Environmental Psychology Article Analysis

PSY/460
March 26, 2012

Environmental Psychology Article Analysis Catastrophic events are incidents that have a sudden and powerful impact that elicit a reaction from people universally (Arkkelin & Veitch, 1995). These kinds of incidents can include nuclear disasters, natural disasters, or terrorist attacks like the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001 (9/11). The examinations of the psychological phenomena that occur from these events are crucial for the understanding of how people experience, respond, and perceive global threats (Hipp et al, 2009). Specifically, the attacks on 9/11 were actions of terrorist and exposed the weaknesses of the nation, and specifically Washington DC. The article that will be scrutinized by Bornstein & Hendricks (2007) attempts to analyze the stress responses of adolescents in the Washington D.C. area within an ecological structure including, adolescent perception, maternal personal characteristics, and adolescent personal characteristics.
The Theoretical Basis of the Article Bornstein & Hendricks (2007) use, “…a developmental, multivariate approach that allows for the evaluation of interrelations among variables as well as the unique contributions of each…” (p. 72). The extent of this study is distinctive because few studies have investigated the effects of disasters and war on adolescents from an ecological viewpoint. The article reflects upon the adolescent perception, personal characteristics of the adolescent and maternal personal characteristics of the adolescent’s parent or guardian. This last reflection is necessary because a parent’s behavior often takes a backseat to the viewpoint that an adolescent has of these particular behaviors (Bornstein & Hendricks, 2007).Studies have shown that the stress response reactions and communication styles of parents have a considerable influence on how the adolescent will react. Other factors, such as family dynamics, and tone of relationship between adolescents and parents impacts the way the adolescent adjusts and copes with stress. Regarding personal characteristics of adolescents, the points of concern are the degree of internalization, coping style, and temperament. The ultimate goal of this study is to omit the distal contextual elements while focusing on the proximal elements that have a bigger influence on adolescent stress responses. This is accomplished through the implementation of several variables used, which attempts to investigate the interrelatedness of the variables individually while also taking into account their impact individually.
Sample and Method The simplification of the sample implemented by Bornstein & Hendricks (2007) is low because the people in the group participating in the study are educationally narrowed, mono-racial, and geographically restricted. The subjects of this study were of European American descent, from Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and 81.5% were college graduates. Ninety seven fathers participated with an average parental age of 44.93 (SD=4.68), mothers, and an average adolescent age of 13.86 (SD=.26), forty three female children and 54 male. It is imperative to remember the limited function of the conclusions of this study to Caucasian, adolescents, and families in the Washington DC area. Bornstein & Hendricks (2007) implemented Impact of Events Scale—Revised (IES-R) to calculate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the adolescents. To determine maternal personal characteristics the study used the Jackson Personality Inventory—Revised (JPI-R), which was also used to discover results on the Big Five trait clusters—with a particular focus in neuroticism. Adolescent view points of his or her parents behavior was recognized through the Conflict Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), and adolescent personal characteristics were enumerated using the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire—Revised (EATQ-R). Moreover, the Coping Scales for Children and Youth (CSCY) and the Youth Self Report (YSR) were used to elucidate self-perception and self-assessment of the adolescents. Last, the Social Desirability Scale (SDS) and the number of days that the tests were administered after 9/11 were used to mediate the results of the aforementioned tests to minimize probable covariates.
Results and Discussion The findings suggest that high levels of maternal neuroticism, tendencies toward maternal psychological controlling, and a negligent maternal disciplinary approach were highly linked to the diagnosis of PTSD in the adolescents. If the adolescent viewed the neurotic characteristics, and negligent disciplinary style of the maternal parent regardless of the realities the association still remained. The results of the tests showed that individual characteristics in adolescents have no influence on the development of PTSD when both adolescent view points and maternal characteristics were added to the equation. The conclusion that Bornstein & Hendricks (2007) came to, based on existing research, is that parents who are psychologically controlling in parenting styles and that have negligent disciplinary styles hinder the independence and development of adolescents, thereby impeding the adolescent’s ability to cope in high stress situations like 9/11.
Conclusion
The strength of this study is uncertain because the tests were self-answer, biased measures that have limited external value. However, it is imperative to remember that the singular experience of the adolescent viewpoint on maternal characteristics, which can only be resolved using biased means, was a focus of this study. The conclusion is that parental behavior and style have a significant influence on adolescent viewpoints and coping capacity to life-changing events, like the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The purpose of these results to the study of environmental psychology lies in the comprehension that modeling and upbringing play a major role in adolescent viewpoint of environmental events.

References Arkkelin, D., Veitch, R. (1995). Environmental psychology: An international perspective, 1e.New York, NY: Prentice Hall, Inc. Bornstein, M.C., Hendricks, C. (2007). Ecological analysis of early adolescents’ stress responses to 9/11 in the Washington, DC, area. Applied Developmental Science, 11(2), 71-88. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from Education Research Complete database. Hipp, J.A., Misra, S., Runnerstrom, M.G., Stokols, D. (2009). Psychology in an age of ecological crisis. American Psychologist, 64(3), 181-193. Retrieved June 10, 2010, from Academic Search Complete database.
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