Peer network drinking predicts increased alcohol use from adolescence to early adulthood after controlling for genetic and shared environmental selection

Research consistently links adolescents' and young adults' drinking with their peers' alcohol intake. In interpreting this correlation, 2 essential questions are often overlooked. First, which peers are more important, best friends or broader social networks? Second, do peers cause increased drinking, or do young people select friends whose drinking habits match their own? The present study combines social network analyses with family (twin and sibling) designs to answer these questions via data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analysis of peer nomination data from 134 schools (n = 82,629) and 1,846 twin and sibling pairs shows that peer network substance use predicts changes in drinking from adolescence into young adult life even after controlling for genetic and shared environmental selection, as well as best friend substance use. This effect was particularly strong for high-intensity friendships. Although the peer-adolescent drinking correlation is partially explained by selection, the present finding offers powerful evidence that peers also cause increased drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Culturally-Modified Recruitment Strategies for Latino Families in Clinical Child Research: A Critical First Step

The goals of the current study were to develop and employ culturally-modified recruitment strategies utilizing flexibility and creativity to combat practical and cultural barriers to Latino participation in clinical child research, as well as to quantitatively examine individual and cultural factors related to the different recruitment strategies. In total, 45 Latino parents were successfully recruited and primarily included married mothers of Mexican origin with varied socioeconomic backgrounds. To address the first study goal, an initial culturally-modified recruitment strategy (i.e., postcard strategy, n = 23) was developed to combat both practical and cultural barriers; an augmented strategy (i.e., face-to-face strategy, n = 22) was later employed to further combat potential barriers. Unfortunately, neither strategy resulted in the desired sample size of 150 parents. To examine the second study goal, an exploratory, quantitative examination of individual and cultural factors related to the different strategies was conducted. In general, results suggested that there were differences in the demographics of the parents who responded to the different recruitment strategies, such that those recruited through the face-to-face strategy were more educated, more acculturated, and spoke more English than those recruited through the postcard strategy. Much needed future directions are discussed.     

Roles of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in the acquisition and expression of fat-conditioned flavor preferences in rats

Sugars and fats elicit innate and learned flavor preferences with the latter mediated by flavor-flavor (orosensory) and flavor-nutrient (post-ingestive) processes. Systemic dopamine (DA) D1 (SCH23390: SCH) and D2 (raclopride: RAC), but not opioid antagonists blocked the acquisition and expression of flavor-flavor preferences conditioned by sugars. In addition, systemic D1, but not D2 or opioid antagonists blocked the acquisition of flavor-nutrient preferences conditioned by intragastric (IG) sugar infusions. Given that DA antagonists reduce fat intake, the present study examined whether systemic D1 or D2 antagonists altered the acquisition and/or expression of conditioned flavor preferences (CFP) produced by pairing one novel flavor (CS+, e.g., cherry) with a 3.5% corn oil (CO: fat) solution relative to another flavor (CS-, e.g., grape) paired with a 0.9% CO solution. In an expression study, food-restricted rats were trained to drink either flavored 3.5% or 0.9% CO solutions on alternate days. Subsequent two-bottle tests with the CS+ and CS- flavors mixed in 0.9% CO solutions occurred 0.5h after systemic administration of vehicle (VEH), SCH (50-800 nmol/kg) or RAC (50-800 nmol/kg). The rats displayed a robust CS+ preference following VEH treatment (87-88%) the expression of which was attenuated by treatment with moderate doses of RAC, and to a lesser degree, SCH. In an acquisition study, six groups of rats received VEH, SCH (25, 50, 200 nmol/kg) or RAC (50, 200 nmol/kg) 0.5 h prior to 1-bottle training trials with CS+ flavored 3.5% and CS- flavored 0.9% (CS-) CO solutions. A seventh Limited VEH group was trained with its training intakes limited to that of the SCH and RAC groups. Subsequent two-bottle tests were conducted with the CS+ and CS- flavors presented in 0.9% CO without injections. Significant and persistent CS+ preferences were observed in VEH (75-82%), Limited VEH (70-88%), SCH25 (75-84%), SCH50 (64-87%), SCH200 (78-91%) and RAC200 (74-91%) groups. In contrast, the group trained with RAC50 displayed a significant initial CS+ preference (76%) which declined over testing to 61%. These data indicate limited DA D1 and D2 receptor signaling involvement in the expression and acquisition of a fat-CFP relative to previous robust effects for sugar-CFP.     

Question–behaviour effect: A randomised controlled trial of asking intention in the interrogative or declarative form

Objective: This study investigated the question–behaviour effect of measuring intention in the interrogative or declarative form combined or not with a measure of moral norm.

Design: A sample of 762 participants was randomised according to a 2?×?2 factorial design.

Main outcome measures: Cognitions were assessed at the baseline, and physical activity behaviour was self-reported three weeks later. Results: At baseline, there were no significant differences on the studied variables. An ANOVA showed a significant interaction effect between the two experimental conditions (p?=?0.04). Post-hoc contrast analyses showed that the interrogative intention-only condition significantly differed from the declarative intention-only (d?=?0.21, p?=?0.03) and interrogative intention?+?moral norm (d?=?0.22, p?=?0.03) conditions.

Conclusion: Results suggest that self-posed questions about a future action increases the likelihood of doing it when these questions are not accompanied by measures of moral norm. This provides support for using introspective self-talk to favour the adoption of behaviour.     

Couples’ Negative Interaction Behaviors and Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental health problem predisposing to dysfunctional interaction behaviors and negative couple outcomes. This study aimed to assess, through direct observation, the quality of relationships of couples in which women were diagnosed with BPD. The sample consisted of 28 couples in which the woman had BPD, and 82 community couples. Couples’ interactions were coded using three scales—withdrawal/ avoidance, dominance, and criticism/attack/conflict—from the Global Couple Interaction Coding System. Couples in which the women had BPD evidenced significantly more negative behaviors, particularly dominance behaviors, than community couples. Moreover, in BPD couples, women adopted Criticism/Attack/Conflict behaviors more frequently than men.     

Personality,Parental, and Media Influences on Aggressive Personality and Violent Crime in Young Adults

Debate remains regarding the interaction between predictor variables for aggression, including family environment, media violence, and personality. The current study examined the contributions of gender and personality, exposure to physical abuse and violence in the family, and exposure to media violence in both television and in video games on violent criminal activity. Data from young adults (n = 355) indicated that personality characteristics and direct physical abuse significantly predicted violent crime. Exposure to television and video game violence were not significant predictors of violent crime. These results elucidate the complex interplay between multiple factors related to the etiology of violent crime. These results also call into question the belief that media violence is involved in the etiology of violent crime.     

Love in cross-cultural perspective: Mozambique-France comparison

The study aimed to characterise the conceptualisation of love in Mozambique (a collectivist society) and France (an individualistic society) on three attributes: passion, intimacy, and commitment. The study sample comprised 310 Mozambican adults (females = 57%; age range = 18-64) and 220 French adults (females = 54%; age range = 18-64). They completed 27 information scenarios on passion, intimacy, and commitment. The data were analysed utilising mixed-method estimation of the variance accounted for by the three components of love. Results indicated that for the Mozambican participants passion was the most important factor (46%) in love expression, followed by commitment (37%), and intimacy (17%). For the French participants, passion was the most important factor (50%), followed by intimacy (28%), and commitment (22%). Across countries, the weight given to passion was reported to decline over age while the weight assigned to commitment was reported to increase with age.     

Psychometric quality supporting the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire

The goal of this study is to present the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire made up of 24 items that measure the 6 behavioral regulation factors expected by the self-determination theory developed by Deci and Ryan. Supporting evidence of conceptual equivalence and quality of the cultural and linguistic adaptation derive from the conciliation of different terms (experts and target population). Cognitive interviews and the fact that 94% of respondents provided complete answers and without aberrant response patterns support the feasibility of the questionnaire. A model of six correlated factors provided the best fit to the data in the confirmatory factor analysis, and 5 out of 6 subscales have acceptable internal consistency coefficients. The scores of the introjected, identified, and integrated regulation show more variability than the other ones. As expected, the 6 subscales show a graduation of direct correlation with the subjective vitality measure and an inverse correlation with competitive anxiety. The accumulation of evidence leads to the conclusion that the Spanish version is valid for use in sport psychology research.     

Self‐Ratings of Political Skill in Job Application: A within‐ and between‐subjects field experiment

Political skill is the ability to understand others and use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one's personal and/or organizational objectives. The Political Skill Inventory ( Ferris et al., 2005 ) assesses this talent, and has potential for use in personnel decision making. However, central organizational stakeholders are concerned about the distortion of self‐rating scores in job application; consequently, we examined the effects of a job application situation on self‐ratings of political skill in a field experiment with 205 job incumbents. The findings showed consistently that the relationship of self‐ratings of political skill and job performance ratings by supervisors (ρ=.30, p<.01) were not distorted in job application. Implications and limitations are discussed.