Coping efficacy and psychological problems of children of divorce

Three models of the relations of coping efficacy, coping, and psychological problems of children of divorce were investigated. A structural equation model using cross-sectional data of 356 nine- to twelve-year-old children of divorce yielded results that supported coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between both active coping and avoiding coping and psychological problems. In a prospective longitudinal model with a subsample of 162 of these children, support was found for Time 2 coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between Time 1 active coping and Time 2 internalizing of problems. Individual growth curve models over four waves also found support for coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between active coping and psychological problems. No support was found for alternative models of coping as a mediator of the relations between efficacy and symptoms or for coping efficacy as a moderator of the relations between coping and symptoms.     

Engineering design as an intellectual problem

Engineering education has recently been going through a process of internal fighting between the tendency to introduce more and more information and skills in the fields of computerization and mathematics (mathematics for engineers), on the one hand, and the need to provide the student with pure empirical technical and design knowledge and experience, on the other hand. In most mechanical engineering departments, the outcome of this competition has been a reduction in the time allotted to teaching the empirical part of engineering information: there is often a psychological barrier to understanding the importance of this group of subjects, and the computer- and mathematics-associated subjects usually win out. As a result, the new graduate usually knows how to fight the computation struggle but he/she is not able to formulate his/her final engineering goal. This paper focuses on various aspects of this situation. In particular, we set out to defend the need for serious and in-depth teaching of the empirical information required in engineering design work.     

The ILS as Outreach: Cataloging Campus Partner Collections

Although libraries tend to see the integrated library system (ILS) as a very “library” system, it is actually a powerful inventory and patron management system that can be used much more broadly. At American University, the library has many campus partner collections that it has added to the library catalog. Some collections contain books and media, like traditional library holdings, and some are made up of audiovisual and computer equipment. This article describes the process of cataloging these collections, the challenges of conceiving the ILS as a campus-wide system, and the benefits that these partnerships have brought to the library.     

A meta-analysis of meausures of self-esteem for young children: a framework for future measures

The objective of this study was to synthesize information from literature on measures of the self in young children to create an empirical framework for developing future methods for measuring this construct. For this meta-analysis, all available preschool and early elementary school self-esteem studies were reviewed. Reliability was used as the criterion variable and the predictor variables represented different aspects of methodology that are used in testing an instrument: study characteristics, method characteristics, subject characteristics, measure characteristics, and measure design characteristics. Using information from two analyses, the results indicate that the reliability of self-esteem measures for young children can be predicted by the setting of the study, number of items in the scale, the age of the children being studied, the method of data collection (questionnaires or pictures), and the socioeconomic status of the children. Age and number of items were found to be critical features in the development of reliable measures for young children. Future studies need to focus on the issues of age and developmental limitations on the complicated problem of how young children actually think about the self and what methods and techniques can aid in gathering this information more accurately.     

Educational vouchers: A viable option for urban settings?

Educational vouchers have been proposed as a way to give parents more choice in their child's education. The economic and social consequences that vouchers will have for education is discussed. From a historical perspective, vouchers have never been fully implemented. Educational vouchers have the potential to drain public education of valuable resources. Educators have suggested that vouchers will not increase choice among parents or improve the quality of education in general. It is likely that vouchers will lead to larger inequalities between children of the middle and poor classes. Alternative approaches are provided that will give parents more choices within the public school system.     

Coping, Stress, and the Psychological Symptoms of Children of Divorce: A Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Study

The authors conducted a cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal study of stress, coping, and psychological symptoms in children of divorce. The sample consisted of 258 children (mean age = 10.1; SD = 1.2), of whom 196 were successfully followed 5.5 months later. A 4-dimensional model of coping was found using confirmatory factor analysis, with the factors being active coping, avoidance, distraction, and support. In the cross-sectional model avoidance coping partially mediated the relations between negative events and symptoms while active coping moderated the relations between negative events and conduct problems. In the longitudinal model significant negative paths were found from active coping and distraction Time 1 to internalizing symptoms Time 2, while Time 1 support coping had a positive path coefficient to Time 2 depression. Positive paths were found between negative events at Time 1 and anxiety at Time 2, and between all symptoms at Time 1 and negative events at Time 2.     

Cognitive moderators of children's adjustment to stressful divorce events: the role of negative cognitive errors and positive illusions

This study examined whether children's cognitive appraisal biases moderate the impact of stressful divorce-related events on psychological adjustment in 355 children ages 9 to 12, whose families had experienced divorce within the past 2 years. Multiple regression indicated that endorsement of negative cognitive errors for hypothetical divorce events moderates the relations between stressful divorce events and self- and maternal reports of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, but only for older children. Positive illusions buffer the effects of stressful divorce events on child-reported depression and mother-reported externalizing problems. Implications of these results for theories of stress and coping, as well as for interventions for children of divorced families, are discussed.     

Longitudinal Effects of PostDivorce Interparental Conflict on Children’s Mental Health Problems Through Fear of Abandonment: Does Parenting Quality Play a Buffering Role?

In a sample of 559 children (ages 9–18), researchers investigated whether: (a) fear of abandonment mediated the association between postdivorce interparental conflict (IPC) and mental health problems, and (b) parent–child relationship quality moderated the association between IPC and fear of abandonment. Mediation analyses indicated that pretest IPC predicted fear of abandonment 3 months later, which then predicted child- and teacher-reported mental health problems 10 months later. The hypothesized protective effect of a high-quality parent–child relationship was not observed. IPC predicted fear of abandonment for all children, except for those with low- and moderate-quality father–child relationships, for whom IPC was not significantly related to fear of abandonment. Findings highlight the need to optimize child coping programs and improve parenting-after-divorce programs to reduce IPC.     

Protecting children from the consequences of divorce: a longitudinal study of the effects of parenting on children's coping processes

This study examines whether intervention-induced changes in mother-child relationship quality and discipline led to short-term (6 months) and long-term (6 years) changes in children's coping processes in a sample of 240 youth aged 9-12 years when assessed initially. Data were from a randomized, experimental trial of a parenting-focused preventive intervention designed to improve children's postdivorce adjustment. Three-wave prospective mediational analyses revealed that intervention-induced improvements in relationship quality led to increases in coping efficacy at 6 months and to increases in coping efficacy and active coping at 6 years. Tests of the mediated effects were significant for all 3 indirect paths. Results are discussed in terms of pathways to adaptive coping and implications for the implementation of preventive interventions targeting coping.