Criminal Crews,Codes, and Contexts: Differences and Similarities across the Code of the Street,Convict Code,Street Gangs,and Prison Gangs

We use 16 characterizations of crews, codes, and contexts to determine if offender subcultures (code of the street, convict code, street and prison gangs) converge, complement, or are independent of one another. We find extensive overlap across offender subcultures with “belief” subcultures in street and prison settings mirroring the “group” subcultures in those respective settings. Findings generate a call for comparative research on the convergences and divergences across subcultures on the street and in prisons with a specific emphasis on the impact that importation, deprivation, and exportation have on policy and programming importation for both the street and prison settings.     

Doing Gender Online: New Mothers’ Psychological Characteristics,Facebook Use,and Depressive Symptoms

Online social networking sites, such as Facebook, have provided a new platform for individuals to produce and reproduce gender through social interactions. New mothers, in particular, may use Facebook to practice behaviors that align with their mothering identity and meet broader societal expectations, or in other words, to “do motherhood.” Given that Facebook use may undermine well-being, it is important to understand the individual differences underlying new mothers’ experiences with Facebook during the stressful first months of parenthood. Using survey data from a sample of 127 new mothers with Facebook accounts residing in the U.S. Midwest, we addressed two key questions: (a) Are individual differences in new mothers’ psychological characteristics associated with their use and experiences of Facebook? and (b) Are new mothers’ psychological characteristics associated with greater risk for depressive symptoms via their use and experiences of Facebook? Regression analyses revealed that mothers who were more concerned with external validation of their identities as mothers and those who believed that society holds them to excessively high standards for parenting engaged in more frequent Facebook activity and also reported stronger emotional reactions to Facebook commentary. Moreover, mothers who were more concerned with external validation were more likely to have featured their child in their Facebook profile picture. Mediation analyses indicated that mothers who were more prone to seeking external validation for their mothering identity and perfectionistic about parenting experienced increases in depressive symptoms indirectly via greater Facebook activity.     

The Role of Teacher Cognition and Behavior in Children’s Peer Relations

This study explored the role of the classroom teacher in peers’ evaluations of liking and disliking of their classmates. Teacher cognitions about children (teacher liking of students, teacher attributions for aggressive student behavior) and teacher behavior toward children (positive, corrective/negative) were examined as mediators in the link between children’s own behavior (aggression, prosocial behavior) and peer liking and disliking. Participants were 127 second-graders in 12 classrooms (64 males, 63 females). Data on child behavior were collected through peer and teacher report, data on teacher cognitions about children were collected through self report, data on teacher behavior toward children were collected through naturalistic classroom observations, and data on peer liking and disliking were collected through peer nominations. Data were analyzed using path analysis. Results indicated that teacher cognitions about children and corrective/negative teacher behavior toward children mediated the relations between aggressive and prosocial child behavior and peer disliking.     

Combining computer adaptive testing technology with cognitively diagnostic assessment

A major advantage of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is that it allows the test to home in on an examinee's ability level in an interactive manner. The aim of the new area of cognitive diagnosis is to provide information about specific content areas in which an examinee needs help. The goal of this study was to combine the benefit of specific feedback from cognitively diagnostic assessment with the advantages of CAT. In this study, three approaches to combining these were investigated: (1) item selection based on the traditional ability level estimate (theta), (2) item selection based on the attribute mastery feedback provided by cognitively diagnostic assessment (alpha), and (3) item selection based on both the traditional ability level estimate (theta) and the attribute mastery feedback provided by cognitively diagnostic assessment (alpha). The results from these three approaches were compared for theta estimation accuracy, attribute mastery estimation accuracy, and item exposure control. The theta- and alpha-based condition outperformed the alpha-based condition regarding theta estimation, attribute mastery pattern estimation, and item exposure control. Both the theta-based condition and the theta- and alpha-based condition performed similarly with regard to theta estimation, attribute mastery estimation, and item exposure control, but the theta- and alpha-based condition has an additional advantage in that it uses the shadow test method, which allows the administrator to incorporate additional constraints in the item selection process, such as content balancing, item type constraints, and so forth, and also to select items on the basis of both the current theta and alpha estimates, which can be built on top of existing 3PL testing programs.     

Comparing to ingroup and outgroup members: Do we assimilate,contrast, or neither?

Previous work studying social comparisons suggests that people are likely to assimilate to ingroup members (e.g. Ledgerwood & Chaiken, 2007) but can also contrast from ingroup members if outgroup members are present (Blanton, Miller, & Dye, 2002). The present research built upon these findings by including a no-comparison control group to test for true contrast and assimilation effects. Across two studies, women primed with a gender-math stereotype received false feedback about their performance on a math task; and in some conditions, they learned of the performance of ostensible male and/or female co-participants. Relative to a no-comparison control, we did not see evidence of ingroup assimilation in either study. However, in both studies, we found that participants were likely to contrast their self-evaluations away from downward targets, regardless of group membership. This suggests that self-enhancement motivations may be stronger than the drive for ingroup assimilation.     

Use of visual, acoustic, and olfactory information during embedded invertebrate foraging in brown capuchins (Cebus apella)

Experiments were conducted to investigate which sensory cues are used by brown capuchins (Cebus apella) in embedded invertebrate foraging. The importance of visual, olfactory, and acoustic cues in such foraging was determined by presenting subjects with a stimulus log modified to block out given sensory cues. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate whether subjects could locate an invertebrate embedded in wood when only visual, acoustic, or olfactory information was available. Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to investigate extractive foraging behavior when two sensory cues were provided. It was hypothesized that the combination of visual and acoustic information would be necessary for subjects to successfully locate embedded invertebrates. Results indicated that subjects' performance was most successful when both visual and acoustic information was available.     

Caffeine as a performance-enhancing drug in rats: sex, dose, housing, and task considerations

Past animal studies of the performance-enhancing properties of stimulant drugs, such as caffeine, may have suffered from a number of procedural and ethical problems. For example. the housing condition of the animals was often not taken into consideration. As well, endurance tests, such as the forced swim task, sometimes involved ethically (and procedurally) questionable interference with natural swimming behaviour. Some of the manipulations, such as attaching a weight to the swimming animal's tail to increase the difficulty of the task and using mortality as a dependent variable, seem grotesque, even unnecessary. In this experiment, the performance-enhancing effects of caffeine in a modified forced swim task and a dominance task were evaluated using male and female rats as subjects (N=60), housed in either enriched or isolated environments. Analysis indicated that rats respond to caffeine as an interactive function of sex, housing, dose, and task characteristics. It was concluded that performance-enhancing properties of stimulant drugs may be the result of a complex interplay of variables, making simple generalizations questionable.     

Use of the Personality Assessment Inventory in Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Women

This study investigated the utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) for the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants were 55 community-residing adult women who were administered a comprehensive battery that included the PAI and the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Participants were classified as either PTSD or non-PTSD based on the CAPS, and PAI profiles were compared between the two groups. Significant group differences were found for seven PAI clinical scales (Anxiety, Depression, Anxiety-Related Disorders, Somatic Complaints, Paranoia, Borderline Features, and Schizophrenia), one validity scale (Negative Impression), and two treatment scales (Nonsupport and Treatment Rejection). When all PAI scales and component subscales are considered, the largest group differences were found for the physiological subscale of the Depression scale (DEP-P) and the Traumatic Stress subscale of the Anxiety-Related Disorders scale (ARD-T). ARD-T and DEP-P also demonstrated excellent diagnostic utility. Finally, correlations between PAI scales and four CAPS symptom clusters provided additional validity evidence, in particular supporting a distinction between effortful avoidance and numbing. Taken together, these results support the use of the PAI in the assessment of PTSD.This study was the basis of a Masters thesis for Meghan McDevitt-Murphy. Portions of this study were presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 2000.     

Entering Politics: General Self‐Efficacy and Voting Behavior Among Young People

Political science traditionally conceptualizes efficacy only in relation to politics and government. In this article, we look beyond political efficacy and examine the effect of general self‐efficacy on young adults' voting behavior. General self‐efficacy, an individual's estimation of capacity to operate successfully across a variety of domains, is often important to the behavioral decisions of individuals entering a new domain of activity. With data from the Children of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, we examine the effect of general self‐efficacy on voting behavior among young, first‐time voters. We find that general self‐efficacy has a positive effect on voter turnout, and this effect is strongest for young people from low socioeconomic‐status families.