Friendship jealousy in young adolescents: individual differences and links to sex, self-esteem, aggression, and social adjustment

Children's vulnerability to jealousy surrounding their best friends was explored in 2 studies. Study 1 involved 94 adolescents who reported on their friendship jealousy on a newly created measure. Results indicated that the jealousy measure had sound psychometric properties and produced individual differences that were robust over time and free from socially desirable responding. As expected, girls and adolescents with low self-worth reported the greatest friendship jealousy. Study 2 involved 399 young adolescents and extended the measurement of self-report jealousy to a broader age range. In addition, Study 2 included assessments of jealousy provided by friends and other peers. Self- and peer-reported jealousy were only modestly associated and had somewhat distinct correlates. Structural modeling revealed that young adolescents' reputation for friendship jealousy was linked to behaving aggressively and to broader peer adjustment difficulties. Both self- and peer-reported jealousy contributed to loneliness.     

Task switching across the life span: effects of age on general and specific switch costs

The authors investigated age-related changes in executive control using an Internet-based task-switching experiment with 5,271 participants between the ages of 10 and 66 years. Speeded face categorization was required on the basis of gender (G) or emotion (E) in single task blocks (GGG... and EEE...) or switching blocks (GGEEGGEE...). General switch costs, the difference between switching block and single task block performance, decreased during development and then increased approximately linearly from age 18. In contrast, specific switch costs, the difference between switch trial and nonswitch trial performance in the switching block, were more stable across the same age range. These results demonstrate differential age effects in task-switching performance and provide a fine-grained analysis of switch costs from puberty to retirement.     

From vulnerability to resilience: learning orientations buffer contingent self-esteem from failure

An experiment examined the buffering effects of a learning orientation following failure in a domain of contingent self-worth. Participants' academic contingencies of self-worth (CSW) and priming with theories of intelligence interacted to affect vulnerability of self-esteem to failure. Participants who had high academic CSW and were primed with an entity theory of intelligence experienced lower self-esteem and higher negative affect following failure than following success on an academic test, but these effects were eliminated when participants with high academic CSW were primed with an incremental theory of intelligence. This study shows that endorsing a learning orientation is an effective way to minimize threat to self-esteem among students whose self-worth is highly contingent on academics and may allow them to persist in the face of challenges and to learn from failure.     

Depression proneness in treatment-seeking smokers: a taxometric analysis

Using taxometric procedures, we examined latent distribution of depression proneness and the construct validity of the Depression Proneness Inventory (DPI) within a group of 439 non-depressed smokers participating in a smoking cessation trial. Three taxometric procedures MAMBAC, MAXEIG, and L-MODE, supported the presence of a distinct subgroup of depression prone smokers. A set of indicators including cognitive vulnerabilities, self-reported tendencies to feel inadequate and experience depressive symptoms, as well as recent experiences of depressive symptoms prior to anticipated cessation treatment behaved taxonically suggesting a shared relationship with an underlying taxonic causal factor. The DPI was found to be an efficient index of taxon membership and a strong predictor of depression history. The DPI identifies a subgroup of smokers seeking cessation treatment that carry affective risk factors known to impede successful smoking cessation and might benefit from interventions targeting depression and negative mood.     

Does previewing one stimulus feature help conjunction search?

We examined the effects of previewing one aspect of a search display, in order to determine what subset of display information is most useful as a prelude to a search task. Observers were asked to indicate the presence or absence of a known target, in a conjunction search where the target was defined by the combination of colour and orientation (a yellow horizontal line presented among yellow vertical and pink horizontal distractors). In the colour preview condition of experiment 1, observers were first shown a 1 s preview of the locations and colours of the search items before the actual search set was presented. That is, search items first appeared as yellow and pink squares for 1 s, which each then turned into yellow and pink oriented lines (in the same locations) which comprised the display to be searched. In the orientation preview condition, observers were first shown a 1 s preview of the locations and orientations of the search items before the actual search display was presented. These two conditions were compared to a control condition consisting of standard conjunction search without any preview display. There was no effect of colour preview; there was a marginal effect of orientation preview, but in the opposite direction from what was expected reaction time increased for orientation preview searches. In experiment 2 these previews were compared to two spatial cueing conditions; in this experiment the colour preview did provide a small amount of help. Finally, in experiment 3 both previews were presented in succession, and increased facilitation was found, in particular when the colour preview preceded the orientation preview. These findings are discussed in relation to the literature, in particular the Guided Search model (Wolfe et al 1989 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 15 419-433; Wolfe 1994 Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 1 202-238).     

Patients' Knowledge of Cystic Fibrosis: Genetic Determinism and Implications for Treatment

This paper uses the self-regulation model of illness perceptions (Leventhal et al. , 1984) to consider the implications of different ways of thinking about the causes of illness. The relationship between anxiety/depression and knowledge or denial of illness is also considered. These issues are explored using adherence to treatment in cystic fibrosis (CF) as an example. Twenty-six CF patients took part in semistructured interviews and completed a standardized anxiety and depression scale (HAD, Zigmond and Snaith, 1983). Interview data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Chapman and Smith, 2002). HAD data were analyzed using SPSS. The respondents displayed widely differing levels of knowledge of their condition. Some deterministic comments were also reported. Findings are discussed in relation to the information that physicians might provide to patients and families in the light of increasing knowledge about genetics in society and the genotyping of individuals with genetic conditions specifically. Any important gaps in patient knowledge could usefully be discussed at transition from pediatric to adult care and issues relating to control and genetic determinism discussed with the patients individually.     

New phenomenon of abnormal auditory perception associated with emotional and head trauma: pathological confirmation by SPECT scan

We report the case of an immigrant who suffered from death threats and head trauma while a prisoner of war in Kuwait. Two months later, he began to hear conversations that had taken place previously. These perceptions occurred spontaneously or were induced by the patient's effortful concentration. The single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) scan performed during this abnormal perceptual experience indicated an increase in regional cerebral blood flow in the left temporal lobe and in the brainstem.     

Impact of personality disorders on treatment outcome for female assault survivors with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder

This study examined the impact of comorbid personality disorders on the outcome of cognitive behavioral treatment for women with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Seventy-five adult women with PTSD resulting from rape or nonsexual assault in adulthood or sexual abuse in childhood were treated with prolonged exposure with or without cognitive restructuring. Assessment of personality disorders found that 39% of participants met DSM-IV criteria for some personality disorder diagnosis. No difference was found between women with and without personality disorders on the prevalence of PTSD at the end of treatment. Participants with a personality disorder were less likely to attain good end-state functioning, but this may be attributable to the fact that they started off slightly worse than those without personality disorders. Finally, the comorbid patients treated by community therapists fared as well or better than those treated by cognitive behavioral treatment experts in posttreatment prevalence of PTSD and end-state functioning.