Mary J. Levitt

Convoys of Social Support in Childhood and Early Adolescence: Structure and Function.

Little is known about social networks in childhood, and even less is known about the networks of ethnically diverse children. Interviews were conducted with 333 African-American, Anglo/European-American, and Hispanic-American public school children in Grades 1-2, 4-5, and 8-9. The research was based on the social convoy model (R. L. Kahn & T. C. Antonucci, 1980), in which social networks are viewed as dynamic hierarchic structures affording the provision of support across the life span. An adapted convoy mapping procedure evidenced good test-retest reliability at all ages, and convoy support measures were associated with self-concept and teacher-rated sociability and mood

The effects of stress on young children's memory for a natural disaster

The effects of stress on childrens long-term memory for a major hurricane were studied. Stress was objectively defined as low, moderate, or high according to the severity of damage to the childs home. One hundred 3and 4-year-old children received a structured interview 2-6 months following the hurricane. Older children recalled and elaborated more than younger children. Prompted recall was greater than spontaneous recall. There was a quadratic function, consistent with an inverted U-shaped curve, relating storm severity with overall as well as spontaneous recall. These findings can be applied to the effects of stress on the amount recalled by children giving retrospective accounts of temporally extended, naturalistic events.

Social support and achievement in childhood and early adolescene: A multicultural study

Abstract Supportive relationships are known to contribute to personal functioning in adult life, but much less is known about the effects of social support in childhood and adolescence. In research with adults, support has been found to affect personal outcomes both directly and indirectly, either by interacting with stress or by enhancing self-appraisal. The relation between support and school achievement was explored in this study of students at three grade levels (1–2, 4–5, 8–9) from a multiethnic public school population. Personal interviews were conducted with 333 African-American, Anglo/European-American, and Hispanic-American students. Measures of social support, life stress, loneliness, and academic self-concept were included. Achievement indices were grades, Stanford Achievement Test scores, and teacher ratings. Support was related to achievement both directly and indirectly through self-appraisal, but specific effects varied by grade level. Support effects strengthened and stress effects declined in significance at adolescence, suggesting increased ability to utilize support resources in coping with stress.

Social Relations in Childhood and Adolescence: The Convoy Model Perspective

Research on the development of social relations has been largely fragmented along role-specific lines and dominated conceptually by attachment theory. The Convoy Model is presented as an alternative to traditional approaches that fail to capture the complexity of social relationships across time and context. Research based on the model converges with that of other investigators to indicate that children benefit from the presence of multiple relations that play diverse roles in their lives, although the importance of specific relations may vary across individuals. A broader conceptualization of social relations is needed to address the place of attachment figures within a larger network of developmentally significant relations.

Convoys of social support: An intergenerational analysis.

Within the Convoy Model, social networks are viewed as dynamic hierarchic structures surrounding the individual throughout life. As a step toward empirical definition of convoy structure and function across the life span, a bicultural sample (N = 159) of young adult women, their mothers, and their grandmothers were queried. Comparable results were obtained across generations and cultures with regard to network size, the amount of support provided by the network, and the nomination of close family members as primary sources of support. However, there was a marked shift across generations in the balance of familial versus friendship relations. Younger persons included fewer family members and more friends in their networks, and they received more support from friends. These cross-sectional results are consistent with the Convoy Model and suggest that longitudinal research is warranted.

Intergenerational Support, Relationship Quality, and Well-Being A Bicultural Analysis

Exchanges of intergenerational support were assessed in a bicultural (Anglo/European-American and Latin American) sample of young-adult women, their mothers, and their maternal grandmothers. The goals of the study were (a) to describe the extent of supportive intergenerational exchange, with a particular focus on the balance of exchange across generations, (b) to evaluate the association of support with intergenerational relationship quality, and (c) to explore links between supportive exchange, relationship quality, and personal well-being. Support exchanges were imbalanced across generations, with middlegeneration women providing more support to mothers and daughters than they received. Support and relationship quality were linked for younger mother-daughter dyads, but perceptions of older women regarding relations with daughters were positively biased and not tied significantly to support exchange. Intergenerational relationship quality was associated with well-being for each generation. The cross-cultural consistency of these results suggests that they represent more general patterns of intergenerational relations.

Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity in preadolescence and adolescence: Effect on psychological adjustment

The aim of the current study was to assess the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity (Allport & Ross, 1967) in a sample of preadolescents and adolescents. Participants for the study were 694 African-American, European-American, and Hispanic-American students in grades 6 and 8. Students were interviewed in school regarding well-being and religiosity. The indiscriminately religious, or those scoring high on both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, had more positive scores on some psychological adjustment measures than those who were indiscriminately nonreligious. In addition, intrinsically religious individuals had significantly more positive scores on the psychological adjustment measures than those who were indiscriminately nonreligious. Females were found to score higher on intrinsic religiosity, as did African-Americans. The current study holds developmental and clinical importance by highlighting the potential influence of religion on adolescents.

Sibling support in early adolescence: Buffering and compensation across relationships

The current study is an examination of how support from siblings relates to psychological adjustment and academic competence in early adolescence, with a focus on the buffering and compensatory effects of sibling support. Participants were 695 (357 female and 338 male) African-American, Hispanic-American and European-American students in grades 5 through 8. The age range was 11 to 15 (M = 12.69, SD = 1.12). Participants were interviewed in school regarding their social support in addition to their familial, economic and environmental risk, psychological wellbeing, and academic competence. Brother support was associated with more positive school attitudes and with higher self-esteem. Sister support buffered the relationship between ecological risk and school adaptation. In terms of a compensatory effect, students under low mother support conditions receiving greater support from brothers exhibited higher school achievement. The current study highlights the importance of examining constellation variables as part of the broader interest in sibling relations. Additionally, the current study indicates that the variability in sibling relationships reported in the literature may be associated with developmental changes in these relationships. The potential benefits of sibling support warrant a closer examination of the wide-ranging issues involved in sibling relations.

Immigration Stress, Social Support, and Adjustment in the First Postmigration Year: An Intergenerational Analysis

In this study of 429 newly immigrant children (ages 7–8 years) and their parents, we addressed generational variation in the stresses related to immigration. We also assessed whether child and parent psychological adjustment varied as a function of high versus low levels of stress and social support. Finally, we examined the comparability of effects across participants from different countries. Participants originated in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, and the English-speaking West Indies. Children generally reported more immigration stress than did parents, although parents were more likely to have economic worries. Higher levels of stress significantly compromised the adjustment of both children and parents. The availability of social support to the family facilitated adjustment but was more effective for parents than for children. Stress and support levels varied, but links between stress, support, and adjustment were mostly comparable across country-of-origin groups.

Effects of clarification of support expectations in prenatal couples

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model of confirmation of expectations for mutual support after childbirth and to evaluate an intervention given in prenatal classes during which prospective parents clarified their expectations. Results provided support for the proposed model in that parents with greater confirmation of expectations were found to have more positive relationship satisfaction, emotional affect, and parenting attitudes. Differences in men and women emerged that demonstrated that confirmation of support expectations was more important to women, while the level of support actually received was more important to men. The prenatal class intervention did not significantly affect parent outcomes.