When and how did you go wrong? Characterizing mild functional difficulties in older adults during an everyday task

ABSTRACT

Mild functional difficulties associated with cognitive aging may be reliably measured by coding “micro-errors” during everyday tasks, like meal preparation. Micro-errors made by 25 older adult and 48 younger adults were coded on four dimensions to evaluate the influence of: 1) poor error monitoring; 2) goal decay; 3) competition for response selection when switching to a new subtask; and 4) interference from distractor objects. Micro-errors made by young adults under a dual task load also were analyzed to determine the influence of overall performance level. Older adults’ micro-errors were observed when switching to a new subtask and to unrelated distractors. Slowed error monitoring and goal decay also influenced micro-errors in older adults, but not significantly more so than younger adults under the dual task. Interventions to reduce interference from distractors and to increase attention at critical choice points during tasks may optimize everyday functioning and preclude decline in older adults.     

IMPLICATIONS OF HOMELESSNESS FOR PARENTING YOUNG CHILDREN: A PRELIMINARY REVIEW FROM A DEVELOPMENTAL ATTACHMENT PERSPECTIVE

Although it has been well-documented that parents and children who experience homelessness often have compromised health and well-being, few studies have examined the potential implications of homelessness on the process of parenting young children. In this review, we consider how parents of young children might function under the circumstances of homelessness. We begin with a brief overview of the psychological, social, and medical characteristics of homeless mothers and their young children. Using a developmental attachment perspective, we next briefly review the central tasks of parenting during the first 5 years of life, including emotion regulation and fostering of child autonomy, with an eye toward how homelessness may compromise a mother's ability to complete these tasks. Finally, we provide suggestions for further research that incorporate a developmental attachment perspective and other relevant viewpoints. Because of the paucity of research in this area, our review seeks to provide a heuristic framework for future research, intervention development, and policy.     

A Factor Analysis of Six Commonly Used Instruments Associated With Suicide Using College Students

Determined whether six commonly used inventories which are associated with suicide (Hopelessness Scale, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, Scale for Suicide Ideation, Reasons for Living Inventory, Suicide Probability Scale, and the Suicide Ideation Questionnaire) overlap; all six were given to 308 undergraduates. A principal components factor analysis yielded four factors with Eigenvalues greater than 1.00. These four factors were labeled Suicidal/Negative Ideas, Reasons for Living, Self-Doubt, and Suicide Desire. Each scale or subscale had a factor loading of .4 or greater on one factor. Only the Survival and Coping Beliefs subscale of the Reasons for Living Inventory and the Suicide Ideation Questionnaire loaded on two factors. Thus, each of these six instruments accounts for unique variance in suicidality. A suicide screening battery that includes all six inventories would take approximately 20 min for college students to complete, and would be valuable in identifying different aspects of suicidality.     

An Attempt to Predict Change in Mood in Response to Velten-Like Mood Induction Procedures

College student subjects were rated high or low in cognitive and behavioral depression proneness, based on their scores on a screening battery that included the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (Hollon & Kendall, 1980), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (Weissman, 1979), the Intemality-Extemality Scale (Rotter, 1966), the Pleasant Events Schedule and the Unpleasant Events Schedule (Lewinsohn & Amenson, 1978). The students were subsequently exposed to one of two different Velten-like depressive mood inductions, one based on Beck's (1974) model of depression, and the other based on Lewinsohn's (1974) model. We hypothesized that subjects who scored higher on the cognitive measures would tend to become more depressed when exposed to the Beck statements and that those who scored higher on the behavioral measures would tend to become more depressed when exposed to the Lewinsohn statements. The hypothesis was not supported. Instead, pre-existing cognitively or behaviorally defined depression proneness appeared to be unrelated to subjects' susceptibility to one or the other model of depression as defined by the two mood inductions. However, the inductions themselves were found to produce a significant lowering of mood, and both inductions were equally effective in lowering mood.     

Why does mentoring work? The role of perceived organizational support

The authors examined the mediating role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between mentoring support received and work attitudes. Perceived organizational support partly mediated the relationship between specific types of mentoring support and job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Specifically, sponsorship, exposure and visibility, and role modeling appear to be related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment through perceived organizational support. Perceived organizational support did not appear to mediate the relationship between other specific forms of mentoring support and job satisfaction and organizational commitment.     

What keeps people in mentoring relationships when bad things happen? A field study from the protégé's perspective

This study examines the association between negative mentoring experiences and protégé intentions to leave the mentoring relationship. The role of perceived mentoring alternatives and fear of mentor retaliation was also examined as moderators of the relationship between negative mentoring experiences and intentions to leave. Results indicate that several types of negative mentoring experiences predict intentions to leave the mentoring relationship. In addition, three moderation effects were found. The results are discussed in terms of enhancing our understanding of mentoring relationships in the workplace.     

Work and family research in IO/OB: Content analysis and review of the literature (1980-2002)

This monograph reviews 190 work-family studies published in IO/OB journals from 1980 to 2002. The results of a content analysis are presented which catalog these articles with respect to the study focus, nature and direction of the proposed effects, and predictor, criterion, and mediator variables examined. Then a narrative review of the articles is presented, organized in terms of the following topical areas: (1) work-family conflict, (2) work role stress, (3) work-family assistance, (4) work schedules, (5) job-related relocation, (6) career and job-related outcomes, (7) gender and the relationship between work and family domains, (8) dual-earner couples, and (9) relationships among life domains. The review concludes with a discussion of recurring themes in the literature and the identification of blind spots in the IO/OB perspective on work and family. Specific suggestions for future research are also provided.     

Coding online content-informed scaffolding of mathematical thinking

This article describes the Mathematical Mentoring Coding Scheme (MMCS), a coding scheme that identifies indicators relevant to the study of content-informed scaffolding. Content-informed scaffolding refers to the use of subject matter content in ill-defined problem spaces to focus the learner, and provide and fade feedback so that the learner becomes autonomous. It is suggested that the MMCS could also double as a rubric for instruction in content-informed scaffolding. Two case examples of preservice teachers’ scaffolding of elementary students’ problem solving serve as illustrations.     

Not just who you are,but who you were before: Social identification,identity incompatibility,and performance‐undermining learning behaviour in higher education

The current study builds on links between academic social identification and learning behaviours and extends these models by also considering the level of compatibility between the student identity and the pre‐existing self‐concept. This is a crucial extension, in the context of broadening access to higher education and fostering belonging and learning in nontraditional students. Further, where previous work focused on learning behaviours that enhance performance (often learning approaches), we also consider performance‐undermining behaviours (self‐handicapping and procrastination). These effects are explored in survey responses from an undergraduate student sample (N = 121) from UK and broader European samples. Participants were predominantly female (69%) and native English speakers (87%). Three models of the relationships between these variables were tested using Mplus. Results indicate that performance‐undermining behaviours are predicted by identity incompatibility, but not identification level; deep learning approaches are predicted by identification level, but not identity incompatibility. This provides first evidence that identity incompatibility is not just a moderator of the identification‐learning relationships but, in fact, a separate identity process for consideration. We also present initial evidence for a mediation model, where in the identity variables are related to procrastination and self‐handicapping via learning approaches.