Joseph P. Allen

Attachment theory as a framework for understanding sequelae of severe adolescent psychopathology: an 11-year follow-up study.

This study examined long-term sequelae of severe adolescent psychopathology from the perspective of adult attachment theory. The study compared 66 upper-middle-class adolescents who were psychiatrically hospitalized at age 14 for problems other than thought or organic disorders, to 76 sociodemographically similar high school students. When reinterviewed at age 25, virtually all of the previously hospitalized adolescents displayed insecure attachment organizations, in contrast to a more typical mixture of security and insecurity in the former high school sample. Lack of resolution of previous trauma with attachment figures accounted for much of this insecurity. Insecurity in adult attachment organization at age 25 was also linked to self-reported criminal behavior and use of hard drugs in young adulthood. These findings are discussed as reflecting a substantial and enduring connection between attachment organization and severe adolescent psychopathology and a possible role of attachment organization in mediating some of the long-term sequelae of such psychopathology.

An Interaction-Based Approach to Enhancing Secondary School Instruction and Student Achievement

“Just the facts” is not enough. Improving teaching quality is widely recognized as critical to addressing deficiencies in secondary school education, yet the field has struggled to identify rigorously evaluated teacher-development approaches that can produce reliable gains in student achievement. A randomized controlled trial of My Teaching Partner–Secondary—a Web-mediated approach focused on improving teacher-student interactions in the classroom—examined the efficacy of the approach in improving teacher quality and student achievement with 78 secondary school teachers and 2237 students. The intervention produced substantial gains in measured student achievement in the year following its completion, equivalent to moving the average student from the 50th to the 59th percentile in achievement test scores. Gains appeared to be mediated by changes in teacher-student interaction qualities targeted by the intervention.

Attachment and Autonomy as Predictors of the Development of Social Skills and Delinquency During Midadolescence

This study examined adolescent attachment organization as a predictor of the development of social skills and delinquent behavior during midadolescence. Delinquent activity and skill levels were assessed for 117 moderately at-risk adolescents at ages 16 and 18, and maternal and adolescent attachment organization and autonomy in interactions were assessed at age 16. Adolescent attachment security predicted relative increases in social skills from age 16 to 18, whereas an insecure-preoccupied attachment organization predicted increasing delinquency during this period. In addition, preoccupied teens interacting with highly autonomous mothers showed greater relative decreases in skill levels and increases in delinquent activity over time, suggesting a heightened risk for deviance among preoccupied teens who may be threatened by growing autonomy in adolescent-parent interactions.

Teacher-Student Relationships and Engagement: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Improving the Capacity of Classroom Interactions

Classrooms are complex social systems, and student-teacher relationships and interactions are also complex, multicomponent systems. We posit that the nature and quality of relationship interactions between teachers and students are fundamental to understanding student engagement, can be assessed through standardized observation methods, and can be changed by providing teachers knowledge about developmental processes relevant for classroom interactions and personalized feedback/support about their interactive behaviors and cues. When these supports are provided to teachers’ interactions, student engagement increases. In this chapter, we focus on the theoretical and empirical links between interactions and engagement and present an approach to intervention designed to increase the quality of such interactions and, in turn, increase student engagement and, ultimately, learning and development. Recognizing general principles of development in complex systems, a theory of the classroom as a setting for development, and a theory of change specific to this social setting are the ultimate goals of this work. Engagement, in this context, is both an outcome in its own right and a mediator of impacts that teachers have on student outcomes through their interactions with children and youth. In light of this discussion, we offer suggestions or directions for further research in this area.

Child maltreatment: The effects of maltreatment on development during early childhood: recent studies and their theoretical, clinical, and policy implications

Introduction In several recent reports, we have presented initial results of studies of the socioemotional development and behavioral symptomatology of maltreated preschool and early school-age children (Aber and Allen, 1987; Aber, Allen, and Cicchetti, 1988; Aber, Trickett, Carlson, and Cicchetti, 1989; Cicchetti, Carlson, Braunwald, and Aber, 1987). The purposes of this chapter are to summarize the results of these studies and to discuss their implications for a variety of unresolved scientific, clinical, and policy issues. In order to accomplish these purposes, it is first necessary to briefly describe the theoretical, clinical, and policy contexts in which these studies were designed and conducted. Contexts for the research Scientific theoretical context As we have noted elsewhere (Aber and Allen, 1987; Aber and Cicchetti, 1984; Cicchetti et al., 1987), until very recently, the few scientific studies of the effects of maltreatment were largely atheoretical. In our opinion, atheo-retical research in child maltreatment is only slightly better than no research at all. This is because no single study or set of studies will provide us with all the knowledge necessary to guide our clinical and policy efforts on behalf of maltreated children. Rather, it is by developing accurate, comprehensive theories of the etiologies of child maltreatment and the development of maltreated children that cumulative knowledge may serve as the basis for effective actions. Thus, a central issue at the very start of our studies was the selection of the general and specific theoretical frameworks within which we could conduct our studies. Although rarely commented upon, the selection of theoretical frameworks within a scientific world of multiple and competing paradigms is a critical stage of scientific research.

Programmatic prevention of adolescent problem behaviors: The role of autonomy, relatedness, and volunteer service in the teen outreach program

Explored the mechanisms by which a well-validated intervention to prevent school failure, suspension, and teenage pregnancy produces its effects, using site-level data from 66 sites involving over 1,000 students participating in national replication of the Teen Outreach Program. Multiple informants provided data on operating characteristics of each site. These were then used to explain differences across sites in levels of success in reducing youth problem behaviors using a pre-post design and a well-matched comparison group. In accord with predictions from developmental theory, middle school sites that promoted student autonomy and relatedness with peers and with site facilitators achieved significantly greater levels of success in reducing problem behaviors. Offering volunteer experiences perceived as teaching middle school students new skills and leaving them real choices about the type of work they did was also linked to program success. Although the program was equally sucessful with students from a wide range of sociodemographic backgrounds, links of program factors to site-level outcomes were found only for middle school but not high school sites. Implications of these findings for the development of programmatic interventions targeted at adolescents are discussed.

School-based prevention of teen-age pregnancy and school dropout: Process evaluation of the national replication of the teen outreach program

Examined a program designed to prevent adolescent pregnancy, school failure, and dropout using a process model of evaluation to assess with which groups of participants and under what conditions the program was most effective. Students in the Teen Outreach Program of the Association of Junior Leagues and matched comparison students in 35 schools nationwide participated. Sites that highly utilized a volunteer service component, and sites that primarily served older students reported lower levels of student problem behaviors at program exit, after controlling for problem behaviors at entry. These findings occurred only for program youths and not for comparison youths. The connection of volunteer service to reductions in adolescent problem behaviors is interpreted in terms of helper-therapy and empowerment theories. Limitations of the analytic strategy used in this study, as well as techniques for addressing the limitations, are also discussed.

Attachment in adolescence: A move to the level of emotion regulation:

The early adolescent’s state of mind in the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is more closely linked to social interactions with peers, who are unlikely to serve as attachment figures, than it is to (i) qualities of the adolescent’s interactions with parents, (ii) the AAI of the adolescent’s mother, or (iii) the adolescent’s prior Strange Situation behavior. This unexpected finding suggests the value of reconceptualizing AAI autonomy/ security as a marker of the adolescent’s capacity for emotion regulation in social interactions. Supporting this, we note that the AAI was originally validated not as a marker of attachment experiences or expectations with one’s caregivers, but as a predictor of caregiving capacity sufficient to produce secure offspring. As such, the AAI may be fruitfully viewed as primarily assessing social emotion regulation capacities that support both strong caregiving skills and strong skills relating with peers.

Adolescents, peers, and motor vehicles: the perfect storm?

Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among teenagers and in many instances appear linked to negative peer influences on adolescent driving behavior. This article examines a range of developmental and structural factors that potentially increase the risks associated with adolescent driving. Developmental risk factors for adolescents include a propensity toward engaging in deviant and risky behavior, a desire to please peers, and the potential cost to an adolescent of alienating peers with his or her behavior while driving. Structural features of the driving situation that create risks for negative peer influences on driving behavior include the inability of adolescents to look at peers who may be pressuring them, divided attention, the need to behave in a conventional manner among peers who may not value conventional behavior, and the lack of accountability by peers for the effects of any risky driving they promote. A range of potential peer influences are considered, including passive and active distraction and direct disruption of driving, as well as more positive influences, such as peer modeling of good driving behavior and positive reinforcement of good driving. Although the range of risk factors created by peers is large, this range presents a number of promising targets for intervention to improve teen driving safety.

Assessment of Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies in Youth Engaged in Problem Behaviors

Chez 271 adolescents de 16 ans sont examines les liens entre les niveaux et les styles des strategies de negociation interpersonnelle, la competence dans la resolution de problemes sociaux et la presence de troubles comportementaux