Correlates of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale in delinquent adolescents

Correlations between scores on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale and a number of relevant personality characteristics, i.e., intelligence, memory, social inadequacy, social desirability, and fantasy proneness, were examined in a sample of 71 delinquent boys. Analysis showed that intelligence and memory were negatively related to suggestibility scores. That is, lower memory and intelligence were associated with higher suggestibility. No significant correlations were found between suggestibility and other personality characteristics.     

Situational Peer effects on Adolescents’ Alcohol Consumption: The Moderating Role of Supervision,Activity Structure,and Personal Moral Rules

Using five waves of unique space-time budget data, this study investigates the relevance of peer presence and behavior on adolescents’ alcohol consumption at a situational level, addressing to which degree these situational peer effects are moderated by the setting and by individual differences. Multilevel models, predicting the probability of alcohol consumption in a given hour, show that peers’ alcohol misuse is most relevant during unstructured activities while unsupervised. However, individuals differ in their susceptibility to these situational processes, with adolescents holding strong moral convictions against alcohol consumption being basically immune to situational peer effects, even during unstructured and unsupervised activities.     

Multidimensional Poverty Index and Happiness

In recent years, income concepts have been criticized for being too narrow to capture human well-being. The broader “objective” capability approach and subjective well-being analyses have been highlighted as most prominent approaches which allow for well-being assessments beyond income. Recently, a combination of the capability and of the subjective well-being approach has been recommended to strengthen well-being analyses. Our paper further explores the relations of both approaches. Based upon micro data covering more than 2300 individuals from four villages in rural Karnataka (India), the paper empirically analyses to which degree objective capability deprivation reflected by the United Nations Development Programme’s Multidimensional Poverty Index coincides with reduced happiness. We find positive correlations between Multidimensional Poverty Index deprivation and lack of happiness for some dimensions; otherwise the correlation is weak for the majority of Multidimensional Poverty Index indicators. Our results suggest that “relativity” towards other villagers is crucial for happiness. Moreover, from a happiness perspective our findings show the necessity to integrate financial deprivation indicators and further “missing dimensions” of deprivation into the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Furthermore, it may be fruitful to measure multidimensional poverty on a household and individual level.     

Feeling Half-Half? Exploring Relational Variation of Turkish-Heritage Young Adults’ Cultural Identity Compatibility and Conflict in Austria

Growing up in multicultural environments, Turkish-heritage individuals in Europe face specific challenges in combining their multiple cultural identities to form a coherent sense of self. Drawing from social identity complexity, this study explores four modes of combining cultural identities and their variation in relational contexts. Problem-centered interviews with Turkish-heritage young adults in Austria revealed the preference for complex, supranational labels, such as multicultural. Furthermore, most participants described varying modes of combining cultural identities over time and across relational contexts. Social exclusion experiences throughout adolescence related to perceived conflict of cultural identities, whereas multicultural peer groups supported perceived compatibility of cultural identities. Findings emphasize the need for complex, multidimensional approaches to study ethnic minorities’ combination of cultural identities.     

Epilepsie – eine potenziell chirurgisch behandelbare Erkrankung

Epilepsy is one of the most frequent neurological diseases in adults. First line therapy consists of antiepileptic drugs. However, up to 50?% of patients with focal epilepsy do not adequately respond to medical therapy. After failure of two first-line drugs, patients should be referred to a comprehensive epilepsy center for evaluation of the possibility for epilepsy surgery. The noninvasive phase 1 includes history with eye witness report, clinical examination, structural and functional imaging techniques, simultaneous video-EEG monitoring as well as a neuropsychological examination. An invasive phase 2 can be added in cases with incongruent results. Subdural strip and grid electrodes as well as stereotactically implanted depth electrodes give more detailed information on seizure origin and spread. Detailed planning of the surgical approach is of utmost importance. In patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, seizure freedom can be achieved in 60–80?% of cases after epilepsy surgery.     

Measuring Effortful Control Using the Children's Behavior Questionnaire–Very Short Form: Modeling Matters

Effortful control (EC) is an important concept in the research on self-regulation in children. We tested 2 alternative factor models of EC as measured by the Children's Behavior Questionnaire–Very Short Form (CBQ–VSF; Putnam &; Rothbart, 2006 Putnam, S. P., &; Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Development of short and very short forms of the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 87, 103–113. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa8701_9[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in a large sample of preschoolers (N = 1,007): 1 lower order and 1 hierarchical second-order structure. Additionally, convergent and predictive validity of EC as measured by the CBQ–VSF were investigated. The results supported a hierarchical model. Moderate convergent validity of the second-order latent EC factor was found in that it correlated with compliance and observed EC tasks. Both CBQ–VSF EC measures were also negatively correlated with child physical aggression. The results have implications for the measurement, modeling, and interpretation of EC applying the CBQ.     

Learning Experiences and Anxiety Sensitivity in Normal Adolescents

The present study examined the relationships between learning experiences with respect to somatic symptoms and levels of anxiety sensitivity in youths. Fifty-two normal adolescents aged 12 to 14 years were interviewed about their learning experiences with anxiety-related and nonanxiety-related somatic symptoms and completed the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index. Results showed that informational learning to some extent contributed to adolescents' anxiety sensitivity levels. That is, parents' transmission of the idea that somatic symptoms might be dangerous was significantly associated with levels of anxiety sensitivity. Other learning experiences such as parental reinforcement or observational learning were not found to be related to anxiety sensitivity. It can be concluded that learning experiences seem to play a small but significant role in the development of high levels of anxiety sensitivity.     

Employment, ethnicity and metropolitan context: The case of young Canadian immigrants

Although employment of young immigrants is a concern for policy-makers and an expectation of Canadian society, we know relatively little about the labour market performance of young immigrants. A series of logistic regression analyses of a sample of 492,048 youths from the 1996 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) examines the influence of ethnicity and metropolitan context on the employment probabilities of immigrant and Canadian-born youths between the ages of 15 and 18. The article interprets the results in the light of the existing literature and discusses policy implications.     

Measuring emotional management abilities: Further evidence of the importance to distinguish between typical and maximum performance

Freudenthaler and Neubauer (2005) have recently developed and validated performance measures of emotional management abilities (EMA), requiring subjects to indicate their typical behaviour in emotional situations (typical-performance instruction, TP) instead of assessing the effectiveness of different behavioural alternatives or indicating the most adequate response (maximum-performance instruction, MP). In the present study (n = 176), we examined the effects of these two instruction forms (TP vs. MP) on the EMA-scores in a between-subject design. In addition, the relations of typical and maximum EMA to cognitive intelligence components and personality traits were tested. Instruction-related comparisons of the EMA-scores yielded not only lower means but also higher standard deviations and higher reliabilities in the TP-condition. As expected, maximum EMA were significantly correlated with cognitive intelligence components but not with personality traits. In contrast, the typical EMA were moderately associated with personality traits but not related to cognitive abilities, providing further evidence of the importance to distinguish between typical and maximum performance.