Separation Anxiety,Perceived Controllability,and Homesickness1

The present study examined the multidimensional interactionism model of anxiety, stress, and coping by investigating trait separation anxiety, controllability, and homesickness in 152 university students living away from home. Participants completed measures of trait separation anxiety, state anxiety, perceived controllability of the situation, and homesickness. Correlational tests confirmed that trait separation anxiety and homesickness were associated. Also, low perceived controllability was associated with state anxiety and homesickness. Finally, tests of a mediational model confirmed that both perceived controllability of the situation and state anxiety are significant mediators of the association between trait separation anxiety and homesickness. The findings provide support for models of homesickness that focus on diminished sense of personal control and proximity to attachment figures.     

Experiencing Alien-Nation: Effects of a simulation intervention on attitudes toward homosexuals

The authors explored psychological mechanisms underlying a teaching exercise [Hillman, J., & Martin, R. A. (2002). Lessons about gay and lesbian lives: A spaceship exercise. Teaching of Psychology, 29, 308-311] that may improve attitudes toward homosexuals. Heterosexual participants were randomly assigned to a simulation intervention or control lecture condition. In the simulation condition, participants imagined life on an alien planet that inadvertently simulated situational constraints parallel to those faced by homosexuals. The simulation (vs. control lecture) produced significantly more intergroup perspective-taking, empathy, and favorable attitudes toward homosexuals and marginalized groups. Tests of a structural equation model supported the assumption that the simulation (vs. control) provided an experience that heightened intergroup perspective-taking, which indirectly predicted favorable attitudes via independent cognitive (inclusive intergroup representations) and affective (empathy) paths. The model held after statistically controlling for prior attitudes and ideological individual differences predicting anti-homosexual bias. Implications for prejudice-reduction simulations and intergroup contact are considered.     

Traveling economically through memory space: Characterizing output order in memory for serial order

How do people report the contents of short-term memory when information about order must be retained but items can be retrieved in any order? We report an experiment using an unconstrained reconstruction task in which people can report list items in any order but must place them in their correct serial positions. We found (1) a tendency to report recent items first in immediate but not in delayed reconstruction, (2) a tendency to recall temporally isolated items first, (3) a preference for forward recall order, and (4) a preference for output orders that minimize the length of the path that must be traversed through memory space during retrieval. The results constrain most current models of short-term memory in which retrieval is ballistic and is assumed to run to completion autonomously once initiated.     

The pars triangularis in dyslexia and ADHD: A comprehensive approach

Limited research has been conducted on the structure of the pars triangularis (PT) in dyslexia despite functional neuroimaging research finding it may play a role in phonological processing. Furthermore, research to date has not examined PT size in ADHD even though the right inferior frontal region has been implicated in the disorder. Hence, one of the purposes of this study was to examine the structure of the PT in dyslexia and ADHD. The other purposes included examining the PT in relation to overall expressive language ability and in relation to several specific linguistic functions given language functioning often is affected in both dyslexia and ADHD. Participants included 50 children: 10 with dyslexia, 15 with comorbid dyslexia/ADHD, 15 with ADHD, and 10 controls. Using a 2 (dyslexia or not) × 2 (ADHD or not) MANCOVA, findings revealed PT length and shape were comparable between those with and without dyslexia. However, children with ADHD had smaller right PT lengths than those without ADHD, and right anterior ascending ramus length was related to attention problems in the total sample. In terms of linguistic functioning, presence of an extra sulcus in the left PT was related to poor expressive language ability. In those with adequate expressive language functioning, left PT length was related to phonological awareness, phonological short-term memory and rapid automatic naming (RAN). Right PT length was related to RAN and semantic processing. Further work on PT morphology in relation to ADHD and linguistic functioning is warranted.     

Intelligence and persisting with medication for two years: Analysis in a randomised controlled trial

The study examined whether verbal intelligence is associated with persisting to take medication for up to two years. The design is a prospective follow-up of compliance with taking medication in high-risk individuals participating in a randomised, placebo-controlled trial set in Central Scotland. Participants were 1993 people aged between 50 and 77 years with an ankle brachial index ≤ 0.95. The medication was 100 mg aspirin or placebo daily.The principal outcome measure was continuing with taking medication or stopping it due to having ‘changed one's mind’. Higher verbal intelligence was associated with a greater likelihood of continuing to take medication up to two years after randomisation. For a standard deviation increase in Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale score, risk of stopping medication in the first two years of the study was 0.75 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.87, p < 0.001). Comparing the highest and lowest quartiles of IQ, the lowest IQ group's relative rate of stopping medication was 2.51 (95% CI 1.52 to 4.22). The effect was not attenuated after adjustment for sex, smoking, or level of deprivation. Verbal intelligence is associated with continuing, medium-to-long term engagement with health self-care, even in the face of uncertainty about whether active treatment is being received, whether the treatment is known to be effective in general, and whether it will be helpful to the individual taking it. Such persisting with potentially helpful health behaviours in the face of uncertainty might partly explain why people with higher intelligence live longer and suffer less morbidity from chronic diseases.     

Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating Among Early Adolescents From Korea and the US

Multidimensional measures of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were studied in samples of 12–15 years old middle school children. Consistent with feminist theories associating body dissatisfaction with rapid social change, Korean girls (n?=?272) exhibited the greatest body dissatisfaction and the most behaviors associated with disordered eating and were followed in order by Korean boys (n?=?276), US girls (n?=?251), and US boys (n?=?220). The results, which replicated Jung and Forbes (2006) report of greater body dissatisfaction among Korean than among US college women, suggest that (1) these differences originate prior to adolescence, and (2) the sociocultural variables producing greater body dissatisfaction in Korean girls and women also influence body dissatisfaction among boys.     

An Examination of the Connections Between Eating Disorder Symptoms,Perceived Burdensomeness,Thwarted Belongingness,and Suicide Risk Among Undergraduate Students

Suicide attempts and premature mortality due to suicide are elevated in people with eating disorders. Informed by the interpersonal theory of suicide, two studies examined the role of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in explaining the association between eating disorder symptoms and suicide risk. Results indicated that various eating disorder symptoms had an indirect effect on suicide risk through perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Targeting perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness may be useful for decreasing suicide risk among undergraduates with eating disorder symptoms.