Antecedent Influences on Children's Extrinsic Motivation to Go Online

From a social psychological process framework, this study examines how children's self-esteem influences whether their friends motivate them to go online. Children (ages 8–14; n  = 293) completed an online questionnaire. Locus of control orientation is included as mediating the relationship between self-esteem and motivation. Hypotheses were tested using a structural equation model. Results reveal that children with healthy self-esteem perceive themselves as having control of their environments. This positively influences peer-related motivation to go online. Children with lower self-esteem see the world as controlled by others or as the result of luck. This external locus also positively influences peer-related motivation to go online. Girls maintained higher self-esteem, and boys were influenced by external factors.     

Bennett and “proxy actualism”

Karen Bennett has recently argued that the views articulated by Linsky and Zalta (Philos Perspect 8:431–458, 1994) and (Philos Stud 84:283–294, 1996) and Plantinga (The nature of necessity, 1974) are not consistent with the thesis of actualism, according to which everything is actual. We present and critique her arguments. We first investigate the conceptual framework she develops to interpret the target theories. As part of this effort, we question her definition of ‘proxy actualism’. We then discuss her main arguments that the theories carry a commitment to actual entities that do not exist. We end by considering and addressing a worry that might have been the driving force behind Bennett’s claim that Linsky and Zalta’s view is not fully actualistic.

Developmental Links Between Trajectories of Physical Violence,Vandalism, Theft,and Alcohol-Drug Use from Childhood to Adolescence

Differences in developmental trajectories of physical violence, vandalism, theft, and alcohol-drug use from ages 10 to 15 were studied. For females and for males, three trajectories of theft and of alcohol-drug use increased from 10 years to 15 years, while only the high trajectory of vandalism increased from ten to 14. All trajectories of physical violence decreased. Children who engaged in the high trajectories of vandalism, theft, and alcohol-drug use had a high probability of also being high in physical violence. Compared to males, females were less likely to be on the high trajectory of physical violence, and their trajectories of other antisocial behaviors were less strongly associated with high levels of physical violence. The results suggest that physical violence during pre-adolescence and adolescence has a different developmental pattern than other forms of antisocial behavior, and that its relation to these other forms of antisocial behavior differs by sex.     

The Development and Manifestation of Altruistic Caring: A Qualitative Inquiry

Qualitative, phenomenological research provides rich information about the constructive, life span perspectives of the manifestation and development of altruism. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, this study investigated altruism as described by 34 older persons in a continuing care retirement community. The findings identified 13 overarching, common, emergent themes related to this construct. Implications are provided for helping professionals.     

Common Genetic but Specific Environmental Influences for Aggressive and Deceitful Behaviors in Preadolescent Males

Although both aggressive (AGG) and deceitful behaviors (DEC) are symptoms of childhood conduct problems, few studies have examined common vs. specific etiological influences. Early intervention is encouraged for conduct problems and findings from genetically informative studies can suggest whether interventions should focus on conduct problems in general or groupings of conduct problems more specifically. Twin model-fitting analyses were conducted on same and different teacher ratings of AGG and DEC for 872 9-year old male twin pairs. Common genetic influences were found to underlie the susceptibility for both AGG and DEC. The same teacher ratings resulted in somewhat higher heritability estimates than different teacher ratings. Results also indicated stronger environmental effects for DEC as compared with AGG, with a significant shared environmental component for same teachers and a substantial non-shared environmental component for different teachers. Our data suggest that AGG and DEC share risk genes and environmental factors may differentiate these two types of conduct problems. Characterizing these specific environmental factors may be useful when developing interventions.     

Why would social networks be linked to affect and health practices?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation among social integration (SI), affect, and smoking and alcohol consumption. DESIGN: The authors administered social network and psychological questionnaires to 193 adults and then interviewed them on 14 consecutive evenings about their daily social interactions, affect, and smoking and alcohol consumption. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were positive and negative affect, smoking, and alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Between-subjects analyses found that those with more diverse social networks (high in SI) interacted with more people and smoked and drank less. SI was not, however, associated with affect. In contrast, within-subject analyses found that the more people participants interacted with during a day, the greater their positive affect, drinking, and smoking on that day. However, this occurred primarily for persons low in SI. High-SI persons reported high positive affect irrespective of the number of people with whom they interacted, and their smoking and drinking behaviors were less influenced by number of interactants. CONCLUSION: SI may alter health because it affects responsiveness to the social influences of others.