An Irish Cohort Study of Risk and Protective Factors for Infant Language Development at 9 Months

This nationally representative study of Irish infants explores whether the set of child and environmental factors established as predicting language outcomes aged 3 years would also predict language and communication development as early as age 9 months. Associations between infant and environmental characteristics and infant language outcomes at 9 months, as measured on the ASQ 10‐month communication questionnaire, were explored in a series of bivariate logistic regression models and in a fully adjusted multivariable logistic regression model. Infant gender, health, birthweight and temperament were significantly associated with passing the ASQ communication measure at 9 months. Being an only child and having some experience of relative childcare predicted positive communication outcomes. Infants of older mothers and mothers who spoke less to the child while doing other things were significantly less likely to pass. Infants of mothers with the lowest educational level were more likely than their peers to pass at 9 months. Unlike language outcomes at 3 years, low maternal education does not appear to be a risk factor for poorer outcomes at 9 months. This study adds significantly to the infant language development literature by focussing on communication outcomes in early infancy and identifying protective and risk factors at such an early stage. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Morality in Sport: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective

This study used a sample of 314 British athletes (170 male, 144 female) to examine whether social-contextual and personal motivation variables proposed by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002 Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M. 2002. Handbook of self-determination research, Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.  [Google Scholar]) can predict reported levels of sportspersonship and antisocial moral attitudes in sport. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that perceptions of coach autonomy support were positive predictors of athletes’ satisfaction of their psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In turn, the three needs were positive predictors of autonomous motivation. Autonomous motivation positively predicted sportspersonship and negatively predicted antisocial moral attitudes in sport. The opposite pattern of results was observed between controlled motivation and the sportspersonship and antisocial moral attitudes variables. The findings emphasize the importance of autonomy supportive environments, psychological need satisfaction, and autonomous motivation for fostering sportspersonship in sport.     

Anger, Blame, and Dimensions of Perceived Norm Violations: Culture, Gender, and Relationships

From a social cognitive perspective on anger, we attempted to examine the structure of perceived norm violations and their relationships with anger. We asked 884 university students from 4 countries (United States, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong) to rate their experiences of being harmed in terms of norm violations, angry feelings, blame, and relationship with the harm doers. We found 2 culturally common dimensions in perceived norm violations (informal interpersonal norms and formal societal norms), and these dimensions substantially increased both angry feelings and blame in almost all cultural groups. The violation of interpersonal norms generally evoked anger more frequently than that of societal norms, but there were interactions between culture and relationship closeness and between gender and relationship closeness.     

The representation of borderline,avoidant, obsessive-compulsive,and schizotypal personality disorders by the five-factor model

This study evaluated the accuracy of hypothesized relationships of the five-factor model of personality to four targeted personality disorders in a large multisite sample of patients. Data were gathered from 668 patients, who were assigned to one of five study cells: Borderline, Schizotypal, Avoidant, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, and a Major Depression without personality disorder comparison group. Patients were administered a questionnaire designed to assess the domains and facets of the five-factor model and results were compared among diagnostic groups and between patients and community norms. Although many relationships between personality traits and disorders were obtained, the magnitude of the relationships varied greatly as a function of the comparison group involved. In general, the differences between the personality disorder patients and community norms were far larger than the differences between the specific personality disorder groups. Also, for avoidant personality, it appeared that statistical interactions between personality factors are needed to better differentiate it from other personality disorder groups. The four personality disorder groups studied could each be distinguished from community norms on the personality dimensions of the five-factor model. However, differentiating among the four groups proved more difficult, as each shared the configuration of high Neuroticism, low Agreeableness, and low Conscientiousness. It does not appear that these disorders represent extremes of different personality dimensions, but rather each appears to be a variant of the same extreme configuration. Differences between personality disorders may reflect diverse interactions among the dimensions, rather than differences on single dimensions.     

Dimensions and categories: the "big five" factors and the DSM personality disorders

The five-factor model of personality, which has been widely studied in personality psychology, has been hypothesized to have specific relevance for DSM-defined personality disorders. To evaluate hypothesized relationships of the five-factor model of personality to personality disorders, 144 patients with personality disorders (diagnosed via a structured interview) completed an inventory to assess the five-factor model. Results indicated that the majority of the personality disorders can be differentiated in theoretically predictable ways using the five-factor model of personality. However, while the personality disorders as a whole appear to be differentiable from normal personality functioning on the five factors, the patterns are quite similar across the disorders, a finding that may provide some insight into the general nature of personality pathology but may also suggest problems with discriminant validity. Third, it does not appear that considering disorders as special combinations of features (as might be expected in some categorical models) is more informative than considering them as the sum of certain features (as might be expected in a dimensional model).     

The Church in the Market Place: Advertising and Religion in a Secular Age

This paper explores the limits of Peter Berger's secularization thesis through an examination of religious advertising. If churches are part of a market situation, as Berger affirms, what can be said of their advertising in a secular age? Different types of religious advertising and their effectiveness are discussed in relation to more widely disseminated religious imagery in secular advertising. The conclusion suggests that certain religious themes, ideas and images still continue to enjoy prominence in public consciousness. This has a double implication: for churches as they market themselves in a plural world, and for sociologists who construct theories of secularization.     

Deliberative Democracy and Emotional Intelligence: An Internal Mechanism to Regulate the Emotions

Deliberative democracy, it is claimed, is essential for the legitimisation of public policy and law. It is built upon an assumption that citizens will be capable of constructing and defending reasons for their moral and political beliefs. However, critics of deliberative democracy suggest that citizens?? emotions are not properly considered in this process and, if left unconsidered, present a serious problem for this political framework. In response to this, deliberative theorists have increasingly begun to incorporate the emotions into their accounts. However, these accounts have tended to focus only upon the inclusion of emotions in the external-collective exchange of reason between citizens. Little work has been done on how the individual will actually cope with emotions internally within their own minds. There has been no consideration of the capacities that citizens will need to perceive, understand and regulate emotions as they formulate reasons both by themselves and with others. Moreover, there has been little consideration of how these capacities might be educated in children so that emotionally competent deliberative citizens can be created. In this paper, emotional intelligence is presented as an essential capacity that can fulfil this role for the deliberative citizen and deliberative democracy more generally. The ??deliberative school?? is suggested as a potential site for this transformation that can progress from generation to generation, cultivating citizens that are increasingly better equipped to handle emotionally-laden deliberative engagement.     

Participation restrictions at work indicate participation restrictions in other domains of life

Health problems are often associated with activity limitations and participation restrictions, as defined in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). This often affects the workplace in the form of sick leave or a reduction in productivity. The question is, "to what extent are participation restrictions at work related to participation restrictions in other domains of life?" A total of 382 primary health care patients (aged 18-65) were asked to provide information on their employment status, perceived health-related workplace problems and sick leave status. Health-dependent participation restrictions across different domains of life were assessed using the Index for Measuring Participation Restrictions (IMET) self rating questionnaire. Currently unemployed patients reported significantly higher degrees of participation restrictions across all domains of life than the employed participants. Employed patients with workplace problems scored higher than patients without workplace problems. The domain of work encompassed the highest level of impairment, while the lowest was observed in personal relationships. Workplace problems occur frequently for primary health care patients. They coincide with participation restrictions in other domains of life. For patients who complain about their capacity to work, diagnosis and treatment must not only focus on the work domain, but also enquire into and consider participation restrictions in other domains of life.