The role of developmental features,environmental crises,and personal resources (self-control and social support) in adolescents' aggressive behavior

Aggression among adolescents is a social problem that has sharply escalated in recent years, instigating research into related factors. This article outlines the characteristics of adolescents' aggressive behavior in line with Buss and Perry's (1992) theory linking it to the tendency to develop hostile thoughts and angry emotions. Aggressive behavior may be described as a possible outcome of normal development on the one hand, and as a result of exposure to crisis and trauma on the other. Thus, developmental characteristics highlight the role of age and sex in adolescents' aggressive behavior. In addition, possible external crises and distress (e.g., war, divorce) may contribute to adolescents' aggression. This article also identifies two possible resources that may contribute to a reduction in aggressive behavior under normal and crisis conditions: social support as an environmental resource, and self-control as a personal resource. We conclude with suggestions for reducing aggression through a unified intervention setting that integrates developmental features, environmental and family components, as well as personal components.     

Endocrine and emotional response to exclusion among women and men; cortisol,salivary alpha amylase,and mood

Background and Objectives: Social exclusion is ubiquitous and painful. Evolutionary models indicate sex differences in coping with social stress. Recent empirical data suggest different sex patterns in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic–adrenal–medullary (SAM) reactivity. The present study sought to test this hypothesis.

Design: We examined differences in endocrine and emotional response to exclusion by using a virtual ball tossing paradigm (Cyberball). Saliva samples and mood ratings were collected to reflect levels before, and repeatedly following, exclusion.

Methods: The sample included 21 women and 23 men. Cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), biomarkers of the HPA and SAM systems, respectively, were used as indices of two arms of stress response.

Results: Following exclusion, all participants experienced mood worsening followed by mood improvement, with men reporting less distress than women. Women evinced decline in cortisol following the Cyberball task, whereas men’s cortisol levels showed a non-significant rise, and then decline, following exclusion.

Conclusions: Our results concur with previous findings showing SAM reactivity to be gender-neutral and HPA reactivity to be gender-divergent. Additional studies are needed to examine sex-specific response to social exclusion. Implications for individual differences in recovery from stress are discussed.     

Think the thought, walk the walk - social priming reduces the Stroop effect

In the Stroop task, participants name the color of the ink that a color word is written in and ignore the meaning of the word. Naming the color of an incongruent color word (e.g., RED printed in blue) is slower than naming the color of a congruent color word (e.g., RED printed in red). This robust effect is known as the Stroop effect and it suggests that the intentional instruction – “do not read the word” – has limited influence on one’s behavior, as word reading is being executed via an automatic path. Herein is examined the influence of a non-intentional instruction – “do not read the word” – on the Stroop effect. Social concept priming tends to trigger automatic behavior that is in line with the primed concept. Here participants were primed with the social concept “dyslexia” before performing the Stroop task. Because dyslectic people are perceived as having reading difficulties, the Stroop effect was reduced and even failed to reach significance after the dyslectic person priming. A similar effect was replicated in a further experiment, and overall it suggests that the human cognitive system has more success in decreasing the influence of another automatic process via an automatic path rather than via an intentional path.     

Affective and Behavioral Changes Following Exposure to Traumatic Events: the Moderating Effect of Religiosity on Avoidance Behavior Among Students Studying Under a High Level of Terror Event Exposure

The goals of this study were to examine the development of affective and behavioral changes following exposure to traumatic events among Israeli students studying under a high level of terror event exposure and to assess the effects of religiosity on those changes development. A questionnaire was administered to 770 students in the Ariel University Center in Judea and Samaria. Higher levels of terror exposure were associated with higher levels of avoidance behavior, subjective feelings of insecurity, and emotional distress. Higher religiosity moderated avoidance behavior, even when controlling for the level of objective exposure to terror events exposure, but had no influence on subjective sense of insecurity, or the level of emotional distress. These findings suggest that religiosity moderates behavioral changes development after traumatic event exposure mainly by reducing avoidance behavior.     

Changes over time from baseline poor self-rated health: for whom does poor self-rated health not predict mortality?

The aim of this study was to understand for whom and why poor self-rated health (SRH) is a less valid predictor of longevity or future health by examining the predictors of decline in health among people with poor baseline SRH. The sample included 409 participants in the Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study of the old-old (75+) in Israel, who were self-respondents and rated their health as poor at baseline and their status was known at follow-up 3.5 years later: deceased/moved to proxy interview/remained in poor SRH/or improved SRH. Baseline measures included self-reported medical status, physical, cognitive, psychological and social functioning. Findings showed that less decline in health was predicted by less difficulty in physical and cognitive functioning at baseline and by a more active physical and social life, after controlling for socio-demographics. Most of the predictors retained a unique contribution in a multivariate model, suggesting that engagement in meaningful activities serves as an indicator of better health and longer survival even within a group of old-old people in poor health. It may reflect greater social support, contribute to fitness and/or provide a sense of mastery, which could explain similar findings regarding gender and race/ethnicity groups for whom SRH is a less potent predictor of mortality.     

Developmental changes in children's understanding of future likelihood and uncertainty

Two measures assessed 4-10-year-olds’ and adults’ (N = 201) understanding of future likelihood and uncertainty. In one task, participants sequenced sets of event pictures varying by one physical dimension according to increasing future likelihood. In a separate task, participants rated characters’ thoughts about the likelihood of future events, their emotions, and their decisions in indeterminate social situations. Results showed significant development between ages 4 and 10 in seriating events according to future likelihood and in selecting thought and emotion ratings indicative of future uncertainty. Higher performance on the future likelihood ordering task correlated with greater understanding of future uncertainty in thought, emotion, and decision judgments. Females judged future events to be more uncertain than males.     

An Ecological Approach to Explaining Women’s Adjustment in the Initial Stage of Marriage

In this study, we focused on marital adjustment among a sample of 101 Israeli women who had been married up to 3 years and did not have children. We examined the contribution of variables from three ecological systems to marital adjustment: the ontogenic system (attachment dimensions, and women’s perceptions of differentiation in the family of origin); the microsystem (strategies for resolving marital conflicts); and the exosystem (characteristics of the husband’s employment). The findings revealed that the higher the women’s levels in the two dimensions of attachment, the lower their levels of marital adjustment. By contrast, the more the women used conflict resolution strategies of integration, concession, and compromise, the higher their levels of marital adjustment. Conflict resolution strategies mediated the effects of attachment avoidance and family differentiation on marital adjustment. To conclude, we offer practical recommendations for identifying couples at risk in the first stage of marital life, and for professional interventions to improve marital adjustment at that stage.     

Cognitive discrimination in brain-damaged adults: color vs form preference

The relative preference of color, form, and other dimensions as the basis for discrimination between stimuli has been investigated in a variety of normal and language-impaired populations. In aphasic adults, previous studies have been contradictory, and no studies of non-aphasic, brain-damaged adults have been reported. In this study color vs form preference was examined in 20 left brain-damaged, aphasic adults, 20 right brain-damaged non-aphasic adults, and 20 control subjects. Significant differences were found among all groups, with preference of color over form greatest for left brain-damaged subjects, followed by right-damaged and control subjects.