Changes in self-esteem during the middle school years: a latent growth curve study of individual and contextual influences

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were used to explore interactions among individual and contextual variables and their effects on initial self-esteem levels and changes in these levels across the three years of middle school in a large, diverse sample (N=1804 students attending 23 schools). Interactions among race, social class, school socioeconomic status (SES), and contextual congruity were found to be particularly influential. Low-income European-American youth consistently experienced the lowest self-esteem levels and the sharpest declines during middle school. Social incongruity appears to play a crucial role in predicting such losses. These results highlight the need for further research employing similar techniques to explore how individual and contextual factors affect the development of self-esteem over the middle school years.     

Reliving,emotions, and fragmentation in the autobiographical memories of veterans diagnosed with PTSD

Fifty veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) each recalled four autobiographical memories: one from the 2 years before service, one non‐combat memory from the time in service, one from combat, and one from service that had often come as an intrusive memory. For each memory, they provided 21 ratings about reliving, belief, sensory properties, reexperiencing emotions, visceral emotional responses, fragmentation, and narrative coherence. We used these ratings to examine three claims about traumatic memories: a separation of cognitive and visceral aspects of emotion, an increased sense of reliving, and increased fragmentation. There was evidence for a partial separation of cognitive judgments of reexperiencing an emotion and reports of visceral symptoms of the emotion, with visceral symptoms correlating more consistently with scores on PTSD tests. Reliving, but not fragmentation of the memories, increased with increases in the trauma relatedness of the event and with increases in scores on standardized tests of PTSD severity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transfer of pattern recall skills may contribute to the development of sport expertise

Superior recall of domain‐specific patterns is well established as a defining attribute of expert performers. Recent studies on the developmental histories of expert team ball sport players (e.g. Baker, Côté, & Abernethy, 2003a ) also suggest that experts characteristically receive exposure to a wide range of sports in their developing years and that this related sports experience may reduce the amount of sport‐specific training needed to become an expert. This study examined whether the facilitation of expertise associated with other sport experience might arise from positive transfer of pattern recall skills from one sport to another. Expert netball, basketball and field hockey players and experienced non‐experts performed a recall task for patterns of play derived from each of these sports. Experts from sports different to those shown in the presented pattern consistently outperformed non‐experts in their recall of defensive player positions, suggesting some selective transfer of pattern recall skills may indeed be possible. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Symbolism in Weakness: Jesus Christ for the Postmodern Age

The postmodern emphasis on human finitude encourages the reconsideration of religious traditions, and more particularly of Christianity. The doctrine of a vulnerable God dying on a cross speaks to postmodern civilization. Jesus Christ infuses transcendence into the realm of immanence by assuming the human predicament to its bitter end. The present essay critiques the recent attempts of deconstructionist philosopher John D. Caputo and systematic theologian Roger Haight to provide postmodern expositions for the Christian doctrine on the person of Jesus Christ. With the help of the fundamental notion of agapeic love, we demonstrate that in Jesus Christ, Caputo's philosophy of the event and Haight's theology of the symbol can be meaningfully integrated and human finitude responsibly overcome.     

What Experiences Do Expository Books on Recommended Book Lists Offer to K–2 Students?

Teachers can use expository texts to teach academic vocabulary, content knowledge, text structure, and text features. National associations' recommended book lists are often used to identify books for classrooms. Previously we identified expository texts on these lists from 2001–2002 and 2011–2012. The current study explored instructional possibilities these expository books afford. More recent books have more content, academic vocabulary, and supplementary information. However, many earlier and recent books lack text features such as page numbers, tables of contents, glossaries, and indexes. Teachers will need to supplement these books with other texts to provide experiences enabling proficiency with exposition.     

A Network Approach to Affect Regulation Dynamics and Personality Trait‐Induced Variations: Extraversion and Neuroticism Moderate Reciprocal Influences between Affect and Affect Regulation Strategies

The objectives of the present study were twofold. First, we tested a new approach to affect regulation dynamics, conceptualized as a network made up of the reciprocal influences that affect and affect regulation strategies constantly exert on each other. Second, we attempted to gain a better understanding of these dynamics by examining how they vary according to broad personality traits. To this end, we adopted an experience sampling method, involving five daily assessments over a 2‐week period. In each assessment, participants indicated their current affective experience and the way they had implemented five well‐known affect regulation strategies (i.e. appreciation, positive reappraisal, distraction, expressive suppression, and rumination) since the previous assessment. At the sample level, the network of affect regulation dynamics was characterized by positive feedback loops between positive affect and so‐called broad‐minded strategies, and between negative affect and narrow‐minded strategies. The form of this network varied according to levels of extraversion and neuroticism. Our findings are discussed in light of current knowledge about personality and affect regulation. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology