Impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of values in Spain

The relationship of parenting styles with adolescents' outcomes was analyzed within a sample of Spanish adolescents. A sample of 1456 teenagers from 13 to 16 years of age, of whom 54.3% were females, reported on their parents' child-rearing practices. The teenagers' parents were classified into one of four groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful). The adolescents were then contrasted on two different outcomes: (1) priority given to Schwartz's self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence) and conservation (security, conformity, and tradition) values and (2) level of self-esteem (appraised in five domains: academic, social, emotional, family and physical). The results show that Spanish adolescents from indulgent households have the same or better outcomes than adolescents from authoritative homes. Parenting is related with two self-esteem dimensions--academic and family--and with all the self-transcendence and conservation values. Adolescents of indulgent parents show highest scores in self-esteem whereas adolescents from authoritarian parents obtain the worst results. In contrast, there were no differences between the priority given by adolescents of authoritative and indulgent parents to any of the self-transcendence and conservation values, whereas adolescents of authoritarian and neglectful parents, in general, assign the lowest priority to all of these values.     

Role of the Disease in the Psychological Impact of Pre-Symptomatic Testing for SCA2 and FAP ATTRV30M: Experience with the Disease, Kinship and Gender of the Transmitting Parent

To identify possible factors affecting the psychological impact of pre-symptomatic testing for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) and familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP ATTRV30M), we studied (1) the effect of previous experience with the disease in the family, (2) kinship with the closest affected relative and (3) gender of affected parent, when adapting to test results; as well as (4) differences in the course of psychological wellbeing in 63 subjects ( 28 at-risk for FAP ATTRV30M, and 35 at risk for SCA2), who pursued predictive testing for these diseases, in Cuba and in Portugal. Our research shows that individuals with little or no experience with the disease in their family exhibited more anxiety; at-risk subjects for SCA2 or FAP ATTRV30M who had a first degree relative with the disease showed lower levels of anxiety and depression during pre-symptomatic testing. Also those with an affected mother had lower levels of depression, either immediately, or one year after receipt of test results. Adaptation to pre-symptomatic testing results differed for subjects at-risk for the two different conditions. Unlike the FAP ATTRV30M families, carriers for SCA2 reported pathological levels of depression immediately after-testing (3 weeks), although those levels had returned to normal levels at 6 months. Subjects at-risk for FAP ATTRV30M tended to have less anxiety than those tested for SCA2, at the one-year follow-up. Overall, depression levels improved over time, while anxiety remained more constant. A longer awareness of the disease in the family, closer kinship, and a transmitting mother all lessened the impact of pre-symptomatic testing, as expressed by the post-test levels of anxiety and depression.     

Early morphological processing is morphosemantic and not simply morpho-orthographic: A violation of form-then-meaning accounts of word recognition

Many studies have suggested that a word’s orthographic form must be processed before its meaning becomes available. Some interpret the (null) finding of equal facilitation after semantically transparent and opaque morphologically related primes in early stages of morphological processing as consistent with this view. Recent literature suggests that morphological facilitation tends to be greater after transparent than after opaque primes, however. To determine whether the degree of semantic transparency influences parsing into a stem and a suffix (morphological decomposition) in the forward masked priming variant of the lexical decision paradigm, we compared patterns of facilitation between semantically transparent (e.g., coolant—cool) and opaque (e.g., rampant—ramp) prime—target pairs. Form properties of the stem (frequency, neighborhood size, and prime—target letter overlap), as well as related—unrelated and transparent—opaque affixes, were matched. Morphological facilitation was significantly greater for semantically transparent pairs than for opaque pairs. Ratings of prime—target relatedness predicted the magnitude of facilitation. The results limit the scope of form-then-meaning models of word recognition and demonstrate that semantic similarity can influence even early stages of morphological processing. The research reported here was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Development Grant HD-01994 to Haskins Laboratories.     

Behavioral changes over several successful agonistic encounters between male mice: Effects of type of “standard opponent”

This study assessed whether two types of non-aggressive “standard opponents” (“intact” and “anosmic” group-housed males) produced similar behavioral changes in isolated OF1 male mice given several experiences of victory. Experimental groups confronted either intact or anosmic opponents every two days until they had completed four encounters. The behavioral changes were recorded using a detailed ethologically inspired analysis. These changes were clearly different depending on the opponent type. When intact opponents were used, experimental subjects increased the time spent in digging, non-social exploration, explore from a distance, and attack over encounters, but showed decreased time spent in threat and a decreased latency to the first attack. In encounters with anosmic opponents, only declines in the latencies to threat and attack were noted. Moreover, the experimental groups differed in their behaviors over encounters. Those confronting intact opponents spent less time in social investigation, more time in explore from a distance and threat, and showed a shorter latencies to threat and attack than counterparts confronting anosmics. These results suggest that, although both types of “standard opponents” are similar in their non-aggressiveness, they elicit rather different behavioral responses in their adversaries. These findings provide additional support for the view that the type of opponent used in studies on intermale aggression is of paramount importance. Indeed, the use of different types of “standardized non-aggressive opponents” appears to be an important source of variability between studies. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Combining genetic algorithms and the finite element method to improve steel industrial processes

Most of the times the optimal control of steel industrial processes is a very complicated task because of the elevated number of parameters to adjust. For that reason, in steel plants, engineers must estimate the best values of the operational parameters of processes, and sometimes, it is also necessary to obtain the appropriate model for steel material behaviour. This article deals with three successful experiences gained from genetic algorithms and the finite element method in order to solve engineering optimisation problems. On one hand, a fully automated method for determining the best material behaviour laws is described, and on the other hand we present a common methodology to find the most appropriate settings for two cases of improvement in steel industrial processes. The study of the three reported cases allowed us to show the reliability and effectiveness of combining both techniques.     

Dialogue and Dominance in Couple Therapy for Depression: Exploring Therapists’ Responses in Creating Collaborative Moments

Previous investigations have found specific communication patterns in couples dealing with depression, specifically when depression concurs with conjugal conflicts. The presence of these patterns can reflect couples’ difficulties in engaging in collaborative communication during their sessions, posing a real challenge for therapists. This exploratory study uses a dialogical approach to examine issues of dominance and type of dialogue in two couples who differed in terms of their levels of dyadic adjustment. The therapists’ reactions were explored in order to detect the kinds of responses that were most effective at engendering a collaborative attitude in therapy sessions. The method used to analyze the dialogue was Dialogical Investigations of Happenings of Change (DIHC). Results on dominance indicated that the degree of quantitative and semantic dominance displayed by a different member of the couple in each case was illustrative of their relational dynamics, while in both cases interactional dominance was exercised by the therapists. Results on dialogue revealed that dialogic dialogue might help to coconstruct new shared meanings of depression. The findings indicated that certain responses by therapists as part of the dialogue could be useful in bringing about a reduction in hostility between the members of a couple, provided that the responses are maintained over the course of the session. Some research and clinical implications that emerge from the results are discussed.     

Scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for children in a longitudinal study of pubertal Spanish youth.

Changes in scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children for a sample of 534 pubertal adolescents were longitudinally studied over a period of 4 years. Biological development and other variables were investigated. For the 310 boys, A-trait scores decreased significantly with age. The 224 girls showed significantly higher scores than boys in all years of the study. No significant relationship was found between anxiety and pubertal maturity. The year-to-year persistence in symptomatology of anxiety ranged between 55.6% and 66.1% for girls and between 48.5% and 53.1% for boys. Girls showed bi- and tri-annual persistence between 31% and 50%, and boys between 13% and 27%. Neuroticism scores formed the best predictor of A-trait scores. Symptomatology of anxiety is not transient during early adolescence, so personality may provide a risk indicator in the development of anxiety.