Online racial discrimination and the protective function of ethnic identity and self-esteem for African American adolescents

A growing body of literature has shown that being victimized online is associated with poor mental health. Little is known about the factors that protect youth from the negative outcomes that may result from these victimization experiences, particularly those related to race. Using a risk and resilience framework, this study examined the protective function of ethnic identity and self-esteem among African Americans who experience online racial discrimination. For the sample of 125 adolescents, hierarchical regression results revealed that higher levels of ethnic identity and self-esteem significantly moderated the negative impact of online racial discrimination on anxiety levels. These findings show that ethnic identity and self-esteem can buffer the negative mental health outcomes associated with online racial discrimination, at least with respect to adolescents' anxiety. Findings from the current study have significant implications for adolescent adjustment given the increased time youth spend doing online activities.     

Measuring home advantage in Spanish handball

Since Pollard established the system for analysing home advantage in 1986, it has been demonstrated and quantified in various sports, including many team sports. This study aims to assess whether home advantage exists in handball, using a sample of more than 19,000 Spanish handball league games. Results of the games played at home and away, the sex of the players, and the levels of the competition were included as variables. In Spanish handball, there was a home advantage of 61%, which means, on average, the team playing at home wins 61% of points available. This value varies according to sex and according to competition level, increasing as competition level decreases and season rank improves.     

Prosodic Awareness Skills and Literacy Acquisition in Spanish

There has been very little research in Spanish on the potential role of prosodic skills in reading and spelling acquisition, which is the subject of the present study. A total of 85 children in 5th year of Primary Education (mean age 10 years and 9 months) performed tests assessing memory, stress awareness, phonological awareness, reading and spelling. In written language tests, errors were classified as phonological (grapheme-to-phoneme conversion rules) or stress-related (placement of the stress mark). Regression analyses showed that, once memory and phonological awareness were controlled, stress awareness partially explained reading and spelling performance as well as error type; however, differences were found between reading and spelling errors. These results show a relationship between prosodic skills--namely stress sensitivity--and the acquisition of reading and spelling skills that seems to be independent of phonological awareness skills.     

Maternal attachment representations and the development of very low birth weight premature infants at two years of age

There is a consensus that prematurity could increase the risk of attachment impairment. We studied 90 premature children with very low birth weights (<1,500 g) and 96 healthy children born at term with similar age and sociodemographic characteristics. Our objective was to assess maternal stress and attachment representations, and compare development indices on both groups at 2 years of age. Premature infants had a medium‐to‐severe degree of immaturity and biological risk (M gestational age = 29.98 weeks; birth weight = 1,159.76 g), with 57% staying in the ICU ≥1 week. These children born prematurely had lower scores on the development indices within the normal range. Mothers of premature infants (n = 74) reported higher levels of stress during their first year of life (59%) than did controls (41%), but no significant differences were detected in maternal attachment discourse between the two groups. The findings confirm that premature birth has a great influence on maternal emotional responses and the health and development of children in the first years of life, and indicate that stress responses in parents and warning signs for attachment problems should be assessed as early as possible.     

Ingestive behavior in rat pups is modified by maternal sodium depletion

Developmental programming by maternal stress during pregnancy is found to influence behavioral development in the offspring. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of maternal sodium depletion in rats during pregnancy on the development of thirst mechanisms in the offspring. Pregnant rats underwent 3 episodes of saline depletion, induced by injecting sc 10 mg of Furosemide in saline (0.5 ml). The treatment, given on the 14th, 17th and 20th days post-conception, is thought to induce acute sodium depletion on dams. The offspring were tested for their drinking responses to Isoproterenol (500 μg/kg sc). In accordance to the known sequence of ontogenic development of drinking mechanisms, all groups of pups drunk after being stimulated with Isoproterenol at 6 days of age. The offspring from Furosemide-treated dams drank significantly less than the control group after Isoproterenol (p<0.001). Nevertheless, basal intake (water drunk after vehicle-saline only) was also significantly lower in these pups (p<0.001). In conclusion, offspring exposed to saline depletion in utero, modify their thirst responses at 6 day of age. This confirms that in utero conditions determine thirst responses in the offspring and they could provide adaptive advantages.     

Effect of the violation of normality and sphericity in the linear mixed model in split-plot designs

This study aimed to evaluate the robustness of the linear mixed model, with the Kenward-Roger correction for degrees of freedom, when implemented in SAS PROC MIXED, using split-plot designs with small sample sizes. A Monte Carlo simulation design involving three groups and four repeated measures was used, assuming an unstructured covariance matrix to generate the data. The study variables were: sphericity, with epsilon values of 0.75 and 0.57; group sizes, equal or unequal; and shape of the distribution. As regards the latter, non-normal distributions were introduced, combining different values of kurtosis in each group. In the case of unbalanced designs, the effect of pairing (positive or negative) the degree of kurtosis with group size was also analysed. The results show that the Kenward-Roger procedure is liberal, particularly for the interaction effect, under certain conditions in which normality is violated. The relationship between the values of kurtosis in the groups and the pairing of kurtosis with group size are found to be relevant variables to take into account when applying this procedure.     

Assessing the five factors of personality in adolescents: the junior version of the Spanish NEO-PI-R

This article presents the development of a junior version of the Spanish (Castilian) NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (JS NEO) suitable for adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The psychometric properties of the new JS NEO were investigated using two samples of 2,733 and 983 adolescents in Spain. The results showed that the adult NEO-PI-R factor structure was replicated with the junior version of the inventory and that the reliabilities of the scales were adequate. The cross-form correlations between the junior and the adult versions of the questionnaires indicated good equivalence indices. Furthermore, a joint factor analysis of the JS NEO and the Big Five Questionnaire-Children (BFQ-C) provided additional evidence for the construct validity of the JS NEO.     

Effect of effort and deadlines on consumer product returns

While extant research has examined return policies as a combination of time and effort, we investigate both the independent and interactive impacts of time and effort on consumer decisions to return or retain products. We find that decreasing return deadlines can have the counterintuitive effect of increasing return rates under some conditions. Using construal level theory, we propose that perceived effort (both physical and cognitive) mediates the effect of return policy on return rates leading to suppressed returns. Further, when deadlines are framed as durations between store visits, overall product returns are exacerbated except when perceived effort is high.     

Relationship between physical prowess and cognitive function

There is some evidence about the low relationship between physical prowess and cognitive function (Posthuma, Mulder, Boomsma & de Geus, 2002). The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between cognitive variables (spatial ability, reasoning, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and reasoning and verbal comprehension) and physical prowess in sport performance (agility circuit, coordination circuit, horizontal jump, swimming and sprint racing). Two studies were performance. In the first one we applied a battery of standardized cognitive tests and a battery of physical grading tests to 400 subjects. When we applied factor analysis to the physical prowess and the cognitive variables, we found one general factor in cognitive variables and one general factor in physical prowess. We found a low relationship between both factors (.21). In the second study we compare the cognitive abilities in elite and amateur sport people. Results show that elite gymnastics people present higher cognitive abilities than amateur sportspeople. It should be relevant in order to clarify the total set of variables involved in sport performance.     

Interparental violence and children's long-term psychosocial adjustment: the mediating role of parenting practices

The objectives of this study were: (a) to examine the direct and indirect relationships among witnessing interparental violence, parenting practices, and children's long-term psychosocial adjustment; (b) to analyze the possible gender differences in the relationships specified. The sample consisted of 1295 Spanish university students (M age = 21.21, SD = 4.04). We performed statistical analyses using structural equation modeling. The results showed that witnessing parental violence as a child is related to poor long-term psychosocial adjustment during the child's adult years. Furthermore, we found that parenting practices fully mediated the relation between witnessing interparental violence and the child's long-term adjustment. The multigroup analyses showed that most of the relations among the variables did not differ significantly by gender. However, the relation between harsh discipline and antisocial behavior was stronger for males, whereas the relation between harsh discipline and depressive symptoms was stronger for females. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for the clinicians and specialists who plan and develop intervention programs for populations at risk.