Worry about terror among young adults living in ongoing security uncertainty

The aim of the current study was to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable, with the exogenous variables being media viewing, differentiation of self, and trait anxiety, and the endogenous variables being somatic symptoms and perceptions of security‐related stress. Participants were divided into two groups by age/academic level: 248 high school students and 191 university students. A pathway correlation model was used to investigate worry about terror as a mediating variable. The central finding was that worry about terror was a significant mediating variable in the relationship between the extent of media viewing following terror events and the level of perception of security‐related stress. That is, young people who said they worried a lot reported a high level of stress relating to the terror events they saw covered in the media. In addition, trait anxiety was found to have an effect on stress perception only via the level of worry about terror. This means that high levels of stress are not experienced by all highly trait‐anxious people, but only by those who suffer from higher levels of worry about terror.     

Appraisal of suicidal risk among adolescents and young adults through the Rorschach test

The aims of this study are to investigate suicidal behaviors among adolescents and young adults and to test an index composed using Rorschach test responses related to an increased risk of suicide. Using a cross-sectional design, 4 groups were studied (according to criteria of the Columbia Classification Algorithm of Suicide Assessment [Posner, Oquendo, Gould, Stanley, & Davies, 2007]): A group with suicidal ideation (n = 30), a group with parasuicidal behavior (n = 30), a group with near-lethal suicide attempts (n = 26), and a control group (n = 30). Responses to the Rorschach test yielded 6 potential indicators of suicidal behavior (scored according to Exner's Comprehensive System and the Suicidal Index for Adolescents; Silberg & Armstrong, 1992 ). Rorschach scores including at least 4 of these 6 indicators selected 69% of the people who had committed serious suicide attempts. The Rorschach Suicidal Index reached an acceptable reliability and was related to other criteria of suicide risk, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelsohn, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961) and Linehan Reasons for Living Inventory (RFL-I; Linehan, Goodstein, Nielsen, & Chiles, 1983). Moreover, the Rorschach Suicidal Index showed incremental validity over the BDI and the RFL-I to predict suicidal behavior. A path analysis additionally showed that low social support was an important mediator between the Rorschach Suicidal Index and the number of suicide attempts committed by participants.     

Thinking about the past,present, and future: Time perspective and self-esteem in adolescents,young adults,middle-aged adults,and older adults

We examined time perspective and self-esteem in adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. Time perspective was measured with scales that assess relative orientations and relationships among the past, present, and future. Age effects were examined with standard analytic strategies to determine categorical differences between age groups and with new statistical techniques designed to show continuous age patterns. Findings indicated that (1) thinking about the future was greatest for adolescents and young adults and lowest for middle-aged and older adults, and thinking about the present increased across ages; (2) fewer adolescents and middle-aged participants perceived that the time periods were interrelated compared to younger and older adults; and (3) across ages, a greater emphasis towards the past compared to other time periods was associated with lower self-esteem, whereas emphasizing the present and the future jointly was associated with higher self-esteem.     

Birth order effects on the separation process in young adults: an evolutionary and dynamic approach

The present study analyzes the differential contribution of a familial or social focus in imaginative ideation (the personal fable and imagined audience mental constructs) to the separation-individuation process of firstborn, middleborn, and lastborn children. A total of 160 young adults were divided into 3 groups by birth order. Participants' separation-individuation process was evaluated by the Psychological Separation Inventory, and results were cross-validated by the Pathology of Separation-Individuation Inventory. The Imaginative Ideation Inventory tested the relative dominance of the familial and social environments in participants' mental constructs. The findings showed that middleborn children had attained more advanced separation and were lower in family-focused ideation and higher in nonfamilial social ideation. However, the familial and not the social ideation explained the variance in the separation process in all the groups. The findings offer new insights into the effects of birth order on separation and individuation in adolescents and young adults.     

Implications of Amae for HIV risk in Japanese young adults

Assertiveness, defined as perceived confidence to express true feelings in interpersonal relationships, has been reported to correlate with HIV risk avoidance. However, Japanese social structure encourages amae or self-repression. The present study investigated the implications of amae for HIV risk avoidance among Japanese university students. The results indicated that amae was antithetical to risk reduction.     

Race differences in the receipt of mental health services among young adults

This study investigates race and ethnic differences in the receipt of mental health services among young adults. Research has indicated that racial minorities receive treatment at a much lower rate than those with middle and upper incomes and whites. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative study of young adults, first interviewed when in Grades 7 through 12. We find significant differences across race-ethnicity. Consistent with prior research, blacks are less likely to have received mental health services. Findings for gender and education differed from previous studies. The relationship of gender on services receipt is mediated by depression. The relationship of race-ethnicity on services receipt is moderated by levels of education and prior services use. Education is associated with greater services use for Whites, but less services use for blacks. Also, blacks who used services in the past are significantly less likely to be current users. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Stalking among young adults: A review of the preliminary research

The experience of being stalked is markedly higher among college students than in the general population. A clear understanding of stalking in this population will guide prevention and intervention efforts for both perpetrators and victims. Specifically, this article reviews the literature on the prevalence of stalking behaviors among young adults, the psychological effects on young victims, how these victims cope with being stalked, and possible reasons for this behavior. In order to provide context for data on young adults, comparisons with the adult literature will be provided where possible. At the conclusion of this review, we address topics in need of further research.     

Transfer of attachment functions and adjustment among young adults in China

This study was designed to examine the process of attachment transfer from parents to peers, as well as factors related to this transfer process among Mainland Chinese. A total of 147 Chinese college students (with a mean age of 21.44) completed questionnaires that measured attachment style, attachment transfer, attachment support from various figures, loneliness, positive/negative affects, and self-esteem. Major findings of the current study include the following: (a) Hazan and Shaver's sequential model of attachment transfer was generalized to the Chinese sample; (b) the extent of attachment transfer was found to be associated with participants' emotional states (loneliness and positive affect) and was a significant predictor of these emotional states beyond the effects of attachment style and attachment support. As one of the first studies exploring the phenomenon of attachment transfer among young Chinese adults, conceptual and applied implications of these findings are discussed.     

Socialization and development of the work ethic among adolescents and young adults

Work ethic is part of a broader field of attitudes, identified as cultural conservatism. The results of this longitudinal study—three repeated measurements with 620 adolescents and one of their parents as participants—show that parents' social economic status and educational level are associated with their cultural conservatism, and with the educational level and cultural conservatism of their children. During adolescence, parents effectively transfer their own cultural (non-)conservatism to their children. These socialization factors of adolescent cultural conservatism and adolescent educational level are important determinants of their work ethic. Lower educational level and higher cultural conservatisms of adolescents predict a stronger work ethic. Work ethic is a stable type of attitude, with work ethic at a younger age strongly predicting work ethic at a later age.     

A lower incidence of left-handed writing among young adults in Bulgaria than in the USA

The incidence of left-handed writing among 590 young Bulgarian adults was 6.4%, significantly lower than that reported in two studies of students in the United States. Of those writing with the right hand, 10.8% stated that they had been forced to change their preferred hand for writing. The parents of the Bulgarian sample had a similar low incidence of left-handed writing (5.9%). Left-handed writing was almost three times more likely if one or both of the parents wrote with the left hand.     

Developing conceptions of racism among young white adults in the context of cultural diversity coursework

Despite substantial research on racial attitudes and racial identity development among young white adults, little is known about the development of their conceptions about racism. The present study assessed a five-step, empirically based contextualist model of the development of conceptions about racism in young white adults, adapted from the research of Perry (1970), Kitchener and Fischer (1990), and others. A total of 55 young white adults participating in cultural diversity coursework responded to questionnaires about the nature and causes of racism and responses were classified according to the five-step model. Results indicated that many first-year white college students think about racism in dualistic terms, comparable to those described by Perry (1970) in some first-year students' epistemological concepts. Over a semester, many students showed transitions to higher steps, conceptually integrating more dimensions of the problem. Such developmental transitions may be highly context-specific. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.     

Binge drinking among young adults in Israel: application of the theory of planned behavior

Binge drinking is common among young people, and is an area of concern in many countries worldwide. Israel has seen a steady increase in binge drinking behaviors in recent years among youth and young adults. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a guiding theoretical framework, this study examines whether attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and intention to engage in binge drinking are correlated with individual participation in binge drinking among young adults aged 18–35 in Israel. Participants (n = 213) completed a cross-sectional survey that included measures of the TPB and binge drinking. Correlations between the TPB variables were conducted and multiple and logistic regression models were calculated to predict binge drinking intention and behavior. Findings show that 38% of the sample reported engaging in binge drinking activities in the past 30 days, and that TPB variables significantly predicted both intent to engage in binge drinking and the behavior itself (explaining 68 and 45% of the variance, respectively). These findings enable us to better understand some of the motivations young people may have for engaging in binge drinking. Results and implications for future education and prevention efforts, research and policy are therefore discussed within a social context.     

Smoking cross-culturally: Risk perceptions among young adults in Denmark and the United States

Research examining smokers’ understanding of their smoking risk reveals that smokers acknowledge some risk but often deny or minimize personal risk. We examined risk perceptions of lung cancer among smokers and non-smokers in a smoking-lenient (Denmark) and a smoking-prohibitive (the United States) culture. Participants were 275 Danish students attending trade schools (mean age 22.6 years) and 297 US students attending community colleges in Florida (mean age 23.6 years). Results revealed cross-cultural differences suggesting that Danish smokers showed greater risk minimization than US smokers. In addition, in both countries the risk of a typical smoker was rated as lower by smokers than non-smokers, and smokers rated their personal risk as lower than they rated the risk of the typical smoker. Cross-cultural differences in moralization of smoking might be one explanation for these findings.     

The development of young children's awareness of the word as a unit of spoken language

Young children's awareness of the word as a unit of spoken language was investigated in a series of five experiments that required children aged from 4 to 7 years to segment spoken language strings into words. The results of the first three experiments suggest that young children have considerable success in segmenting spoken language materials, regardless of the grammaticality of the strings, and regardless of the grammatical form class, plurality, or syllabic length of the component words. The basis of such successful segmentation ability was considered further in a fourth experiment, which indicated that children may use stress as a basis of response. A fifth experiment therefore manipulated syllabic stress and morphemic structure to determine what response strategies are employed by children of different ages in segmenting speech. The results suggest that 4- to 5-year-old children respond primarily on the basis of acoustic factors such as stress, whereas somewhat older 5- to 6-year-old children respond on the basis of (unbound) morphemic structure. By age 7, most children have abandoned strategies and now respond on the basis of word concept. Implications of these findings for reading acquisition are briefly indicated.This research was supported by a Tertiary Education Commission, General Development Grant (University of Western Australia), and by an Education Research Grant from the Education Research and Development Committee, Canberra.     

Alcohol use, expectancies, and sexual sensation seeking as correlates of HIV risk behavior in heterosexual young adults.

Most theoretical models of HIV risk behavior have not considered the role of personality factors, and few studies have examined mechanisms accounting for dispositional influences on sexual risk taking. This study elaborated on a conceptual model emphasizing sexual sensation seeking, alcohol expectancies, and drinking before sex as key predictors of HIV risk (S. C. Kalichman, L. Tannenbaum, & D. Nachimson, 1998). Multiple groups structural equation modeling was used to determine whether gender moderated relationships among these variables in a sample of 611 heterosexual, young adult drinkers (49% women, 76% Caucasian, mean age = 25 years). The model provided an excellent fit to the data, and gender differences were not substantiated. Sexual sensation seeking predicted HIV risk directly as well as indirectly via sex-related alcohol expectancies and drinking in sexual contexts. Findings suggest that expectancies and drinking before sex represent proximal mechanisms through which dispositional factors influence sexual risk outcomes. Moreover, these relationships appear to be similar in men and women. Interventions could benefit from targeting alcohol expectancies and drinking before sex in individuals with a dispositional tendency toward sexual risk taking.     

Emotion matters: The influence of valence on episodic future thinking in young and older adults

In young adults, valence not only alters the degree to which future events are imagined in rich episodic detail, but also how memorable these events are later on. For older adults, how valence influences episodic detail generation while imagining future events, or recalling these details at another time, remains unclear. We investigated the effect of valence on the specificity and memorability of episodic future thinking (EFT) in young and older adults. Among young and older adults, negative EFT was accompanied by less episodic detail generation relative to positive and neutral EFT. A similar reduction in episodic specificity for negative EFT was found two days later when participants recalled their previously imagined events. Notably, while older adults generated less episodically specific future thoughts relative to young adults, age did not influence the effect of valence on episodic detail generation at imagination or recollection.