Suchergebnisse

This study addresses depression in late adulthood within the context of Blatt's (1974; 1991) theory of development and vulnerabilities to depression. Participants were a sample of 237 Israeli community-dwelling old adults (age 65–75) in good health and functioning well. The
authors assumed that in this developmental period, normally beset with questions about self-identity and interpersonal relatedness, the associations among Self-criticism, the Neediness component of dependency, and depressive symptomatology are moderated by participants' perceived social
support as well as by their fear of death. As expected, the correlational results confirmed that depression in late adulthood is associated with Self-criticism, Neediness, fear of death, and low perceived social support. Additional results illustrated the protective role of Efficacy and Connectedness,
as well as the buffering roles of social support and low fear of death in the relation between vulnerabilities to depression and depressive symptoms in late adulthood. The overall findings highlight the relevance of personality vulnerability factors in depression in late adulthood and the
need to consider a range of moderating factors that may serve to protectively buffer or exacerbate the impact of personality vulnerability factors.

AbstractWe explored the relative contributions of first‐time mothers'romantic attachment styles and early relations with their own mothers to the prediction of infant temperamental difficulty. A mediating role for mother's attachment to the unborn baby was assumed. In a prospective longitudinal study of 115 mothers of healthy babies, a structural model was delineated according to a conception of maternally reported infant temperament as a reflection of basic aspects of the mother's personality and mother‐infant relationships. Mothers'experiences with their own mothers as supportive and nonintrusive differentiated between securely and insecurely attached participants. Security of attachment was found to facilitate antenatal attachment and perceptions of the 4‐month‐old infant as easier. Findings indicate that the effects of the mothers'romantic attachment styles on their perceptions of temperamental difficulty are mediated by their antenatal attachment. Moreover, the pattern of findings obtained suggests a link among mothers'history of relationships, romantic attachment styles, and caregiving characteristics that is congruent with evolutionary theoretical assumptions.

AbstractThe present study investigated the association between children's representations of their mothers' and teachers' reports of children's problem behavior. The research team conducted semistructured narrative interviews with a community sample of 203 Israeli 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children. Ten months later, researchers collected teachers' reports of children's internalizing and externalizing problems. This study investigated whether children's self‐representation narratives and their maladaptive relatedness stances questionnaire scores mediated this association. Results indicated that children reporting benevolent representations of their mothers exhibited lower levels of problem behavior. More positive self‐representations and lower levels of skewness in children's relatedness stances to their mothers both mediated this association. This article includes a discussion of these results in light of factors contributing to maladjustment in middle childhood.

Guided by both attachment and social support theories, the authors conducted a longitudinal investigation exploring the concomitant effects of perceptions of spouse support (anticipated and received spouse support) and internal working models of attachment (positive–self and positive–other), on childbearing depressive symptomatology. Distinct main and interaction effects for attachment dimensions and perceived support variables were hypothesized for high– and low–risk pregnancies. Participants in the final sample were 200 pregnant women who completed the self–report between the 25th and the 29th weeks of pregnancy, and 8 weeks after childbirth. Controlling for initial levels of depressive symptoms and health conditions, results demonstrated the protective role of high levels of received support and of positive–other models on childbirth depressive symptoms. Moreover, received support and models of positive–other were found to interact with health conditions, producing distinct moderation effects: Received support was found to be a significantly stronger protective factor for childbearing depression among women with low–risk pregnancies; positive–other models were found to be a significantly stronger protective factor among women with high–risk pregnancies. The implications of these findings for the understanding of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors in successful coping with a health risk situation are discussed.

The maternal self‐reflective function was assumed to affect maternal perceptions of adopted children's adjustment. In a sample of Israeli mothers of school‐aged, non‐referred children, self‐reflectiveness scores were found to discriminate between adoptive (N= 50) and non‐adoptive (N= 80) participants, and affect the rate of perceived externalizing behaviors. Specific protective and risk factors that characterize adoptive motherhood are discussed, indicating their implications for therapeutic intervention.

Elevated levels of depressive and somatic symptoms have been documented among college students. Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of Bedouin Arab students studying at institutions of higher education in southern Israel. To date, research on coping and mental health problems among students who are members of this ethnic minority has been limited. This study examined the role of three aspects of perceived social support – availability, satisfaction, and the ability to get emotional support – in predicting depressive and somatic symptoms among Jewish Israeli and Bedouin Arab college students. A total of 89 Bedouin and 101 Jewish first-year students participated in this study, which involved two assessment waves 12 to 14 months apart. Participants completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, somatic complaints, three aspects of perceived social support, and demographics. At Time 1, Bedouin students exhibited higher levels of depressive and somatic symptoms and lower levels of all three aspects of social support. Regression analyses showed that level of emotional support was a prospective predictor of somatization at Time 2. Moreover, when levels of emotional support were low, ethnic group predicted depression at Time 2; emotional support predicted depression only among Bedouin Arabs. The present study highlights the importance of the use of emotional support in predicting somatic complaints and depressive symptoms specifically among Bedouin Arab students. Clinical implications on intervention programs for ethnic minority students will be discussed.