A construct validation study of the Response Styles Questionnaire Rumination Scale in participants with a recent-onset major depressive episode

This study examined the construct validity and clinical utility of S. Nolen-Hoeksema's (1991) Response Styles Questionnaire (RSQ) Rumination scale. Eighty-eight participants with recent-onset major depressive episodes were assessed and followed for 6 months, using semistructured interviews and self-report inventories. The RSQ Rumination scale exhibited poor 6-month stability and appeared to be closely linked to participants' clinical status-mood state. The scale was significantly correlated with conceptually related constructs such as emotion-focused coping, negative affectivity-temperament, and self-criticism. However, baseline negative temperament and self-criticism predicted key aspects of the 6-month course and outcome of major depressive episodes, whereas baseline rumination did not. Finally, rumination appeared to be closely associated with the severity of the depressive episode, rather than defining a distinct clinical subtype.     

Eccentric head positions bias random generation of leftward and rightward handle-bar rotations

We explored the effects of eccentric head positions on rapid rotations of a handle-bar in a modified randomization task. Subjects had to generate a random sequence of leftward and rightward handle-bar rotations; each pre-selected rotation was produced in response to a visual signal as rapidly as possible. Eccentric head positions induced a bias in that handle-bar rotations in the direction of the eccentric head position were chosen more frequently than handle-bar rotations in the opposite direction. This is consistent with previous evidence on a spatial coupling. In contrast to response selection, response initiation was not affected by eccentric head positions. The kinematic characteristics, however, differed: rotations in the direction of the eccentric head position were of larger amplitude and longer duration than rotations in the opposite direction. This difference may have been secondary to a difference in the start positions of the handle-bar, which were shifted in the direction opposite to the eccentric head position.     

Does optimal recall performance in the adaptive memory paradigm require the encoding context to encourage thoughts about the environment of evolutionary adaptation?

This study examined whether encoding conditions that encourage thoughts about the environment of evolutionary adaptation (EEA) are necessary to produce optimal recall in the adaptive memory paradigm. Participants were asked to judge a list of words for their relevance to personal survival under two survival-based scenarios. In one condition, the EEA-relevant context was specified (i.e., you are trying to survive on the savannah/grasslands). In the other condition, no context was specified (i.e., you are simply trying to stay alive). The two tasks produced virtually identical recall despite participants in the former condition reporting significantly more EEA context-relevant thoughts (i.e., the savannah) than did participants in the latter condition (who reported virtually no EEA-related thoughts). The findings are discussed in terms of (1) survival as a target of natural selection and (2) the role of evolutionary theory in understanding memory in modern humans.     

Looking back or moving on: How regulatory modes affect nostalgia

Nostalgia is defined as the remembrance of prior experiences that are self-relevant, involve close others, and carry a predominantly positive affective tone (Wildschut et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 91:975–993, 2006). Given nostalgia’s palliative function for coping with negative affect and self-threats (Sedikides et al. in Curr Dir Psychol Sci 17:304–307, 2008), the present research explores a psychological construct related to greater experience of nostalgia: regulatory mode. According to regulatory mode theory (Kruglanski et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 79:793–815, 2000; Higgins et al. in Adv exp soc psychol 35:293–344, 2003), assessment is the aspect of self-regulation focused on evaluation, whereas locomotion is focused on goal progress. We hypothesized that emphasis of the assessment mode on evaluation would promote nostalgia, while emphasis of the locomotion mode on progress would prevent it. These predictions were corroborated in two studies that assessed regulatory modes as individual difference factors (Study 1) and induced them experimentally (Study 2). Implications of these findings for the self regulation process are considered.     

Eating disorder and obsessive–compulsive symptoms in a sample of bulimic women: Perfectionism as a mediating factor

The present study aimed to investigate whether perfectionism mediates the association between obsessive–compulsive (OC) and eating disorder (ED) symptoms. Analyses were conducted using data collected among a national sample of eating disordered women diagnosed with BN or a subclinical variant of BN (N = 204). Each participant completed a series of self-report inventories on perfectionism, as well as OC, ED, and depressive symptoms. Higher ED symptoms were significantly associated with greater levels of perfectionism (p < .01) and OC symptoms (p < .05). As hypothesized, perfectionism significantly mediated the relationship between ED and OC symptoms, controlling for depression. Findings indicate that perfectionism may be considered a shared etiological or phenomenological factor in ED and OC symptoms.     

Premise Acceptability and Message Effectiveness

Previous research shows inconsistent evidence in regard to gender differences in optimism for experiencing a happy marriage or avoiding divorce depending on whether optimism is measured as comparative optimism (thinking you are better off than your peers) or as personal optimism (estimating your own chances). Results from four samples of unmarried college students (N = 814) indicated that men exhibited greater comparative optimism than women for having a happy marriage but not for getting divorced. For having a happy marriage and avoiding divorce, men exhibited greater personal optimism relative to women. Experience (with parental divorce) moderated the gender difference in personal optimism and perceived control partially mediated the gender difference in comparative optimism (but only for having a happy marriage) and in personal optimism (for both having a happy marriage and avoiding divorce). Results are discussed as they relate to the existing literatures on risk perception and gender differences in romantic relationships.     

Elternschaft, Krebs und Kindersorgen

Background

The diagnosis of parental cancer may destabilize the whole family, parents and children as well. The Hamburg children of somatically ill parents (COSIP) intervention supports parental skills and adaptation of children to the situation. There is currently no evidence for criteria to determine which family members should be involved in the COSIP intervention, predominantly the parents (parent setting), the children (child setting) or both (family setting).

Aim of the study

Data from a multicentre study were analyzed with respect to the predominant intervention settings, the correlation between setting and aims of intervention as well as variables that predict the involvement of children in the intervention.

Material and methods

A total of 203 documented cases were analyzed. Different variables that had been documented by the therapists were included in a regression analysis model in order to identify predictive variables.

Results

In 142 cases the intervention was carried out in a specific intervention setting. In 57?% of the cases children were involved (32?% family setting and 25?% child setting). A systematic relationship between the reported intervention aims and the intervention setting was not detected. The most powerful predictor was the existence of emotional problems of children as reported by the child itself.

Conclusions

Decision-making on intervention settings should therefore take the assessment of emotional symptoms of children by the means of age-appropriate self-reporting tools into consideration. Further investigations are needed to reveal variables concerning needs, motivation and capabilities of the family members as well as institutional conditions.     

Structure of PbMnO2.75 determined by electron crystallography

The PbMnO_{3– x} system has a great number of phases with large unit cells for different values of x. In the present work, we study a PbMnO_2.75 phase that has proven too complex to be solved by X-ray powder diffraction. Using electron crystallography, we have determined the positions of all metal atoms without the necessity of using a model as a starting point. The results correspond, within experimental uncertainties, to those obtained by Bougerol et al. (J. Solid State Chem. 169 131 (2002)).     

Antecedents and Consequences of Online Social Interactions

Abstract

Online social interactions occur in many venues, from e-mail lists and Usenet newsgroups to real-time chat-rooms and multiuser domains (MUDs). We conceptualize such online interactions as intentional social action and study its individual-level antecedents (attitudes, perceived behavioral control [PBC], anticipated emotions) and social-level antecedents (subjective norms, group norms, social identity). Further, we examine a number of its key behavioral outcome consequences such as changes in offline interactions with family and friends, engagement in neighborhood activities and hobby groups, and the use of such mass media as television, radio, and print publications. An empirical study involving 545 members of 7 different types of high- and low-interactivity online venues not only supports our theoretical framework but uncovers interesting venue- and gender-related differences among participants.     

The Joint Multivariate Modeling of Multiple Mixed Response Sources: Relating Student Performances with Feedback Behavior

The present study concerns a Dutch computer-based assessment, which includes an assessment process about information literacy and a feedback process for students. The assessment is concerned with the measurement of skills in information literacy and the feedback process with item-based support to improve student learning. To analyze students’ feedback behavior (i.e. feedback use and attention time), test performance, and speed of working, a multivariate hierarchical latent variable model is proposed. The model can handle multivariate mixed responses from multiple sources related to different processes and comprehends multiple measurement components for responses and response times. A flexible within-subject latent variable structure is defined to explore multiple individual latent characteristics related to students’ test performance and feedback behavior. Main results of the computer-based assessment showed that feedback-information pages were less visited by well-performing students when they relate to easy items. Students’ attention paid to feedback was positively related to working speed but not to the propensity to use feedback.