Palatability of food as a factor influencing obese and normal-weight children''s eating habits

The type and amount of food leftover from school lunches by normal-weight and obese elementary school children was examined for its similarity to the pattern reported by Krassner et al. (1979) in a study of normal-weight and obese college students. In this study 102 observations of children between the ages of 9–11, were taken over eight lunch periods in their school cafeteria. Overall, the normal-weight children left only slightly more food uneaten than did the obese children. However, when food palatability was examined, it was found that normal-weight children left over twice as much palatable food as did obese children. Children did not differ on the amount of unpalatable food left uneaten.

These results suggest that Krassner et al.'s observation that obese adults leave less food on their plates may be extended to children and, further, that like obese adults, obese children may be more influenced by the palatability of food than their normal-weight peers.     

Why egalitarianism might be good for your health: physiological thriving during stressful intergroup encounters

We compared how evaluations by out-group members and evaluations by in-group members affected participants' stress responses--their neuroendocrine reactivity, cognitive appraisals, and observed anxiety--and how participants' implicit racial bias moderated these responses. Specifically, White participants completed measures of racial bias prior to the experiment. During the experiment, participants performed speech and serial subtraction tasks in front of White or Black interviewers. Several saliva samples were obtained, and they were assayed for catabolic ("breaking down") and anabolic ("building up") hormones. Interviewers' race and participants' racial bias interacted in predicting stress responses. When interviewers were Black, lower racial bias was linked with more salutary stress responses: lower threat appraisals, less anxiety, and increased levels of anabolic hormones. When interviewers were White, no effect was found for threat appraisals or anabolic hormones, and the reverse effect was observed for anxiety. Egalitarianism may have physical and psychological benefits for people living in a diverse society.     

THE DEPENDENCY NEEDS AND PERCEIVED AVAILABILITY AND ADEQUACY OF RELATIONSHIPS IN FEMALE ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

Traditional theories about female adolescent suicide attempters view them as experiencing difficulty in achieving adequate separation-individuation. However, recent work on female adolescence suggests that achieving greater interdependency within relationships rather than increased independence from them is an important goal for nonclinical nonsuicidal female adolescents. We investigated both dependency needs and the perceived availability and adequacy of relationships in 21 female adolescent attempters and 23 nonattempters. Dependency needs did not significantly differentiate suicide attempters from nonattempters. Attempters, however, did report both a smaller social network and fewer intimate relationships than nonattempters, as well as less satisfaction with these relationships. These preliminary results suggest that more research is required to establish whether dependency needs are indeed causally related to the female adolescents' suicide attempts. Future research should also investigate other risk factors such as relational dissatisfaction, familial suicide attempts, and abuse.     

Personality, Social Networks, and Perceived Social Support among Alcoholics: A Structural Equation Analysis

ABSTRACT In this study we tested relations among personality characteristics, social network properties, and perceived social support both concurrently and prospectively. A sample of 294 men in treatment at a Department of Veterans Affairs Alcohol Treatment Unit was assessed during treatment and 3 months after discharge. Results of the cross-sectional structural equation analyses indicated that the personality characteristics of extraversion and neu-roticism were related to both social network properties and perceived social support. Characteristics of the alcoholic's social network were also related to perceived availability of support. Longitudinal analyses of perceived social support after treatment indicated that two social network properties (size of the network and the proportion of confidants) were predictive net of initial levels of social support. Extraversion and neuroticism were found to be indi-rectly related to perceived social support at Time 2 through their effects on social network properties and perceived social support during treatment. Implications of these findings for models of the nature and determinants of perceived social support are discussed.     

Symptoms of Depression Among Caribbean Women and Caribbean-Canadian Women

This study compared an immigrant sample of Caribbean-Canadian women ( n = 20) and a sample of women living in the Caribbean ( n = 20) on the following variables: dominant domain of meaning (defined as that aspect of the participant's life from which she derives primary meaning for her sense of self); self-silencing (defined as the tendency to silence one's thoughts and feelings; Jack, 1991); and symptoms of depression. Results revealed that the Caribbean women were more likely to report relational domains of meaning as primary ( e.g. , family, friendships, intimate relationships), while the Caribbean-Canadian women were more likely to report domain of self-nurturance as primary ( e.g. , career goals, spirituality). Furthermore, univariate analysis revealed that the Caribbean-Canadian women reported higher levels of self-silencing and depressive symptoms, and derived less meaningfulness from their primary domains of meaning compared to the Caribbean women. These findings suggest that the immigrant experience may be a factor in women's emotional well-being.     

The role of pattern recognition in children's exact enumeration of small numbers

Enumeration can be accomplished by subitizing, counting, estimation, and combinations of these processes. We investigated whether the dissociation between subitizing and counting can be observed in 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds and studied whether the maximum number of elements that can be subitized changes with age. To detect a dissociation between subitizing and counting, it is tested whether task manipulations have different effects in the subitizing than in the counting range. Task manipulations concerned duration of presentation of elements (limited, unlimited) and configuration of elements (random, line, dice). In Study 1, forty‐nine 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds were tested with a computerized enumeration task. Study 2 concerned data from 4‐, 5‐, and 6‐year‐olds, collected with Math Garden, a computer‐adaptive application to practice math. Both task manipulations affected performance in the counting, but not the subitizing range, supporting the conclusion that children use two distinct enumeration processes in the two ranges. In all age groups, the maximum number of elements that could be subitized was three. The strong effect of configuration of elements suggests that subitizing might be based on a general ability of pattern recognition.     

Temperament, distraction, and learning in toddlerhood

The word- and nonword-learning abilities of toddlers were tested under various conditions of environmental distraction, and evaluated with respect to children's temperamental attentional focus. Thirty-nine children and their mothers visited the lab at child age 21-months, where children were exposed to fast-mapping word-learning trials and nonlinguistic sequential learning trials. It was found that both word- and nonword-learning were adversely affected by the presentation of environmental distractions. But it was also found that the effect of the distractions sometimes depended on children's level of attentional focus. Specifically, children high in attentional focus were less affected by environmental distractions than children low in attentional focus when attempting to learn from a model, whereas children low in attentional focus demonstrated little learning from the model. Translationally, these results may be of use to child health-care providers investigating possible sources of cognitive and language delay.     

Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action in the United States and Canada

Attitudes toward affirmative action programs were investigated using a U.S. sample, an English speaking Canadian sample, and a French speaking Canadian sample. Results indicate that cultural influences in the form of individualism-collectivism were small but that ethnic and linguistic memberships were major influences on attitudes toward those programs.     

The development of English speech patterns of a 7-year-old Polish-speaking child

The silent period hypothesis was investigated by examining the speech development of AO, a Polish-speaking child, who emigrated to the U.S. at age 7 years, 5 months, and placed in the second grade of a rural Missouri school district in which there was no instruction of English as a second-language. AO was observed for 6 years, 8 months, in order to study the development of his English speech patterns. During this interval, recordings were made of five sentences produced by AO at five different age points and with recordings from a control group of native and nonnative speakers were rated by native American speakers. AO's accent showed a gradual decline during the first year of residence, receiving a rating of near-native speech. By age 14 years, 6 months, he was rated as having native speech performance. Observations of his language, social, and school development indicated that AO remained essentially silent during the first 6 months, using two- and three-word sentences only when necessary, that his social development was normal, and that his school achievement was not impeded by his placement in the grade level appropriate for his age. The conclusion was reached that AO's silent period experience contributed significantly to his development of English speech patterns.