Does Lack of “Genetic-Relative Family Health History” Represent a Potentially Avoidable Health Disparity for Adoptees?

Many adoptees face a number of challenges relating to separation from biological parents during the adoption process, including issues concerning identity, intimacy, attachment, and trust, as well as (for older adopted children) language and other cultural challenges. One common health challenge faced by adoptees involves lack of access to genetic-relative family health history (GRFHx). Lack of GRFHx represents a disadvantage due to a reduced capacity to identify diseases and recommend appropriate screening for conditions for which the adopted person may be at increased risk. In this article, we draw out common features of traditionally understood “health disparities” in order to identify analogous features in the context of adoptees’ lack of GRFHx.     

Self-concept clarity’s role in meaning in life among American college students: A latent growth approach

Meaning in life (MIL) is a fundamental building block of well-being, and MIL theory heavily emphasizes the importance of using self-knowledge to identify what makes life meaningful and to select suitable purposes to pursue in life. However, few studies have investigated this important theoretical point. The purpose of the present study was to investigate individual growth trajectories of self-knowledge, measured with a construct of self-concept clarity (SCC), and MIL. This study also examined whether the change of SCC predicts the change pattern of MIL using cross-domain latent growth analyses, controlling for the level of perceived stress. A longitudinal data-set with seventh measurement points was gathered from a total of 285 college students at a large Midwest university in the US during the period of 8 weeks. On average, a student’s levels of MIL and SCC tend to show a small amount of linear increase during the first semester of college, with individual differences in patterns of change. From a change perspective, SCC significantly predicted the sense of MIL, supporting the significance of having a clear self-view in perceiving life as more meaningful.     

Preschool Executive Control and Internalizing Symptoms in Elementary School

Depression and anxiety are prevalent and impairing forms of psychopathology in children and adolescents. Deficits in early executive control (EC) may contribute to the development of these problems, but longitudinal studies with rigorous measurement across key developmental periods are limited. The current study examines EC in preschool as a predictor of subsequent depression and anxiety symptoms in elementary school in a community sample (N?=?280). Child participants completed a battery of nine developmentally-appropriate tasks designed to measure major aspects of EC at age 5 years, 3 months. Children later participated in an elementary school follow-up phase, during which they completed validated norm-referenced self-report questionnaires of depression and anxiety symptoms in fourth grade. Results indicate that poorer preschool EC was significantly associated with both greater depression and anxiety symptoms in elementary school, controlling for baseline depression and anxiety symptoms in preschool and other relevant variables. These findings suggest that poor EC may be an important risk factor for the development of internalizing psychopathology in childhood. Given emerging evidence for the modifiability of EC, particularly in preschool, EC promotion interventions may hold promise as a potential target in psychopathology prevention.     

The Relative Importance of Correlates of Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Counterproductive Work Behavior Using Multiple Sources of Data

Many correlates of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB) have been established, but their relative importance has rarely been investigated. A dominance analyses based on data from 375 participants and 214 of their supervisors indicated that individual differences accounted for more of the variance associated with OCB and with CWB than did organizational attitudes. Confirmatory factor analysis and dominance analyses provided discriminant validity for a four-factor model based on the target of these behaviors that included interpersonal OCB, organizational OCB, interpersonal CWB, and organizational CWB. A comparison of supervisor- and self-report data indicated that relationships were stronger when using self-report data, but the overall pattern of results was similar.     

Assessing Individual Differences: Effects of Responding to Prior Questionnaires on the Substantive and Psychometric Properties of Self-Esteem and Depression Assessments

It has become a common practice among psychological researchers to administer batteries of individual difference assessments to research participants, although little is known about whether the substantive and psychometric integrity of the questionnaires are maintained when they are administered after the subject has completed other instruments. The studies presented here consider these issues in relation to the assessment of self-esteem and depression. In the first study, college students responsed to a self-esteem inventory (a) by itself (control group), (b) after one prior questionnaire, (c) after three prior questionnaires, or (d) after five prior questionnaires. Results indicated that filling out one or more questionnaires before an assessment of self-esteem resulted in repots of lower self-esteem relative to the control condition. Additional analyses revealed that filling out three or five prior questionnaires created lower reliabilities of subscale scores and lower estimates of concurrent validity between self-esteem and depression. When the effect of prior questionnaires on the General Self-Esteem subscale was examined, the aforementioned results were replicated, and the prior questionnaire treatment created heterogeneous variances across the experimental groups. The second study was designed as a replication of the first study, using an assessment of depression as the target questionnaire. These results revealed that reports of depressive symptomatology increased as the number of prior questionnaires increased. Again, the prior or questionnaire treatment created heterogeneity of variance between the groups, but did not adversely affect its internal consistency.     

The Anxiety Sensitivity Index–3: Analyses of Dimensions,Reliability Estimates,and Correlates in Nonclinical Samples

Body image and self-steering behavior in a group of 40 African hospitalized paraplegics and two control groups of non-hospitalized Ss were investigated using the DAP and the PUTCO African TAT. It was hypothesized that the paraplegics would demonstrate a body image characterized by significant pathology and would have a higher loading on the passive-submission dimension than a control group of Ss. The results failed to substantiate the research hypotheses. Instead, the findings suggest that both groups were characterized by a field-dependent perceptual framework associated with indefinite body image boundaries and a lack of self-steering behavior. These findings are accounted for in terms of a developmental cultural interpretation.     

victims and offenders: accounts of paybacks,invulnerability, and financial gain among homeless youth

In recent years, club-drug use among a segment of urban gay men has gained in popularity, contributing to a range of effects, including heightened sexual stimulation, increased sexual performance and endurance, but also, unsafe sexual practices, drug overdose, drug addiction and death. This article draws from a larger study of urban sexual careers and identifies two prominent forms of club-drug use: the first, to facilitate sexual performance; and the second, to facilitate community. The author argues that the basis of both patterns of drug use lie in adaptations to the institutional organization of urban gay sexual sociality.     

LEADERS IN READING RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION

Five reading lesson instruction characteristics were examined in relation to first and second graders' end-of-year instructional reading level: (a) teacher's preferred interaction style (indicated by extent of teacher telling and coaching); (b) teacher's preferred grouping (indicated by extent of whole class and small group instruction); (c) teacher's preferred focus of reading activity (indicated by extent of focus on words/letters and comprehension); (d) degree of student active response; and (e) instruction material (indicated by extent of use of narrative text and worksheets). Sixteen first- and second-grade teachers and 166 of their students were observed during reading instruction three times across the school year. Analyses of covariance were conducted. Complex relationships heretofore not revealed appeared. Different patterns of relationships between instructional characteristics and instructional reading level emerged for higher achievers compared to lower achievers and for first compared to second grade.