Frequency and nature of rumination in chronic depression: a preliminary study

This study explores the phenomenological experience of rumination in a sample of 22 chronically depressed people and looks at the extent to which it is consistent with theoretical ideas. The findings indicate that, on average, depressed people ruminate about at least two different topics, and that there is wide variability in how long each episode lasts. Rumination is a complex process frequently involving imagery as well as verbal thoughts and is almost invariably associated with multiple emotions. Although there was some evidence for stop rules being involved, most individuals attributed ending a period of rumination to distraction, whether external or internally generated.     

The genetic basis of entrepreneurship: Effects of gender and personality

Extending previous research on the genetic underpinnings of entrepreneurship, we investigate gender differences in the genetic influences on the tendency of people to become entrepreneurs. We also examined two mediating variables through which genetic factors may impact this tendency: extraversion and neuroticism. Based on 1285 pairs of identical twins (449 male and 836 female pairs) and 849 pairs of same-sex fraternal twins (283 male and 566 female pairs), we found that females have a strong genetic influence and zero shared-environmental influences on their tendency to become entrepreneurs. In contrast, males show zero genetic influence, but a large shared-environmental influence. Extraversion and neuroticism mediate the genetic influences on women’s tendency to become entrepreneurs, whereas extraversion mediates shared-environmental influences on men’s tendency to become entrepreneurs. We discuss this sharp difference in genetic influences on entrepreneurship across gender groups and highlight the different challenges that men and women face in their entrepreneurial endeavors.     

Same-gender and cross-gender peer acceptance and peer rejection and their relation to bullying and helping among preadolescents: comparing predictions from gender-homophily and goal-framing approaches

The relation between bullying and helping and same-gender and cross-gender peer acceptance and peer rejection was examined in a sample of preadolescents aged 11 and 12 years (N=1,065). The authors tested predictions from a gender-homophily approach vs. predictions from a goal-framing approach in which acceptance and rejection are seen as being generated by approach and avoidance goals, respectively. For preadolescents, both approaches predicted a central role for gender, but the gender-homophily approach predicted symmetrical effects for acceptance and rejection, whereas the goal-framing approach predicted strong asymmetries. The data supported the goal-framing approach. The most important findings were that for preadolescents, acceptance is much more frequent and much more gendered than rejection; the absolute impact of helping on acceptance is much larger than that of bullying (and vice versa for rejection); for acceptance, there is a prototypicality effect (i.e., boys accept bullying girls better than nonbullying girls, and girls accept helping boys better than nonhelping boys); and for acceptance, there is a cross-gender ignorance effect (i.e., boys ignore helping in girls, and girls ignore bullying in boys).     

Working with parents to counteract bullying: A randomized controlled trial of an intervention to improve parent-school cooperation

This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at improving parent-school cooperation in counteracting bullying. Using a randomized controlled trial, data of teachers, parents of non-victimized children, and children themselves were collected at 13 intervention and 14 control schools (grades 3–6, N at post-assessment: teachers = 83, parents = 153, children = 2,510) at two time points (time lag about 6 months). Results showed positive effects of the intervention for some aspects of the primary outcomes: parents’ and teachers’ attitudes and efforts, whereas no effects were found of teachers’ or parents’ competences in counteracting bullying. No intervention effects were found for secondary outcomes: children's self-reported bullying, victimization, well-being, and self-esteem. The findings indicate that, due to the intervention, teachers and parents were more aligned and able to cooperate, even within the short time of the intervention: one school year. This is the first essential step to systematically addressing parents’ role in tackling bullying; future research is needed to examine the long-term effects of parent and school interventions in enhancing the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs.     

Cultural myopia: The need for a corrective lens

The Office for Civil Rights on May 25, 1970, issued a Memorandum to school districts designed to prohibit discrimination against national origin minority children which results from a failure school districts to the recognize the differing linguistic characteristics and cultural identify of such children in the planning and operation of education programs. Specifically, the Memorandum prohibits the assignment of children to classes for the mentally retarded on the basis of criteria which essentially measure or evaluate English language skkills. A task group was appointed by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to develop educational policy to implement this antidiscrimination provision.

This task group recommended that additional policies be developed by the Office for Civil Rights to notify adequately school districts and members of the general public of the types of discriminatory practices that might be occuring and to set forth model procedures which school districts could follow in an effort to eliminate discriminatory practices which might currently exist. This paper discusses those procedures recommended by the committee.     

Drawn to danger: trait anger predicts automatic approach behaviour to angry faces

Most people automatically withdraw from socially threatening situations. However, people high in trait anger could be an exception to this rule, and may even display an eagerness to approach hostile situations. To test this hypothesis, we asked 118 participants to complete an approach-avoidance task, in which participants made approach or avoidance movements towards faces with an angry or happy expression, and a direct or averted eye gaze. As expected, higher trait anger predicted faster approach (than avoidance) movements towards angry faces. Crucially, this effect occurred only for angry faces with a direct eye gaze, presumably because they pose a specific social threat, in contrast to angry faces with an averted gaze. No parallel effects were observed for happy faces, indicating that the effects of trait anger were specific to hostile stimuli. These findings suggest that people high in trait anger may automatically approach hostile interaction partners.     

Embodied mood regulation: the impact of body posture on mood recovery,negative thoughts,and mood-congruent recall

Previous work has shown that a stooped posture may activate negative mood. Extending this work, the present experiments examine how stooped body posture influences recovery from pre-existing negative mood. In Experiment 1 (n?=?229), participants were randomly assigned to receive either a negative or neutral mood induction, after which participants were instructed to take either a stooped, straight, or control posture while writing down their thoughts. Stooped posture (compared to straight or control postures) led to less mood recovery in the negative mood condition, and more negative mood in the neutral mood condition. Furthermore, stooped posture led to more negative thoughts overall compared to straight or control postures. In Experiment 2 (n?=?122), all participants underwent a negative mood induction, after which half received cognitive reappraisal instructions and half received no instructions. Mood-congruent cognitions were assessed through autobiographical memory recall. Again, stooped (compared to straight) position led to less mood recovery. Notably, this was independent of regulation instruction. These findings demonstrate for the first time that posture plays an important role in recovering from negative mood.     

Social problem-solving skills in children with traumatic brain injury: long-term outcomes and prediction of social competence.

The effects of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social problem-solving were examined in 35 children with severe TBI, 40 children with moderate TBI, and 46 children with orthopedic injuries (OI). The children were recruited prospectively following injuries that occurred between 6 and 12 years of age. They were followed longitudinally, and ranged from 9 to 18 years of age at the time of the current study, which occurred on average 4 years post injury. They were administered a semi-structured interview used in previous research on social problem-solving to assess the developmental level of their responses to hypothetical dilemmas involving social conflict. Children in the severe TBI group defined the social dilemmas and generated alternative strategies to solve those dilemmas at the same developmental level as did children in the OI group. However, they articulated lower-level strategies as the best way to solve the dilemmas and used lower-level reasoning to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies. After controlling for group membership, race, socioeconomic status, IQ, and age, children's social problem-solving, and particularly the developmental level of their preferred strategies for resolving conflicts, predicted parents ratings of children's social skills, peer relationships, aggressive behavior, and academic performance. The findings indicate that children with severe TBI demonstrate selective, long-term deficits in their social problem-solving skills that may help to account for their poor social and academic outcomes.