ISSN : 1229-0718
The purpose of this study is to investigate how sibling relationships mediate the effects of marital conflicts on adolescents’ behavioral problems. The sample comprised 355 high school students from the metropolitan area. The measurement tools used were the marital conflict scale, the sibling relationship scale, and the adolescent maladjustment behavior scale. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 18.0. Findings revealed that marital conflicts negatively affected both externalization and internalization problems in adolescents. Specifically, marital conflict had both direct and indirect negative effects on the internalization problems of adolescents. Second, the quality of the sibling relationship mediated the effect of marital conflict on adolescents’ adjustment problems. In other words, marital conflict led to lower warmth and greater conflict among siblings, which in turn led to greater internalization problems. Third, marital conflict has a direct and indirect negative effect on externalization problems and this relationship was mediated by conflict among siblings, but not by the warmth among them. In conclusion, it was confirmed that marital conflict has a strong negative effect on adolescents’ behavioral problems and sibling relationships. This study is meaningful because it considered the effects of the marital conflict on not only the quality of sibling relationships but also on adolescents’ behavioral problems. In addition, it is significant in that it revealed the mediating effect of sibling relationships in the negative effects of marital relationships on adolescents’ behavioral problems.
A total of 253 females in their emerging adulthood participated in a study investigating the direct and indirect effects of parental attachment on depression (through self-esteem and/or loneliness). The results were as follows. First, parental attachment did not have a direct effect on depression. Second, parental attachment had an indirect effect on depression through self-esteem. Females with higher levels of parental attachment reported higher levels of self-esteem, and those with higher levels of self-esteem experienced lower levels of depression. Third, attachment to fathers had an indirect effect on depression through loneliness. Females who were securely attached to fathers displayed lower levels of loneliness, and those who reported lower levels of loneliness reported lower levels of depression. However, attachment to mothers did not have an indirect effect on depression through loneliness. Finally, parental attachment had an indirect effect on females’ depression through self-esteem and loneliness. Discussion highlights the importance of paternal attachment and self-esteem in diminishing depression among females in their emerging adulthood.
The present study investigated children’s ability to employ probabilistic thinking in a task involving sequential events. In the sequential probability task (SPT), two boxes were presented in each trial and participants had to choose the one that had a higher probability of getting a reward. SPT designed three stages with different probabilities, and each stage comprised 15 trials. Our results indicate that even preschool children could employ probabilistic thinking based on their experiences in sequential events. Interestingly, participants as young as 3years old children tended to select more frequently the box with a higher probability of get rewards across the trials of the sequential probability task.