated Ss competence. In the acceptance condition, Cs minimized evaluative comments but indicated the other was arguing in a reasonable manner. In the disconfirmation condition, Ss were informed they were ineffective. Compared to the affirmation and acceptance conditions, disconfirmation resulted in uncertainty about the correctness of ones views, closed-mindedness toward opposing information, lack of interest in learning the others position, misunderstanding the others reasoning, unwillingness to incorporate the others arguments, and dislike for the other.

Longitudinal substance use and adult adjustment

Relationships among long-term use patterns of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other substances from late childhood to young adulthood and adjustment in young adulthood were examined. The sample consisted of 133 participants from the New York Longitudinal Study. Cluster analysis revealed four groups of individuals for each of the substance categories, as well as for use of multiple substances, over the five points of measurement. Cluster membership was related to adjustment differences in young adulthood. Results from a series of ANOVAs indicated that individuals consistently using the highest amounts of alcohol and other drugs exhibited the highest levels of psychiatric symptoms. Follow-up analyses indicated that negative emotional-behavioral states in middle childhood precede problematic patterns of substance use. Implications for intervention in childhood are discussed.

Temperament—Intelligence Reciprocities in Early Childhood

In the more than quarter century since Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess initiated a longitudinal study of the implications of individual differences in temperament for psychosocial adaptation—the New York Longitudinal Study—there has been considerable interest in the study of temperament among psychiatrists, developmental psychologists, and pediatricians. In part, this interest derives from the fact that the Thomas and Chess approach to the study of temperament was both a product and a producer of the contextual zeitgeist that has characterized American social science for more than a decade (e.g., Jenkins, 1974; Lerner, Hultsch, & Dixon, in press; Mischel, 1977; Sarbin, 1977).

Longitudinal perspectives on drug use: analyses from the New York longitudinal study

The present study looked at the relationship between various early childhood and adolescent emotional and adjustment characteristics and later tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use for the 133 subjects (sixty-six males, sixty-seven females) of the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS). Results indicated that characteristics such as high amounts of dissatisfaction and undercompliance at ages one through six were related to high amounts of tobacco use at ages ten through thirteen. Problems with coping and discipline at age five were associated with high levels of alcohol use in young adulthood, and marijuana use at ages thirteen through sixteen. During adolescence, problems with emotional expressiveness, self evaluation, school and social functioning, and implementation of goals were related to high levels of tobacco and marijuana use from age sixteen into adulthood, and alcohol use from age nineteen on. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for longitudinal research and prevention strategies.

Parental and Peer Ethnotheory Demands, Temperament, and Early Adolescent Adjustment:

Parents or peers may differ in their preferences and aversions for particular temperamental characteristics and, as such, in their attitudes about whether a given temperament attribute creates difficulty in social interactions. This set of attitudes is termed an ethnotheory of temperamental difficulty. This study sought to determine: (a) whether adolescents temperaments better match, or fit, the ethnotheories of parents or peers; and (b) whether adolescents whose temperaments reflect a good fit with parental and/or peer ethnotheories are better adjusted than those adolescents whose behavior reflects a poor fit. Using data from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study, these issues were addressed by assessing parents and peers ethnotheories for early adolescent temperament over the course of the sixth grade. Results indicated that although parents and peers had different ethnotheories, adolescents temperaments were at levels which would not cause actual difficulty for either parents or peers. Finally, temperament-ethnotheory fit, especially in regard to parents, was related more to adolescent adjustment in the home, in the school, and with peers than was temperament alone.

Contextual Demands for Early Adolescent Behavioral Style

The focus of this investigation was to describe the contextual demands placed on early adolescents and to determine if these demands differ across contexts. In addition, we assessed whether adolescents could accurately perceive the demands placed on them and if their fit with demands differed across contexts. By focusing on demands regarding behavioral style, or temperament, and studying 101 early adolescents (56 males, 45 females), from the Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study, we assessed adolescents self-rated temperament and the demands placed on the adolescents by their peer group, their teachers, and their parents. Results of multivariate analyses of variance indicated that parents and peers hold different demands for behavioral style. Adolescents perceived several of their peers demands as being significantly different than the peers actual demands. Finally, except for one of nine attributes of temperament, the adolescents self-rated temperament attributes exceeded the contextual expectations for behavioral style in all settings and exceeded the demands of parents and teachers more than they exceeded the demands of their peers. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are noted.

The Influences of Maternal Employment across Life

The fact that the majority of mothers will enter or return to the work force shortly after the birth of their child is not a new phenomenon. Today, nearly half of the mothers of infants are employed and are expected to remain employed throughout their child’s life (Hayghe, 1986). The increase in maternal employment has been evident for the past two decades and has been coupled with an increasing concern over how maternal employment affects the lives and development of children. Although researchers to date conclude that the effects of maternal employment on children need to be studied longitudinally, the existence of long-term studies is rare. The New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS) is a 30-year-old study of the development of 133 white, middle- to upper-middle-class children. Although the focus of the NYLS was not on maternal employment per se, extensive information exists on the mother’s employment history and child development outcomes. Thus we are able to look at the influences of the mother’s employment on selected aspects of her child’s development from infancy through young adulthood.