The developmental ecology of urban males' youth violence

Data from a longitudinal study of 294 African American and Latino adolescent boys and their caregivers living in poor urban communities were used to test a developmental-ecological model of violence. Six annual waves of data were applied to evaluate the relations between microsystem influences of parenting and peer deviance (peer violence and gang membership), macrosystem influences of community structural characteristics and neighborhood social organization, and individual involvement in violence (level and growth). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that community structural characteristics significantly predicted neighborhood social processes. Parenting practices partially mediated the relation between neighborhood social processes and gang membership. Parenting practices was fully mediated in its relation to peer violence by gang membership. Gang membership was partially mediated by peer violence level in its relation to individual violence level. Although the overall set of relations does not satisfy mediation requirements fully in all instances, the model was validated for the most part, supporting a focus on a multilevel ecological model of influences on risk development.     

Latent growth curve analyses of accelerating decline in cognitive abilities in late adulthood

Latent growth models were applied to data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging to discover if the rate of change in cognitive performance increased from middle age to later adulthood. The sample included 590 participants aged 44 to 88 years at first measurement. Data were gathered at 2 follow-up occasions at intervals of 3 years. Cognitive ability was assessed through 11 tests that tapped crystallized, fluid, memory, and spatial abilities and perceptual speed. Results indicated stability for measures of crystallized ability, linear age changes for many cognitive abilities, and a significant acceleration in linear decline after age 65 for measures with a large speed component. Gender differences were found only in mean level, not in rate of decline.     

Pathways to violence in the children of mothers who were depressed postpartum

The impact of postnatal depression on a child's risk for violent behavior was evaluated in an urban British community sample (N=122 families). Mothers were interviewed during pregnancy, at 3 months postpartum, and when the child was 1, 4, and 11 years of age. Mothers, teachers, and children reported on violent symptoms at age 11. Structural equation modeling revealed that the child's violence was predicted by the mother's postnatal depression even when her depression during pregnancy, her later history of depression, and family characteristics were taken into account. Violence was associated with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and problems with anger management. Children were most violent if mothers had been depressed at 3 months and at least once thereafter.     

Brief training to promote the use of less intrusive prompts by nursing assistants in a dementia care unit

We evaluated the efficacy of a brief staff-training procedure to increase the use of graduated prompting by 2 certified nursing assistants (CNAs) while they helped to dress 3 persons with dementia in a seven-bed dementia care unit. The multiple baseline design across participants showed that CNAs dressed residents with minimal resident involvement during baseline observations. Following brief in-service training, CNAs provided graduated prompts and praise appropriately, suggesting that CNAs can promote active involvement in personal care routines by older adults with dementia.     

Sex differences in the effect of articulatory or spatial dual-task interference during navigation

Women are more likely to employ landmark-based strategies when navigating, and they are superior at employing this type of strategy. The cause of this sexually dimorphic behaviour is unknown. Seventy-nine undergraduates performed a matrix navigation task wherein the symbols within the matrix were highly nameable. Participants were either given landmark-based or Euclidean-based instructions for navigation within the matrix. During navigation, participants were subjected to either articulatory or spatial interference. The articulatory interference selectively impaired women's ability to navigate correctly, regardless of the type of instruction. The performance of the men was not affected differentially by the two types of interference. When given a test of symbol recognition following the navigation task, women recognized more of the symbols employed in the task. Collectively, this result suggests that women rely on linguistic information more than men do when navigating, regardless of the type of instruction.     

Cross-modal and non-sensory influences on auditory streaming

Carlyon et al (2001 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 27 115-127) have reported that the buildup of auditory streaming is reduced when attention is diverted to a competing auditory stimulus. Here, we demonstrate that a reduction in streaming can also be obtained by attention to a visual task or by the requirement to count backwards in threes. In all conditions participants heard a 13 s sequence of tones, and, during the first 10 s saw a sequence of visual stimuli containing three, four, or five targets. The tone sequence consisted of twenty repeating triplets in an ABA - ABA ... order, where A and B represent tones of two different frequencies. In each sequence, three, four, or five tones were amplitude modulated. During the first 10 s of the sequence, participants either counted the number of visual targets, counted the number of (modulated) auditory targets, or counted backwards in threes from a specified number. They then made an auditory-streaming judgment about the last 3 s of the tone sequence: whether one or two streams were heard. The results showed more streaming when participants counted the auditory targets (and hence were attending to the tones throughout) than in either the 'visual' or 'counting-backwards' conditions.     

Decoding digit symbol: speed,memory, and visual scanning

The authors evaluated the relative contributions of speed, memory, and visual scanning to Digit Symbol score in a sample of young adults (N = 87). Speed (Symbol Copy) explained 35% of Digit Symbol variance; only half of this was attributable to graphomotor speed (Name Printing), implying a role for perceptual speed. Visual-scanning tests (e.g., Symbol Scan) explained (on average) 34% of Digit Symbol variance, much of which was independent of perceptual-motor speed, establishing an important role for visual-scanning efficiency in Digit Symbol performance. By contrast, memory tests (on average) explained only 4% to 5% of Digit Symbol variance: statistically significant but clearly subsidiary, although a visual memory composite correlated more strongly with Digit Symbol. The Digit Symbol incidental learning procedures did, however, correlate moderately with other memory measures, suggesting that they are valid memory screening devices.     

Wisdom and Life Experience: How Grandfathers Mentor Their Grandchildren

This exploratory study uses qualitative methods to focus on the largely unexamined role of the grandfather and to examine men's experiences as grandfathers. We gathered information through both surveys and individual interviews to explore men's feelings and attitudes toward the grandfather role. Of the 51 grandfathers that completed a survey, 20 participated in interviews. Our examination of the data collected reveals the life lessons men teach their grandchildren. The grandfathers in this study expressed strong desires for purposeful involvement in their grandchildren's lives and indicated desires for transferring values to grandchildren and teaching interpersonal relationships. Through this involvement, they educate through life experiences and serve as mentors for their grandchildren. We suggest that this mentoring role makes a positive contribution to the lives of grandchildren and to the identity of grandfathers.     

Pancultural Gender Stereotypes Revisited: The Five Factor Model

Williams and Best's (1982, 1990a) cross-culturalgender stereotype data from 25 countries, previouslyanalyzed in terms of affective meanings, ego states, andpsychological needs, were re-analyzed in terms of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality.In each country, participants were approximately 100university students, equally divided by gender. Withresults averaged across all countries, it was found that the pancultural male stereotype was higherthan the pancultural female stereotype on Extraversion,Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness toExperience while the pancultural female stereotype was higher on Agreeableness. Re-analysis of thestereotype data from Japan and Pakistan, which had beenfound relatively atypical in previous analyses, revealedFFM profiles generally similar to the pancultural profiles. The evaluative nature of each factoris discussed and related to the stereotypes associalization models.