Self-help efforts in a squatter community: Implications for addressing contemporary homelessness

This analysis addresses the nature of contemporary homelessness in the United States, the historical foundations of the shelter system, and survival strategies utilized by homeless persons in meeting their physical, social, and psychological needs. A framework that examines the degree of publicness/privateness and permanency/temporariness of spaces utilized by homeless persons is applied to a case study of a self-help squatter community living on an empty lot in New York City. By looking at the members of the group, their relationship to their neighbors and the local community, and their approaches in dealing with their needs, an assessment is made of this labor-intensive, self-help effort for providing shelter. Implications of self-help approaches are related to policy development and further research.     

Gender Neutral Names: Don't Be So Sure!

Males and females were asked to rate the gender neutrality of familiar and unfamiliar names in order to identify gender neutral names for training and research purposes. A large group of non-traditional students and a group of practicing managers provided responses to a series of names. Two follow-up studies were also conducted to provide replication and verification. Initially, 26 familiar and 21 unfamiliar names were studied although in the final study that was expanded to include nine more familiar names. The most neutral names identified were Pat, Terry, Chris, and Lee.     

Sex-role orientation and relationship development in same-sex dyads

The purpose of the present study was to assess the relationship between sex-role identity, behavioral interaction, and interpersonal attraction in an initial extended encounter. Eighty-two female subjects identified as either feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated participated in the study in same-sex dyads. The design contrasted three different dyad types: (a) feminine-feminine; (b) androgynous-androgynous; and (c) undifferentiated-undifferentiated. Each dyad completed an initial 5-min unstructured interaction, a 10-min getting-acquainted exercise, and a final 5-min unstructured interaction. Results of the combined initial and final unstructured interactions indicated greater interpersonal attraction between androgynous as compared with undifferentiated and feminine dyad types. During the interactions, androgynous individuals talked, looked at, and gestured to one another longer than did nonandrogynous individuals. There were, however, no significant differences between the feminine and undifferentiated dyads in interpersonal attraction or behavioral interaction. Discussion of the results emphasized the need to examine further the relationship between sex-role identity, behavioral interaction, and attraction in interpersonal encounters.     

Trajectories of Response to Treatments in Children with ADHD and Word Reading Difficulties

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - This study investigated patterns of response to intervention in children with co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and...     

Self–Other Agreement: Comparing its Relationship with Performance in the U.S. and Europe

The use of multi‐source feedback has proliferated in the United States in recent years; however, its usefulness in other countries is unknown. Using a large sample of American managers (n=3793), this study first replicated earlier studies demonstrating that simultaneous consideration of self and other ratings of leadership skills is important for managerial performance ratings. In addition, the impact of self–other agreement on performance was investigated among 2732 managers in five European countries (U.K., Germany, France, Denmark, Italy). Results indicated that the effect of self and other ratings in the prediction of performance differs between the U.S. and the European countries in that the simultaneous inclusion of both self and other ratings is generally less useful in those countries than in the U.S. Further, the effect of self–other agreement varies among the European countries. Implications for multi‐source feedback interventions as well as multi‐national personnel management are discussed.     

Preschoolers' Understanding of Simple and Complex Emotions: Links with Gender and Language

In this study we assessed individual differences among preschoolers' emotion understanding, verbal ability, and gender role behavior. Fifty-three children (M = 3 years, 5 months; 26 girls, 27 boys) participated in task that used puppets to assess their understanding of simple (happy, sad) and complex emotions (proud, embarrassed) and a standard vocabulary task. Parents completed a questionnaire on the frequency of their children's gender-typed behavior. Results indicated positive associations between children's total emotion understanding and both general verbal ability (particularly for boys) and parents' perceptions of stereotypic feminine behaviors. Gender analysis revealed that, independent of vocabulary ability, girls scored higher than boys on emotion labeling and understanding of complex emotions, especially the concept of pride. Results are discussed in relation to individual differences and effects of sociocultural context.     

Bidirectional,Longitudinal Associations Between Math Ability and Approximate Number System Precision in Childhood

Research suggests that individual differences in math abilities correlate with approximate representations of quantity that are supported by a primitive Approximate Number System (ANS). However, relatively little research has addressed the direction of this association in early childhood. Here we examined the development of the ANS and math ability longitudinally in 3- to 5-year-old children. Children were observed at three time points roughly six months apart; they completed a nonsymbolic numerical comparison task that measured ANS precision and a standardized math assessment. A series of cross-lagged panel models was then estimated to explore the associations between ANS precision and math ability over time. Bidirectional associations between ANS precision and math ability emerged: Early ANS precision was related to children’s later math skills, and early math ability also significantly predicted children’s later ANS precision. Evidence for mutual enhancement over time between the ANS and symbolic math ability adds to our growing understanding of the ANS and how the ANS and math knowledge interact.     

The shared and unique genetic relationship between mental well-being,depression and anxiety symptoms and cognitive function in healthy twins

Alterations to cognitive function are often reported with depression and anxiety symptoms, yet few studies have examined the same associations with mental well-being. This study examined the association between mental well-being, depression and anxiety symptoms and cognitive function in 1502 healthy adult monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, and the shared/unique contribution of genetic (G) and environmental (E) variance. Using linear mixed models, mental well-being was positively associated (p?β?=?0.127), inhibition (β?=?0.096), cognitive flexibility (β?=?0.149), motor coordination (β?=?0.114) and working memory (β?=?0.156), whereas depression and anxiety symptoms were associated (p?β?=??0.134), inhibition (β?=??0.139), cognitive flexibility (β?=??0.116) and executive function (β?=??0.139). Bivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small environmental correlation with motor coordination and a small genetic correlation with working memory. Trivariate twin modelling showed well-being shared a small genetic correlation with inhibition, whereas depression and anxiety symptoms shared a small environmental correlation with inhibition. The remaining variance was mostly driven by unique G and/or E variance. Overall, well-being and depression and anxiety symptoms show both independent and shared relationships with cognitive functions but this is largely attributable to unique G or E variance and small shared G/E variance between pairs of variables.     

Parent and Teacher Agreement of Behavior Problems in Youth Diagnosed With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders

The prevalence and severity of behavioral problems in youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may be context dependent leading to discrepant informants’ reports and complicating case conceptualizations and treatment goals. This study examines the inter-rater agreement of parents and teachers on behavioral problems of 58 youth with ASD and 42 youth without an ASD diagnosis. Parents and teachers of 26 youth with ASD (M?=?4.08, SD?=?1.02) and 21 youth with non-ASD diagnoses (M?=?4.38, SD?=?0.80), ages 2–5 years, and 32 youth with ASD (M?=?7.47, SD?=?1.44), and 21 youth with non-ASD diagnoses (M?=?7.71, SD?=?1.23), ages 6–10, completed the Child Behavior Checklist and Teacher Report Form. Compared to youth with a non-ASD diagnosis (ages 2–5 years), youth with ASD also had poor to moderate agreement across subscales with the exception of comparable substantial agreement on Externalizing Behavior (ICC?=?0.73 and ICC?=?0.63, respectively) and Aggressive Behavior subscales (ICC?=?0.72 and ICC?=?0.69, respectively). Compared to youth with a non-ASD diagnosis (ages 6–10 years), youth with ASD similarly had poor agreement across subscales with the exception of moderate agreement on Anxious/Depressed subscale (ICC?=?0.41 and ICC?=?0.06, respectively). These results suggest that the severity and prevalence of behavior problems in youth may depend on the context and reporter of the symptoms.