Coparenting and Children's School Readiness: A Mediational Model

We examined the long‐term direct and indirect links between coparenting (conflict, communication, and shared decision‐making) and preschoolers' school readiness (math, literacy, and social skills). The study sample consisted of 5,650 children and their biological mothers and fathers who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort. Using structural equation modeling and controlling for background characteristics, we found that our conceptual model of the pathways from coparenting to child outcomes is structurally the same for cohabiting and married families. Controlling for a host of background characteristics, we found that coparenting conflict and shared decision‐making were negatively and positively, respectively, linked to children's academic and social skills and co‐parental communication was indirectly linked to academic and social skills through maternal supportiveness. Coparenting conflict was also indirectly linked to children's social skills through maternal depressive symptoms. The overall findings suggest that for both cohabiting and married families, the context of conflicted coparenting may interfere with the development of children's social competencies and academic skills, whereas collaborative coparenting promotes children's school readiness because mothers are more responsive to their children's needs. These findings have implications for programs aimed at promoting positive family processes in cohabiting and married families.     

Sometimes pursuits don't pan out: Anticipated destinations and other caveats: Comment on Hom, Mitchell, Lee, and Griffeth (2012)

Hom, Mitchell, Lee, and Griffeth (2012) presented an extensive review of employee turnover research, reconceptualized the turnover criterion to include multiple destinations, and proposed to expand the predictor domain. They illuminated the multiple destinations employees pursue following turnover. By crossing desire to remain and volitional control dimensions, Hom et al. defined and described 4 withdrawal states (or predeparture mind-sets). This commentary begins by introducing the issue that people do not know precisely where they will turn over to until they have actually gone. This suggests that researchers should consider anticipated destinations when conducting research on withdrawal states. We note the limitations of measuring withdrawal states as taxonomic categories; instead, we advocate for measuring the underlying continuous dimensions of desire and control or the weight associated with the pressures to leave or stay. Finally, we highlight some temporal considerations, as withdrawal states are temporary and there is much to be learned from studying changes in such states. We conclude with some directions for future turnover research based on Hom et al.'s contribution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Thought beyond language: neural dissociation of algebra and natural language

A central question in cognitive science is whether natural language provides combinatorial operations that are essential to diverse domains of thought. In the study reported here, we addressed this issue by examining the role of linguistic mechanisms in forging the hierarchical structures of algebra. In a 3-T functional MRI experiment, we showed that processing of the syntax-like operations of algebra does not rely on the neural mechanisms of natural language. Our findings indicate that processing the syntax of language elicits the known substrate of linguistic competence, whereas algebraic operations recruit bilateral parietal brain regions previously implicated in the representation of magnitude. This double dissociation argues against the view that language provides the structure of thought across all cognitive domains.     

The timing of multiple retrieval events can alter GluR1 phosphorylation and the requirement for protein synthesis in fear memory reconsolidation

Numerous studies have indicated that maintaining a fear memory after retrieval requires de novo protein synthesis. However, no study to date has examined how the temporal dynamics of repeated retrieval events affect this protein synthesis requirement. The present study varied the timing of a second retrieval of an established auditory fear memory and followed this second retrieval with infusions of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin (ANI) into the basolateral amygdala. Results indicated that the memory-impairing effects of ANI were not observed when the second retrieval occurred soon after the first (within 1 h), and that the inhibitor gradually regained effectiveness as the retrieval episodes were spaced further apart. Additionally, if the second of the closely timed retrievals was omitted prior to ANI infusions, long-term memory deficits were observed, suggesting that the altered effectiveness of ANI was due specifically to the second retrieval event. Further experiments revealed that the second retrieval was not associated with a change in Zif268 protein expression but did produce a rapid and persistent dephosphorylation of GluR1 receptors at Ser845, an AMPAR trafficking site known to regulate the stability of GluR2 lacking AMPARs, which have been shown to be important in memory updating. This suggests that the precise timing of multiple CS presentations during the reconsolidation window may affect the destabilization state of the memory trace.     

Becoming and Being an Analyst in the British Psychoanalytical Society

The articles of Elizabeth Spillius and Jennifer Johns exemplify contrasting ways in which an analyst may form her psychoanalytic identity. She may recognize and accept a particular theoretical standpoint as valid, and form an analytic identity around that position. Or she may engage with a variety of viewpoints, and form an analytic identity through the interaction between these and her own internal self-experience. These approaches coexist in the British Psychoanalytical Society. There has been the potential for creative discussion between them, especially as regards their implications for analytic training. These six articles together, however, reveal how hard it has been for such discussion to take place. Spillius describes the disparity between the Society's three groups in relation to candidates' choice of supervisors, and I discuss this further. It seems to reflect an underlying difference in approach to psychoanalytic training, based on these different views of how an analyst's identity is formed. I suggest that the difficulty in debating this freely reflects a fear that opening up the issue might lead the Society to split. In 2005 the so-called Gentlemen's Agreement, which for 60 years governed group balance in the British Society, was formally abolished. In the light of this, I consider what is needed for a Society creatively to contain divergent philosophies of training.     

Development and Validation of a Quantitative Measure of Intensive Parenting Attitudes

Intensive mothering (IM) attitudes have been considered the dominant discourse of motherhood, but have only been assessed qualitatively The goal of this study was to develop a quantitative scale to assess these ideologies, their construct validity, and their relationship to relevant constructs (i.e., work status and division of household labor). An on-line questionnaire was given to 595 mothers asking 56 questions assessing different aspects of IM attitudes as well as several validation measures. An Exploratory Factor Analysis on 315 randomly selected mothers yielded a 5 factor solution. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the remaining 280 mothers demonstrated good fit. The five factors expressed the ideas that (1) women are inherently better at parenting than men (Essentialism), (2) parenting should be fulfilling (Fulfillment), (3) children should be cognitively stimulated by parents (Stimulation), (4) mothering is difficult (Challenging), and (5) parents should prioritize the needs of the child (Child-Centered). Scales had adequate reliability and construct validity compared to the Parental Investment in the Child questionnaire, the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, and Beliefs about Maternal Employment. The Essentialism, Fulfillment, and Challenging scales were positively related to having more responsibility for child care and household chores. Stay-at-home mothers had higher scores on Essentialism and lower scores on Stimulation than both part-time and full-time working mothers supporting the notion that both working and non-working mothers have intensive parenting ideologies that are manifested in different ways.     

The doctrine of distribution

Peter Geach describes the ‘doctrine of distribution’ as the view that a term is distributed if it refers to everything that it denotes, and undistributed if it refers to only some of the things that it denotes. He argues that the notion, so explained, is incoherent. He claims that the doctrine of distribution originates from a degenerate use of the notion of ‘distributive supposition’ in medieval supposition theory sometime in the 16th century. This paper proposes instead that the doctrine of distribution occurs at least as early as the 12th century, and that it originates from a study of Aristotle's notion of a term's being ‘taken universally’, and not from the much later theory of distributive supposition. A detailed version of the doctrine found in the Port Royal Logic is articulated, and compared with a slightly different modern version. Finally, Geach's arguments for the incoherence of the doctrine are discussed and rejected.     

Developing arithmetic in set theory without infinity: some historical remarks

In this paper some of the history of the development of arithmetic in set theory is traced, particularly with reference to the problem of avoiding the assumption of an infinite set. Although the standard method of singling out a sequence of sets to be the natural numbers goes back to Zermelo, its development was more tortuous than is generally believed. We consider the development in the light of three desiderata for a solution and argue that they can probably not all be satisfied simultaneously.