Asian American-white American differences in expressions of social anxiety: a replication and extension

This study examined whether Asian American-White American differences on a trait measure of social anxiety extend to nonverbal behavior and to reports of anxiety-related emotions during a 3-min social performance task. Forty Asian Americans and 40 White Americans completed a trait measure of social anxiety and rated their emotions before, and immediately after, a social performance task. Their videotaped behavior was coded using microlevel behavioral codes (e.g., gaze avoidance, fidgeting). Results indicated that Asian Americans reported more anxiety than White Americans on the trait measure and on the emotion rating scales but that they did not differ substantially on microlevel behavioral indexes of social anxiety. Implications of ethnic variations in the patterns of anxious responding are discussed.     

The advice and influence networks of transformational leaders

Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations.     

Expression of the immediate-early gene-encoded protein Egr-1 (zif268) during in vitro classical conditioning

Expression of the immediate-early genes (IEGs) has been shown to be induced by activity-dependent synaptic plasticity or behavioral training and is thought to play an important role in long-term memory. In the present study, we examined the induction and expression of the IEG-encoded protein Egr-1 during an in vitro neural correlate of eyeblink classical conditioning. The results showed that Egr-1 protein expression as determined by immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis rapidly increased during the early stages of conditioning and remained elevated during the later stages. Further, expression of Egr-1 protein required NMDA receptor activation as it was blocked by bath application of AP-5. These findings suggest that the IEG-encoded proteins such as Egr-1 are activated during relatively simple forms of learning in vertebrates. In this case, Egr-1 may have a functional role in the acquisition phase of conditioning as well as in maintaining expression of conditioned responses.     

How chronic self-views influence (and potentially mislead) estimates of performance

An important source of people's perceptions of their performance, and potential errors in those perceptions, are chronic views people hold regarding their abilities. In support of this observation, manipulating people's general views of their ability, or altering which view seemed most relevant to a task, changed performance estimates independently of any impact on actual performance. A final study extended this analysis to why women disproportionately avoid careers in science. Women performed equally to men on a science quiz, yet underestimated their performance because they thought less of their general scientific reasoning ability than did men. They, consequently, were more likely to refuse to enter a science competition.     

Borderline functioning, work, and outcome in intensive evening group treatment.

Cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups of a sample of 40 patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The BPD patients were part of a larger sample that had participated in an intensive, group-oriented Evening Treatment Program. A set of pretherapy outcome measures was used to represent patient "attributes" for the cluster analysis. Eight clusters were identified. Two, each defined by a single patient with pronounced pathology, were deleted from further analyses. In a discriminant-function analysis, four dimensions emerged that differentiated the six remaining clusters. Significant relationships among the four dimensions and measures of therapeutic work and treatment outcome were identified. The relationships reflected the impact of behavioral characteristics associated with BPD on participation in and benefit from intensive group-oriented evening treatment. Implications of these exploratory findings for the understanding and treatment of BPD are discussed.     

Faces in Motion: Age‐Related Changes in Eyewitness Identification Performance in Simultaneous,Sequential, and Elimination Video Lineups

The identification performance of children (5 to 6 years, n = 180; 9 to 10 years, n = 180) and adults (n = 180) was examined using three types of video lineup procedures: simultaneous, sequential and elimination. Participants viewed a videotaped staged theft and then attempted to identify the culprit from a target‐present or target‐absent video lineup. Correct identifications in simultaneous and elimination video lineups did not differ as a function of age. The sequential video lineup was associated with a reduction in correct identifications for both child groups compared with adults. With respect to the target‐absent lineup condition, the video elimination lineup was associated with an increase in correct rejection rates for adult witnesses. Age was also significantly associated with accuracy. Differences in correct rejection rates were observed between adults and children and also between the two child groups. Implications and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treating Childhood Anxiety in Schools: Service Delivery in a Response to Intervention Paradigm

Millions of youth who attend schools in the United States suffer from clinically significant anxiety. Left untreated, these students often experience significant disruptions in their academic, social, and family functioning. Fortunately, promising treatments exist for childhood anxiety that are amenable for delivery in school settings. However, educational law and new service delivery paradigms such as response-to-intervention (RtI) affect the delivery of anxiety interventions. In light of extant laws and practices that govern education, this article discusses the provision of supportive services to address childhood anxiety. Specifically, this article reviews how RtI, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and Section?504 of the Rehabilitation Act guide service delivery and subsequently impact school-based anxiety treatments. Suggestions are provided to address childhood anxiety within a framework that allows for graduated and fluid service delivery.     

The Relationship between Temperamental Negative Affect,Effortful Control,and Sensory Regulation: A New Look

Temperamental negative affectivity (NA) and effortful control (EC) have long been of interest to psychologists, but sensory regulation (SR) has received less attention. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the present study reexamined the Rothbart model of EC and NA using the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; M.K. Rothbart, S.A. Ahadi, K.L. Hershy, & P. Fisher, 2001), along with alternative models of EC, NA, and SR using the CBQ and Short Sensory Profile. The results failed to replicate the Rothbart model of EC and NA, which includes SR within the EC and NA factors. A good fit was found for a three‐factor model (EC, NA, and SR) that was replicated in a holdout sample. A three‐factor model also showed a good fit when EC, NA, and SR items similar to symptoms of behavior problems were eliminated.     

The Development and Validation of a Family Wellbeing Index for Hong Kong Chinese Families

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Family wellbeing is studied worldwide. However, there is a dearth of studies on the wellbeing of families in Chinese societies such as Hong Kong, nor is there...