In this study, correlates of children's motivation to form friendships are examined using the Friendship Motivation Scale for Children (FMSC), a new scale designed to assess the motivational dimensions that contribute to children's desire for friendships. Specifically, the FMSC consists of four subscales that measure intrinsic motivation, two forms of regulation for extrinsic motivation (identified and external), and amotivation. The results, obtained with a sample of 490 fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-grade boys and girls, confirmed the factor structure of the scale for both genders and revealed adequate reliability (i.e., internal consistency and test-retest stability). Construct validity of the scale was demonstrated by (a) correlations among the four subscales displaying a simplex pattern, and thus supporting the underlying theoretical model (i.e., self-determination continuum), (b) positive correlations between subscales situated at the high end of the self-determination continuum (i.e., intrinsic motivation and identified regulation) and a relationship-maintaining goal, positive correlations between subscales situated at the low end of the self-determination continuum (i.e., external regulation and amotivation) and a revenge goal, and a positive correlation between external regulation and a control goal, (c) positive correlations between self-determined friendship motivation and items assessing the global importance of friendships, and (d) positive correlations between self-determination scores from members of friendship dyads. Furthermore, analyses revealed the existence of several correlates of children's friendship motivation. Children who were more self-determined in their motivation to form friendships were preferred by their peers, and they reported greater perceived social competence, a more internal locus of control of social experience, greater social support from family members, best friend and teacher, and fewer feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction. Moreover, loneliness was partially predicted by the discrepancy between children's friendship motivation and presence or absence of a best friend. Finally, girls reported greater self-determined friendship motivation than boys, and gender differences were observed in the relationships between friendship motivation and some of its correlates (i.e., one item stating that friendship is more important than popularity, peer preference, number of reciprocated friends, and having a mutual best friend).

Previous research has identified multiple developmental trajectories of self-esteem in adolescence along with psychosocial factors that differentiate trajectory groups. Results of these and other studies have suggested relations between self-esteem and social support, coping, stress, academic achievement, and life satisfaction. In the first study of the present research, 469 adolescents (235 females and 234 males) were followed from Grades 8 to 10, through the transition to high school in Grade 9. Cluster analysis identified four trajectories of self-esteem: Consistently High (n = 147, 31.3%), Decreasing (n = 99, 21.1%), Increasing (n = 160, 34.1%), and Consistently Low (n = 63, 13.4%). These trajectories showed differential patterns on measures of reported friend, family, and esteem-enhancing social support, avoidant coping, and daily hassles. The Consistently High group reported increases in friend and esteem-enhancing support and decreased use of avoidant coping between Grades 8 and 10. The Increasing group reported increases in all three types of reported social support across the three years. The Decreasing group reported an increase in daily hassles between Grades 8 and 10. Although not different in reported self-esteem in Grade 8, the Consistently High and Decreasing groups were discriminated on the basis of all three types of reported social support, with students in the Decreasing group reporting less support. The Consistently High group demonstrated the most positive pattern of adjustment, the Consistently Low group demonstrated the most negative pattern, and the two changing groups generally demonstrated outcomes between the two other groups. Results supported the conceptualization of trajectories as representative of distinct patterns of development in adolescence. In the second study, a subset of 338 adolescents (166 females and 172 males) was followed up in their Grade 11 year. As in the first study, the Consistently High group demonstrated the most positive adjustment and the Consistently Low group had the most negative outcomes. However, there was no additional differentiation between the Decreasing and Increasing groups at Grade 11. Reported life satisfaction was the variable that most strongly distinguished the trajectory groups in Grade 11. Further research is needed to identify self-esteem trajectories that represent the entire developmental stage of adolescence, as well as to aid in the early identification of at-risk self-esteem groups for the purpose of targeting appropriate interventions.

The current study consists of a phenomenological exploration of the family life of an adolescent diagnosed as suffering from anorexia nervosa. A review of the literature addressing the anorectic's family life revealed that the various theoretical formulations offered were not well validated by experiential data collected from those living in the family. The theoretical orientations of the various authors also appeared to prestructure the accounts. Questions were thus raised regarding the inherent validity of these formulations which lead to more general questions concerning the epistemological and philosophical grounding on which a study of family life should be based. In a second section, the issue of the most appropriate philosophical grounding for a study of family life was addressed. Of the epistemological philosophical positions reviewed, the one which revealed itself to present the most primary and irrefutable grounding for a pursuit of psychological research in general and family research in particular was the existential phenomenological ontological approach. A methodology consistent with the Duquesne School's approach to psychological research was adapted for the study. The results of the study revealed that family life prior to the onset of anorectic symptoms was well structured in terms of division of authority and responsibilities. The approach to family living, however was very much centered in the home with the most important relationships in each member's life being usually contained within the family. Particularly important were the cross-generational relationships which, for the children, were important forums for addressing developmental and autonomy issues. The anorectic was the child most involved in these relationships. The onset of symptoms coincided with a crisis of authenticity experienced by the anorectic which led to an attempt at self-isolation and reduced investment in the family. The anorectic dieting behavior was described as being part of a project of self-definition and renewal. The impact of the withdrawal on the family was to transform it into a conflicted environment which corresponded to many of the descriptions provided by previous authors. The hospitalization helped defuse the intrafamilial conflict but failed to address the core issue of the anorectic's quest for authenticity.

The present 12-year follow-up study was conducted to investigate the long-term development of 60 hyperactive children, who were further subdivided onto those with and without childhood aggressiveness. They were followed from childhood to late adolescence/early adulthood, and compared on psychiatric, cognitive, and academic outcome with that of 60 matched normal control subjects. Childhood predictors of poor outcome were also explored in the hyperactive group. Consistent with previous studies, the core deficits of hyperactivity persisted in more than half of the hyperactive group. However, the results called into question the widespread claim that childhood hyperactivity was related to antisocial behaviours in adolescence. Although the hyperactive group displayed significantly more Antisocial Personality Disorder, Drug Use Disorders and comorbidity than the control group in adolescence, these group differences were significantly attributable to the aggressive subgroup of hyperactive subjects. In contrast, adolescents who were hyperactive only in childhood did not differ significantly from the control group in psychiatric functioning, except for their persistent ADHD. The hyperactive/aggressive subgroup had received the most individual and residential treatment for their behaviour problems. Consistent with previous research, at follow-up, hyperactive subjects displayed significantly poorer spelling, arithmetic and reading comprehension skills than did the control group. In comparison with the control group, the hyperactive group had also completed fewer years of High School education, failed more courses, received more special services in High School and fewer of them had attended post-secondary school. Hyperactive/aggressive and hyperactive only subgroups generally displayed similar problems on these academic variables. These preliminary findings suggest that chronicity of hyperactive behaviours is in part determined by its severity in childhood. Overall, the present findings suggest that hyperactivity is persistent in a significant number of children and the heterogeneity of ADHD needs to be addressed in order to move towards a better understanding of the long-term development of children with ADHD. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

No description available.

A series of three studies was conducted to examine the effects of attention and semantic relation on the processing of pictures and words in adults, normally achieving children, and children with specific learning disabilities (LD) in reading and spelling versus arithmetic. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a naming task for pictures and words presented individually and in superimposed picture-word pairs in which the meanings of the pictures and words were either congruent, semantically associated, or incongruent. Participants were required to direct their attention to either pictures or words in the superimposed conditions by naming the task-relevant stimulus. Physically, the superimposed picture-word pairs were the same in each condition. A negative ERP wave occurring approximately 450 ms post-stimulus (N450) was of particular interest in this work, as this wave is sensitive to linguistic and semantic processing and has been useful in differentiating LD subtypes. For adults and normally achieving children, distinct ERP waveforms were observed for individually presented pictures and words. Although there were developmental differences in the ERPs to pictures, distinct waveforms were maintained for pictures and words presented in the superimposed pairs for both groups. This finding affirms the independent attentional processing of pictures and words. Whereas, for adults, there was evidence for automatic and controlled processing of words and pictures, respectively, there was little evidence that children processed the words automatically to the same degree. Children were also less efficient than adults at managing attentional resources. Children with two subtypes of LD based on reading and spelling (RS) or arithmetic (A) achievement were differentiated from one another and from normally achieving controls on the picture-word naming task. Compared to controls, Group RS displayed naming deficits for pictures and words and smaller N450 waves to words. Their N450 to pictures was normal. These effects were indicative of deficient linguistic processing but intact visual-spatial processing. Group A displayed a specific picture-naming deficit and smaller N450 waves to words and pictures. When attending to pictures in the superimposed pairs, Group A failed to develop an early negative wave thought to reflect processes involved in the discrimination of task-relevant stimuli. This effect may indicate early deficiencies in visual-spatial processing, possibly at the stage of object identification. Overall, these effects provide support for a typology of LD based upon patterns of academic achievement and neurocognitive performance (Rourke, 1982, 1989).

Using ethnography, this study focused on a series of conversations with 47 young people from different social and geographical locations in an attempt to gain greater insight into how the consumption of sport and sport-related commodities are enmeshed in young men and women's struggle toward identity formation. From this exploration, there were three fundamental and inter-penetrating themes that emerged. First, the participants validated their sports consumption habits by describing the functional attributes of the commodities they consumed, namely comfort, quality and look. This served to defend against inferences suggesting that they may be conformists mindlessly shopping according to the social seduction of the sign. Second, choice within the sphere of sports consumption was repeatedly cited as a moment of empowerment and individuality whereby the participants, anxious to characterize themselves as rational and autonomously consuming individuals, were comfortable articulating and demonstrating their own creativity and character. Finally, the Other was essential to the self in the process of presenting one's own identity or the identity of a group in and through sports commodities, boundaries were established and re-established by way of a ceaselessly evolving depiction of the Other. In conclusion, for the young people involved in this study, sport and its related commodities play a crucial role in the complexities of peer relations and the ever-evolving process of identification and identity formation.

Two studies are reported here. The purpose of the first study was to examine the relative impact of the family climate (defined in terms of marital satisfaction, marital conflict, parental psychological distress, and SES) and the peer climate (defined in terms of peer likeability) on children's adjustment (measured by internalizing and externalizing behaviours) for 89 children from grades 6 to 11. Two path analytic models were assessed. The first assessed a single process family model which hypothesized that family functioning would have a direct effect on children's adjustment, but peer relations would have no significant effect on children's adjustment. The second model hypothesized dual processes, that is, that both family functioning and peer relations would predict children's adjustment. Results indicated strong support for a single process family model when data using fathers as informants about family functioning and children's adjustment were examined. Results from data which used mothers as informants about family variables and children's adjustment provided support for a dual process model, in which both family and peers made significant contributions to child adjustment problems. When either mothers or fathers provided information about the family, and peers provided outcome scores, there was evidence for a single process peer model. In the second study, a mediational model was assessed. It was hypothesized that overt marital hostility would mediate the relationship between marital satisfaction and children's adjustment for 277 children from grades 6 to 11. Results indicated that marital hostility mediated the relationship between marital satisfaction and children's adjustment when parents provided the information regarding marital functioning and children's adjustment. However, when peer information about aggression and withdrawal was used as outcome measures, the relationship between marital satisfaction and children's adjustment was no longer significant. Some gender differences were also noted, indicating that marital hostility mediated the relationship between marital satisfaction and internalizing and externalizing behaviours differently for boys and girls. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The primary goals of the current investigation were pursued through two separate studies. The first study was aimed at developing and assessing the psychometric adequacy of a daily hassles scale. The second study was prospective (six month time interval) and was aimed at testing specific hypotheses regarding the relations among self-concept, daily hassles, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Specifically, the purposes of Study 2 were three-fold: (a) to test hypotheses congruent with traditional formulations of diathesis-stress models separately for boys and girls and for depressive and anxiety symptoms, (b) to examine the prospective association between specific facets of self separately for boys and girls and for depressive and anxiety symptoms, and (c) to test two separate models for understanding the causal linkages between self-concept, daily hassles, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results of Study 1 supported the factorial validity of the Adolescent Daily Hassles Inventory (ADHI). A five-factor structure, comprised of dimensions labelled Academic, Family Relations, Interpersonal Concerns, Achievement, and Uncertainty about the Future, most adequately fit the data. Further tests of construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability provided additional support for the reliability and validity of the ADHI and direction for future research aimed at assessing and refining the ADHI. Results of Study 2 supported the assertion that self-concept can best be understood from a multidimensional perspective. Findings based on prospective analyses indicated that specific components of self-concept (cf. general self-concept) were more useful for understanding outcome measures. Consistent with socially prescribed gender roles, results indicated that self-concepts in the areas of math, school, and physical ability were the greatest risk factors for anxiety symptoms among boys, whereas self-concepts in the areas of physical appearance and verbal ability were consistent risk factors for depressive and anxiety symptoms among girls. Support also was obtained for hypothesized causal models aimed at understanding the causal linkages among self-concept, daily hassles, depressive and anxiety symptoms. Specifically, findings supported the hypothesized temporal association between symptoms of anxiety (Time 1) and depression (Time 2), as well as the proposed causal linkages between depression at Time 1 and self-concept and daily hassles at Time 2. Results are discussed in the context of prominent theories of adolescent development and depression.

Theorists operating in the associationist tradition have consistently maintained that creative thinking involves the ability to generate remote associations. It has been inferred that this ability requires a particular kind of associative memory structure, one which is characterized by many between-configuration links and many weak within-configuration links. However, there has been a paucity of studies examining the associative memory structures of creative individuals. Still, considerable effort has been devoted in the developmental literature to delineating various types of organizational structures in children's memories. Consequently, this research explored how associational processes operate in children vis-a-vis their memory structures. As well, an attempt was made to replicate part of a frequently-cited developmental shift from children's use of themes and categories to their use of categories as organizational structures on memory tasks. A series of three studies, each employing different memory tasks, were conducted to examine differences in the associative memory structures of more creative and less creative children in grades 3 and 7. Stimulus words used for the experimental tasks comprised three configural dimensions: within category, within theme, and between category and theme. The expected developmental shift towards increased category usage with age was partially replicated on a sorting task; Grade 3 children used more associations than Grade 7 children, and Grade 7 children used more categories than Grade 3 children. Results obtained on two receptive memory tasks (i.e., associability-rating and association-decision) indicated that the associative memory structures of more creative versus less creative children, as well as older versus younger children, appear to be characterized by many strong within-category associative links, fewer and weaker within-theme associative links, and very few and weak between-category-and-theme associative links. Yet, results obtained on one productive memory task (i.e., recall) revealed that both older more creative children and younger children tend to retain the use of weak between-category-and-theme associative links, whereas older less creative children relinquish these over time. These results suggest that the creative individual's continued ability to access weak between-configuration links from memory accounts in part for his/her ability to generate remote associations. As well, it appears that this ability to generate remote associations occurs not during the encoding stage but during retrieval. This coincides with recent developments in the computational modelling of creative thinking processes. Such developments highlight the creative individual's selection of viable associations among ideas, rather than the generation of associations among ideas per se.