Vaida D. Thompson

A longitudinal analysis of sex by race differences in predictors of adolescent self-esteem

Abstract Multiple regression techniques were used to examine stability of self-esteem and changes in the constellation of predictors of self-esteem in an adolescent sample over a 2 yr period. Self-esteem was found to be relatively stable for the four race by sex subgroups examined. However, the constellations of predictors of self-esteem for the four groups were less stable. Some factors expected to contribute to self-esteem, particularly sexual and physical development variables, thought to be important during adolescence, were not strong predictors at either point in time. Sexual development predicted only for black males at Time 2 and physical development predicted only for white males at Time 2. Perceived physical attractiveness was a strong predictor of self-esteem at both points in time for white subgroups, but not for black subgroups. For black subgroups, social and peer related variables were the strongest predictors of self-esteem. While black subgroups and white subgroups seemed to differ, black males also differed somewhat from black females, primarily in the importance of sexual variables, intercourse, and sexual development, as predictors of self-esteem at Time 2 for black males.

Incorporating Proximal and Distal Influences on Prejudice: Testing a General Model Across Outgroups

The present research integrates various social psychological approaches to understanding the causes of traditional prejudice. The authors examined (a) whether conceptually distinct variable sets shown previously to predict prejudice could be modeled collectively within a proximal-distal framework and (b) whether different outgroups could be modeled collectively within this framework. The authors developed and tested a model that included four sets of explanatory factors derived from past research: Family Status, Contextual Exposures, Beliefs, and Personality. It was hypothesized that the influence of these factors could be represented in a causal sequence such that (a) the distal factors (i.e., Family Status and Contextual Exposures) would lead to both proximal factors (i.e., Beliefs and Personality) and (b) the proximal factors would lead directly to Negative Attitudes Toward Outgroups. Structural equation analyses of data obtained from two independent samples generally supported the model—the impact of distal factors on prejudice was mediated largely by proximal factors.

Structure and stability of self-esteem in late teens

Abstract Research on stability and structure of self-esteem has led to some controversies in the last few years. Although self-esteem is shown to be stable in late adolescence, changes, often positive, have also been documented. The present research uses an attitudinal framework and a large longitudinal data set to explore these issues. As expected, results indicated that, across a 2-yr time period, self-esteem was stable, although a slight positive change was observed. When change occurred, it was not solely in self-esteem, but in a relatively large array of other self-relevant variables directly or indirectly representing beliefs about self. Attributions of personal control over ones own outcomes and behaviors were found to be potent statistical predictors of self-esteem and its change over time, although no causality can be inferred from these findings. Furthermore, respondents with low self-esteem at time I were found to lag behind those with high self-esteem on all self-related variables at time 2. It is concluded that self-beliefs and the related proximal psychological variables are better predictors of self-esteem and its change than are distal socio-demographic variables.

Recent Divorce Trend in Iran

There has recently emerged an unprecedented increase in number and rate of divorces in Iran—where strong cultural-religious traditions and legal prescriptions and proscriptions have largely mandated early, lifelong marriages, precluding divorce save in exceptional circumstances. This article examines recent divorce trends, along with demographic and social changes that are evolving in Iranian society. Family remains a very strong institution in Iran. However, some aspects of family, including marital dissolution, are changing rapidly, no longer protected by the strong tradition of family morality rooted in social contracts between large extended families. Instead, there has emerged a “developmental idealism,” demonstrated in a strongly secular move toward individualism and self-actualization, in effect altering wide-ranging behaviors including later marriage and fewer children but also earlier and more frequent marital dissolution. Changes in these realms, and in educational and career goals and behaviors, portend a perhaps inexorable move toward individual and cultural modernity.

Gender, self-perception, and self-devaluation in depression: A factor analytic study among Iranian college students

Abstract The present study is a preliminary attempt to study the relationship between self-esteem and depression from the perspective of attitude theory. Self-esteem was considered as a central attitude toward (or an overall affective evaluation of) oneself, with this central attitude being determined by a complex structure of beliefs about ones attributes, abilities, and behaviors. Within this general conceptual framework, it was found that self-devaluation as an accompaniment of depression did not occur in all aspects of the self-belief system. Also, gender was found to mediate between depression and self-devaluation, in that the relationship between depression and self-devaluation was stronger for females than for males, and females showed devaluation in more aspects of self-beliefs than did males. Results suggest that a self-esteem framework derived from theory and research on attitude should enrich our understanding of self-esteem and of its relationship with depression. Such approaches should also contribute to the strengthening of cognitive and behavioral intervention strategies to deal with depression.

Toward a general framework of family structure: A review of theory-based empirical research

For slightly more than a century, psychologists, sociologists, demographers, and others have been studying family structure. The enterprise has been repeatedly characterized as having strong empirical roots, but little theory to nurture it and help it develop. Recently, articles have been published calling for the formalization of family demography, which we define as the discipline devoted to the study of family structure. This paper has the following purposes: (1) To develop a general taxonomy of family structure that unites researchers from several disciplines under one framework; (2) To review important methodological and measurement problems involved in the study of family structure; and (3) To review the recent theory-based empirical literature. We conclude with an assessment of the state-of-the-enterprise.

Iranian Adolescents' Intended Age of Marriage and Desired Family Size

Questionnaire data pertaining to intended age of marriage and desired family size were collected from 687 Iranian 12th graders (392 females and 295 males) ranging in age from 17 to 21 years. 2 sets of predictor variables were used in regression analyses of the data collected: distal variables primarily family-level including parental education number of siblings family modernity and parental power; and proximal individual-level variables including self-concept traditionalism school success and sex of subject. In predictions addressing both of the dependent measures distal factors were not as strong direct predictors as were proximal factors. For example with regard to desired family size proximal variables of traditional attitudes boy preference and self-esteem explain the variance that is related to more distal variables such as parental education and number of siblings and add to the variance explained by these distal variables. Results suggest that proximal variables not only must be taken into consideration in predicting intentions and behaviors but that these are highly critical variables that cannot be ignored and they deserve a significant role in models attempting to predict important population attitudes and behaviors.

Cultural change and attitude change: An assessment of postrevolutionary marriage and family attitudes in Iran

This report is aimed at investigating beliefs and intentions of Iranian adolescents regarding marriage and family building approximately four years after the Islamic Revolution, which brought substantial political and cultural changes. Differences associated with gender and parental education were found in beliefs and intentions regarding marriage and family building. Also, the sample seemed to hold more traditional cultural values than did a comparable prerevolutionary sample of youth who were from the same geographical location and were of the same sex and parental educational background. However, it was found that even the groups from the lowest educational background showed some degree of nontraditional attitudes and intentions regarding marriage and family. Interpreting the findings in light of cultural observations and attitude change theory, it is argued that a certain degree of “real” attitude change has occurred, and is continuing, in the nontraditional direction among educated youth.

Female Headed Households in Iran (1976–2006)

Here we address the issue of female-headed households in Iran in an effort to discover whether the incidences, causes, and consequences are similar to those seen elsewhere in both developed and developing countries. In the United States such households are not always found to have resulted from involuntary, relatively homogeneous causes, but there is a persistent finding of associated poverty. From Iranian census data including the past 40 years, we found a rather dramatic, albeit not extremely large, countercultural increase in female-headed households; however, such households neither resulted from common causes nor led necessarily to poverty. We consider these results in relation to their implications about changes in family and womens roles in this highly transitional society in which tradition and modernity seem to coexist and family changes emerge slowly and selectively.

Social Change and Change in Intentions of Iranian Youth Regarding Education, Marriage, and Careers

Abstract Effects of large-scale socio-political movements and policy changes on individual attitudes and behaviours have been the focus of attention of social scientists and policy-makers in different countries. For example, concerns have been expressed regarding the effects of the so-called “fundamentalist” Islamic movements on attitudes and behaviours in relation to marriage, family structure, and the roles/rights of women. The Islamic Revolution of 1978 in Iran is usually assumed to have affected such beliefs and behaviours. To test the accuracy of such an assumption, three data sets collected in the same geographical location in 1982, 1984, and 1986 were compared within sex and SES groups. The intentions and aspirations of high school seniors regarding education, marriage, and careers were closer to conservative/traditional expectations in the 1982 sample than in the 1984 and 1986 samples. It is concluded that, even if there was an increase in traditionalism shortly after the Revolution, traditional t...