The relation between smoking-specific parenting and smoking trajectories of adolescents: How are changes in parenting related to changes in smoking?

In this study, we tested to what extent smoking-specific parenting and changes in parenting are related to adolescents’ smoking trajectories. Data were used from a four-wave prospective study including 428 adolescents (aged M = 15.2; SD = 0.60). Latent Class Growth Analyses were conducted to identify trajectories. Multinomial Logistic Regression Analyses were executed to examine the relations between parenting and class membership. Longitudinal cross-lagged models were tested to examine causal predominance between parenting and smoking. Four trajectories were found, consisting of Non-smokers, Increasers, Stable smokers and Decreasers. Quality of parental smoking-specific communication was strongly related to the membership in different trajectories. Along with the cross-lagged associations demonstrating that the quality of communication was predominantly related to future smoking rather than vice versa, these findings indicate that parents who talked about smoking in a constructive and respectful manner were more likely to have non-smoking children. In contrast, parents who talked often about smoking-related issues and increased these discussions over time were more likely to have smoking children; cross-lagged associations indicated that these findings could be best explained by children changing their parents. Having a non-smoking agreement was related to a lower risk in becoming a regular smoker.     

Prepotent response inhibition predicts treatment outcome in attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Objective: Inhibition deficits, including deficits in prepotent response inhibition and interference control, are core deficits in ADHD. The predictive value of prepotent response inhibition and interference control was assessed for outcome in a 10-week treatment trial with methylphenidate. Methods: Thirty-four children with ADHD (ages 8–12) received 10 weeks of methylphenidate treatment. At pretest prepotent response inhibition was assessed using the Stop-Signal Task; interference control was assessed using the Stroop Color-Word task. Methylphenidate was individually titrated to an optimal dose. Treatment outcome was assessed by parent- and teacher-rated ADHD behavior. Results: Only stop-signal reaction time of the Stop-Signal Task was a significant predictor of parent-rated levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity at outcome. Children with lower levels of inhibition showed worse outcome after 10 weeks of treatment, independent of medication dose. Conclusions: Low levels of prepotent response inhibition are associated with worse response to treatment with methylphenidate. Prepotent response inhibition may be an intermediate phenotypical predictor of treatment outcome.     

The past makes the present meaningful: nostalgia as an existential resource

The present research tested the proposition that nostalgia serves an existential function by bolstering a sense of meaning in life. Study 1 found that nostalgia was positively associated with a sense of meaning in life. Study 2 experimentally demonstrated that nostalgia increases a sense of meaning in life. In both studies, the link between nostalgia and increased meaning in life was mediated by feelings of social connectedness. Study 3 evidenced that threatened meaning increases nostalgia. Study 4 illustrated that nostalgia, in turn, reduces defensiveness following a meaning threat. Finally, Studies 5 and 6 showed that nostalgia disrupts the link between meaning deficits and compromised psychological well-being. Collectively, these findings indicate that the provision of existential meaning is a pivotal function of nostalgia.     

Suicides in users of mental health care services: treatment characteristics and hindsight reflections

The current study aims to describe the patient and treatment characteristics of a sample of 505 suicides by mental health care patients, and to determine how clinicians view the care provided and what they learned. The results indicate that the quality of mental health care for suicidal patients could be improved by focusing on communication among clinicians, continuity of care, suicide risk assessment procedures, and the involvement of relatives.     

Vacationers Happier,but Most not Happier After a Holiday

The aim of this study was to obtain a greater insight into the association between vacations and happiness. We examined whether vacationers differ in happiness, compared to those not going on holiday, and if a holiday trip boosts post-trip happiness. These questions were addressed in a pre-test/post-test design study among 1,530 Dutch individuals. 974 vacationers answered questions about their happiness before and after a holiday trip. Vacationers reported a higher degree of pre-trip happiness, compared to non-vacationers, possibly because they are anticipating their holiday. Only a very relaxed holiday trip boosts vacationers’ happiness further after return. Generally, there is no difference between vacationers’ and non-vacationers’ post-trip happiness. The findings are explained in the light of set-point theory, need theory and comparison theory.     

Do Automatic Self-Associations Relate to Suicidal Ideation?

Dysfunctional self-schemas are assumed to play an important role in suicidal ideation. According to recent information-processing models, it is important to differentiate between ‘explicit’ beliefs and automatic associations. Explicit beliefs stem from the weighting of propositions and their corresponding ‘truth’ values, while automatic associations reflect more simple associations in memory. Both types of associations are assumed to have different functional properties and both may be involved in suicidal ideation. Thus far, studies into self-schemas and suicidal ideation focused on the more explicit, consciously accessible traces of self-schemas and predominantly relied on self-report questionnaires or interviews. To complement these ‘explicit’ findings and more directly tap into self-schemas, this study investigated automatic self-associations in a large scale community sample that was part of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). The results showed that automatic self-associations of depression and anxiety were indeed significantly related to suicidal ideation and past suicide attempt. Moreover, the interactions between automatic self-depressive (anxious) associations and explicit self-depressive (anxious) beliefs explained additional variance over and above explicit self-beliefs. Together these results provide an initial insight into one explanation of why suicidal patients might report difficulties in preventing and managing suicidal thoughts.     

Mimicry for money: Behavioral consequences of imitation

Two experiments investigated the idea that mimicry leads to pro-social behavior. It was hypothesized that mimicking the verbal behavior of customers would increase the size of tips. In Experiment 1, a waitress either mimicked half her customers by literally repeating their order or did not mimic her customers. It was found that she received significantly larger tips when she mimicked her customers than when she did not. In Experiment 2, in addition to a mimicry- and non-mimicry condition, a baseline condition was included in which the average tip was assessed prior to the experiment. The results indicated that, compared to the baseline, mimicry leads to larger tips. These results demonstrate that mimicry can be advantageous for the imitator because it can make people more generous.