Factor Structure and Discriminative Validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory With Young Children

This study examined the factor structure and discriminative validity of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) with community-based and clinic-referred samples of young children (2–6 years). In the community sample, confirmatory factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure with components reflecting Inattentive, Oppositional Defiant, and Conduct Problem Behavior. In the clinic sample, component scores differentiated children with specific behavior problems from children without significant externalizing symptoms. However, component scores did not differentiate within the externalizing spectrum. The data suggest that ECBI components may be useful to screen community-based and clinic-referred young children for externalizing symptoms, but may be less useful to identify children with specific behavior problems.     

The relationships between parenting stress,parenting behaviour and preschoolers' social competence and behaviour problems in the classroom

Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively influences parenting behaviour, which in turn has been shown to impact children's development. This study examined the direct relationship between parenting stress and children's behaviour in two types of preschool programmes: private day care centres and Head Start. Parenting stress was significantly related to teacher ratings of social competence, internalizing behaviours, and externalizing behaviours, and the effects of parenting behaviour do not appear to mediate this relationship. Parenting stress was most strongly related to children's social competence. Parents' reports of expectations for their child's behaviour appear to weakly moderate the relationship between externalizing behaviour and parenting stress. This study suggests that examination of a parent's level of stress, in addition to parenting practices, may be important in research and interventions with preschool children's behaviour and social competence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Loving styles: relationships with personality and attachment styles

We investigated the ability of the major personality dimensions, some of their underlying facet scales, and attachment styles to predict primary and secondary loving styles, as conceptualized by Lee. Personality was assessed using the International Personality Item Pool, and attachment styles through an inventory devised by Collins and Read. Respondents were 302 undergraduate students (212 females; 90 males) who participated in the study in exchange for course credit. Results of regression path analysis showed that N was the only personality dimension without direct predictive links to loving styles. Instead, the influence of N was through an anxious attachment style. There were no personality predictors of Agape, and similarities were also observed between these results and those obtained in Hong Kong. The results are discussed with reference to previous studies and some suggestions for further research are also noted. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Choosing How to Choose: Institutional Pressures Affecting the Adoption of Personnel Selection Procedures

The gap between science and practice in personnel selection is an ongoing concern of human resource management. This paper takes Oliver's framework of organizations' strategic responses to institutional pressures as a basis for outlining the diverse economic and social demands that facilitate or inhibit the application of scientifically recommended selection procedures. Faced with a complex network of multiple requirements, practitioners make more diverse choices in response to any of these pressures than has previously been acknowledged in the scientific literature. Implications for the science‐practitioner gap are discussed.     

From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding

Connecting deeply with another mind is as enigmatic as it is fulfilling. Why people “click” with some people but not others is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. However, researchers from psychology and neuroscience are converging on a likely physiological basis for connection – neural synchrony (entrainment). Here, we review research on the necessary precursors for interpersonal synchrony: the ability to detect a mind and resonate with its outputs. Further, We describe potential mechanisms for the development of synchrony between two minds. We then consider recent neuroimaging and behavioral evidence for the adaptive benefits of synchrony, including neural efficiency and the release of a reward signal that promotes future social interaction. In nature, neural synchrony yields behavioral synchrony. Humans use behavioral synchrony to promote neural synchrony, and thus, social bonding. This reverse‐engineering of social connection is an important innovation likely underlying this distinctively human capacity to create large‐scale social coordination and cohesion.     

Short-term memory performances during sustained wakefulness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

Both working and immediate memories were assessed every 4h by specific short-term memory tasks over sustained wakefulness in 12 patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and 10 healthy controls. Results indicated that OSAHS patients exhibited lower working memory performances than controls on both backward digit span and complex Sternberg tasks. Speed and accuracy on Sternberg tasks were affected by memory load in both groups. However, immediate memory was not impaired in OSAHS patients. Diurnal and nocturnal SaO(2) were correlated with speed and accuracy high-speed memory scanning performance on Sternberg tasks in patients. These results suggest specific working memory deficits associated with OSAHS over sustained wakefulness with a possible deficiency in the central executive responsible for the higher information processing, in addition to a potentially insufficient storage capacity. Among OSAHS patients, working memory ability involved in high-speed memory scanning may be impaired by chronic hypoxemia.     

The influence of relational complexity and strategy selection on children's reasoning in the Latin Square Task

The present study focused on children's deductive reasoning when performing the Latin Square Task, an experimental task designed to explore the influence of relational complexity. Building on Birney, Halford, and Andrew's (2006) research, we created a version of the task that minimized nonrelational factors and introduced new categories of items. The results of two experiments conducted with school-aged children yielded an apparent dilution of complexity effects and suggest that specific inferential strategies can reduce the relational complexity that children need to process. A theoretical account is proposed emphasizing the influence of adaptive selection of strategies that mediate processing capacity constraints in reasoning development.