Bedouin mothers' sense of authentic inner compass as a parenting resource: Relations with autonomy-supportive parenting and adolescents' well-being

INTRODUCTION

Sense of authentic inner compass (AIC) is the feeling that one knows what is important to oneself because one has values, aspirations, and goals with which one deeply identifies. Past research demonstrated the benefits of AIC, but there is no published research on parental dispositions promoting youth AIC. To increase knowledge of this issue, we examined whether mothers' sense of AIC is associated with a corresponding sense of AIC in their children, and explored autonomy-supportive child-rearing practices that may serve as pathways linking mothers' AIC with adolescents' AIC and subsequent well-being. We examined a Bedouin Israeli sample because it represents a fairly patriarchal, autonomy-eschewing, context, where the benefits of mothers' authenticity and autonomy-support are not obvious.

METHOD

One hundred and thirty-six mothers (Mean age = 44.33, SD = 5.22) and their children (Mean age = 13.79, SD = 0.45; 60% females) participated in a study conducted in June 2019.

RESULTS

SEM analyses supported a model where mothers' sense of firm AIC was linked with adolescents' sense of firm AIC via adolescents' experience of their mothers as using the practices of inherent value demonstration and fostering inner valuing. Adolescent reported AIC in turn was associated with adolescents reported vitality and low levels of depressive symptoms. Mothers' AIC was associated with minimal use of conditional regard, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that mothers' AIC may be an important parenting resource, enabling mothers to convincingly demonstrate their values, as well as foster children's attunement to their authentic preferences, even in patriarchal-hierarchical contexts.

Adolescents' mental health in the social-media era: The role of offline and online need-based experiences

INTRODUCTION

Debate about the precise role of social media use (SMU) in the mental health of today's adolescents is still ongoing. The present study adds to the literature by focusing on adolescents' experiences during SMU and in their offline activities through the lens of basic psychological needs, which are central to self-determination theory.

METHODS

To examine the joint and supplementary effects of need-experiences in the offline and SMU domain (i.e., SMU satisfaction, offline satisfaction, SMU frustration, offline frustration) on several indicators of adolescents' mental health (i.e., vitality, life satisfaction, sleep quality, anxiety, and depression), polynomial regression analyses were used. Three cross-sectional samples were collected in Belgium, including early to mid-adolescents during the COVID-pandemic (Sample 1; N = 447; Mage = 14.26; 54.4% female) as well as postpandemic (Sample 2; N = 179, Mage = 15.25; 54.2% female), and among college students in postpandemic times (Sample 3; N = 4977; Mage = 20.72; 69.1% female).

RESULTS

The results showed that need-experiences common to both domains were a robust factor associated with mental health. This finding was obtained across all samples and outcomes, with need satisfaction playing a beneficial and need frustration a harmful role. We further found that offline need-experiences serve as a more crucial predictor of adolescents' mental health than need experiences on social media.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents' experiences of need satisfaction and need frustration on social media and in offline activities are central to their mental health. However, only relying on SMU as a single source of need satisfaction may not be recommended, given that offline experiences seem to be more decisive.

Are All Negotiations Equally Favorable? The Role of Adolescents' Negotiation Style, Social Domain, and Mothers' Authoritarian Beliefs and Family History

Although negotiation is generally considered an adaptive means for adolescents to express disagreement in the parent-child relationship, previous research on the correlates of adolescents' negotiation has reported rather mixed results. This may be because parents do not always positively appraise and respond to adolescents' negotiation. The key aim of the present study was to better understand variability in mothers' appraisals and responses to adolescents' negotiation attempts. This was done by examining whether their appraisals and responses vary as a function of adolescents' negotiation style, social domain, and mothers' personal characteristics (i.e., authoritarian beliefs and their own history of being parented). A total of 476 mothers of 9th and 10th grade adolescents in Belgium (Mage mothers = 44.93 years old, SD = 4.07; Mage adolescents = 14.88, SD = 0.75, 51.7% boys) participated in a vignette-based experimental study. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing authoritarian beliefs and their own history of being parented, and read a vignette-based scenario depicting an adolescent's negotiation attempt. Using a between-person 2 × 2 design, adolescents' negotiation style (autonomy-supportive versus controlling) and social domain (personal versus multifaceted) were experimentally manipulated. Mothers were more likely to positively appraise and respond in more constructive ways if adolescents adopted an autonomy-supportive instead of a controlling negotiation style, and when the situation involved a personal rather than a multifaceted issue. Mothers with high authoritarian beliefs and those with a history of being parented in a psychologically controlling way, had a more negative attitude towards adolescents' negotiation. Overall, the results suggest that the success of adolescents' negotiation depends on how, about what, and with whom they negotiate.

The how and the why of study choice processes in higher education: The role of parental involvement and the experience of having an authentic inner compass

INTRODUCTION

Late adolescents differ in the degree to which they are thoroughly engaged in the study choice process and in the degree to which their choices are autonomous in nature. This study examined the unique and interactive roles of (a) parental involvement in the study choice process and (b) late adolescents' sense of having an authentic inner compass (AIC) in predicting their study choice decision-making.

METHOD

A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 331 12th-grade adolescents from the Flemish part of Belgium (68.3% female; Mage  = 18.04, SD = 0.48) in the spring of 2017 and 2018.

RESULTS

Results of the latent sum and difference models revealed that late adolescents experiencing a stronger AIC and more need-supportive parental involvement showed more engagement in and autonomous regulation of the study choice process. In contrast, when experiencing more controlling parental involvement or uninvolvement, late adolescents showed more controlled regulation, with parental control also being linked to less commitment. Although mothers were perceived to be more involved than fathers, maternal and paternal involvement were equally strongly related to the study choice tasks.

CONCLUSION

Overall, late adolescents' sense of having an AIC and parental involvement were related independently to the outcomes, with sense of having an AIC yielding the strongest associations.

Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS) and Evidence of Differential Associations With Indicators of Subjective Wellbeing

The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of a Portuguese adaptation of the Adolescent Students’ Basic Psychological Needs at School Scale (ASBPNSS). For this, we used data from a sample of eighth graders ( N = 1648; Mage = 14.1 years; 46.9% girls) from Portugal. Cronbach alpha and omega coefficients showed the ASBPNSS subscales—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—were reliable. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed the hypothesized three-factor model fit the data well. Multi-group CFAs showed the ASBPNSS had scalar invariance across gender and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Finally, need satisfaction in school was positively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction and negatively correlated with negative affect. These findings support the theoretical assumptions of Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT), and particularly the assumption that basic needs are universally applicable. We conclude the ASBPNSS is a reliable and valid measure of basic need satisfaction at school in Portuguese adolescents.

Am I Gonna Get a Job? Graduating Students’ Psychological Capital, Coping Styles, and Employment Anxiety

Thoughts about life after school can be frightening for college students. The uncertainty about employment expectancies can engender crippling anxiety, especially in a time of a major pandemic—COVID-19, and urgent attention is needed. This study, drawing on the self-determination theory, demonstrates preliminary protective effect of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) on employment anxiety among a relatively understudied group—graduating college students (Chinese sample = 546). It further illustrates the mediating mechanism of coping styles in this relation. Thus, the motivational impetus of PsyCap facilitates positive coping style (PCS) while diminishing negative coping style (NCS) which, in turn, hinders students’ employment anxiety. Furthermore, the results revealed that students’ internship experience strengthens the influence of graduating students’ PsyCap on their PCS, but that with NCS and anxiety was nonsignificant. This research proffers valuable insights on college students’ from-school-to-work transition for higher education institutions and career counselors, particularly in this turbulent labor market.

Separation anxiety in a community sample of Italian emerging adults and its relationship with dimensions of borderline personality

Research studies focusing on separation anxiety and its relation with other measures of anxiety and personality-relevant variables in community samples are still scarce. This study aimed to describe in a dimensional perspective the relationship between separation anxiety symptoms, anxiety levels, and personality traits in a community sample of Italian emerging adults. A sample of 260 college students [mean age (M_age)=21.22, standard deviation (SD)=1.91, 79.6% females] completed the adult separation anxiety questionnaire-27 (ASA-27), the state and trait anxiety inventory-Y (STAI-Y), and the personality assessment inventory borderline scale (PAI-BOR). ASA-27 was significantly and positively correlated with the PAI borderline scale. The mediation model showed that ASA-27 influenced the PAI-BOR through trait anxiety. Clinical implications of the study for psychotherapy research are discussed.

Diferenças na adaptabilidade da carreira em dois momentos do ensino secundário

A crescente complexidade do mercado de trabalho coloca novos desafios aos estudantes do ensino secundário Português, sobretudo em momentos normativos de transição como o do ensino secundário para o ensino superior e/ou o mercado de trabalho. Neste contexto, a adaptabilidade de carreira surge como um processo capaz de facilitar a transição sobretudo pelos níveis de confiança com que os estudantes encaram a resolução de tarefas relativas à inserção escolar e profissional. O presente estudo, baseado num desenho longitudinal curto, tem como principal objetivo avaliar as diferenças na adaptabilidade de carreira de 490 estudantes, com uma média de idades de 17.3 (DP = 0.98), em função do nivel de ensino secundário frequentado e do sexo. O efeito na carreira do percurso educativo trilhado no secundário ainda está insuficientemente estudado. Assim, utilizando a Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, comparam-se médias nas dimensões da adaptabilidade de carreira através de uma MANOVA 2x2x2 com medidas repetidas num fator. Os resultados encontrados apontam para diferenças significativas em algumas dimensões da adaptabilidade de carreira em função dos contextos estudados. Por último, são apresentadas as limitações do estudo e discutidas as implicações dos resultados para a intervenção vocacional no âmbito do apoio aos processos normativos de transição no final do ensino secundário.

Career-Specific Parenting Practices and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Among Chinese Adolescents: The Interactive Effects of Parenting Practices and the Mediating Role of Autonomy

This study examined the unique and interactive effects of various career-specific parenting practices (i.e., parental career support, interference, and lack of engagement) on Chinese high school students’ career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) as well as the mediating role of autonomy in such associations. Based on data from 641 Chinese high school students (47.6% male; mean age = 15.28 years old, SD = 0.49) in 2016, two moderated mediating effects were identified. Higher level of parental career engagement strengthened the positive association between parental career support and adolescents’ autonomy, which in turn, was associated positively with adolescents’ CDSE. Parental career interference related negatively with adolescents’ CDSE via autonomy when lack of parental career engagement was low, but related positively with adolescents’ CDSE via autonomy when lack of parental career engagement was high. These findings advance our understanding of the underlying processes between career-specific parenting practices and adolescents’ CDSE. Implications for practices were discussed.

Maslow’s Unacknowledged Contributions to Developmental Psychology

Few readily identify Maslow as a developmental psychologist. On the other hand, Maslow’s call for holistic/systemic, phenomenological, and dynamic/relational developmental perspectives in psychology (all being alternatives to the limitations of the dominant natural science paradigm) anticipated what emerged both as and in the subdiscipline of developmental psychology. In this article, we propose that Maslow’s dynamic systems approach to healthy human development served as a forerunner for classic and contemporary theory and research on parallel constructs in developmental psychology that provide empirical support for his ideas—particularly those affiliated with characteristics of psychological health (i.e., self-actualization) and the conditions that promote or inhibit it. We also explore Maslow’s adaptation of Goldstein’s concept of self-actualization, in which he simultaneously: (a) explicated a theory of safety versus growth that accounts for the two-steps-forward-one-step-back contiguous dynamic that realistically characterizes the ongoing processes of being-in-becoming and psychological integration in human development/maturity and (b) emphasized being-in-the-world-with-others with the intent of facilitating the development of an ideal society by promoting protective factors that illustrate Maslow’s safety, belonging, and esteem needs. Finally, we dialogue with the extant literature to clarify common misgivings about Maslow’s ideas.