Parent training with high-risk immigrant chinese families: a pilot group randomized trial yielding practice-based evidence

We studied the efficacy and implementation outcomes of a culturally responsive parent training (PT) program. Fifty-four Chinese American parents participated in a wait-list controlled group randomized trial (32 immediate treatment, 22 delayed treatment) of a 14-week intervention designed to address the needs of high-risk immigrant families. Parents were eligible for intervention if they were Chinese-speaking immigrants referred from schools, community clinics, or child protective services with concerns about parenting or child behavior problems. Retention and engagement were high with 83% of families attending 10 or more sessions. Results revealed that the treatment was efficacious in reducing negative discipline, increasing positive parenting, and decreasing child externalizing and internalizing problems. Treatment effects were larger among families with higher levels of baseline behavior problems and lower levels of parenting stress. Further augmentation of PT to address immigrant parent stress may be warranted. Qualitative impressions from group leaders suggested that slower pacing and increased rehearsal of skills may improve efficacy for immigrant parents unfamiliar with skills introduced in PT.     

Reviewers and the Detection of Deceptive Information in Recorded Interviews

Being able to detect deceptive information early is worthwhile for recruiters and other information‐based organizational workers; unfortunately, people generally are not good at detecting deception successfully. We conducted an experiment to determine how successful reviewers can be at detecting deception in several types of dispersed interviews. The results indicated that reviewers were more accurate at detecting deceptive information than were participant interviewers; that a warning about deception's presence improved reviewers' detection accuracy; and that a warning did not have any effect on reviewers' number of false alarms between text and audio media. These findings imply that if reviewers are warned about the possible presence of deception, organizations might be able to minimize the chance of hiring high‐risk job applicants.     

Individual consistencies in behavior: achievement persistence interactions as personality styles

Two experiments were carried out to find within-subject consistencies as well as individual differences in a choice situation involving achievement persistence. Four volunteers, two men (21 and 23 years old) and two women (21 and 22 years old) were exposed twice, with a 1-mo. interval, to a filling-patterns task, to evaluate their choices for two options. For one option, task-time and outcomes for every response were constant. For the other option, task-time decreased in correlation with an increase in earnings for every response. Analyses showed reliable profiles for three of the four subjects when percent of responding to each option was compared in independent experiments. Results are discussed in terms of interactive styles.     

The World at 7:00: Comparing the Experience of Situations Across 20 Countries

The purpose of this research is to quantitatively compare everyday situational experience around the world. Local collaborators recruited 5,447 members of college communities in 20 countries, who provided data via a Web site in 14 languages. Using the 89 items of the Riverside Situational Q‐sort (RSQ), participants described the situation they experienced the previous evening at 7:00 p.m. Correlations among the average situational profiles of each country ranged from r = .73 to r = .95; the typical situation was described as largely pleasant. Most similar were the United States/Canada; least similar were South Korea/Denmark. Japan had the most homogenous situational experience; South Korea, the least. The 15 RSQ items varying the most across countries described relatively negative aspects of situational experience; the 15 least varying items were more positive. Further analyses correlated RSQ items with national scores on six value dimensions, the Big Five traits, economic output, and population. Individualism, Neuroticism, Openness, and Gross Domestic Product yielded more significant correlations than expected by chance. Psychological research traditionally has paid more attention to the assessment of persons than of situations, a discrepancy that extends to cross‐cultural psychology. The present study demonstrates how cultures vary in situational experience in psychologically meaningful ways.     

Validation of a Spanish version of the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale: Escala de Satisfacción Muscular

The psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Muscle Appearance Satisfaction Scale (MASS; Mayville, Williamson, White, Netemeyer, & Drab, 2002) were examined using a sample of five hundred and sixty-one male weightlifters. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the 19-item Spanish version of the MASS called the Escala de Satisfacción Muscular (ESM), was represented by five subscales similar to the original MASS. Internal consistency of the measure was good (α=.86-.95), and various measures of construct validity indicated that the ESM may be a useful measure of Muscle Dysmorphia symptoms among Spanish speaking populations.     

Achievement and social goals, persistence-effort, and intentions of sport practice in physical education students

The present study examined the relationship between achievement and social goals, and explored how both types of goals can affect secondary school students' persistence/effort in Physical Education classes, as well as their intention to participate in sport activities after finishing secondary school. A sample of 350 students (aged 15-17) from two high schools in Asturias participated in the study. Multiple regression analysis showed: a) persistence/effort in physical education classes was better explained by social responsibility goals, followed by mastery-approach goals and mastery-avoidance goals; b) achievement goals are the only predictors of young people's intention of practicing sport in the future. Differences were found in these results according to gender and course. These findings help us better understand the processes involved in Physical Education. Finally, implications to improve classes and to achieve young people's more active and higher level of implication in sports are discussed.     

Core information processing deficits in developmental dyscalculia and low numeracy

There are two different conceptions of the innate basis for numerical abilities. On the one hand, it is claimed that infants possess a 'number module' that enables them to construct concepts of the exact numerosities of sets upon which arithmetic develops (e.g. Butterworth, 1999; Gelman & Gallistel, 1978). On the other hand, it has been proposed that infants are equipped only with a sense of approximate numerosities (e.g. Feigenson, Dehaene & Spelke, 2004), upon which the concepts of exact numerosities are constructed with the aid of language (Carey, 2004) and which forms the basis of arithmetic (Lemer, Dehaene, Spelke & Cohen, 2003). These competing proposals were tested by assessing whether performance on approximate numerosity tasks is related to performance on exact numerosity tasks. Moreover, performance on an analogue magnitude task was tested, since it has been claimed that approximate numerosities are represented as analogue magnitudes. In 8-9-year-olds, no relationship was found between exact tasks and either approximate or analogue tasks in normally achieving children, in children with low numeracy or in children with developmental dyscalculia. Low numeracy was related not to a poor grasp of exact numerosities, but to a poor understanding of symbolic numerals.     

Natural mentor relationships among latina adolescent mothers: Psychological adjustment,moderating processes,and the role of early parental acceptance

Investigated the antecedents, effects, and underlying characteristics of natural mentor relationships in a sample of 54 inner-city, Latina adolescent mothers. Women with mentors reported significantly lower levels of depression and anxiety than those without mentors despite similar levels of stress exposure and overall support resources. Young women with natural mentors were also more satisfied with their support resources and appeared better able to cope effectively with relationship problems. Finally, women with mentors recalled their childhood relationships with their mothers as more accepting. Mentor relationships appear to enhance young women's capacity to benefit from their support resources and offset the effects of relationship problems. Implications for future research and intervention strategies are discussed. This study was conducted while Josefina Contreras was supported by a training grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development which was awarded to the Psychology Department of the University of Illinois. Assistance was also provided by grants from the W. T. Grant Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Office of Research on Women's Health to Jean Rhodes, and the University of Illinois Research Board to Sarah Mangelsdorf. We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Fabricio Balkazar, James Kelly, Joseph McGrath, Adena Meyers, the staff and participants at the service settings, and the anonymous reviewers.     

Age-related variation in the influences of aging stereotypes on memory in adulthood

Adults 24-86 years of age read positive or negative information about aging and memory prior to a memory test. The impact of this information on recall performance varied with age. Performance in the youngest and oldest participants was minimally affected by stereotype activation. Adults in their 60s exhibited weak effects consistent with the operation of stereotype threat, whereas middle-age adults exhibited a contrast effect in memory performance, suggestive of stereotype lift. Beliefs about aging and memory were also affected by stereotypic information, and older adults' changed beliefs were more important in predicting performance than was exposure to stereotype-based information alone.