Identity Mediators: Leadership and Identity Construction in Campaign Speeches of American Presidential Candidates' Spouses

We explore the nature and evolution of the role of candidates' spouses in U.S. presidential election campaigns through a lens of social psychological theorizing that sees leadership as emerging from activities of identity construction of leaders and followers. Our discursive analysis examines how aspiring First Lady speeches at party national conventions construct both their husbands and the particular national identity construction most presently politically relevant in a way that strategically aligns the two. Building on previous social identity work on leadership, we show how it is not only the leader or their followers who are active participants in leadership construction but that there may also be a role for “third parties” who link prospective leaders with followers. We propose that, as “entrepreneurs” of identity, leaders may use others as “identity mediators” to co‐construct and mediate both the leader's identity and the identity of those they seek to lead.     

Does Leaving Faith Mean Leaving Family? Longitudinal Associations Between Religious Identification and Parent-Child Relationships Across Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood

The present study investigated the parent-child relational repercussions of converting to religion, switching, or deconverting from religion. Qualitative research indicates that these religious changes may negatively affect parent-child relationship quality, however, few quantitative studies investigate this issue. Subsequently, we utilized structural equation modeling to test if changes in religious identification during adolescence and emerging adulthood predicted worse parent-child relationship quality using three waves of the National Study of Youth and Religion (N = 2,352). We found that deconversion between Waves 1–2 significantly predicted poorer parent-child relationship quality at Wave 2 and father-child relationship quality at Wave 3. Further, deconversion between Waves 2–3 significantly predicted poorer mother-child relationship quality at Wave 3. Autoregressive cross-lagged models indicated an association between deconverson and father-child relationship quality. Deconversion had a significant indirect effect on parent-child relationship quality through decreased parental warmth and mother-child religious belief similarity. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Neighborhood Social Context and Individual Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Exposures Associated with Child Cognitive Test Scores

Childhood cognitive and test-taking abilities have long-term implications for educational achievement and health, and may be influenced by household environmental exposures and neighborhood contexts. This study evaluates whether age 5 scores on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R, administered in English) are associated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure and neighborhood context variables including poverty, low educational attainment, low English language proficiency, and inadequate plumbing. The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health enrolled African-American and Dominican-American New York City women during pregnancy, and conducted follow-up for subsequent childhood health outcomes including cognitive test scores. Individual outcomes were linked to data characterizing 1-km network buffers around prenatal addresses, home observations, interviews, and prenatal PAH exposure data from personal air monitors. Prenatal PAH exposure above the median predicted 3.5 point lower total WPPSI-R scores and 3.9 point lower verbal scores; the association was similar in magnitude across models with adjustments for neighborhood characteristics. Neighborhood-level low English proficiency was independently associated with 2.3 point lower mean total WPPSI-R score, 1.2 point lower verbal score, and 2.7 point lower performance score per standard deviation. Low neighborhood-level educational attainment was also associated with 2.0 point lower performance scores. In models examining effect modification, neighborhood associations were similar or diminished among the high PAH exposure group, as compared with the low PAH exposure group. Early life exposure to personal PAH exposure or selected neighborhood-level social contexts may predict lower cognitive test scores. However, these results may reflect limited geographic exposure variation and limited generalizability.     

Infostorms

It has become a truism that we live in so‐called information societies where new information technologies have made information abundant. At the same time, information science has made us aware of many phenomena tied to the way we process information. This article explores a series of socio‐epistemic information phenomena resulting from processes that track truth imperfectly: pluralistic ignorance, informational cascades, and belief polarization. It then couples these phenomena with the hypothesis that modern information technologies may lead to their amplification so as to give rise to what are called “infostorms.” This points to the need for studying further the exact relations between information technologies and such infostorms, as well as the ways we may design technologies to avoid being misled away from what we have good reasons to believe.     

Hierarchical modeling of sequential behavioral data: an empirical Bayesian approach

The authors review the common methods for measuring strength of contingency between 2 behaviors in a behavioral sequence, the binomial z score and the adjusted cell residual, and point out a number of limitations of these approaches. They present a new approach using log odds ratios and empirical Bayes estimation in the context of hierarchical modeling, an approach not constrained by these limitations. A series of hierarchical models is presented to test the stationarity of behavioral sequences, the homogeneity of sequences across a sample of episodes, and whether covariates can account for variation in sequences across the sample. These models are applied to observational data taken from a study of the behavioral interactions of 254 couples to illustrate their use.     

Outreach with teenage fathers: a preliminary report on three ethnic groups

This article presents preliminary data on suggestions for reaching Anglo, black, and Hispanic unmarried adolescent fathers. Results reveal that reaching out to these young fathers may be complicated because their needs vary within and across their culture. The data suggest that these fathers need diverse information, practical help, and counseling.     

Teaching the History of Counseling: Training the Next Generation

The authors describe a teaching activity using a poster-session format to teach first-year counseling psychology doctoral students the history of counseling. Evaluative data suggest that the format was an effective and powerful tool to teach beginning counseling psychology students the history of the profession. The implications of the evaluative feedback are discussed in terms of teaching and preparing the next generation of counselors.     

Gender differences in phonetic processing

In research on dyslexia, inadequate or inappropriate comparisons have often been made with control subjects, frequently overlooking important gender differences. More information is needed regarding the performance of control subjects, and adults, on measures purportedly assessing phonological and orthographic processing. Using tests similar to those used in dyslexic research, 20 female and 20 male college-age students were tested to examine gender differences in phonetic processing skills. The findings suggest that in equally competent readers, gender and other factors do play a significant role in determining the time it takes for phoneme manipulation and word identification. Females, especially those with poorer academic records, are significantly slower than males on measures typically used in dyslexic research. These findings show a need for a reexamination of control group equivalence (especially regarding gender), and further exploration of variables that might influence performance on these tasks.     

Analyzing preventive trials with generalized additive models

Described a new class of nonparametric regression procedures called generalized additive models (Hastie and Tibshirani, 1991) for assessing intervention effects in mental health preventive field trials. Such models are often better than analysis of covariance models for examining intervention effects adjusted for one or more baseline characteristics and for assessing potential interactions between the intervention and baseline characteristics. Because of these advantages, generalized additive models are important tools analysts should consider in evaluating preventive field trials. We apply generalized additive models as well as more standard linear models to data from a preventive trial aimed at improving mental health and school performance outcomes through a universal intervention in first and second grades. Practical guidance is given to researchers regarding when generalized additive models would be beneficial.     

Religiosity and unmarried black adolescent fatherhood

This paper examines the relationship between religiosity and unmarried adolescent fatherhood in a select population of unwed black adolescent fathers and their counterparts. The results indicated that the fathers did not differ so much from the nonfathers in the degree that they are religiously oriented but in the manner that they give expression to their religious involvement. The fathers were more likely to be responsive to nongroup modes of institutionalized religion, i.e., media forms; whereas the nonfathers religious involvement was likely to be within institutionalized groups.