Group identity‐based self‐protective strategies: the stigma of race,gender, and garlic

We examine the importance of group membership in stigma and its role in the effectiveness of self‐protective cognitions in three experiments. In Experiment 1, men are asked to interact with an attractive female who will judge their value as a potential date, and either eat a mint or a clove of raw garlic prior to the interview. Although the stigmatized‐by‐garlic men discounted negative feedback and attributed it to their garlic breath, discounting and attributions were negatively correlated with self‐esteem. In Experiment 2, White participants were evaluated positively or negatively by a bogus partner who the participants believed had been told that the participant was either White or Black. Although participants receiving negative feedback engaged in several self‐protective cognitions, including attributing their negative feedback to racism, the strategies were uncorrelated with self‐esteem. In Experiment 3, women prepared to interact via computer with a partner who expressed sexist or non‐sexist beliefs. In the absence of feedback, self‐esteem increased when their partner was sexist. In contrast with the first two experiments, perceiving the partner as prejudiced was significantly and positively correlated with self‐esteem. Together, these experiments suggest that self‐protective cognitions find their effectiveness when stigma has a basis in group membership. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On computing ELECTRE's credibility indices under partial information

The ELECTRE family of decision aid methods is a well‐known approach to help decision makers (DMs) advance in a decision process. Among the most recent methods in the family, ELECTRE IS, III, and TRI compute fuzzy indices for the credibility of a given action outranking some other. We consider the case when the DMs are unsure which values each parameter should take, which may result from insufficient, imprecise or contradictory information, as well as from different preferences among a group of DMs. In the framework of a robustness analysis approach, where DMs provide only partial information on the parameter values (through constraints on acceptable combinations), we study how to find whether an outranking among two actions in an ELECTRE method is robust. In this context, we study the resulting nonlinear problems of optimizing a credibility index (under the type of constraints that we consider to appear in practice) and present some examples. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Expanding Possibilities: Flexibility and Solidarity with Under-resourced Immigrant Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The novel coronavirus has added new anxieties and forms of grieving to the myriad practical and emotional burdens already present in the lives of underserved and uninsured immigrant families and communities. In this article, we relate our experiences since the COVID-19 crisis to the lessons we have learned over time as mental health professionals working with families in no-cost, student-managed community comprehensive health clinics in academic-community partnerships. We compare and contrast the learnings of flexibility of time, space, procedures, or attendance we acquired in this clinical community setting during regular times, with the new challenges families and therapists face, and the adaptations needed to continue to work with our clients in culturally responsive and empowering ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe families, students, professionals, promotoras (community links), and IT support staff joining together in solidarity as the creative problem solvers of new possibilities when families do not have access to Wi-Fi, smartphones, or computers, or suffer overcrowding and lack of privacy. We describe many anxieties related to economic insecurity or fear of facing death alone, but also how to visualize expanding possibilities in styles of parenting or types of emotional support among family members as elements of hope that may endure beyond these unprecedented tragic times of loss and uncertainty.     

Couple Adjustment and Differentiation of Self in the United States,Italy, and Spain: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study comprises a first attempt to explore a cross-cultural application of Bowen family systems theory and examines the relationship between differentiation of self and couple adjustment using measurement invariance. A sample of 2,141 individuals (n = 915 from the United States; n = 635 from Italy; n = 591 from Spain) completed measures of differentiation of self (DSI-R; Skowron & Schmitt, J Marital Fam Ther, 29, 2003, 209) and couple adjustment (DAS; Spanier, J Marriage Fam, 38, 1976, 15). Results showed evidence of partial measurement equivalence for the DSI-R across the three samples. Additionally, results from latent regression showed that less emotional cutoff predicted greater couple adjustment in the United States, Spain, and Italy, whereas greater emotional reactivity predicted poorer couple adjustment only in the more collectivistic cultures, Spain and Italy. Our findings are consistent with prior empirical studies, which suggest that emotional cutoff is a strong predictor of relationship adjustment. The use of measurement invariance provides a foundation for future studies to continue employing rigorous statistical methods when examining constructs across different cultures. The findings highlight culture-specific similarities and differences in differentiation that may benefit practitioners by informing psychotherapy with individuals, couples, or families from diverse populations.     

Tablet Use in Young Children is Associated with Advanced Fine Motor Skills

Abstract

To evaluate whether frequent interactive tablet-use at preschool age is associated with improved fine motor skills and to describe tablet-use in young children. Cross-sectional study with 78 children, aged 24–42?months: group 1 with previous frequent tablet-use exposure (n?=?26), group 2 without previous tablet-use exposure (n?=?52). Fine motor skills were evaluated with the Bayley-III. Socioeconomic data and home environment quality were similar in both groups. Fine motor skills of group 1 were better than those of group 2 (p?=?0.013). Most participating children carried out passive and active tablet activities, usually accompanied by parents, not exceeding time recommendations for young age. We observed a difference in fine motor skills in young children slightly favoring those with tablet-use experience.     

A longitudinal study: Affective wellbeing,psychological wellbeing,self-efficacy and academic performance among first-year undergraduate students

Students’ mental health have a greatest impact on wellbeing and academic performance, also is often affected adaptation to the university life. This study examines the proportion of students with a positive and negative affect balance, and the relationship between affective wellbeing and academic self-efficacy and performance. It also analyzes how psychological wellbeing and academic self-efficacy predict affective wellbeing and academic performance. In a sample of 200 undergraduate students (M = 19.07 years), it was found that positive affect decreased and negative affect increased during the second academic year. The majority had a positive affect balance (AB). Psychological wellbeing predicts positive emotions and its achievement dimension predicts academic performance. 53% of participating students maintained a positive AB, 14% maintained a negative AB and 21% went from a negative to a positive AB one. The change from a positive to a negative AB (10%) is associated with an increase in psychological wellbeing, suggesting a process of post-stress growth in relation to the challenges of university life.     

Renewal and resurgence phenomena generalize to Amazon's Mechanical Turk

Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a crowdsourcing platform that provides researchers with the potential for obtaining behavioral data for very little cost. However, the extent to which the results of common behavioral phenomena found in basic, translational, and applied laboratories may be reproduced (as a first step towards prospective research) via MTurk remains relatively unexplored. We evaluated renewal and resurgence arrangements using MTurk as the subject recruitment platform as a first step to determining the generality of the obtained data. Results suggested that MTurk participants produced renewal and resurgence data similar to those reported in basic, translational, and applied studies.     

Supine defense in the intraspecific fighting of male house mice mus domesticus

House mice have been reported rarely to perform the supine behavior pattern as a defensive tactic during intraspecific fighting. However, in this study of intraspecific fighting by male mice, it is shown that mice do indeed rotate to supine. This maneuver is used to evade or extricate themselves from bites to the lower dorsum by the attacking opponent. Once free from the bite the defender does not remain supine, but will immediately turn to prone and flee. Remaining motionless in the supine position may serve a submissive function in other species, but this does not seem to be the case for mice. The present findings illustrate that the supine tactic is a dynamic maneuver for defense of body areas targeted by the opponent. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Psychological Model for Presymptomatic Test Interviews: Lessons Learned from Huntington Disease

This paper reflects on experience gained from presymptomatic testing for Huntington disease. An approach is presented which considers the role of the clinician and aims of the interview. Irrespective of the disease being tested for, it is suggested that the psychological aim of presymptomatic testing is to foster emotional insight and understanding that will help clients in their decision-making process about testing and their subsequent adjustment to the result. Based on these aims the process of presymptomatic testing, counseling is considered in terms of clarification, consideration, education, and reflection, followed by decision making. Practical approaches are discussed and illustrated with clinical examples.     

Balancing Elder Care Responsibilities and Work: The Impact on Emotional Health

The current study investigated the effects of balancing elder care and work on emotional health. Responses from 43 retired caregivers, 211 not retired caregivers, 49 retired non-caregivers, and 224 not retired non-caregivers, who had participated in the national Health and Retirement Study, served as the data base. Results indicate that Caregiver Status (Caregiver vs. Non-caregiver) and Retirement Status (Retired vs. Not Retired) interact, depending on the measure of emotional health. The relationship between the number of depression symptoms reported and Caregiver Status depended on whether the respondent was also retired or employed; a significant interaction was not found when emotional health was measured with one overall item. A significant difference was not found between employed caregivers and employed non-caregivers, in terms of emotional health. Employed caregivers who gave more caregiving hours did report poorer emotional health than employed caregivers who gave fewer hours. Female caregivers reported more depression symptoms than male caregivers. The results suggest that employers may need to develop interventions which may help caregivers who are highly involved with caregiving responsibilities.