Basic psychological need satisfaction across the retirement transition: Changes and longitudinal associations with depressive symptoms

Motivation and Emotion - Drawing on self-determination theory, the present study examined how satisfaction of the basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) changes across...     

Observing,playing and supporting development: Anna Freud’s toddler groups past and present

This paper describes an approach to working therapeutically with parents and toddlers in groups as practiced at the Anna Freud Centre. By intervening early to prevent later disturbance, the parent–toddler groups continue the tradition begun by Anna Freud in the Jackson Nursery in Vienna, the War Nurseries in and around London, and the Hampstead Clinic following the Second World War. Common features include the commitment to working with children and their parents, to observation, training and research, and to finding techniques that address developmental needs, delays and disturbances. Just as children select the specific therapeutic elements they need from a classical child analytic setting, parents and toddlers select what they need from what Anna Freud described as the various ‘therapeutic possibilities’ provided by the parent–toddler groups. The parent–toddler relationship is supported during a period which is crucial for future development, difficulties are identified and addressed before they become entrenched, and, where necessary, timely referrals are made to clinical services on the basis of the trusting relationships developed between the staff and parents in the groups.     

Involvement of Executive Functions in Children's Metamemory

This experiment examined how knowledge of memory strategies and of memory functioning improves during childhood and what variables are involved in this development. Three main aspects of metamemory were assessed based on the performance of a group of 100 children (aged 4, 6, 9 and 11 years) on a battery of executive tasks. At the same time, the influence of variables such as intelligence, vocabulary and parental education level was also investigated. Results of mediation analyses reveal that the relation between children's age and internal strategy knowledge was partially mediated by working memory skills but that executive functions did not mediate the impact of chronological age on children's knowledge of external strategies or of memory functioning. Additionally, verbal fluency predicted internal and external strategy knowledge. Implications for general learning theories in childhood are discussed.Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does self-affirmation following ego depletion moderate restrained eaters’ explicit preferences for,and implicit associations with,high-calorie foods?

Objective: The difficulty for chronic dieters (i.e. restrained eaters) in regulating their food intake is a conflict between two apparently incompatible goals: eating enjoyment and weight control. The latter goal consistently relies on the deployment of cognitive resources, and very often on a significant amount of self-control. This study investigated whether self-affirmation might counteract the effect of ego depletion on restrained eaters’ motivation to consume high-calorie foods.

Design: Participants (N = 183) were assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 × 2 (Ego depletion × Self-Affirmation) experimental design and were subsequently exposed to images of high- and low-calorie foods.

Main outcome measures: Participants completed tasks assessing their implicit and explicit preferences for high vs. low-calorie foods, along with a measure of the perceived self-control required to resist foods.

Results: Results indicated that, following ego depletion, self-affirmation facilitated restrained eaters’ perceptions of self-control and led to lower explicit preferences for high-calorie foods. This pattern was not apparent for implicit preferences.

Conclusion: Self-affirmation interventions may be capable of restoring self-control resources among restrained eaters. Pointers for future research and practical applications are discussed.     

Time’s up! Involvement of metamemory knowledge,executive functions,and time monitoring in children’s prospective memory performance

This study examined time-based prospective memory (PM) in children and explored the possible involvement of metamemory knowledge and executive functions in the use of an appropriate time-monitoring strategy depending on the ongoing task’s difficulty. Specifically, a sample of 72 typically developing children aged 4, 6, and 9 years old were given an original PM paradigm composed of both an ongoing procedural activity and a PM task. Half of the participants (expert group) were trained in the ongoing activity before the prospective test. As expected, results show that time monitoring had a positive effect on children’s PM performance. Furthermore, mediation analyses reveal that strategic time monitoring was predicted by metamemory knowledge in the expert group but only by executive functions in the novice group. Overall, these findings provide interesting avenues to explain how metamemory knowledge, strategy use, and executive functions interact to improve PM performance during childhood.     

5f-electron localization in the actinide metals: thorides,actinides and the Mott transition

For the light actinides Ac–Cm, the numbers of localized and itinerant 5f-electrons are determined by comparing various estimates of the f-electron counts. At least one itinerant f-electron is found for each element, Pa–Cm. These results resolve certain disagreements among electron counts determined by different methods and are consistent with the Mott transition model and with the picture of the 5f-electrons’ dual nature.     

Reproductive Health CHOICES for Young Adults with Sickle Cell Disease or Trait: Randomized Controlled Trial Outcomes over Two Years

Interventions to assist reproductive health decision-making in populations affected by sickle cell disease (SCD) or trait (SCT) lack proven efficacy over time. Our aim was to compare effects of CHOICES, a Web-based multimedia education program on implementing informed reproductive plans, and usual care education (e-Book) on reproductive knowledge, intention, and behavior over 24 months. We randomized 234 participants with SCD (n?=?138) or SCT (n?=?96) (age 18–35 years, 35 % male, 94 % African American) to CHOICES and e-Book groups. Participants completed a sickle cell-specific reproductive measure before and four times after the intervention (6, 12, 18 and 24 months). Compared to the e-Book group the CHOICES group had significantly more improvement in knowledge over time (p?=?.004) but not intention (p?=?.18) or behavior (p?=?.69). At baseline, 114 (48.7 %) participants reported having partners who would not put the couple at risk for their children inheriting SCD. Of the 116 (49.6 %) at-risk participants, a higher poroportion of those who were in the CHOICES group chose partners that reduced their risk by the last visit than the e-Book group (p?=?.04). Study findings provide important insights for designing a national trial of the CHOICES intervention focusing on subjects whose partner status puts them at risk for having a child with SCD.     

Patient Perceptions of Telephone vs. In-Person <Emphasis Type="Italic">BRCA1/BRCA2</Emphasis> Genetic Counseling

Telephone genetic counseling (TC) for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer risk has been associated with positive outcomes in high risk women. However, little is known about how patients perceive TC. As part of a randomized trial of TC versus usual care (UC; in-person genetic counseling), we compared high risk women’s perceptions of: (1) overall satisfaction with genetic counseling; (2) convenience; (3) attentiveness during the session; (4) counselor effectiveness in providing support; and (5) counselor ability to recognize emotional responses during the session. Among the 554 participants (TC, N?=?272; UC, N?=?282), delivery mode was not associated with self-reported satisfaction. However, TC participants found counseling significantly more convenient than UC participants (OR?=?4.78, 95 % CI?=?3.32, 6.89) while also perceiving lower levels of support (OR?=?0.56, 95 % CI?=?0.40–0.80) and emotional recognition (OR?=?0.53, 95 % CI?=?0.37–0.76). In exploratory analyses, we found that non-Hispanic white participants reported higher counselor support in UC than in TC (69.4 % vs. 52.8 %; OR?=?3.06, 95 % CI?=?1.39–6.74), while minority women perceived less support in UC vs. TC (58.3 % vs. 38.7 %; OR?=?0.80, 95 % CI?=?0.39–1.65). We discuss potential research and practice implications of these findings which may further improve the effectiveness and utilization of TC.     

Day-to-day Consistency in Positive Parent–Child Interactions and Youth Well-Being

The frequency of positive parent–child interactions is associated with youth adjustment. Yet, little is known about daily parent–child interactions and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent–child interactions may be linked to youth well-being. Using a daily diary approach, this study added to this literature to investigate whether and how day-to-day consistency in positive parent–child interactions was linked to youth depressive symptoms, risky behavior, and physical health. Participants were youth whose parents were employed in the IT division of a Fortune 500 company (N?=?129, youth’s mean age?=?13.39, 55?% female), who participated in an 8?day daily diary study. Analyses revealed that, controlling for cross-day mean levels of positive parent–child interactions, older (but not younger) adolescents who experienced more consistency in positive interactions with parents had fewer depressive and physical health symptoms (e.g., colds, flu). The discussion focuses on the utility of daily diary methods for assessing the correlates of consistency in parenting, possible processes underlying these associations, and intervention implications.