Maternal sensitivity assessed during the strange situation procedure predicts child's attachment quality and reunion behaviors

The 72-item version maternal behavior Q-set (MBQS; Pederson & Moran, 1995) was used to assess maternal behaviors (N = 74) during the Strange Situation Procedure. Results indicated that the MBQS scores significantly differentiated infant attachment categories and were significantly associated with a series of infants’ reunion behaviors.     

Continuous measurement of attachment behavior: A multimodal view of the strange situation procedure

Infant attachment is a critical indicator of healthy infant social-emotional functioning, which is typically measured using the gold-standard Strange Situation Procedure (SSP). However, expert-based attachment classifications from the SSP are time-intensive (with respect both to expert training and rating), and do not provide an objective, continuous record of infant behavior. To continuously quantify predictors of key attachment behaviors and dimensions, multimodal movement and audio data were collected during the SSP. Forty-nine 1-year-olds and their mothers participated in the SSP and were tracked in three-dimensional space using five synchronized Kinect sensors; LENA recordings were used to quantify crying duration. Theoretically-informed multimodal measures of attachment-related behavior (e.g., dyadic contact duration, infant velocity of approach toward the mother, and infant crying) were used to predict expert rating scales and dimensional summaries of attachment outcomes. Stepwise regressions identified sets of multimodal objective measures that were significant predictors of eight of nine of the expert ratings of infant attachment behaviors in the SSP’s two reunions. These multimodal measures predicted approximately half of the variance in the summary approach/avoidance and resistance/disorganization attachment dimensions. Incorporating all objective measures as predictors regardless of significance levels, predicted individual ratings within an average of one point on the original Likert scales. The results indicate that relatively inexpensive Kinect and LENA sensors can be harnessed to quantify attachment behavior in a key assessment protocol, suggesting the promise of objective measurement to understanding infant-parent interaction.     

Cross-cultural differences in distributive justice: a comparison of Turkey and the U.S

When allocators make decisions about distributing resources, they face a dilemma if the expectations for consequences that will flow from particular choices are incongruent with each other. For example, a certain allocation choice might be expected to make an allocator appear warm and likable but unfair. Previous research has found that culture can shape these perceptions and, thus, their congruence or incongruence. The present study further investigated these ideas. Differences between Turkish and U.S. students' perceptions of allocators who distributed resources on the basis of merit vs. need were investigated. Results revealed an allocation dilemma among the U.S. but not among the Turkish students. Specifically, the U.S. students perceived greater incongruence among allocation consequences for both merit and need choices than did the students from Turkey for whom perceptions of allocator's fairness were more aligned with perceptions of allocator's warmth.     

Adolescent attachment in Nepal: Testing the factorial validity of two scales

Attachment theory is an important framework in the psychology of human development and has direct relevance to the study of adolescence. The cross-cultural validity of attachment constructs and measures has been the subject of lively debate among experts. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the present study tested the factor structure of the Adolescent Attachment Questionnaire and the Adolescent Unresolved Attachment Questionnaire in a sample of 279 Nepali adolescents. The hypothesised models had a good fit and further tests established the measurement invariance of the two instruments. The cross-cultural validity of the measures was supported but areas of cultural variation were also highlighted.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the five-item version of the Francis scale of attitude towards Christianity in adolescent students

ABSTRACT

The brief scale of Francis for religiosity (Francis-5) has shown acceptable psychometric performance in Colombian adolescents. However, a confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) has not been performed. The objective of the researche was to make a CFA to the Francis-5 in a sample of students of Santa Marta, Colombia. A validation study was performed. 350 students between 10 and 17 years old, and 54% were female. A CFA was performed to test the dimensionality of different versions of five and four items of the scale. Authors calculated five goodness of fit indexes indices (Chi square, RMSEA, CFI, TLI, and SMSR). The Francis-5 presented as goodness-of-fit coefficients, chi squared = 18.5, gl = 5, p = .002, RMSEA = .09 (CI90% .05 to .13), CFI = .99, TLI = .99, and SMSR = .01. And the version with the best coefficients of goodness was the Francis-5 without the fourth item (‘Pray helps me a lot’) with chi squared = .55, gl = 2, p = .76, RMSEA = .00 (CI90% .00 to .07), CFI = 1.00, TLI = 1.00, and SMSR = .01. As conclusions, the dimensionality of the Francis-5 is questionable. For a version without the item 4 the data are better fit.     

The indirect effect of cognitive reserve on the relationship between age and cognition in pathological ageing: A cross-sectional retrospective study in an unselected and consecutively enrolled sample

Cognitive reserve (CR) allows individuals to maintain cognitive functionality even in the presence of pathologies. The compensation hypothesis suggests that CR plays an indirect role between age and cognitive decline, contrasting the negative effect of ageing on cognition. We test this hypothesis in an unselected and consecutively enrolled sample of memory clinic attendees (n = 134) who completed the CR Index questionnaire and three neuropsychological tests assessing global cognition (MMSE, FAB, CDT). Participants were divided into two groups based on standard diagnostic criteria (DSM-5): those who were cognitively impaired (n = 92) and those who were preserved (n = 42). A principal component analysis was used to extract a composite measure of global cognitive functioning from the three neuropsychological tests, and mediation analysis was used to examine the relationship between CR, age and global cognitive functioning in the two groups. Results revealed that: (i) age had a significant direct negative effect on the global cognitive score in both groups; (ii) the three socio-behavioural proxies of CR together suppress the direct negative relationship between age and global cognitive score in cognitively impaired patients but not in cognitively preserved participants. This study confirms the association between CR, age and cognition and allows us to validate its role in a population with cognitive impairment and extend findings to a low-to-middle educated population. These results hold important implications for public health and wellness promotion, emphasising the beneficial role of maintaining healthy and active physical, cognitive and social lifestyles.     

Concise formulas for the standard errors of component loading estimates

Concise formulas for the asymptotic standard errors of component loading estimates were derived. The formulas cover the cases of principal component analysis for unstandardized and standardized variables with orthogonal and oblique rotations. The formulas can be used under any distributions for observed variables as long as the asymptotic covariance matrix for sample covariances/correlations is available. The estimated standard errors in numerical examples were shown to be equivalent to those by the methods using information matrices.The author is indebted to anonymous reviewers for the corrections and suggestions on this study, which have led to improvements of earlier versions of this article.     

Interactions of persistent slip bands with a grain boundary on the common primary slip plane in a copper bicrystal

In this letter, the dislocation patterns on the common primary slip plane in a fatigued \[1-34]-\[182-7] copper bicrystal with a Sigma=19b grain boundary (GB) have been investigated using the electron channelling contrast technique in a scanning electron microscope. The results show that the two-phase dislocation structure, such as veins and persistent slip band (PSB) walls, embedded within veins, can be clearly seen on the common primary slip plane. In particular, the interactions of PSBs with the GB are clearly revealed. It is found that there are three kinds of interaction mode between the GB and the dislocations during cyclic deformation, and those are discussed. It is suggested that the dislocations carried by PSBs cannot transfer through the GB continuously even though the bicrystal has a common primary slip plane and its surface slip bands are continuous across the GB.     

The personality of meaning in life: Associations between dimensions of life meaning and the Big Five

The goal of the current study was to identify aspects of personality that are associated with different ways in which people find meaning in life. This was achieved using constrained principal component analysis (CPCA) on data from 322 university students, who completed the Sources of Meaning and Meaning in Life questionnaire and the Big Five Aspects Scale. CPCA demonstrated that personality traits and life meaning are associated, but not redundant, with one another. Specifically, respondents with high scores on lower-level aspects of Openness to Experience tended to derive meaning from questioning, learning and challenging tradition, whereas those with high scores on aspects of Conscientiousness and Extraversion tended to derive meaning from success at work, health, and family. Results suggest that personality traits are associated with variations in the domains used to derive meaning in life, and demonstrate the utility of CPCA as an innovative statistical technique for the study of individual differences.     

Multivariate modelling and personality organization: A comparative study of the Defense Mechanism Test and linguistic expressions

The main aim of the study is to establish an empirical connection between perceptual defences as measured by the Defense Mechanism Test (DMT)–a projective percept-genetic method–and manifest linguistic expressions based on word pattern analyses. The subjects were 25 psychiatric patients with the diagnoses neurotic personality organization (NPO), borderline personality organization (BPO) and psychotic personality organization (PPO) in accordance with Kernberg's theory. A set of 130 DMT variables and 40 linguistic variables were analyzed by means of partial least squares (PLS) discriminant analysis separately and then pooled together. The overall hypothesis was that it would be possible to define the personality organization of the patients in terms of an amalgam of perceptual defences and word patterns, and that these two kinds of data would confirm each other. The result of the combined PLS analysis revealed a very good separation between the diagnostic groups as measured by the pooled variable sets. Among other things, it was shown that NPO patients are principally characterized by linguistic variables, whereas BPO and PPO patients are better defined by perceptual defences as measured by the DMT method.     

感知音乐音质的EEG探究

欣赏音乐是一种审美的体验活动,不同的音质会使人产生不同的感受。为探究音乐和EEG的关系,本文选用音乐《黑人舞曲》,运用主成分分析等方法,研究了11位在校大学生在欣赏不同音质音乐时的EEG特征。结果发现:在欣赏不同音质音乐时大脑皮层右颞等处快波功率差异显著。大脑对音乐的精细加工与大脑右颞等区的电活动密切相关。     

采用理想点方法检验生活取向测验及其修订版的单维性

该文从项目反应过程出发,认为可能是由于原有的维度分析方法将生活取向测验（LOT）及其修订版（LOT-R）这两个测验的项目反应理想点过程错误地限定为优势过程,导致两个测验违背单维性的结论;进而采用主成分分析的未旋转成分负荷散点图和对应分析的维度分数散点图,并结合项目相关矩阵法验证LOT和LOT-R的维度。结果显示LOT-R的单维性得到了验证,LOT由于包含两个测量应对的项目而导致违背单维性。最后作者提出应该与理想点过程相一致的心理计量学模型对LOT-R的数据进行分析。     

Applicability and attachment findings of the Strange Situation Paradigm in infants with visual impairment

Attachment studies with diverse populations enrich the understanding of infants’ socioemotional development by documenting both universal and idiosyncratic aspects of attachment. Given the effects of attachment in children's socioemotional outcomes, such studies are necessary to investigate the impact of children's sensory impairments on attachment development. Yet, very little attachment research has focused on infants with visual impairment (VI infants), a population in which infant–caregiver emotional exchanges through visual means are reduced/absent. We investigated the applicability of the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP), with added instructions to compensate for degraded visual input, in 20 VI infants (with no additional disabilities and who were receiving developmental counseling). In all but 1 of the SSPs coded, VI infants displayed observable attachment behavior that was classifiable. Nineteen VI infants showed attachment by 12 months of age. Across the ages tested (fractional age range = 0.9–2.33 months), most VI infants’ attachment patterns were classified as secure and organized.