The impact of identity-related risk factors on psychopathology was analyzed in 2,113 emerging adults ( M = 22.0 years; 66% female) from France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Peru, Pakistan, and Poland. Identity stress, coping with identity stress, maternal parenting (support, psychological control, and anxious rearing), and psychopathology (internalizing, externalizing, and total symptomatology) were assessed. After partialing out the influence of stress, coping, and perceived maternal behavior, country did no longer exert a significant effect on symptom scores. The effect for gender remained, as did an interaction between country and gender. Rather unexpected, on average, males reported higher internalizing symptomatology scores than females. Potential causes for the higher scores of males are therefore discussed. Partialing out covariates resulted in a clearer picture of country-specific and gender-dependent effects on psychopathology, which is helpful in designing interventions.

No abstract

No abstract

This study addresses how maternal positivity and negativity toward a child in three countries, separately and in combination are related to attachment in middle childhood. We first developed an ecologically valid emic measure of the Maternal Positivity-Negativity Scale through an interview-based study (90 mothers) and then tested our hypotheses in a separate study. The child’s attachment security (where the child uses the mother as a safe haven and secure base) and insecurity (attachment anxiety and avoidance) were assessed using standard measures. Equal numbers of mothers and their children between 8 and 12 years of age from Poland, Turkey, and the Netherlands participated in the main study (756 dyads). Results revealed that: (1) maternal positivity was more strongly associated, than maternal negativity, with child security; (2) maternal negativity was more strongly associated, than maternal positivity, with child anxiety, and its relation was stronger when maternal positivity was low; (3) maternal negativity was more strongly associated with child anxiety than with child avoidance; (4) the maternal positivity-over-negativity prevalence index was related to child attachment security and insecurity; (5) relations between maternal positivity and child attachment were moderated by culture. Results are discussed considering attachment in middle childhood and culture-related perspectives.

No abstract

No abstract

Zusammenfassung. In dieser kulturvergleichenden Studie wurde der Einfluss von Geschlecht und Land auf die Symptombelastung von Jugendlichen untersucht, nachdem identitätsbezogene Faktoren kontrolliert wurden. In einer Stichprobe von 2259 Jugendlichen (M = 15.3 Jahre; 54 % weiblich) aus Frankreich, Deutschland, der Türkei, Griechenland, Peru, Pakistan und Polen wurde die Identitätsentwicklung und der mütterliche Erziehungsstil (Unterstützung, psychologische Kontrolle und ängstliches Monitoring) sowie die internalisierende und externalisierende Symptombelastung ermittelt. In einer Kovarianzanalyse wurde die Variation durch Land, Geschlecht und Alter sowie die Interaktion Land x Geschlecht unter Kontrolle des mütterlichen Erziehungsverhaltens und der Identitätsentwicklung als Kovariaten betrachtet. Es zeigte sich ein ähnliches Ergebnis für internalisierende und externalisierende Symptomatik: Rumination und mütterliche Unterstützung, psychologische Kontrolle und ängstliches Monitoring waren signifikante Kovariaten. Der Effekt von Land, Geschlecht, Alter und die Interaktion Land x Geschlecht waren auch nach der Kontrolle der Kovariaten signifikant. Das Auspartialisieren der Kovariaten führte zu einem klareren Bild von länder- und geschlechtsspezifischen Effekten in der Symptombelastung, ein Ergebnis das hilfreich bei der Entwicklung von Interventionsmethoden ist.