John Snarey - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by John Snarey

Harvard University Press eBooks, Dec 31, 1993

How Fathers Care for the Next Generation, 1993

ABSTRACT Surveys research on the predictability of adult adaptation and health based on childhood... more ABSTRACT Surveys research on the predictability of adult adaptation and health based on childhood development with regard to the common belief that early life experiences determine the development of an individual for life. Previous research, however, suggests that this belief is generally a myth. The present review focuses on longitudinal studies in 3 areas: cognitive development and academic achievement, emotional and psychosexual development, and social behavior. Research does not support the continuity assumption (e.g., emotionally disturbed children are not necessarily prone to become mentally ill adults). Two major exceptions are noted: schizophrenia and sociopathic disorders, which are predictable from a compound of genetic factors, environmental factors, and childhood behavior. The nihilistic implication of reducing mental-health services for children is rejected, and constructive recommendations are presented for practitioners and researchers. (227 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

International Journal of Educational Research, 1998

Abstract This study examined ethical development among kibbutz adolescents from the perspective o... more Abstract This study examined ethical development among kibbutz adolescents from the perspective of Erik Erikson’s model of value orientation stages. The purpose was threefold: to examine the longitudinal patterns of value-orientation stage change, to assess the impact of kibbutz education on value orientation development, and to clarify the empirical relationship between value orientation and moral judgment stages. The findings suggested that value-orientation stage change was gradual, upward, and with few regressions. Furthermore, there were no significant sex differences. The empirical relationship between value orientation and moral judgment stages varied from early adolescence to early adulthood underscoring the importance of a life-span perspective on moral development.

Psychology and Aging, 1990

Adults' social status, particularly their occupations, is a powerful predictor of their level of ... more Adults' social status, particularly their occupations, is a powerful predictor of their level of moral and ego development. This association's inevitability was tested by examining the relationship of personal development with social status among 3 groups of workers. Results showed that kibbutz workers' moral and ego development were not significantly associated with educational, occupational, or social class standing, but that Israeli city and North American workers' moral and ego development were significantly associated with all measures of social status. In further contrast, work complexity was significantly associated with both moral and ego development only for kibbutz workers, suggesting that they engage in jobs that are appropriate to their psychological development without creating social inequality. Implications for developmental theory and workplace research are considered.

Contemporary Psychology: A Journal of Reviews, 1997

New Ideas in Psychology, 1988

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 1986

In spite of a commitment to equality, the kibbutz is a male-dominated society with highly differe... more In spite of a commitment to equality, the kibbutz is a male-dominated society with highly differentiated sex roles. Has this gap between ideals and reality created sex role strain for kibbutz-born adolescents and adults? Previous kibbutz studies have suggested that sex role strain may be the most intense among adult kibbutz women. Based on Erik Erikson's developmental model, however, we hypothesized that adolescent females would experience significantly greater sex role strain than other kibbutz members, including adult women. Adolescent and adult males and females were tested using Loevinger's ego development test. The sex role items of the test were used to construct a new measure of sex role strain. The global index included the following submeasures: avoidance of sex role issues; expression of intellectual emotional, or behavioral sex role conflict; and evaluative attitudes toward male roles and female roles. Significant cohort or sex differences were found on the global index and on all submeasures of sex role strain. The findings indicate that sex role strain is greatest among adolescent females, followed by adolescent males. Adult kibbutz women, however, are significantly more likely to focus their dissatisfaction in the area o factual role behavior

Journal of Moral Education, 2001

There is a bit of Huckleberry Finn in all of us and, of course, Mark Twain’s Huck was a truly won... more There is a bit of Huckleberry Finn in all of us and, of course, Mark Twain’s Huck was a truly wonderful character. But when we look at Huck’s behaviour from the perspective of Widow Douglass, who took Huck for a son, we quickly realise that his inability to concentrate in the classroom, bouncing-off-walls restlessness and automatic opposition to adult authorities made Huck’s life dif cult at both home and school. Huck’s behaviour re ects hallmark features of attention-de cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. We all exhibit these traits to a greater or lesser degree but ADHD, when properly diagnosed, denotes cases in which these characteristics are so chronic, severe and pervasive that they become debilitating. Although Huck was a boy of his times, his “uncivilised” behaviour stood out even then. ADHD is diagnosed according to very speci c criteria outlined by the American Psychiatric Association (Barkley, 1998). Nevertheless, the perception remains among many that the disorder is overdiagnosed and, perhaps more troubling, that psychostimulant medications such as Ritalin are overprescribed, particularly in school-aged children, in an attempt to manage the problematic symptoms (Diller, 1998; Leo, 2000). The Ritalin debate, in particular, has become a moral debate. Do ADHD children have an attention de cit or a moral de cit? Is their biology or their environment to blame? Might a dysfunctional family or an overcrowded classroom be the more likely cause of their symptoms? Perhaps some parents are overly eager

Journal of Moral Education, 1997

... To the extent that some degree of interpersonal connection was to develop between the mentees... more ... To the extent that some degree of interpersonal connection was to develop between the mentees and ... it to real-life moral dilemmas Topic 7 The students will study the development of an ethic ... the control group, and Keljo&amp;amp;#x27;s data showed a small drop in the empathy scores among ...

Journal of Moral Education, 2003

and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study pu... more and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 1995

To explore the possible association of parental divorce and adolescent's moral development, ... more To explore the possible association of parental divorce and adolescent's moral development, 103 college students aged 17 to 22 were tested for stage of moral development and parental relations. Students' gender and prior closeness with parents were not significantly associated with variations in their current level of moral development. There was a signif~cant association between parental status of divorce and adolescents' stage of moral development. Subjects whose parents were divorced during their adolescent years exhibited a significantly higher level of moral development than those adolescents whose par- ents were not divorced. The fmdings support the understanding that increased perspective-taking, necessitated among children of divorce by witnessing differences in opinions between their parents, is at the root of moral judgment development.

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 1985

This article reports a longitudinal assessment of the effectiveness of an israeli kibbutz in faci... more This article reports a longitudinal assessment of the effectiveness of an israeli kibbutz in facilitating social-moral development among kibbutz-bonn and nonkibbutz-born youth. The sample included 92 Israeli adolescents divided primarily into three subgroups: (1.) kibbutz-bonn and kibbutz-educated youth; (2.) city-bonn and city-educated youth; and (3.) city-bonn, but kibbutz-educated youth. A pretest moral development interview was administered shortly after a cohort of Middle Eastern cityborn youth had arrived on the kibbutz to continue their education. This was followed by one or more posltests after the city-bonn youth had been integrated with their kibbutz-born peers for varying periods, from 2 to 9 years. The findings indicated that, although city-born youth entered the kibbutz at a significantly lower moral stage than their kibbutz-bonn peers, 2 to 5 years later there were no significant developmental differences between the two groups. Comparison city-born youth, not placed on a kibbutz or placed on another kibbutz where they were not integrated into the community, did not show the same gains in moral development. Implications of kibbutz education for improving schools in the U.S. are considered.

Journal of Adolescent Research, 1989

The developmental dynamics of achieving egoautonomy in adolescent girls have not been adequately ... more The developmental dynamics of achieving egoautonomy in adolescent girls have not been adequately explored. This is a report of a qualitative study that investigated the relationship between female adolescent ego development and parent behavior from the perspective of the adolescent girl's view of her parents. The thesis of the study was that in order to understand the process of ego development in the adolescent girl, it would be necessary to understand that her development is embedded within the context of a father-daughter-mother triangle. Twelve high school senior girls were randomly selected from a larger study and intensively interviewed as they were negotiating the transition from high school to college. Findings indicated that perceived parenting behaviors of their mothers andfathers and the girls' level of ego development were related lo each other and to variations in the effectiveness with which the adolescents negotiated the difficulties associated with the transition to college.

Developmental Psychology, 1985

The development of social-moral judgment among Israeli kibbutz adolescents was studied from the p... more The development of social-moral judgment among Israeli kibbutz adolescents was studied from the perspective of Kohlberg's theory of moral judgment development. The sample included 92 adolescents, 64 of whom were interviewed longitudinally over a two-to-nine year period. The study's purpose was to evaluate the validity of Kohlberg's model and measure in a cross-cultural context and to assess the cultural uniqueness of social-moral reasoning among kibbutzniks. The developmental findings strongly supported the validity of Kohlberg's structuraldevelopmental understanding of moral judgment. Stage change was found to be upward, gradual, and without significant regressions. Analyses also supported the internal consistency of the stages as operationally defined in the standardized scoring manual. There were no significant sex differences in moral development and fewer cultural differences than expected. Overall, the distribution of stage scores among the kibbutz subjects was unusually high when compared to the results of parallel studies in the United States and Turkey, the two previous longitudinal studies of moral judgment development that have used the standardized scoring system. The most important cultural variation involved the use of Stages 4/5 and 5. Whereas all of Kohlberg's stages were present among kibbutz members, not all elements of kibbutz postconventional reasoning were present in Kohlberg's model or scoring manual. In particular, the communal emphasis and collective moral principles of the kibbutz subjects were partially missed or misunderstood. This article presents the results of a longitudinal study of social-moral reasoning among Israeli adolescents. The research oh

Developmental Psychology, 1987

Of a sample of 343 married men, prospectively studied for four decades, 52 (15.2%) experienced in... more Of a sample of 343 married men, prospectively studied for four decades, 52 (15.2%) experienced infertility in their first marriage. Styles of coping with their difficulty in achieving parenthood were considered across three longitudinal phases: initial substitutes, subsequent parenting resolutions, and final marital outcomes. The ability of coping strategies used in earlier phases to predict adaptation during later phases of adjustment was considered, as was the relation between coping strategies and the subsequent achievement of generativity as defined by Erik Erikson. Results indicated that the men's parenting resolutions, marital outcomes, and midlife achievement of psychosocial generativity were predictable at statistically significant levels, on the basis of knowledge of their prior infertility coping strategies and parenting outcomes. The findings lend support to the Eriksonian idea that parenting during early adulthood is a crucial but not sufficient prior condition for the midlife achievement of psychosocial generativity.

Current Psychology, 1993

Debates over possible gender differences in moral development have not considered the maturationa... more Debates over possible gender differences in moral development have not considered the maturational issue that, during early adolescence, girls are generally about two years ahead of boys in cerebral cortical and social-cognitive functioning. To support Gilligan's thesis that Kohlberg's model is biased toward males, less mature boys would need only to score as well in level of moral development as more mature girls. In this study, which included 190 early adolescent boys and girls, the mean level of moral development among girls was significantly higher than among boys. Analyses indicated that this pattern was maintained even after taking into consideratmn parents' moral stage, social class, ethnicity, and other background differences. Findings are consistent with the thesis that there are no inherent sex differences in moral reasoning development. An important but controversial issue in social and personality development is the question of possible gender differences in moral development. The research thus far has not considered the unique contribution that studies of early adolescents can make to clarifying aspects of the debate. BACKGROUND AND THESIS Are there significant gender differences in moral reasoning development? This study explores this question among early adolescent girls and boys because this age-period provides a unique opportunity to address the ongoing controversy over gender differences in moral development. While we remain open to the possibility of significant gender differences in moral development, our thesis is that the presence or absence of gender differences in moral development cannot be assessed without taking into account the fact that gender and maturation are confounded. The Gilligan Critique. Gilligan (1982) was one of the first to suggest that Kohlberg's

Cross-Cultural Research, 1986

ABSTRACT Kohlberg and others have proposed that cognitive development is a necessary but not a su... more ABSTRACT Kohlberg and others have proposed that cognitive development is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for social-moral development and, in turn, that social-moral development is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for ego development. This study examined these propositions within the cross-cultural context of an Israeli kibbutz. Cognitive and moral development were assessed among adolescent and young adult kibbutzniks; ego and moral development were assessed among senior kibbutz founders. In brief, 93 percent of the subjects scored at the same level or at a higher level in cognitive development than they did in moral development, and 86 percent of the subjects scored at the same level or at a higher level in moral development than they did in ego development. The results are consistent with the hypothesis of a decalage relationship between cognitive, moral, and ego development.