Availability of family support as a moderator of exposure to community violence.

Examined the role of availability of family support in moderating the negative effects of exposure to community violence on internalizing symptoms. Participants were 75 low-income African American children between the ages of 10 and 15. Two measures of availability of family support (mother's presence in the home and family size) were evaluated as moderators of the relations between exposure to community violence and depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. After controlling for age, sex, and concurrent life stress, mother's presence in the home moderated the relation between exposure to community violence and depressive symptoms but not the relation between exposure to community violence and PTSD symptoms. Children living in mother-absent families were at increased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increased. In addition, family size approached significance as a moderator of depressive symptoms but not PTSD symptoms, revealing a trend toward children from smaller families being at increased risk of depressive symptoms as exposure to community violence increased. These findings suggest that although availability of family support is an important moderator for depressive symptoms, this is not the case for PTSD symptoms.     

A meta-analysis of the regulatory focus nomological network: Work-related antecedents and consequences

Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998) has received a great deal of recent attention in the organizational behavior literature. Despite the amount of new evidence surrounding regulatory focus and its relationships with other variables, a quantitative summary of this literature is lacking. The authors used meta-analysis to summarize correlations from 77 empirical studies that included self-report measures of promotion and prevention focus. Meta-analytic effect sizes between promotion and prevention focus and work-related variables are reported. In general, results indicated that promotion and prevention focus are orthogonal constructs and each construct is uniquely related to other theoretically relevant constructs. The results also demonstrate the importance of regulatory foci to organizational researchers as well as the need for a unified approach to their measurement.     

A school-based assessment of secondary stressors and adolescent mental health 18 months post-Katrina

The goals of the current study were to examine the prevalence of secondary stressors related to Hurricane Katrina and to determine their impact on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among a sample of high school students. In addition, the moderating role of problem substance use was examined to determine whether it increased the risk of PTSD symptoms in the face of secondary stressors. A total of 271 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse adolescents completed an anonymous survey. Results indicated that problem substance use potentiated the positive relation between secondary stressors and PTSD symptoms, specifically symptoms of re-experiencing. The findings highlight the need for school-based assessment of and interventions for the long-term psychological effects of disasters.     

Predictors of the intent to adopt preventive innovations: a meta‐analysis

Because the literature suggests significant differences in the adoption rate of traditional innovations and those innovations classified as preventive, we examine the effectiveness of the constructs of the theory of planned behavior and social cognitive theory in predicting the adoption of preventive innovations. The current study synthesized 89 correlations from 63 studies (n = 31,158). The corrected mean correlation estimates were .51 for attitude, .52 for subjective norms, and .43 for planned behavioral control. The corrected mean correlation estimate for self‐efficacy was .47. By understanding the predictor variables of the intent to adopt a preventive innovation, proponents of specific preventive innovations may be better equipped to select strategies that could accelerate the diffusion process.     

Further differentiating item and order information in semantic memory: students’ recall of words from the “CU Fight Song”, Harry Potter book titles,and Scooby Doo theme song

University of Colorado (CU) students were tested for both order and item information in their semantic memory for the “CU Fight Song”. Following an earlier study by Overstreet and Healy [(2011). Item and order information in semantic memory: Students’ retention of the “CU fight song” lyrics. Memory & Cognition, 39, 251–259. doi:10.3758/s13421-010-0018-3], a symmetrical bow-shaped serial position function (with both primacy and recency advantages) was found for reconstructing the order of the nine lines in the song, whereas a function with no primacy advantage was found for recalling a missing word from each line. This difference between order and item information was found even though students filled in missing words without any alternatives provided and missing words came from the beginning, middle, or end of each line. Similar results were found for CU students’ recall of the sequence of Harry Potter book titles and the lyrics of the Scooby Doo theme song. These findings strengthen the claim that the pronounced serial position function in semantic memory occurs largely because of the retention of order, rather than item, information.