Maturational Changes in Canadian Adolescents' Cognitive Attitudinal Structure Concerning Marijuana

Thirty-four items concerning marijuana use were administered three times to a cohort of Canadian high school students between Grades 11 and 13, in 1977 (n = 439), 1978 (n = 419), and 1979 (n = 167). These items were designed to measure four distinct constructs: attitude, perceived peer approval or disapproval, concern about risks, and symbolic protest against conventional society. A cross-sectional factor analysis of the Grade 13 data supported the hypothesized factor structure, as had earlier work with college students. However, analogous analyses on the Grade 11 and Grade 12 data contradicted the hypothesized factor structure. Most notably, separate factors for positive and negative attitude appeared in the Grade 11 and 12 analyses. The data were interpreted primarily in terms of maturational changes, largely through elimination of alternative interpretations by internal analyses and previous findings. Implications were discussed for adolescent cognitive-attitudinal development, attitude theory, and analysis of panel data.     

Working memory and cognitive styles in adolescents' attainment

Background. Working memory, the ability to store and process information, is strongly related to learning outcomes. Aims. The aim of the present study is to extend previous research on early learning and investigate the relationship between working memory, cognitive styles, and attainment in adolescents using both national curriculum tests and teacher‐based assessments. Sample. A group of 164 13‐year‐olds from a school in England were recruited. Methods. They took tests of working memory and cognitive styles. The school provided the attainment scores. Results. Working memory was found to be the predictor of learning outcomes in English, Maths, and Science, as well as all teacher assessments. There was also a significant interplay between working memory, styles, and attainment. For students with high working memory, their style preference does not impact attainment. Students most at risk were analytics with low working memory as they performed worse in the most subjects. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the interplay between working memory and cognitive styles can be useful in developing suitable interventions to support students.     

Birth cohort changes in Chinese adolescents' mental health

In China, rapid economic growth and increasing social problems constitute two basic characteristics of contemporary social change. During the process of dramatic social change, an emerging question is how adolescents' mental health has changed across birth cohorts. The present paper reviews four studies of crosstemporal meta-analysis conducted by us. By meta-analysis of previous literature, we examined changes in mean scores on mental health measures over time (from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s). It was found that since the early 1990s, Chinese adolescents' mental health deteriorated across birth cohorts, shown in increased scores on the negative indicators of mental health (e.g. mental problems, anxiety, and depression), whereas self-esteem as a positive trait decreased. The dropping trend in Chinese adolescents' mental health could be attributed to social change, especially increasing social problems. Therefore, adequate attention must be paid to potential influences of social change on individuals' psychological development.     

Some reservations concerning the current cognitive emphasis in therapy

The extent to which new treatment techniques that focus on cognition have come to dominate therapy over recent years is not consistent with the empirical outcome evidence, which suggests that it is usually the behavioural components of interventions (whether labelled ‘cognitive’ or ‘behavioural’) that are the most potent effectors of clinical improvement. In this article recent outcome studies (involving predominantly treatments derived from Beck's approach) are reviewed, and the effects of the cognitive trend on clinical practice (both positive and negative) explored. Apart from some notable exceptions, the outcome evidence suggests that cognitive techniques do not enhance the effectiveness of behavioural treatment. A number of problems and misconceptions associated with both the current cognitive emphasis and a more traditional behavioural approach in the clinical context are discussed.     

Maintained attitudinal changes in nursing personnel after a brief training on suicide prevention

Nursing personnel (N = 317) working at a general hospital attended a 6-hour training program on suicide prevention. They answered anonymously pre- and post-training the Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnaire (SBAQ), which comprises 21 visual analogue scale items divided in three factorial subscales. The results indicated there were positive changes in the attitudes and these gains were significantly maintained at the 6-month follow-up evaluation. Improvement was in the Feelings and Professional Capacity subscales (ANOVA; p = 0.0001 and 0.01, respectively). There was no change on the Right to Suicide subscale. Because attitudes influence the effectiveness of health care personnel interventions, our findings may have important implications for the development of suicide prevention programs.     

Development of adolescents' peer crowd identification in relation to changes in problem behaviors

This 5-wave longitudinal study, which included 1,313 Dutch adolescents, examined the development of peer crowd identification in relation to changes in problem behaviors. Adolescents from 2 age cohorts annually reported their identification with 7 peer crowds and their levels of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Univariate latent growth curve analyses revealed declines (i.e., "Hip Hoppers" and "Metal Heads") or declines followed by stabilization (i.e., "Nonconformists") in identification with nonconventional crowds and increases (i.e., "Elites" and "Brains") or declines followed by stabilization (i.e., "Normals" and "Jocks") in identification with conventional crowds. Multivariate latent growth curve analyses indicated that stronger and more persistent identifications with nonconventional crowds were generally associated with more problem behaviors throughout adolescence. In contrast, stronger and more persistent identifications with conventional crowds were generally associated with fewer problem behaviors throughout adolescence with the notable exception of Brains, who showed a mixed pattern. Though characterized by fewer externalizing problems, this group did report more anxiety problems. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Gender differences in the structure and support characteristics of black adolescents' social networks

This study explores gender differences in the social network characteristics of 390 Black American adolescents with a mean age of 14.8 Each adolescent completed the Social Network Record (SNR), which yields scores representing the organizational/demographic structure and the quality of emotional support in the network. It was hypothesized that males and females would construct different network profiles. Gender differences in both structural and support characteristics were found. Females indicated that they had more frequent contact with network members, that their network was on average slightly older, and that they tended to see network members in more private settings. Females also estimated that they know more people than males, although there were no differences between males and females in the actual number of network members listed and described. Males were much more likely to report having larger groups of intimate friends than did females. While females tended to nominate family members as role models and were more likely to indicate feeling close to both male and female peers, males indicated overwhelmingly that they felt close to male peers. The differences indicate that male and female adolescents experience very differently structured forms of social support. These results are discussed as they relate to gender differences found in achievement and other indices of competence during adolescence.     

A cross-sectional study of changes in Norwegian adolescents' body image from 1992 to 2002

The present study examines changes in adolescents’ body image over a 10-year period. Both satisfaction with appearance in general, and satisfaction with different aspects of appearance (e.g., face, muscle tone, and weight) are considered. We analyzed data from two general population studies of 13–19-year-old Norwegians, “Young in Norway 1992” (N = 10,460, response rate = 97.0%) and “Young in Norway 2002” (N = 11,371, response rate = 92.3%). These studies used identical sampling procedures, data collection procedures, and measures of body image. The analyses showed a polarization in adolescents’ body image — concurrent with an increase in the proportion of adolescents with a very negative body image, there was an increase in the proportion of adolescents with a very positive body image. The greater proportion of adolescents with a very negative body image could partly be explained statistically by the increased body mass index (BMI) in the same period. Girls had a more problematic body image than boys, both in 1992 and in 2002. Whether the strength of this gender difference changed or not depended on the aspect of appearance considered.     

The cognitive structure of movements in classical dance

AimsThis study was designed to elicit differences in the mental representations of two basic movements from classical ballet, the Pirouette en dehors and the Pas assemblé, stored in long-term memory of dancers of different skill-levels.MethodThe movements were demonstrated and explained verbally to professional ballet dancers, amateur dancers, and non-dancers. Subsequently, participants were assigned to a hierarchical sorting (splitting) task in which Basic Action Concepts (BACs) of the movements had to be sorted according to their functional relevance in movement execution. The task was presented as verbal labels on a computer screen. The responses were subjected to the application of a new analytical method, called SDA-M, which includes a hierarchical cluster analysis. The method enabled eliciting cognitive structures of the movements in the participants' long-term memory, and thus enabled comparing these cognitive structures in subjects of different skill-level.ResultsParticipants of different skill-level showed movement-specific differences in their mental representation structures in long-term memory. A similar structure was noted in advanced amateurs and professionals for the Pirouette en dehors, which referred to the functional phases of the movement, and less functional representations were noted in beginners and novices. For the Pas assemblé, the experts' representation structure was different from that of amateurs and novices, pointing toward differences in movement execution. It is concluded that movement representations of this kind in long-term memory might provide the basis for motor control in skilled ballet movements in the form of suitably organized perceptual-cognitive reference structures.ImplicationsThe results point toward a unique mental representation as a function of skill-level and movement nature. Individual and group results obtained with the applied method can be implemented to support (mental) training methods in classical dance practice.     

Intensive mindfulness training-related changes in cognitive and emotional experience

This study examined the role of intensive mindfulness training on changes in day-to-day experiential processing, psychological symptoms, resilience, and well-being in two groups of community adults (N = 69). Using both quasi-experimental and longitudinal methods, the study found that intensive training, operationalized as 10–12 hours of formal mindfulness practice per day for 1 month, was significantly related to increases in training-specific experiential processing capacities, namely trait mindfulness and decentering (reperceiving), in comparison to pre–post-training wait-list controls. In both training groups combined, mindfulness, decentering, and acceptance increased over the pre-training to 1-month follow-up period. Intensive mindfulness training was also related to declines in anxiety and enhanced both subjective well-being and self-compassion from pre-training to follow-up in the two training groups. Finally, increases in trait mindfulness and acceptance were related to improvements in psychological symptoms, well-being, and resilience. Future directions for this novel area of mindfulness research are discussed.     

Syntactic component in language responsible cognitive structure: Neurological evidence

From the results of a broad ranging comprehension test, a hierarchy of difficulty emerged that is shared by the two groups of aphasics (Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics) and by the control group of normal subjects. The parallelism has been interpreted as a confirmation of the hypothesis that syntactic competence is not inaccessible either in Wernicke's or in Broca's aphasia. The Minimal Distance Principle, as a relevant recognition principle, has been studied, and although not confirmed by the scores has been brought to the fore both by the correlations between the variables under study and by the correlations with the concomitant variables of age and level of education.     

Age-related changes in cognitive processing of moral and social conventional violations

Moral and conventional violations are usually judged differently: Only moral violations are treated as independent of social rules. To investigate the cognitive processing involved in the development of this distinction, undergraduates (N = 34), adolescents (N = 34), and children (N = 14) read scenarios presented on a computer that had 1 of 3 endings: moral violations, conventional violations, or neutral acts. Participants judged whether the act was acceptable or unacceptable in a condition in which social rules were assumed, or in a condition in which they imagined the absence of rules (rule-removed condition). At all ages reaction times (RTs) were faster for moral than conventional violations when a rule was assumed. RTs in the rule-removed condition were longer than in the rule-assumed condition, only for adults’ moral judgments. In addition to this age difference, adolescents made more normative judgments than children. These findings extend previous work by showing different time courses of processing conventional versus moral violations and revealing age-related differences in the tendency to make normative judgments.