Reviews concerns that college students expressed about sibling relationships in open-ended questions submitted for class discussions. Some questions suggested the relevance of quasi-parental role performance, and others suggested the effect of subgroup and gang formation on family power distribution in the family. (JAC)

Extensively interviewed over a six-week period regular, day-to-day adolescent frequenters (N=23) at a shopping mall. Found that subjects exhibited good deal of alienation from both family and school and used the mall as neutral ground on which to create fragile but mutually supportive community of kind. (Author/NB)

Discusses anorexia nervosa in terms of symptoms, characteristics of patients, family relationship, and modes of treatment. Suggests that a combination of psychological and medical treatment is more effective than behavior modification. (JAC)

Assessed role played by Soviet Jewish emigre family in exacerbating dual disjunctures of immigration and adolescents. Results, based on life history interviews with five women who came from United Soviet Socialist Republic to United States as teenagers in 1970s, challenge bipolar model of adolescent immigrants and raise questions about previous…

"Covert suicide" refers to self-destructive behavior whose suicidal intent is denied by the adolescent and his/her family. Such behaviors are considered to be an outcome of certain family dynamics and processes. Case examples are given, and issues presented to the clinician in assessing and making initial interventions are discussed. (Author/BL)

Explores individual developmental and family system factors associated with running away. In model presented, ability of youth to successfully individuate is tied to overarching tolerances for autonomy and intimacy that exist within family system. Running away, in this perspective, is viewed as conflict-induced effort on the part of youth to…

Investigates the relationship between preference for heavy metal music and vulnerability to suicide among high school students. Results indicate that preference for heavy metal music among adolescents may be sign of increased suicidal vulnerability, but also suggests that the source of the problem may lie more in personal and familial…

Compared low and high socioeconomic status (SES) drug-abusing adolescents. Found that the two groups did not differ significantly with respect to self-esteem, quality of family relationships, impulse control, moral development, and drug-taking behavior. High SES adolescents were more depressed and anxious than were low SES adolescents. Findings…

Identified factors related to eating disorders in young adolescent girls. Findings revealed significant differences among the girls based on intact versus broken family; subjects' actual and preferred weight; whether the family ate meals together; average grades; age and grade in school; fathers' occupation; future career plans; place of…

Study explored relationship between family environment and adolescent coping in Chinese sample. Chinese adolescents tended to mobilize personal resources, seek help from social resources, and adopt a philosophy of doing nothing as their major coping style when they had a positive perception of their family environment. Girls relied more on social…

Explores how family transitions affect parenting practices in a sample of adolescents. Adolescents from all family types reported significant declines in behavioral control, but not parental responsiveness. Findings suggest that adolescent individuation may overshadow family-type differences during middle adolescence. (Contains 50 references and 3…

Investigated whether family interaction influences the acting-out behavior of hospitalized adolescent psychiatric patients. Found families did contribute to acting out in the hospital but that the majority of acting out was not directly related to family contact. Recommends that the hospital engage the family in treatment and consider family…

Explored the relationships between late adolescents' self-reported ego identity and individuation from their family of origin. Results indicated a significant relationship between adolescent's perceived involvement in their family's patterns of fusion and triangulation and the total score and three of the five subscale scores, from the identity…

Analyzes role that the family plays in the development of adolescent autonomy. Three family factors are analyzed in relation to the development of adolescent autonomy: parenting styles, family interaction, and transitions related to the family life cycle. (Author/NB)

Describes suicide in 17-year-old boy. Uses extracts from interview with his mother to illustrate his violent behavior, delinquency, relationships with family and peers, efforts to seek treatment, and clues he gave to his impending suicide. His lifestyle and subsequent suicidal behavior are related to his middle-born sibling position. (Author)