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Biomedical subjects

J F Saucier

Publications and source records attributed to J F Saucier.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

[Mother-infant interaction and the origin of self awareness in the nursing infant].

The mother is the principal care-giving partner of the infant and an important source for the development of self-awareness and self-esteem. The importance of the early relational experiences of the nursing infant with its mother has been widely emphasized by the psychoanalytical approach. Through this special interaction with the parent, the infant gradually internalized images leading to the individuated self and to self-love. The purpose of this paper is to present succinctly some of the broad theoretical positions regarding the forming of the self in the nursing infant, first within the "classical" psychoanalytical current, then under the impact of more recent research in experimental psychology which have given rise to new syntheses. Empirically, the capacity for self-recognition may be observed during early childhood by means of a child's reactions in front of the mirror; therefore, the work dealing with this phenomenon will be discussed briefly.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1991

[Preliminary study of early sexual abuse].

The long term effects of sexual abuse are often measured by measuring behaviours such as social adjustment, job stability and marriage. This study was conducted to add to these internal measures. Using a semi-prospective instrument adapted from G. Kelly's repertory grid, the adolescents' perceptions of themselves and significant others are measured. Three hundred and twelve female adolescents between the ages of 13 and 19 (average age = 16) participated in the study; 79 presented with non sexual behaviour disorders (delinquency, stealing, etc.), 56 presented with serious sexual behaviour disorders (prostitution, persistent sexual promiscuity) and 177 presented with no problems requiring psychosocial intervention. Various analyses (descriptive, multiple variance, regression analysis) showed that sexual abuse significantly affects many of the adolescents' perceptions. Sexually abused adolescents perceived their two real parents as less competent and their ideal mother and father as less protective than adolescents who had not been abused. In contrast, their perception of self and the ideal self was not affected by the sexual abuse, a finding which will spark discussion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Adolescents' perception of self and of immediate environment by parental marital status: a controlled study.

Most studies on children of "broken families" are based on small and unrepresentative samples, are limited to children of divorce and do not control for basic demographic variables. In order to do a survey with fewer methodological deficiencies, we managed to obtain a completely representative sample of a Francophone urban population attending High School I, II and III, with the reasonable sample size of 1519 subjects and including 72 subjects from widowed families in addition to 174 children of divorce; furthermore, we were able to control for the following eight demographic variables: father's and mother's occupation, mother's work, respondent's, father's and mother's age, family size, and respondent's rank of birth. When comparing children from legally intact, widowed, and divorced families, on a wide range of psychosocial variables, we found that on the average, divorce is associated with the greatest disadvantage in children, followed by widowhood; children belonging to intact families show the least disadvantage. Besides, when comparing girls and boys, we did not find striking differences between them in divorced families, but, on the other hand, we found striking differences in widowed families, boys being at much more disadvantage than girls. It is concluded that on the average a family breakup should be considered as a serious risk factor for teenagers and that clinicians would be well advised to monitor the situation carefully when aware of an impending family breakup.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Parental marital status and adolescents' health-risk behavior.

This article reports the results of a questionnaire survey of a representative random sample of all the in-school Francophone adolescents of Montreal. The sample size was 4,539 and included adolescents from legally intact homes, separated/divorced homes, and homes in which a parent was decreased. Health-risk behavioral indicators were smoking (how many cigarettes a day), fastening of car seat belts, and intemperate drinking. Adolescents who lived in intact families engaged less in health-risk behavior than the other adolescents, especially those from separated/divorced families. The results for adolescents from widowed families were mixed. Several mutually complementary explanations are presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceived vulnerability in children and adolescents.

Some lines of development of research on children's perceptions of vulnerability to a variety of health problems are discussed, with special reference to cross-sectional data from samples of American and French-speaking Canadian youngsters, and longitudinal data from two American samples. Perceived vulnerability demonstrated some developmental changes but these were not consistent or appreciable. The measurement of perceived vulnerability has been expanded to include serious health problems during adult years. Females showed consistently higher levels than males. Perceived vulnerability was negatively related to a variety of preventive health behaviors and to self-concept, and positively related to anxiety. The data suggest that perceived vulnerability has systemic qualities as well as important affective properties, and that these must be considered by health educators and other health professionals to assure greater effectiveness for their programs and interventions.

Adolescent↗