Research has shown that stress is related to negative physical and psychological changes among adults. Compared to the large body of literature on stress among adults, research on the effects of life stress among children and adolescents is relatively sparse. There is evidence, however, that stressful life events are related to problems among children and adolescents. Such problems include poor health, psychological distress, depression, suicide, and delinquent behavior. Research also has revealed several factors that moderate stress in children and adolescents. These factors include high self-esteem, an internal locus of control orientation, and social support from family and friends. Five scales measuring locus of control orientation, social support, level of psychosocial development, self-esteem, life events, and delinquent behavior were given to thirty early adolescents from divorced homes and thirty-four adolescents from intact homes. Results of regression analysis, using a general linear model, indicated that early adolescents from divorced homes had lower levels of self-esteem than children from intact homes. There were no significant differences between children from divorced and intact families in levels of delinquent behavior, locus of control, or psychosocial development as reflected in levels of autonomy, intimacy, and identity. Multiple regression analysis revealed that social support in the form of close friend support had a significant moderating effect on the delinquent behavior of early adolescents experiencing parental divorce. Levels of parental, teacher, and classmate support, as well as self-esteem and locus of control orientation, did not show any moderating effects on delinquent behavior. This study indicates that the impact of parental divorce on early adolescents is influenced by many factors. This study lends support to the need to investigate the effects of divorce on children and adolescents in terms of the coping resources available to the child. / Graduation date: 1992

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

No description available.

One hundred and eighteen female single parents completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and a personal questionnaire at six-month intervals over a one-year period. Self-Esteem levels and related social and economic factors were explored to ascertain: (a) levels of self-esteem maintained by single parents as length of status increase; (b) social, economic and personal perceptions related to familial status; (c) associations between the remaining female single parents level of self-esteem, length of single parent status and selected social and economic variables. The study included female single parents from a large urban area. They were English speaking, living alone with their children and were single parents as a result of marriage dissolution. The participants were not involved in either individual or family therapy. Data analysis included the reliability of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and repeated measures analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis to determine the stability of self-esteem over time. Discriminate function analysis was used to explore potential relationships between self-esteem, selected socio-economic conditions and personal perceptions of familial status. Test-retest reliability scores of self-esteem resulted in a Cronbachs Alpha = .88. Internal consistency computed on the data resulted in a Guttman coefficient of .89. There were no significant changes in self-esteem over the one-year period of the study. Results of the discriminate function procedure identified eight characteristics as significant discriminators between low, medium and high self-esteem. These include income, age, education, and length of single-parent status of the single parent, as well as their children's school progress, achievement behavior, and related amount of discipline. This study supports the notion that how the single parents view themselves is to a large extent dependent on their parenting ability and self-initiative. Recommendations for further research include a follow-up study to examine the changes in self-esteem over extended periods of time and an investigation of specific child rearing techniques that enhance self-esteem.

As the rate of divorce is increasing, the number of children who have to cope with these stressful situations is also growing. Since these divorces come with many problems for the children involved, they are getting more and more attention. The professionnals who are required by the court to give their opinion on who should get the custody or what will be the right of access, have pointed out a particular phenomenon: parental alienation syndrome. The first person who described this syndrome was Gardner (1989, 1992a). He blamed the court system for the syndrome, where, in its adversarial perspective, one side tries to win over the other using alienation as one of their strategies. In our opinion, this view does not account for all the aspects of the parental alienation syndrome and for the emotional turmoil created by the divorce. When, after a divorce, one is trapped in one's emotions, the result is an impass, where parental alienation is but one aspect of this impass. This paper shows how an impass, grows and which form the parental alienation syndrome takes. Cases from our practice will illustrate some situations of parental alienation resulting from a psychological impass and where the children are the victims.

The purpose of this study was to fully explore children's reactions to parental separation and to look at these reactions in relation to a number of environmental, demographic, and temperamental variables. The study also investigated parents' perceptions of children's reactions and the relationship between the two. Forty children between the ages of 8 and 12 years, inclusive, whose parents had been separated less than 3 years, participated in the study. A number of descriptive and ethnographic procedures were utilized. A negative correlation of.62 was obtained between anxiety and self-esteem. The children in the study appeared to have a well-developed, reality-based comprehension of the divorce, even though they were generally sad about the divorce and hoped for a reconciliation. Meaningful results were observed when the children's responses were compared with regard to gender, age, and duration of separation. Few differences in response were noted with regard to levels of self-esteem. Anxiety, however, appeared to be related to many rather apparent differences in response. When parents' responses were compared to children's responses, a moderate variability was observed in those questions related to time periods. In the open-ended questions, there was moderate variability in response agreement between parent and child. Differences in response were also noted with regard to when the children were told about the separation and by whom.

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No description available.

Crying is the primary source of distal communication through which newborn and young infants’ needs are related to the caregiving environment and, as such, this social behavior is vital to the survival and development of the infant. Recently, a series of experimental studies has begun to isolate the effects of specific durational components of crying on adults’ perceptions of infant cries. These studies have found the duration of pauses within and between cries to be perceptually salient features, however, the point at which adults were able to detect changes in the duration of the pauses was not addressed. Seventy-five introductory psychology students participated in three experiments designed to determine Difference Thresholds for the point at which manipulations in the durations of pauses before and after the inspiration in infant cries were detectable by the adult listener. The Difference Threshold for the pause before the inspiration (PBI) with the duration of the pause after the inspiration (PAI) held constant was an increase of 354.18% in the duration of the PBI. Difference Thresholds for increases and decreases in the duration of the PAI were 58.53% and -61.91%, respectively. For increases and decreases in the duration of the PAI with a perceptibly longer PBI, Difference Thresholds were 39.82% and -57.6%, respectively. The Difference Threshold for an increase in the duration of the PBI with a perceptibly shorter duration of the PAI was 420.06% and the Difference Threshold for a decrease in the duration of the PBI with a perceptibly longer duration of the PAI was 485.61%. Results provided the first known experimental evidence of the point at which changes in the durations of pauses before and after the inspiration in infant crying are detectable by adult listeners. / Master of Science