Gender differences in the age-changing relationship between instrumentality and family contact in emerging adulthood

Data from the Children in the Community Transitions Study were used to examine gender differences in the impact of family contact on the development of finance and romance instrumentality from ages 17 to 27 years. Family contact decreased among both men and women across emerging adulthood, although it decreased more rapidly in men than in women. Both finance and romance instrumentality increased for men and women across emerging adulthood. The growth rate did not differ between men and women in either domain, although men tended to be characterized by higher levels of instrumentality than women. There were noteworthy gender differences in the impact of family contact on the development of instrumentality. At age 17, family contact was negatively associated with instrumentality for both men and women; at age 27, the impact of family contact on instrumentality was less negative for women and was positive for men.     

Social role and birth cohort influences on gender-linked personality traits in women: a 20-year longitudinal analysis

Growth curve modeling was used to examine the impact of social role experiences (e.g., marital support, occupational prestige) and birth cohort on mean-level differences and age-related changes in positive personality traits indicative of either femininity or masculinity in 758 mothers heterogeneous in age, assessed 4 times over 2 decades. Both femininity and masculinity increased significantly from mean ages 39 through 59; each was predictive of an age change in the other. Low masculinity was associated with a more rapid increase in femininity, whereas high occupational prestige decreased the magnitude of association between masculinity and femininity. Femininity increased with more marital support but decreased with unmarried status, more children at home, and working full or part time; among full-time workers, that effect was modified by marital support. Masculinity increased with full-time work and high occupational prestige. A trend for differing levels of femininity, and contrasting associations of masculinity with femininity and marital conflict in women born after 1944 compared with those born earlier, suggests shifting social norms and gender relations in the marital role.     

Loudness adaptation: fact or artifact?

In the present study, the authors tested the hypothesis that contrast effects confound the Ipsilateral Comparison Paradigm (ICP). Bidirectional referents were used in which base tones of 50 or 70 dB alternated with referents of greater or lesser intensity in a 3.5-min listening period. The contrast hypothesis leads to the expectation that the bidirectional referents would produce opposing effects that should nullify time-based loudness changes in the common base tone. Contrary to that expectation, base-tone loudness declined significantly over time in the context of the bidirectional referents, and the loudness of the referents also declined significantly over time. Thus, the results of the study testified to the validity of the ICP as a contrast-free measure of broad-based loudness adaptation.     

Analysis of group differences in processing speed: Brinley plots,Q-Q plots,and other conspiracies

Researchers in a growing number of areas (including cognitive development, aging, and neuropsychology) use Brinley plots to compare the processing speed of different groups. Ratcliff, Spieler, and McKoon (2000) argued that a Brinley plot is a quantile-quantile (Q-Q) plot and that therefore Brinley plot regression slopes measure standard deviation ratios rather than relative speed of processing. We show that this argument is incorrect. Brinley plots, by definition, are not Q-Q plots; the former are based on unranked data and the latter are based on ranked data. Furthermore, the relationship between standard deviation ratios and slopes is a general property of regression lines and has no implications for the use of Brinley plot regression slopes as processing speed measures. We also show that the relative speed interpretation of Brinley plot slopes is strongly supported by converging evidence from a metaanalysis of visual search, mental rotation, and memory scanning in young and older adults. As to Ratcliff et al.'s hypothesis that age differences in response time are attributable to greater cautiousness on the part of the elderly, rather than true processing speed differences, this hypothesis has been extensively tested in previous studies and found wanting.     

The making of contemporary American psychiatry, part 1: patients, treatments, and therapeutic rationales before and after World War II

This article, the 1st in a 2-part series, uses patient records from California's Stockton State Hospital to unearth the midcentury roots of contemporary American psychiatry. These patient records allow the authors to examine 2 transformations: the post-World War II expansion of psychiatry to include the diagnosis and treatment not only of psychotic patients but also of nonpsychotic patients suffering from problems of everyday living, and the 1950s introduction of the first psychotropic drugs, which cemented the medical status of these new disorders, thus linking a new therapeutic rationale to biological understandings of disease. These transformations laid the groundwork for a contemporary psychiatry characterized by voluntary outpatient care, pharmacological treatment of a wide range of behaviors and distress, and a doctor-patient relationship and cultural acceptance of disease that allow psychiatric patients to identify themselves as consumers.     

Whither causal models in the neuroscience of ADHD?

In this paper we examine the current status of the science of ADHD from a theoretical point of view. While the field has reached the point at which a number of causal models have been proposed, it remains some distance away from demonstrating the viability of such models empirically. We identify a number of existing barriers and make proposals as to the best way for these to be overcome in future studies. These include the need to work across multiple levels of analysis in multidisciplinary teams; the need to recognize the existence of, and then model, causal heterogeneity; the need to integrate environmental and social processes into models of genetic and neurobiological influence; and the need to model developmental processes in a dynamic fashion. Such a model of science, although difficult to achieve, has the potential to provide the sort of framework for programmatic model-based research required if the power and sophistication of new neuroscience technologies are to be effectively exploited.     

Development of selective attention: perceptual load influences early versus late attentional selection in children and adults

The moderating effect of perceptual load on visual selective attention was examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, children and young adults searched displays of varying set size flanked by irrelevant distractors. Children's performance was as efficient as adults' under conditions of high but not low loads, suggesting that early selection engages rapidly maturing neural systems and late selection engages later-maturing systems. In Study 2, 4 age groups were tested, and place markers were set at empty locations to examine perceptual grouping effects. Study 1's pattem was replicated in all age groups, with onset of early selection occurring at lower loads for younger children. Overall, children initiated early selection at lower loads to compensate for immature anterior-system interference control processes.     

The effects of noncontingently available alternative stimuli on functional analysis outcomes

The effects of noncontingently available alternative stimuli on functional analysis outcomes were evaluated for 2 individuals. Results suggested that noncontingent access to preferred items resulted in reduced levels of attention-maintained behavior. The results are interpreted in terms of establishing operations.     

A longitudinal investigation of anxiety sensitivity in adolescence

This investigation sought to expand existing knowledge of anxiety sensitivity in a sample of high school students (N = 2,365) assessed over 4 years. The stability of anxiety sensitivity levels across assessment periods was examined, and cluster analyses were used to identify different developmental pathways in levels of anxiety sensitivity. Groups of adolescents with stable low, stable high, and escalating anxiety sensitivity levels were identified. Adolescents with stable high or escalating anxiety sensitivity were significantly more likely to report experiencing a panic attack than individuals with stable low anxiety sensitivity. Results also indicated that Asian and Hispanic adolescents tended to report higher anxiety sensitivity but that their anxiety sensitivity was less strongly associated with panic than that of Caucasian adolescents.     

Differential reinforcement with and without instructional fading

We evaluated a differential-reinforcement-based treatment package for the reduction of problem behavior during instructional situations. Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA; compliance) was implemented across two conditions. During one condition, instructions were presented approximately once every other minute. This condition was considered the terminal goal for treatment. During the second condition, the rate of instructions was gradually increased (beginning at zero and ending when instruction rate was similar to the first condition). Results indicated that DRA with instructional fading resulted in less problem behavior than DRA without instructional fading. These results are similar to previous studies regarding the utility of instructional fading.