Perceived social support,coping, and symptoms of distress in American and Spanish students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to test whether coping responses mediated the influence of perceived social support on symptoms of anxiety/depression, social withdrawal, and aggressive behavior in American (N=349) and Spanish students (N=437). Participants completed measures of perceived support, social stress, coping, and distress. Coping partially mediated relations between perceived support and distress, with coping mediation most evident in individuals facing high levels of social stress. Decreased use of disengagement coping by individuals with high perceived support appears to partially explain the protective value of perceived social support. Multiple group covariance structure analysis showed that models linking perceived support, coping, and distress were very similar across cultures, suggesting that the mechanisms underlying decreased risk for individuals with high perceived support may be relatively independent of cultural context, and that interventions designed to increase perceived support and decrease disengagement could be appropriate in both cultures.     

Peirce's Search for a Graphical Modal Logic (Propositional Part)

This paper deals with modality in Peirce's existential graphs, as expressed in his gamma and tinctured systems. We aim at showing that there were two philosophically motivated decisions of Peirce's that, in the end, hindered him from producing a modern, conclusive system of modal logic. Finally, we propose emendations and modifications to Peirce's modal graphical tinctured systems and to their underlying ideas that will produce modern modal systems.     

Reconsidering Advertising Literacy as a Defense Against Advertising Effects

It is widely assumed that advertising literacy makes children less susceptible to advertising effects. However, empirical research does not provide convincing evidence for this view. In this article, we explain why advertising literacy as it is currently defined (i.e., conceptual knowledge of advertising) is not effective in reducing children's advertising susceptibility. Specifically, based on recent insights on children's advertising processing, we argue that due to the affect-based nature of contemporary advertising, children primarily process advertising under conditions of low elaboration and, consequently, are unlikely to use their advertising knowledge as a critical defense. Moreover, literature on cognitive development suggests that children's ability to use advertising knowledge as a defense will be further limited by their immature executive functioning and emotion regulation abilities. Therefore, we argue that the current conceptualization of advertising literacy needs to be extended with two dimensions: advertising literacy performance, which takes into account the actual use of conceptual advertising knowledge, and attitudinal advertising literacy, which includes low-effort, attitudinal mechanisms that can function as a defense under conditions of low elaboration. We conclude our article with specific directions for future research and implications for the ongoing societal and political debate about children and advertising.     

I’ll Never Forgive You: High Conflict Divorce,Social Network,and Co-Parenting Conflicts

The relation between divorce, co-parenting conflicts, and children’s adjustment problems has been well established. An unresolved question for research and clinical interventions, however, is how conflicts between parents are maintained and/or escalate. This cross-sectional research tested the hypothesis that co-parenting conflicts in divorced couples are associated with perceived social network disapproval and that this relation is mediated by parents’ tendency to forgive each other. In Study 1, a convenience sample of 136 divorced parents recruited via online forums, we showed that perceived social network disapproval was indeed positively related to co-parenting conflicts and that parents’ tendency to forgive the other parent—albeit partly—explained this relationship. Strength of our research is that in Study 2, 110 parents referred to children’s mental health care because the wellbeing of the children was severely compromised by the severity of the conflicts between parents, we replicated these results. In both studies perceived social network disapproval and co-parenting conflicts were positively related and this link was mediated by forgiveness: perceived social network disapproval was negatively related to forgiveness, which in turn was negatively related to more parental conflicts.     

Heterosexual, lesbian, and gay male relationships: a comparison of couples in 1975 and 2000

This study examined the differences among lesbians, gay men, and heterosexuals at two points in time (1975 and 2000) using responses of 6,864 participants from two archival data sets. Groups were compared on variables representing equality of behaviors between partners in seven realms: traditionally "feminine" housework, traditionally "masculine" housework, finances, support, communication, requesting/refusing sex, and decision-making. In addition, the current study compared monogamy agreements and monogamy behaviors reported by the two cohorts of couple types. Overall, the results indicate that on the equality variables, there have been many statistically significant behavioral shifts among the different sexual orientations across 25 years. In addition, all couple types reported substantially greater rates of monogamy in the year 2000 than in 1975. The present study has important clinical implications for therapists working with couples because it provides new baseline evidence regarding how couples now interact with one another (especially about monogamy) and how this has shifted over time. In addition, it elucidates the differences that still exist between different couple types, which could serve to inform couple therapists as they strive to become more culturally competent working with same-sex couples.     

The effects of mothers' past infant-holding preferences on their adult children's face processing lateralisation

Face processing development is negatively affected when infants have not been exposed to faces for some time because of congenital cataract blocking all vision (Le Grand, Mondloch, Maurer, & Brent, 2001). It is not clear, however, whether more subtle differences in face exposure may also have an influence. The present study looked at the effect of the mother's preferred side of holding an infant, on her adult child's face processing lateralisation. Adults with a mother who had a left-arm preference for holding infants were compared with adults with a mother who had a right-arm holding preference. All participants were right-handed and had been exclusively bottle-fed during infancy. The participants were presented with two chimeric faces tests, one involving emotion and the other one gender. The left-arm held individuals showed a normal left-bias on the chimeric face tests, whereas the right-arm held individuals a significantly decreased left-bias. The results might suggest that reduced exposure to high quality emotional information on faces in infancy results in diminished right-hemisphere lateralisation for face processing.     

Prejudice,polyculturalism, and the influence of contact and moral exclusion: A comparison of responses toward LGBI,TI, and refugee groups

Prejudice toward marginalized groups is recognized as a complex and harmful social issue. The present study investigates the role of polyculturalism in undermining prejudice toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people and refugees. A pilot study (N = 76) compared participants' prejudice, contact, and moral exclusion toward lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) and transgender or intersex (TI) people. There were differences for three out of four variables; thus, LGB and TI variables were separated in the study proper (N = 154). In this study, we investigated moral exclusion and contact (quantity and quality) relating to LGB, TI, and refugee groups as simultaneous mediators of the relationship between polyculturalism and prejudice, while taking into account openness as per previous research. Structural equation modeling indicated that moral exclusion and contact quality acted as mediators between polyculturalism and prejudice for LGB people, TI people, and refugees.     

Establishing the Measurement Invariance of the Very Short Form of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised for Mothers Who Vary on Race and Poverty Status

We examined the measurement invariance of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised–Very Short Form (IBQR–VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, &; Leerkes, 2014 Putnam, S. P., Helbig, A. L., Gartstein, M. A., Rothbart, M. K., &; Leerkes, E. (2014). Development and assessment of Short and Very Short Forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 445–458. doi:10.1080/00223891.2013.841171[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in a sample of 470 racially (185 White, 285 African American) and socioeconomically diverse mothers (158 below federal poverty threshold, 296 above federal poverty threshold) of infants. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, we demonstrated configural, full metric, and full scalar invariance demonstrating that the 3-factor structure (negative emotionality, positive affectivity/surgency, orienting/regulatory capacity), pattern of item loadings, and item means were comparable for White and African American mothers, and for poor and not poor mothers. In addition, we demonstrated full error invariance across racial groups and partial error variance invariance across poverty status, demonstrating that item reliability was comparable for White and African American mothers, and both those above and below the poverty line (with the exception of a subset of items). Thus, the IBQR–VSF appears appropriate for use in racially and socioeconomically diverse samples.     

Impact of Economic Hardship and Financial Threat on Suicide Ideation and Confusion

The present study tested the extent to which perceived economic hardship is associated with psychological distress (suicide ideation and confusion) after controlling for personal characteristics. It also explored whether perceived financial threat (i.e., fearful anxious-uncertainty about the stability and security of one's personal financial situation) mediates the relationship between economic hardship and psychological distress outcomes. The theoretical model was tested in a sample of Canadian students (n = 211) and was validated in a community sample of employed Portuguese adults (n = 161). In both samples, the fit of the model was good. Parameter estimates indicated that greater experience of economic hardship increased with financial threat, which in turn increased with levels of suicide ideation and confusion. We discuss the practical implications of these results, such as for programs aimed at alleviating the burden of financial hardship, in our concluding remarks.     

Perceptions of motivational climate and teachers' strategies to sustain discipline as predictors of intrinsic motivation in physical education

This study examined the relationship among pupils' perceptions of the motivational climate, pupils' perceptions of teachers' strategies to maintain discipline and pupils' intrinsic motivation in physical education. A sample of 2189 Spanish adolescents, ages 13 to 17 years, completed Spanish versions of the EPCM, SSDS, and IMI. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to confirm the factorial validity of the scales. Then, the relationship among the variables was explored through Structural Equation Modelling. The most important predictors of pupils' intrinsic motivation were the perceived mastery climate, and perceived teachers' emphasis on intrinsic reasons to maintain discipline. Perceived performance climate and perceived teachers' strategies to maintain discipline based on introjected reasons and indifference, predicted pupils' tension-pressure. Results are discussed in the context of theoretical propositions of self-determination theory and practical issues of enhancing adolescents' motivation in physical education.