Perceived Breast Development and Adolescent Girls’ Psychological Well-Being

This study, based on U.S. nationally-representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (8,593 13–18?year old girls), explored how perceived breast development was related to psychological well-being among adolescent girls including variations by age and race-ethnicity. It was hypothesized that greater breast development would detrimentally influence adolescent girls’ psychological well-being, although these associations were expected to be stronger for younger adolescent girls and for Whites. Results using multivariate regression analyses with robust standard errors showed that greater perceived breast development was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms for 13–15?year old White, African American (for self-esteem only), and Hispanic (for depressive symptoms only) girls. Although perceived breast development was not associated with 16–18?year old girls’ self-esteem, supplemental analyses found that 16–18?year old Asian American and White girls with considerable or little breast development had more depressive symptoms than those with some breast development. Menarche at a younger age, overweight BMI, perceptions of being overweight, and efforts to lose weight explained a substantial portion of these associations. This study shows that greater perceived breast development, particularly if it occurs at a younger age, is a risk factor for poorer psychological well-being among adolescent girls including racial-ethnic minorities.     

Parent-Reported Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Symptomatology in Preschool-Aged Children: Factor Structure, Developmental Change, and Early Risk Factors

Although Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has increasingly been studied in preschool-aged children, relatively few studies have provided a comprehensive evaluation of the factor structure and patterns of developmental changes in parent-reported ADHD symptomatology across the early childhood period. This study used confirmatory factor analyses to test for longitudinal measurement invariance of ADHD symptoms and semi-parametric finite mixture models to identify prototypic patterns of developmental changes in ADHD symptomatology from 3 to 5?years of age. Participants were 1155 children and their parents who participated in a prospective longitudinal study involving a representative sample of children who resided in six non-metropolitan counties in the United States. Results indicated that (1) ADHD symptomatology was best represented by a single latent factor that exhibited partial measurement invariance from 3 to 5?years of age, (2) 8.5?% of children exhibited sustained high levels of ADHD symptoms from age 3–5?years, and (3) a variety of risk factors differentiated children with sustained high from those with sustained low levels of ADHD, relatively few (most notably caregiver education) were able to differentiate children with sustained high levels of ADHD symptoms from all other groups. Children who exhibit persistent ADHD symptomatology across the early childhood period may define a clinically important group for etiologic research and/or early intervention efforts.     

Terror mismanagement: evidence that mortality salience exacerbates phobic and compulsive behaviors

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that cultural worldviews and self-esteem function to buffer humans from mortality-related anxiety. TMT research has shown that important behaviors are influenced by mortality salience (MS) even when they have no obvious connection to death. However, there has been no attempt to investigate TMT processes in anxious responding. The present research examines that question. In Study 1, compared to a control condition, MS increased anxious responding to spider-related stimuli, but only for participants who met criteria for specific phobia. In Study 2, compared to an aversive control condition, MS increased time spent washing hands, but only for those scoring high on a measure of compulsive hand washing (CHW). In Study 3, compared to a different aversive control condition, MS increased avoidance of a social interaction, but only for those scoring high on a measure of social interaction anxiety. The relevance of TMT in anxious responding is discussed.     

A descriptive study of facial expressions during Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessments

The facial expressions of 96 term and preterm neonates were recorded during the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment. The expressions that occurred most frequently during the neurological reflex items were interest, disgust, sadness, and crying. The predominant facial expression during the orienting items was that of interest. Although happy and surprised faces were more common during the orienting than the reflex items, they occurred very infrequently. Some of the reflex items elicited more negative expressions than others and some of the orienting items elicited more frequent expressions than others and some of the orienting items elicited more frequent expressions of interest than others, suggesting that facial expressions might reflect the degree to which the stimuli were experienced as pleasant or unpleasant and more or less interesting. Although the examiner's face and voice were more effective than inanimate stimuli in eliciting positive expressions in term neonates, the reverse was true for preterm neonates. Thus facial expressions may provide additional information on the degree to which neonates experience stimulation as pleasant/unpleasant and on individual differences in responsiveness to physical and social stimulation.     

Trajectory of development in adolescents and adults with autism

This article seeks to elucidate the trajectory of development in adolescents and adults with autism. Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional studies are reviewed to reveal the manifestation of and changes in the core symptoms of autism in adolescence and adulthood. Comparing children with adolescents and adults, modest degrees of symptom abatement and improvement in skills have been documented in multiple studies, as are increases in verbal and decreases in performance IQ. Nevertheless, most individuals do not attain normative outcomes in adulthood and continue to manifest significant degrees of symptomatology and dependency. However, a small sub-group (about 15%) has more favorable adult outcomes.     

Deliver us from evil: the effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush

According to terror management theory, heightened concerns about mortality should intensify the appeal of charismatic leaders. To assess this idea, we investigated how thoughts about death and the 9/11 terrorist attacks influence Americans' attitudes toward current U.S. President George W. Bush. Study 1 found that reminding people of their own mortality (mortality salience) increased support for Bush and his counterterrorism policies. Study 2 demonstrated that subliminal exposure to 9/11-related stimuli brought death-related thoughts closer to consciousness. Study 3 showed that reminders of both mortality and 9/11 increased support for Bush. In Study 4, mortality salience led participants to become more favorable toward Bush and voting for him in the upcoming election but less favorable toward Presidential candidate John Kerry and voting for him. Discussion focused on the role of terror management processes in allegiance to charismatic leaders and political decision making.     

Fatal attraction: the effects of mortality salience on evaluations of charismatic, task-oriented, and relationship-oriented leaders

A study was conducted to assess the effects of mortality salience on evaluations of political candidates as a function of leadership style. On the basis of terror management theory and previous research, we hypothesized that people would show increased preference for a charismatic political candidate and decreased preference for a relationship-oriented political candidate in response to subtle reminders of death. Following a mortality-salience or control induction, 190 participants read campaign statements by charismatic, task-oriented, and relationship-oriented gubernatorial candidates; evaluated their preferences for each candidate; and voted for one of them. Results were in accord with predictions. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.     

Children and adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis: emotional reactions, coping mechanisms, and self-esteem

The main aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship among emotional responses of children and adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis towards their physical state, the coping mechanisms they used, and their self-esteem and the treatment condition of their disorder, i.e., the use of a brace or not. 82 children and adolescents ages 7 to 17 years who were attending an outpatient scoliosis clinic were administered two questionnaires; one evaluated emotional and behavioral factors linked to coping with stressful situations, and the second assessed self-esteem. Analysis showed that, after adjusting for emotion-focused coping, general self-esteem, and age, the effect of the use of brace as a treatment technique on the participants' emotional reactions was not significant.     

The impact of letter detection on eye movement patterns during reading: Reconsidering lexical analysis in connected text as a function of task

A comparison was made between reading tasks performed with and without the additional requirement of detecting target letters. At issue was whether eye movement measures are affected by the additional requirement of detection. Global comparisons showed robust effects of task type with longer fixations and fewer word skippings when letter detection was required. Detailed analyses of target words, however, further showed that reading with and without letter detection yielded virtually identical effects of word class and text predictability for word-skipping rate and similar effects for different word viewing duration measures. The overall oculomotor pattern suggested that detection does not substantially shift normal reading movements in response to lexical cues and thereby indicated that detection tasks are informative about word and specifically word class processing in normal reading.