Ego Integrity in the Lives of Older Women: A Follow-Up of Mothers From the Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1951) Patterns of Child Rearing Study

Ego integrity, Erik Erikson's (E. H. Erikson, 1963) concept of psychological maturity in later life and the pinnacle of 8 stages, has been one of the least studied of all his stage constructs. This paper explores the meaning of ego integrity (as assessed by C. D. Ryff & S. G. Heincke, 1983) in the lives of a sample of older women, by examining the predictors and concomitants of ego integrity (EI), using data from interviews conducted with the same women in 1951 and 1996 and a questionnaire administered in 1996. A 3-step regression model revealed that “identity” assessed in 1951 predicted generativity in 1996; the level of educational attainment and marital status were also significant predictors. In step 2, generativity alone predicted ego integrity, which in turn predicted depression. Ego integrity was associated with higher marital satisfaction in the mothers' lives, both in the past and in the present; it was implicated in better relationships with their adult children, in the mothers' willingness to both give and receive help, and in several dimensions of psychological well-being.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44633/1/10804_2005_Article_7084.pd

Results of the Active by Choice Today (ACT) Randomized Trial for Increasing Physical Activity in Low-Income and Minority Adolescents

Objective - This study reports the results of the Active by Choice Today (ACT) trial for increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in low-income and minority adolescents. Design - The ACT program was a randomized controlled school-based trial testing the efficacy of a motivational plus behavioral skills intervention on increasing MVPA in underserved adolescents. Twenty-four middle schools were matched on school size, percentage minorities, percentage free or reduced lunch, and urban or rural setting before randomization. A total of 1,563 6th grade students (mean age, 11.3 years, 73% African American, 71% free or reduced lunch, 55% female) participated in either a 17-week (over one academic year) intervention or comparison after-school program. Main Outcome Measure - The primary outcome measure was MVPA based on 7-day accelerometry estimates at 2-weeks postintervention and an intermediate outcome was MVPA at midintervention. Results - At midintervention students in the intervention condition engaged in 4.87 greater minutes of MVPA per day (95% CI: 1.18 to 8.57) than control students. Students in intervention schools engaged in 9.11 min (95% CI: 5.73 to 12.48) more of MVPA per day than those in control schools during the program time periods; indicating a 27 min per week increase in MVPA. No significant effect of the ACT intervention was found outside of school times or for MVPA at 2-weeks postintervention. Conclusions - Motivational and behavioral skills programs are effective at increasing MVPA in low-income and minority adolescents during program hours, but further research is needed to address home barriers to youth MVPA

The dynamic relation between out -of -school activities and adolescent development.

In keeping with organismic principles and systems theory, this dissertation approaches the issue of youth activity participation from a developmental holistic interactionistic perspective that presupposes that individual lives are supported by a network of influences. By using a carefully balanced set of pattern- and variable-centered approaches to identify activity patterns that included a wide range of structured and unstructured extracurricular activities, we captured a more complete picture of adolescents' behavioral choices and time use across the middle- and late adolescent years, examined the factors that influence these time use behaviors, and their relation to developmental outcomes. The first study (Chapter II) showed that youth engage in complex patterns of multiple activities within and across time, and, at the population-level, there are common patterns in which adolescents organize their time. Furthermore, we found longitudinal structural stability for the majority of activity patterns observed. However, there were also shifts in what defined existing patterns, and the emergence of new patterns at each grade level. In Study 2, we examined individuals' continuous participation in particular out-of-school activity patterns over the middle-to-late adolescent years and its relation to multiple indicators of positive development, demonstrating that continuous participation in different combinations of organized and unorganized activities lead to both different short- and long-term developmental outcomes. Finally, in Study 3 we examined what gets youth involved in the out-of-school activity patterns that are related to positive development. Using a mixture of pattern-centered and variable-centered analyses we considered how activity choices involve reciprocal processes between the contextual constraints and opportunities for participation within the family, the school and the neighborhood, and adolescents' own motivations. By using a unique balance of pattern- and variable-centered methods to examine both, the environmental and person-related factors that influence youth's engagement in positive activities during adolescence, and the relation of activity pattern pathways on development, this dissertation serves as an important step towards gaining a deeper understanding the dynamic and complex relations of adolescents' activity participation and their positive development.Ph.D.Behavioral psychologyDevelopmental psychologyPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/126341/2/3238130.pd