Adolescent girls' and boys' weight-related health behaviors and cognitions: associations with reputation- and preference-based peer status.

In this study, the authors examined associations between preference- and reputation-based peer status and weight-related behaviors and cognitions for both adolescent boys and girls. Sociometric measures of peer like-ability and peer-perceived popularity, as well as self-reported measures of body size, dieting behavior, and weight-related cognitions were collected from a sample of 441 adolescents in Grades 11 and 12. Results revealed weight-related cognitions for girls (concerning obesity) and boys (concerning musculature/fitness). Peer-perceived popularity, but not like-ability, was significantly associated with both boys' and girls' body size and dieting. Lower levels of popularity were associated with heavier body shapes for girls and with both thin and heavier body shapes for boys. Findings suggest that peer status is an important source of social reinforcement associated with weight-related behaviors and cognitions.     

Do individuals with autism and Asperger’s syndrome utilize prior knowledge when pairing stimuli?

While several studies suggest that individuals with autism use prior knowledge appropriately, others have found that this may be a particular area of weakness. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether individuals with autism and Asperger’s syndrome utilize prior knowledge when pairing objects with colours. Participants were presented with cards illustrating common objects and asked to pair them with one of two colour patches. Some target objects were coloured inappropriately (e.g. blue banana), allowing a participant to pair it either with blue or yellow. Results indicated that a majority of participants chose the associated in preference to the surface colour. This suggests that prior knowledge governed pairing in many individuals with autism and Asperger’s syndrome as it did in comparison groups, except in typically developing children aged 5 years. However, those with autism and moderate learning difficulties were less affected by prior knowledge than some of the other groups.     

Neurobiologic correlates of violence: relevance to criminal responsibility

Studies addressing the relationship between neurotransmitter functioning and violent crime are reviewed. A rich literature exists to support the notion that monoamine (i.e., serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) neurotransmitter functioning is related to human aggressive behaviour. Results from these studies provide, at best, indirect evidence that neurotransmitter abnormalities are involved in violent criminal behavior. Few studies have specifically addressed the role of neurotransmitter functioning in violent crime. To illustrate how current knowledge in this area has been applied in forensic settings, a case study in which neurotransmitter functioning was introduced as evidence to support an insanity defense is presented. Potential problems associated with such defenses are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling Heterogeneous Peer Assortment Effects Using Finite Mixture Exponential Random Graph Models

Psychometrika - This article develops a class of models called sender/receiver finite mixture exponential random graph models (SRFM-ERGMs). This class of models extends the existing exponential...     

Preventing Teen Relationship Abuse and Sexual Assault through Bystander Training: Intervention Outcomes for School Personnel

The purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of exposure to Bringing in the Bystander—High School Curriculum (BITB-HSC) on school personnel, which included a seven session classroom curriculum for ninth through twelfth graders (student curriculum), a bystander training workshop for school personnel (school personnel workshop), and reading materials (handout). We examined how exposure to these various BITB-HSC intervention components was associated with school personnel's knowledge and bystander efficacy, intentions, and barriers specific to student relationship abuse (RA) and sexual assault (SA). Participants were 488 school personnel from 12 high schools in upper New England who completed the 4-month follow-up survey that assessed for intervention exposure (284 participants completed both the baseline and follow-up survey). Whereas 53% of participants were exposed to no intervention components, the other half of the sample were exposed to a combination of intervention components. Higher baseline knowledge and reactive bystander intentions were associated with subsequent exposure to both the student curriculum and the handout, and fewer barriers to bystander action predicted exposure to the school personnel workshop. Exposure to the school personnel workshop, student curriculum, and handout was associated with subsequent greater knowledge, exposure to the student curriculum predicted reactive bystander intentions, and exposure to the handout predicted higher reactive bystander intentions and bystander efficacy. Findings suggest that despite challenges with engagement, exposure to the BITB-HSC components may be a useful tool in improving school personnel's responses to RA and SA among high school students.     

Psychopathology in mothers of children with failure to thrive

An association between maternal psychopathology and failure to thrive (FTT) has been reported previously, but no prior investigators have used both operationalized diagnostic criteria for psychopathology and a control group in their studies. Twenty-eight mothers of children with FTT and 22 mothers of normally developing control children were assessed for psychopathology by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R–Nonpatient Version (SCID-NP) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R–Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Affective disorders, personality disorders, and the COoccurrence in an indvidual of these two types of disorders were found at higher rates in mothers of children with FTT compared to controls. These results clarify prior reports of an association between failure to thrive and maternal psychopathology and may have implications for treatment approaches to FTT.     

Backward and forward blocking in human electrodermal conditioning: Blocking requires an assumption of outcome additivity

Blocking was observed in two human Pavlovian conditioning studies in which colour cues signalled shock. Both forward (Experiment 1) and backward (Experiment 2) blocking was demonstrated, but only when prior verbal and written instructions suggested that if two signals of shock (A+ and B+) were presented together, a double shock would result (AB++). In this case, participants could assume that the outcome magnitude was additive. Participants given non-additivity instructions (A+ and B+ combined would result in the same outcome, a single shock) failed to show blocking. Modifications required for associative models of learning, and normative statistical accounts of causal induction, to account for the impact of additivity instructions on the blocking effect, are discussed. It is argued that the blocking shown in the present experiments resulted from the operation, not of an error-correction learning rule, nor of a simple contingency detection mechanism, but of a more complex inferential process based on propositional knowledge. Consistent with the present data, blocking is a logical outcome of an A+/AB+ design only if participants can assume that outcomes will be additive.     

Posttraumatic growth following breast cancer: a controlled comparison study.

Cancer may be viewed as a psychosocial transition with the potential for positive and negative outcomes. This cross-sectional study (a) compared breast cancer (BC) survivors' (n = 70) self-reports of depression, well-being, and posttraumatic growth with those of age- and education-matched healthy comparison women (n = 70) and (b) identified correlates of posttraumatic growth among BC survivors. Groups did not differ in depression or well-being, but the BC group showed a pattern of greater posttraumatic growth, particularly in relating to others, appreciation of life, and spiritual change. BC participants' posttraumatic growth was unrelated to distress or well-being but was positively associated with perceived life-threat, prior talking about breast cancer, income, and time since diagnosis. Research that has focused solely on detection of distress and its correlates may paint an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of adjustment to cancer.