Longitudinal associations between hostility in adolescents' family relationships and friendships and hostility in their romantic relationships.

This study examined longitudinal predictors of hostility in adolescents' romantic relationships. The sample included 110 adolescents and their parents from 72 families. Observational measures of parents' marital hostility and parent-child hostility and self-reports of hostility in close friendships were collected when adolescents ranged from 14 to 16 years old. Three years later, when they were 17 to 19 years old, adolescents reported on the hostility in their romantic relationships. Results indicated that hostility in parents' marital relationships and in adolescents' friendships accounted for independent variance in hostility in adolescents' later romantic relationships. Results highlight the importance of both family relationships and friendships for predicting hostility in adolescents' romantic relationships over time.     

11Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 activity in medial vestibular nucleus and cerebellum after unilateral vestibular deafferentation in the rat

In the early stages of vestibular compensation (VC) (the behavioural recovery that follows unilateral vestibular deafferentation), neurons in the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) on the lesioned side develop a sustained up-regulation of their intrinsic excitability. This plasticity is dependent on the activation of glucocorticoid receptors, which presumably occurs during the acute stress response that accompanies the vestibular deafferentation symptoms. Recent studies have established that the access of glucocorticoids to their intracellular receptors in brain is potently modulated by 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1), which catalyses the generation of active glucocorticoids from their inert 11-keto forms. In this study, we investigated the presence of 11beta-HSD1 bioactivity, and possible changes in activity in the early stage after vestibular deafferentation, in the cerebellar nodulus and uvula, the flocculus/paraflocculus (F/PF) complex and the MVN of the rat. 11beta-HSD1 activity was found in each of these brain areas, with especially high levels of activity in the F/PF complex. No differences were found in the level of 11beta-HSD1 activity in these brain areas between control rats, sham-operated rats and rats that underwent VC for 4 h after unilateral vestibular deafferentation. These findings demonstrate 11beta-HSD1 bioactivity in the MVN and vestibulocerebellum, but exclude the possibility that changes in 11beta-HSD1 activity occur in the early period after deafferentation, over the time when changes in MVN neuronal properties take place.     

The role of structural prediction in rapid syntactic analysis

A number of recent electrophysiological studies of sentence processing have shown that a subclass of syntactic violations elicits very rapid ERP responses, occurring within around 200 ms of the onset of the violation. Such findings raise the question of how it is possible to diagnose violations so quickly. This paper suggests that very rapid diagnosis of errors is possible specifically in situations where the diagnosis problem is tightly constrained by specific expectations generated before the critical word is presented. In an event-related potentials (ERP) study of visual sentence reading participants encountered violations of a word order constraint (...Max's of...) that has elicited early ERP responses in previous studies. Across conditions the illicit sequence was held constant, while sentence context was used to manipulate the expectation for a noun following the possessor Max's, by manipulating the possibility of ellipsis of the head noun. Results showed that the anterior negativity elicited by the word category violation was attenuated when the availability of ellipsis reduced the expectation for a noun in the position of the offending preposition of, with divergence between conditions starting around 200 ms after the onset of the violation. This suggests a role for structural expectations in accounting for very fast syntactic diagnosis processes.     

Lateral preference profiles and right shift attempt histories of consistent and inconsistent left-handers

Differences in abilities and preferences exist between left-handers who both write and throw with their left hands (consistent left-handers) and those who write with their left hand but prefer to throw with their right (inconsistent left-handers). It is also known that many left-handers are pressured to switch to right-hand writing, and that these pressures can lead to a right shift attempt. The present study is the first to explore the joint effects of the consistent/inconsistent left-handedness dichotomy, right shift attempt history, and lateral preference profiles. Testing 379 Canadian adults between the ages of 18 and 94 indicated that, while both types of left-handers were equally likely to experience a right shift attempt, the inconsistent left-handers were more likely to successfully switch to right-hand writing. Further analyses revealed that throwing hand was more associated than writing hand with the direction of sidedness for a lateral preference index based upon eye, foot, and ear preferences. More specifically, right-hand throwers were much more likely to have a rightward lateral preference score than were left-hand throwers, regardless of current preferred writing hand. Overall, the results support an hypothesis that the left-handers who are least likely to submit to rightward switch pressures are those with the strongest, most consistent left-sided lateral preference profile.     

The BPQ: a scale for the assessment of borderline personality based on DSM-IV criteria

The aim of the study was to develop a self-report measure that assesses borderline personality traits as defined by DSM-IV criteria, including separate subscales for each criterion. A sample of normal subjects from community colleges in the midwestern region of the United States was used to develop the scale. The psychometric properties of the scale were examined using an additional United States sample and student samples from England and Australia. The scale was compared with existing measures of borderline and schizotypal personality. Evidence for the internal consistency and convergent and divergent validity of the new scale is presented. The results of several analyses of variance comparing males and females in the three national groups are reported. A Principal Components Analysis of the subscales suggested either a single factor or two correlated factors. Oblique rotation yielded a structure that distinguished identity/interpersonal and impulsivity borderline personality traits. It is concluded that the new scale provides a useful tool for clinicians and researchers interested in screening for borderline personality traits in both general and clinical populations. Suggestions for further research are indicated.     

Assessing positive and negative changes in the aftermath of adversity: psychometric evaluation of the changes in outlook questionnaire

The Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CiOQ; S. Joseph, R. Williams, & W. Yule, 1993) is a 26-item self-report measure that was designed to assess positive and negative changes in the aftermath of adversity. This article had 3 aims: 1st, to investigate the factor structure of the CiOQ; 2nd, to test for internal consistency reliability and convergent and discriminant validity; and, 3rd, to investigate the association between positive and negative changes in outlook, posttraumatic stress, and psychological distress. Three studies are reported. Study 1 provides evidence that positive and negative changes are statistically separable and that the 2-factor model is a better fit than the 1-factor model. Studies 2 and 3 provide evidence for internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the CiOQ, and its associations with posttraumatic stress and psychological distress. In conclusion, the CiOQ has much promise for research on responses to stressful and traumatic events.     

Dead end jobs or a path to economic well being? The consequences of non-standard work among people with disabilities

How do non-standard jobs affect the economic well-being of workers with disabilities, and what happens when non-standard workers use disability lawsuits to challenge discrimination and improve their economic opportunities? This study uses data from the Current Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and a Lexis search of legal cases to help answer these questions. Temporary employment, independent contracting, and part-time employment are almost twice as likely among workers with disabilities as among those without disabilities. Non-standard workers with disabilities receive lower pay and fewer benefits due both to the types of job they hold, and disability gaps within job types, which contribute to their high poverty rates. They would continue to have high poverty rates even if these pay gaps were eliminated, however, because they work fewer hours than non-standard workers without disabilities and are concentrated in lower-paying occupations. In attempting to improve their opportunities through disability lawsuits, non-standard workers prevail in only a small minority of cases. Several policy implications of the lawsuits and survey data are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.