Parental Responses to School-aged Children’s Sibling Conflict

The goals of this study were: (1) to describe and compare parental responses to school-aged siblings’ conflicts; (2) to explore the sibling relationship structural correlates of the parental responses; and (3) to assess the links between type of parental response and sibling relationship quality and children’s psychosocial and physical well being. One parent from eighty-two families (mothers = 68; fathers = 13; 1 missing) of firstborn (Mage = 9.84 years old) and secondborn (Mage = 7.16 years old) children completed an anonymous survey. Parents employed a child-centered strategy most often and sanctioned sibling aggression least often in response to siblings’ conflicts. Closer age spacing among siblings was related to parents’ sanction of physical aggression. Parental response type was associated with sibling relationship quality and children’s psychosocial and physical well being. The differential associations between parental response type, sibling experiences and children’s mental and physical well being are discussed.     

See an object,hear an object file: Object correspondence transcends sensory modality

An important task of perceptual processing is to parse incoming information into distinct units and to keep track of those units over time as the same, persisting representations. Within the study of visual perception, maintaining such persisting object representations is helped by “object files”—episodic representations that store (and update) information about objects' properties and track objects over time and motion via spatiotemporal information. Although object files are typically discussed as visual, here we demonstrate that object–file correspondence can be computed across sensory modalities. An object file can be initially formed with visual input and later accessed with corresponding auditory information, suggesting that object files may be able to operate at a multimodal level of perceptual processing.     

Aging and Remote Memory Declines: Preliminary Findings

Relatively little research has examined the effect of aging upon remote memory, especially among individuals who have entered their 10th decade of life. The present study examined whether remote memory deteriorates in a group of 132 neurologically normal men and women ranging in age from 50 to 97. Remote memory was measured with a modification of the Presidents Test. The data revealed that higher levels of education corresponded with better remote memory. Additionally, age-related differences in memory occurred only in men, with those aged 90 years and older showing significantly worse remote memory than other age groups. Potential explanations and implications of these data are delineated.     

Implicit and explicit prejudice and interracial interaction.

The present research examined how implicit racial associations and explicit racial attitudes of Whites relate to behaviors and impressions in interracial interactions. Specifically, the authors examined how response latency and self-report measures predicted bias and perceptions of bias in verbal and nonverbal behavior exhibited by Whites while they interacted with a Black partner. As predicted, Whites' self-reported racial attitudes significantly predicted bias in their verbal behavior to Black relative to White confederates. Furthermore, these explicit attitudes predicted how much friendlier Whites felt that they behaved toward White than Black partners. In contrast, the response latency measure significantly predicted Whites' nonverbal friendliness and the extent to which the confederates and observers perceived bias in the participants' friendliness.     

Applicant Perceptions of Test Fairness: Integrating Justice and Self-Serving Bias Perspectives

The justice perspective is the current dominant framework for research on applicant perceptions of test fairness. Recently, an emerging perspective suggests that self-serving bias mechanisms may be operative in the development of test fairness perceptions. Using data from 494 actual applicants to an entry-level State Police Trooper position, this study integrates both the justice and self-serving bias perspectives to achieve a better understanding of test fairness perceptions. Results from structural equation modeling show that perceived job-relevance affects perceived fairness. In addition, test performance affects both perceptions indirectly through perceived performance.     

Prehension movements and perceived object depth structure

This study asked the question, “Will the motor pattern to a perceived two-dimensional (2-D) object differ from that same object when it is perceived as three dimensional (3-D)?” Subjects were required to reach and grasp an apple that could appear to be 2-D or 3-D. Two experimental sessions were conducted. In Condition A, the apple was initially perceived to be 2-D, but, for 20% of trials, it suddenly shifted to a 3-D apple at movement onset. In Condition B, the apple was initially perceived to be 3-D, but, for 20% of trials, it suddenly shifted to a 2-D silhouette of the same apple. For control trials, subjects grasped the perceived 2-D apple as if it were a disc (82%), and they grasped the 3-D apple, as they would a normal apple, with a whole-hand grasp (86%). For Condition A perturbed trials, there was a rapid change from a 2-D precision grip to a 3-D whole-hand prehension, whereas the converse was true for the opposite perturbation. Peak acceleration was anticipated for Condition A perturbed trials but not for Condition B perturbed trials. These results indicate that the motor patterns we use in interacting with an object are strongly influenced by the way we perceive the object in real time, and that object affordances, such as dimension, can override the influence exerted by existing representations.     

A Comparison of Single and Multi-Test Working Memory Assessments in Predicting Academic Achievement in Children

Children assessed as having low working memory capacity have also been shown to perform more poorly than their same-aged peers in measures of academic achievement. Early detection of working memory problems is, therefore, an important first step in reducing the impact of a working memory deficit on the development of academic skills. In this study, we compared a single-test assessment, the Working Memory Power Test for Children (WMPT) and a multi-test assessment, the Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA), in their ability to predict academic achievement in reading, numeracy, and spelling. A total of 132 Australian school children (mean age 9 years, 9 months) participated in the research. Strong positive correlations between the WMPT and AWMA total scores were found, indicating good convergent validity of the single and multi-test measures. WMPT scores correlated with each of the four AWMA subtests designed to assess verbal and visuospatial short-term and working memory. WMPT and AWMA scores separately predicted performance on Word Reading, Numerical Operations, and Spelling. Compared with either measure alone, the WMPT and the AWMA in combination predicted more of the variance in Word Reading and Numerical Operations, but not in Spelling. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Stressors Experienced During Deployment Among Canadian Armed Forces Personnel: Factor Structure of Two Combat Exposure Scales

Combat exposure is linked to increased mental health problems among military personnel. Reliable, precise, and efficient measurement of combat experiences can facilitate understanding of the effects of combat on mental health. This study examined the psychometric properties of 2 scales used to assess deployment experiences in Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel in 2 different settings: during a Third Location Decompression (TLD) program after deployment, and during routine postdeployment screening. Principal components analyses yielded similar results for the 2 measures. The components containing items relevant to Exposure to the Dead and Injured, Dangerous Environment, and Active Combat were common across both surveys. The TLD results revealed a fourth component, Personal Suffering, while the postdeployment screening data revealed a fourth component, Perceived Responsibility. This study found categories of deployment stressors that can be used for further analysis, and underscores the importance of assessing a broad range of exposures in the combat environment.     

Self‐Stigma,Mental Health Literacy,and Health Outcomes in Integrated Care

The authors describe research on the self‐stigma of mental illness and help seeking, mental health literacy, and health outcomes in an integrated care medical center. Results revealed that self‐stigma of mental illness and self‐stigma of seeking help had an inverse relationship with mental health literacy. No statistically significant relationships were found between health outcomes, either type of self‐stigma, and mental health literacy. The authors discuss these and other findings and offer research and counseling implications.