Family transitions during the adolescent transition: implications for parenting

This study explored how family transitions affect parenting practices in a sample of 7,000 ethnically diverse students in 9th, 10th, or 11th grade over a period of 2 years. Adolescent perceptions of parental control and parental responsiveness were assessed in three groups: (1) adolescents moving into mother-custody households following a marital separation or divorce, (2) adolescents from stable never-divorced households, and (3) adolescents from stable mother-custody households. The study examined pre- and posttransition data to determine whether adolescents in newly formed single-parent families experienced a larger drop in parental control and responsiveness than did adolescents in stable nondivorced and stable mother-custody households. Adolescents from all family types reported significant declines in behavioral control, but not parental responsiveness. However, the lack of family-type differences contrasts sharply with findings from the childhood-divorce literature. Findings suggest that adolescent individuation may overshadow family-type differences during middle adolescence. As expected, boys reported lower parental control than did girls. Ethnic differences revealed that European American adolescents reported the highest levels of parental responsiveness, and African American adolescents reported the highest levels of parental control. Contextual and individual pathways in adolescence are discussed.     

Positron emission tomography methods with potential for increased understanding of mental retardation and developmental disabilities

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a technique that enables imaging of the distribution of radiolabeled tracers designed to track biochemical and molecular processes in the body after intravenous injection or inhalation. New strategies for the use of radiolabeled tracers hold potential for imaging gene expression in the brain during development and following interventions. In addition, PET may be key in identifying the physiological consequences of gene mutations associated with mental retardation. The development of high spatial resolution microPET scanners for imaging of rodents provides a means for longitudinal study of transgenic mouse models of genetic disorders associated with mental retardation. In this review, we describe PET methodology, illustrate how PET can be used to delineate biochemical changes during brain development, and provide examples of how PET has been applied to study brain glucose metabolism in Rett syndrome, serotonin synthesis in autism, and GABAA receptors in Angelman's syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. Future application of PET scanning in the study of mental retardation might include measurements of brain protein synthesis in fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex, two common conditions associated with mental retardation in which cellular mechanisms involve dysregulation of protein synthesis. Mental retardation results in life-long disability, and application of new PET technologies holds promise for a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of mental retardation, with the potential to uncover new treatment options.     

Hemispheric Differences for Visual Matrix Processing: Stimulus Size and Spatial Frequency Effects

Hemispheric processing differences were assessed by presenting square matrices that varied in size and the number of filled-in cells. Subjects judged whether the matrix contained an even or odd number of filled cells. Experiment 1 employed relatively small matrix sizes (2 x 2, 3 x 3, and 4 x 4), and Experiment 2 employed relatively large matrix sizes (4 x 4, 6 x 6, and 8 x 8). Response time was shorter and error rates lower for left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH) presentations compared to right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH) presentations, with the larger matrices demonstrating the strongest visual field/hemispheric effects. Increases in the number of filled cells contributed to increases for the LVF/RH response time advantage only for the larger arrays. Analysis of the data from both studies collapsed across the number of filled cells produced highly consistent LVF/RH advantages for both response time and error rate, with stronger LVF/RH advantages found for the larger matrix sizes of both studies. The findings suggest that visual stimulus spatial frequency is a key determinant of hemispheric processing advantages, but that this factor is constrained by stimulus size variation. Theoretical implications with respect to the hemispheric processing double filtering by frequency model are discussed.     

Die Selektion dimensionaler räumlicher Präpositionen: automatisch und nicht ressourcenadaptierend

The selection of dimensional spatial prepositions: automatic and not resource adaptive Summary. Speakers were required to generate dimensional spatial expressions in order to specify the position of a to-be-localized object (LO) relative to a reference object (RO). Placing LO in different positions around RO enabled us to establish the areas of application for the different German spatial terms. Canonical expressions (to the right of/ to the left of or above/ below) were only used if LO was placed horizontally or vertically aligned with RO. In all other directions combined expressions, e.g. 'rechts oben' (to the right and above) were used, which are common in German. These areas of application were of the same shape when subjects were under time pressure (Experiment 1). Additionally, a concurrent secondary task which was proven having high cognitive demands (Experiment 2) did not influence the area of application (Experiment 3). We conclude from these results that the selection of dimensional prepositions is automatic and that it is not resource adaptive. Zusammenfassung. SprecherInnen sollten ein zu lokalisierendes Objekt (LO) relativ zu einem Referenzpunkt (RO) sprachlich durch dimensionale räumliche Ausdrücke lokalisieren. LO wurde in unterschiedlichen Richtungen um RO platziert, sodass sich die Anwendbarkeitsräume für die verschiedenen räumlichen Ausdrücke im Deutschen bestimmen ließen. Die kanonischen Bezeichner (rechts von /links von oder über/unter) wurden praktisch nur bei direkt horizontaler oder vertikaler Lage von LO gewählt, in allen anderen Fällen wurden kombinierte Ausdrücke (z.B. rechts oben) benutzt. Diese Anwendbarkeitsräume änderten sich nicht, wenn die Personen unter Zeitdruck produzierten (Experiment 1). Eine gleichzeitig zu bearbeitende Nebenaufgabe, die das kognitive System stark belastet (Experiment 2), führte ebenfalls zu keiner Änderung der Anwendbarkeitsräume (Experiment 3). Wir schließen daraus, dass die Selektion der räumlichen Ausdrücke automatisch erfolgt und dass sie nicht ressourcenadaptierend ist.     

The Comparative Study of Eastern and Western Metaphysics: A Perennialist Perspective

The comparative study of Eastern and Western philosophy has been hindered and/or distorted by Eurocentric assumptions about “philosophy”, especially the overvaluation of rationality as an instrument of knowledge. The widespread discounting of Eastern thought derives, in large measure, from the modern Western failure to understand the nature of the traditional metaphysics of both the Occident and the East. This failure can be remedied by recourse to the work of a group of “traditionalist” or “perennialist” thinkers who expose the limitations of many approaches to the comparative study of philosophy in general and metaphysics in particular.     

Making things happen: reciprocal relationships between work characteristics and personal initiative in a four-wave longitudinal structural equation model

The authors used the frameworks of reciprocal determinism and occupational socialization to study the effects of work characteristics (consisting of control and complexity of work) on personal initiative (PI)--mediated by control orientation (a 2nd-order factor consisting of control aspiration, perceived opportunity for control, and self-efficacy) and the reciprocal effects of PI on changes in work characteristics. They applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal study with 4 measurement waves (N = 268) in a transitional economy: East Germany. Results confirm the model plus 1 additional, nonhypothesized effect. Work characteristics had a synchronous effect on PI via control orientation (full mediation). There were also effects of control orientation and of PI on later changes in work characteristics: As predicted, PI functioned as partial mediator, changing work characteristics in the long term (reciprocal effect); unexpectedly, there was a 2nd reciprocal effect of an additional lagged partial mediation of control orientation on later work characteristics.     

Personal Spiritual Values and Quality of Life: Evidence from Chinese College Students

Values are guiding principles in our life. While some studies found spiritual values to be “healthier,” Sagiv and Schwartz (Eur J Soc Psychol 30:177–198, 2000) showed that people holding non-spiritual values were higher on affective well-being. We examined the predictive power of these two types of values with a longitudinal data set collected from Chinese students mainly in Hong Kong. Structural equation modeling revealed that spiritual values (as well as family income) positively predicted quality of life a year later. Non-spiritual, self-enhancement values, did not show any association. Results suggest that developing spiritual values may promote well-being through enabling individuals to find meaning and purpose in life.     

Interactions between working memory and language in young children with specific language impairment (SLI)

The underlying structure of working memory (WM) in young children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) was examined. The associations between the components of WM and the language abilities of young children with SLI were then analyzed. The Automated Working Memory Assessment and four linguistic tasks were administered to 58 children with SLI and 58 children without SLI, aged 4–5 years. The WM of the children was best represented by a model with four separate but interacting components of verbal storage, visuospatial storage, verbal central executive (CE), and visuospatial CE. The associations between the four components of WM did not differ significantly for the two groups of children. However, the individual components of WM showed varying associations with the language abilities of the children with SLI. The verbal CE component of WM was moderately to strongly associated with all the language abilities in children with SLI: receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, verbal comprehension, and syntactic development. These results show verbal CE to be involved in a wide range of linguistic skills; the limited ability of young children with SLI to simultaneously store and process verbal information may constrain their acquisition of linguistic skills. Attention should thus be paid to the language problems of children with SLI, but also to the WM impairments that can contribute to their language problems.     

Grandiose Narcissism Predicts Willingness to Behave Badly,Without Proportional Tolerance for Others’ Bad Behavior

Narcissists characteristically behave badly; our study investigated how they respond to experiencing others’ bad behavior. After completing the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, a measure of grandiose narcissism, participants reported their willingness to engage in different inconsiderate or unethical common behaviors. Then they reported how bothered they would feel in response to experiencing each of the same bad behaviors—perpetrated by someone else. Participants overall reported feeling bothered by others’ bad behavior, but narcissism was unrelated to intolerance judgments. Narcissists are often highly reactive when their inflated self-views are challenged, but our study suggests that narcissists are not uniquely bothered by everyday minor offenses. However, when viewed from a different angle, narcissists’ level of intolerance could be interpreted as unjustly high, because they reported more willingness to engage in behavior that could bother others, yet did not show proportional tolerance for others’ bothersome behavior.