Text anxiety in adolescents: the role of self-criticism and acceptance and mindfulness skills

The current study sets out to explore test anxiety in adolescent students. The effect of sociodemographic variables on test anxiety was controlled for and the relationship between test anxiety and other psychological constructs, such as self-criticism, social anxiety, acceptance and mindfulness, was examined. In addition, the predictive effect/power of these variables was analyzed and a comparative study between high and low test anxiety adolescents was conducted. Participants in this study were 449 high school students, 211 boys and 238 girls, with a mean age of 16.28 years. These participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires composed by the Portuguese versions of Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI), Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure (CAMM), Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale (FSCRS), and the Social Anxiety and Avoidance Scale for Adolescents (SAASA). Results showed that gender, self-criticism and competencies for acceptance and mindfulness had a significant and an independent contribution on the prediction of test anxiety. The comparative study revealed that adolescents with high test anxiety score significantly higher in negative forms of self-criticism, social anxiety and lower in self-reassurance, acceptance and mindfulness, when compared to those with low test anxiety. Despite its exploratory nature, the current study adds to the existing knowledge on the influence of psychological processes, such as self-criticism and acceptance, on test anxiety. These findings might constitute a relevant contribution to psychological intervention with adolescents.     

Cross-cultural confirmatory factor analysis of the CES-D in Spanish and Mexican dementia caregivers

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) is the most frequently used scale for measuring depressive symptomatology in caregiving research. The aim of this study is to test its construct structure and measurement equivalence between caregivers from two Spanish-speaking countries. Face-to-face interviews were carried out with 595 female dementia caregivers from Madrid, Spain, and from Coahuila, Mexico. The structure of the CES-D was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA, respectively). Measurement invariance across samples was analyzed comparing a baseline model with a more restrictive model. Significant differences between means were found for 7 items. The results of the EFA clearly supported a four-factor solution. The CFA for the whole sample with the four factors revealed high and statistically significant loading coefficients for all items (except item number 4). When equality constraints were imposed to test for the invariance between countries, the change in chi-square was significant, indicating that complete invariance could not be assumed. Significant between-countries differences were found for three of the four latent factor mean scores. Although the results provide general support for the original four-factor structure, caution should be exercised on reporting comparisons of depression scores between Spanish-speaking countries.     

Self-recognition and self-regulation: the relationship with socialization trajectories and children's sex

The initial process of self development involves interaction with others and the establishment of relationships taking different paths depending on the socio-cultural context. Self-recognition and self-regulation are considered manifestations of this development between 18 and 24 months of age. This study aimed at analyzing the relationship between these two aspects, maternal beliefs about autonomy and relatedness, as well as identifying differences between boys and girls in this developmental stage. Participants were 94 mothers of different educational levels and their children of 17-22 months of age in two Brazilian cities. Socialization Goals Inventory and Parental Practices in the First Year Inventory were used to collect data on mothers' beliefs. Children performed tasks related to self-recognition (the mirror test) and self-regulation (compliance to requests). The group of mothers studied valued both autonomy and interdependence. Children's responses are consistent with a perspective of relational autonomy, which value both independence and interdependence. Differences were found in relation to sex in both self-recognition and self-regulation, and baby girls showed superior performance than boys in both tasks.     

Collaborative partner or social tool? New evidence for young children’s understanding of joint intentions in collaborative activities

Some children’s social activities are structured by joint goals. In previous research, the criterion used to determine this was relatively weak: if the partner stopped interacting, did the child attempt to re‐engage her? But re‐engagement attempts could easily result from the child simply realizing that she needs the partner to reach her own goal in the activity (social tool explanation). In two experiments, 21‐ and 27‐month‐old children interacted with an adult in games in which they either did or did not physically need the partner to reach a concrete goal. Moreover, when the partner stopped interacting, she did so because she was either unwilling to continue (breaking off from the joint goal) or unable to continue (presumably still maintaining the joint goal). Children of both age groups encouraged the recalcitrant partner equally often whether she was or was not physically needed for goal attainment. In addition, they did so more often when the partner was unable to continue than when she was unwilling to continue. These findings suggest that young children do not just view their collaborative partners as mindless social tools, but rather as intentional, cooperative agents with whom they must coordinate intentional states.     

Relationship between biological markers and psychological states in elite basketball players across a competitive season

ObjectiveThe main objective of the study was to examine the relation of different biological markers to a variety of pleasant and unpleasant psychobiosocial (PBS) states in response to precompetitive stress in sport.DesignA longitudinal design was adopted to assess biological markers and PBS states before several games.MethodA whole team of high-level professional basketball players (9 men, aged from 23 to 37 years) took part in the study. The biological measures included the salivary concentration of testosterone, cortisol, aamylase, and chromogranin A. The psychological measures involved emotional, cognitive, motivational, bodily, kinesthetic, performance, and communicative components of PBS states assessed according to the dimensions of their intensity, frequency, and direction (i.e., perceived effect on performance). Assessment was conducted within 1 h prior to competition on an approximately weekly basis across the whole championship for a total of 12 games played at the team's home.ResultsA series of canonical correlation analyses showed that an increase in the salivary concentration of biological variables was associated with enhanced intensity and frequency scores of pleasant PBS states, as well as enhanced directional values (i.e., perception of facilitative effects) of a range of both pleasant and unpleasant PBS states.ConclusionFindings suggest that elevation of testosterone, cortisol, α-amylase, and chromogranin A in basketball players prior to competition can have a perceived functional effect with respect to the upcoming performance.     

Attitudes about psychotherapy: A qualitative study of introductory psychology students who have never been in psychotherapy and the influence of attachment style

Design: Interviews about attitudes about psychotherapy with 12 undergraduate students who had never been in psychotherapy were analysed using consensual qualitative research. Results: Participants believed that the client role is to disclose, be receptive, and be motivated; that the therapist role is to listen, support, and give advice; and that the therapeutic relationship should be close and personal. Participants had ideas about the benefits (a healing therapeutic relationship, personal and interpersonal changes) and the barriers (self‐stigma and public stigma, difficulty revealing, need to solve problems on own, cost) associated with seeking therapy, and they disliked the idea of being diagnosed. In contrast with participants who were securely attached, those who were insecurely attached more often wanted a professional therapeutic relationship, wanted the therapist to ask questions, mentioned fewer benefits to therapy, and thought that they would have difficulty disclosing to a therapist. Discussion: Implications for changing attitudes about psychotherapy and improving training programs for practitioners are discussed.     

The Development of Internal State Language during the Third Year of Life: A Longitudinal Parent Report Study

Children's talk about the mind has been scarcely studied in non‐English speakers. For this reason, this longitudinal study documents age‐related changes in German‐speaking children's internal state language. At 24, 30 and 36 months, children were administered general language tests and their internal state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. The developmental transition from a vocabulary rich in physiological, perceptual and desire terms to a vocabulary rich in a wider range of mental concepts confirmed previous research with French‐speaking and English‐speaking children and research in children's internal state comprehension. Further, children's category scores proved to be developmentally stable. Finally, with increasing age, children's category scores became more specifically related to each other, independent of general language skills. The results are discussed in regard to the universality of children's talk about the mind. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Those Easily Forgotten: The Impact of Emigration on Those Left Behind

Much has been written about the experiences and stresses of those who emigrate. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the experiences of those who stay behind—family members and friends who for various reasons do not to join their loved ones in the destination country. In this article, I describe the experiences of some South Africans whose families and friends have emigrated. This study forms part of a larger research project focusing on the impact of emigration on South African family life. Twenty‐one participants were interviewed by means of a semistructured interview at least 6 months after one or more family member(s) and/or friend(s) left South Africa, to explore participants’ experiences around their loved ones’ emigration. A thematic analysis of the data reveals that those left behind experience various emotions, ranging from emotional ambivalence to anger and distress. Emigration is mostly experienced as a vast loss, almost akin to a “death,” bringing about significant changes in social networks and relationships. The therapeutic significance of the findings for those working with emigrant families is also explored.     

Young children overimitate in third-party contexts

The exhibition of actions that are causally unnecessary to the outcomes with which they are associated is a core feature of human cultural behavior. To enter into the world(s) of their cultural in-group, children must learn to assimilate such unnecessary actions into their own behavioral repertoire. Past research has established the habitual tendency of children to adopt the redundant actions of adults demonstrated directly to them. Here we document how young children will do so even when such actions are modeled to a third person regardless of whether children are presented with the test apparatus by the demonstrating, and assumedly expert, adult or by the observing, and assumedly naive, adult (Experiment 1), whether or not children had opportunity to discover how the apparatus works prior to modeling (Experiment 1), and whether or not children's attention was drawn to the demonstration while they were otherwise occupied (Experiment 2). These results emphasize human children's readiness to acquire behavior that is in keeping with what others do, regardless of the apparent efficiency of the actions employed, and in so doing to participate in cultural learning.     

Social embeddedness and economic opportunism: a game situation

According to Evolutionary Game Theory, multiple exchanges with partners are necessary to foster cooperation. Multiple exchanges with partners tend to enhance the good experience of the partners and the predictability of their behaviour and should therefore increase cooperativeness. This study explored whether social embeddedness, or the preference for close and stable social relationships, a variable which tends to increase multiple exchanges, is associated with more cooperative attitudes; and whether social embeddedness increases cooperative behavior towards unknown partners in a game situation. The first study, with 169 undergraduates, indicated that social embeddedness (preference for close and durable social relations) was negatively associated with opportunistic attitudes. The second study had a sample of 60 undergraduates playing a Trust Game with unknown partners and showed that self-reported social embeddedness was positively correlated with scores for cooperative economic behavior towards the partners. These results highlight the relationships of social embeddedness with cooperative attitudes and behaviour.