Predictors of Categorical At‐Risk High School Dropouts

The authors attempted to identify key contributing factors to school dropout among 3 categories of at‐risk students: those with low grade point averages, those who had been suspended, and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Logistic regression analysis of the data, which were derived from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth‐1997 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002) indicated that student dropout rates were affected differently by students' membership in the 3 at‐risk categories.     

The time course of perceptual grouping: the role of segregation and shape formation

The time course of perceptual grouping was examined in two experiments, using a primed matching task. In different conditions, elements were grouped into columns/rows by common lightness, into a shape (triangle/ arrow or square/cross) by common lightness, and into a shape without segregation of elements. The results showed an early and rapid grouping into columns/rows by common lightness and into a shape when no segregation from other elements was involved. Goodness of shape (i.e., triangle/arrow vs. square/cross) had no influence on how early grouping was evident, but the relatively poorer shapes appeared to consolidate with time. In contrast, grouping into a shape that involved segregation and required resolving figure-ground relations between segregated units, as grouping into a shape by common lightness, consumed time, regardless of shape goodness. These results suggest that the time course of grouping varies as a function of the processes involved in it (e.g., segregation and shape formation) and the conditions prevailing for each process.     

Psychopathological profile of battered women according to age

In this paper, differential psychopathological consequences in battered women according to age were analysed in a sample of 148 victims seeking psychological treatment in a Family Violence Centre. The younger victims exposed to intimate partner violence suffered more often from physical violence and were at higher risk for their lives than the older ones. The prevalence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was higher (42%) in the younger victims than in the older ones (27%). Likewise, younger victims were affected by more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem than the older ones. The severity of PTSD in the younger victims was related to the presence of forced sexual relationship but in the older ones, it was related to the perceived threat to their lives. Implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented upon.     

Differential course of executive control changes during normal aging

Normal aging has been associated with executive control deficits, but it is as yet unclear whether different executive subprocesses are differentially affected during the course of aging. The present study aimed to investigate age effects on a range of executive control subcomponents. Four consecutive age groups (20-30 years, 31-45 years, 46-60 years, 61-75 years), matched on present state IQ and mood, were compared on tasks of strategic memory processing, verbal fluency, reasoning, inhibition, task management, and self-rating of executive abilities. Deficits concerning the suppression of habitual and experimentally induced prepotent response tendencies and the ability to efficiently divide attention were observed in subjects over 60 years of age compared to the younger groups, while memory, verbal fluency, and reasoning were largely unaffected. Results suggest a sharp decline of executive function after age 60 and a differential course of different executive subcomponents across aging, adding further support to a multi-dimensional model of executive function.     

Religion and Religions in Prisons: Observations from the United States and Europe

Despite manifest differences and internal variety, this article attempts to integrate the histories and present landscapes of religious practice in prison in the United States and in Western Europe. We identify, among incarcerated people in the United States, Italy, and Germany, discernible drifts toward religious pluralization, privatization, and individualization. Over the past half‐century, the administration of religion in prison has been loosened to allow for a wider variety of religious beliefs and practices. Meanwhile, as subsidized by outside volunteers, religion, especially of a socially “useful,” capitalism‐friendly sort, remains a cost‐effective means for prison administrators to efficiently subcontract their mandate to rehabilitate. Due to the decentralization and diversification of religion in contemporary prisons on both sides of the northern Atlantic, this article concludes by encouraging would‐be ethnographers of the prison interested in religion to venture beyond the expressly delineated religious space and into what we call “religious gray zones.”     

Linking vitamin D status,executive functioning and self‐perceived mental health in adolescents through multivariate analysis: A randomized double‐blind placebo control trial

The aim of the present randomized double‐blind placebo control trial was to investigate if vitamin D supplementation had an effect on vitamin D status, executive functioning and self‐perceived mental health in a group of Norwegian adolescents during winter time. Fifty adolescents were randomly assigned into an intervention group (vitamin D pearls) or a control group (placebo pearls). Before (pre‐test in December/January) and after (post‐test in April/May) the intervention period the participants were exposed to a test procedure, consisting of blood draw, completion of cognitive tests (Tower of Hanoi and Tower of London), and the Youth Self‐report version of the Child Behavior Checklist. Multivariate data analysis showed that participants with low vitamin D status scored worse on the Tower of London tests and the more difficult sub‐tasks on the Tower of Hanoi tests. They also had a tendency to report higher frequency of externalizing behavior problems and attention deficit. At pre‐test, the overall mean vitamin D status measured as 25‐hydroxy vitamin D was 42 nmol/L, defining deficiency (Intervention group = 44 nmol/L, Control group = 39 nmol/L). However, vitamin D supplementation caused a significant increase in vitamin D status resulting in a sufficient level in the Intervention group at post‐test (mean 62 nmol/L). The results also revealed that the intervention group improved their performance on the most demanding sub‐tasks on the ToH. Overall, the study indicates that vitamin D status in adolescents may be important for both executive functioning and mental health.     

Externalizing Outcomes of Youth with and without ADHD: Time-Varying Prediction by Parental ADHD and Mediated Effects

Although parental attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a risk factor for multiple negative youth outcomes, it is unknown how change in parental ADHD symptoms over time affects change in child ADHD symptoms; moreover, mediators of these predictions are largely unknown. Parents of 230 5–10 year-old children (68 % male) with (n = 120) and without ADHD (n = 110) were followed prospectively for 6–7 years across three separate waves. Parents self-reported their ADHD and depression symptoms and similarly rated offspring ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms; youth self-reported their substance use. Temporally-ordered mediators consisted of parental expressed emotion (EE), derived from the Five Minute Speech Sample, and self-reported positive and negative parenting behavior. Controlling for key demographics and parental depression symptoms, increasing parental ADHD symptoms were a time-varying predictor of worsening youth ADHD and ODD, although it was unrelated to change in CD and alcohol/substance use. Next, although EE facets (i.e., criticism, emotional over-involvement) did not mediate these predictions, negative parenting behavior significantly mediated predictions of youth ADHD (and marginally in predictions of ODD) from parental ADHD symptoms. These quasi-experimental findings suggest that parental ADHD symptoms are a potential unique causal risk factor for offspring ADHD and ODD; also, preventing negative parenting behavior secondary to parental ADHD symptoms is critical to improve trajectories of youth ADHD and ODD. We consider parental ADHD symptoms and family factors underlying emergent externalizing problems utilizing a developmental psychopathology framework, including implications for intervention and prevention.     

Divergent effects of detachment from work: a day-level study on employee creativity

Detachment from work during non-work time is generally related to a decrease in work-related strain. However, it might also hamper employees’ generation of new and useful ideas about work by completely shutting off work-related thoughts and/or feelings outside of work. In this day-level study, we used a within-person design to investigate the role of cognitive and emotional detachment from work during non-work time in relation to equivalent types of job demands and job resources, in the prediction of employee creativity. Cognitive detachment from work refers to mentally disconnecting from work and no longer thinking about job-related issues, whereas emotional detachment from work refers to affectively disconnecting from work and no longer experiencing job-related emotions. Survey data were gathered over the course of eight consecutive days from 151 health care employees. Multi-level analyses revealed that: (1) cognitive detachment was positively related to creativity, irrespective of the level of cognitive job demands and resources; (2) high emotional job demands in combination with either low levels of emotional detachment or high levels of emotional job resources were positively related to creativity. This day-level study provides insight into the relation between detachment from work and creativity from a process perspective, by showing specific conditions under which different types of detachment from work benefit employee creativity.     

The influence of Afrocentric facial features in criminal sentencing

Prior research has shown that within a racial category, people with more Afrocentric facial features are presumed more likely to have traits that are stereotypic of Black Americans compared with people with less Afrocentric features. The present study investigated whether this form of feature-based stereotyping might be observed in criminal-sentencing decisions. Analysis of a random sample of inmate records showed that Black and White inmates, given equivalent criminal histories, received roughly equivalent sentences. However, within each race, inmates with more Afrocentric features received harsher sentences than those with less Afrocentric features. These results are consistent with laboratory findings, and they suggest that although racial stereotyping as a function of racial category has been successfully removed from sentencing decisions, racial stereotyping based on the facial features of the offender is a form of bias that is largely overlooked.