Showing papers in "Developmental Psychology in 1971"

A Longitudinal Study of Changes in Ego Identity Status during the Freshman Year at College.

Abstract: Erikson described adolescence as the period of the life cycle when an individual's ego identity is most likely to undergo significant change. A longitudinal study involving 92 male college freshmen was conducted to assess the pattern of changes in ego identity status during the freshman year. Possible antecedent conditions associated with changes in status were also investigated. A positive developmental shift was observed for changes in identity status in the area of occupation while a retrogressive shift was found with regard to ideology. In addition, the hypotheses concerning psychological differences between individuals who changed their identity status and those that did not were supported. These differences involved personality characteristics which predated any of the observed changes in status.

Father availability and academic performance among third-grade boys.

Abstract: The degree of father availability on the academic performance of young school children, particularly boys, has been of interest to educators for some time. Unfortunately most of the published studies have not controlled for such factors as socio-economic status, race, and intelligence in evalua uing the academic achievement of boys with vary inf degrees of father availability. The present study consists of 44 boys drawn from a third grade, small town school population of 297 male children. These boys were divided into four groups of eleven boys each; Group 1 consisting of boys who have been without a father in the home since age two; Group II consisting of boys who have been without a father in the home since age live; Group III mode up of boys whose mothers reported that, although the father was present in the home, he had a -very low degree of quantitative doily interaction with his son; and GroutIV made up of boys whose mothers reported a very high amount of daily fatherson interaction within the home. The four groups were closely matched for age, grade, race, socio-economic status, and intelligence. Academic performance was measured by teacher awarded grades and the scores the boys received on the Stanford Achievement Test. Intelligence was measured by the scores the boys obtained on the Otis-Lennon MentalAbility Test. Tho results indicated that those boys who had hi gh father Availability scored significantly higher on academic achievement measures than boys who had been father absent since age two. Boys father absent since age five and those boys with low father availability scored close to the population mean on the Stanford Achievement Test, but resembled the group of boys father absent since age two in having significantly lower teacher awarded grades than the hoys with high father availability. It was concluded that the presence of an actively interested father who has frequent quantitative interaction wi th his son will facilitate better than average academic performance in his child. Third grade boys who have been without a father in the home since age two will score significantly lower than the average on measures of academic performance.

Adult age differences in free classification and free recall.

Abstract: A verbal free classification and free recall task was presented to three age groups of women (20-29 years, 40-49 years, 60-69 years) to investigate adult age differences in free classification performance, and to determine whether the opportunity to organize the stimulus material prior to free recall is a significant age-related variable. Half of the subjects categorized words into two-seven categories prior to free recall, while the other half of the subjects inspected the words but were prevented from physically sorting them. There were no significant age differences in free classification performance under the sorting condition. Analysis of free recall data indicated a significant Age X Experimental Condition interaction. Under the sorting condition, the 20-29-year-old subjects recalled significantly more words than the 60-69-year-old subjects. However, under the nonsorting condition the 20-29-year-old subjects recalled significantly more words than both the 40-49- and 60-69-year-old subjects. The findings supported the hypothesis of a greater age-related decrement in memory performance under conditions that minimize the opportunity for meaningful organization than under conditions that maximize such opportunity.