Positive affect predicts engagement in healthy behaviors within a day,but not across days

Motivation and Emotion - Identifying causes of healthy behaviors is important for harnessing health benefits. A growing body of experience sampling research suggests that positive emotion may drive...     

Muslim Adolescent Mental Health in Australia: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Risk of Developing Clinically Significant Psychological Problems

Journal of Child and Family Studies - This study explores the risk of developing clinically significant social, emotional, and behavioural problems among Muslim adolescents living in Australia...     

Physician Communication Coaching: How Psychologists can Elevate Skills and Support Resident Education,Professionalism, and Well-being

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Many factors influence resident physician communication, including rigorous training demands that can contribute to professionalism issues or...     

Testing Children’s Mentalizing in Middle Childhood: Adopting the Child and Adolescent Reflective Functioning Scale with Clinical and Community Children

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Beginning with Ensink’s seminal study (2015), the field entered a new era in which we were able to measure mentalizing in school-aged children. The goal...     

Personality,life events and the course of anxiety and depression

Using data from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety, we examined among 1322 participants with a DSM‐IV diagnosis of depression or anxiety: (i) whether positive and negative life events influence 1‐year course of anxiety and depressive symptoms; (ii) whether personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion) predict symptom course and moderate the impact of life events on symptom course; and (iii) whether life events mediate relationships of neuroticism and extraversion with symptom course. Negative life events were predictive of both anxiety and depressive symptoms, while positive life events predicted the course of depressive symptoms only. Personality traits had significant predictive and moderating effects on symptom course, though these effects were rather small. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Encouraging Active Classroom Discussion of Academic Integrity and Misconduct in Higher Education Business Contexts

The present study assessed business students’ responses to an innovative interactive presentation on academic integrity that employed quoted material from previous students as launching points for discussion. In total, 15 business classes (n = 412 students) including 2nd, 3rd and 4th year level students participated in the presentations as part of the ethics component of ongoing courses. Students’ perceptions of the importance of academic integrity, self-reports of cheating behaviors, and factors contributing to misconduct were examined along with perceptions about the presentation. Discussion sessions revealed that academic misconduct is a complex issue. For example, knowledge of what constitutes misconduct was not consistent across domains (e.g. exam contexts versus group work), penalties were not wholly known, and there was variation in perceived responsibility for reporting and representing academic integrity. Survey measures revealed that self-reported academic misconduct was more prevalent than expected with only 7.5% of students indicating they had never cheated in any way. Furthermore, results showed gender and year of study as predictive factors for issues related to academic misconduct. In general, students were receptive to this form of presentation. The implications of such instructional interventions for enhancing ethical behaviors in higher education classrooms are discussed.     

The power of "we": effects of psychological collectivism on team performance over time

We examined the influences of different facets of psychological collectivism (Preference, Reliance, Concern, Norm Acceptance, and Goal Priority) on team functioning at 3 different performance depictions: initial team performance, end-state team performance, and team performance change over time. We also tested the extent to which team-member exchange moderated the relationships between facets of psychological collectivism and performance change over time. Results from multilevel growth modeling of 66 teams (N = 264) engaged in a business simulation revealed differential effects across facets of psychological collectivism and across different performance measurements. Whereas facets concerned with affiliation (Preference and Concern) were positively related to initial team performance, reliance was negatively related to initial team performance. Goal Priority was a strong predictor of end-state performance. Team-member exchange moderated the relationship between performance change and 3 of the 5 facets of psychological collectivism (Preference, Reliance, Norm Acceptance). Implications for team composition and team training are discussed.     

The role of inhibitory control in behavioral and physiological expressions of toddler executive function

A total of 81 toddlers (24-27 months of age) participated in a biobehavioral investigation of inhibitory control. Maternal report measures of inhibitory control were related to laboratory tasks assessing inhibitory abilities under conditions of conflict, delay, and compliance challenge as well as toddler verbal ability. In addition, unique variance in inhibitory control was explained by task-related changes in brain electrical activity at lateral frontal scalp sites as well as concurrent inhibitory task performance. Implications regarding neural correlates of executive function during early development and a central organizing role of inhibitory processing during toddlerhood are discussed.