Reactions to youth crime: perceptions of accountability and competency

Recent changes in juvenile justice policies have stimulated debate among legal professionals and social scientists. As such, public opinion concerning juvenile offenders is an important and timely topic for empirical study. In the present study, respondents read a scenario about a juvenile who committed a crime, and then decided on a sentence and rated perceptions of the juvenile's accountability and legal competence. Four between-subject factors were manipulated: age of the defendant (11 versus 14 versus 17 years), type of crime (shooting versus arson), crime outcome (victim injured versus died), and time delay between the instigating incident and the crime (immediately versus one day). The type and outcome of the crime were major motivating factors in sentencing decisions and perceptions of legal competence, and, although younger offenders were seen as less accountable and less competent than older offenders, sentence allocation and attitudes towards punishment were not significantly affected by offender age.     

Latent variable analyses of age trends of cognition in the Health and Retirement Study, 1992-2004

The present study was conducted to better describe age trends in cognition among older adults in the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 1992 to 2004 (N = 17,000). The authors used contemporary latent variable models to organize this information in terms of both cross-sectional and longitudinal inferences about age and cognition. Common factor analysis results yielded evidence for at least 2 common factors, labeled Episodic Memory and Mental Status, largely separable from vocabulary. Latent path models with these common factors were based on demographic characteristics. Multilevel models of factorial invariance over age indicated that at least 2 common factors were needed. Latent curve models of episodic memory were based on age at testing and showed substantial age differences and age changes, including impacts due to retesting as well as several time-invariant and time-varying predictors.     

Brightness and image definition of pictures viewed from between the legs

It has been documented that if we see a scene from between our own legs, it appears brighter and more distinct. We determined factors that are critical to these changes and elucidated how they are related to visual disorder that is contingent on bending the head. In Experiment 1, upright scene pictures were viewed with the head inverted. In Experiments 2 and 3, the 180° rotated versions of the same pictures were seen with the head inverted and upright, respectively. In Experiment 4, geometric patterns were seen with the head inverted. In Experiment 5, apparent depth and organization of scene pictures were judged under combinations of retinal-image and head orientations. The first results demonstrated that the scene pictures, when seen with the head inverted, had a 9.8% increase in brightness and a 6.8% increase in image definition as compared to normal upright viewing, but these changes did not arise for geometric patterns. Second, these changes were mainly ascribed to a proprioceptive change of the head. Third, by inverting only the head or the retinal image, visual structure of pictures was disturbed but the visual disorder did not always change brightness and image definition. These findings are discussed.     

A multilevel approach to the relationship between birth order and intelligence

Many studies show relationships between birth order and intelligence but use cross-sectional designs or manifest other threats to internal validity. Multilevel analyses with a control variable show that when these threats are removed, two major results emerge: (a) birth order has no significant influence on children's intelligence and (b) earlier reported birth order effects on intelligence are attributable to factors that vary between, not within, families. Analyses on 7- to 8 - and 13- to 14-year-old children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth support these conclusions. When hierarchical data structures, age variance of children, and within-family versus between-family variance sources are taken into account, previous research is seen in a new light.     

Stability and change of personality across the life course: the impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability of the Big Five

Does personality change across the entire life course, and are those changes due to intrinsic maturation or major life experiences? This longitudinal study investigated changes in the mean levels and rank order of the Big Five personality traits in a heterogeneous sample of 14,718 Germans across all of adulthood. Latent change and latent moderated regression models provided 4 main findings: First, age had a complex curvilinear influence on mean levels of personality. Second, the rank-order stability of Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Openness, and Agreeableness all followed an inverted U-shaped function, reaching a peak between the ages of 40 and 60 and decreasing afterward, whereas Conscientiousness showed a continuously increasing rank-order stability across adulthood. Third, personality predicted the occurrence of several objective major life events (selection effects) and changed in reaction to experiencing these events (socialization effects), suggesting that personality can change due to factors other than intrinsic maturation. Fourth, when events were clustered according to their valence, as is commonly done, effects of the environment on changes in personality were either overlooked or overgeneralized. In sum, our analyses show that personality changes throughout the life span, but with more pronounced changes in young and old ages, and that this change is partly attributable to social demands and experiences.     

Age comparative factor analysis of ability variables in adulthood and old age

The generality of ability factor structure in adulthood and old age was investigated using simultaneous maximum likelihood procedures. Data were analyzed for 198 young individuals (age range of 15–32 years), 156 younger old individuals (age range of 53–68 years), and 156 older old individuals (69–91 years). Variables were nine tests marking three ability factors: Verbal Comprehension, Sensitivity to Problems and Semantic Redefinition. Results indicated no changes in the number of factors and no psychologically important shifts in salient factor loadings. Increasingly larger factor covariances, however, were obtained in the two older groups. The results supported the generalizability of ability structures to late life at the level of factor loadings. The implications of these results for the dedifferentiation hypothesis were not clear cut. The consistency of the number of factors across age groups precluded strong support for this hypothesis, The increased factor covariances could be construed as modest support for this hypothesis, but other interpretations were possible.     

Examining dynamic links between perceived control and health: longitudinal evidence for differential effects in midlife and old age

Perceived control and health are often closely linked in adulthood and old age. Little is known, however, about their time-ordered interplay at various phases of adult life. By applying dynamic models to four waves of data over 15.5 years from the Americans' Changing Lives Study, we examined time-ordered relations between perceived control and health in midlife and old age. Results revealed that levels of perceived control predict subsequent changes in health over time in old age (65+ years of age; n = 1,238) but not in midlife (25-64 years of age; n = 2,364). No evidence was found for predictive effects of health for changes in perceived control in either age group. These age-differential findings were corroborated with nested-model comparisons. Predictive effects of perceived control for health were attenuated to the null in models covarying for sociodemographic and psychosocial factors (physical activity, memory, emotional support, and depressive symptoms), suggesting that these variables play an important role in control-health relations. Our discussion focuses on the importance of perceived control for healthy living in old age and the differential implications of perceived control for health in midlife and old age.     

The timing of psychosocial changes in women's lives: the years 25 to 45

Sixty women, aged 30, 35, 40, and 45, participated in a retrospective interview concerning psychosocial changes in their adult lives. Subjects' responses provided self-report data concerning specific psychosocial changes, and judges who read the interview protocols provided independent ratings of major psychosocial transitions. The distributions of self-reported changes and rated transitions across both chronological age and family cycle phases were examined statistically. Rated transitions were found to be reliably related to chronological age but not to family cycle phase. Specifically, 78% of the subjects manifested a major transition commencing between ages 27 and 30. That transition was characterized initially by personal disruption, followed by reassessment and finally by increased psychological well-being. Both chronological age and family cycle phase were reliably related to a variety of self-reported changes. The implications for conceptions of adult developmental changes are discussed.     

Body proportions as information for age and cuteness: animals in illustrated children's books

Growth systematically changes the body proportions of both humans and animals so that the ratio of head height to body height decreases with age. Prior studies have demonstrated that body proportions provide effective information for age perception. To test the proposal that illustrators incorporate this information into their drawings, measurements were made of the head and body heights of 100 pairs of animals appearing in children's picture books. In 93 pairs, the animal intended to be perceived as older had a smaller head-to-body ratio than did the younger animal. Ratings collected for 25 of these pairs showed that both perceived age and cuteness are significantly correlated with body proportions. The magnitudes of the correlations were only modest, suggesting that other aspects of the drawings influenced perceived age and cuteness. In addition, observers reported that body proportions are only one of a variety of factors influencing age and cuteness perception. As has been found in other studies, perceived age and cuteness were negatively correlated.     

Sociodemographic and psychological predictors of changes in dietary fat consumption in adults with high blood cholesterol following counseling in primary care.

The associations between sociodemographic variables, psychological factors, and changes in dietary fat consumption over 4 months were assessed in a randomized controlled trial of behavioral counseling versus standard advice. Patients were 141 men and 150 women, with an average age of 52.1 years and total cholesterol level of 7.27 mmol/l (278 mg/dl). Smokers, younger patients, and those with greater body mass index had higher fat intake at baseline. Behavioral counseling led to greater reductions in fat intake than did standard advice. Self-efficacy and ratings of benefits of low-fat diets were related to fat consumption at baseline, and changes in these measures were correlated with changes in fat intake. Family support, baseline anticipated regret, and (for the behavioral counseling group only) baseline behavioral intentions predicted reductions in fat intake. The results indicated that psychosocial variables associated cross-sectionally with fat consumption do not necessarily predict change and that factors involved in the process of change and the prediction of change need to be differentiated.     

Developmental trends in speed accuracy trade-off in 6-10-year-old children performing rapid reciprocal and discrete aiming movements

Cyclic tasks are performed better than discrete tasks in adults but it is unknown whether this advantage is present in children as well. Three age groups of participants (6, 8, and 10 years old) executed cyclic and discrete aiming movements to two differently sized target using a Fitts task to examine the developmental effects on speed/accuracy trade-off. Children showed the same advantage of cyclic over discrete movements as previously demonstrated for adults but at a slower speed. The slope of the speed accuracy trade-off was similar in the three age groups in the cyclic as compared to the discrete control mode, suggesting that children learn both tasks equally well in this age range. The index of performance (IP) increased with age but not differently for the two control modes. Children showed clear differences between the kinematics of discrete and cyclic movements and these differences were similar to those seen in adults. Cyclic movements were faster, had higher IP, showed fewer changes in velocity and were more ballistic. Thus movement execution was different between the two tasks, consistent with the hypothesis that cyclic tasks make use of neural oscillators. The slower movement speed in young children is consistent with their limited ability to use open loop control.     

INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF CONTENT WORDS LEADING TO LIFESPAN DIFFERENCES IN PHONOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY IN STUTTERING

This study investigated whether frequency of stuttering was affected by factors that specify the phonological difficulty of a sound and whether and how any influences vary across age groups. Analyses were performed separately on content words and function words. The phonological factors examined were: a) Whether the word contained a late emerging consonant (LEC); and b) Whether the word contained a consonant string (CS). Analyses showed that these factors occurred at different rates across the age groups used (children under 12, teenagers between 12 and 18, and adults). A more detailed breakdown was also reported of frequency of usage of LEC and CS over age groups depending on whether and where these factors occurred in the content words; all nine combinations of no LEC, word-initial LEC, non-initial LEC with no CS, word-initial CS, and non-initial CS were examined. Usage of certain of these nine categories varied over age groups. Friedman statistic on the ratio of stuttering (proportion of stuttered words in a particular word class divided by the proportion of words in that particular word class) showed that the frequency of stuttering remained high for adult speakers when CS and LEC both occurred in a word and when they appeared in word-initial position. These findings support a recently proposed theory that accounts for life-span changes in stuttering.     

Introducing systems change in the schools: the case of school luncheons and vending machines

A major public health crisis facing America’s society is the increase in child and youth obesity, which has seen a fourfold increase in the last four decades. Major concerns include what children eat for school lunch and what other foods are available in schools. This paper illustrates efforts towards systems change in the luncheon program and food vending machines in the Chicago Public Schools. We discuss the different factors that lead to such changes using the framework of the social ecological model and the soft systems methodology, and we analyze how the resulting innovation was implemented and evaluated. First, we present a theoretical perspective to explain factors that influence children’s eating patterns from a systems approach. Second, we discuss the antecedent factors that lead to systems change. Finally, we examine challenges to systems change, such as resistance to change, different stakeholder priorities, lack of resources, institutional bureaucracy, and unrealistic funder expectations.     

Reading aloud: qualitative differences in the relation between stimulus quality and word frequency as a function of context

Virtually all theories of visual word recognition assume (typically implicitly) that when a pathway is used, processing within that pathway always unfolds in the same way. This view is challenged by the observation that simple variations in list composition are associated with qualitative changes in performance. The present experiments demonstrate that when reading aloud, the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency on response time are driven by the presence/absence of nonwords in the list. Interacting effects of these factors are seen when only words appear in the experiment, whereas additive effects are seen when words and nonwords are randomly intermixed. One way to explain these and other data appeals to the distinction between cascaded processing (or interactive activation) on the one hand versus a thresholded mode of processing on the other, with contextual factors determining which mode of processing dominates.     

Working memory and inhibition across the adult life-span

Research has shown that age-related changes in cognitive performance are due mostly to the decline of general factors such as working memory and inhibition. The present study is aimed at investigating age-related changes in these mechanisms across the adult life-span from 20 to 86 years of age. Results indicate a linear relationship between each working memory measure and age, independently of the nature of the task, and a quadratic relationship between the single inhibitory measures and age. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses show that inhibition accounts for a significant, but modest, part of the age-related variance in working memory. Taken together, these results suggest that inhibition is not as crucial a contributor of age-related changes in the functional capacity of working memory across the adult life-span as previously thought.     

Missed first appointments: Prevalence and associated factors in first-time attendees at an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Nigeria

In Nigeria, outpatient care forms the bulk of the psychiatric service. While there are no published data, empirical observations indicate that default may be high and exerting a huge toll on the cost of care. The aims were to determine the first-appointment default rate among newly seen outpatients in a psychiatric clinic and to identify factors associated with it. The study was a survey of all newly seen patients from 1 January 2006 to 31 January 2006, and who were given a follow-up appointment. A total of 223 new patients were seen. Of these, 151 (67.7%) turned up for their appointment, 61 (27.4%) defaulted, and 11 (4.9%) were referred. Defaulters were more likely to be Christians, younger in age, and in employment. On using correlation statistics, respondents’ religion and occupational status demonstrated a linear relationship and a significant association with follow-up attendance/non-attendance. The rate of non-attendance at first follow-up is of clinical concern, and the possible contribution of religion to this may be enormous. Clinicians and health policy makers need to be sensitive to this. The introduction of community psychiatric services and collaboration between orthodox and traditional/religious practitioners may help reduce default rates.     

Age and cohort effects on personality factor scores across sexes and racial/ethnic groups

Substantial differences exist across ethnic groups and sexes in generational changes in status among groups residing in Hawaii. Despite these generational differences across groups, age differences in personality are remarkably consistent across sexes and racial/ethnic groups, and the few Sex x Age, Ethnicity x Age or Sex x Ethnicity x Age interactions account for little variance in scores. It is concluded that age/generational differences in personality factor scores in these populations result from age and not, to any major degree, from cohort effects.     

Midlife Sexuality Among Thai Adults: Adjustment to Aging in the Thai Family Context

The objective of the study is to assess views of age related changes in sexual behavior among married Thai adults age 53–57. Results are viewed in the context of life course theory. In-depth interviews were conducted with 44 Thai adults in Bangkok and the four regions of Thailand. Topics covered include changing sexual behavior with age, adjustment to this change, gender differences in behavior, attitudes toward commercial sex and other non-marital sexual partners, and condom use. Most respondents were aware of this change and saw a decrease in sexual activity and desire more often among women compared to men. At the same time, many respondents viewed sexuality as important to a marriage. Some respondents accepted the decrease in sexual activity and focused more on work, family and temple activities. Thai Buddhism was seen as an important resource for people who were dealing with changes due to aging. Other persons turned to other partners including both commercial and non-commercial partners. The influence of the HIV epidemic that began in the 1990s was seen in concerns about disease transmission with extramarital partners and consequent attitudes toward condom use. The acceptability of extramarital partners in the family and community ranged from acceptance to strong disapproval of extramarital relationships.     

Changes in Anxiety Control Beliefs Following a Brief CBT Treatment and Their Association With Anxiety Symptom Reduction

Anxiety control beliefs (i.e., beliefs regarding one’s ability to cope with external, fear-inducing threats and internal reactions to those perceived threats) have been found to negatively predict anxiety symptoms in children and adults and to be modifiable by cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. The current study examines whether changes in anxiety control beliefs were seen following a brief, intensive treatment for specific phobias, and whether those changes were associated with improvements in the targeted phobia and comorbid anxiety disorder symptoms. Participants were 135 children and adolescents (M age = 9.01 years, 49% male) who received one-session treatment (OST) with or without parental involvement for their primary specific phobia. Results indicated that self-reported anxiety control beliefs significantly increased following treatment and that these increases significantly predicted reductions in specific phobia severity and symptoms of comorbid anxiety disorders 6 months and 1 year following treatment. Findings illustrate that involvement in a single 3-hour OST was associated with changes in anxiety control beliefs and demonstrate the potential importance of targeting control beliefs in pediatric anxiety treatment.