Linking vitamin D status,executive functioning and self‐perceived mental health in adolescents through multivariate analysis: A randomized double‐blind placebo control trial

The aim of the present randomized double‐blind placebo control trial was to investigate if vitamin D supplementation had an effect on vitamin D status, executive functioning and self‐perceived mental health in a group of Norwegian adolescents during winter time. Fifty adolescents were randomly assigned into an intervention group (vitamin D pearls) or a control group (placebo pearls). Before (pre‐test in December/January) and after (post‐test in April/May) the intervention period the participants were exposed to a test procedure, consisting of blood draw, completion of cognitive tests (Tower of Hanoi and Tower of London), and the Youth Self‐report version of the Child Behavior Checklist. Multivariate data analysis showed that participants with low vitamin D status scored worse on the Tower of London tests and the more difficult sub‐tasks on the Tower of Hanoi tests. They also had a tendency to report higher frequency of externalizing behavior problems and attention deficit. At pre‐test, the overall mean vitamin D status measured as 25‐hydroxy vitamin D was 42 nmol/L, defining deficiency (Intervention group = 44 nmol/L, Control group = 39 nmol/L). However, vitamin D supplementation caused a significant increase in vitamin D status resulting in a sufficient level in the Intervention group at post‐test (mean 62 nmol/L). The results also revealed that the intervention group improved their performance on the most demanding sub‐tasks on the ToH. Overall, the study indicates that vitamin D status in adolescents may be important for both executive functioning and mental health.     

Sonya turned her skin outside in

In the case of a young woman, it was evident that she had difficulties in approaching her pregenital experiences during analysis and that she had defended herself against pregenital anxiety. While these defences were aimed at denying and repressing early oral and bodily fantasies end experiences, they had also influenced and inhibited her subsequent bodily and genital development. Psychosomatic symptoms had both absorbed and represented archaic feelings and fantasies which had not found a more precise mental expression. Consequently, her female inner space had been repressed and excluded by skinerotic defences.     

Attitudes Toward Immigration: The Role of Personal Predispositions

This article examines if deep‐seated psychological differences add to the explanation of attitudes toward immigration. We explore whether the Big Five personality traits matter for immigration attitudes beyond the traditional situational factors of economic and cultural threat and analyze how individuals with different personalities react when confronted with the same situational triggers. Using a Danish survey experiment, we show that different personality traits have different effects on opposition toward immigration. We find that Openness has an unconditional effect on attitudes toward immigration: scoring higher on this trait implies a greater willingness to admit immigrants. Moreover, individuals react differently to economic threat depending on their score on the traits Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Specifically, individuals scoring low on Agreeableness and individuals scoring high on Conscientiousness are more sensitive to the skill level of immigrants. The results imply that personality is important for attitudes toward immigration, and in the conclusion, we further discuss how the observed conditional and unconditional effects of personality make sense theoretically.     

Who are these Buddhists and How Many of Them are There? Theoretical and Methodological Challenges in Counting Immigrant Buddhists: A Danish Case Study

Religious demography is generally a challenging endeavor and counting and defining religions and religious identities in an Asian context is notoriously difficult. Buddhists in both Asia and the West have a long tradition of gray-zone religiosity, which means that membership and mono-identity is less common than syncretic engagement and hybrid identity. The immigrant Buddhists in the West are generally far more numerous than the convert and new age Buddhists. Their numbers are, however, extremely difficult to ascertain. This article discusses the methodological and theoretical problems in quantifying immigrant religion and the challenges of operationalizing such constraints into concrete methods. The empirical data derive from the author’s engagement in research on Buddhism in Denmark, in which traditions from both Theravada and Mahayana groups are represented. While concrete figures are suggested, it is also concluded that further empirical research as well as comparison with more contexts are necessary for the continued refinement of usable methods in counting immigrant religion.     

Standard Errors of Kernel Equating: Accounting for Bandwidth Estimation

In standardized testing, equating is used to ensure comparability of test scores across multiple test administrations. One equipercentile observed-score equating method is kernel equating, where an essential step is to obtain continuous approximations to the discrete score distributions by applying a kernel with a smoothing bandwidth parameter. When estimating the bandwidth, additional variability is introduced which is currently not accounted for when calculating the standard errors of equating. This poses a threat to the accuracy of the standard errors of equating. In this study, the asymptotic variance of the bandwidth parameter estimator is derived and a modified method for calculating the standard error of equating that accounts for the bandwidth estimation variability is introduced for the equivalent groups design. A simulation study is used to verify the derivations and confirm the accuracy of the modified method across several sample sizes and test lengths as compared to the existing method and the Monte Carlo standard error of equating estimates. The results show that the modified standard errors of equating are accurate under the considered conditions. Furthermore, the modified and the existing methods produce similar results which suggest that the bandwidth variability impact on the standard error of equating is minimal.     

SOCIAL CONFORMITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION12

This study examined the role of socialization experiences in the development of psychological differentiation. In each of three countries (Holland, Italy, Mexico) two villages were selected as presenting a contrasting picture with regard to degree of emphasis on conformity to family, religious and political authority. It was hypothesized that within the pair of villages in each country children from the village which stressed social conformity would tend to be more field dependent and show other signs of less developed differentiation than children from the village in which social conformity was less emphasized. In each of the six villages approximately 100 children (boys and girls, aged 9–11 and 13–15) were studied. Differentiation was assessed by a battery of tests of field-dependence-independence and the figure-drawing test. In every comparison of mean test scores between pairs of villages, in each of the three countries, children from the village in which social conformity was stressed obtained scores reflecting less differentiated functioning. Village differences were significant for every measure of differentiation in all three countries. Addition alanalyses of the data from the tests of differentiation and other tests used yielded results essentially consistent with findings from previous studies.     

COLOR THRESHOLD MEASUREMENTS IN SCOTOPIC VISION

The absolute and the color threshold in scotopic vision generally coincide during dark adaptation, indicating that color-threshold intensity is a measure of the concentration of rhodopsin, and that different modes of rhodopsin regeneration are reflected in the measurements of the color threshold.     

Relative alpha desynchronization and synchronization during perception of music

Relative desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) of the 8–10 Hz and 10–12 Hz alpha freqency bands elicited by music were studied in ten musically untrained right-handed subjects. The subjects listened to two five-minute musical excerpts representing two different musical genres, popular and classical, presented both foward and backward. ERD/ERS of the two alpha frequency bands was examined during the first four minutes of stimulus presentation using one-minute time windows. The results demonstrated that both the 8–10 Hz and the 10–12Hz frequency band exhibited reactivity to musical stimuli. The responses of the 8–10Hz and 10–12 Hz alpha frequency bands were dissimilar, dymanic and dependent on both time and stimulation type. The dynamics of these changes over time may explain some discrepancies in earlier EEG studies during listening to music.     

Sensitivity for Treatment Effects of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is a relatively new self-report questionnaire that measures DSM-defined anxiety disorders symptoms in children. The present study examined the treatment sensitivity of the SCARED. Eleven anxiety-disordered children aged 10 to 13 years received cognitive-behavioral treatment, an intervention that is generally known to be effective. Children completed the SCARED on three occasions: (1) 3 months before treatment (i.e., baseline), (2) at pretreatment, and (3) at posttreatment. Before and after treatment, scores on traditional childhood anxiety measures (i.e., State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Fear Survey Schedule for Children) were also obtained. Results showed that children's SCARED scores remained relatively stable from baseline to pretreatment. However, from pre- to post-treatment, significant decreases were evident for the SCARED and for all traditional measures. These results suggest that the SCARED reliably taps treatment effects and, thus, provide further support for its utility as a self-report index of childhood anxiety in clinical and research settings.     

Minimization of modal contours: an essential cross-species strategy in disambiguating relative depth

Two chromatically identical patterns, a diamond and a ladder, were shown on a computer touchscreen. Domestic hens were reinforced for pecking at the pattern that was the highest up on a grid that provided pictorial depth information, i.e. on the pattern that to a human appears as being the furthest away. Every tenth trial was a non-rewarded probe trial with the two patterns partially overlapping. In the absence of other cues depth stratification can occur on the basis of a minimization of interpolated occluding contours. In humans the diamond is usually perceived to be in front of the ladder because shorter interpolated contours are needed to account for the occlusive effect of the diamond on the ladder. The hens pecked more often at the ladder during the probe trials. The results suggest that the avian and mammalian visual systems operate along similar principles when dealing with the problem of solving occlusion indeterminacy in chromatically homogeneous patterns. Received: 26 March 1999 / Accepted after revision: 17 September 1999