Delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems: A twin study

Many putative environmental risks correlate with individuals' genotypes. The association between delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems may occur because of shared genetic liability. Five hundred fifty three monozygotic and 558 dizygotic twin pairs, aged 11 to 18 years, were assessed for delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems. The authors investigated whether genes contribute to both delinquent peer affiliation and the correlation between delinquent peer affiliations and conduct problems. Delinquent peer affiliation was influenced by genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental factors; genetic factors also contributed to the correlation between delinquent peer affiliations and conduct problems, providing evidence for genotype-environment correlation. The magnitude of the genetic variance of conduct problems was contextually dependent on levels of delinquent peer affiliation and was greater at higher levels of delinquent peer affiliation.     

Gender Differences in a Comparison of Two Tested Etiological Models of Cigarette Smoking Among Elementary School Students1

The theory of reasoned action (TRA), theory of planned behavior (TPB), and a revised TPB were evaluated using manifest variable structural equation modeling among 4^th‐ through 6^th‐grade students for effectiveness in predicting lifetime cigarette use. TRA was an adequate model for female students, but not male students. TPB resulted in improved model fit over TRA for both male and female students, and a revised TPB model improved fit marginally among female students. Tests for differences across gender indicated that the relationship between intention to use and lifetime cigarette use was stronger among female compared to male students. The results indicate that the TPB is an effective model for predicting lifetime cigarette use among late elementary‐school‐aged children.     

Evaluation of a Video Prompting and Fading Procedure for Teaching Dish Washing Skills to Adults with Developmental Disabilities

We evaluated a video prompting and fading procedure for teaching three adults with developmental disabilities to wash dishes. Video prompting involved showing video clips depicting each step of the task. All three adults reached 90–100% correct when video prompting was implemented. Following acquisition, video prompting was withdrawn, but performance deteriorated. Subsequently, a 3-step fading procedure was implemented in which the separate video clips were merged to form larger, multi-step segments of video. Performance reached 80–100% correct as the video prompts were re-applied and then faded. Performance decreased at the 3-month follow-up when prompting was removed, but stabilized at 80–90% correct when the third step in the fading sequence was reinstated. These data suggest a promising approach for fading video prompts.     

A theory of variability discrimination: Finding differences

Visual variability discrimination requires an observer to categorize collections of items on the basis of the variability in the collection; such discriminations may be vital to the adaptive actions of both humans and other animals. We present a theory of visual variability discrimination that aggregates localized differences between nearby items, and we compare this finding differences model with a previously proposed positional entropy model across several data sets involving both people and pigeons. We supplement those previously published data sets with four new experiments, three of which involve arrays comprising items entailing systematic, quantitative differences. Although both theories provide strong and similar fits of the published data sets, only the finding differences model is applicable to investigations involving quantitative item differences, providing excellent fits in these new experiments.     

Virtual environment training system for rehabilitation of stroke patients with unilateral neglect: crossing the virtual street.

In this paper, we propose a system for training of stroke patients with unilateral neglect by using technology of virtual reality (VR). The proposed system is designed to compensate for unilateral neglect. This system contains the calibration of unilateral neglect and the training of this disease. The calibration procedure is implemented by aligning the virtual object at a subjective middle line. The training procedure is implemented by completing the missions that are used to keep the virtual avatar safe during crossing the street in a virtual environment. The results of this study show that the proposed system is effective to train unilateral neglect. The left to right ratio scores extracted from this system gradually decrease as the sessions of training are repeated. To validate the VR system parameters, the parameters are analyzed by correlation with those of traditional unilateral neglect assessment methods (such as the line bisection test and the cancellation test).     

Cognitive behavior therapy with Internet addicts: treatment outcomes and implications.

Research over the last decade has identified Internet addiction as a new and often unrecognized clinical disorder that impact a user's ability to control online use to the extent that it can cause relational, occupational, and social problems. While much of the literature explores the psychological and social factors underlying Internet addiction, little if any empirical evidence exists that examines specific treatment outcomes to deal with this new client population. Researchers have suggested using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the treatment of choice for Internet addiction, and addiction recovery in general has utilized CBT as part of treatment planning. To investigate the efficacy of using CBT with Internet addicts, this study investigated 114 clients who suffered from Internet addiction and received CBT at the Center for Online Addiction. This study employed a survey research design, and outcome variables such as client motivation, online time management, improved social relationships, improved sexual functioning, engagement in offline activities, and ability to abstain from problematic applications were evaluated on the 3rd, 8th, and 12th sessions and over a 6-month follow-up. Results suggested that Caucasian, middle-aged males with at least a 4-year degree were most likely to suffer from some form of Internet addiction. Preliminary analyses indicated that most clients were able to manage their presenting complaints by the eighth session, and symptom management was sustained upon a 6-month follow-up. As the field of Internet addiction continues to grow, such outcome data will be useful in treatment planning with evidenced-based protocols unique to this emergent client population.     

Discriminating the relation between relations: the role of entropy in abstract conceptualization by baboons (Papio papio) and humans (Homo sapiens).

Two baboons (Papio papio) successfully learned relational matching-to-sample: They picked the choice display that involved the same relation among 16 pictures (same or different) as the sample display, although the sample display shared no pictures with the choice displays. The baboons generalized relational matching behavior to sample displays created from novel pictures. Further experiments varying the number of sample pictures and the mixture of same and different sample pictures suggested that entropy plays a key role in the baboons' conceptual behavior. Two humans (Homo sapiens) were similarly trained and tested; their behavior was both similar to and different from the baboons' behavior. The results suggest that animals other than humans and chimpanzees can discriminate the relation between relations. They further suggest that entropy detection may underlie same-different conceptualization, but that additional processes may participate in human conceptualization.     

Differences in Friendship Networks and Experiences of Cyberbullying Among Korean and Australian Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Cyberbullying is one of the negative consequences of online social interaction. The digital environment enables adolescents to engage in online social interaction beyond the traditional physical boundaries of families, neighborhoods, and schools. The authors examined connections to friendship networks in both online and offline settings are related to their experiences as victims, perpetrators, and bystanders of cyberbullying. A comparative face-to-face survey of adolescents (12–15-year-olds) was conducted in Korea (n = 520) and Australia (n = 401). The results reveal that online networks are partially related to cyberbullying in both countries, showing the size of social network sites was significantly correlated with experience cyberbullying among adolescents in both countries. However there were cultural differences in the impact of friendship networks on cyberbullying. The size of the online and offline networks has a stronger impact on the cyberbullying experiences in Korea than it does in Australia. In particular, the number of friends in cliques was positively related to both bullying and victimization in Korea.     

Analysis of Pelvis-Thorax Coordination Patterns of Professional and Amateur Golfers during Golf Swing

The aim of this research was to quantify the coordination pattern between thorax and pelvis during a golf swing. The coordination patterns were calculated using vector coding technique, which had been applied to quantify the coordination changes in coupling angle (γ) between two different segments. For this, fifteen professional and fifteen amateur golfers who had no significant history of musculoskeletal injuries. There was no significant difference in coordination patterns between the two groups for rotation motion during backswing (p = 0.333). On the other hand, during the downswing phase, there were significant differences between professional and amateur groups in all motions (flexion/extension: professional [γ] = 187.8°, amateur [γ] = 167.4°; side bending: professional [γ] = 288.4°, amateur [γ] = 245.7°; rotation: professional [γ] = 232.0°, amateur [γ] = 229.5°). These results are expected to be a discriminating measure to assess complex coordination of golfers' trunk movements and preliminary study for interesting comparison by golf skilled levels.     

Morality as a Discursive Accomplishment among Animal Rescue Workers

A sociological view of moral decision making suggests that it is frequently an interactionally constructed product of the discourse of groups. Here we utilize ethnographically-derived email conversations to analyze the discursive construction of decisions among members of a volunteer group faced with a moral dilemma. We focus on their use of three key linguistic resources—moral vocabularies, moral rhetoric and moral narratives. We find each of these resources instrumental in constructing a discourse that allows groups to resolve such problems, while simultaneously shoring up group solidarity, protecting the basic principles the group, and salvaging the moral identities of its members.