Annual Adult Development Symposium

Pre-conference of the Society for Research in Child Development
Boston, Massachusetts

8:15 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Session 1: Supporting and Measuring Adult Development in the Classroom & Beyond

10:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Session 2: Moral & Ethical Development: Theory & Measurement

1:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Session 3: Clinical Perspectives & Psycho-Social Development

3:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Session 4: Parenting, Relationships & Family Processes

5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. WORKSHOP: Applying a Positive Adult Developmental Approach to

9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Session 6: Leadership, Community, Conflict Resolution, & Organizational Development

Comparison of the Steps for Better Thinking and Model of Hierarchical Complexity models for understanding cognitive development in young adults

Ellen C. Banks (Daemen College), Samantha Sessamen (Daemen College) & Alissa D’Attilio (Daemen College)

The Steps for Better Thinking model was developed by Lynch and Wolcostt (1997) as a flexible assessment technique based on the Reflective Judgment Model of King and Kitchener. While the Reflective Judgment Interview is linked to four specific topics, Steps for Better Thinking can be adapted to any open-ended question; that is, questions that have no single correct answer (Wolcott & Lynch, 1997). The Model of Hierarchical Complexity (Commons, Richards & Armon, 1984) shares with Steps to Better Thinking the feature of adaptability to many different issues. In contrast, however, the Model of Hierarchical Complexity has a more structured stage approach to analysis of problem solving, and asks the participant to evaluate a specific solution to a problem rather than to generate a solution. In our longitudinal study of reflective judgment during the college years, we have asked students to react to scenarios based on current events. In the present study, first and second year students respond to one problem in the Steps for Better Thinking model, and one re-formatted in the Model of Hierarchical Complexity, in order to compare the stage analysis for the two models. In our discussion, we address the question “Is ‘Open Ended Question’ a useful concept in the study of young adult development?”

Extending a Constructivist Developmental Pedagogical Model to Incorporate Jung’s Psychological Types

Paper proposes a pedagogical model based on several tenets. The first tenet is that students and other adult learners progress through Kegan’s orders of meaning making (ego development) ranging from level two (imperial), three (interpersonal), four (institutional), and five (inter-individual). The model proposes that instruction geared for the student constructive development level will result in a motivational compatibility, which will result in increased student engagement. However, ego development will be less likely to occur. The model also proposes that instruction geared for a higher student constructive development level will result in dissonance (albeit lower motivation), which precipitates stage progression. Instructors therefore may need to consider objective (motivation or development) when choosing appropriate pedagogical teaching styles (autocratic, transactional, transformational, servant). Model continues with exploration of student cognitive style and the appropriate teaching methodologies compatible for each, using Jung’s psychological types. A dialogue of potential opportunities for testing this model will also be included in the discussion.

Higher order thinking (HOT) is considered the hallmark of higher education. However, difficulty arises when educators and students do not have the same understanding about the levels of questions being asked, or the level of answers being provided. This presentation will focus on research and data related to providing operational definitions of HOT requirements based on a modified version of Bloom's Taxonomy. Data on the reliability of the assessment of both questions (objectives) and answers (products) will be presented, and discussion of other systems of HOT measurement will be discussed.

Perceived and Measured Impact of Short-term Study Abroad: A Mixed Method Exploratory Study

The objective of this research study was to gain an exploratory view of the impact of a short-term study abroad program. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Five factors of personality, self-esteem, and college adjustment were measured at three time points: week one of a study abroad program in Madrid, Spain, four weeks later at the end of the program, and eight weeks after sojourner reentry to the United States. In addition, open-ended responses about adjustment and change related to the study abroad were collected at each time point. Repeated measures analyses indicated significant changes in self-esteem, college adjustment, and extraversion. Results differed for participants with low versus high scores on a measure of secure attachment. Qualitative responses indicated the time abroad had led to increased self and cultural awareness, perspective-taking, and openness to experience.

Joanna Gonsalves (Salem State College) Eric Metchik (Salem State College) & Alsion Clausnitzer (Salem State College)

Over the last decade, experiential learning (service learning, internships, and field visits) has been incorporated into undergraduate curricula to enrich academic learning, promote community engagement, and/or provide opportunities for career development. Viewed from the perspective of adult development, these experiences may also provide contexts for positive changes in psycho-social development, cognitive development, and moral/ethical development. While there is a growing body of literature that documents positive impacts of experiential learning for students along a number academic and psychological dimensions, few studies have systematically characterized the relationship between structural aspects of the experience and student outcomes. In this presentation we discuss a cognitive-developmental framework for understanding why experiential learning may support positive outcomes in some contexts but not others. Central to the framework is the assumption that the impact of the field experience is mediated by the student’s level of cognitive development, perceptions and goals, and reflection. Potential variables that may influence learner cognitions are faculty and field supervisor support, learning activities (journaling, papers, presentations, and discussions) and placement qualities (choice, duration, intensity, and perceived student contribution). Implications for research design will be discussed.

Learning and development undoubtedly occur through experience, but what kind of experience creates generalizable knowledge? We examined two ways of situating knowledge for students learning principles of Signal Detection Theory (SDT). In Experiment 1, one group of learners had a short experience detecting “signals” in the context of a doctor diagnosing leukemia. Then all students read a SDT tutorial in the same doctor context. Participants who experienced the detection task learned less about SDT than control learners who only received the tutorial. Experience participants’ errors suggested that they construed SDT too narrowly in terms of a doctor making diagnoses. A second experiment compared a tutorial expressed in second person (“You diagnosed…”) to a control tutorial expressed in third person (“He diagnosed…”). We found a similar pattern in Experiment 2 in which participants in the “you” condition did not learn SDT as well as those in the control condition.

This session will introduce a template that educators can use to create customized critical thinking rubrics. The template helps educators overcome the following problems of pre-existing rubrics: --Failure to address specific desired critical thinking skills, --Inclusion of more performance levels than needed, given the skills of students and objectives of the course/program/institution, --Use of language that is inconsistent with the discipline

The template is an extension of the Steps for Better Thinking Rubric and is grounded in the reflective judgment model (King & Kitchener). Thus, levels of performance in the rubric are defined according to stage of cognitive development. Educators create their customized rubric by selecting rows from the template corresponding to the critical thinking skills they would like to assess and columns corresponding to the number and complexity of cognitive development stages they would like to include in the assessment. Attached is a working draft of the template. This is a first draft, so it does not have as many row options as I would like. I should have a more substantial template by the time of the symposium.

Stereotypes about the Elderly: The Impressions of College Students enrolled in Introductory Psychology Courses

Between the years of 1998 and 2006, 593 undergraduate students at a mid-sized Midwestern University enrolled in Introductory Psychology courses were asked to list three adjectives to describe the elderly (80 years of age and older) as part of a class activity. A total of 1,779 adjectives were compiled. The instructor of the classes divided the adjectives into the categories of “positive,” “negative” and “neutral” to classify those adjectives that were neither positive nor negative in nature. Overall, the students listed 1,202 negative adjectives; the most frequently occurring were slow (N=182), old (N=102), frail (N=91), wrinkled (N=90) and mean (N=64). A total of 477 positive adjectives were listed, with wise (N=159) occurring the most often followed by nice/caring (N=78). Of the 100 neutral adjectives, talkative (N=14) was the most commonly listed. The presentation will include tables of the reported adjectives and discussion highlighting how negative stereotypes about the elderly can be addressed and challenged in a modern young adult population.

Four categories describe what changes, each in a different manner. 1) Stages are a description of successful performance on tasks of increasingly higher orders of hierarchically complexity. Stages exist because the tasks underlying stage of performance are hierarchically ordered. Both maturation and learning are necessary for stage change. 2) Maturation is driven by a biological clock. It consists of changes in hormones, neural development, such as in the frontal lobes, pairing of cells through cell death, dendritic growth, and cross-linking of molecules. Values of reinforcers and therefore motivation change with hormones. 3) At different periods and seasons of life, roles change. Periods and seasons are descriptions of roles that are socially designated for parts of life. They partially depend on maturation and greatly depend on culture. Knowledge, skills and expertise are learned but do not require stage change. They describe how much one learns at a given stage. Skills and knowledge can be developed through training, experience, teaching, etc.

The dynamic nature of moral motivation and emotional experience in moral meaning making

The purpose of the proposed research is to examine, from a developmental perspective, the dynamic nature of moral motivation and emotional experience in moral meaning making. In this exploration, the study applies the insights and methodology of Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory (1985, 2000) to the study of moral motivation and development. Consistently, Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning (1969) are reconsidered as dynamic stages of motivation that may operate simultaneously in different degrees. Approximately 200 college students and 75 high school students participated in the study by completing a new Moral Motivation and Emotions Questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed for this study in order to assess moral motivation, emotional experience and awareness by using two dilemmas Kohlberg used in his research on moral development. The findings reveal the use of multiple stages in moral motivation, distinctive patterns in reported emotional experience, as well as significant developmental patterns.

Carrie Melissa Ost, Michael Lamport Commons (Harvard Medical School), Maria da Costas Lins (Universidade Federal Rio de Janeiro Brasil), James Meredith Day (Université Catholique de Louvain), Sara Nora Ross (ARINA, Inc.), & Joan Crist (Calumet College)

People may understand the moral teachings of Christ in different ways depending on their stage of development, as shown by their preferences for interpretations. We constructed two classes of interpretations of "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone,” each consisting of 3 sets of 5 vignettes, ranging from Concrete through Metasystematic orders. The first class varied the degree of coordination of the right to life with the duty to protect life. The second class varied the stage of understanding of universality, ranging from appeals to the authority of Jesus or the advocates friends, to a Rawlsian position of ignorance as to who was to be stoned. Participants rated the quality of the arguments on a 1 to 6 scale. A Rasch analysis produced stage scores for each of the stories, which were regressed against the hierarchical complexity of each of the stories. There was a strong association between the hierarchical complexity of the items and the obtained Rasch stage scores. We conclude that stage explains some aspect of different interpretations of this saying.

A Comparison of Moral Reasoning Using Items from a Number of Instruments Using the Model of Hierarchical Complexity and Rasch Analysis

This study provides empirical evidence for Kohlberg’s cognitive-developmental moral stage theory. It utilized the Model of Hierarchical Complexity (MHC) to relate an individual’s performance on multiple measures of moral reasoning to a mathematical order of hierarchical complexity of items. Rather than using standard performance-based tests of moral reasoning, such as the Defining Issues Test (DIT), or the Moral Judgment Test (MJT), this study utilized moral dilemmas from these measures and specific items typically used to measure the responses. The hierarchical complexity of each item was determined. The performance by 163 participants on each item was analyzed using the Rasch analysis. A factor analysis and regressions of Rasch stage scores on hierarchical complexity of items supported that test items were measuring moral reasoning stage, providing support for Kohlberg’s stage theory. Future research needs to compare the results of traditional moral reasoning tests with the hierarchical methodology used in this study. Hierarchical complexity may prove to be a valuable tool to objectively measure individual differences in other realms of social science.

Is there "religious reasoning"? Problems and Prospects from Empirical Research on Stage, Structure, and Style in models of Moral Judgment and Religious Judgment Development

Researchers in the field of human development have for some three decades devoted considerable attention to models of moral and religious development and have tried to work out relationships between the two domains, as well as their implications for moral and religious education, teacher training, theological education, psychological supervision and psychotherapy, spiritual direction, and other "applied" activities. Despite ongoing insistence by major figures in the field, such as Fowler, Oser, and Reich, on the supposed logic of relationships between moral and religious reasoning (e.g., that moral judgment stage change should "precede", and stimulate change in religious reasoning) empirical evidence is lacking, and runs contrary to the received wisdom. This paper presents a review of the empirical literature, explores alternative conceptions (Streib's work on "cognitive style", and the work of Wulff, Hutsebaut, Fontaine, Duriez, and others on "post-critical belief"), and proposes conceptions of religious reasoning linked to Perry's notion of "commitment within relativism", and Commons' model of hierarchical complexity that may be fruitful for appreciating adult development in relationship to reasoning concerned with religious issues and beliefs.

Though many assessment instruments are available in the fields of moral development and moral reasoning, none have been as dominant as the Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) and the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Both instruments were initially designed to measure similar constructs of Kohlbergian stage theory with the major difference being assessment format and therefore ease of administration and scoring. The DIT, however, with its multiple choice format consistently produces higher measurements of moral reasoning than does the MJI with its interview/extended response format. DIT researchers have attempted to explain these scoring differences through the utilization of Vygotskian theory and a differentiation of the type of reasoning being assessed by each instrument. The purpose of this paper is to test the adequacy of this explanation and to determine the availability of other, more preferred, explanations.

Moral Development in an Undergraduate Business Ethics Course: A Research Study Utilizing Deliberate Psychological Education

Christopher D. Schmidt (The College of William and Mary) & Christopher P. Adkins (The College of William and Mary)

The prominence of ethical scandals in business over the last 10 years has been a major cause for alarm within the profession. Although many attempts are being made to rectify the situation, the literature has called for more effective business ethics education at the undergraduate level. The present situation has left schools of business “scrambling to develop a response” (Felton & Sims, 2005). The business literature frequently references moral development theory in conceptualizing the situation; however, no research studies to date have implemented educational interventions aligning pedagogy with theory with the undergraduate population. This presentation will review the results of a research study conducted during the Fall 2006 semester involving the implementation of elements of deliberate psychological education into a business ethics course.

Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process: A Coactive Systems Method for Tracking how Development Occurs in the Context of Psychotherapy Relationships

This presentation will be based on the authors’ work in progress, Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process. The purpose of the book is to articulate the implications for psychotherapy research, practice, and training of understanding psychotherapy primarily as a developmental process. The focus of discussion for SRAD is the presentation of the research method, derived from a coactive systems model of development, for examining psychotherapy case material and determining how psychological development is occurring or how it may be being obstructed. This method may be used for comparative research in psychotherapy -- that is, research aimed at understanding similarities and differences across cases, approaches, techniques, and practitioners. The method may also be used for "formative evaluation" of particular cases -- that is, to understand what is working well and what is not working in a particular treatment, and how the effectiveness of the therapist's work with that particular client might be improved. In the context of training therapists, use of this method will help prepare trainees to better understand what is working well in their work with clients in the future, as well as to identify and remove obstacles to effective psychotherapy in their future work. In discussions at SRAD, we are also interested in exploring the value of the method for charting how development occurs within the context of other relationships as well.

A Rasch Analysis and Factor Analysis of Generativity and Self-Transcendence Items

Jose Ferreira Alves (University of Minho), Ean Stuart Bett (Harvard Extension School),

Michael Lamport Commons (Harvard Medical School), Michael Levenson (Oregon State University), Margarida Pedroso Lima (University of Coimbra) & Pedro Lopes dos Santos (University of Oporto)

Erikson (1950) defined generativity as consisting mainly of “the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation. The concept is meant to include productivity and creativity” (Erikson, 1950; McAdams, 2004). Levenson, Jennings, Aldwin & Shiraishi, (2005), define transcendence as the ability to transcend external definitions of the self, as well as biological and social conditioning. This study analyzed items from the following instruments to help determine the relationship between generativity and self-transcendence: 1) Loyola Generativity Scale; 2) Generative Behavior Checklist; 3) Adult Self-Transcendence Inventory; and 4) Relating to Old People Evaluation. Rasch Analyses were performed on the items from each scale to see the degree to which each scale was unidimensional. We wanted to see if some pairs of scales would form a single dimension. Finally, we factor analyzed the items and discussed the various factors and their implications.

Paul Nelson (University of West Georgia) & Jim Dillon (University of West Georgia)

Acts against judgment (AAJs) occur when people behave in a way that betrays their principles or core beliefs. This study explored how AAJs can be occasions for adult development in contrast to the dominant view that they only produce harmful effects. AAJs were discussed in terms of incontinent character slips, cognitive dissonance, and self-destructive behavior. Analysis of interviews from 30 participants who had committed AAJs revealed an initial painful loss of highly salient self-schemas. The act was made sense of in 5 ways: spiritual force, peer pressure, multiple-selves, environmental pressure, and intentional will. Participants reduced dissonance from AAJs through cognitive restructuring and positive rumination leading to 3 categories of growth: stronger independent self, interpretation of perspective and context, and humility. Findings suggest that breaking rigid habits of judgment and behavior through AAJs can facilitate more stable and virtuous character structures in a type of self-induced posttraumatic growth.

Profiles of Benefit Finding Among Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients and their Primary Caregivers

Adjusting to the progressive deterioration of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) represents a serious challenge. Benefit finding is one form of meaning making that may help reduce the negativity of this substantial loss. Benefit finding and its association with depressive symptoms was examined among 52 patients with ALS (mean age = 58; 37% female) and their primary caregivers (mean age = 56; 71% female) most of whom were married couples. Patients and caregivers were asked, “Have you found anything positive in this experience?” Over 60% of patients and caregivers found benefit, and those who had, had fewer depressive symptoms than those who had not. Patients were significantly more likely than caregivers to cite benefits related to relationships. Caregivers were significantly more likely than patients to cite personal strength/growth types of benefit finding. These differences may be a reflection of patients’ increasing dependency and caregivers’ adjustment to the caregiving role.

Statement of the Problem: We know very little about the quality of work life of young Adults with personality disorders because there is an assumption that young adults with personality disorders have difficulty maintaining work. Although the few existing case and small sample studies suggest that in general people with PD do experience greater work instability. In this longitudinal study I examined the effect of having a personality disorder on stability. Methods: The participants were 817 young adults ages 19 – 24 years old. Interview Items used were National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview schedule (DISC-1). In correspondence with (DSM-IV). Results: Preliminary analysis revealed that young adults with cluster A PD were more likely to loose their jobs. Conclusions: Initial findings of this study suggest that young adults with Cluster A PD may be with drawing from their jobs. The experiences of young adults with Cluster B PD is complex.

Four features of autobiographical memories: emotional intensity, memory specificity, reference to emotion, and self-evaluative content, were examined for negative and positive life events. In addition, the role of primary and self-conscious emotions on autobiographical memory and clarity of self-concept was explored. Overall, participants’ autobiographical recall of self-conscious emotions differed from their recall of primary emotions. For example, both negative and positive self-conscious emotions resulted in more specific autobiographical recalls than either negative or positive primary emotions. Participants also generated more self-evaluative statements for self-conscious emotions than primary emotions. However, the self-conscious emotion “guilt” was talked about less (as rated by the participants) than the other emotions and the primary negative emotions were rated as most intense by participants. These results suggest that both type of emotion (primary and self-conscious) and valence of emotion may affect features of autobiographical recall.

What have we learned about the psychological processes in adults from stage?

We may be suffering illusions of understanding behavior. 1) Some environmental variables predict behavior. But do they describe the decision processes? 2) Task regularities lead us to infer stage of performance regularities. 3) In the third step of stage transition, action and its antithesis are smashed together in a willy-nilly fashion, without insight or mentalistic processes. The selection of the adaptive combinations of actions gets reinforced. 4) Mentalistic explanations such as intent as a cause of behavior are an untestable fiction. Thought precedes the execution of an action, eliciting the action, but not causing it. 5) We think behavior is logical even though people make systematic logical errors. Inferring causality is probably correlational, because cause is perceived as bidirectional. We are likely to infer a cause from an effect or outcome. We are fooled by our illusions about control and our lack of understanding that multiple processes can cause the same behavior.

Mothers’ reflections on daughters’ relational aggression: Intersections of identity issues and experience

Dawn E. Schrader (Cornell University) & Jess Matthews Duval (Cornell University)

Mothers of young adolescent girls become increasingly concerned about their daughters’ emerging issues of identity and participation in youth culture. Part of that culture is girls’ relationships with each other. In early teen years, relational aggression reaches a peak. Reaching into their own experiences as teenage girls, moms see themselves reflected in their daughters’ experiences and try to help them cope with the trials of identity and peer-girl relationships that are often fraught with social violence, including rumors, name-calling, social ostracism, and exclusion. Simultaneously, moms are perhaps experiencing similar issues of identity and social aggression in their own lives and in their own relationships in the workplace or community. This presentation explores moms’ knowledge of and reactions to their daughters’ issues of the intersection of identity and socially aggressive relationships, and how those reactions reflect their own current personal identity and social relationships, as well as their own adolescent experiences.

The Interplay of Intuition and Cognition in Moral Reasoning: Exploring Mothers’ Perspectives of their Daughters’ Relational Aggression Experiences

Christine Gouveia (Cornell University), Dawn E. Schrader (Cornell University), & Jess Matthews Duval (Cornell University)

Moral intuitions are shaped by prior reasoning and entail ongoing cognitive appraisals affected by relationships and evaluations of relationships with others. This paper explores these interdependencies by studying mothers helping their adolescent girls handle emotions, conflicts, and reconciliation in such relational aggression experiences as name calling and gossip. I use mothers' reports of discussing such experiences with their daughters to examine cognition and intuition in the mothers' moral reasoning and their influences on their daughters' moral judgments. The importance of both school and family contexts for understanding what inhibits or facilitates moral action by adolescent girls who face relational aggression is emphasized.

Cultural Differences and Similarities in Correlates of Parenting Effectiveness: A Comparison of East Asian and White-European Mothers of College Students

Esther S. Chang (University of California), Irvine Ellen Greenberger (University of California, Irvine) & Chuansheng Chen (University of California, Irvine)

This study of 90 East Asian and 67 European American mothers (M= 49.8 years) of university students examined cultural differences and similarities in the correlates of parenting effectiveness at midlife. Quality of relationship with young adult children was expected to have significant and similar associations with self-ratings of parenting effectiveness. However, perceptions of children’s college experiences were hypothesized to have stronger associations with Asian than White parents’ ratings of parenting effectiveness. As expected, perceived warmth of the mother-child relationship and relationship satisfaction were positively related, and conflict with child was negatively related, to parenting effectiveness (ps ≤.001). As hypothesized, children’s college grades and mothers’ satisfaction with the child’s college experiences had stronger associations with parenting effectiveness for Asian mothers than for White mothers (ps < .05). This study will also include a comparison of parenting effectiveness self-ratings with children’s report of their own adjustment to college, and a discussion on the potential importance of parenting effectiveness on mothers’ well-being and adjustment to midlife parenting.

Family process mediators of the relation between components of SES and child outcomes

Robert Flynn Corwyn (University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Belinda Blevins-Knabe, (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) & Robert H. Bradley (University of Arkansas at Little Rock)

For more than half a century there has been a keen interest in the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), Parenting and child development. For the past decade there has been a concerted effort to identify the processes and factors that mediate the relation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the processes through which components of SES influence child outcomes and whether these processes differ with regard to ethnicity and child outcome. The study examined two aspects of the home environment frequently included in SES/child development mediational models (learning stimulation, maternal responsiveness) from middle childhood to early adolescence using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. These relations were examined for two developmental outcomes (reading recognition and problem behaviors). Results support the practices of analyzing components of SES separately, investigating ethnic group interactions, and developmental trends in SESà child outcome relations.

As a follow-up to a grounded theory investigation, the present study sought to confirm and further develop previously identified “psychological stages” of middle-aged daughters providing informal care to their frail, widowed mothers. Two focus groups were held with caregiving daughters, asking in-depth questions about their experiences, emotions, challenges, and alternate experiences associated with the stages. Contrary to expectations, results provided only limited support for the existence of stages, instead, seven themes strongly emerged: 1) Predisposition as a “natural” caregiver; 2) Caring as an extension of self and other roles; 3) Trigger event (i.e., death of father) foreshadowing current caregiving; 4) Caregiving in the context of responsibility and actions; 5) Recurring interference from family members regarding caregiving; 6) Thinking ahead to own old age; and 7) Ups and downs of caregiving. Follow-up interviews are being conducted with focus group participants to define meaningful interventions to help guide through the caregiving process.

This short-term longitudinal study explored the association between self-understanding characteristics and ego development. 50 Korean parents of juvenile offenders on parole interviewed using Damon and Hart's self-understanding and wrote the Sentence Completion Test that is based on Loevinger's model at first time, and 38 of these parents participated in a follow-up 2 years later. The main findings were that Korean family positive experiences and happy endings on the second SCT stories were related to higher level at second times self characteristics. A high sense of parents' personal belief and willness in the self-understanding interview at first time were related with the higher ego levels of the Sentence Completion Test at second times. Also evidence of accommodative change such as actively experiencing a paradigmatic shift were related to juvenile offenders' non-recidivism. Implications for research and juvenile justice system policy on parenting are discussed.

Psychosocial Development in Middle Adulthood: Social Support and Stress for Parents of Adolescents

Parents are most frequently studied during the entry to parenthood and “empty nest”. Further, literature on adulthood development largely discusses late adulthood, though many changes occur between early and later adulthood, involving myriad ecological variables. The current study explores generativity, identity examination, and identity concerns during middle adulthood; age and life events are considered. The main hypothesis was that development in middle adulthood is associated with the ecological variables social support and stress. Three-hundred participants (aged 35-58) were recruited. Regression and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess the hypotheses. Results demonstrate that various types of social support (e.g., perceived) and stress (e.g., parenting) are related to development in middle adulthood. Social support appears to provide opportunities for development to advance. Stressors appear to enhance development for some, but not others. Implications include the importance of social support, in and out of the family, to parents during their children’s adolescence.

Dyadic Processes and Child Outcomes: Multitrait-Multimethod Analyses of Mexican-American Father's, Mother's, Adolescent's, and Observer's Ratings of Parenting

This study utilized the Multitrait-Multimethod approach to examine how different members of the family (mother, father and adolescent) as well as objective observers view the parent-adolescent relationship among a Mexican American sample (N=136). Family members completed questionnaires to determine the extent to which each parent and their adolescent reported differential or similar perceptions of parenting behavior, and objective observers rated parent-child interactions. The links between parent and adolescent reports of parenting in conjunction with observer ratings relative to adolescent problem behavior and academic achievement were examined. The usefulness of this statistical approach was demonstrated in the findings which indicate that each member of the family as well as the objective observer rated parenting in different ways and suggest that future studies take caution when using single or aggregated reports of individual family member experiences which is of particular relevance when an examination of change across time is included.

M. Minda Oriña (University of Minnesota), W. Andrew Collins (University of Minnesota),

Jeffry A. Simpson (University of Minnesota), Katherine C. Haydon (University of Minnesota),

John S. Kim (University of Minnesota) & Jessica Salvatore (University of Minnesota)

Considerable research has been devoted to the identification of markers that predict the stability of romantic relationships. For example, research has demonstrated that individuals who are less committed, invested, and satisfied with the relationship are more likely to have less stable relationships than more committed, invested, and satisfied individuals. Much of this research, however, predicts relationship stability from the perspective of only one of the relationship partners, despite evidence that that the accuracy of predicting relationship stability is significantly improved if basing the predictions on the assessments of both partners (Attridge, Berscheid, & Simpson, 1995). Using a prospective study of romantically involved couples, we examined how predictions of relationship stability can be improved using assessments of both partners. Initial analyses confirmed that the degree of discrepancy between partners’ assessments of commitment, in conjunction with an individual’s assessment of investment and satisfaction, enhanced predictions of an individual’s commitment to the relationship.

Thomas G. Reio, Jr. (University of Louisville), Joanne Sanders-Reio (University of Louisville) & Robert F. Marcus (University of Maryland, College Park)

Students' relationships with other students and their instructors, as well as secure attachment were positively associated with earning a GED in a study of the self-reports of 164 16- to 18-year old high school dropouts from five adult education centers in the mid-central United States. After statistically controlling for age, sex, family income, and ethnicity, hierarchical logistic regression analyses demonstrated that both student-student friendships and student-instructor relationships positively predicted attachment and subsequent GED completion. The overall model, which correctly classified 77.1% of the cases, was statistically reliable in distinguishing between those who earned their GEDs and those who dropped out. Two-way ANOVA analyses revealed that those who were securely attached had better relationships with their fellow students and instructors and were more likely to earn their GEDs. The results extend Bowlby's, Ainsworth's, and Hirschi's theoretical notions that attachment positively influences learning-related outcomes. Educational professionals can use these results to inform instructional efforts to promote optimal learning environments.

Research, Assessment, and Intervention in Individual and Organizational Development

Michael Lamport Commons (Harvard Medical School), Alice LoCicero (Suffolk University ), Patrice Marie Miller (Salem State College), Joseph Anthony Rodriguez (Massachusetts Mental Health Center) & Sara Nora Ross (ARINA, Inc.)

How often do you have clients who are reasonably smart in some areas but seem to make a mess out of other things in their organization or their life? This introductory level workshop will help you learn and apply positive adult developmental psychology to address those problems in consultation and organizational practice. At this workshop, you will learn about some newer research and practice on positive adult development that will help formulate a strength-based, positive coaching and mentoring approach to assessment and development of individuals, as well as organizations. These approaches can be applied to clients with a variety of problems. They are especially useful for clients and organizations whose functioning is uneven, with higher level functioning in some areas and lower levels in other areas To that end you will learn about approaches to research, theory and practice on positive adult development as it applies to coaching, consultation and organizational development. You will learn how to score and analyze narratives and policies for purposes of research and intervention. You will learn about methods to foster methods of producing development.

Exercise, Health and the Integration of Biology and Behavior: Toward an Ecology of Positive Adult and Lifespan Development

This presentation provides the broad outline of an ecological/lifespan perspective to positive adult development which, in turn, addresses a longstanding absence of theoretical perspectives which effectively integrate behavioral/social science and biology. Such an ecological/lifespan perspective focuses on the reciprocal interactions between the individual and the enduring contexts of development including family, work/retirement and community. Specifically, this paper describes an ecological model of successful/positive adulthood and aging which places primary emphasis on a central, often ignored, basis of self regulation, the lifespan role of movement and exercise, through muscle contraction, in organizing and controlling the health of older adults. Behavioral self regulation, through movement and exercise, provides a theoretical bridge for integrating the often separate worlds of biological maturation/aging and life course social relationships, including diverse intergenerational relationships, parent-infant/child/adolescent interactions, peer relationships and work relationships. This perspective challenges conventional wisdom of the exclusive primacy of cognitive factors/theories in lifespan human development.

This paper focuses on social relations and health across nations and cultures. Social relations have been shown to influence health disparities e.g. by high quality relations insulating otherwise vulnerable individuals from illness and disability or by facilitating their ability to cope with stress and illness. Although the link between social relations and health has been well-established it has rarely been considered as a basis of positive development. One purpose of this paper is to initiate discussion of social relations as a basis for positive development both within and between cultures. We propose to utilize the life span model of convoys of social relations as a framework for understanding how and why interpersonal relations are critical to the evolution of positive development. We believe that a better understanding of social relations at the individual level and the broader cultural context may provide greater insight into how relationships, from the dyadic to the national, influence health and well-being.

What’s Black and White and Read All Over? Assessing the Mental Acuity of Elderly Persons Using the Stroop Test

Douglas E. Sperry (Indiana State University), Emma E. Sperry (Honey Creek Middle School) &

As average lifespan increases, families and health care professionals increasingly must deal with the onset of dementia. Considerable work has examined diagnostic criteria for different types of impairment focusing on debilitation of declarative and non-declarative memory. However, little research has attempted to provide caregivers with a practical means to assess Normal Aging from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) that requires enhanced life assistance and from Severe Cognitive Impairment (SCI) that requires complete life assistance. This project seeks to discover if the Stroop task reliably identifies differences between individuals over the age of 65 years with normal aging, MCI, and SCI. MCI individuals demonstrated an increase in Stroop interference compared to normal individuals; however, SCI individuals tended to fail to complete the Stroop task. The results suggest that the Stroop task offers a straightforward assessment of impairment suitable for caregivers in the early stages of long-term planning for the elderly.

Autobiographical Recall Via Culturally Biased Cue Words: Variations In Affect, Intensity and Salience

Cultural variations in autobiographical recall in response to culturally biased cue words were examined using middle-aged (45-65) African American (N=30) and Caucasian adults (N=30). Each group underwent a cue-word recall paradigm, in which they were asked to provide memories triggered by cue words that were related to the Civil Rights Movement “target” or that were “era neutral”, as well as rate each memory in terms of affect, emotional intensity and identity salience. Significant results were found relating ethnic group membership to memory ratings of identity salience and emotional intensity, such that for both cue word types, African American participants rated these memories as being both more intense and more salient. This pattern differed with regards to affect. There was a cue word by ethnicity interaction, such that African Americans reported more positive memories in response to era neutral cues, but did not significantly differ from Caucasians for target cued memories.

This study examines how individual differences in personality predict well-being differentially for men and women who are experiencing the transition to retirement (age range 44 - 79 years, M = 59, SD = 5.5). The Need for Cognition Scale, which measures dispositional motivation for cognitive processing (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984), and the NEO Five Factor Inventory assessing openness, conscientiousness, extroversion,. agreeableness and neuroticism (Costa & McCrae, 1992), were administered to 242 recently retired individuals. Structural equation modeling was used to identify significant pathways between these personality variables, demographics, and positive affect as measured by the PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). The resulting well-fitting model (CFI = .98) of personality traits as predictors of well-being in older adults who are experiencing a period of novelty, ambiguity, and uncertainty helps to explain some of the psychological mechanisms instrumental to successful adaptation to change in adulthood. Additionally, this demonstration of the critical role of need for cognition in the prediction of positive affect provides support for Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive psychology, which posits a reciprocal relationship between positive emotions and broadened attention and cognition.

Effects of a Structured Public Issues Discourse Method on the Complexity of Citizens’ Reasoning and Local Political Development

This study was about adult and political development, where political development means improving the publicly common ways of relating. A small group used a structured process for complex issues. The study tested a hypothesis that a group’s average hierarchical complexity of reasoning about issues would increase. Session and interview data were scored using the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System. The null hypothesis was H₀: P = .5, where P was the probability of either no change or a decrease. The alternative H_A: P > .5, p < .05 (one-tailed) was the dichotomous probability that there would be an average increase in the group’s hierarchical complexity. The pre-experimental results supported rejection of the null hypothesis, significant at p < .01, one-tailed. The average increase in hierarchical complexity was significant at p < .01, one-tailed, with large effect size. The study informs uses of structured discursive methods to foster adult and political development.

Glenn Mehltretter (PeopleFit), Herb Koplowitz (Terra Firma Management Consulting) & Michelle Malay Carter (PeopleFit)

We start with Jaques’s definition of “work” as the exercise of judgment and discretion while engaged in a task and describe a four-part model of capability for work: cognitive capacity,

skills, knowledge, talent, values, and absence of personal dysfunction. Our emphasis will be on the Requisite Organization model of cognitive capacity, in particular: how it relates to the levels of work complexity described in The Requisite Organization Model of Complexity of Work,

how it matures, our instinctive sense of an individual’s cognitive capacity and social illusions affecting that sense, organizational implications for staffing and talent pool management. We shall place particular emphasis on Jaques’s model of information processing which allows an outsider’s judgment of an individual’s cognitive capacity correlating at the .95 level with the manager’s judgment and provides a useful reframing of Piaget’s stages. The paper is also intended to facilitate dialogue comparing the Requisite Organization model to others. In particular, we shall address the issue of capacity to handle complexity as a property of a person.

Herb Koplowitz (Terra Firma Management Consulting), Glenn Mehltretter (PeopleFit) & Michelle Malay Carter (PeopleFit)

This paper is intended as a companion to The Requisite Organization Model of Human Capability. We describe an approach to understanding complexity of work and will focus on the work required in roles in managerial hierarchies. We will describe:a universal scale for calibrating work complexity, our instinctive sense of the size of a role and social illusions affecting that sense, three practical methods for determining the complexity of roles within organizations using this universal scale, and implications of the model for organization design, staffing and compensation. The approach was developed in the 1950s by Elliott Jaques and Wilfred Brown and has proved useful in design work in nearly every function and sector around the world by consultants who help organizations implement their strategies efficiently and with trust. The paper is also intended to facilitate dialogue comparing the Requisite Organization model to others. In particular, we shall address the issue of whether complexity is in the task or in the person.

Talk, Terror, and Torture: Developmental Perspectives on Impossible Global Choices

Developmental perspectives indicate that talk is better than torture or terror, but how can societies respond to terror or torture? Is talking enough? In this poster and paper I will discuss the conflicts among psychologists and others who are attempting to formulate proper roles for behavioral scientists in an age of terror and torture. Further, I will show how the global background of torture and terror influence local attempts to resolve disputes and tensions among groups, and how it affects the training of psychologists and others.

Renegotiating the "expert" role: Developmental change in teachers, administrators and consultants

Michelle Ronayne (Suffolk University), Manila Austin (Suffolk University), Beth Doppler (Suffolk University) & Debra Harkins (Suffolk University)

This study examines the impact a consultation intervention had on the development of an educational environment and will investigate change within the system at three levels: teacher, director and consultant. Participants were assessed for differences in language and phrases pre- and post-intervention and assigned a developmental level based on a Neo-Piagetian stage model proposed by Ivey (1993). Unlike traditional stage models which define development as a linear progression from lesser to higher stages, Ivey’s (1993) model suggests that individuals move with increasing flexibility among the stages. Transcripts of interviews and meetings pre- and post-intervention were analyzed. It was expected that pre-intervention participants would stay largely within the confines of one level, indicating lesser degrees of development and post-intervention language would show movement among the levels (sensorimotor, concrete, formal and dialectical), indicating increased flexibility and greater degrees of development. Findings will be discussed within the frameworks of community models of change and organizational learning.

In the conflict resolution field, little if any attention has been paid to the complexity with which the disputants understand conflict in general and their own conflict in particular. As Kegan (1994), suggests, interveners may well have unexamined expectations for the perspective-taking capacities of the disputants with whom they work, (the capacity to empathize, the capacity to see the others as having separate and distinct perspectives and feelings from one’s own) and many of these disputants will not have the complexity of mind to do what the intervener expects of them. The results are often anger, resentment, misunderstanding, and deadlock—on both sides of the issue. Our work looks at the implications of developmental complexity for the conflict intervention process, the importance of understanding this perspective for leaders and interveners in these situations, and the importance of leaders and interveners having developed their own higher levels of meaning-making complexity.

Putting Some Steak with the Sizzle: Research Opportunities in Servant Leadership

Construct clarification and operationalization of servant leadership for research is discussed in this symposium along with seminal empirical works testing some antecedents and outcomes of servant leadership. The theoretical and empirical operation of the construct is discussed as the construct evolved from eleven to five unique dimensions. Servant Leadership consists of five dimensions – altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship. The measure identified five unique subscales that empirically held together better than a more established measure of transformational leadership. Correlates with other leadership styles and positive organizational behavior outcomes are also reported. A dialogue of potential opportunities for future studies of servant leadership, using the developed conceptualization and measure will also be included.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to give students teachers’ the freedom to choose their supervisory leadership model and explain their experiences as the result of doing so. Student teachers did select different avenues of supervisory leadership. One selected clinical supervision, one selected contextual supervision, and one selected cooperative professional development (an option from the differentiated supervision model). Based on student teacher selections, adjustments had to be made by the supervisor during the student teaching semester to accommodate student teachers. Based on the findings of this study, student teachers must be highly confident and competent in their teaching abilities in order to correctly select their type of supervisory leadership. In addition, student teachers need to have a clear understanding of supervision and the cycle of the supervisory process. Overall, student teachers experienced tremendous professional growth as adults and had a richer understanding of the educational process.

Professional development needs to be taught as a perpetual part of every school day. Professional development should occur before school, after school, during the school day, during vacations, and during professional leaves. Professional development activity should continue with appropriate adoption through teachers’ careers (Allington and Cunningham, 2006). Progress will not be possible unless we are serious about providing time to read everyday. The most powerful forms of professional development may occur in ongoing school teams that meet on a regular basis everyday or preferably several times a week for the purposes of learning, lesson planning, and problem solving. This kind of learning practices can allow the members for continuous improvement and experimentation of their daily work and learn how to engage the students in learning. School is a huge community that has varieties of aged and staged adults like teachers, administrators, non-teaching staff, students and parents. In particular case, teacher members of learning teams can assist one another in examining the progress and learning of students, planning more effective lessons, critiquing student work, and solving the common problems of teaching. As we approach the ambitious task of defining staff development for engaged learning we may confronted with a multitude of challenges that school may have to face while planning, hiring, and allocating funds for effective induction and staff development models.

Belinda Blevins-Knabe, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (blblevins@ualr.edu)

Joseph Anthony Rodriguez, Massachusetts Mental Health Center (joearod@comcast.net)