The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence

A sample of 865 10-16-year-olds from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds completed a questionnaire battery concerning 3 aspects of autonomy: emotional autonomy in relationship with parents, resistance to peer pressure, and the subjective sense of self-reliance. The observed patterns of relations among the measures cast doubt on the notion that autonomy is a unidimensional trait manifested similarly across a variety of situations. For most boys and girls, the transition from childhood into adolescence is marked more by a trading of dependency on parents for dependency on peers, rather than straightforward and unidimensional growth in autonomy. Moreover, contrary to long-standing notions about the greater salience of autonomy to adolescent males than to females, girls score higher than boys on all 3 measures of autonomy at all age levels.     

试论高校党支部的战斗堡垒作用

高等院校学生党支部是党的最基层组织,是党的组织体系内的一个重要组成部分,是在高校贯彻和实施党的教育方针的最基层组织。结合高校学生党支部的任务和特点,做好学生党支部工作。     

The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence

This article examines the impact of experiencing several major life transitions simultaneously in early adolescence. For many children, entry into the new life period of adolescence is marked by the transition from a relatively intimate elementary school setting into a more complex, impersonal junior high school environment. This major shift in organizational context is often accompanied by dramatic changes in biology and social definition. We hypothesized that transitions will be easier for children to cope with if the various adolescent changes come into focus at different stages rather than simultaneously. In a longitudinal study conducted in a large Midwestern city, schoolchildren were followed from sixth into seventh grade in 2 different types of school systems. The effect of multiple life changes (school transition, pubertal development, early dating behavior, residential mobility, family disruption) on students' self-esteem, academic grade-point average, and participation in extracurricular activities was analyzed. The results identify children who are forced to cope with several life transitions concurrently as a group at risk. Theoretical implications are discussed, with development of the notion that individuals need an "arena of comfort" in at least some spheres of their lives.     

Role strain,engagement and academic achievement in early adolescence

The present study was designed to investigate the relationships between role strains following the transition to secondary school and academic achievement. Academic engagement was hypothesized to mediate between role strain and achievement. The sample consisted of 749 students in their first year of secondary school. Four types of role strain were investigated: parent, teacher, school and peer. Parent and teacher role strains appeared to be negatively associated with academic achievement, as mediated through academic engagement. Parent and school role strain were directly and negatively associated with achievement. Results are discussed in the light of parenting practices and the developmental mismatch hypothesis.     

Learning to play: A review and theoretical investigation of the developmental mechanisms and functions of cetacean play

Play is a behavioral phenomenon most commonly observed in the young of both solitary and social species. Documentation of play in cetaceans varies across species and settings. Cetacean play behavioral repertoires include a broad range of actions, such as the manipulation of diverse objects, blowing bubbles, chasing conspecifics, and swimming in spirals through the water. As is common in research on animal play, cetacean play has been grouped into categories by its form, including locomotor play, object play, and different variations of social play, such as affiliative games, play fighting, and socio-sexual play. Research has primarily focused on recording the topography of cetacean play and the demographics of the individuals engaging in play. However, these classifications are insufficient to address the possible developmental and societal functions of cetacean play behaviors, or the mechanisms with which play behaviors are spread between conspecifics and acquired by young members of cetacean populations. This article applies several developmental and social learning theories in order to organize current knowledge and guide future research.     

加强学生党支部组织内部建设,充分发挥其战斗堡垒作用

高校学生党支部的组织建设对国家的建设有着十分重要的影响和意义,探索和加强高校大学生党支部组织建设,切实加强学生支部的建设,对于进一步加强和改进党的组织建设具有十分重要的意义。     

Agents and recipient objects in the development of early symbolic play

The development of 2 components of early symbolic play--children's symbolic transformations of agents of action and recipient objects of action--was assessed in 48 children from 14 to 25 months of age. A 5-step sequence was predicted based on a combined weighting of agent substitutions and recipient object substitutions in each step. Children observed an adult model who pretended to talk into a telephone using each agent and object substitution in all combinations and then were allowed to demonstrate their own imitative pretending for each step. Based on the children's profiles of steps passed and failed, the sequence was found to form a Guttman scale and be age related. 2 types of possible underlying sequences were discussed.     

The relation between intellectual and metacognitive skills in early adolescence.

The first objective of this study was establishing to what extent metacognitive skill is associated with intelligence. As a second objective, the impact of hints on the execution of metacognitive skills was investigated. Both issues have major implications for the training and transferability of metacognitive skills during performance on a representative school task. First, a standardized intelligence-test was administered to a group of first-year secondary-school students. Next, these students solved six math word problems, three without metacognitive hints and three including these hints. Metacognitive skilfullness was assessed through systematical observation, while learning performance consisted of performance on a math task and grade point average (GPA). Results show that without hints metacognitive skilfulness is the main predictor of initial learning, while intelligence additionally enters the regression equation after the presentation of metacognitive hints. GPA also appears to be predicted by a combination of intellectual and metacognitive skills. Consequences for the early acquisition of metacognitive skills are discussed.     

A developmental-genetic analysis of common fears from early adolescence to early adulthood

A 51-item fear survey was administered to more than 2,600 adolescents and adults, including m ore than 400 pairs of like-sex twins, to examine developmental patterns and genetic influences on common fears. Raw data were age-sex standardized and subjected to factor analysis, and preliminary analyses of the factor scores documented both age and genetic effects. Some fears habituate with age; others exhibit sensitization; and, for some fears, intensity is uniform across development. Genetic effects were found for all factors, but the magnitude of such effects varied. Based on these initial analyses, developmental patterns of genetic and environmental influences on self-assessed fears were examined in 354 pairs of like-sex twins, ages 14-34. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict a twin's fearfulness from the co-twin's fear, the age and zygosity of the twin pair, and the interactions of these 3 predictors. For all fear factors, co-twin's score and the interaction of co-twin's score with pair zygosity significantly contributed to the prediction of a twin's fearfulness, but the magnitude of both effects varied for different fears. For 2 fear factors, Personal Death and Loved One's Misfortunes, 3-way interactions of co-twin's score, age, and zygosity were observed. The findings suggest significant genetic modulation of developmental patterns in the acquisition and maintenance of some adaptive fears.     

Antecedents and behavior-problem outcomes of parental monitoring and psychological control in early adolescence

The early childhood antecedents and behavior-problem correlates of monitoring and psychological control were examined in this prospective, longitudinal, multi-informant study. Parenting data were collected during home visit interviews with 440 mothers and their 13-year-old children. Behavior problems (anxiety/depression and delinquent behavior) were assessed via mother, teacher, and/or adolescent reports at ages 8 through 10 years and again at ages 13 through 14. Home-interview data collected at age 5 years were used to measure antecedent parenting (harsh/reactive, positive/proactive), family background (e.g., socioeconomic status), and mother-rated child behavior problems. Consistent with expectation, monitoring was anteceded by a proactive parenting style and by advantageous family-ecological characteristics, and psychological control was anteceded by harsh parenting and by mothers' earlier reports of child externalizing problems. Consistent with prior research, monitoring was associated with fewer delinquent behavior problems. Links between psychological control and adjustment were more complex: High levels of psychological control were associated with more delinquent problems for girls and for teens who were low in preadolescent delinquent problems, and with more anxiety/depression for girls and for teens who were high in preadolescent anxiety/depression.     

Interest change and continuity from early adolescence to middle adulthood

The present paper discusses the continuity and change of individuals’ vocational interests by reviewing recent research on interest development across the life course. Five forms of change and continuity were proposed to adequately describe interest development. The developmental trajectory of interests based on a recent meta-analysis by Low, Yoon, Roberts, and Rounds (2005) was presented. Mechanisms resulting in change and continuity are discussed within a biopsychosocial context. Implications for understanding the way interests can simultaneously change and become stable were presented.     

The effect of academic self-concept on ADHD and antisocial behaviors in early adolescence

Using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the effect of academic self-concept (ASC) on the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behaviors in early adolescence. Participants (n = 445) were recruited from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research study. Eligibility was determined by the presence of complete data for the following variables at the specified time periods: reading at age 7, teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 7, self-ratings of ASC at ages 9 and 11, and teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 13. The results indicated that ASC is an important construct that directly contributes to the development of antisocial behaviors rather than to symptoms of ADHD. The results also indicated that children's early history of behavioral problems and academic performance contribute to the development of a more robust understanding of the impact of ASC on the development of disruptive behaviors in early adolescence.     

Cognitive underpinnings of moral reasoning in adolescence: The contribution of executive functions

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by intense changes, which impact the interaction between individuals and their environments. Moral reasoning (MR) is an important skill during adolescence because it guides social decisions between right and wrong. Identifying the cognitive underpinnings of MR is essential to understanding the development of this function. The aim of this study was to explore predictors of MR in typically developing adolescents (n = 92, 33 males, M = 16.3 years, SD = 2.2 years) and the specific contribution of higher order cognitive processing using an innovative visual MR assessment tool and measures of executive functioning and intelligence. MR maturity was correlated with four executive functions (cognitive flexibility, feedback utilization, conceptual reasoning, verbal fluency) and was predicted by four variables: age, intelligence, nonverbal flexibility and verbal fluency. Overall, these results contribute to a better understanding of MR during adolescence and highlight the importance of using innovative tools to measure social cognition.     

The psychological significance of play with imaginary companions in early childhood

Although social play is common to many species, humans are unique in their ability to extract some of the benefits of social play through imagination. For example, in play with imaginary companions (ICs), children often practice skills that might be useful for later adaptive social, relational, and emotional functioning. While play with ICs does not provide the same immediate feedback that play with real others affords, this imagined, quasisocial context allows children to experiment with or rehearse events that might occur in real relationships. This symbolic enactment of social relationships might afford opportunities to experience not just social situations but all manner of positive and negative emotions in a risk-free way. In addition, children’s interactions with real others around their ICs allow for negotiation of social roles in real relationships. ICs also provide a forum for psychological distance that might help young children manage their real relationships and engage in processes such as negotiation and cooperation, which are needed for successful social adaptation. Although play with ICs is clearly not of adaptive value in an evolutionary sense, for the children who create them, ICs might hold psychological significance for adaptive social development.     

Perceptions and knowledge of preservice and inservice teachers about early literacy instruction

A major conclusion from the last decade of research on children with poor reading performance is that early, systematic instruction in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondences improves early reading and spelling skills and results in a reduction of the number of students who are reading below grade level. To teach reading to at-risk students and students with learning disabilities, teachers need to have positive perceptions regarding the role of systematic, explicit instruction, as well as knowledge of English language structure. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and knowledge of general educators at two professional levels toward early literacy instruction for students at risk for reading failure. Unfortunately, our findings are similar to those obtained by Moats in 1994: Many general education teachers, at both preservice and inservice levels, are not prepared adequately for this challenging task.     

Perceptions and knowledge of preservice and inservice educators about early reading instruction

A major conclusion from research regarding children with poor reading performance is that early, systematic instruction in phonological awareness and phonics improves early reading and spelling skills and results in a reduction of the number of students who read below grade level. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and knowledge of presevice and inservice educators about early reading instruction. The results indicated that these educators expressed positive attitudes toward explicit and implicit code instruction, with inservice educators more positive about explicit code instruction than preservice educators and preservice educators more positive about implicit code instruction. Preservice and inservice educators demonstrated limited knowledge of phonological awareness or terminology related to language structure and phonics. Additionally, they perceived themselves as only somewhat prepared to teach early reading to struggling readers. These findings indicate a continuing mismatch between what educators believe and know and what convergent research supports as effective early reading instruction for children at risk for reading difficulties. Implications support continuing efforts to inform and reform teacher education. Just prior to publication, the editorial office was informed of the untimely death of the first author, Candace Bos, who died on August 13, 2001.     

Examination of peer-group contextual effects on aggression during early adolescence

Peer group contextual effects of aggressive behavior among middle school students (6th-8th graders) were examined using a short-term longitudinal design. More specifically, the homophily hypothesis that peer group membership influences individual-level bullying and fighting was evaluated with multilevel sex-specific models of individual- and peer-level aggression scores. Peer groups were identified via social network analysis. Intraclass correlation coefficients yielded through hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated substantial within-group similarity on self-reported bullying and fighting, suggesting that students affiliate with individuals who bully and fight at the same frequency. Peer group bullying and fighting was associated with individual-level behavior, even after controlling individual baseline levels for males and females. However, peer contextual effects explained more variance in individual bullying than individual fighting. This differential impact of peer group membership suggests that future studies consider peer relations across subtypes of aggression.