Children and Aging: Attitudes,Differentiation Ability,and Quantity and Quality of Contact

The attitudes and age differentiation ability of forty-seven 3- to 5-year-old children toward pictures of older and younger people were assessed. In addition, cognitive performance on a seriation task as well as the quantity and quality of each child's contact with adults over 60 years of age were measured. Chi squares were performed by sex and age of stimulus photograph on the attitudinal questions. One of the chi squares reached signficance on the age comparison and two on the sex comparison. In addition, sign tests were used to assess the direction of the trends on the questions, and both age and sex trends were significant at the .05 level with children being more likely to choose pictures of younger rather than older models and female rather than male models. Ability to correctly order pictures by age was signficantly related (r = .53, p < .001) to the seriation ordering task. Four of the 18 correlations between contact and attitudinal variables were significant and negative.     

Monocular and Binocular Vision in the Control of Goal-Directed Movement

In the present research the authors examined the time course of binocular integration in goal-directed aiming and grasping. With liquid-crystal goggles, the authors manipulated vision independently to the right and left eyes of 10 students during movement preparation and movement execution. Contrary to earlier findings reported in catching experiments (I. Olivier, D. J. Weeks, K. L. Ricker, J. Lyons, & D. Elliott, 1998), neither a temporal nor a spatial binocular advantage was obtained in 1 grasping and 2 aiming studies. That result suggests that, at least in some circumstances, monocular vision is sufficient for the precise control of limb movements. In a final aiming experiment involving 3-dimen- sional spatial variability and no trial-to-trial visual feedback about performance, binocular vision was associated with greater spatial accuracy. Binocular superiority appeared to be most pronounced when participants were unable to adjust their limb control strategy or procedure on the basis of terminal feedback about performance.     

Missed Conceptions: A Gendered Extension of Early Conception Among Street Youth

The moral sentiment concerning teenage pregnancy among unmarried youth is that it is an act of deviance or non-conformity. Using data from a multidisciplinary study of high-risk youth, this article explores the notion that early conception among street youth is an opportunity for youth to conform to the conventional societal role of becoming a parent, not an act of deviance. The article further highlights the importance of including young men in discussions about early conception. Drawing on general strain theory and social bonding theory, experiences of strain in the family of origin as well as current social bonds are explored. Findings indicate that both general strain and social bonding contribute to a gendered understanding of early conception among street youth.     

Self-control and frequency of model presentation: Effects on learning a ballet passé relevé

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the combined effects of self-control and frequency of model presentation on learning a complex motor skill, i.e., ballet passé relevé. Before practice started self-control participants were asked to choose two viewings or six viewings (before practice and then every five trials) and the externally controlled groups were yoked to their self-control counterparts. All participants completed 15 acquisition trials followed by 5 trials for the immediate and 5 trials for the delayed retention tests 48 hours later. Dependent variables included cognitive representation scores, physical reproduction rankings, and balance time. Statistical analyses indicated that under limited physical practice conditions self-control and higher frequency of model presentation facilitated the development of cognitive representation and did not produce further benefits in movement reproductions and balance time. The results were discussed with respect to the social cognitive theory.     

Dark triad personality traits and theory of mind among school-age children

This study examined the associations between four personality dimensions associated with the dark triad (callous–unemotional traits, narcissism, impulsivity, and Machiavellianism) and theory of mind (TOM) abilities among 146 middle school children. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed narcissism to be positively associated with TOM, callous–unemotional (CU) traits to be negatively associated with TOM, and impulsivity and Machiavellianism to be unrelated to TOM. No significant interactions were found between gender and any of the dimensions of personality. The putative mechanisms linking each personality dimension with understanding of mental states in others are discussed, along with directions for future research.     

Cognitive biases and alcohol use in adolescence and young adulthood: The moderating role of gender,attentional control and inhibitory control

The present study investigated the cross-sectional associations between cognitive biases (i.e., attentional bias and approach bias) and alcohol use and investigated the moderating role of gender, attentional control and inhibitory control. The sample consisted of 94 adolescents and young adults (52.1% boys) between 15.3 and 20.8 years old (M_age = 18.0, SD = 1.1) who reported drinking alcohol in the past three months. A stronger approach bias was related to higher alcohol use, albeit only among boys. Furthermore, the association between attentional bias and alcohol use was moderated by attentional control; the lowest alcohol use was found in adolescents with low attentional bias and high attentional control, suggesting protective effects of both variables. The present study replicates and extends the results of studies on cognitive biases and addiction in adolescence and young adulthood.     

Problem gambling,gaming and Internet use in adolescents: Relationships with emotional intelligence in clinical and special needs samples

The study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and several addiction-related behaviours (gambling problems, Internet abuse, and computer gaming misuse) in two adolescent samples: 270 clinical outpatients (180 males and 90 females) and 256 special needs students (160 males and 96 females). Gambling problems, Internet abuse, and computer gaming misuse were positively inter-correlated in both samples; approximately half of the variability in these addiction-related behaviours could be accounted for by a common dysfunctional preoccupation latent variable. Latent variable path analysis found emotional intelligence to be a moderate predictor of dysfunctional preoccupation in both adolescent samples.     

Addictive states of mind

This paper explores the meaning of the pregnancy of the therapist as a challenge to the maintenance of the setting for therapy. The patient I shall describe was born ‘black’ in a ‘white’ family and was thus a challenge to her father's sense of paternity and her parents as a couple. She was the visual evidence of an infidelity. The problem had been denied in various ways, going as far as the attempt to deny her very existence. The therapist's pregnancy signified a betrayal of the ideal of a stable setting which was compounded by an earlier absence through illness. This ‘breaking of rules or promises' was then the setting for a re-working of the patient's story.

Setting, it is argued, can helpfully be seen as the mental space created by the partnership within the therapist between maternal and paternal relating to the ‘baby’ of the therapy. This enables a sense of negotiation and relationship in the creation of setting, which can include disruptions and other babies. At the same time the therapy had to work with a fundamental issue of illegitimacy or lack of belonging and the therapist's response to this. The ‘rules' of setting are a means to ensure a place to belong or attach to, but this work emphasized ‘setting’ and belonging as issues of relationship supported and enabled by our rules of engagement, but not reducible to them.