Factor structure of self-regulation in preschoolers: testing models of a field-based assessment for predicting early school readiness

The importance of early self-regulatory skill has seen increased focus in the applied research literature given the implications of these skills for early school success. A three-factor latent structure of self-regulation consisting of compliance, cool executive control, and hot executive control was tested against alternative models and retained as best fitting. Tests of model equivalence indicated that the model held invariant across Head Start and private child-care samples. Partial invariance was supported for age and gender. In the validity model, because of a substantial amount of shared variance among latent factors, we included a second-order factor explaining the two types of executive control. Higher order executive control positively predicted teacher report of learning behaviors and social competence in the classroom. These findings are discussed in light of their practical and theoretical significance.     

A two process memory-based account for mental and physical practice differences

The authors investigated the underlying processing structures for mental and physical practice. Participants mentally or physically performed 4 tasks during practice. Halfway through practice, 2 tasks were switched from mental to physical practice, or vice versa. After completing practice trials, participants performed 2 retention tests. The first retention test required memory retrieval and the second retention test reinstated the practice context and did not require memory retrieval. Measures of response initiation and execution showed discrepant findings suggesting that different processing structures underlie response initiation and execution during mental and physical practice. Findings for the switch conditions supported this interpretation suggesting that different neural structures may facilitate processing related to mental and physical practice.     

Candidate Effects on Election Outcomes: Political Skill,Campaign Efficacy,and Intentions in a British General Election

Integrating Social/Political Influence Theory with the Theory of Planned Behavior, we argue that personal resources (i.e., political skill, self-efficacy) enable political candidates to form more ambitious campaign intentions, and thus perform better in elections. We tested this model with a sample of political candidates (N = 225) campaigning in a British general election. Three months before polling day, candidates provided self-ratings of political skill, domain-specific self-efficacy (i.e., campaign efficacy), and personal campaign intentions during the campaign period. Our results demonstrated that political skill was positively related to campaign efficacy, and intentions, via campaign efficacy. We also found a significant indirect effect for political skill on electoral performance (i.e., percentage of the vote), through campaign efficacy and intentions. Implications of our results for understanding candidate effects in campaigns and future research are discussed.     

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL MEDIATORS OF WOMEN'S RAPE EXPERIENCES

Internal and external factors are examined as mediational processes and/or coping strategies that link four aspects of women's rape experiences to the initial and lasting effects on their post-rape adjustment, attitude toward sex and intimacy, and lifestyle changes to prevent future assaults. Data are from a multiethnic community sample of 55 women who had been victims of rape or attempted rape. A measured or observed variable simultaneous path analysis model was used to test the relationships among the traumatic circumstances, mediators, and outcome variables. More self-blame, high involvement of police or other agencies, a greater number of repeated rapes per incident, and severity of abuse predicted women's negative initial and lasting attitudes toward sex and intimacy. The implications of these findings are discussed as they relate to barriers in disclosing attempted and completed incidents of rape.     

Investigating the Meaning of Patient Ownership: An Exploratory Study of a Commonly Used Phrase within an Internal Medicine Department

Learning to assume responsibility or "ownership" for patient care is an important aspect of learning what it means to be a physician. To date, most of the research on patient ownership has focused on residents' understanding of what it means to own patients. This exploratory study explored third- and fourth-year students', residents, and attending physicians' understanding of the phrase "taking ownership of a patient." Data included participant observations and interviews that expanded over a five month period. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using psychological ownership as an analytical lens and latent content analysis as a method. Third-year students primarily understood the phrase to mean communicating with patients and their immediate team. Fourth-year students indicated it was an expectation to contribute to the management of patient care. Residents and faculty thought patient ownership included an emotional investment in patients. The phrase taking ownership of patients is understood differently depending on where participants are in their development, even though it is assumed there is a shared understanding across team members. Given the variability in understanding, educators should have explicit discussions with learners about commonly used concepts to help them develop sophisticated understandings and monitor their own development.