Examines self-concept, assuming it to be genetic in origin and that adolescents' perception of personal, relational, and academic self-identity occurs uniformly across cultures. Results indicate a high similarity between the majority and minority adolescents, suggesting developmental propensities in self-concept formation. Environment seemed…

Hypothesizes that a child's realization of genetic potential for intellectual development depends on socioeconomic environment. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test results were examined for a large sibling sample of African American and White adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. When SES factors were considered…

This document discusses whether young people with difficulty entering adulthood can be helped, or if accumulated effects of various adversitites have caused irremediable damage. First the developmental tasks that adolescents need to accomplish before they can take on adult roles are described. Next, two well-known explanations for youths' failure…

This document discusses the differences in maturity of late adolescents, aged 16 to 21, and how lack of readiness by some adolescents has a major impact upon communities and upon the individual. The document illustrates the tension between individuation and regulation with five vignettes of actual cases. Sources of variation, including biological…

A 3D mental rotation task was used to measure spatial performance in boys and girls in Ghana and Scotland. Sex differences of equal magnitude appeared in both cultures. In light of these findings, the author discusses genetic and environmental theories of spatial ability and the problems in testing such skills. (SJL)

The study with 100 families found that parents of highly creative adolescents tended to be very interested in their children's behavior but seldom proscribed rules to govern it. Other results suggested the critical importance of environment, the existence of critical periods, and the importance of humor. (DB)

Examined genetic and environmental contribution to self-reported peer-group characteristics among adoptive and nonadoptive adolescent sibling pairs. Found that although peer preference is influenced, in large part, by nonshared environment factors, genetic influence is present. Substantial genetic influence emerged for college orientation, and…

Used data from sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine how parental education moderated the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in verbal IQ. Found that the variance estimate for heritability was greater than that for shared environment for the whole sample. Both estimates were moderated…

Determinants of Schaefer's (1965) three dimensions of perceived parenting (Acceptance vs. Rejection, Psychological Control vs. Psychological Autonomy, and Firm vs. Lax Control) were investigated by administering a shortened Children's Reports of Parental Behavior Inventory to adolescent twins. The sample consisted of 46 pairs of identical twins…

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale For Children (WISC) and the Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) were administered to seventh graders in a New York City school located in a depressed area with a Negro population approaching 100 percent. Full scale and subtest scores were analyzed. A factor analysis of the WISC, MAT, and the two scales combined was…

Investigates the relationship between the perinatal hormonal environment and the development of cognitive sex differences. Compares 25 upper class women aged 14 to 24 who were exposed prenatally to diethylstilbestrol (DES) and their unexposed sisters. Subjects show a more masculine pattern of lateralization than their sisters but are similar in…

Investigated genetic and environmental contributions to relationship between family and school environment and depressed mood; also potential sex differences in genetic and environment contributions to variation in and covariation between family connectedness, school connectedness, and depressed mood. Subjects were 2,302 adolescent sibling pairs.…

Examined low interrater agreement by decomposing common and unique variance among parent, adolescent, and observer reports of parental warmth and negativity into genetic and environmental factors. Model-fitting analyses findings generally supported predictions for warmth and negativity at Family and Individual levels. At the Social level, genetic…

Considers assumptions underlying design of Bussell et al.'s Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development study. Suggests that a source of the common environment specific to this study is the effect of an individual in mutual ratings of relationship with siblings, leading to a larger common-environment effect across variables than within…

This study examined 2 samples of adolescents and mothers using a child-based design (Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development [NEAD] project, N = 395 families) and a parent-based design (Twin Moms [TM] project, N = 236 twin family pairs) to compare genetic and environmental influences on mothering. For both samples, the same measures of…