Coping mediates relationships between reinforcement sensitivity and symptoms of psychopathology

Limited research has evaluated whether coping strategies mediate the relationships between reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) and symptoms of psychopathology. Undergraduates (n = 293) completed questionnaires assessing RST, coping, and symptoms of psychopathology. Consistent with our hypotheses, bootstrapping analyses indicated that emotion- and avoidance-focused coping mediated the relationship between high Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and depression, anxiety, and worry. Less problem-focused coping mediated the relationship between low Behavioral Approach System (BAS) and depression. Avoidance-focused coping mediated the effects of high BIS on drug and alcohol use whereas high BAS directly predicted alcohol and drug use. Unexpectedly, emotion-focused coping mediated the relationship between BAS and anxiety and worry. These results provide support for the hypothesis that personality variables are associated with psychopathology partially through coping.     

Understanding the Transition from Career to Fulltime Motherhood: A Qualitative Study

According to the literature, minimal research has been conducted on fulltime mothers (i.e., stay-at-home mothers [SAHM]); studies dealing with motherhood tend to emphasize the developmental needs of the child versus the mother. The current research seeks to tackle that issue by bringing fulltime motherhood to the forefront. In particular, phenomena related to women transitioning from work to fulltime motherhood are qualitatively examined. Four women participated in this study and shared their personal experiences surrounding this subject matter. A SAHM Model and two SAHM Portraits are created to comprehend and explain the complexities found within their roles.     

Examining the Association Between the Imagination Library Early Childhood Literacy Program and Kindergarten Readiness

This study evaluated participation in the Imagination Library early childhood literacy enrichment program and children's pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills at kindergarten entry in an urban school district. Previous studies have demonstrated that program participation is associated with greater early childhood reading practices. Results presented in this article suggest that program participation is also positively and significantly associated with higher early language and math scores, even after controlling for other key factors associated with kindergarten readiness. These results offer support for policy interventions designed to advance kindergarten readiness by increasing access to early literacy materials for families with young children.     

Life Meaning Following Combat Among Air Force Security Forces Personnel

An active duty Air Force ground combat unit (n = 189) completed surveys about trauma and combat exposure, mood symptoms, and meaning in life. Two dimensions of deployment-related traumas were assessed: combat (e.g., firing weapons, being fired upon) and aftermath (e.g., seeing dead bodies, injury). Results of regression analyses indicated that Airmen who experienced more intense combat reported less presence of meaning in life, although the significant interaction with gender suggested declines in meaning in life were especially pronounced among males with higher combat intensity. In contrast, more intense aftermath exposure was associated with slightly stronger meaning in life, with no differences by gender. Intensity of combat exposure might differentially affect perceived meaning in life for male versus female combatants.     

Gender-Moderated Dorsolateral Prefrontal Reductions in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Implications for Risk for Schizophrenia

To investigate the impact of the microdeletion on morphology of the prefrontal cortex in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2 DS), high-resolution, anatomic magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 19 children and adolescents with 22q11.2 DS (11 females, 8 males) and 18 unaffected controls (10 females, 8 males). Tissue volumes of the dorsolateral, dorsomedial, orbitolateral, and orbitomedial prefrontal cortex were measured. Tasks of executive function and working memory were administered to investigate the association between anatomy and function. Whole brain volume and frontal lobe tissue volume were preserved in girls but reduced in boys with 22q11.2 DS relative to age-matched controls. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volumes were reduced in participants with 22q11.2 DS, although the gender-by-diagnosis effect found for frontal lobe was not as robust for DLPFC. DLPFC volumes were associated with performance on tasks of planning and emotional facial recognition. Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether gender differences in frontal lobe and DLPFC persist with development, and whether the volumes of the DLPFC are associated with eventual deterioration in adaptive/psychosocial function that may presage the onset of schizophrenia, for which individuals with 22q11.2 DS are at a disproportionately high risk.     

Prospective and concurrent correlates of emotion perception in psychotic disorders: A naturalistic,longitudinal study of neurocognition,affective blunting and avolition

This naturalistic study investigated longitudinal and cross‐sectional symptomatic and neurocognitive correlates of social cognition indexed by emotion perception. Participants were 31 persons admitted to a psychiatric emergency ward due to acute psychosis. Positive and negative (i.e., affective blunting and avolition) symptoms were assessed at baseline and 12‐month follow‐up using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Participants completed neuropsychological assessments with alternative versions of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status at baseline and at 12‐month follow‐up. Emotion perception was measured using the Face/Voice Emotion Test at 12‐month follow‐up. Correlational analyses (Spearman's rho) revealed strong and statistically significant associations between neurocognition and emotion perception (baseline r = 0.58, follow‐up r = 0.43). Associations between positive symptoms and emotion perception were weak or non‐existent (baseline r = 0.13, follow‐up r  =  –0.01). Emotion perception was moderately, but not significantly, associated with affective blunting at follow‐up (r = 0.33), but not at baseline (r = 0.21). The association with avolition was non‐existent (baseline r  =  –0.05, follow‐up r = 0.01). This study supports the notion that emotion perception has neurocognitive correlates. The cross‐sectional trend level association with affective blunting suggests that the ability to perceive emotions might be related to, but dissociable from the ability to express emotions.     

Smoking cross-culturally: Risk perceptions among young adults in Denmark and the United States

Research examining smokers’ understanding of their smoking risk reveals that smokers acknowledge some risk but often deny or minimize personal risk. We examined risk perceptions of lung cancer among smokers and non-smokers in a smoking-lenient (Denmark) and a smoking-prohibitive (the United States) culture. Participants were 275 Danish students attending trade schools (mean age 22.6 years) and 297 US students attending community colleges in Florida (mean age 23.6 years). Results revealed cross-cultural differences suggesting that Danish smokers showed greater risk minimization than US smokers. In addition, in both countries the risk of a typical smoker was rated as lower by smokers than non-smokers, and smokers rated their personal risk as lower than they rated the risk of the typical smoker. Cross-cultural differences in moralization of smoking might be one explanation for these findings.     

Perceptions of Violence and Crime as Aggression by Turkish—Islamic Families in Johannesburg

This study explored perceptions of aggression of Turkish-Islamic families with adolescent children in a large South African city. Participants were from four Turkish families with adolescent children (father = 4, mothers = 4; children = 5). Data were collected via interviews and analyzed. The families considered aggression to comprise crime and violence. They also considered it a universal phenomenon.     

Decision-making theories: linking the disparate research areas of individual and collective cognition

In order to maximize their fitness, animals have to deal with different environmental and social factors that affect their everyday life. Although the way an animal behaves might enhance its fitness or survival in regard to one factor, it could compromise them regarding another. In the domain of decision sciences, research concerning decision making focuses on performances at the individual level but also at the collective one. However, between individual and collective decision making, different terms are used resulting in little or no connection between both research areas. In this paper, we reviewed how different branches of decision sciences study the same concept, mainly called speed-accuracy trade-off, and how the different results are on the same track in terms of showing the optimality of decisions. Whatever the level, individual or collective, each decision might be defined with three parameters: time or delay to decide, risk and accuracy. We strongly believe that more progress would be possible in this domain of research if these different branches were better linked, with an exchange of their results and theories. A growing amount of literature describes economics in humans and eco-ethology in birds making compromises between starvation, predation and reproduction. Numerous studies have been carried out on social cognition in primates but also birds and carnivores, and other publications describe market or reciprocal exchanges of commodities. We therefore hope that this paper will lead these different areas to a common decision science.