PsycNET®

Prevention & Treatment. 2000 Dec Vol 3(1)

Posted 12/12/2000. This response to the commentaries of J. Barling (see record 2000-12764-002), G. S. Pettit (see record 2000-12764-004), and B. R. E. Wright (see record 2000-12764-003) clarifies the rationales for the choice and measurement of the main variables of the study by K. Kokko and L. Pulkkinen (see record 2000-12764-001), which is part of the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development. We highlight that (a) by measuring the duration of unemployment, a lack of capacity for reemployment has possibly been better tapped than it would have been by measuring the number of bouts of unemployment; (b) aggression is a marker of maladaptive development involving a pattern of problem behaviors that could also be studied in parallel to other markers; (c) prosocial behavior, which was found to be a protective factor against aggressive children's becoming long-term unemployed constitutes constructive conflict resolution and is one of the alternative strategies to aggression rather than the opposite end of an aggression dimension; (d) parenting style, which was also found to be a protective factor, was measured using dummy variables to indicate child-centered aspects of parenting without specifying characteristics of non-child-centered parenting; and (e) recollections of parenting were measured 9 years prior to unemployment, which makes for the unlikely conclusion that long-term unemployment affected recollections of parenting. In the prevention and treatment of the cycle of maladaptation, new ways of coping with conflict situations should be taught to the parents and children rather than the mere suppression of problem behaviors such as aggression. Prosocial skills and supportive parenting most likely pave the way for adaptation into school and peer groups, which as a result, helps to break the cycle of maladaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)

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