Scholarship in Developmental Research and Social Systems       

Melanie Zimmer-Gembeck Ph.D.       

Student Work in Progress

Ph.D. Candidature (Primary Supervisor)

Ducat, Wendy

Partner and Self Qualities in Romantic Relationships of Emerging Adulthood: A Self Determination Approach to Individual Well-Being.

Extensive research has shown that having a romantic relationship that is satisfying, intimate, close and high in companionship is associated with psychological well-being. However, there are many potential reasons why relationships promote well-being. The focus of the research proposed here is on fulfillment of psychological needs as one mechanism that can account for why good relationships and psychological well-being are positively linked. In Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Deci & Ryan (2000) have described how well-being is an outcome of fulfillment of psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, and how the social context (i.e. partner qualities) and individual differences (i.e. self qualities) facilitate or thwart psychological need fulfillment. This theory is the foundation for the proposed thesis. Need fulfillment, in terms of self-perceptions of autonomy, competence and relatedness in social interactions, has been found to be consistently associated with well-being at both trait and state levels and previous studies have shown similar associations in the intimate relationship context. No previous research has investigated an integrated model of partner and self qualities in the romantic relationship, need fulfillment and well-being. The purpose of the planned studies is to investigate associations between romantic relationship factors, psychological need fulfillment and well-being in emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood (17 to 30 years) is a time of life marked by rapid development of both relational self perceptions and romantic relationships. It is hypothesised that psychological need fulfillment will mediate the associations between factors associated with romantic relationships and well-being and that there will be main and moderating effects of age on these associations. Sex differences also will be investigated. Specifically, three studies are proposed in order to: 1) develop and test a new measure of romantic partner qualities (Partner Behaviours as Social Context; PBSC) and pilot all measures; 2) refine the new measure of PBSC and test for convergent and discriminant validity; and 3) test a mediation model of associations between partner qualities behaviours and aspects of the relational self (voice, attachment and self differentiation), psychological need fulfillment and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in a large sample of couples (17 to 30 years of age) who are in a steady romantic relationship.

Gallaty, Karen

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Impact of Romantic Relationships on Development and Well-Being

The purpose of the proposed studies is to investigate how romantic relationships impact on development and well being during adolescence. Specifically, a 6-month longitudinal study will examine how different romantic experiences impact on adolescents' happiness, life satisfaction, interpersonal competence, self esteem, and depression over time. In addition, a number of individual differences will be investigated such as romantic attachment style and significant support from others to examine if these moderate the relationship between romantic experience and development and well being. Approximately 600 students from grades 10 through 12 will be invited to participate from two local high schools. In addition, 80 first year university students will be recruited. In Study 1, students will be asked to complete questionnaires that assess both positive and negative romantic experiences, developments outcomes such as competence, self esteem and depression, as well as measures of attachment style and support from significant others. From this sample, 40 high-school students not in romantic relationships and 40 students in romantic relationships will be recruited to participate in a 7-day diary study that will assess daily hassles, mood, and self esteem. The main analyses for Study 1 will involve a series of hierarchical multiple regressions to test for moderated effects, both concurrently and longitudinally, between romantic experiences and socio-emotional functioning. The main analyses for Study 2 will be hierarchical linear modeling with a growth modeling approach. It is expected that the proposed studies will provide important information about what aspects of romantic experience impact positively on adolescent development and well-being and what aspects impact negatively on development and well-being. Further, important process information will be gathered and it will be determined if several measurements in time are better able to predict socio-emotional outcomes over time than a single measurement in time.

McGregor, Leanne

Families, Schools and Children's Patterns of Thinking about Their Relationships: The Effects of Parental Divorce, the Parent-Child Relationship, and Inter-Parental Conflict on Children’s Relationship Expectations

Based on recent estimates within Australia, approximately 32% of marriages end in divorce, 50.1% of which contained children (ABS, 2006). For children, this experience can be a significant stressor, but the level of stress can partly or fully depend on inter-parental conflict, parent-child relationships and other features of the experience. Early investigations of the effects of divorce on children were focused on comparing children from intact families with children from divorced families on various outcome variables, such as academic achievement, conduct, psychological adjustment, self-concept, and social adjustment (Amato & Keith, 1991, Amato, 2000). This was usually accomplished without consideration of other aspects of the family system (i.e., family processes). More recently, researchers have investigated family processes and family structure as correlates of children’s adjustment. In multiple theories (i.e., attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980), motivational theories that describe people’s need to belong (Baumeister, 1995), the need to relate to others (Skinner & Wellborn, 1994) and the fear of abandonment (Wolchik et al., 2002), family problems and divorce have been proposed as correlates of children’s ways of thinking about their current and future relationships. In the current proposed program of research, family processes and structure are expected to be correlates of children’s relationship expectations. Prior to testing these hypotheses, however, a review of available questionnaires for children revealed that measurement development was needed before testing these hypotheses. Hence, in Study 1, a new scale will be developed to measure children’s relationship expectations. Based loosely on the optimism/pessimism literature within personality theory (Scheier & Carver, 1985) and the literature on relationship cognitions (e.g., rejection and interpersonal sensitivity, and working models of self and others in relationships, Boyce & Parker, 1989; Downey & Feldman, 1996; Mehrabian, 1976), this measure will be designed to assess optimistic and pessimistic expectations of relationships. Following development, it will be used to test how the relationship expectations of children from divorce differ from other children. In addition, it is expected that children’s relationship expectations will be better accounted for by family processes, particularly the parent-child relationship and inter-parental conflict, than family structure. These research aims will be addressed by three studies. Study 1 will include 200 children aged 9 to 12 from three schools, consist of two phases, and focus on measurement development. The new measure will be validated in Study 2 using the nomological network for relationship expectations and a new sample of 9- to 12-year-old children in two schools (N = 150). In Study 3, children age 9 to 12 (N = 400) in six schools will complete questionnaires in their classrooms to test how relationship expectations differ between children from intact and divorced families, and determine whether group differences can be explained by inter-parental conflict and dimensions of parent-child relationships.

Mitchell, Brooke

Emotion Regulation and Physiology

Warner, Judith

The effects of prenatal maternal stress and mother-infant attachment on the physiological stress responses of infants.

There is accumulating evidence from primate and human studies that infant cortisol reactivity in the first year of life is an outcome of foetal glucocorticoid exposure and mothers’ experiences of stressful events, coping and mental health during, or shortly after, pregnancy. Researchers have hypothesised that insults suffered by the foetus during critical developmental periods cause responsive changes across structural, hormonal and metabolic systems, an occurrence known as foetal programming. Throughout the gestational period foetal cortisol levels are largely contingent on maternal cortisol which has the ability to influence the developing foetus prior to development of the infant Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenocortical (HPA) axis. Infant cortisol is an important outcome as atypical basal levels of cortisol have been linked to poor child mental health outcomes. However, it has been suggested that under conditions of optimal care (e.g., warm, sensitive care giving), a human infant’s stress system enters a period of hypo-responsivity by the end of the first year that may protect the developing brain. This likely indicates that the caregiver-infant relationship plays an important role in moderating the effects of prenatal maternal stress. The primary aims of the proposed longitudinal study are to investigate the links between prenatal maternal stress, prenatal maternal cortisol levels, parenting style shortly after birth, infant cortisol reactivity and regulation during the first year of life, and caregiver-infant attachment at 12 months of age. Maternal coping efficacy, mental health and infant temperament also will be considered. Participants will be 100 primiparous pregnant women. Data will be collected six times beginning in the first trimester of pregnancy and ending with assessments of attachment when infants are 12 months of age.

Ph.D. Candidature (Secondary Supervisor)

Bell, Clare

Boyce, Jillian

Hanish, Michelle

Stoertebecker, Rhonda

Tesse, Robert

Wright, Michalle

Negative Mood in Adolescence: Testing the Competence-Contengency-Control Model and Changes from a School-Based Intervention

Although there have been many theories to describe adolescent depression, most are based on downward extensions of adult based theories such as Beck's (1976) cognitive triad model and Seligman's (1975) learned helplessness theory. Additionally, many of the current theories overlap in the constructs they focus on. Dumas and Nilsen (2003) suggest that a comprehensive theory that incorporates the important elements of the leading theories on depression was needed. The competence-contingency-control (CCC) model (Weisz & Stipek 1982) shows promise as a comprehensive yet succinct cognitive theory that explains a moderate amount of variance in adolescent depression. The CCC Model proposes that perceived control is directly related to depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Additionally, it proposes that perceived control mediates the relationship between perceived competence and depressive symptoms and perceived contingency and depressive symptoms. Negative life events and coping are also thought to contribute significantly to adolescent depressive symptoms. The current study will examine the CCC Model in a sample of Grade 9 students from southeast Queensland. The CCC Model will be utilized to better understand the stress-coping-adjustment relationship. The CCC Model will also be tested longitudinally utilizing a mechanisms of change methodology following a school-based intervention designed to increase children's perception of control and improve coping skills. This will allow the researchers to rest whether changes in the constructs of the CCC Model will result in changes in depressive symptoms over time. The data will primarily be analysed using structural equation modeling and ANOVA or MANOVA

Masters Candidature

Locke, Elizabeth

Executive Functioning, Temperament and Parental Coping Behaviors as Correlates of Early Adolescents’ Coping and Regulatory Outcomes

Previous affect-cognition research recognises that anxiety and emotional stress can negatively impact on cognitive performance (e.g., Bacon, 1974; Fuerst, Fisk, & Rouke, 1990; Mandler, 1984). Many instances of emotional distress are in response to stressful life events. Coping behaviours are the behavioural and emotional regulatory responses used to decrease or alter stressful experiences and associated emotions. Integrative models have been proposed to explain the various ways that emotions can have an ongoing impact on cognitive functioning (e.g., Margalit, 2000). Emotion regulation studies have further expanded on our understanding of developmental considerations with children’s ‘emotionality’ and the role emotions play in other psychological processes such as problem solving and attention focus (e.g., Cole, Martin, & Dennis, 2004). These approaches generally emphasis the interaction between cognitive functioning and emotional state. Studies have also focused on the association of relatively stable characteristics, such as temperament, with coping and regulation behaviours (e.g., Lengua & Long, 2002). However, to date there has been little empirical research on the extent to which individual differences in higher order cognitive functioning may impact on the range of coping strategies available to children when they need to respond to stressful events. This study will investigate whether the types of coping strategies available to children responding to stress and adversity are associated with their executive level functioning. In addition, this investigation will include the examination of (1) the combined association of temperament and executive level functioning with coping behaviours, and (2) whether parents’ coping styles accounts for variance in children’s coping over and above higher level cognitive processing and children’s temperament. In the proposed study, the executive functioning of a convenience sample of 70 students (Year 7) will be assessed through a combination of both non-verbal and verbal fluency tasks. It is predicted that those children with relatively poorer executive functioning will have a reduced range of strategies to effectively cope with stressful events, whilst those children who performed better on the cognitive tasks are likely to be less limited in the types of coping used. It is also expected that children’s executive functioning will be positive correlated with active coping and children’s temperament and parental coping behaviours will also predict certain coping patterns. Planned analyses include correlations and regressions.