Task‐related interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers: the role of emotional security

This study examined the emotional security of kindergarten children in dyadic task‐related interactions with their teachers. In particular, it examined the interrelations between security, task behaviours (persistence and independence), social inhibition, and teachers' support. Participants were 79 kindergartners (mean age=69.7 months) and their 40 regular teachers. Children were selected to approach a normal distribution of social inhibition. Children and teachers were filmed during a dyadic interaction task outside the classroom. Three groups of independent observers rated children's emotional security and their task behaviours, as well as teachers' supportive behaviours. Multilevel modelling revealed a positive link between teachers' support and emotional security. This link suppressed a negative relation between social inhibition and emotional security. In addition, emotional security was positively associated with children's task behaviours and mediated part of the positive link between these behaviours and teachers' support. Finally, security moderated the relation between support and persistence, such that the effect of teachers' support on persistent behaviours was amplified for relatively insecure children. These results highlight the importance of considering emotional security when examining the interactions between kindergarten children and their teachers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conceptualizing and assessing self-enhancement bias: a componential approach

Four studies implemented a componential approach to assessing self-enhancement and contrasted this approach with 2 earlier ones: social comparison (comparing self-ratings with ratings of others) and self-insight (comparing self-ratings with ratings by others). In Study 1, the authors varied the traits being rated to identify conditions that lead to more or less similarity between approaches. In Study 2, the authors examined the effects of acquaintance on the conditions identified in Study 1. In Study 3, the authors showed that using rankings renders the self-insight approach equivalent to the component-based approach but also has limitations in assessing self-enhancement. In Study 4, the authors compared the social-comparison and the component-based approaches in terms of their psychological implications; the relation between self-enhancement and adjustment depended on the self-enhancement approach used, and the positive-adjustment correlates of the social-comparison approach disappeared when the confounding influence of the target effect was controlled.     

Factor structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale in Hong Kong adolescents

We present data from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) for 2 samples of Hong Kong community adolescents (combined N = 1,385). The 4 positive affect items related poorly to the remainder of the scale. Using 16 items, the data were consistent with 2 models with highly correlated factors: (a) a 2-factor model, 1 of which merged somatic and affective items, and (b) a 3-factor model separating somatic, depressed, and interpersonal items. Correlations with related constructs provide preliminary support of validity. Hong Kong adolescents are influenced both by traditional concepts of mind-body holism and Western psychological models separating psychological and somatic symptoms.     

Blocked goals, persistent action: Implementation intentions engender tenacious goal striving

Research on goal attainment has demonstrated that people are more likely to reach their goals when they form implementation intentions. Three experiments tested whether implementation intentions lead to tenacious goal striving following blockage of an initial attempt to reach the goal. In all three experiments some participants were instructed to form an implementation intention and other participants were not. Subsequently, the initial goal-directed attempt of all participants was unexpectedly blocked. Experiment 1 found that implementation intentions resulted in more attempts to realize one’s goal. Experiment 2 showed that when participants formed an implementation intention their repeated attempt was acted out as intensely as their first, blocked attempt. Experiment 3 found that implementation intentions still allow people to seize an alternative, more onerous means to realize their intention. These results imply that implementation intention conserve self-regulatory strength. After goal blockage, the remaining strength can be used to continue goal-directed action.     

ARE ALL LATINAS THE SAME? PERCEIVED BREAST CANCER SCREENING BARRIERS AND FACILITATIVE CONDITIONS

In this article, we examine perceived breast cancer screening barriers and facilitative conditions for immigrant women from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, El Salvador, and South America ( N = 58). Focus groups conducted separately with women of each ancestry were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Identified barriers comprise secrecy, lack of information, embarrassment, fear, and distrust of health care providers. Perceived facilitative conditions include knowing the importance of early detection and noticing a symptom. We compare and contrast findings across ancestries and discuss how psychosocial and cultural factors could be better integrated into early detection programs. The women's high screening rates also suggest that breast cancer screening can be facilitated in this population by addressing institutional factors (e.g., access to health care, transportation).     

Emotional transfer in goal systems

Five experimental studies explored the phenomenon of affective transfer in goal systems. We find that affect associated with goal attainment may be transferred to means cognitively associated with such goal-events, and that factors affecting the dimensions of transfer include the magnitude of affect invested in the goal, the quality of invested affect and the strength of association between a given means and the goal-event. Accordingly, the transfer mechanism was shown to impact the magnitude of affect experienced in regard to the means in question, as well as its kind (involving, e.g., promotion-type affect or prevention-type affect), and was shown to influence the interpersonal feelings toward others perceived as helpful to the attainment of various goals.     

Living the Paradox: Female Athletes Negotiate Femininity and Muscularity

Sportswomen live in 2 cultures: the sport culture that is inherently masculine and the larger social culture where femininity is celebrated for women. In this investigation, which was grounded in feminist cultural studies, we pursued the research question: how do female athletes negotiate and reconcile the social expectations surrounding femininity with athleticism? Twenty-one female college athletes participated in focus group interviews about body image and perceptions of muscularity and femininity. Data analysis resulted in 3 higher order themes: the influence of hegemonic femininity, athlete as other, and physicality. These athletes expressed that being feminine contrasted with being athletic. They further conveyed that as athletes, they were marginalized and perceived as different from “normal” women. Yet, they also were proud of their strong, developed bodies and expressed feelings of empowerment that generalized beyond the sport context.     

Nicotine craving and cue exposure therapy by using virtual environments.

Smokers who are exposed to cues associated with smoking show cardiovascular reactivity and an increase in smoking urges as compared to when they are presented with neutral cues. Cue exposure therapy (CET), which refers to the repeated exposure to drug-related cues in order to extinguish this learned association, has increasingly been proposed as a potential treatment of addictive behaviors, including tobacco smoking. The result of our pilot study suggests that a cue elicited using a virtual environment (VE) is more effective than other cue exposure devices. The VE was composed of craving environments (virtual bar) and objects (an alcoholic drink, a packet of cigarettes, a lighter, an ashtray, a glass of beer, and advertising posters) that are likely to trigger craving, a smoking avatar, and an audio environment that included the noisy sound and music of a restaurant. Sixteen late-adolescent males who smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day were recruited to participate in the VE-CET study. The CET virtual bar program consisted of six sessions, and the participants were exposed repeatedly to each session using different questions and procedures. Although the effects of CET did not yield significant reductions in all of the dependent variables, the craving for cigarettes was gradually decreased during the course of the sessions. This tendency was closely related to the reduction in the smoking count between the morning before the experiment and the start of the experiment. Based on these preliminary results, it appears that VE-CET maybe a useful tool to use in treatment programs to help reduce craving in those who are nicotine dependent.