Dabrowski's ideas about personality development are not only a source of practical recommendations for assisting the development of persons of varied age but can also be an inspiration for research. The theory is exceptionally helpful in describing developmental phenomena. Cases of multilevel development were studied in autobiographies of 7…

Studied 46 alcoholics one year upon discharge from a residential treatment program based on transactional analysis. Results showed 25 were abstinent and the other 21 were not drinking heavily. Analysis suggested that the abstinent persons had somewhat higher self-esteem and were slightly freer in expression of feelings. (JAC)

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…

Explored genetic and environmental underpinnings of temperamental differences in 3- to 16-month-old twins and their parents. Found that additive genetic and shared environmental effects best represented smiling, laughter, and duration of orienting. Shared environmental effects fully accounted for co-twin similarity for soothability. Additive…

This study investigates the relationship between the degree of individuation in families and the personality development of adolescent family members. A subsample of 30 white, middle-class families were chosen for analysis from a larger sample of 99 families. Fifteen families from the subsample had adolescent girls who scored high, and fifteen had…

Assessed temperament of newborn twins using comprehensive neonatal exam that focused on irritability, resistance to soothing activity, and reinforcement value. Some infants were later assessed at 9 months. Emotional activity appeared to be core dimension stretching over ages and is discussed in relation to formulations of infant temperament.…

From Erikson's (1968) psychosocial criteria of crisis and commitment, Marcia (1964) derived four ego identity statuses, i.e., achievement, moratorium, foreclosure, and diffusion. To explore antecedents of Erikson's ego identity construct, 130 college females completed a modified identity status interview, and questionnaires designed to elicit…

Temperament development was studied in 39 full-term small-for-gestational-age infants and 30 full-term appropriate-for-gestational-age infants. Temperament was measured at 4, 8, and 12 months of age using a behavioral assessment procedure and questionnaire ratings. Findings indicated that restricted fetal growth negatively affects infant…

Historically, theories of personality development assigned prominence to the construct of autonomy, which often represented a developmental endpoint. To develop and validate an observer measure of autonomy and to further describe the dynamics underlying the personality and behavior of autonomous individuals, a 10-item scale (Auto CQ) was developed…

Investigates the validity of a semiprojective measure of "engagement" with respect to the differential effects of family size. Engagement style refers to the perception one has of oneself as either doing (agent) or being done to (patient). Subjects were 51 male college students ranging in age from 18 to 26 years. (SS)

Summarizes the theory of psychological differentiation and reviews recent cross-cultural research on the roles of child rearing, culture, and ecology in the development of individual, group, and sex differences in the field dependence-field independence cognitive style component of psychological differentiation. (SS)

Personally important autobiographical memories are the smallest unit of the life story, which begins to emerge in adolescence. This study examined 2 features of self-defining memories in late adolescence, the meaning made of the memories to garner an understanding of the narrative construction of identity as a life story and how those memories…

This study represents further work into the area of what specific processes determine whether a sibling relationship will be positive or negative. Specifically addressed was the influence of each child's personality or temperament in shaping the quality and type of sibling relationship. Significant attention was paid to analyzing sibling…

Used a longitudinal sibling research design and a large, nationally representative sample of 15- to 22-year-old siblings to study shared and unshared environmental influences on delinquency. Although no unshared family environmental influences were found for sisters and mixed-sex siblings, they may have existed for brothers. Data suggested…

An investigation explored whether preadolescent children have developed self-schemata which serve in making judgments about trait behavior for both self and others. Seventeen males and 23 females between the ages of 10 and 11 who attended a public elementary school on Long Island were interviewed. Children rated themselves relative to classmates…