Behavioral Gerontology Research: Where are the Male Participants?

It has been reported that females are underrepresented in several areas of psychological research, which may have significant clinical and theoretical implications. No one has reported, however, whether women are underrepresented in behavioral gerontology research. To make this determination we recorded the gender of participants in behavioral gerontology studies published in six journals. In 129 published studies that included older adults (i.e. people 55 or more years of age) there were a total of 3070 participants, and most (69%) were female. Underrepresentation of men is significant insofar as treatment effects are sometimes gender specific, making it inappropriate to generalize results from females to males (or vice versa). Moreover, underrepresentation of older men suggests that their behavioral needs may not be generating the attention they deserve. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positive Psychological Functioning and the Biology of Health

Most research considers both psychological and physical health with a disease perspective by focusing on poor psychological functioning or disease outcomes. However, identifying attributes that support adaptive functioning may inform approaches to achieving health beyond what we learn from studying risk factors that accelerate deterioration. Recent evidence suggests that positive psychological functioning contributes to attaining optimal physical health. We evaluate the current state of knowledge on the relationship between positive psychological functioning and physical health, defining health beyond solely the absence of disease. We further consider when positive psychological functioning begins to exert effects on health, whether it has direct effects on biological processes or serves primarily to buffer the effects of stress, and whether it is associated with health outcomes and biological processes beyond those that reflect the absence of deterioration and disease. We propose some key directions for future research including the assessment of positive psychological functioning, positive biological functioning, and optimal health, the value of multi‐system measures, and the potential of “omics” to provide novel insights into biological mechanisms underlying associations between positive psychological functioning and physical health.     

Which Mental States Are Rationally Evaluable,And Why?

What makes certain mental states subject to evaluation with respect to norms of rationality and justification, and others arational? In this paper, I develop and defend an account that explains why belief is governed by, and so appropriately subject to, evaluation with respect to norms of rationality and justification, one that does justice to the complexity of our evaluative practice in this domain. Then, I sketch out a way of extending the account to explain when and why other kinds of mental states are rationally evaluable. I argue that the cognitive or psychological mechanisms that give rise to and sustain our mental states help to render our mental states appropriate targets for evaluation with respect to norms of rationality and justification when the operation of these mechanisms is responsive, in a specific way, to our judgments about which kinds of considerations constitute rationalizing and justifying reasons for being in states of the relevant sort.     

Being engaged when resources are low: A multi-source study of selective optimization with compensation at work

This study examined self-regulation in the form of selective optimization with compensation (SOC) at work as a moderator of the relationships of job control (as a job resource) and feeling recovered and energized in the morning (as a personal energy resource) with self- and coworker-rated work engagement. SOC was hypothesized to offset low levels of job control and low levels of personal energy. Based on a sample of 405 public-service employees in Germany, including a multi-source subsample of 141 employees and their respective coworkers, the results showed that SOC use moderated the relationship between the level of personal energy and self-ratings as well as coworker ratings of work engagement such that SOC mitigated low levels of personal energy. SOC at work did not offset low job control. The results suggest that using SOC is particularly important when employees lack energy. SOC strategies should, therefore, be fostered by managers and organizations.     

Mother and father socially desirable responding in nine countries: Two kinds of agreement and relations to parenting self‐reports

We assessed 2 forms of agreement between mothers' and fathers' socially desirable responding in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and the United States (N = 1110 families). Mothers and fathers in all 9 countries reported socially desirable responding in the upper half of the distribution, and countries varied minimally (but China was higher than the cross‐country grand mean and Sweden lower). Mothers and fathers did not differ in reported levels of socially desirable responding, and mothers' and fathers' socially desirable responding were largely uncorrelated. With one exception, mothers' and fathers' socially desirable responding were similarly correlated with self‐perceptions of parenting, and correlations varied somewhat across countries. These findings are set in a discussion of socially desirable responding, cultural psychology and family systems.     

Elucidating the Construct Validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Triarchic Scales

This study sought to replicate and extend Hall and colleagues’ (2014) work on developing and validating scales from the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) to index the triarchic psychopathy constructs of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. This study also extended Hall et al.'s initial findings by including the PPI Revised (PPI–R). A community sample (n = 240) weighted toward subclinical psychopathy traits and a male prison sample (n = 160) were used for this study. Results indicated that PPI–Boldness, PPI–Meanness, and PPI–Disinhibition converged with other psychopathy, personality, and behavioral criteria in ways conceptually expected from the perspective of the triarchic psychopathy model, including showing very strong convergent and discriminant validity with their Triarchic Psychopathy Measure counterparts. These findings further enhance the utility of the PPI and PPI–R in measuring these constructs.     

The Voice of Ambiguity: Simone de Beauvoir's Literary and Phenomenological Echoes

In this essay we investigate several moments in Simone de Beauvoir's philosophical and literary texts in which she refers to echoes and echoing. We notice that echoes help Beauvoir to figure and amplify the ethical character of her concept of ambiguity, which is so central to her thought. We argue that, for Beauvoir, literature has privileged access to the ambiguity of existence and therefore maintains a special status in exposing us to alterity and bringing us face to face with ethical responsibility. Considering her literary portrayals of echoing helps to explain why, despite her life‐long philosophical engagement, Beauvoir preferred not to call herself a philosopher. Finally, Beauvoir's phenomenological insight is that in order to carry ethical resonance, the form of a written work must mirror the fundamentally ambiguous or echolalic ontological structure of human existence.     

Eye Remember What Happened: Eye‐Closure Improves Recall of Events but not Face Recognition

Eye‐closure improves event recall. We investigated whether eye‐closure can also facilitate subsequent performance on lineup identification (Experiment 1) and face recognition tasks (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, participants viewed a theft, recalled the event with eyes open or closed, mentally rehearsed the perpetrator's face with eyes open or closed, and viewed a target‐present or target‐absent lineup. Eye‐closure improved event recall, but did not significantly affect lineup identification accuracy. Experiment 2 employed a face recognition paradigm with high statistical power to permit detection of potentially small effects. Participants viewed 20 faces and were later asked to recognize the faces. Thirty seconds before the recognition task, participants either completed an unrelated distracter task (control condition), or were instructed to think about the face with their eyes open (rehearsal condition) or closed (eye‐closure condition). We found no differences between conditions in discrimination accuracy or response criterion. Potential explanations and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Women With Generalized Anxiety Disorder in the Perinatal Period: Impact on Problematic Behaviors

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the most frequently diagnosed anxiety disorder among women in the perinatal period (pregnancy to one year postpartum). Recent studies have examined the relationship between problematic behaviors and GAD symptoms. Studies in nonperinatal samples indicate that adults with GAD engage in avoidance and safety behaviors and these behaviors are associated with greater symptom severity. Little research has examined the use of problematic behaviors among pregnant or postpartum women. However, preliminary research suggests that these behaviors may have a negative impact on both anxious women and their children. Our aim was to examine the extent to which women with GAD in pregnancy or the postpartum engage in problematic behaviors and whether cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in reducing these behaviors. Fifty-eight women with GAD in pregnancy or postpartum were recruited from a larger clinical trial (Clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT02850523) evaluating the effectiveness of group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBGT) for perinatal anxiety disorders. The results indicated that women with perinatal GAD reported high levels of avoidance and safety behaviors and greater engagement in these behaviors was associated with higher levels of worry and related symptoms. CBGT was effective in reducing GAD symptoms and problematic behaviors and a bidirectional relationship was found between changes in worry and problematic behaviors during treatment. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Predicting Intense Levels of Child Anxiety During Anesthesia Induction at Hospital Arrival

In children, intense levels of anxiety during anesthetic induction are associated with a higher risk of pain, poor recovery, and emergence delirium. Therefore, it is important to identify these high-risk children at hospital arrival. The current study examined internalizing behavior (Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL) and state anxiety measures (modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale, mYPAS, and State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, STAIC) at hospital arrival as predictors of anxiety during induction of anesthesia. One hundred children (aged 4 to 12 years) undergoing elective daycare surgery were included. The STAIC and mYPAS at hospital arrival were significant predictors of anxiety during induction, whereas CBCL was not. The STAIC state form at hospital arrival was the strongest predictor and could be used to identify children who will experience intense levels of anxiety during anesthetic induction, with sufficient to good diagnostic accuracy. Using the STAIC at hospital arrival allows targeted interventions to reduce anxiety in children.