Heroin Use among Adolescents: A Multi-Theoretical Examination

Criminological examination of substance use is common in the extant literature; however, little research has examined heroin use among adolescents. Recent trends in drug use indicate a rise of heroin among adolescents indicating a need to provide theoretical explanations of this phenomenon. This study examines the efficacy of social learning theory and social bond theory to explain heroin use. The study uses a nationally representative sample of adolescents from the Monitoring the Future Survey (N = 2,465). The results support the central arguments from social structure social learning theory. First, the results show that social structure components have links with heroin use. Second, the results show that social learning theory mediates the effect of social structure measures on heroin use. The results are discussed.     

My Mentor,My Self: Antecedents and Outcomes of Perceived Similarity in Mentoring Relationships

This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of perceived similarity in mentoring relationships in a sample of 82 matched mentor-protégé dyads. Polynomial regression analyses were used to examine the association between actual and perceived similarity. Protégés were more likely to see themselves as similar to their mentors when they and their mentors shared either higher or lower levels of attachment security. However, sharing similar levels of relational self-construal was unrelated to protégés perceptions of similarity with their mentors. Path analyses revealed that protégés reported more organizational and professional commitment when they saw themselves as similar to their mentors, and that these associations were mediated by protégés’ reports of their mentors providing role modeling functions. These findings suggest that the effects of actual mentor-protégé similarity on perceptions of similarity may depend on the shared attribute, and provide further evidence of the importance of perceived similarity to not only mentoring relationships, but also to organizations.     

Cross-validating the Berlin Affective Word List

We introduce the Berlin Affective Word List (BAWL) in order to provide researchers with a German database containing both emotional valence and imageability ratings for more than 2,200 German words. The BAWL was cross-validated using a forced choice valence decision task in which two distinct valence categories (negative or positive) had to be assigned to a highly controlled selection of 360 words according to varying emotional content (negative, neutral, or positive). The reaction time (RT) results corroborated the valence categories: Words that had been rated as “neutral” in the norms yielded maximum RTs. The BAWL is intended to help researchers create stimulus materials for a wide range of experiments dealing with the emotional processing of words.     

Contextual basis of maternal perceptions of infant temperament

To elucidate the differential saliency of infant emotions to mothers across interactive contexts, the authors examined the moderating role of observed infant affect during interactions with mother in the relation between maternal and laboratory-based ratings of infant temperament. Fifty-nine developmentally healthy 9-month-old infants were judged for degree of infant positive, infant negative, and mother-infant mutually positive affect during the course of object-focused and routine home-based activities with mother. Mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (M. K. Rothbart, 1981), and infants underwent the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (H. H. Goldsmith & M. K. Rothbart, 1999). Results revealed that maternal and observer ratings of infant negativity converged when infants manifested high degrees of negative affect during routine home-based activities. Maternal and observer ratings of infant positivity converged when infants experienced low mutually positive affect during play. These findings support the hypothesis that maternal perceptions are based on mothers' experiences with their infants but that the salience of infant temperamental characteristics to mothers varies across emotion and interactive context.     

Us without them: evidence for an intragroup origin of positive in-group regard

Four experiments examined whether group formation and positive in-group regard require interaggregate comparison as the in-group-requires-an-out-group assumption of the metacontrast principle implies. The authors fostered novel social aggregates with or without a contrasting aggregate with which members could compare and varied intra-aggregate factors (interaction or interdependence). Regardless of whether interaggregate comparison was feasible, the intra-aggregate factors increased the perceived entitativity of the aggregate and positive regard toward the aggregate (i.e., social attraction and cooperation among members). Mediation analyses were consistent with the possibility that the intra-aggregate factors promoted entitativity, which in turn promoted in-group regard. These data suggest that group formation and in-group regard have intragroup origins and do not require comparison with a contrasting social aggregate.