A longitudinal twin study of the genetic and environmental etiology of maternal hostile-reactive behavior during infancy and toddlerhood

Children's negative characteristics are thought to be a factor in evoking hostile parenting responses. This can result in genotype/environment correlations (rGE) in which children's heritable traits influence the parenting they experience. We did genetic analyses on 292 mothers' self-reported hostile-reactive behaviors toward each of their twins at 5, 18 and 30 months. Finding heritability for a parenting behavior analyzed as a child phenotype is evidence of rGE correlation. The heritability of maternal behavior was modest (29% at 5 months, 0% at 18 months, and 25% at 30 months) and longitudinal analyses indicated that genetic factors at 5 and 30 months were uncorrelated. Common environment factors, probably reflecting characteristics of the mothers, were the main source of variance at the three ages and were highly correlated through time. We concluded that children's heritable characteristics evoked maternal negative response at specific times, but were not responsible for the stability of maternal hostility from infancy to toddlerhood.     

Aging and strategic retrieval in a cued-recall test: the role of executive functions and fluid intelligence

Cued-recall in episodic memory was investigated in relation to low and high cognitive support at retrieval, executive function level and fluid intelligence level in 81 healthy adults divided first into two age groups (young and elderly adults). The first analyses showed that age-related differences were greater when a low cognitive support was provided to recall the words. An individual index of loss of performance when the number of cues was decreased was then calculated. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the executive functions measure (perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) was a better candidate than the fluid intelligence measure (Cattell's culture fair test) to account for the age-related variance of the size of performance loss. These findings suggest that age differences in implementing strategic retrieval may be mainly due to a decline in executive functions.     

Suicide by jumping and accessibility of bridges: results from a national survey in Switzerland

Rates of suicide by jumping show large regional differences. Barriers on bridges may prevent suicides but also may lead to a substitution of jumping site or method. The aim of our study was to compare suicide data from regions with and without suicide bridges and to estimate the effects on method and site substitution if bridges were to be secured. In a national survey, suicide data for the years 1990 to 2003 were collected. Regions with high rates of bridge suicides were identified and compared with regions with low rates, and the analysis revealed that only about one third of the individuals would be expected to jump from buildings or other structures if no bridge was available. The results suggest no method substitution for women. For men, a trend of a substituting jumping by overdosing in regions without suicide bridges was found. We conclude that restricted access to suicide bridges will not automatically lead suicidal individuals to choose another jumping site or suicide method. The results support the notion that securing bridges may save lives.     

Drive for thinness, affect regulation and physical activity in eating disorders: a daily life study

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment, the within patient associations between drive for thinness, emotional states, momentary urge to be physically active and physical activity were studied in 32 inpatients with an eating disorder. Participants received an electronic device and had to indicate at nine random times a day during 1 week their momentary drive for thinness, positive and negative emotional states and their urge to be physically active and physical activity. Multilevel analyses indicated that patients with higher mean levels for urge to be physically active were characterized by lower body mass index (BMI) and chronically negative affect whereas patients with higher mean levels for physical activity were characterized by lower BMI and higher dispositions for drive for thinness. In addition, within patient relations between drive for thinness and urge to be physically active were moderated by BMI and chronically negative affect whereas within patient relations between drive for thinness and physical activity were moderated by BMI. Finally, also positive emotional states were significantly associated with physical activity within patients. By using a daily process design, characteristics of physical activity were revealed that have not been identified with assessment methods that have a lower time resolution.     

Development of a parent training program for children with pervasive developmental disorders

Parent delivered interventions based on applied behavior analysis (ABA) for children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) have been evaluated using primarily single‐subject design methodology or small case series. While the results of these evaluations are encouraging, an important next step is to standardize the interventions to allow for replication across sites, in studies with large samples and measures of long‐term, clinically meaningful outcomes such as improvements in children's functioning and their relationships with parents. Accordingly, the Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Psychosocial Interventions (RUPP Autism Network) assembled a detailed manual for a structured behavioral parent training (PT) program, developed treatment fidelity and training procedures, and conducted a pilot, feasibility study. The PT program is part of a large scale, multisite study intended to determine the efficacy of combined pharmacological treatment and behavioral intervention to improve behavior and adaptive functioning in children with PDD. This paper discusses the rationale for this project. A companion paper provides the results of our feasibility study on the PT program. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inexact Knowledge with Introspection

Standard Kripke models are inadequate to model situations of inexact knowledge with introspection, since positive and negative introspection force the relation of epistemic indiscernibility to be transitive and euclidean. Correlatively, Williamson’s margin for error semantics for inexact knowledge invalidates axioms 4 and 5. We present a new semantics for modal logic which is shown to be complete for K45, without constraining the accessibility relation to be transitive or euclidean. The semantics corresponds to a system of modular knowledge, in which iterated modalities and simple modalities are not on a par. We show how the semantics helps to solve Williamson’s luminosity paradox, and argue that it corresponds to an integrated model of perceptual and introspective knowledge that is psychologically more plausible than the one defended by Williamson. We formulate a generalized version of the semantics, called token semantics, in which modalities are iteration-sensitive up to degree n and insensitive beyond n. The multi-agent version of the semantics yields a resource-sensitive logic with implications for the representation of common knowledge in situations of bounded rationality.     

A comparative test of work-family conflict models and critical examination of work-family linkages

This paper is a comprehensive meta-analysis of over 20 years of work-family conflict research. A series of path analyses were conducted to compare and contrast existing work-family conflict models, as well as a new model we developed which integrates and synthesizes current work-family theory and research. This new model accounted for 40% of the variance in job satisfaction, 38% of the variance in family satisfaction, and 35% of the variance in life satisfaction. In a critical examination of work-family linkages, a series of analyses excluding work-family conflict constructs and pathways resulted in a well-fitting and more parsimonious model that still accounted for 39% of the variance in job satisfaction, 37% of the variance in family satisfaction, and 33% of the variance in life satisfaction. Results indicate that direct effects drive work-family conflict models while indirect effects provide little incremental explanation in regards to satisfaction outcomes.     

‘Our way of life is worth defending’: testing a model of attitudes towards superordinate group membership through a study of Scots' attitudes towards Britain

This research used a survey design (N = 227) to investigate Scottish people's support or opposition to independence from Britain. It was hypothesised that political attitudes towards supra‐national bodies are not a direct function of the degree of ingroup (Scottish) identification, but are moderated by the extent to which the expression of ingroup identity is seen as being undermined within the larger entity. This feeling of identity undermining is assumed to arise from perceptions of incompatibility with the outgroup and ingroup powerlessness within the common group. The results provided support for these hypotheses. Only for those participants who had high feelings of identity undermining did identification lead to stronger separatist attitudes. Moreover, incompatibility with the outgroup and ingroup powerlessness predicted feelings of identity undermining while this latter mediated their impact on attitudes to being part of Britain. These findings underline the importance of taking into account (a) the contents ascribed to identities and their relations, and (b) the practical ability to pursue a way of live based on these contents in order to understand the way identity processes shape attitudes towards superordinate groups. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.