Stability and change in temperament during adolescence

This study assessed genetic and environmental contributions to temperament during adolescence within the Nonshared Environment and Adolescent Development project (NEAD; D. Reiss, J. M. Neiderhiser, E. M. Hetherington, & R. Plomin, 2000). NEAD is a national study that includes twins and other sibling types who vary in regard to genetic relatedness. Seven hundred twenty sibling pairs (aged 12.1-13.5 years) participated at Time 1, and 395 sibling pairs (aged 14.7-16.2 years) participated again at Time 2. At both Times, mothers and fathers rated their children's temperament (emotionality, activity, sociability, and shyness). At Times 1 and 2, genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for variance in temperament, whereas shared environmental contributions were negligible. However, at Time 1, genetic contributions were inflated, and shared environmental contributions were masked if sibling contrast effects were not taken into account. At Time 2, sibling interaction effects had little impact on estimates of genetic and environmental contributions to temperament. Last, temperament stability was primarily explained by genetic factors, whereas both genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for change.     

Balance Theory Revisited: Relationship Issue Relevance Affects Imbalance-Induced Tension in Workplace Relationships

The present work applies and extends balance theory by examining the role of relevance of issue to the relationship in balance theory processes within the context of workplace relationships. In Experiment 1, a sample of working adults (N = 81) reported greater job tension when self-supervisor dissimilarity involved a relationship-relevant (vs. non-relationship) ethical dilemma. In Experiment 2, a sample of working students (N = 185) who perceived greater self-supervisor dissimilarity about workplace (vs. family) ethics reported greater job tension, and in turn, less job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Perceiving dissimilarity with a work supervisor in attitudes about relationship-relevant issues may negatively affect outcomes at work. Importantly, these experiments demonstrated that not all dissimilarity is likely to yield negative outcomes; only relationship-relevant (vs. non-relevant) dissimilarity was a catalyst for imbalance-induced tension.     

Assessing the Psychological Type Profile of Canadian Baptist Youth: A Study Employing the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents (FPTSA)

A growing body of international research employing psychological type theory within the context of congregation studies has drawn attention to the way in which churches draw larger numbers of feeling types than thinking types (among both men and women). These studies have focused on adult churchgoers. The present study extends this field of research among 1630 Canadian Baptist youth attending church-based summer youth programmes (aged 12 to 19 years) who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales for Adolescents. In this new study, 87 % of male youth and 93 % of female youth preferred feeling. The implications of these findings are assessed for the ministry of the Church among thinking types.     

Math Talk and Student Strategy Trajectories: The Case of Two First Grade Classrooms

This study investigated different math-talk facilitations, and conceptualized the teachers' talk moves for productive student mathematics discussions. Our findings suggest that students' strategy development is supported by talk moves coordinating a wide range of student strategies, representations and discussions that are at a process-level and maintain student ownership of ideas, and transitional strategies that connect students' beginning ideas with target strategies.     

Behavioral measures of saccade latency and inhibition in manifest and premanifest Huntington's disease

Initiation and inhibition of saccadic eye movements has been shown to be impaired in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and premanifest gene carriers (PMGC), and may provide biomarkers useful in tracking phenotypic change. Computerized behavioral tests of prosaccade latency and disinhibition presented to 31 non-gene carriers (NGC), 25 PMGC, and 12 HD patients. These tests provided quantitative performance measures without use of eye-tracking equipment. Significant differences on saccade tests were found, with PMGC intermediate between NGC and HD patients. Saccade latency discriminated PMGC from NGC, whereas saccade disinhibition discriminated PMGC from HD patients. Results suggest utility of behavioral saccade measures as premanifest indicators of phenoconversion in HD.     

One to four, and nothing more: nonconscious parallel individuation of objects during action planning

Much of the current understanding about the capacity limits on the number of objects that can be simultaneously processed comes from studies of visual short-term memory, attention, and numerical cognition. Consistent reports suggest that, despite large variability in the perceptual tasks administered (e.g., object tracking, counting), a limit of three to four visual items can be independently processed in parallel. In the research reported here, we asked whether this limit also extends to the domain of action planning. Using a unique rapid visuomotor task and a novel analysis of reach trajectories, we demonstrated an upper limit to the number of targets that can be simultaneously encoded for action, a capacity limit that also turns out to be no more than three to four. Our findings suggest that conscious perceptual processing and nonconscious movement planning are constrained by a common underlying mechanism limited by the number of items that can be simultaneously represented.     

A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment

Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and offspring psychopathology. Participants were 867 twin pairs (388 monozygotic; 479 dizygotic) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden, their spouses, and children (51.7% female; M = 15.75 years). The results suggested associations between exposure to family conflict (assessed by the mother, father, and child) and child adjustment were independent of genetic factors and other environmental factors. However, when family conflict was assessed using only children's reports, the results indicated that genetic factors also influenced these associations. In addition, the analyses indicated that exposure to low marital quality and agreement about parenting was associated with children's internalizing and externalizing problems and that genetic factors also contributed to the associations of marital quality and agreement about parenting with offspring externalizing problems.