Lauree Tilton-Weaver

Chronological and Subjective Age in Emerging Adulthood The Crossover Effect

This study explored the relationship between chronological age and subjective age in emerging adulthood. Predictors of variability in subjective age were also examined. A sample of 190 university students (140 females, 50 males) ages 17 to 29 completed questionnaires assessing their subjective age, psychosocial maturity, number of role transitions, financial dependence, economic pressure, and alcohol use. There was a negative linear relationship between subjective age and chronological age, with older individuals feeling younger than their chronological age. The crossover from an older to a younger subjective age occurred at about 25.5 years. Psychosocial maturity was the only significant predictor of subjective age, with higher maturity related to feeling older. The crossover from an older to a younger subjective age is discussed as a transition-linked turning point in which emerging adults redefine who they are in the context of changing reference groups and the newness of their recently acquired autonomy.

Who gets caught at maturity gap? A study of pseudomature, immature, and mature adolescents

This research examined links among adolescents’ maturity status, their biological, social, and psychological characteristics, and parents’ perceptions of their adolescents’ maturity. The participants were 430 Canadian adolescents in the sixth and ninth grades, and a subsample of their parents. Pattern-centred analyses confirmed the existence of three clusters of adolescents differing in maturity status: pseudomature (25%), immature (30%), and mature (44%). Further analyses found differences among the clusters in adolescents’ pubertal status, the social context (presence of older siblings and friends), and their desired age, involvement in pop culture, school and peer involvement, and close friendships. Analysis of mother and father reports revealed some differences in how parents of pseudomature, immature, and mature adolescents perceived their adolescents’ maturity, and in how they felt about their adolescents’ maturity. There were few grade differences in the findings. The results suggest that pseudomature adolescents, and to a smaller extent, immature adolescents, are caught in a maturity gap, which could have longer-term implications for their transition to adulthood.

Adolescents' Characteristics and Parents' Beliefs as Predictors of Parentsapos; Peer Management Behaviors

This study examined parents’ reported use of peer management behaviors (i.e., communicating preferences, communicating disapproval, supporting friendships, and information seeking) and linked these behaviors to (a) adolescents’ self-reported psychosocial adjustment and friendships and (b) parents’ beliefs about adolescents’ peer relationships (i.e., perceived efficacy in managing adolescents’ friendships and concerns about adolescents’ friendships). The participants were 269 parents (161 mothers, 108 fathers) and their predominantly White adolescents in Grades 6 and 9 (N = 177). Results suggest that parents may be more apt to use some behaviors (e.g., communicating disapproval and information seeking) when there are indications that their adolescents are engaged in problem behaviors and have friends who are deviant. In addition, parents’ concerns about their adolescents’ friends mediate the relationship between adolescent problem behaviors and parents’ communications of disapproval. Parents’ peer management is promising as a route to understand further the nature of parent-peer linkages.

Adolescents' Agency in Information Management

In recent years research on parenting has changed stance from one where parents shape child outcomes to an interactive perspective. However this shift is only now transferring to adolescents, with research exploring how the roles that adolescents and parents play in their interactions can lead to problem behaviour. Part of the Hot Topics in Developmental Research series, this book presents the new perspective.One of the primary tasks associated with childhood and adolescence is to shift from being regulated by others to self-regulation and self-control. Because adolescents in Western cultures tend to spend increasingly more time away from their parents (Larson et al., 1996), much attention has been given to how parents continue to regulate their adolescents when the adolescents are not supervised by adults. The majority of research investigating this topic has focused on parents’ attempts to monitor their adolescents’ whereabouts and activities. This body of research has been seriously flawed, however, assuming that parents’ monitoring provides them with information about adolescents’ whereabouts and activities. The use of invalid measures (e.g., measures of parental knowledge, rather than parents’ monitoring behaviors) and unidirectional assumptions (i.e., parent effects) led researchers to conclude prematurely that parents who monitor not only know what their adolescents are doing, but are then able to protect their adolescents from engagement in problematic activities. Recent research revealed these flaws, showing that parents’ knowledge of adolescents’ friends and activities is derived more from adolescents’ disclosure than from parents’ monitoring efforts (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). In response, researchers have taken an interest in understanding the processes by which parental knowledge is generated.

Variables related to job satisfaction among professional care providers working in brain injury rehabilitation

PURPOSE To examine variables that contribute to work satisfaction among rehabilitation professionals involved in brain injury rehabilitation. METHOD One hundred and thirty-three respondents completed a job satisfaction questionnaire and qualitative questions regarding sources of stress and satisfaction in working with individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). RESULTS Factor analysis yielded four factors relating to intrinsic satisfaction, perceived importance to the organization, organizational support and training support. Although intrinsic satisfaction was significantly related to the three other factors, it was best predicted by training support, particularly training that addressed the management of intrusive and/or aggressive behaviours. Qualitative correlates of both work stress and satisfaction were also identified with respect to personal issues, client-related issues, and organizationally-related issues. CONCLUSIONS Satisfaction with work in ABI rehabilitation is derived from multiple sources, but it appears to be largely dependent on feeling important to, and valued by, the organization and on the level of support and training provided in the workplace.

Balancing Acts: Adolescents' and Mothers' Friendship Projects.

This investigation describes the joint goal-directed series of actions, or joint friendship projects, of 19 mothers and their adolescents. Data were collected through videotaped conversations, video recall interviews, and self-report logs collected over an 8-month period. Qualitative analysis of the data revealed joint projects characterized by the pursuit of competing priorities. Efforts to balance competing priorities are described as three forms of balancing acts: (a) organizing time for friendships and responsibilities, (b) adolescent independence with friends while ensuring physical safety, and (c) balancing inclusion in the peer context and the risk of physical and emotional harm from friends and peers.

Shyness as a moderator of the link between advanced maturity and early adolescent risk behavior

Advanced maturity in early adolescence has previously been linked with several risk behaviors. In this study, we examine whether shyness and gender might moderate this link. The participants were 750 early adolescents (M(age) = 13.73; 390 girls and 360 boys), followed for one year. We conducted analyses with shyness and gender as moderators of the links between advanced maturity and different types of risk behavior, and between one risk behavior and another. Despite differential patterns for boys and girls, the results suggest that being shy or not being shy modifies the links between advanced maturity and risk behavior primarily for boys. For boys, shyness reduces relationships between advanced maturity and risk behavior, whereas not being shy exacerbates the relationships between advanced maturity and high-risk behavior. Controlling for romantic involvement and peer victimization did not alter the moderating effects, thus failing to support the idea that the weaker links for shy youths were due to shy youths not being drawn into advanced peer groups by romantic partners or peers. Thus, shyness might serve as a buffer against risk behavior in early adolescence.