Maternity as a domain of permanent woman’s development in the course of life

Making a commitment to be a mother and fulfi lling this role is a long-term process, which consists of different quality stages. One can notice an analogy between the stages of being a mother and the course of nature. This similarity concerns the outline of development: birth, adolescence, maturation, and twilight of one’s life. Like each subsequent season of the year, each stage puts new evolutionary tasks on the woman and their successful accomplishment leads to her acquisition of important skills and characteristics. The beginning of each stage of the role of a mother is marked by a change in the growth and functioning of a child.

Adolescents’ autonomy in the view of their attachment and familial relationships

The study concerns the connection between the feeling of autonomy implied as self-determination and family relationships among 17-to-19-year-old adolescents. The study was inspired by Bowlby’s theory of attachment and Ryan and Deci’s theory of self-determination. The subjects were 145 adolescent high-school students (82 female and 61 male). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, Family of Origin Scale and Self-Determination Scale were used in this study. The results led to a conclusion that healthy family relationships and a secure pattern of attachment correspond to a higher autonomy seen as self-determination. The Self-Determination Scale that was used reached a high reliability index, which suggests that it might be a useful tool for future studies and that it might be worth conducting its cultural adaptation.

Evaluating of parents’ marital success and adolescents’ styles of interpersonal functioning

The objective of this study was to analyze family mechanisms in the development of adolescents’ social functioning. It focused on the relation between father and mother. It was assumed that those subjects who assess their parents’ marital quality as low are more hostile in interpersonal situations, while individuals who perceive high marital satisfaction in their parents display a more pro-social behaviour. .
The Marital Satisfaction Scale by M. Braun-Gałkowska (1985) with a modifi cation by A. Gałkowska (1999) and the Interpersonal Style Scale by J.M. Stanik (1994a; 1994b) were used in the study. 344 adolescents were examined. The results of the correlation indicated that there is a connection between the perceived parents’ marital quality and the social functioning of young people in the following styles: cooperative-overconventional, docile-dependent and selfeffacing– masochistic, as well as realism and pessimism in interactions (a weak correlation, but a signifi cant one).
Moreover, the division into groups of respondents as regards their assessment of their parents’ marriage (as low, average and highly successful) and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) allowed to capture the specifi city of the interpersonal functioning of each. Those respondents who perceived their parents as the most satisfi ed with their relationship turned out to be the most prosocial and independent, while those who evaluated their parents’ relationship the lowest turned out to be the least friendly towards others, and the most pessimistic. These results support the hypothesis, but only in some styles the differences were statistically significant (in cooperativeoverconventional and docile-dependent styles, and pessimism scale).

Relations between types of social orientation and ways of constructing identity by young adults

The research investigates the relationship between an individual’s social orientation and their identity style. The identity style is understood, following Berzonsky (1989), as the manner in which important life decisions are taken, including those related to one’s identity and ways of coping with everyday problems. Having anticipated differences in ways of constructing identity, decision-making, and coping with problems, the author distinguishes three identity styles: informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant. In turn, the research in social orientations distinguishes an individualistic and a collectivistic orientation (Reykowski, 1999). They are understood as forms of mentality connected with basic intuitions and beliefs related to the question of which type of a relation between an individual and the community is proper and just. The conducted research verifi ed the existence of sex differences in the construction of identity styles and adopted social orientation, as well as the relation between an individual’s identity style and their social orientation. Berzonsky’s revised Identity Style Inventory (ISI-3) and a questionnaire for the measurement of vertical and horizontal collectivism and individualism (KIRH; Adamska, Retowski, Konarski, 2005) were used to determine an individual’s identity style and social orientation, respectively. The KIRH enabled to identify two types collectivism (vertical and horizontal) and two types of individualism.
The sample consisted of 657 subjects (340 female and 317 male), between 22 and 40 years of age. The conducted analysis revealed differences between female and male subjects as regards identity styles and social orientations as well as the relation between certain identity styles and specific social orientations.

How to measure the Big Five personality traits in childhood? Development of the Picture Based Personality Survey for Children (PBPS-C)

This article presents a new way of measuring five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience) in children – called the Picture Based Personality Survey (PBPS) for children. This measuring instrument corresponds to children’s cognitive development and it is based on pictures. The questionnaire consists of items which comprise two pictures – every picture indicates either of the two ends of a scale (e.g.: the behaviour presented in the fi rst picture indicates extraversion whilst that in the second picture indicates introversion). Every picture presents a clearly recognizable main character, who is placed in the same situation but behaves in a completely different way. Children have to choose the picture which most closely corresponds to their own behaviour.
The measurement model of data obtained with PBPS was examined via confi rmatory factor analysis. The results indicate that the model fi ts the data well. Reliability assessed by Cronbach’s alfa showed the need to improve the reliability of the instrument. However, the reliability assessment by means of Saris and Gallhofer’s index of quality was satisfactory.

Mother-child communication style during the task as a predictor of child’s dealing with diffi culties

The article deals with the infl uence of the parent-child task-oriented communication style on the child’s behaviour during public performance. The research was based on children’s public performance and the analysis of mother-child task-oriented communication. The results show that children of mothers who have a high task partnership level, low annoyance, and who are less awkward deal better with diffi culties. Those children are more successful in tasks connected with collaboration with their parent. It could also be stated that children from the above-mentioned group are more task-oriented during public performance

Body image, stress, and self-regulation among fitness participants in adolescence and early adulthood

The aim of this study was to analyze the link between body image, self-regulation and stress in late adolescence and early adulthood on the basis of Personality Systems Interaction Theory by J. Kuhl. The subjects of the study were people attending fi tness clubs and gyms (N = 29) and those who did not pursue any physical activity (N = 29). Body image was assessed by means of the “body and self-esteem” scale from the Eating Disorder Cognition Questionnaire (FEDK, Legenbauer, Vocks, and Schütt-Strömel, 2007), self-regulation was assessed by means of the Action Control Scale (ASC 90, Kuhl, 1994a; 2001), and stress bymeans of the “demands” and “threats” scales from the Volitional Component Questionnaire (Kuhl, Furmann, 1998).
Analyzes showed that there are no differences between adolescents and young adults in body image, self regulation, and stress level. It was found that the physically active group has a negative body image in comparison with the physically inactive group. However, there is a relationship between body dissatisfaction, state orientation subsequent to failure, and stress (demands). A mediation analysis additionally showed that stress was an important mediator between action control and body image.

Sprawozdanie z XXI Ogólnopolskiej Konferencji Psychologii Rozwojowej Wspomaganie rozwoju człowieka: z perspektywy teorii i praktyki
Zielona Góra, 28–30 maja 2012

RECENZJA

S. Kowalik (red.) (2010), Psychologia ucznia i nauczyciela. Podręcznik akademicki. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN