Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T01:01:18.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of children's future expectations in self-system functioning and adjustment to life stress: A prospective study of urban at-risk children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2009

Peter A. Wyman ,
Emory L. Cowen ,
William C. Work  and
Judy H. Kerley
Peter A. Wyman*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Emory L. Cowen
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
William C. Work
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Judy H. Kerley
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Peter A. Wyman, University of Rochester Center for Community Study, 575 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Study I examined relationships between an interview measure of children's future expectations and variables reflecting self-system functioning with 136 9–11-year-old urban children exposed to high psychosocial stress. As expected, future expectations related to affect regulation, self-representations, and school adjustment. Study II, done with a subsample of the original group, showed that early positive future expectations predicted enhanced socioemotional adjustment in school and a more internal locus of control 2½–3½ years later and acted as a protective factor in reducing the negative effects of high stress on self-rated competence. These findings: (a) are consistent with prior data showing positive expectations to be characteristic of resilient children; (b) suggest that early positive future expectations influence later adjustment; and (c) underscore the role children have in actively structuring their environments and, thus, influencing their development. The heuristic value of the construct of self for future studies of resilience is suggested, and implications for preventive interventions are considered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Fall 1993 , pp. 649 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M., & Weissman, A. (1975). Hopelessness and suicidal behavior: An overview. Journal of the American Medical Association, 234, 1146–1149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D. (1989). Developmental psychopathology: Past, present, and future. In Cicchetti, D. (Ed.), Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology: Vol. 1. The emergence of a discipline (pp. 1–12). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D. (1991). Fractures in the crystal: Developmental psychopathology and the emergence of self. Developmental Review, 77, 271–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Manly, J. T. (1990). A personal perspective on conducting research with maltreating families: Problems and solutions. In Brody, E. & Sigel, I. (Eds.), Family research: Vol. 2. Families at risk (pp. 87–133). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1992). The role of developmental theory in prevention and intervention. Development and Psychopathology, 4, 489–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., & Wyman, P. A. (1992). Resilience among profoundly stressed urban school children. In Kessler, M., Goldston, S. E., & Joffe, J. M. (Eds.), The present and future of prevention (pp. 155–168). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., Wyman, P. A., Parker, G. R., Wannon, M., & Gribble, P. A. (1992). Test comparisons among stress affected, stress resilient and non-classified 4th-6th grade urban children. Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 200–214.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garmezy, N. (1981). Children under stress: Perspectives on antecedents and correlates of vulnerability and resistance to psychopathology. In Rubin, A. I., Aronoff, J., Barclay, A. M., & Zucker, R. A. (Eds.), Further explorations in personality (pp. 196–269). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Harter, S. (1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Child Development, 53, 87–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harter, S. (1988). The Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver.Google Scholar
Hightower, A. D., Cowen, E. L., Spinell, A. P., Lotyczewski, B. S., Guare, J. C., Rohrbeck, C. A., & Brown, L. P. (1987). The Child Rating Scale: The development and psychometric refinement of a socioemotional self-rating scale for young school children. School Psychology Review, 16, 239–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hightower, A. D., Work, W. C., Cowen, E. L., Lotyczewski, B. S., Spinell, A. P., Guare, J. C., & Rohrbeck, C. A. (1986). The Teacher – Child Rating Scale: A brief objective measure of elementary children's school problem behaviors and competencies. School Psychology Review, 15, 393–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kazdin, A. E., Rodgers, A., & Colbus, D. (1986). The Hopelessness Scale for Children: Psychometric characteristics and concurrent validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 241–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kovacs, M. (1979). Children's Depression Inventory. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Masten, A. S. (1989). Resilience in development: Implications of the study of successful adaptation for developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. (Ed.), Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology: Vol. 1. The emergence of a discipline (pp. 261–294). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Masten, A. S., Best, K. M., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 425–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masten, A. S., Garmezy, N., Tellegen, A., Pellegrini, D. S., Larkin, K., & Larsen, A. (1988). Competence and stress in school children: The moderating effects of individual and family qualities. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29, 745–764.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nowicki, S., & Strickland, B. R. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 148–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, G. R., Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., & Wyman, P. A. (1990). Test correlates of stress affected and stress resilient outcomes among urban children. Journal of Primary Prevention, 11, 19–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, W. M. (1988). Child Depression Scale. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979). Protective factors in children's responses to stress and disadvantage. In Kent, M. W. & Rolf, J. E. (Eds.), Primary prevention of psychopathology: Social competence in children (Vol. 3, pp. 49–74). Hanover, NH: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protect tive mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sameroff, A., & Chandler, M. J. (1975). Reproductive risk and the continuum of caretaking casualty. In Horowitz, F. D. (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 4, pp. 187–245). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype → environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424–435.Google Scholar
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1987). Dispositional optimism and physical well-being: The influence of generalized outcome expectancies on health. Journal of Personality, 55, 169–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seifer, R., & Sameroff, A. J. (1987). Multiple determinants of risk and invulnerability. In Anthony, E. J. & Cohler, B. J. (Eds.), The invulnerable child (pp. 51–69). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D. (1973). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children: Preliminary manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1990). An organizational perspective on the self. In Cicchetti, D. & Beeghly, M. (Eds.), The self in transition: Infancy to childhood (pp. 281–307). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizational construct. Child Development, 48, 1184–1199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1992). Overcoming the odds: High risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wetzel, R. D., Margulies, T., Davis, R., & Karam, E. (1980). Hopelessness, depression, and suicide intent. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 41, 159–160.Google ScholarPubMed
Work, W. C., Cowen, E. L., Parker, G. R., & Wyman, P. A. (1990). Stress resilient children in an urban setting. Journal of Primary Prevention, 11, 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyman, P. A., Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., & Parker, G. R. (1991). Developmental and family milieu correlates of resilience in urban children who have major life-stress. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 405–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyman, P. A., Cowen, E. L., Work, W. C., Raoof, B. A., Gribble, P. A., Parker, G. R., & Wannon, M. (1992). Interviews with children who enced major life stress: Family and child attributes that predict resilient outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 904–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar