Sexuality in children 9-14 years old

The aim of this study was to analyze sexual behaviors and attitudes of children 9-14 years old in Spain. In this article we present data from 470 children of which 52% are boys and 48% girls. In order to evaluate the sample, Information, Attitudes and Behaviors related to Health Questionnaire (CIACS-II) was used. Results evidence that boys 9 years old already show behaviors that evidence their interest towards sexuality. 8% have sometimes masturbated and 9% have used pornography for becoming excited. 14% of children 11-12 years old have already had sexual relations and 38% state to have sexual fantasies. Girls start to masturbate and to have sexual relations later than boys and show a prevalence of sexual fantasies and use of pornography very lower. It is necessary sexual education programs to be implanted since early ages in schools.     

A test of major assumptions about behavior change: a comprehensive look at the effects of passive and active HIV-prevention interventions since the beginning of the epidemic

This meta-analysis tested the major theoretical assumptions about behavior change by examining the outcomes and mediating mechanisms of different preventive strategies in a sample of 354 HIV-prevention interventions and 99 control groups, spanning the past 17 years. There were 2 main conclusions from this extensive review. First, the most effective interventions were those that contained attitudinal arguments, educational information, behavioral skills arguments, and behavioral skills training, whereas the least effective ones were those that attempted to induce fear of HIV. Second, the impact of the interventions and the different strategies behind them was contingent on the gender, age, ethnicity, risk group, and past condom use of the target audience in ways that illuminate the direction of future preventive efforts.     

Processing of threat-related information outside the focus of visual attention

This study investigates whether threat-related words are especially likely to be perceived in unattended locations of the visual field. Threat-related, positive, and neutral words were presented at fixation as probes in a lexical decision task. The probe word was preceded by 2 simultaneous prime words (1 foveal, i.e., at fixation; 1 parafoveal, i.e., 2.2 deg. of visual angle from fixation), which were presented for 150 ms, one of which was either identical or unrelated to the probe. Results showed significant facilitation in lexical response times only for the probe threat words when primed parafoveally by an identical word presented in the right visual field. We conclude that threat-related words have privileged access to processing outside the focus of attention. This reveals a cognitive bias in the preferential, parallel processing of information that is important for adaptation.     

Generalizing Behavioral Findings Across Times,Samples, and Measures: A Study of Condom Use1

Data from a Knowledge, Attitude, Belief, and Practices (KABP) Survey, administered to a sample of residents of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, were used to replicate a previous study (Fishbein, Trafimow, Francis, et al., 1995) that investigated the relative importance, as predictors of condom use, of selected theoretical variables from the theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen & Madden, 1986). Besides addressing generalization problems, the study tested a more internally valid formulation of the role of past behavior that supported the argument that past condom use is better viewed as a predictor of current intention than as a criterion variable. Perhaps more important, the influence of past behavior was found to be partially mediated by its effect on attitudes and norms.     

LEX I and II: Two databases of surface word forms for psycholinguistic research in Spanish

Two databases of Spanish surface word forms are presented. Surface word forms are words considered as orthographically or phonologically specified without reference to their meaning or syntactic category. The databases are based on the productive written vocabulary of children between the ages of 6 and 10 years. Statistical and structural information is presented concerning surface word-form frequency, consonant-vowel (CV) structure, number of syllables, syllables, syllable CV structure, and subsyllabic units. LEX I was intended to aid in the study of reading processes. Entries were orthographic surface word forms; words were divided in their components following orthographic criteria. LEX II was designed for spoken language research. Accordingly, words were transcribed phonologically and phonological criteria were applied in extracting the internal units. Information about stress location was also provided. Together, LEX I and LEX II represent a useful tool for psycholinguists interested in the study of people acquiring Spanish as a first or foreign language and of Spanish-speaking populations in general.     

Neuroticism and Attitudes Toward Action in 19 Countries

Although individuals scoring high on Neuroticism tend to avoid taking action when faced with challenges, Neuroticism is also characterized by impulsivity. To explore cognitive biases related to this costly behavior pattern, we tested whether individuals who rated themselves as higher in Neuroticism would evaluate the general concepts of action and inaction as, respectively, more negative and positive. We further investigated whether anxiety and depression would mediate and individualism‐collectivism would moderate these relations in a large international sample. Participants (N = 3,827 college students; 69% female) from 19 countries completed surveys measuring Neuroticism, attitudes toward action and inaction, depression, anxiety, and individualism‐collectivism. Hierarchical linear models tested the above predictions. Neuroticism negatively correlated with attitudes toward action and positively correlated with attitudes toward inaction. Furthermore, anxiety was primarily responsible for emotionally unstable individuals’ less positive attitudes toward action, and individuals who endorsed more collectivistic than individualistic beliefs showed a stronger negative association between Neuroticism and attitudes toward action. Researchers and practitioners interested in understanding and remediating the negative consequences of Neuroticism should pay greater attention to attitudes toward action and inaction, particularly focusing on their links with anxiety and individualism‐collectivism.     

Could stress cause psychosis in individuals vulnerable to schizophrenia?

It has long been considered that psychosocial stress plays a role in the expression of symptoms in schizophrenia (SZ), as it interacts with latent neural vulnerability that stems from genetic liability and early environmental insult. Advances in the understanding of the neurobiology of the stress cascade in both animal and human studies lead to a plausible model by which this interaction may occur: through neurotoxic effects on the hippocampus that may involve synaptic remodeling. Of late, the neurodevelopmental model of SZ etiology has been favored. But an elaboration of this schema that credits the impact of postnatal events and considers a role for neurodegenerative changes may be more plausible, given the evidence for gene-environment interaction in SZ expression and progressive structural changes observed with magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, new insights into nongliotic neurotoxic effects such as apoptosis, failure of neurogenesis, and changes in circuitry lead to an expansion of the time frame in which environmental effects may mediate expression of SZ symptoms.