The importance of body satisfaction to physical self‐concept and body mass index in Spanish adolescents

This research examines the association between measured body mass index (BMI) and the perception of BMI by young students. Moreover, this research tests the importance of BMI and self‐concept, in order to predict body dissatisfaction in high school students. The sample consisted of 2087 individuals from different high schools in Extremadura, Spain, both males (n = 1046) and females (n = 1041), ranging in age from 15 to 17 years old (M = 15.42; SD = 0.86). Initially, participants' BMIs were assessed through anthropometry. Later, all individuals were asked about their weight and height, and their self‐reported BMI was calculated. Participants also answered a questionnaire about their perception of self‐concept, as well as completed a test about body image perception using Stunkard images. Outcomes revealed that factors concerning self‐concept and perceived BMI explained body dissatisfaction. Finally, results are discussed with the aim of improving knowledge in body dissatisfaction context.     

Managing dyspraxia: Pre-school teachers’ perceptions,experiences and strategies

Dyspraxia is a childhood developmental disorder that manifests as a difficulty in thinking, planning, and executing planned movements or tasks. Dyspraxia affects approximately 5–6% of school-aged children. This study aimed to explore pre-school teachers’ awareness and understanding of dyspraxia, and the support they desire for teaching children with dyspraxia. Informants were 15 pre-school teachers from the Cape Peninsula, South Africa (black = 1; coloured/mixed race = 13; white = 1). The teachers completed semi-structured interviews regarding their awareness and knowledge of dyspraxia and the support they require to better facilitate the learners’ development. A thematic analysis of the data suggested that the teachers were aware of the behavioural and cognitive difficulties associated with dyspraxia and that they need to seek professional development to enhance their management of children with dyspraxia. Early intervention strategies, in partnership with the parent carers of the children, appear to hold good prospects for the successful management of dyspraxia among school-aged children.     

Encoding of geometric and featural spatial information by goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) were trained in different place-finding tasks as a means of analyzing their ability to encode the geometric and the featural properties of the environment. Results showed that goldfish could encode and use both geometric and featural information to navigate. Goldfish trained in a maplike, or relational, procedure encoded both types of information in a single representation. In contrast, fish trained in a directly cued procedure developed 2 independent and competing strategies. These results suggest that the geometric properties of the spatial arrangement and discrete landmarks are sensitive to encoding in a maplike or relational system, whereas different sources of spatial information are encoded in a single and flexible representation of the environment.     

Life review therapy using autobiographical retrieval practice for older adults with depressive symptomatology

The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of life review based on autobiographical retrieval practice for treating depressed older adults. Forty-three adults aged 65-93 with clinically significant depressive symptomatology and no dementia were randomly assigned to treatment or to no treatment. The results indicated significant differences between experimental and control groups after 4 weeks of autobiographical retrieval practice. At posttest, those in the treatment condition showed fewer depressive symptoms, less hopelessness, improved life satisfaction, and retrieval of more specific events. The findings suggest that practice in autobiographical memory for specific events may be among the components of life review that account for its effectiveness and could be a useful tool in psychotherapy with older adults.     

Self regulation processes measurement through self-report methodology

Nowadays the evaluation of self-regulated learning processes is having a critical time due to the problems concerning the assessment instruments. This paper presents the outcomes of a research study having a main goal: evaluate to what extent student's consciousness of his/her own self-regulated learning and study processes (and the involved strategies and activities) has a significant impact on the quality of his/her answers on self-report type instruments. In order to prove this hypothesis an experimental study was designed and built including a pre and a post-test, having no control group, using a sample of 90 college students from different degree courses. The intervention program lasted 45 hours, divided into 8 work sessions of 5 hours each. The developed work included both theoretical and practical tasks dealing with strategies and activities involved in the self-regulated learning and study processes. The results show that the collected data using a self-report instrument is much more significant and accurate after the intervention program has taken place and that the intervention greatly improves the obtained information using these kind of instruments.     

Success in chess mediated by mental molds

Research has revealed the impact of cognitive-affective strategies (Molds of the Mind) on subjective well-being, interpersonal relationships, or school achievement. However, it seems odd that such strategies could influence the success of chess players, because this game is usually considered to be influenced mainly by technical and cognitive skills. To examine the influence of cognitive-affective molds, 53 chess players, ages from 9 to 16 years old, enrolled in sport competitions, were assigned to two groups, high and low success. They responded to the MOLDES, designed to evaluate individuals' molds. The results show that the "Mental Molds" of the most successful players are more realistic, positive and regulators of the emotions, while the molds of the less successful players are more evasive, magical, defensive and inoperative.     

Can wild common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) solve the parallel strings task?

Patterned string tasks are a test of perceptual capacity and the understanding of means-end connections. Primates can solve complex forms of this task in laboratories. However, this may not indicate the level of such cognition that is commonly employed in the wild, where decision-making time is often short and distractions such as predator avoidance and competition between conspecifics are often prevalent. The current study tests whether wild common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) can successfully complete the simplest form of the patterned string task, parallel strings, while in their natural environment. Although 12 out of 13 marmosets could successfully complete the task, in previous laboratory-based studies on primates, the errors at this task by all primate species tested were consistently lower than in the present study. This is probably explained by the added difficulties imposed by the natural setting of the task in the present study, exemplified by a significant increase in observed vigilance behaviour by subject animals prior to attempts at the task that were unsuccessful. The undertaking of such tasks by common marmosets in situ probably provides a more reasonable representation of the levels of cognitive capacity expressed by this species in the wild than do laboratory-based studies of the task.     

The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 Among a School Sample of Portuguese Male and Female Adolescents

Few personality traits are as socially relevant as impulsivity, but few self-report measures have been specifically developed for adolescents and children. The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS-11) among a mixed-gender sample of 782 Portuguese youth (M = 15.87 years; SD = 1.72), in a school context. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the expected 6-factor first-order structure, but the 3-factor second-order factorial structure did not present a good fit. Cross-gender measurement invariance was demonstrated only in terms of weak invariance. Nonetheless, the Portuguese adaptation of the BIS-11 demonstrated some generally acceptable psychometric properties of internal consistency, mean inter-item correlation, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity of statistically significant associations with conduct disorder symptoms, alcohol abuse, drug use, and unprotected sex. The use of the BIS-11 among the male and female youth population is psychometrically justified, and it can be a useful measure to identify impulsive adolescents who are at considerable risk of personal injury and present a potential source of injury to others.