Search

As a teacher, I often wonder what I can do to help those adolescent boys in my classes who struggle for success, as well as what I can do to […]

A previous study found that dependency was associated with mothers' reacting punitively to independent behavior of their adolescent daughters and that self-criticism was associated with punitive and controlling responses to adolescent daughters. To extend these findings to mother-son relationships, the present study examined relations between personality and parenting behavior in 78 mothers of adolescent boys. Mothers completed measures of dependency and self-criticism and of baseline affect, and then were given experimentally manipulated results of the son's 'initial assessment of problem-solving ability' (competence) and choice of discussion partner. Affect was assessed again. Mothers 'coached' sons on computer problem-solving puzzles. Dependency was associated with mothers' giving fewer explicit commands and less negative feedback to (1) sons who were described as high in competence and who chose someone else as discussion partner and (2) sons who were described as average in competence and who chose the mother as discussion partner. It was concluded that mothers high in dependency relate to competent sons in ways that encourage independence, but relate to their less competent sons in ways that may foster dependency, by thwarting attempts at autonomy.

Adolescent boys have the need to be heard and appreciated. It is common among them to exhibit disruptive behavior if they are not given the opportunity to air their sentiments and be heard. A group therapist relates his experience with a group of young boys from the Manasora High School, where the boys participate in group therapy sessions. After a lengthy discussion and a number of sessions, the group decided to air their sentiments and try to be involved in civic affairs by drawing a list of desired improvements for the men's room in Manasora High School.

Are boys in trouble today? Their situation is desperate, according to a coalition of clinical and academic psychologists. The alarming news has been trumpeted in scholarly journals as well as [...]

The relationship of appearance to family and peer relationships was investigated in a sample of delinquent adolescent boys and a matched sample of nondelinquents, controlling for age, IQ, socioeconomic status, and family risk factors. As predicted, the effects of appearance on family relationships varied with the boys' delinquency status, with more baby faced or more attractive delinquents experiencing more adverse effects and more baby faced or more attractive nondelinquents experiencing more favorable effects. These results were attributed in part to a contrast effect whereby delinquents' violation of the benign expectations held for baby faced or attractive individuals results in more negative outcomes for those individuals than for their more mature faced or unattractive peers. Consistent with previous research, peer relationships were better for attractive boys, albeit only when they were delinquent. Peer relationships tended to be poorer for baby faced boys regardless of their delinquency status.