Robert A. Caldwell

Stress-Moderating Effects Social Support in the Context of Gender and Locus of Control

Using multiple regression, the main and interactive effects of stress, social support, locus of control, and gender on psychological adjustment were investigated. In order to understand the complex interactions found, the adjustment effects of stress and social support were examined within four subgroups: internal and external men and women college students. Both social support and adjustment were assessed with multiple measures. Stress was more strongly related to levels of adjustment for women than for men. The relationships between social support and adjustment varied depending on which social support measure was used, which adjustment measure was used, as well as the locus of control orientation and gender of the subject. External men were the least able to use social support to aid adjustment. In contrast to previous investigations, there were no two-way stress X locus of control interactions. The importance of investigating the interactions of stress-moderating variables in specific subgroups is discussed.

A preventive program for the newly separated: Initial evaluation

A 6-month long preventive intervention program for newly separated persons was designed on the basis of an analysis of the literature that identified the major stressful elements in the separation experience. Following the implementation of the program, its impact was assessed by contrasting persons who were assigned to the program (n = 100) with newly separated persons who were randomly selected to serve as a no-treatment control group (n = 50). Of the nine dependent measures of adjustment used in this evaluation, five significant posttreatment differences were found, in each case favoring the intervention group. The nature of these significant differences is particularly encouraging in light of the preventively oriented objectives of the intervention program. Detailed analysis of program characteristics resulted in the identification of desirable program modifications that could be implemented when the program is reinstituted.

Sex Differences in Adjustment during the Process of Marital Separation.

Four different studies are reported in which the differential adjustment of men and women during the process of marital separation was investigated. In these studies consistent sex by time period findings were obtained. Prior to separation, women reported significantly more severe psychological symptoms than did men. During the early postseparation period, men reported significantly more severe symptoms than did women. The development ofa briefself-report measure ofpsychopathology used in all four studies is described.

Child provocativeness and gender as factors contributing to the blaming of victims of physical child abuse

This study was an investigation of factors contributing to blame attributions directed toward victims of physical child abuse. The total sample consisted of 897 college undergraduates. Subjects read eight vignettes describing physically abusive parent-child interactions, and indicated their attributions of responsibility toward parent and child. We predicted that: (a) aggressively provocative children (compared to nonprovocative) would be ascribed greater blame; (b) male subjects would be more likely to blame the child; (c) in situations in which the abusive parent is male (compared to female), the child would be blamed more; and (d) male children (compared to females) would receive greater blame. The results supported all hypotheses. The data also suggested several interaction effects. Significance tests were supplemented with effect size analyses.

Social support: Its structure and impact on marital disruption

Availability of social support has been hypothesized to play a role in influencing adjustment to marital disruption either directly or by moderating the debilitating effects of stress. Yet previous research has not adequately conceptualized or measured the nature and availability of social support. In an effort to learn more about the structure and impact of social support as it relates to marital disruption, 50 newly separated men and women were interviewed at 2 months and again at 8 months after their separations. The structure of social support was found to include (a) several important sources of support, including family, friends, and the larger community; (b) an index of social activity; and (c) a sense of satisfaction with present marital status. Although the stress associated with separation was positively related to poorer adjustment, certain aspects of social support were found to moderate this relationship.

An Exploration of the Relationship between Racial Identity Attitudes and the Perception of Racial Bias

This study explored the relationship between specific theories of racial identity attitudes and the asymmetry hypothesis—which states that discriminatory acts perpetrated by the strong against the weak will be seen as more biased than similar acts perpetrated by the weak against the strong. Participants consisted of 92 African American undergraduate students who completed the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS), the African Self-Consciousness Scale (ASC), and the Discriminatory Scenarios Questionnaire. Pro-Black attitudes were positively correlated with the attribution of more racial bias to White as compared to African American characters who were described as discriminating against individuals not of their racial group. No significant relationship was found between anti-Black attitudes and the attribution of racial bias. This study also investigated the relationship between the RIAS and the ASC.

Magnitude and Directional Effects of Marital Sex-Role Incongruence on Marital Adjustment

The direction of differences in marital sex-role attitudes was estimated to play an important role in determining the direction of differences on the marital adjustment of husbands and wives. The more egalitarian in marital sex-role orientation the husband was relative to his wife, the better the marital adjustment of both spouses. The less egalitarian he was relative to his wife, the poorer the adjustment. This finding was examined within the historical context of differences in the social power of husbands and wives. A “magnitude-only” measure of marital sex-role attitude incongruence was not related to marital adjustment.

Effects of a school mental health project: A one-year follow-up.

Abstract Matched samples of children who had (Terminators) or had not (Nonterminators) successfully participated in a school-based project for the early detection and treatment of school maladaption were compared on teacher ratings of adjustment with a control sample having no prior program contact. Terminators were found to have significantly more positive school adjustment ratings than Nonterminators and Controls, both five and 12 months after their final program contact. These data support the conclusion that the program has positive consequences for children in the primary grades which generalize to new classroom settings and remain stable over time. The absence of adjustment differences between Nonterminators and Controls suggests the importance of developing alternative approaches for those not benefiting from the program.

Initiator status, family support, and adjustment to marital separation: A test of an interaction hypothesis

Fifty-six newly separated, volunteer participants (40 women, 16 men) were examined to determine if depressive symptomatology (as measured by the CES-D) was related to the respondents active participation in the decision to separate from the spouse (initiator status) and the proportion of family members in their social support network. The relationship between initiator status and depressive symptomatology was marginally significant, F(l, 50) = 3.93, p = 0.053. There was an interaction between initiator status and the proportion of family members in the social network. For initiators, a low proportion of family members was related to increased depressive symptomatology (r = 0.15), whereas for noninitiators, a low proportion of family members was related to increased depressive symptomatology (r = - 0.37), a difference significant at p<.04. It is suggested that the functional ability of the network to be supportive is mediated both by aspects of the individual in need of support and by structural aspects of the network.

Structure and stability of maternal support among pregnant and parenting adolescents.

In the US social scientists have been troubled by the dramatic increase in the pregnancy rate among women younger than 20 because of the negative sequelae that often result from adolescent pregnancy and motherhood. To reduce some of these sequelae many pregnant and parenting teens rely on their social support network especially on their own mothers. This study was conducted to examine the effects of positive support and conflict that pregnant/parenting adolescents received from their mothers. It was assessed whether the teens pattern of support and conflict with her mother changes from the prenatal to the postnatal period. A typology of maternal support and conflict was established using cluster analytic procedures from data collected prenatally among 175 mixed racial background participants from an alternative school for pregnant/parenting adolescents. An identifiable pattern of maternal support and conflict among pregnant adolescents was apparent both before and after childbirth. These patterns of support and conflict were meaningfully related to adolescents stress before childbirth but were not related to any of the outcome variables after birth. Both positive and negative changes in maternal support and conflict from the pre- to postnatal period were related to significantly higher levels of all measures of stress and lower levels of self-esteem. These findings have implications for the theoretical literature preventive interventions and public policy relevant to the relationships of teens with their mothers.