Socio-economic status and the developing brain in adolescence: A systematic review

Socioeconomic status is associated with differences in social, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes for adolescents. Correspondingly, the period reflects continued dynamic, complex, and adaptive brain development. Research demonstrates associations between the developing adolescent brain and SES; however, such research has not been systematically integrated. We undertook a systematic search of studies and review 21 papers that examined both SES and brain development or functioning as measured during adolescence or young adulthood in nonclinical populations (13–25 years old). Few studies focused on architecture and such findings were varied. The majority of studies focused on functioning with two themes emerging. First, studies demonstrate different activation in regions of interest to cognitive and behavioral tasks relative to SES. Second, when similar neurological activation is evident, they can be related to different behavioral observations relative to SES. There is also evidence of different neurological functioning associated with SES with regard to different conceptualizations and coding of SES. Further, some of the reviewed studies identified potential mediators to the relationship, such as parenting practices, stress, and IQ. Overall, the findings suggest it is important to consider SES and neighborhood context within neuroscience research and practice.     

“We're Fighting Two Different Battles Here”: An Exploration of African American Women's Definitions of Self at Predominately White Schools

Using Black feminist thought and the sociocultural model of the self, this paper explores the relationship between race and gender in the self-definitions of African American women attending predominately white colleges and universities. The African American women who participated in the study, suggest that knowledge generated about the self pushes us beyond the categorical thinking that limits our ability to understand the complexity of the self. Data from 13 interviews conducted at two predominately white schools is presented and analyzed. Using this data, I present a way of thinking about the identity of African American women that demonstrates the complexity of defining self within the narrow confines of race and gender.     

Men,Women, and the Self-Presentation of Achievement

This study examined men's and women'sself-presentation of academic achievement in aninteractional context. First-year college students wereled to expect an interaction with a peer to discussacademic achievement. However, the peer was actually aconfederate who portrayed his or her achievement in aboastful, moderate, or self-deprecating manner. Prior tothe anticipated interaction, subjects were induced to describe their own academic achievement andmake predictions about their first-semester grade pointaverages (GPAs) to be shared with the peer. Men's GPApredictions were highest in the boastful condition (and higher than their actual GPAs), nexthighest in the moderate condition, and lowest (and lowerthan their actual GPAs) in the self-deprecatingcondition. Women's predicted GPAs,unexpectedly,didnotvary by condition. Women were less comfortable inpredicting their GPAs than men, and there was a tendencyfor men to be more comfortable than women whileobserving the boastful peer and women to be morecomfortable than men while observing the self-deprecatingpeer. Results are discussed with regard to past researchand self-in-relation theory.     

Psychological Variables Associated with Pain Perceptions Among Individuals with Chronic Spinal Cord Injury Pain

Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between selected psychological variables and pain perceptions in 103 individuals experiencing chronic pain following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Previous studies have suggested strong relationships between psychological variables and chronic SCI pain, but further delineation of such relationships is needed in order ultimately to develop more effective pain management strategies for individuals afflicted with such pain. Anger was found to be significantly related to perceptions of pain (p < .05), but neither guilt nor anger suppression was significantly associated with perceived pain. Internal health locus of control was associated with decreased pain perceptions (p < .05), but there was no significant relationship between internal health locus of control and anger. Punishing responses from significant others to pain complaints were related to feelings of guilt (p < .05) and perceived pain (p < .05), but this relationship was not mediated by guilt.     

Can we fight stigma with science? The effect of aetiological framing on attitudes towards anorexia nervosa and the impact on volitional stigma

The present study experimentally investigated the way in which exposure to various aetiological explanations of anorexia nervosa (AN) differentially affected stigmatisation and behavioural intention outcomes. University students (N = 161) were randomly assigned to read one of four aetiological vignettes presenting the causes of AN as biological/genetic, socio‐cultural, environmental, or multifactorial. Results indicate that those who received a socio‐cultural explanation made stronger socio‐cultural causal attributions, fewer biological/genetic causal attributions, and were significantly less willing to sign a health insurance petition for AN. Unexpectedly, the multifactorial group considered individuals with AN as more responsible and blameworthy for their condition. Overall, findings were comparative with previous research and partially support the propositions of attribution theory. Results also suggest that by conceptualising the aetiology of AN as biological or genetic, or at least increasing one's knowledge of these contributing factors, it may be possible to decrease the level of blame‐based stigma associated with AN.     

That’s the way the ball bounces: infants’ and adults’ perception of spatial and temporal contiguity in collisions involving bouncing balls

Three experiments investigated the perception of collisions involving bouncing balls by 7- and 10-month-old infants and adults. In previous research, 10-month-old infants perceived the causality of launching collisions (events in which one object moves along a smooth horizontal trajectory toward a second object, apparently launching it into motion) in relatively simple event contexts. In more complex event contexts, infants failed to discriminate among the events or respond to changes in individual features. Experiments 1 and 2 of the present investigation revealed that 7- and 10-month-old infants attended to spatial and temporal contiguity, but not causality, in collisions involving the movement of bouncing balls. In Experiment 3, both spatiotemporal contiguity and general knowledge about movement trajectories influenced adults’ judgments of causality for these collisions. The present results add to a growing understanding of infants’ event perception as constructive and a function, in part, of the complexity of the event context.