The role of the hemispheres in closed loop movements

The purpose of these experiments was to determine if the two hemispheres play different roles in controlling closed loop movements. Subjects were asked to move to a narrow or wide target in the left or right hemispace. Reaction time (RT) was faster for the left arm of normals, only in the right hemispace, but there were no differences between arms in movement execution. Right but not left hemisphere stroke (CVA) patients showed longer RTs for the contralateral but not ipsilateral arm. The right CVA group's ipsilateral movement, especially to narrow targets was less accurate. The left CVA group's RT did not benefit from advanced information, but ipsilateral movement execution was normal. These results were discussed in terms of inter- as well as intrahemispheric control of programming and execution of closed loop movements.     

Who are your Neighbors? Neighbor Relationships and Subjective Well-Being in Japan

Supportive relationships with neighbors have been shown to positively predict indicators of subjective well-being. Using data from the 2010 Japanese General Social Survey, we examine how neighbor relationships predict subjective well-being. Japan presents an interesting case to examine this question when considering its highly institutionalized neighborhood associations. We find that controlling for the safety and amenity aspects of the neighborhood environment, supportive neighbor relationships significantly increase men and women’s life satisfaction, but such relationships have a significant positive effect only on men’s happiness. The effects of neighborhood relationships on life satisfaction and happiness are significantly larger for men. Moreover, we find that the social and safety aspects of the neighborhood reinforce each other to increase life satisfaction also only for men. Implications of the gendered pattern of these results are discussed for future research on the association between neighbor relationships and subjective well-being in Japan and beyond.

     

Academic Socialization Among Latino Families: Exploring the Compensatory Role of Cultural Processes

This study examines the relation of parent educational expectations, cultural socialization, and familism with academic adjustment among 150 Latino parent–adolescent dyads (81% Mexican origin; 79% were mothers). Adolescents (53% girls) responded to measures of school engagement, educational utility, parental educational expectations, cultural socialization, and familism. Results suggest that, after accounting for parents’ reported educational attainment, adolescents’ perceptions of academic and cultural socialization messages and their own endorsement of familism were uniquely related to school engagement; only parental educational expectations were uniquely related to beliefs about the utility of education. Cultural and academic socialization may thus complement each other.     

Family Conflict Moderates the Relation Between Negative Mood and Youth Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms

Higher negative (or lower positive) mood is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems among some, but not all youth, suggesting that contextual factors may influence these temperament-symptom relations. Family conflict also is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, although it is unclear whether family conflict influences the relation between negative mood and symptoms. To address this gap, we examined whether family conflict moderates the relations between temperamental negative mood and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Participants were 775 youth (69?% male, 76?% Caucasian). Mothers and youth completed questionnaires when youth were ages 10–12 (time 1) and 12–14 (time 2). When exposed to higher family conflict at time 1, children higher in negative mood experienced higher time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems than children lower in negative mood. When exposed to lower family conflict, children’s internalizing and externalizing symptom levels were similar regardless of their levels of negative mood. Findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing youth’s risk for internalizing and externalizing symptoms should address conflictual interactions within the larger family system, particularly among youth with higher negative mood.     

Taking liberties and making liberty: religious bounding and political violence in Sri Lanka

This paper argues that the relationship between religion and violent politics is best understood through a focus on religious practice. The case study of the Tamil Catholic Church within Sri Lanka's civil war is presented against a backdrop of Buddhist monk participation in violent insurgency decades earlier. The discrete cases evidence a common preoccupation with management of physical borders and discursive boundaries as actors seek to reproduce themselves and their work as legitimately ‘religious’. Despite relying on remaining ‘pure’ from the dirty political realm, in practice religion is bound to social action and reproduced through the violent circumstances it engages.     

Suicide and Suicidal Attempts in the United States: Costs and Policy Implications

The national cost of suicides and suicide attempts in the United States in 2013 was $58.4 billion based on reported numbers alone. Lost productivity (termed indirect costs) represents most (97.1%) of this cost. Adjustment for under‐reporting increased the total cost to $93.5 billion or $298 per capita, 2.1–2.8 times that of previous studies. Previous research suggests that improved continuity of care would likely reduce the number of subsequent suicidal attempts following a previous nonfatal attempt. We estimate a highly favorable benefit–cost ratio of 6 to 1 for investments in additional medical, counseling, and linkage services for such patients.     

Genetic causal beliefs about obesity,self-efficacy for weight control,and obesity-related behaviours in a middle-aged female cohort

Objective: Obesity is a heritable condition with well-established risk-reducing behaviours. Studies have shown that beliefs about the causes of obesity are associated with diet and exercise behaviour. Identifying mechanisms linking causal beliefs and behaviours is important for obesity prevention and control.

Design: Cross-sectional multi-level regression analyses of self-efficacy for weight control as a possible mediator of obesity attributions (diet, physical activity, genetic) and preventive behaviours in 487 non-Hispanic White women from South King County, Washington.

Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported daily fruit and vegetable intake and weekly leisure-time physical activity.

Results: Diet causal beliefs were positively associated with fruit and vegetable intake, with self-efficacy for weight control partially accounting for this association. Self-efficacy for weight control also indirectly linked physical activity attributions and physical activity behaviour. Relationships between genetic causal beliefs, self-efficacy for weight control, and obesity-related behaviours differed by obesity status. Self-efficacy for weight control contributed to negative associations between genetic causal attributions and obesity-related behaviours in non-obese, but not obese, women.

Conclusion: Self-efficacy is an important construct to include in studies of genetic causal beliefs and behavioural self-regulation. Theoretical and longitudinal work is needed to clarify the causal nature of these relationships and other mediating and moderating factors.     

Parent-report and performance-based measures of executive function assess different constructs

A total of 405 children of 5–18 years of age were administered performance-based and parent-report measures of executive function (EF), and measures of motor, attention, reading, and mathematics performance. Attention, reading, and mathematics abilities were associated with a parent-report measure of EF. Reading and mathematics abilities were also associated with performance-based measures of EF, including the Animal Sorting, Inhibition, and Response Set subtests of the Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment-II. In contrast, motor functioning was only associated with performance-based measures of EF. Findings suggest that different constructs of EF are measured by parent-report versus performance-based measures, and that these different constructs of EF are associated with different neurodevelopmental processes.