Sex and age-related anxiety in a community sample of Norwegian adolescents

The first aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and DSM-related anxiety symptom-clusters among adolescents (13-19 years of age) in middle Norway. A second aim was to examine the developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms for boys and girls during adolescence. In a cross-sectional study, 1,802 students in junior high schools and high schools in the Mid-Norway Health Region filled out a questionnaire (a response-rate of 77%) including the SCARED self-report form (Birmaher et al., 1997) during one school hour. In line with findings of previous studies, girls reported higher anxiety-levels than did boys. A large gender-specific increase in anxiety in 14-15-year-old girls was also found. Apart from this age-specific effect, the results indicated a general reduction in anxiety during adolescence for all symptom groups except generalized anxiety and school phobia. The high anxiety levels in girls aged 13 to 14 years implicate a need for caution by clinicians because such high anxiety levels may be mistaken for the existence of an anxiety disorder. The rapid increase in anxiety symptoms among girls in early adolescence may reflect a heightened sensitivity in this age group, and may have implications for when to implement secondary prevention programs.     

Validation of the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale in a Portuguese sample

In line with self-determination theory (SDT: Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2002) the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness has been identified as an important predictor of behavior and optimal functioning in various contexts including exercise. The lack of a valid and reliable instrument to assess the extent to which these needs are fulfilled among Portuguese exercise participants limits the evaluation of causal links proposed by SDT in the Portuguese exercise context. The aim of the present study was to translate into Portuguese and validate the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (BPNES: Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006). Using data from 522 exercise participants the findings provided evidence of strong internal consistency of the translated BPNES subscales while confirmatory factor analysis supported a good fit of the correlated 3-factor model to the data. The present findings support the use of the translated into Portuguese BPNES to assess the extent of basic psychological need fulfilment among Portuguese exercise participants.     

Meaning of Social Inclusion to Young People Not in Employment,Education or Training

The ‘social inclusion’ of young people, particularly those who are ‘not in education, employment or training’, is a contemporary concern in policy discourses. However, it has been argued that the term ‘social inclusion’ is defined by adults and imposed on young people, and there is little understanding of what ‘social inclusion’ means to young people themselves. Using a participatory methodology, this study investigated what ‘being included’ meant to young people. A qualitative approach with a thematic analysis was used to explore the accounts of 11 participants and yielded three main themes. ‘“Acceptance”—the building blocks of inclusion’ reflected the power of interpersonal acceptance in determining young people's sense of inclusion. ‘“Learning why I don't matter”—when power and discourse shape inclusion’ illustrated how social discourses and power dynamics influenced young people's experience of inclusion. ‘“Keeping up or falling behind”—internalising the discourse of inclusion’ reflected how young people internalised some of these societal definitions of inclusion and responded to them. Those who felt ‘accepted’ or ‘included’ in a ‘mainstream’ sense articulated a sense of agency and hope. For those who did not, it appeared that agency dissolved as did a sense of hope for the future. Although the participants negotiated their ‘inclusion’ through close, trusting relationships with others, the application of the societal discourses of inclusion such as productivity, independence and career mindedness had the potential to leave them feeling excluded, isolated and distressed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do You ‘See’ What I ‘See’? Differentiation of Visual Action Words

Dickinson and Szeligo (Can J Exp Psychol 62(4):211–222, 2008) found that processing time for simple visual stimuli was affected by the visual action participants had been instructed to perform on these stimuli (e.g., see, distinguish). It was concluded that these effects reflected the differences in the durations of these various visual actions, and the results were compared to participants’ subjective ratings of word meaning but it was also possible that word characteristics like length might have influenced response times. The present study takes advantage of word length differences between French and English visual action words in order to address this issue. The goals of the present study were to provide evidence that (1) the processing time differences previously found were due to differences in the cognitive actions represented by these words (and not due to characteristics to the words themselves), and (2) that individuals subjectively differentiate visual action words in such a way that allows for predictable differences in behaviour. Participants differentiated 14 French visual action words along two dimensions. Four of these words were then used in the instructions for a size-discrimination task. Processing time depended on the visual action word in the instruction to the task and differed in a predictable manner according to word meaning but not word length.     

Implementation Intentions Improve Prospective Memory and Inhibition Performances in Older Adults: The Role of Visualization

Implementation intentions have been shown to be a very effective strategy in improving prospective memory in older adults. However, their efficacy in improving inhibition has never been assessed in aging. We thus examined the efficacy of implementation intentions in a prospective memory task and an inhibition task in 87 older participants. Following a crossover design, half of the participants were instructed to form an implementation intention in the prospective memory task, the other half in the inhibition task. The moderating role of working memory, visualization and verbalization habits, and impulsivity were also assessed. Regression analyses revealed that for both tasks, participants benefited from implementation intentions but only if they were used to using visual strategies in daily life. The efficacy of implementation intentions was not moderated by working memory, impulsivity, or the use of verbal strategies in everyday life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What’s Love Got to Do with It? A Qualitative Grounded Theory Content Analysis of Romance Narratives in the PG Era of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Programming

Although numerous studies have examined cultural representations of love and romance in myriad media sources, scarce attention has been paid to such representations in the genre of sports entertainment. As the most popular brand within this genre, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an important conduit of cultural knowledge in which to investigate narratives about modern romance. Using qualitative grounded theory content analysis methods, the current study examined representations of romance narratives in WWE’s two highest rated programs (Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown!) over a 6 month period. Fifty-two episodes comprising 105 h of televised programming were analyzed. Data analysis revealed evidence of six central romance narratives (Prince Charming, Dark Romance, Femme Fatale, Gold Digger, Cougar, and Woman Scorned). The meanings of these narratives were frequently contradictory in nature, revealing complex ideas about the nature of heterosexual romance. Many of the romantic relationships presented contained elements of multiple narratives, suggesting conflicting presentations of heterosexual gender relations not just across but also within individual relationships. Implications of these findings through the lens of social learning and schema theories are provided.     

Automated testing of cognitive performance in monkeys: Use of a battery of computerized test systems by a troop of semi-free-ranging baboons (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Papio papio</Emphasis>)

Fagot and Paleressompoulle (2009) published an automated learning device for monkeys (ALDM) to test the cognitive functions of nonhuman primates within their social groups, but the efficiency of the ALDM procedure with large groups remains unknown. In the present study, 10 ALDM systems were provided ad lib to a troop of 26 semi-free-ranging baboons that were initially naive with computerized testing. The test program taught baboons to solve two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) and matching-to-sample (MTS) tasks. A million trials were recorded for the group during a period of 85 days (Experiment 1). Their analysis shows that 75% of the baboons participated at high frequencies and quickly learned the 2AFC and MTS tasks. In Experiment 2, we compared the baboons’ behavior when the ADLM systems were either accessible or closed. ALDM reduced frequencies of object-directed behaviors, but had no overt consequence on social conflicts. In Experiment 3, we tested the process of the global or local attributes of visual stimuli in MTS-trained baboons in order to illustrate the efficiency of ALDM for behavioral studies requiring complex experimental designs. Altogether, the results of the present study validate the use of ALDM to efficiently test monkeys in large social groups. ALDM has a strong potential for a variety of scientific disciplines, including for biomedical research. Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.     

Religion,ethnicity, coping style,and self-reported self-harm in a diverse non-clinical UK population

Previous studies of ethnic and cultural differences in self-harm have focussed on overdose and suicide attempts by South Asian women. Research comparing ethnic groups has rarely examined religion or nationality. To achieve a more balanced approach this study examined self-harm methods and self-injury across gender, religion and ethnic group in a non-clinical population. Six hundred and seventeen university students completed a questionnaire asking whether they had ever harmed themselves, and the frequency and method of any self-harm. White participants and participants with no religious affiliation were more likely to report repeated incidents of self-harm, mainly scratching and cutting skin. Hindu religion was associated with lower levels of repeated self-harm. Asian males were less likely to report self-harm than both Asian females and other males. Black students were less likely to report cutting and scored highest on Rational coping style. The results raise questions about differential disclosure of self-harm across gender and culture.     

Cross-cultural invariance of the basic psychological needs in exercise scale and need satisfaction latent mean differences among Greek,Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish samples

ObjectivesThe present study examined the extent to which scores from the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale are measurement invariant across Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish samples of exercise participants.DesignA cross-sectional design wherein responses were analyzed from 504 Greek participants, 518 Spanish participants, 989 Portuguese participants, and 686 Turkish participants.MethodsData on exercise participants' need satisfaction were collected using the Basic Psychological Needs in Exercise Scale (Vlachopoulos & Michailidou, 2006) after back translation for the languages involved in the study.ResultsMulti-sample confirmatory factor analyses showed that BPNES scores were largely invariant at the configural, metric, and strong invariance levels, but not at the strict invariance level for Spanish, Portuguese, and Turkish samples compared to the Greek sample. Portuguese participants reported higher levels of satisfaction for all three needs compared to Greek participants, while for Spanish participants this was the case only for competence and relatedness. Turkish participants did not differ from Greek participants.ConclusionsThe present findings support valid cross-cultural comparisons at the latent variance/covariance level and the latent/observed mean level of the constructs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness using the BPNES.