The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages

Two experiments investigated how well bilinguals utilise long-standing semantic associations to encode and retrieve semantic clusters in verbal episodic memory. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals (N?=?128) studied and recalled word and picture sets. Word recall was equivalent in L1 and L2, picture recall was better in L1 than in L2, and the picture superiority effect was stronger in L1 than in L2. Semantic clustering in word and picture recall was equivalent in L1 and L2. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilinguals (N?=?128) and English-speaking monolinguals (N?=?128) studied and recalled word sequences that contained semantically related pairs. Data were analyzed using a multinomial processing tree approach, the pair-clustering model. Cluster formation was more likely for semantically organised than for randomly ordered word sequences. Probabilities of cluster formation, cluster retrieval, and retrieval of unclustered items did not differ across languages or language groups. Language proficiency has little if any impact on the utilisation of long-standing semantic associations, which are language-general.     

Social Support as a School Victimisation Risk Factor

This study examined three sources of social support, peer groups, school and parents, and their impact on the risk of relational, verbal and physical bullying victimization in a representative sample of secondary school adolescents of Talavera de la Reina (Spain). Correlation analysis was used to establish associations and regression analysis in order to confirm the independent effect of each social support type with victimization. The results showed that low social support perception from peers, school and parents increased the risk of relational, verbal and physical bullying victimization. Additionally, the perception of lower parental social support increased the likelihood of relational and verbal bullying victimization, while the hypothesis that low perception of parental social support entailed a higher risk for physical victimization was not confirmed. These findings are discussed in light of previous studies.     

Behavioral correlates of learned aggression in male mice

The aims of this paper are to study the aggressive behavior in male mice with consecutive experience of victories in 2, 10, and 20 days (T2, T10, and T20 winners) of daily agonistic confrontations under the sensory contact model and to determine the most probable behavioral domains that should be used as animal models for learned aggression in humans. It has been shown that the structure of winners' behavior changes from test to test: the attacking behavior prevailed (81% of the total time) in the behavior of T2 winners. Attacks and diggings (herein: digging up and scattering the litter on the partner' territory) prevailed in the behavior of T10 winners (each approximately 40%). T20 winners demonstrated aggressive grooming half of the testing time and digging behavior 25% of the time. Correlational analysis revealed that the number of significant correlations between the behavioral domains (attacking, digging, aggressive grooming, self‐grooming, threats, rotations) and between different behavioral parameters (latency, number, total and average time) of one behavioral domain are growing from the second test to twentieth test, and the relationships between the behavioral domains change qualitatively. The following may be regarded as elements of learned aggression in male mice: (1) appearance of aggressive grooming instead of the intensive attacking behavior and (2) involvement of the digging behavior in the hostile behavior together with the threats and attacking behavior. Negative correlations between parameters of the behavioral domains may testify to the replacement of one behavioral pattern by another and reflect learned behavior. Positive correlations between certain behavioral domains may reflect the formation of a common motivational background for the winners' behavior. Aggr. Behav. 26:386–400, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Relations of child effortful control to personality,well-being and parenting

This study examined effortful control and its relations to personality, parenting and well-being in a community sample of Russian preschool children (N = 365, 46% girls) using parent-reported effortful control scale from the very short form of the children's behaviour questionnaire, the inventory of child individual differences–short version, the Alabama parenting questionnaire—preschool revision, the self-reporting questionnaire, and parent and teacher reports on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire. The findings confirmed the four-factor structure of effortful control, including inhibitory control, attentional control, low-intensity pleasure and perceptual sensitivity. Girls demonstrated higher scores than boys on effortful control, perceptual sensitivity, inhibitory control and low-intensity pleasure. Older children scored higher than younger on inhibitory control and perceptual sensitivity and lower on low-intensity pleasure. Gender and age accounted for less than 3% of the variance in effortful control. Effortful control was associated with personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness, and with positive emotions and low-negative affect. Higher effortful control was associated with higher levels of prosocial behaviour and lower levels of externalising and internalising problems. Structural modelling showed that the effect of parenting on child prosocial and problem behaviours may be mediated by effortful control.     

Identifying young people's guidance needs through telephone counseling.

This study examined the needs that young people in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, expressed in phone calls to a research unit of the Mexican Social Security Institute. Three hundred forty-five calls, from individuals 11 to 24 years old who phoned from June 1995 to November 1998, were analyzed. Two hundred ninety-four of the callers were female and 51 were male. Greater percentages of females than males called to ask about sexuality and family problems. Males more than females asked about reproductive health (particularly pregnancy) and mental health. There were significant differences by gender and age, differences that were not detected in health service statistics. The findings have implications for decision makers and health and education service providers. They point to the need for programs that will reinforce young people's good health practices and help them avoid risky behaviors.     

Constraints of vowels and consonants on lexical selection: Cross-linguistic comparisons

Languages differ in the constitution of their phonemic repertoire and in the relative distinctiveness of phonemes within the repertoire. In the present study, we asked whether such differences constrain spoken-word recognition, via two word reconstruction experiments, in which listeners turned non-words into real words by changing single sounds. The experiments were carried out in Dutch (which has a relatively balanced vowel-consonant ratio and many similar vowels) and in Spanish (which has many more consonants than vowels and high distinctiveness among the vowels). Both Dutch and Spanish listeners responded significantly faster and more accurately when required to change vowels as opposed to consonants; when allowed to change any phoneme, they more often altered vowels than consonants. Vowel information thus appears to constrain lexical selection less tightly (allow more potential candidates) than does consonant information, independent of language-specific phoneme repertoire and of relative distinctiveness of vowels.     

Inferences about mechanisms that mediate pattern and flicker sensitivity

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - Visual sensitivity to a flickering, sinusoidal grating was assessed in multiple sclerosis patients and control observers. It was found that losses in...     

The biological basis of stress management

A rationale is outlined for the inclusion of a biological approach in stress-management programmes. The biology of the stress response is described in sufficient detail to show the layperson what happens in the body when stress is experienced. An explanation of the biological basis of commonly used coping strategies is given.     

More Spousal Support for Men Than for Women: A Comparison of Sources and Types of Support

Types and sources of received support among 902 Costa Rican employees were examined; gender and age differences as well as associations with mental health were considered. Four types of support (advice giving, assistance, reassurance, and empathic listening) were measured as received from four sources, namely friends, family, spouses, and groups/organizations. Support types were not very distinct, therefore we aggregated sum scores across these variables. In contrast, sources were discriminant and had to be analyzed separately. An interaction between gender and age pointed to a larger discrepancy of received spousal support in middle-aged men and women than in younger ones. The older the women were, the less support they received from their spouses. In addition to this interaction, further gender differences emerged at the correlation level, where the association between spousal support and depression was significant for men only.