A Model of Intention to Participate in Parenting Interventions: The Role of Parent Cognitions and Behaviors

A wide range of factors, from perceived child behavior problems to sociocultural factors, have been identified as impacting the engagement of parents in parenting interventions. However, parents’ cognitions and behaviors have not been evaluated sufficiently to understand their role in initial parental engagement. The current study aimed to examine why some parents are more likely to want to participate in parenting programs and how their cognitions and behaviors are related to their intention to participate in future parenting interventions. We tested the hypothesised model of parental factors on intention to participate using structural equation modelling (SEM) in AMOS. This study (N = 6,733) analyzed existing data from the International Parenting Survey (IPS), a web-based tool developed to collect information about parents’ views on family and parenting at a population level in several countries. Results showed that parents’ coercive parenting, parental consistency, positive encouragement, relationship with their child, parental self-efficacy, psychological distress, and help-seeking behaviors were significantly related to their intention to participate in future parenting interventions. The structural model of parents’ cognitions and behaviors explained 16% of the variance in intention to participate. Although the current model explained a small but significant percentage of the variance, it expands existing understanding regarding parental cognitions and behaviors and their relationship to intention. Implications for further research and engagement practice are discussed.     

Satisfaction strength and intention to purchase a new product

This study examines the role of satisfaction strength on the correspondence between reported satisfaction and intention to purchase a new product. The market testing underlying this study analyzes the market opportunities for a novel prototype. The research was conducted at a central location with 239 randomly selected consumers. Results indicate that (un)certainty, ambivalence, and importance cognitions and feelings significantly moderate the relationship between reported satisfaction and individuals' intention to purchase. For example, the association between consumers' reported satisfaction level and purchasing intention of the new product is weaker as uncertainty increases. Significant moderated‐mediation and mediated‐moderation effects were also found with Structural Equation Modelling. Judgments of ambivalence moderate the satisfaction–purchasing intention relationship through the mediating effect of importance. (Un)certainty fully mediates the moderating effect of importance on the satisfaction–purchasing intention link. The research validates the usefulness of assessing the satisfaction strength concept and illustrates its potential as a better predictor of intentions than satisfaction level alone. The study argues on the nomological validity of the satisfaction construct and reveals that assessment of satisfaction strength should support the management goal of identifying truly satisfied customers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Physician Involvement in Torture: An Ethical Perspective

Evidence proves that physician involvement in torture is widely practiced in society. Despite its status as an illegal act as established by multiple international organizations, mandates are routinely unheeded and feebly enforced. Philosophies condemning and condoning torture are examined as well as physicians’ professional responsibilities and the manner in which such varying allegiances can be persuasive. Physician involvement in torture has proven detrimental to the core values of medicine and has tainted the field’s commitment to individuals’ health and well-being. Only when this complex issue is addressed using a multilevel approach will the moral rehabilitation of medicine begin.     

Screening for Muir-Torre Syndrome Using Mismatch Repair Protein Immunohistochemistry of Sebaceous Neoplasms

Screening for the Muir-Torre variant of Lynch Syndrome (LS) using Mismatch Repair (MMR) gene immunohistochemistry (IHC) on sebaceous neoplasms (SNs) is technically feasible. To date, research into the clinical utility of MMR IHC for this indication is limited. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 90 patients with MMR IHC completed on at least one SN from January 2005 to May 2010. SNs included were adenomas, epitheliomas, carcinomas and basal and squamous cell carcinomas with sebaceous differentiation. Of the 90 patients, 13 (14 %) had genetically confirmed or fulfilled clinical criteria for a diagnosis of MTS and 51 patients (57 %) presented with an abnormal MMR IHC result (loss of one or more MMR proteins) on at least one SN. Abnormal IHC had a sensitivity of 85 %, specificity of 48 %, positive predictive value (PPV) of 22 % and negative predictive value (NPV) of 95 % when evaluating for MTS. When personal or family history of colorectal cancer (≥2 family members with a history of colorectal cancer) was taken into consideration, ignoring IHC results, sensitivity was 92 %, specificity was 99 %, PPV was 92 % and NPV was 99 %. MMR IHC on SNs when used to screen for MTS has poor diagnostic utility. We recommend that MMR IHC not be performed routinely on SNs when the patient does not have either personal or family history of colorectal cancer.     

Object Size as a Determinant of Grasping in Infancy

The early development and patterns of development of prehensile ability were examined. Infants 5, 7, and 9 months old were presented five objects, 0.5, 1.0, 3.5, 7.0, and 14.0 cm in diameter. The findings revealed that infants as young as 5 months old were able to differentiate grip configurations as a function of object size. The number of grasps involving the two or three most radial digits (thumb, index finger, and long finger) increased greatly over this age span. At 9 months of age these kinds of grasps were 10 times more frequent than at 5 months of age. However, at each age level, when only the two or three most radial digits were used, the reaches were typically directed at the two smallest objects. These findings suggest that it was not a perceptual problem that the younger infants were facing, nor was the problem knowing when to use different kinds of grasps; rather, the problem was one of cortico-motoneural connections, which are better established in older infants. The findings also suggest that traditionally described sequential development of infants' prehension is rigid and conservative. The discrepancy with earlier results may also be attributed to the difference in the objects' sizes and the way they were presented.     

Achieving Population-Level Change Through a System-Contextual Approach to Supporting Competent Parenting

The quality of parenting children receive affects a diverse range of child and youth outcomes. Addressing the quality of parenting on a broad scale is a critical part of producing a more nurturing society. To achieve a meaningful population-level reduction in the prevalence rates of child maltreatment and social and emotional problems that are directly or indirectly influenced by parenting practices requires the adoption of a broad ecological perspective in supporting families to raise children. We make the case for adopting a multilevel, whole of population approach to enhance competent parenting and describe the essential tasks that must be accomplished for the approach to be successful and its effects measurable. We describe how a theoretically integrated system of parenting support based on social learning and cognitive behavioral principles can be further strengthened when the broader community supports parental participation. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Investigating the role of emotion during the search process in free recall

Typically, research has shown that emotional words are remembered better than neutral words; however, most studies have reported only the mean proportion of correctly recalled words. The present study looked at various dependent measures used by search models to determine whether emotion can influence the search process as well. The results from Experiment 2 showed that when emotionality was made salient, participants were able to utilize emotional associations, in addition to temporal associations, to cue retrieval of additional emotional words during subsequent sampling but relied mainly on temporal context when the emotional information was not made salient (Experiment 1). Additionally, both experiments showed that emotional words were more likely to be output earlier in the recall sequence, which would suggest that emotion also serves to boost relative strength during initial sampling. Overall, the results suggest that emotion contributes to enhanced memory dynamically by influencing the probability of sampling an item during the search process—specifically, by boosting relative strength and strengthening interitem associations.     

A second type of magnitude effect: Reinforcer magnitude differentiates delay discounting between substance users and controls

Basic research on delay discounting, examining preference for smaller–sooner or larger–later reinforcers, has demonstrated a variety of findings of considerable generality. One of these, the magnitude effect, is the observation that individuals tend to exhibit greater preference for the immediate with smaller magnitude reinforcers. Delay discounting has also proved to be a useful marker of addiction, as demonstrated by the highly replicated finding of greater discounting rates in substance users compared to controls. However, some research on delay discounting rates in substance users, particularly research examining discounting of small‐magnitude reinforcers, has not found significant differences compared to controls. Here, we hypothesize that the magnitude effect could produce ceiling effects at small magnitudes, thus obscuring differences in delay discounting between groups. We examined differences in discounting between high‐risk substance users and controls over a broad range of magnitudes of monetary amounts ($0.10, $1.00, $10.00, $100.00, and $1000.00) in 116 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers. We found no significant differences in discounting rates between users and controls at the smallest reinforcer magnitudes ($0.10 and $1.00) and further found that differences became more pronounced as magnitudes increased. These results provide an understanding of a second form of the magnitude effect: That is, differences in discounting between populations can become more evident as a function of reinforcer magnitude.     

A primer on the understanding of meta-analysis

ObjectivesThe purpose of the present paper is to provide a primer on the understanding of meta-analysis.Design and methodAfter presenting the rationale behind meta-analysis, the present paper defines statistical artifacts of sampling error and measurement.FindingsExamples show that statistical artifacts influence the correlation coefficient. The paper also explains the notions of confidence intervals and credibility intervals and how correlations corrected for sampling error and measurement error are calculated.ConclusionsThe paper concludes by explaining the notion of second-order sampling error and moderator meta-analysis.     

Interethnic Relations on Campus: Can't We All Get Along?

This study examined the ethnic climate and relationships between ethnic groups at 5 colleges. Data indicate that White and Latino students were the most comfortable interacting with other ethnic groups, whereas Asians students were the least comfortable. Furthermore, White students had a relatively positive view of the interracial climate in contrast to Black students who described their campuses as more hostile and uninviting.