Social Support,Economic Hardship and Psychological Distress in Spanish and Portuguese At-Risk Families

Individuals with low socioeconomic status generally have worse mental health outcomes than their wealthier counterparts; a tendency that is exacerbated during financial crises. However, social support might buffer the effects of stress on mental health. In this study, we tested whether social support mitigated the effects of economic hardship on psychological distress on an at-risk sample from two of the European countries most affected by the 2008 economic downturn: Spain and Portugal. Participants were 249 caregivers enrolled in Child Welfare Services (73.0% women). Results showed that economic hardship and a negative indicator of social support (network dysfunctionality) were significant predictors of belonging to the psychological distress clinical group (OR: 2.35 and 1.80, respectively). However, no significant interaction effects were observed, thereby refuting the buffering effect hypothesis. When we conducted an in depth analysis of the clinical group, a significant moderation effect emerged. Our results suggest that, for at-risk populations, the detrimental effects of dysfunctional networks on mental health can outweigh the benefits of positive assistance and that social support is a potential stress buffer only for individuals in the clinical spectrum. These findings indicate that the protective effect of social support during circumstances of intense economic adversity is limited.     

Is the body represented in everyday bodily activities?

There seem to be good reasons to think that there must be body representations or some kind of body content required for riding a bike or grabbing a cup of coffee. However, when I ride a bike or grab a cup of coffee, am I just representing the bike and the cup? Or am I actually also representing my body and bodily movements? The thesis of this paper is that the body not only figures in the content that guides everyday activities but that it must. How is this possible? Exactly what elements of the subject’s body can be said to figure in this content? I will proceed in three steps: in the first, I bring together the conceptual resources that seem to be required; in the second, I discuss a couple of proposals about how to link the notion of affordance and the topic of bodily representations, arguing that they are misguided; finally, I propose a view according to which the body’s physical and spatial properties are an unavoidable part of the content that guides everyday activities.     

Joint Physical Custody and Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction in 37 North American and European Countries

Joint physical custody, a parental care arrangement in which a child lives with each parent about equally after separation or divorce, is an increasingly common phenomenon in many Western countries. Although attention from family scholars, practitioners, and law professionals is growing, there are hardly any numbers on the prevalence of joint physical custody (JPC). Moreover, studies using large‐scale representative data on the effects of JPC for children’s well‐being are still rare. The data for this study come from Health Behaviour in School‐Aged Children (HBSC), a representative cross‐national survey of adolescents in 37 European and North American countries that was conducted in 2002, 2006, and 2010 and included information on students at the ages of 11, 13, and 15 years (N = 92,886). First, results revealed that symmetrical JPC after family dissolution is still very rare in the majority of countries (5% or less), but reaches 10–20% in some countries. Second, adolescents’ life satisfaction in nonintact families is higher in symmetric JPC arrangements than in asymmetric care arrangements. However, after controlling for children and family characteristics, the differences disappear. Thus, it is not the symmetric JPC arrangement that induces adolescents’ higher life satisfaction, but rather the children and family characteristics that are associated with the choice of such a custody arrangement by separated or divorced parents.     

Swipe Right for… My Therapist? Ethical Considerations for Therapists Using Dating Apps

There is a lack of research on the experiences of mental health professionals using dating applications as well as the clinical and ethical implications that may follow. Previous studies have found that clinicians are utilizing dating profiles and are discovering or being discovered by their clients. Despite this current engagement, there are no specific guidelines to help clinicians ethically navigate dating applications. In response, this work explores the existing literature on dating applications, clinicians’ encounters with dating applications, and how the ethical considerations of boundaries, self-disclosure, and self-presentation may inform the use of dating applications. Throughout, the authors highlight these ethical concerns and provide suggestions for mental health professionals who are utilizing these platforms and for those who may be considering creating a dating profile.

     

“I think you understand me.” Studying the associations between actual,assumed, and perceived understanding within couples

The current study examined the associations between actual, assumed, and perceived understanding and partners’ levels of dyadic adjustment. One hundred fifty-two couples provided questionnaire data (assumed and perceived understanding), participated in a videotaped conflict interaction, and in a video-review task to assess actual understanding (empathic accuracy). The data were analyzed by means of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. The results suggest that (a) some aspects of how well someone assumes that (s)he has understood the partner during a preceding conflict interaction were positively associated with his/her own objective level of understanding (actor effect), (b) that someone's perception of how understood (s)he feels was not associated with the partner's objective level of understanding (partner effect), and (c) perceived understanding, but not actual understanding, was positively associated with dyadic adjustment.     

Mock juror's perceptions of a child witness passing or failing a truth and lies discussion or promising to tell the truth

This study examined the effect of a child passing or failing the UK truth and lies discussion (TLD) compared with the Canadian promise to tell the truth on mock jurors' decisions regarding witness credibility and truthfulness and defendant guilt. Ninety-two participants read a vignette that described a child witnessing his father physically attacking his mother. The vignette was manipulated for witness age (age 4 years and age 8 years) and TLD performance/promise. Supporting the hypotheses, participants rated the witness's credibility and truthfulness significantly higher after a witness passed a TLD and after promising to tell the truth. The age of the child witness did not significantly affect jurors' decision making. The results are discussed in relation to arguments regarding the abolition of the UK's TLD in favour of introducing a promise to tell the truth.     

Why did I buy this? Consumers' post‐impulse‐consumption experience and its impact on the propensity for future impulse buying behaviour

This paper advances research into impulse buying by examining how this behaviour is reinforced/curtailed, highlighting the primary role of the post‐purchase experience in encouraging future impulse buying behaviour. Extant research emphasizes the role of the purchase experience, that is, psychological benefits attained from the impulse purchase experience itself, as a reinforcer of impulse buying. Conversely, this paper uses experiments to demonstrate that it is the post‐purchase experience, not the purchase experience, that reinforces or curtails future impulse buying. Indeed, irrespective of the valence of the purchase experience, a negative post‐purchase experience (whereby a product or service is found to have limited use/does not deliver expected benefits) results in post‐purchase regret, which in turn curtails future impulse buying. In contrast, a positive post‐purchase experience reinforces impulse buying. This research also demonstrates that consumers utilize three types of coping mechanisms to mitigate post‐purchase regret, that is, planful problem solving, positive reinterpretation, or mental disengagement. However, although the use of planful problem solving curtails future impulse buying, use of the other two mechanisms results in behaviour reinforcement. These findings have several important implications for both marketers and consumers, which the authors discuss in detail.     

THERE ARE TWO WORD-LENGTH EFFECTS IN VERBAL SHORT-TERM MEMORY:

Abstract— In the word-length effect (WLE), lists of shorter words are better recalled than lists of longer words This effect a fundamental to decay-based theories of verbal short-term memory, such as the phonological loop theory (Baddeley, 1986) The WLE has been attributed to the time taken to articulate words, not their structure, a critical point in the debate between decay and interference theories However, this article, we show that the traditional WLE comprises two opposed effects an advantage for words spoken more quickly (short words in terms of duration) and an advantage for words with more elements (long words in terms of complexity) We also report two interactions a disadvantage for a midlist change in duration and an advantage for a midlist change in complexity These results contradict simple decay- based theories and establish the importance of interference in short- term memory We discuss whether decay is also required     

The role of absolute and relative amounts of time in forgetting within immediate memory: The case of tone-pitch comparisons

Many investigators of auditory sensory memory have assumed that memory loss during a retention interval of some seconds results from a process (such as decay) that depends on the absolute amount of time that has elapsed since presentation of the sound. An alternative possibility, brought to light by studies on immediate verbal memory, is that it is the relative, rather than the absolute, amount of time that matters. We examine these factors in a tone-comparison study by varying not only the retention interval between two tones to be compared, but also the interpair interval. Relative time played a role, but absolute time also appeared to be important. Several concepts of “decay” are considered in relation to the results.