Clinical Developmental Psychology

The goal of this study was to describe the strength-based bullying prevention program, Strengths in Motion, and to evaluate the program utilizing a mixed-method design. Participants included students in Grades 4 to 8 from an intervention (n = 50) and a comparison (n = 53) school in Northern Ontario. Measures of bullying, strengths, and classroom climate were completed at three time points: One month prior to the start of the program (baseline), and at 3 and 8 months after the program had started. Quantitative analyses revealed that there was a significant decrease in students' bullying victimization over time, an increase in classroom climate, and students' personal awareness of their strengths. Semistructured interviews conducted 20 months after the start of the program with various stakeholders, including parents and school staff, complemented these findings and provided additional information on the efficacy of the program and the strength-based approach. Study findings are discussed in terms of the implications for future research.

The goal of the present study was to design, implement, and evaluate a school-based programme that aimed to increase self-esteem and positive body image among preadolescent boys and girls. Participants in grades five and six (N = 77; M age = 10.86, 53.2% girls) from a public school in Eastern Ontario completed a battery of validated measures to assess factors related to self-esteem and body image, one week before and one week after the programme. Results indicated that, for both boys and girls, participation in the programme was associated with significantly higher levels of self-esteem and positive body image. The programme was also effective in making participants significantly more aware but less accepting of the distorted and unrealistic body ideals perpetuated by the media. Findings support a new approach for improving body image among Canadian preadolescents. Implications for educators, researchers, and clinicians are discussed.

The main purpose of this study was to examine how self-silencing, emotional regulation, and body-esteem differentiated healthy eating from different patterns of disordered eating. A community sample of adolescent females was classified as either: 1) Restrained Eaters (n = 104, M age = 14.48); 2) Emotional Eaters (n = 125, M age = 14.52); or, 3) Healthy Eaters (n = 396, M age = 13.71). A discriminant function analysis revealed two significant functions. The first function differentiated the two disordered eating groups (i.e., the restrained and emotional eaters) from the healthy group, with the disordered eating groups scoring significantly higher on levels of self-silencing and anger regulation, and lower on body-esteem. The second function differentiated between the restrained and emotional eaters, with the emotional eaters reporting higher levels of externalized self-perception and anger, and lower levels of body-esteem. The results suggest that bodyesteem and anger suppression were the most influential variables in differentiating between groups. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for disordered eating prevention and treatment programs.

Happiness is a core dimension of a person's life, related to both functioning and success. As patients with schizophrenia experience marked functional deficits, it would be informative to investigate their level of happiness. There are limited data currently available, perhaps due to the longstanding belief that anhedonia is an inherent feature of this illness. The present study set out to specifically assess happiness in schizophrenia in relation to both clinical and functional measures of outcome. Method: Thirty-one first-episode remitted patients and 29 age-and sex-matched controls participated in the study. Patients' clinical status was assessed and a series of self-report questionnaires were used to measure levels of happiness, life satisfaction, success and functioning in both patients and controls. Results: Patients experienced marked functional impairment versus healthy controls (p b 0.001), while reporting comparable levels of happiness (p = 0.113) and satisfaction with life (p = 0.350). In the patient group, we found that higher happiness ratings were significantly associated with less depression, less negative symptoms, less social withdrawal, greater life satisfaction, and higher social and occupational functioning. Both cognitive functioning and insight had no significant direct effects on ratings of happiness in the patient group. Conclusions: Despite marked functional impairment, individuals with first-episode schizophrenia are as happy as controls. Mechanisms that might allow for this are discussed, as are the implications for rehabilitation efforts that assume an individual holds to the same drives and goals as before the illness onset and/or is unhappy with their present functional status.

... Maxine Gallander Wintre email the author, Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Despite criticisms from psychologists (Adelson, 1969; Carlson, 1971; Schultz, 1969; Sears, 1986; Sechrest, 1976; Smart, 1966), convenience sampling remains the ...

This study examined whether varying intensity of emotions can be employed in conjunction with multiple emotion responses and valence of emotion to describe a scalable developmental sequence for young children. Eighty children between the ages of 4 and 8 years were interviewed individually. A version of the Emotions Situations Questionnaire was used, asking children to self-predict the occurrence of 5 emotions (happy, loving, sad, angry, and scared) on a 5-point scale of intensity to each of 15 affect-laden situations. A concrete, visual apparatus depicting the five emotions was constructed to reduce dependency on verbal responses. Findings indicated that the use of multiple emotions, varying intensity of emotions, and valence of emotions emerge in an orderly, developmental sequence. Children around age 4 could predict experiencing multiple emotions of the same intensity and same valence to affect-el.' 'ting situations. Children around age 6 predicted experiencing multiple emotions of varying intensity but the same valence. Children around age 8 predicted multiple emotions of varying intensity and opposite valence. The number of emotions reported by 8-year-old children was greater than that reported by younger children. Accuracy of identifying targeted emotions increased with developmental level. The stages of development were consistent with a Piagetian and Neo-Piagetian cognitive-developmental framework. (MM)

The present study investigates the characteristics which differentiate between first-year university students who maintain their high school averages (Maintainers: n = 165) and those whose averages decrease at least one letter grade (Decliners: n = 435). The 600 students entered first year at one of six Canadian Universities, which varied in size and ethnic diversity. Data were collected in August, prior to the start of school, and in November of first year. Multivariate analyses indicated significant group differences between Maintainers and Decliners on familial variables (gender, fathers' education level, but not family income, parental reciprocity, parental support or immigrant/generational status), psychological well-being (perceived stress in August and November, and November depression, self-esteem and health), and university adjustment (university plans, transition perception, time management and university adaptation). The current study addresses a gap in the existing academic achievement literature, while providing practical information to students, parents, and educators involved in the transition to university.

We examined prospective relations between activity involvement and successful transitioning to university. A sample of 656 students from 6 Canadian universities completed questionnaires before beginning university and at the end of their first year. Breadth (number of different activity domains) and intensity (mean frequency) of activity involvement as well as changes in breadth and intensity, were examined jointly. Consistent with developmental theory, higher levels of pre-university breadth and intensity of activity involvement and greater increases in breadth and intensity over time predicted various indicators of positive adjustment to university.

Self-reported weight changes over 7 months and their relation to psychosocial characteristics (self-esteem, depression, social support, perceived stress and transition perception) and eating attitudes and behaviors (restrained eating and Eating Disorder Inventory subscales [EDI]) were assessed in first-year male and female students at six Canadian universities (N = 2753). Results showed small but significant weight increases over time in males and females (M = 1.5 kg). Males who lost weight versus those who gained reported greater negative wellbeing and more negative feelings about university transition. Females who either lost or gained weight had higher initial restraint and EDI scores than did weight maintainers. At 3 months, total EDI and body dissatisfaction increased in female weight gainers compared to weight losers, plus greater drive for thinness compared to weight maintainers. Thus, males distressed at the transition from high school to university appear more likely to lose weight while well-adjusted males are more likely to gain weight. For females, however, weight gain is associated with more negative well-being and preoccupations with weight and eating.

The present paper describes the development of a new scale, the Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale (POPRS), and research findings obtained with this instrument. Based on Youniss ' (1980) theory, this scale assesses the extent of perceived mutual reciprocity in adolescents'/young adults' relations with their parents. An initial pool of 51 items was administered to 141 unmarried undergraduates along with measures of self esteem, locus of control, and consultant choice to indicate construct validity. Item analyses and reliability procedures produced a 43-item scale. A second study of 1602 students between the ages of 13 and 25 examined further issues: cross-replication, cross-validation, reliability with young adolescents, reliability over time, criterion and construct validity, and age-related differences in scores. In addition to POPRS and the scales used in Study 1, measures included three global statements, attachment to parents, attitude to private personal authority, and scores on an open-ended interview. Results from both studies demonstrated high reliability, and construct and criterion validity. Eurthermore, a significant age effect supports Youniss' theory of a developmental transformation in parent-child relations beginning in late adolescence and continuing in early adulthood.

This study modifies and expands on earlier resaarch in an effort to incorporate an examination of consultant's sex as an instrumental dimension in determining children's and adolescents' consultant preferences. It was hypothesized that: (1) children would prefer same-sex consultants, and this preference would continue for female adolescents; (2) if sex preferences reflected perceived differences in socialization functions, adolescent males would not demonstrate a same-sex bias; (3) peer preferences would increase with age; and although children's preference for adult consultants would decrease with age, adults would remain viable consultants. Subjects, 241 males and females at ages 8, 11, 14, and 17 years in Toronto, Ontario, completed questionnaires that described five hypothetical problem situations. Subjects rated their preferences for 12 categories of consultants. The categories crossed three dimensions: age (peer, three years older, and adult); familiarity (familiar versus expert); and sex. As predicted, results revealed that male and female children preferred same-sex consultants, and this preference continued for adolescent females, but not males. Other findings demonstrated the importance of peer expert consultants and indicated that consultants who were three years older, while valued, are never the most preferred category. The findings address the importance of peer counseling programs and stress the need for female practitioners for female clients. (GLR)

This study examined whether varying intensity of emotions can be employed in conjunction with multiple emotion responses and valence of emotion to describe a scalable developmental sequence for young children. Eighty children between the ages of 4 and 8 years were interviewed individually. A version of the Emotions Situations Questionnaire was used, asking children to self-predict the occurrence of 5 emotions (happy, loving, sad, angry, and scared) on a 5-point scale of intensity to each of 15 affect-laden situations. A concrete, visual apparatus depicting the five emotions was constructed to reduce dependency on verbal responses. Findings indicated that the use of multiple emotions, varying intensity of emotions, and valence of emotions emerge in an orderly, developmental sequence. Children around age 4 could predict experiencing multiple emotions of the same intensity and same valence to affect-el.' 'ting situations. Children around age 6 predicted experiencing multiple emotions of varying intensity but the same valence. Children around age 8 predicted multiple emotions of varying intensity and opposite valence. The number of emotions reported by 8-year-old children was greater than that reported by younger children. Accuracy of identifying targeted emotions increased with developmental level. The stages of development were consistent with a Piagetian and Neo-Piagetian cognitive-developmental framework. (MM)