Joseph C. LaVoie

Interparental Conflict and Family Cohesion Predictors of Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Social Avoidance in Late Adolescence

Family environment is related to characteristics of adolescents’ personal development and social interactions. Although potentially different for males and females, decreased family cohesion and increased interparental conflict can inadvertently provide family environments that are associated with increased feelings of loneliness, which may be associated with problems in adolescents’ social interactions (i.e., social anxiety and social avoidance). Analyses of responses from 124 late adolescents revealed that feelings of loneliness were related to perceived levels of interparental conflict for males and females and decreased family cohesion for females. Furthermore, late adolescents’ feelings of social anxiety and social avoidance were related to their feelings of loneliness. The findings in this study show how deteriorated family systems may provide contexts that are associated with adolescents’ feelings of loneliness as well as their ability to engage in social interactions outside of the family system.

Ego Identity Formation in Middle Adolescence.

Assumed determinants of ego identity were investigated in this study using sophomore, junior, and senior high school males and females. Subjects were administered the Marcia Ego Identity Status Scale and measures of sex-role identification, personality development, psychological functioning, self-concept, and parental socialization practices. Data analyses, using a median split on identity score, showed that high-identity adolescents obtained more positive scores on sex-role identification, personality development, psychological adjustment, and self-concept than low-identity adolescents. Socialization practices also differed for the two groups. The sex differences which emerged were congruent with the identity literature. Overall, the data supported Eriksons theory of ego identity development.

Peer Conflict Avoidance: Associations with Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Social Avoidance

Failure to resolve peer conflict is associated with childrens reports of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance. Although these relationships are well established, researchers have not examined the association between the avoidance of peer conflict and various adjustment characteristics. The current study examined the association between avoidance of conflict and measures of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance for 59 pupils in Grade 4 (31 boys and 28 girls) and 47 in Grade 8 (22 boys and 25 girls). Volunteers indicated that conflict avoidance based on autonomy, e.g., independence issues, and interpersonal issues, e.g., closeness and cohesion, was associated with scores on loneliness for boys and girls, respectively. Conflict avoidance for emotional and physical well-being and fear of punishment was associated with increased reports of loneliness and social anxiety for children in Grade 4.

Effect of youth culture music on high school students' academic performance

This study investigated the assumption that youth culture orientation adversely affects school performance, using rock music as the youth culture component. Adolescents in grades 9–12 were assigned to a subject matter topic in the area of literature, mathematics, physical science, or social science and requested to study this topic intensely for 30 min in a music condition consisting of rock, classical, or no music. The subjects then were tested on their retention of the factual content of the article either immediately after the study period, 1 day later, or 3 days later. Retention was significantly lower in the rock music condition. Students recalled more content in the literature topic and in the immediate test. The results are discussed with reference to a social learning theory interpretation of youth culture.

Aversive, Cognitive, and Parental Determinants of Punishment Generalization in Adolescent Males

Abstract This study investigated the effects of an aversive stimulus, a rationale, and sex of the punitive agent on punishment generalization, using 14- to 16-year-old boys and one of their parents as the punitive agent. Greater stimulus generalization of punishment resulted from the use of a rationale, although an aversive stimulus also produced generalization. Neither sex of the punitive agent nor parental traits were significant factors. Generalization of punishment appears to play an important role in self-controlled behavior, but it is equally important that the child learns to discriminate between permissible and prohibited behavior in a given situation.

Situational, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal Characteristic Associations With Adolescent Conflict Forgiveness

ABSTRACT Given the voluntary nature of adolescent friendships, forgiveness of interpersonal transgressions has been identified as a critical aspect of maintaining these relationships. However, transgression forgiveness is related to a range of situational (e.g., transgression severity), interpersonal (e.g., friendship commitment), and intrapersonal (e.g., victims empathy) factors. Data from 161 adolescents were used to examine the nature of the relationships between these factors and forgiveness and to examine the differential association patterns for adolescent boys and girls. Results for the overall adolescent sample indicated both situational and interpersonal factor associations with forgiveness (R 2 = .52, p < .001). Examination of separate female and male forgiveness reports indicated similar interpersonal factor associations and differential situational factor associations with female (R 2 = .46, p < .001), and male (R 2 = .60, p < .001) forgiveness. Findings suggest the likelihood of forgiving may be contextually dependent, and that researchers should consider transgression, relationship, and intrapersonal characteristics when examining forgiveness. Further, the present study suggests the contextual factors associated with forgiveness may be further differentiated by gender.

Ego-identity and the processing of self-relevant information

Ego-identity has been defined as a theory of self (e.g., Moshman, 1999) in which identity exploration is the instrument used for the construction of the theory (Grotevant, 1987). It is thought that those who are engaged in identity exploration actively seek out information and test hypotheses about their theory of self and that they process information, especially information related to the self, differently from those who are not exploring (Berzonsky, 1989). The current study was an attempt to examine this proposition by exploring the relationship between ego-identity and the processing of information related to the self. The results suggest that identity exploration does play a significant role in the processing of self-referential information.

Children's subjective ratings of their performance on a standardized achievement test

Abstract Relationships between childrens perceptions of performance on a standardized achievement test and the actual test performance were examined. A total of 311 children in grades 4, 5, and 6 were administered the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills on four separate testing days. At the end of the testing session on Day 4, the children completed a questionnaire in which they rated their performance on each of the subtests as well as their overall score on the test. Students also were asked to make judgments about the difficulty of the test, the effort expended, the extent that ability versus luck was a factor in their test performance, and the importance of the test to them, their parents, and their teachers. The results showed that students were quite accurate in predicting their scores on the subtests and that a personal belief that ability decisively influences achievement associated with their test performance. These findings are discussed as they relate to the effect of self-statements on test performance.

Physical and Interpersonal Attractiveness of the Model and Imitation in Adults

The influence of physical attractiveness and warmth of a model on imitation and social perception in adults was assessed in this study with the use of 108 male and female college students. The Ss were randomly paired with a model who, depending on experimental conditions, was either a male or female, of high or low facial attractiveness, and who interacted with the S in a warm or cold manner. The Ss were then placed in a task situation which provided an opportunity to imitate the model, after which the Ss were asked to rate their experience and the models personality. Warmth of the model was a more influential determinant of imitation, personality rating, and experience than physical attractiveness. However, the warmth affect was influenced by sex of the model and sex of the S. Possible explanations for the warmth effect were explored.