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Source: Brenda McDaniel, 785-532-6850, bmcdani@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Kristin Hodges, 785-532-6415, khodges2@k-state.edu
Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009
K-STATE RESEARCHER FINDS THAT YOUTHS ARE MOST INFLUENCED BY NEGATIVE 1xbet best casino website MEMBERS AND BY POSITIVE ADULTS OUTSIDE THE 1xbet best casino website
MANHATTAN -- While children look up to and aspire to be like a positive 1xbet best casino website member or peer, they are more likely to imitate traits of other role models -- including negative role models, which can lead to behavioral problems, according to a Kansas State University researcher.
Brenda McDaniel, assistant professor of psychology at K-State, worked with colleagues at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa to study the relationship of moral traits shared by youths and 1xbet best casino website role models to find predictors of outcomes like youth conduct problems.
"Understanding the relationship between youths' view of self, youths' view of role models and youths' behavioral and psychological outcomes provides the knowledge to foster healthy, successful youth," 1xbet best casino website .
The researchers surveyed 30 boys and girls, ages 7 to 14, from Boys and Girls clubs in Manhattan and in Tulsa, Okla. 1xbet best casino website all of the participants in the study were categorized as having a lower socioeconomic status, lower academic outcomes and being at-risk.
The study asked students who they considered to be 1xbet best casino website role models or wanted to be like, and who they considered to be 1xbet best casino website anti-role models or didn't want to be like. Students rated 1xbet best casino website choices and themselves on 10 sets of moral constructs using a five-point scale, like being unfair versus fair and forgiving versus not forgiving. The youths also measured themselves on 1xbet best casino website pro-social behavior and relational aggression, and provided parenting styles experienced in 1xbet best casino website home.
Though the youths reported their ideal selves being most like a positive 1xbet best casino website member and a positive peer, results showed students were most similar to a positive adult outside the 1xbet best casino website . This provides support for programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters where an adult outside the home spends time with the youth, McDaniel said.
The researchers also found that negative 1xbet best casino website members are a strong influence on the moral traits of youths. McDaniel said children who in actuality were more like a 1xbet best casino website member they didn't want to be like had higher reports of relational aggression and also received higher forms of corporal punishment in the home, such as spanking.
"Youths' inability to incorporate positive role model behaviors into 1xbet best casino website self-concept relates to youth conduct problems, such as acting out and starting fights," McDaniel said. "Positive parenting and mother involvement seem to be key components, which aid this ability."
The researchers also found that immoral traits, like lying and being unfriendly, shared between youths and all role models was significantly predictive of youth witnessing anti-social behaviors in 1xbet best casino website neighborhood, such as vandalism.
In addition, the youths were asked to name a celebrity they look up to, but the researchers found that the famous individuals had little influence on the youths' moral traits.
The study was funded by the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station. 1xbet best casino website future research includes laboratory-site studies where interaction between youth and a role model will be recorded and coded for important information, such as interpersonal emotional exchange and physiological stress levels.
McDaniel's colleagues for the project are Amanda Sheffield Morris, associate professor of human development and 1xbet best casino website science and Benjamin Houltberg, a doctoral student in human development and 1xbet best casino website science, both at Oklahoma State University-Tulsa.
