Individual Differences in the Effectiveness of Sexual Harassment Awareness Training1

Little research has investigated the effectiveness of sexual harassment awareness training videos on potential harassers' knowledge, behavior, or attitudes. A laboratory study was conducted that assessed the effects of a sexual harassment awareness training video on several training outcomes: sexual harassment knowledge, touching behavior, and attitudes associated with the likelihood of harassing others. Participants' propensity to harass was measured prior to their participation in the study. Results indicated that video-based training increased knowledge acquisition and reduced the inappropriate behavior of men who had a high propensity to harass. However, the training did not influence participants' long-term attitudes associated with the propensity to harass others. The research and practical implications of the study results are discussed.     

Breast Size Perception and Satisfaction,Body Image,and Psychological Functioning in Caucasian and Asian American College Women

Perceived breast size, breast size satisfaction,body image (body satisfaction and generalized appearancesatisfaction) and psychological functioning(self-esteem, self-consciousness, and generalizedappearance preoccupation), as well as stereotyping ofbreast size, were examined in 166 Caucasian and AsianAmerican college women. Caucasian women reportedslightly larger perceived and ideal breast sizes, but no significant group differences for any of theother variables were found; groups were combined forsubsequent analyses. Both large and small breastednesswere associated with lower breast size satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analyses, controllingfor body size (assessed indirectly by a weightpreoccupation measure) and including the interaction ofperceived breast size and breast size satisfaction,yielded main effects for weight preoccupation,perceived breast size, and satisfaction with breastsize, but no interactions. Over and above the effect ofweight preoccupation, smaller perceived breast size was associated with lower breast size satisfactionand with more positive body image, while larger size wasassociated with higher breast size satisfaction and withless positive body image. Lower self-esteem was associated with lower breast sizesatisfaction but not with perceived breast size, whilehigher public self-consciousness, social anxiety, andappearance preoccupation were associated with a mismatch between ideal and perceived size, regardless ofwhether ideal size was smaller or larger than perceivedsize. Implications of these findings are discussedwithin the broader cultural context.     

Computation of Conditional Probability Statistics by 8-Month-Old Infants

A recent report demonstrated that 8-month-olds can segment a continuous stream of speech syllables, containing no acoustic or prosodic cues to word boundaries, into wordlike units after only 2 min of listening experience (Saffran, Aslin, & Newport, 1996). Thus, a powerful learning mechanism capable of extracting statistical information from fluent speech is available early in development. The present study extends these results by documenting the particular type of statistical computation–transitional (conditional) probability–used by infants to solve this word-segmentation task. An artificial language corpus, consisting of a continuous stream of trisyllabic nonsense words, was presented to 8-month-olds for 3 min. A postfamiliarization test compared the infants' responses to words versus part-words (trisyllabic sequences spanning word boundaries). The corpus was constructed so that test words and part-words were matched in frequency, but differed in their transitional probabilities. Infants showed reliable discrimination of words from part-words, thereby demonstrating rapid segmentation of continuous speech into words on the basis of transitional probabilities of syllable pairs.     

A Prototype Matching Approach to Understanding the Role of Applicant Gender and Age in the Evaluation of Job Applicants1

This research uses a prototype matching approach to understand how job applicant evaluations are made and the role that applicant gender and age play in these evaluations. It is hypothesized that raters represent information about jobs and jobholders in person-in-job prototypes. Raters evaluate applicants by matching information about applicants to the person-in-job prototype associated with the job for which the applicant is applying. Person-in-job prototypes are comprised of features that are more (i.e., central) or less (i.e., peripheral) strongly associated with the prototype. Three laboratory studies examined several hypotheses derived from a prototype matching approach. Results indicated that applicants who matched on more central features were evaluated more favorably than applicants who matched on fewer central features of person-in-job prototypes. In addition, applicants who matched on age were evaluated more favorably than applicants who did not match on age when age was a central but not a peripheral feature of a person-in-job prototype. However, applicants who matched on gender were not evaluated differently from applicants who did not match on gender when gender was a central or a peripheral feature of a person-in-job prototype. Finally, there was some evidence that raters used applicant gender in a complex manner when evaluating applicants. Implications for theory and research on bias in selection are discussed.     

Self-referential tags in the discourse of people with Alzheimer's disease

In a study of the discourse of 100 people with Alzheimer's disease treated for 12 months with donepezil, we observed that, as a group, they used a form of tag, described here as a self-referential tag (SRT), 14 times more frequently than did caregivers. Patients use SRTs to check propositions dependent on episodic memory as in I haven't seen the doctor recently, have I? and to monitor information flow as in I told you that already, didn't I? Based on criteria developed for distinguishing checking from monitoring tags, we document the type and frequency of patients' SRT use in the ACADIE corpus and analyze these in relation to standard measures of cognitive function (Mini Mental State Exam and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive sub-scale) at baseline and 12 months. Patients using monitoring SRTs (N=31), with or without checking SRTs, show significantly better cognitive test scores at 12 months, than are seen in patients who never use tags (N=29), or who only use checking tags (N=40). SRT use may be an independent measure of potential treatment responsiveness.     

Internalizing Symptoms and Affective Reactivity in Relation to the Severity of Aggression in Clinically Referred,Behavior-Disordered Children

We examined the affective correlates of aggression in children referred to a partial hospitalization program for the treatment of behavior disorders who did not have a mood or anxiety disorder. Parent and teacher ratings of the children’s impulsivity, internalizing symptoms, affective reactivity, and aggression were examined for their interrelationships and then entered into regression analyses to predict the child’s level of aggression in the home, at school, and in the treatment program. Intercorrelations among three affective reactivity factors were modest. Both internalizing symptoms and affective reactivity contributed to aggression severity beyond impulsivity and demographics. Only child irritability predicted treatment program aggression. Because of their potential role in understanding children’s behavioral disturbances, internalizing symptoms and negative emotionality merit careful assessment and treatment in treatment programs serving hard-to-manage children with behavior disorders.     

Early Pubertal Timing as a Vulnerability to Depression Symptoms: Differential Effects of Race and Sex

Robust evidence supports that girls and boys who experience early pubertal timing, maturing earlier than one’s peers, are vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression. However, it has yet to be clarified whether early pubertal timing confers vulnerability to African American as well as to Caucasian adolescents and whether this vulnerability is specific to depressive symptoms or can be generalized to symptoms of social anxiety. In previous studies, one race or one sex was examined in isolation or sample sizes were too small to examine racial differences. Our longitudinal study consisted of a sample of 223 adolescents (M_age?=?12.42, 54.3 % female, 50.2 % African American, and 49.8 % Caucasian). At baseline, depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and pubertal timing were assessed by self-report. Nine months later, we assessed depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, body esteem, and stressful life events that occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that early pubertal timing interacted with stressful life events to predict increased symptoms of depression, but only for Caucasian girls and African American boys. Results were found to be specific to depressive symptoms and did not generalize to symptoms of social anxiety. Additionally, there was a significant positive indirect effect of pubertal timing on symptoms of depression through body esteem for Caucasian females.     

Effects of daily maladaptive coping on nightly sleep in mothers

Objective: We examined effects of daily rumination and suppression in response to stressors on objective and subjective sleep among mothers.

Design: Participants were 183 mothers, including chronically stressed mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (M-ASD; n = 92) and age-matched mothers of neurotypical children (M-NT; n = 91). In an intensive longitudinal design, participants provided reports of daily rumination and suppression, nightly objective actigraphy-defined sleep and nightly subjective sleep quality for seven consecutive days at baseline, 9 months and 18 months.

Main Outcome Measures: Total sleep time, sleep fragmentation, sleep onset latency, and subjective sleep quality.

Results: Among M-NT with above average depressive symptoms, higher daily rumination was associated with shorter total sleep time. Rumination was associated with more sleep fragmentation among M-NT at the trend level. Rumination was not associated with sleep onset latency among M-NT, or with any sleep outcomes among M-ASD. Suppression was not associated with any sleep outcomes.

Conclusion: We provide novel evidence of the effect of rumination on objectively measured sleep duration among M-NT. Coping was not related to sleep among M-ASD. Given the prevalence of poor sleep among mothers, future work should examine modifiable factors perpetuating sleep disturbance.     

Physical Activity Among Urban Children with Asthma: Does Sleep Matter?

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - The present study examined associations between sleep and physical activity among a diverse sample of 97 urban children (ages 7–9) with...