Patterns of Competence and Adjustment among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful Families

In order to test Maccoby and Martin's revision of Baumrind's conceptual framework, the families of approximately 4,100 14-18-year-olds were classified into 1 of 4 groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful) on the basis of the adolescents' ratings of their parents on 2 dimensions: acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision. The youngsters were then contrasted along 4 sets of outcomes: psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and problem behavior. Results indicate that adolescents who characterize their parents as authoritative score highest on measures of psychosocial competence and lowest on measures of psychological and behavioral dysfunction; the reverse is true for adolescents who describe their parents as neglectful. Adolescents whose parents are characterized as authoritarian score reasonably well on measures indexing obedience and conformity to the standards of adults but have relatively poorer self-conceptions than other youngsters. In contrast, adolescents from indulgent homes evidence a strong sense of self-confidence but report a higher frequency of substance abuse and school misconduct and are less engaged in school. The results provide support for Maccoby and Martin's framework and indicate the need to distinguish between two types of "permissive" families: those that are indulgent and those that are neglectful.     

Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample

According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems.     

Crowds on Hessle Road

A Strange Sight Strangers to Hessle Road in Hull,East Yorkshire,on a Saturday in July might be surprised to see lots of brightly dressed people running along the road,pushing prams as fast as they can.They might be more surprised to see that inside each pram isn’t a baby,but an adult who is jumping out regularly and quickly drinking a pint of beer at a pub before jumping into the pram again to continue.     

Integrating Cognition and Emotion: Yirat Shamayim and the Taxonomies

Following Bennett Solomon's suggestion of the “integrating individual”—one who possesses the skill and interest to incorporate new knowledge into a larger and unified life-picture—this article explores how recognizing the coupling of the affective and cognitive can influence Jewish education. Emotions help construct our daily perceptions and our moral and spiritual awareness. Jewish sources acknowledge the tandem nature of cognition and emotion in spiritual life by placing yirat shamayim (fear or awe of Heaven) as a paramount goal that is tightly bound to Torah learning. Education can nurture complex spiritual qualities by working with simpler emotions and qualities within the context of rigorous cognitive learning.