Papers by Constance Flanagan
American Psychologist, 1993
Although most individuals pass through adolescence without excessively high levels of "s... more Although most individuals pass through adolescence without excessively high levels of "storm and stress," many do experience difficulty. Why? Is there something unique about this developmental period that puts adolescents at risk for difficulty? This article focuses on this question and advances the hypothesis that some of the negative psychological changes associated with adolescent development result from a mismatch between the needs of developing adolescents and the opportunities afforded them by their social environments. It provides examples of how this mismatch develops in the school and in the home and how it is linked to negative age-related changes in early adolescents' motivation and self-perceptions. Ways in which more developmentally appropriate social environments can be created are discussed.
John K. Boateng The Pennsylvania State University, 415 Ag Admn Blgd, University Park Campus, Stat... more John K. Boateng The Pennsylvania State University, 415 Ag Admn Blgd, University Park Campus, State College PA 16802, Tel. 814-863-7877, Fax. 814-863-4753 E-mail. [email protected] ... Akosua Adomako-Ampofo Institute of African Studies, University of ...
Agricultural and Extension education in Ghana relies heavily on traditional visit and transfer me... more Agricultural and Extension education in Ghana relies heavily on traditional visit and transfer methods to impact new knowledge to farmers. Much effort and resources are thus expended to extend agricultural information to the farmer at his farm. Not much is done at the family level to identify social problems that can hinder the farm family from achieving their maximum potential. Although agriculture remains the backbone of most of Ghanaian economies, the gendered aspects - such as the sexual division of labor, and sex-differences in access to land and credit, and even marketing of produce - receive little attention and continue to hamper the development of the sector. This paper presents evidence of how boys aged from 9 to 12 years, form notions and expectations of masculinity around household tasks and how boys differ in responsibility for major decision making regarding childbirth, contraception and safe sex from girls of similar age. The authors explore alternative approaches tha...
The relationship of residential setting (living with parents vs. living away from home while atte... more The relationship of residential setting (living with parents vs. living away from home while attending college) and gender with late adolescents'perceptions of their relationships with parents was examined. Four hundred Jour undergraduates students (mean age = 20 years, 4 months) from two midwestern universities completed surveys. Two hundred four subjects lived with their parents and commuted to school, and 200 lived away at college. Controlling for student's age, parents' education, and financial and family considerations as factors in the choice of a college, living away was associated with greater independence, support, and mutual respect between parents and adolescents'. In contrast, students who lived at home felt parents underestimated their maturity, and reported more conflict and avoidance in their relationships with parents. Regardless of residential setting, women reported more mutuality and support in their relationships with parents than men. The results suggest the importance of considering contextual issues during the transition to adulthood.
Bridging Cultural and Developmental Approaches to Psychology, 2010
CHAPTER 6 Civil Societies as Cultural and Developmental Contexts for Civic Identity FormationCONS... more CHAPTER 6 Civil Societies as Cultural and Developmental Contexts for Civic Identity FormationCONSTANCE FLANAGAN, M. LORETO MARTÍNEZ, & PATRICIO CUMSILLE Attention to Civil Societies as developmental contexts has been rare in devel-opmental and cultural ...
Developmental psychology, 2014
Open-ended responses of an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 593 12- to 19-year-... more Open-ended responses of an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 593 12- to 19-year-olds (M = 16 years old, SD = 1.59) were analyzed to explain why some people in the United States are poor and others are rich. Adolescents had more knowledge and a more complex understanding of wealth than of poverty and older adolescents had more knowledge and a more complex understanding of both. Controlling for age and demographics, adolescents had a deeper understanding of inequality if they were female, from better educated families, discussed current events in their families, and attended schools with classmates who discussed current events in their families. Higher parental education and attending schools with classmates who discussed current events with their families increased the likelihood of structural attributions for poverty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1993
The relationship of residential setting (living with parents vs. living away from home while atte... more The relationship of residential setting (living with parents vs. living away from home while attending college) and gender with late adolescents'perceptions of their relationships with parents was examined. Four hundred Jour undergraduates students (mean age = 20 years, 4 months) from two midwestern universities completed surveys. Two hundred four subjects lived with their parents and commuted to school, and 200 lived away at college. Controlling for student's age, parents' education, and financial and family considerations as factors in the choice of a college, living away was associated with greater independence, support, and mutual respect between parents and adolescents'. In contrast, students who lived at home felt parents underestimated their maturity, and reported more conflict and avoidance in their relationships with parents. Regardless of residential setting, women reported more mutuality and support in their relationships with parents than men. The results suggest the importance of considering contextual issues during the transition to adulthood.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1990
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2009
The role of prejudice and ethnic awareness in the civic commitments and beliefs about the America... more The role of prejudice and ethnic awareness in the civic commitments and beliefs about the American social contract of 1,096 (53% female) adolescents (11-18 year olds, Mean = 15) from African-, Arab-, Latino-, and European-American backgrounds were compared. Ethnic awareness was higher among minority youth and discrimination more often reported by African-and Arab-Americans. Parental admonitions against discrimination were heard by all but African Americans, Latinos and those who reported prejudice heard that it could pose a barrier. Adolescents' beliefs that America is an equal opportunity society were negatively associated with experiences of discrimination and African-Americans were least likely to believe that the government was responsive to the average person. With respect to civic goals, all youth endorsed patriotism but ethnic minorities and ethnically aware youth were more committed to advocating for their ethnic group and European-Americans were less committed than were African Americans to improving race relations.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2011
Parents play an important role in helping their children process and interpret significant socioh... more Parents play an important role in helping their children process and interpret significant sociohistorical events. However, little is known about how parents frame these experiences or the specific social, cultural, and civic messages they may communicate about the event. In this study, we examined self-reported communication of parents from six communities in the United States with their adolescents about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Parents' (N = 972) open-ended responses about September 11th were analyzed to assess whether communication with their adolescents occurred and for thematic content. Results revealed marked variability in parents' communication and suggest that many parents used September 11th as an opportunity to impart sociocultural, emotional, and civic messages. Identifying the diversity in parents' responses aligns with the tenets of Terror Management Theory and provides insights into the roles of parents in translating pivotal historical moments. Collectively, these findings yield important implications for civic socialization.
Journal of Social Issues, 1991
Journal of Social Issues, 2008
We examined developmental changes in adolescents' perceptions of an individual's right to engage ... more We examined developmental changes in adolescents' perceptions of an individual's right to engage in risky behaviors that could pose harm to health. The views of 563 early, 506 middle, and 467 late adolescents concerning the degree to which individuals have a right to engage in smoking, drinking, and drug use (private health beliefs) or whether the government has a right to impose constraints on individuals (public health beliefs) were surveyed over 3 years. Endorsements of individual rights increased between early and middle adolescence and remained stable into late adolescence. Endorsements of public health beliefs showed a curvilinear trend with middle adolescents less likely than early or late adolescents to endorse the government's right to constrain individual choices. Regardless of age, endorsements of public health were positively and individual rights were negatively related to an adolescent's belief that s/he had a right to intervene in a friend's risky choices.
Journal of Social Issues, 2010
This article examines adolescents' perceptions of the economic changes and the justice of the new... more This article examines adolescents' perceptions of the economic changes and the justice of the new "social contract" in Eastern/Central Europe. Focusing on three countries, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, it explores the social, political, and economic environments in which adolescents came of age in 1990. Surveys conducted among high school students in each country during 1995 tapped their perceptions of the economy, the local community, and their personal beliefs about the efficacy of individual initiative and hard work. Responses differed significantly based on age, gender, social class, value orientation, and country. Older adolescents and girls were more likely to observe that economic disparities were growing in their country and to be cynical about the value of hard work. Those with socialist values also discounted the value of recent changes. Adolescents in the Czech Republic were the least cynical about economic changes, whereas those in Bulgaria were the most cynical, with Hungarian youth the least optimistic about the future.
Journal of Personality, 1989
Journal of Educational Psychology, 2007
The developmental correlates of diffuse support for the polity and civic commitments were explore... more The developmental correlates of diffuse support for the polity and civic commitments were explored in a survey of 1,052 students (mean age ϭ 14.96 years) from African American, Arab American, European American, and Latino American backgrounds. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that regardless of their age, gender, or ethnic background, youth were more likely to believe that America was a just society and to commit to democratic goals if they felt a sense of community connectedness, especially if they felt that their teachers practiced a democratic ethic at school. Discussion focuses on the civic purposes of education in inculcating a sense of identification with the polity in younger generations.
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Papers by Constance Flanagan