Social Exclusion Predicts Impaired Self‐Regulation: A 2‐Year Longitudinal Panel Study Including the Transition from Preschool to School

The need‐to‐belong theory stipulates that social exclusion (i.e., being rejected by peers) impairs the ability to self‐regulate, and experimental studies with adults support this contention, at least on a short‐term basis. Few studies have investigated whether social exclusion affects the development of self‐regulation of children in a more enduring manner. By using data from a community sample of 762 children, we investigated reciprocal relations between social exclusion and self‐regulation from age 4 to age 6. Social exclusion was reported by teachers, whereas self‐regulation was reported by parents. Autoregressive latent cross‐lagged analyses showed that social exclusion predicted impaired development of dispositional self‐regulation and, reciprocally, that poor self‐regulation predicted enhanced social exclusion. In other words, social exclusion undermines children's development of self‐regulation, whereas poor self‐regulation increases the likelihood of exclusion. Results illuminate the applied relevance of the need‐to‐belong theory.     

Reliability and Validity Analyses of the Self-Management Questionnaire

The authors developed a parent-report measure to enhance findings for diagnoses and evaluations, and therefore, improve on the assessments currently being widely used for this purpose. Data were gathered on 322 clients (4–18 years old) seeking treatment at a private practice setting. Factor analysis revealed 18 subscales. Scores were internally consistent and distinct from other subscales. In addition, the questionnaire showed good diagnostic utility for depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). This study provides sufficient evidence of the reliability and validity of the Self-Management Questionnaire (SMQ) to recommend its use for skills and needs assessment with children and adolescents.     

Contextualizing the Psychosocial Well‐being of Military Members and Their Partners: The Importance of Community and Relationship Provisions

Evidence of the impact of communities has been documented for a variety of individual and relational outcomes, including mental and physical health as well as the quality of romantic and parent–child relationships. The military represents a rather unique work context; in that, it is generally considered a lifestyle with a distinct culture and community. Yet, military families are also members of their broader, comprehensive community. Drawing from the social organizational theory of action and change (SOC) (Mancini & Bowen, 2013), and relationship provisions theory (Weiss, 1969) and utilizing a sample of 266 active duty military families, this study examined connectedness with the military community and the broader, comprehensive community. A dyadic model was evaluated whereby each partner's perspective of their comprehensive and military community was hypothesized to influence their own psychosocial well‐being as well as their partner's psychosocial well‐being. The role of relationship provisions (that is, having relationship needs met) as a mechanism linking community connections to psychosocial well‐being was also examined. Overall, the findings supported the hypothesized model, particularly for intra‐individual effects and military members. Findings emphasize the importance of considering what is gained from connections within a community rather than a focus solely on the connections themselves.     

Linking Failure Feedback to Individual Creativity: The Moderation Role of Goal Orientation

The sense-making theory of creativity is extended by identifying failure feedback as a process that shapes creative interpretations and actions. We also consider the moderating effect of goal orientation on the relationship between failure feedback and individual creativity, according to the sense-making theory. A 2-waves survey data from 345 R&D employees and their supervisors in five Chinese high-tech companies indicated: (a) supervisors’ failure feedback positively correlates with incremental and radical creative performance, (b) learning goal orientation strengthens the relationship between failure feedback and creativity, and (c) avoidance goal orientation attenuates the relationship between failure feedback and creativity. The findings suggest that goal orientations play roles in optimizing failure feedback effects on creativity outcomes.     

Do Youth Development Programs Matter? An Examination of Transitions and Well-Being Among Military Youth

The current correlational study examines the association between internal and external military family contextual factors (e.g., parental rank, having multiple military parents, school changes, living more than 30 min from a military installation, parental deployment, relationship provisions) and military youth well-being outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety, self-efficacy) in a sample of children of active duty military members (i.e., military youth). Data from 749 military youth, ages 11–14, were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The model explained a reasonable amount of the variation in the outcomes of interest (r-square statistics for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and self-efficacy were .151, .018, and .086, respectively). Results indicated that military youth who reported more social provisions experienced fewer depressive symptoms and more self-efficacy. Youth who reported certain military risk factors (i.e., parental rank; living farther from the military installation; multiple school changes) were associated with decreased well-being (i.e., more depressive symptoms and anxiety and less self-efficacy). However, findings suggest that participation in military programs may serve a moderating or buffering factor for these youth.     

Dissociable effects of basolateral amygdala lesions on decision making biases in rats when loss or gain is emphasized

Individuals switch from risk seeking to risk aversion when mathematically identical options are described in terms of loss versus gains, as exemplified in the reflection and framing effects. Determining the neurobiology underlying such cognitive biases could inform our understanding of decision making in health and disease. Although reports vary, data using human subjects have implicated the amygdala in such biases. Animal models enable more detailed investigation of neurobiological mechanisms. We therefore tested whether basolateral amygdala (BLA) lesions would affect risk preference for gains or losses in rats. Choices in both paradigms were always between options of equal expected value—a guaranteed outcome, or the 50:50 chance of double or nothing. In the loss-chasing task, most rats exhibited strong risk seeking preferences, gambling at the risk of incurring double the penalty, regardless of the size of the guaranteed loss. In the betting task, the majority of animals were equivocal in their choice, irrespective of bet size; however, a wager-sensitive subgroup progressively shifted away from the uncertain option as the bet size increased, which is reminiscent of risk aversion. BLA lesions increased preference for the smaller guaranteed loss in the loss-chasing task, without affecting choice on the betting task, which is indicative of reduced risk seeking for losses, but intact risk aversion for gains. These data support the hypothesis that the amygdala plays a more prominent role in choice biases related to losses. Given the importance of the amygdala in representing negative affect, the aversive emotional reaction to loss, rather than aberrant estimations of probability or loss magnitude, may underlie risk seeking for losses.     

The nature of altered vision near the hands: Evidence for the magnocellular enhancement account from object correspondence through occlusion

A growing body of evidence indicates that the perception of visual stimuli is altered when they occur near the observer’s hands, relative to other locations in space (see Brockmole, Davoli, Abrams, & Witt, 2013, for a review). Several accounts have been offered to explain the pattern of performance across different tasks. These have typically focused on attentional explanations (attentional prioritization and detailed attentional evaluation of stimuli in near-hand space), but more recently, it has been suggested that near-hand space enjoys enhanced magnocellular (M) input. Here we differentiate between the attentional and M-cell accounts, via a task that probes the roles of position consistency and color consistency in determining dynamic object correspondence through occlusion. We found that placing the hands near the visual display made observers use only position consistency, and not color, in determining object correspondence through occlusion, which is consistent with the fact that M cells are relatively insensitive to color. In contrast, placing observers’ hands far from the stimuli allowed both color and position contribute. This provides evidence in favor of the M-cell enhancement account of altered vision near the hands.