Five caregiver-related variables were examined to assess their predictive power relative to several academic and behavioral outcome measures in an intervention study designed to prevent academic failure and behavioral problems in an at-risk population. Subjects included 117 children and their primary caregivers from four child-me centers in a medium-sized metropolitan area in western Massachusetts. Subjects came largely from low-income families and were primarily from minority ethnic backgrounds. The predictor variables included perceived caregiver social support caregiver life-stress, caregiver relationship satisfaction, caregiver depression, and caregiver's ratings of general psychiatric distress. An assumption was made that these variables are related to the level of psychological resources that caregivers would be able to devote to intervention participation. It was hypothesized, therefore, that predictive relationships between these caregiver-related and outcome variables would be mediated by caregiver compliance with the intervention. An unexpected finding emerging from this study was that higher levels of caregiver depression predict increased compliance with the behavioral portion of the intervention which, in twin, predicts fewer Home AD/HD symptoms at post-test. This was the only predictive relationship in which a mediating role for compliance was supported at a level approaching statistical significance. However, several direct predictive relationships between caregiver-related variables and outcome measures were supported by the data at a statistically significant level. Results are discussed and directions for future research are suggested. Several methodological issues pertinent to this study are also considered.

Women's attitudes concerning their understanding of and relationship to the environment were explored in relation to Robert Kegan's structural clinical-developmental model of ego development, using a randomly selected sample of 27 women between the ages of 40 and 49 from a Massachusetts town. Ways of thinking about the environment were differentiated qualitatively according to ego stage. Extended illustrations of stage distinctions focused on the women's feelings of relationship/connection to the environment, including the impact of religion and spirituality on their attitudes, and on their presented rationale for their environmentally related behaviors. Several additional measures were utilized to explore related questions quantitatively, including the following: Is concern for the external environment related to one's treatment of the internal environment--that is, personal, physical health? Environmental concern as measured by Weigel and Weigel's Environmental Concern Scale was significantly correlated with self-reported personal health care behaviors. Will age be related to ego stage? Within this sample of women in their 40's, age was significantly negatively correlated with ego stage. Explanations for this negative correlation are discussed within a historical context. In conclusion, educational implications and relevance to clinical practice are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adolescents' exposure to violent and non-violent traumatic life events and psychological factors and the effects of demographic and prosocial resiliency factors on this relationship. A secondary analysis of data from a study with a large sample of white and black adolescents (grades 9th and 10th) from three high schools was performed. Of the total eligible population, 89% participated in the survey (N = 1684). The adolescents' ages ranged from 13 to 18 years; 54% were black and 46% white; and 50% of the adolescents were female. One out of five adolescents was exposed to violence as a victim of a violent traumatic life event and there was greater exposure in black and male adolescents. The overall mean exposure to non-violent traumatic life events was 4.95. These data suggested that there is a relationship between traumatic life event exposure and anger total, depression, and mental distress in a large diverse sample of adolescents. Victimized female and white adolescents reported more depressive and mental distress than male and black adolescents. Exposure to violent traumatic life events in adolescents was a significant predictor of anger total $(p<.01),$ depression $(p<.01),$ and mental distress $(p<.01).$ Prosocial resiliency factors (self-efficacy, social support, and hope) moderated the exposure to violent traumatic life event exposure. Higher self-efficacy and social support and more hopeful about the future were protective and ameliorated the detrimental effects of exposure to violent traumatic life events in adolescents. These findings support the importance of identifying adolescents exposed to violence and intervening to address the associated psychological symptoms. Further, prosocial resiliency can be used to decrease the deleterious effects and are potential avenues for prevention strategies.

The relationship between attachment and identity was examined in a sample of 283 college students. The primary hypothesis was that the strength of the attachment bond is significantly positively correlated with the identity achieved style. Secondary questions addressed gender differences in attachment and identity as well as the role of reported memory of childhood attachment to current attachment and to identity development. Social and cultural factors including the role of adolescents' second generation status and of trauma in the attachment-identity association were also explored. Subjects were given questionnaires assessing current attachment and reported memory of childhood attachment to mother and father, identity styles, and difficult life events. Although no support was obtained for the hypothesized relationship between attachment and the identity achieved style, other patterns of attachment and identity were found. Results on gender differences seemed to show support for stereotypical notions in attachment but not identity. Gender differences between males and females in the attachment-identity association often indicated more significant results for males. Attachment to mothers vs. attachment to fathers showed somewhat different patterns in predicting identity styles. Results indicated that adolescents who had second-generation status may show a slightly different pattern of identity development that may involve struggling for integrating personal as well as familial and cultural influences. Trauma may disrupt the adolescents' ideological development. Individuals who have experienced traumatic events are more likely to question basic assumptions about life. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between genders, interpersonal vs. ideological identity and child vs. current attachment when conducting analyses on the association between attachment and identity. Future investigations should consider using more categorical measures of assessing attachment and identity styles, conducting studies of identity development with a multi-cultural sample, and incorporating measures of traumatic life events that may mediate the attachment-identity link.

This study was designed to determine whether lasting attentional deficits result from repeated mild closed head injuries related to participation in youth boxing. Subjects consisted of 10 amateur boxers and 10 basketball players who were participating in tournaments at a youth club. Subjects were matched for age, grade point average, and socioeconomic status. Attentional disruptions were measured by four variables of the Test of Variable Attention (TOVA): Omission errors, a measure of attention; commission errors, a measure of response inhibition and impulsivity; response time, a measure of information processing and motor response speed; and variability of response time, a measure of consistency of attention. The boxers were tested 1 hour after the completion of the boxing tournament and again 8 weeks later. The basketball players were tested once while their tournament was in progress. The results of the study indicate that the cumulative effects of head blows sustained during the boxing season did not have a significant effect on TOVA measures of inattention, inhibition/impulsivity, or information processing and motor response speed. Variability was the only index for which the mean score of the boxers differed significantly from the norm. Consistency of attention was inconsistent and varied at the end of the boxing season and appears to be the only variable affected by the purported head blows. The hypothesis that there would be significant differences between boxers' mean TOVA scores obtained 1 hour after the last match of the tournament and those obtained 8 weeks later was partially supported. The mean scores of the boxers for commission errors and consistency of attention improved significantly between the two testing conditions although their reaction-time score decreased. The hypothesis that the mean TOVA scores of the boxers obtained 1 hour after the last match of their tournament would differ from those of basketball players was supported. The basketball players' reaction time was significantly faster than that of the boxers at the end of the season as well as 8 weeks later.

The goal of this study was to examine the Brazilian immigrant's memories of a childhood place (i.e., place lived between 6 to 15 years of age) and the influence of these memories on immigrant's sense of well-being in the USA, self-esteem, and the longing to return to homeland. The subjects were 100 Brazilian immigrants (50 men and 50 women) who were at least age of eighteen years or older when they immigrated to USA and who have lived and are living in this country for least two years but not more than fifteen years. Results showed no correlations between positive/negative feelings about childhood place and the immigrant's sense of well-being in the USA, nor was the immigrant's current self-esteem explained by memory about attachment to childhood place or current well-being. Participants who had positive/pleasant feelings about childhood place had a higher association with the longing to return to the homeland than those who had a negative memory of childhood place. Men had more positive/pleasant memories of childhood place and a greater desire to return to homeland than women. Immigrants' narrative describing experience with childhood place supported the hypothesis that men and women experience place differently, i.e., their feelings about childhood place depend on their opportunity for self-actualization and type of experiences they had in that place. The main topics remembered and described about childhood place focused on the "locus" of childhood place; childhood place was remembered as the arena for interpersonal relationships; childhood place was seen as the container for cultural values and the source for self-identity development; and memories of childhood place were described as a part of the self (i.e., ontological landscape) which had a great influence on immigrant's desire to return to homeland.

This study cross-sectionally investigated the relationship between ego identity formation and racial identity development in college students self-identified as White or People of Color. Two-hundred and ten participants (113 White, 97 People of Color) completed standardized measures of ego identity formation (EOMEIS—Bennion & Adams, 1986), racial identity development (WRIAS & POC-RIAS—Helms, 1990) and self esteem (RSE—Rosenberg, 1965). Regression analyses investigated whether a person's level of racial identity, (most mature, least mature, and exploratory vs committed) predicted her level of ego identity (most mature, least mature and exploratory vs committed). Overall, results supported this relationship, although racial identity statuses seemed more relevant to ego identity for People of Color than for Whites. For Whites, more mature racial identity indirectly predicted mature ego identity, while exploratory racial identity positively predicted committed ego identity. Finally, the least mature racial identity predicted a number of different ego identity statuses for Whites. However, psychometric analysis of the WRIAS indicated that the instrument more accurately reflected a two factor model than the five factor status model originally examined. Post-hoc analyses with a two factor model of racial comfort and discomfort significantly predicted some aspects of ego identity in Whites. For People of Color, mature racial identity directly predicted mature ego identity, less mature racial identity predicted committed ego identity and racial confusion and exploration predicted ego identity exploration.

Temperament has been found to be consistently and significantly associated with externalizing and internalizing behavior in children. However, this relationship is in modest to moderate range, suggesting that there are some other factors in child's environment contributing to his/her externalizing and internalizing behavior. Moreover, these direct link (correlational) studies do not explain how the relationship between child temperament and externalizing and internalizing behavior is moderated by other factors. Indian immigrants' children have not been represented in studies on externalizing and internalizing behavior of young children in North America. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate, first, the role of child temperament and mothers' parenting styles in externalizing and internalizing behavior of young children of Indian immigrants, and second, how mothers' parenting styles moderate the relationship between these two variables. The sample comprised 160 first grade and kindergarten children and their Indian immigrant mothers. Child Behavior Checklist, Temperament Assessment Battery for Children-Revised, and Parenting Styles and Dimensions questionnaires were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics, correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Findings suggest that child impulsivity, negative emotionality, lack of task persistence, and inhibition were associated positively with externalizing and internalizing behavior of children. Activity level was associated positively with externalizing but not with internalizing behavior. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were associated positively, whereas, authoritative parenting style was associated negatively with both externalizing and internalizing behavior. The relationship between child temperament and externalizing behavior was moderated by mothers' parenting styles. High authoritative parenting style weakened the relationship between impulsivity and externalizing behavior in children, whereas high authoritarian and permissive parenting styles strengthened this relationship. The relationship of child negative emotionality and lack of task persistence with internalizing behavior of children was not moderated by parenting styles. However, parenting styles made significant contributions in explaining the variance in internalizing behavior of children beyond what was already explained by negative emotionality and lack of task persistence. In terms of relationship between child temperament, parenting styles, and externalizing and internalizing behavior of children, the results of the current study were similar to the findings of the studies conducted on the main stream population in North America.