The relationship between personality and affect over the lifespan

This study compared the trait and emotion perspectives of personality development by examining relationships between extraversion, neuroticism, positive and negative affect across the lifespan. A total of 533 volunteers: 228 children and early adolescents (8 to 15 years), 163 late adolescents and young adults (16 to 29 years) and 142 adults (30 to 68 years) completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Extraversion correlated significantly with positive affect and neuroticism with negative affect in each age group. As predicted by the emotion perspective, correlations were significantly stronger for adults than children and early adolescents. In addition, extraversion-positive affect and neuroticism-negative affect factors explained less variance for children and early adolescents compared to those of adults.     

The Biophilia Hypothesis and Life in the 21st Century: Increasing Mental Health or Increasing Pathology?

Wilson's biophilia hypothesis includes the claim that, as a consequence of evolution, humans have an innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes. A review of various literatures converges to support this central claim. One area of support for our innate affiliation with nature comes from research demonstrating increased psychological well-being upon exposure to natural features and environments. Support also comes from the strength and prevalence of phobic responses to stimuli of evolutionary significance and near absence of such responses to potentially dangerous human-made stimuli. That survival emotions of equivalent intensity and prevalence have failed to develop in response to modern life-threatening stimuli can be explained by the extremely rapid process of change and progress that has occurred post World War II and continues at an ever increasingly rapid pace. Given that our modern ways of living, as prescribed by Western industrialised culture, stand in stark contrast to our evolutionary history, it is proposed that we may currently be witnessing the beginnings of significant adverse outcomes for the human psyche.     

The Dual Value of the Web: Risks and Benefits of the Use of the Internet in Disorders with A Self-Destructive Component in Adolescents and Young Adults

Eating disorders (ED) and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) present common aspects and factors which contribute to their onset and development. The last decade has seen an increasing circulation of online materials and interactions connected to ED and NSSI. There is a general agreement among mental health clinicians and researchers that this kind of online content involves serious risks, such as normalization and reinforcement of unhealthy behaviors, alongside with some benefits, like receiving peer support and validation. The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of major research contributions on this topic. After describing common aspects between these disorders, we analyze data concerning the usage of harm-advocating websites on internet and the characteristics of users. Furthermore, we define and explore the contents of both pro-ED and NSSI websites, and we extensively inspect risks and benefits of the exposure to these online content. Finally, we present clinical guidelines for assessment, intervention and prevention, particularly focusing on family interventions. Due to the rapidity of changes when technology is involved, the research on this topic is far from being concluded; more in-depth studies are needed, not only to explore long term effects of the use of the websites described, but also to investigate new alarming tendencies such as the diffusion of websites challenging self-destructive behaviors.     

A critical assessment of pedestrian behaviour models

This paper concerns a review and critical assessment of the existing research on pedestrian behaviour in urban areas, focusing on two separate yet complementary aspects: route choice and crossing behaviour. First, an exhaustive review of the existing route choice models for pedestrians is presented. It is shown that the existing models are mainly more stochastic and more macroscopic than required and seldom incorporate the interactions between pedestrians and traffic. Second, the existing models on pedestrians crossing behaviour are presented and assessed. It is shown that, although their approach is usually detailed, deterministic and traffic-oriented, they are mainly devoted to a local level behaviour and focus on only one type of all the potential determinants. Most importantly, these two complementary and possibly interdependent aspects of pedestrian behaviour are always examined separately. The results of this review reveal a lack of an overall and detailed consideration of pedestrian behaviour along an entire trip in urban areas. Moreover, the need for an integrated approach based on flexibility, disaggregation and more determinism is identified. Accordingly, a set of modelling techniques are discussed as a general framework for further research in the field.     

Nighttime fears of children and adolescents: frequency, content, severity, harm expectations, disclosure, and coping behaviours

The present school-based study investigated the nighttime fears of 511 children and adolescents, aged 8-16 years. Participants were assessed using a structured interview about the frequency, content, severity, harm expectations, coping strategies, and disclosure of nighttime fears. Results indicated that nighttime fears are a common experience, with nearly two-thirds (64.2%) of children and adolescents reporting nighttime fears. Fear of intruders/home invasion was the most frequently reported nighttime fear. Females more frequently reported nighttime fears than males (72.9% and 54.6%, respectively) and a greater number of children reported nighttime fears compared to adolescents (79.4% and 48.8%, respectively). Nighttime fears were given moderate severity ratings, and harm expectations were most strongly associated with 'personal security' fears. Respondents reported a variety of coping strategies to manage their nighttime fears with self-control/distraction techniques being the most common. Most respondents reported disclosing their nighttime fear(s) to another person. The clinical implications of these findings and the methodological limitations are discussed.     

A Swedish non-word repetition test for preschool children

A Swedish non-word repetition test for preschool children was constructed with the aim of measuring short-term phonological memory, which has been shown to correlate with language development and language proficiency. Normative data based on results for 200 children four to six years of age are presented. An item analysis of the original 30-item test resulted in a shortened 24 non-word version found suitable for four- to six-year old children. Results for this shortened version, which had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.73, showed longer non-words to be more difficult to repeat than shorter ones, and significant effects of age and compatibility of the tester's and the child's accent, but not of gender. The results are discussed within the framework of Baddeley's working memory model.     

Emotion understanding,pictorial representations of friendship and reciprocity in school-aged children

This study examined the relationship between emotional understanding, friendship representation and reciprocity in school-aged children. Two hundred and fifty-one Caucasian 6-year-old children (111 males and 140 females) took part in the study. The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) and the Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (PAIR) were used. Children having a reciprocal friendship and children having a unilateral friendship with a child named as their “best friend” were compared on the emotional understanding task and on their pictorial representations of friendship. Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not influenced by classroom-level differences. Results showed that children with reciprocal friendships drew themselves as more similar to and more cohesive with their best friends, and they showed better understanding of emotions, than children having a unilateral friendship. Finally, the implications of these findings for theoretical and empirical research development on friendship are discussed.     

Hypnotic assessment based on the Recurrence Quantification Analysis of EEG recorded in the ordinary state of consciousness

The cerebral cortical correlates of the susceptibility to hypnosis in the ordinary states of consciousness have not been clarified. Aim of the study was to characterize the EEG dynamics of subjects with high (highs) and low hypnotisability (lows) through the non-linear method of Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA). The EEG of 16 males – 8 highs and 8 lows – was monitored for 1 min without instructions other than keeping the eyes closed, being silent and avoiding movements (short resting), and during 15 min of simple relaxation, that is with the instruction to relax at their best. Highs and lows were compared on the RQA measures of Determinism (DET) and Entropy (ENT), which are related to the signal determinism and complexity. In the short resting condition discriminant analysis could classify highs and lows on the basis of DET and ENT values at temporo-parietal sites. Many differences in DET and all differences in ENT disappeared during simple relaxation, although DET still separated the two groups in the earliest 6 min of relaxation at temporo-parietal sites. Our RQA based approach allows to develop computer-based methods of hypnotic assessment using short-lasting, single channel EEG recordings analyzed through standard mathematical methods.     

Developmental trajectories and reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity: A three-wave longitudinal study with adolescents

The purpose of this longitudinal study was two-fold. First, we investigated patterns of stability and change in career adaptability and vocational identity in adolescents. Second, we examined reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity. In addressing both research aims we tested the moderating effects of gender, school-type, and age. Participants were 1151 (58.7% female) adolescents. They filled in measures that appraised career adapt-abilities and vocational identity processes three times during a school year. Latent growth curve analyses highlighted slight longitudinal decreases in career concern, control, and confidence especially in boys, vocational school students, and middle-to-late adolescents. Also, over time boys and students attending vocational schools reported less in-depth occupational exploration, less identification with present vocational commitments, and more flexibility and self-doubt about their careers. Findings of cross-lagged path analyses highlighted reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity. Career adaptability positively predicted adolescents' ways of dealing with vocational exploration and commitment. Vocational commitment and reconsideration of commitment predicted career adapt-abilities in time. These results indicate that career adaptability and vocational identity are dynamic and interrelated dimensions of adolescent career development. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Smiling in newborns during communicative wake and active sleep

Many studies have investigated infant smiling behaviour during wake and active sleep. In the majority of studies authors agreed that two month-old infants exhibit social smiles. However it is not clear if newborns exhibit different kinds of smiles during wake and active sleep to two month-old infants and if the communicative context can affect the quantity and quality of these smiles.The aim of this study was to test if different kinds of communication affects the amount and the quality of smiles during different behavioural states.Smiling behaviour was analyzed during interactive wake (IW) and active sleep (AS), in 40 newborns randomly assigned to 4 groups of 10 newborns each: continuous tactile communication group, discontinuous non periodic tactile communication group, discontinuous periodic tactile communication group, absent communication group. In the total sample the open/closed mouth (social/non social) smiles ratio was 38/5 during IW and 1/28 during AS (p < .001). Moreover these ratios were different between the four groups.Different kinds of tactile communication affect amount and quality of the smiles of newborns during IW and AS. Moreover the morphological difference of the smiles during IW and AS suggested that for newborns the smiling behaviour during IW could have a social meaning, as it does for two month-old infants.