The Role of Parental and Child Motivation in the Intergenerational Transmission of Values in East Germany and Shanghai/China

Intergenerational intrafamilial transmission is a process by which acquired information passes from parent to offspring. This investigation examined mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of individualistic and collec \- tivistic values in two societies: East Germany and the Shanghai region in China. To clarify the impact of transmission from mother and father to child, the study analyzed the filter model suggested by Schönpflug, which is based on parental and child’s value orientation, each family member’s motivation in the transmission process and the value climate of the social context. Two matched samples consisting of 216 complete families with one adolescent child in each family participated in both regions. The two-dimensional struc \- ture of ten values indicating individualism and collectivism of the Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ) developed by Schwartz, Lehman, and Roccas dif \- fered somewhat in both regions for adolescents and their fathers, but not for mothers. The level of individualism was higher than collectivism in East Germany, and higher than in the region of Shanghai/China. The level of collectivism was higher than individualism in the Chinese region and than in East Germany. In this mid-European region, only mothers transmitted exclusively individualistic value orientation. In Chinese families, the father was a more influential transmitter of individualistic and collectivistic orientation, and mothers were not influential. Parental motivation to transmit individualism was a significant mediating variable in both samples; parental motivation to transmit collectivism mediated only between Chinese fathers' and their children’s collectivism

Can a connectionist model explain the processing of regularly and irregularly inflected words in German as L1 and L2?

The connectionist model is a prevailing model of the structure and functioning of the cognitive system of the processing of morphology. According to this model, the morphology of regularly and irregularly inflected words (e.g., verb participles and noun plurals) is processed in the same cognitive network. A validation of the connectionist model of the processing of morphology in German as L2 has yet to be achieved. To investigate L2-specific aspects, we compared a group of L1 speakers of German with speakers of German as L2. L2 and L1 speakers of German were assigned to their respective group by their reaction times in picture naming prior to the central task. The reaction times in the lexical decision task of verb participles and noun plurals were largely consistent with the assumption of the connectionist model. Interestingly, speakers of German as L2 showed a specific advantage for irregular compared with regular verb participles

Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Coping

Ethnic identity is understood as a dynamic state, that is determined by three components: (1) by the degree of inclusion in the group of one\u27s cultural origin; (2) the tendency to assimilate to the ethnic group of origin; and (3) the complementary tendency to differentiate from one\u27s own ethnic group. In the same degree as the inclusion intensifies, the tendency to assimilate decreases and the tendency to differentiate increases and vice versa. A state of balance of the two complementary tendencies to assimilate and to differentiate is assumed to exist at an intermediate degree of inclusion (Brewer, 1992). The model predicts that the intermediate balanced state of identity is associated with greater personal resources of those who are in this balanced state of ethnic identity. This ethnic identity model was elaborated by exploring the relationship of adaptive personal resources such as coping styles, self-esteem, developmental state, and the dispositional personal resource of sociability to ethnic identity states of Turkish migrant adolescents living in Germany. The model tended to be supported by these predictors when antecedent measures were included. When the predictors were measured concurrently, the low ethnic identity level revealed the highest level of resources and the high ethnic identity state the lowest

Educational climate and school biography

Die vorliegende Untersuchung versuchte der Frage nachzugehen, welche familialen Faktoren die Schulbiographie jugendlicher türkischer Migranten der zweiten Generation bestimmen. Insbesondere interessierten die Faktoren des familialen Umfeldes, die die Zugehörigkeit zu den drei Schultypen Hauptschule, Gesamt- bzw. Mittelschule und Gymnasium vorhersagen können. Befragt wurden 200 türkische Mädchen im Alter zwischen 13 und 16 Jahren, je 100 im großstädtischen Berlin und 100 in der mehr kleinstädtischen Umgebung Weingartens. Weiterhin wurde eine Gruppe von 104 türkischen Jungen in Berlin in die Untersuchung einbezogen. Die Untersuchung wurde mittels Fragebogen in der Schulumgebung durchgeführt. Für die untersuchten Jugendlichen erwiesen sich folgende Variablen als positive Prädiktoren für Schulzugehörigkeit: Angepasstheit (Bravheit), wahrgenommene religiöse Forderungen des gleichgeschlechtlichen Elternteils, einfühlsame Erziehung, traditionelles Rollenverständnis und eigene Bildungsaspirationen. Weiterhin sagen die biographischen, insbesondere schulbiographischen Angaben wie Jahre in der Türkei verbracht, Länge des Schulbesuches in der Türkei, das Schulniveau des Jugendlichen im Gastland voraus: Je mehr Jahre in der Türkei verbracht und dort zur Schule gegangen umso höher ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit des Hauptschulbesuches im Gastland. Für Jungen und Mädchen ergaben sich unterschiedliche Gewichtungen der Prädiktoren. (DIPF/Orig.)The article investigates the question which family factors determine the school biography of juvenile Turkish migrants of the second generation. The factors of the family background which predict allocation in the school tracks available are ofspecial interest. (DIPF/Orig.