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The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is one of the most commonly examined constructs of personality across cultures in recent times. However, there is a lacuna of evidence for the suitability of FFM measures for Indian adolescent school students below the age of 17 years. We carried out two independent studies for the psychometric evaluation of the measures BFI-10 and NEO-FFI-3 on Indian adolescent school students. Both studies examined two socio-culturally distinct linguistic groups of secondary and senior secondary school students with a total sample of N = 1117 students. There was very limited support for a five-factor solution in both cases. Model fit was poor when applying FFM measures to our samples, whether applying confirmatory factor analysis or exploratory structural equation models. The results provide evidence against using adult personality measures with adolescents without separate psychometric validation and applying the Western age norms to Indian students without considering that the process of personality consolidation during adolescence may not be identical across cultures.

The family micro-system is important in the development of any individual. Defects or deviations in its normative functioning affect the development of a child. These defects may include child maltreatment or abuse, be it physical, sexual, emotional, or neglect. Within this domain, in our view, there does not appear to be adequate development related to the understanding of, and intervention for, emotional abuse. Emotional abuse extends from explicit acts to invisible causative factors of neglect or humiliation. In this work, through quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence, we have attempted to associate family challenges with self-esteem (SE) and perceived social support. The study was carried out on a sample of early-adolescent high school students in the state of Kerala, India. We found a significant difference in SE between adolescents who reported challenges at home and those who did not. We also observed the limited role of age as a determinant in this differentiation. The current work serves to significantly supplement the understanding of causal relationships in the discourse on emotional abuse in the context of child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study examined the relations between approach and avoidance coping behaviors and general life satisfaction in a sample of 248 Hindu adolescents from an urban area in India. The major findings were threefold. First, gender differences were observed, with females reporting more frequent use of the strategies of seeking social support, direct problem solving, and internalizing behaviors. Second, using multiple regression analyses, the coping behaviors of problem solving and externalizing behaviors accounted for significant, unique variance in life satisfaction scores. Third, gender did not moderate the relations between any of the coping behaviors and life satisfaction. Possible implications for health promotion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationships among intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and academic achievement for the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada in comparison to their counterparts in India. Descriptive discriminant analysis indicated that the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada had higher intrinsic motivation and academic achievement than their peers in India. By contrast, the Indian adolescents in India had higher extrinsic motivation than their counterparts in Canada. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed the positive predictive effects of intrinsic motivation on academic achievement for both the Indian immigrant and Indian adolescents. While extrinsic motivation had a negative predictive effect on academic achievement for the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada, it was not a significant predictor of academic achievement for the Indian adolescents in India. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]