The serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism and childhood positive and negative emotionality

Association studies of the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and negative emotionality (NE) are inconclusive. However, emerging evidence suggests that the association between this polymorphism and NE may be influenced by levels of another temperament trait, positive emotionality (PE). Therefore, this study examined whether the association between the 5-HTTLPR and NE was moderated by PE. A community sample of 413 three-year-old children completed a standardized battery of laboratory tasks designed to tap temperamental emotionality. Children were also genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR. No direct association between 5-HTTLPR genotype and NE was found. However, the interaction of child PE and NE predicted 5-HTTLPR genotype. Furthermore, children with a short allele who were also low in PE had significantly greater NE than children without a short allele or children with high PE. Our findings suggest that the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR is associated with NE only in the context of low PE. Inconsistent links between NE and this gene in previous research may stem from the failure to consider other temperament traits that moderate associations.     

Genetic and environmental sources of continuity and change in teacher‐rated aggression during early adolescence

Genetic and environmental sources of continuity and change in aggression were studied in a sample of 1,041 twin pairs (364 monozygotic; 348 same‐sex dizygotic; and 329 opposite‐sex dizygotic) as part of an ongoing, population‐based Finnish twin‐family study. At ages 12 and 14, the twins' aggression was assessed by their classroom teachers, using a rating form of the Multidimensional Peer Nomination Inventory. Genetic and environmental sources of continuity and change were studied by fitting a longitudinal bivariate Cholesky decomposition model. Longitudinal model‐fitting results indicated that both genetic and environmental factors influenced continuity in aggression during this 2‐year period, but the age‐to‐age correlation of these factors differed by sex. Continuity in boys' aggression was mediated by genes and common environmental factors; in girls, in contrast, continuity was due primarily to common environmental, and to a lesser degree, unique environmental factors. Genes and unique environments contributed to change in aggression in both sexes. Aggr. Behav. 31:1–13, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The relationship among positive emotional dispositions,career adaptability,and satisfaction in Italian high school students

Using a sample of 242 Italian high school students, we examined the direct relation of hope and optimism on four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e. curiosity, confidence, control, and concern) as well as the mediating effect of these four adaptability dimensions on the relations of hope and optimism on the subcomponents of satisfaction. The results of the study demonstrated that both hope and optimism significantly predicted various dimensions of career adaptability. Additionally, the degree to which hope related to students' subcomponents of satisfaction was mediated by two of the four dimensions of career adaptability (i.e. curiosity and confidence). The dimensions of adaptability did not mediate the relations of optimism on satisfaction. These findings have implications for both research and practice.     

Who do you look like? Evidence of facial stereotypes for male names

The present research provides evidence that people use facial prototypes when they encounter different names. In Experiment 1, participants created face exemplars for fifteen common male names, subsets of which were endorsed as good examples by a second set of participants. These most typical faces were morphed to create face-name prototypes. In Experiment 2, participants matched one of the names to each of the prototype faces from Experiment 1. Participants’ matching choices showed convergence in naming the prototypes for many of the names. Experiment 3 utilized these same prototypes in a learning task designed to investigate if the face-name associations revealed in Experiment 2 impacted the learnability of the names. Participants learned face-name pairings that had a higher association (based on frequencies from Experiment 2) faster than pairings with a low association. Results suggest a more direct relationship between faces and names than has been previously proposed.     

Parental personality as an inner resource that moderates the impact of ecological adversity on parenting

Parents' personality was examined as a moderator of the impact of demographic risk on parenting in a longitudinal study (N=102 families). Parents' personality and demographic risk (i.e., education level, age, family income, and family size) were assessed when children were infants, and parents' power assertion, warmth, and positive affect were observed in naturalistic interactions 2.5 years later. Parents' personality moderated the adverse impact of demographic risk on parenting. For parents who had memories of unstable and unhappy childhood experiences and who reported low conventionality, higher risk was linked to more power assertion, but there was no such link for those parents who recalled happy childhood experiences and who embraced conventions. For both parents who lacked a sense of optimism and social trust, and for fathers who reported low conventionality, higher risk was linked to less affectively positive parenting, but there was no such link for parents who were optimistic and trusting or for fathers who were conventional. Higher risk was linked to more power assertion, but only for mothers low in Extraversion and for fathers high in Neuroticism.     

Flexible use of spatial cues in the southern flying squirrel (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Glaucomys volans</Emphasis>)

Insects, birds, and mammals have been shown capable of encoding spatial information in memory using multiple strategies or frames of reference simultaneously. These strategies include orientation to a goal-specific cue or beacon, to the position of the goal in an array of local landmarks, or to its position in the array of distant landmarks, also known as the global frame of reference. From previous experiments, it appears that birds and mammals that scatter hoard rely primarily on a global frame of reference, but this generalization depends on evidence from only a few species. Here we examined spatial memory in a previously unstudied scatter hoarder, the southern flying squirrel. We dissociated the relative weighting of three potential spatial strategies (beacon, global, or relative array strategy) with three probe tests: transposition of beacon and the rotation or the expansion of the array. The squirrels’ choices were consistent with a spatial averaging strategy, where they chose the location dictated by at least two of the three strategies, rather than using a single preferred frame of reference. This adaptive and flexible heuristic has not been previously described in animal orientation studies, yet it may be a common solution to the universal problem of encoding and recalling spatial locations in an ephemeral physical landscape.     

Examination of the paths between personality,current mood,its evaluation,and emotion regulation

In an ongoing longitudinal study, a Big Five Personality Inventory was completed by 122 men and 126 women at age 33. At age 36, the Brief Mood Introspection Scale, the Meta‐Evaluation Scale, and the Meta‐Regulation Scale were administered to 140 men and 127 women. The results, based on path analyses, lent support to a hypothesized model, according to which current mood (Negative, Positive, Active, Calm) and mood evaluation (Mood Influence, Typicality and Acceptance, Clarity) mediate the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and emotion regulation strategies (Repair, Dampening, Maintenance). For both sexes, Neuroticism was the most significant trait in terms of emotion regulation. A sex difference emerged: in general, personality traits and mood variables explained emotion regulation more significantly in men. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An aggression machine v. determinants in reactive aggression revisited

The relations between reactive aggression, situational cues, and emotion regulation were examined by means of the Pulkkinen Aggression Machine (PAM) task. In the PAM, provocation and response were systematically varied under two conditions: the impulsive aggression condition and the controlled aggression condition. In the impulsive condition, no information about the attacker was provided, while in the controlled condition the attackers were specified in terms of sex, age, and physical strength. The task was administered to 109 children aged 8 to 13 years. Boys (n = 61) and girls (n = 48), as well as subgroups of Adjusted (n = 67) and Maladjusted (n = 26) children were compared. The results confirmed earlier findings showing that there is a strong relationship between attack and response intensity. However, this relationship was consistently modified by the effects of situation and personality‐related variables. This meant that, while for the impulsive condition response intensity was closely tied to stimulus intensity, in the controlled condition this effect was modulated by the characteristics of the opponent: the more equal the opponent the stronger the retaliations displayed. The Maladjusted children reacted more intensively in the impulsive condition and to minor provocation in the controlled condition than the Adjusted children. This suggests that the intensity of the elicited aggression in the Maladjusted group was particularly dependent on contextual rather than internal control. Aggr. Behav. 27:430–445, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Preconceptional family health evaluation: A regional education program for family planning clients and health professionals

The Preconceptional Family Health Evaluation Program was a regional project developed and funded for 2 years by the New England Regional Genetics Group (NERGG) to educate family planning health professionals about genetics, and to offer family planning clients preconceptional identification of genetic and environmental exposure risks. To meet these goals, genetic education was provided on a regional basis to 45 family planning professionals. A self-administered family health risk questionnaire adaptable to individual family planning settings was developed. Five hundred and twenty-nine family planning clients voluntarily completed the questionnaire. Cigarette smoking (35%) and alcohol use (57%) were two major categories of risks identified. The Preconceptional Family Health Evaluation Program was well received by all participants and provided an effective means for regional education of family planning health professionals. As a result of the program, state program planners, clinical genetics services, and family planning health professionals developed a strong relationship that will serve future educational and genetic risk screening efforts.     

Friendship similarity during early adolescence: gender and racial patterns.

We studied the relationship of reciprocity, gender, and racial composition (Caucasian, African American, cross-race) of adolescent friendship dyads to similarity and proximity in 136 young adolescents. We found that adolescents selected friends who were of the same gender and race and that female dyads were more similar than male dyads on verbal achievement and several personality dimensions. Caucasian dyads were more similar than African American dyads on verbal achievement, mental alertness, and dominance. African American adolescents had more contact with their best friends outside school, whereas Caucasian adolescent friends had more in-school contact. African American students had fewer reciprocal relationships than the Caucasian students. Cross-race friendships were less reciprocal than same-race friendships. Race and gender were important in determining friendship patterns. Similarity and proximity were more important than reciprocity in understanding early adolescent friendships.