Spirituality and psychological pain: the mediating role of social support

Spirituality is a multifaceted construct, and often studied as a one- or two-dimensional variable. Recent work has resulted in the development of the RiTE model of spirituality. While preliminarily supported as a useful approach to measuring spirituality, little is known regarding its associations with other outcomes. Past studies have shown inverse associations between spirituality and psychological distress, which appears to be partially a function of social support derived from spiritual beliefs or practices. As such, the present study tested the relationship between the RiTE dimensions and psychache as mediated by multiple types of social support. Parallel mediation results from an undergraduate sample (N?=?1994) showed that all three RiTE dimensions were indirectly associated with psychache via multiple forms of social support. Ritualistic and existential spirituality also displayed direct associations with psychache. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of past literature, applicable theoretical constructs, and treatment considerations.     

A cluster randomised controlled trial of an intervention based on the Health Action Process Approach for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in Iranian adolescents

Objective: To evaluate an intervention programme based on the Health Action Process Approach and designed to increase the intake of fruit and vegetables (F&V) among Iranian adolescents aged 13 to 18.

Design: A randomised controlled trial with three arms examined the short- (1 month) and long-term (6 months) effects of the intervention. There were two intervention groups (one included adolescents only [A group; n = 510]; the second included mothers and adolescents [M + A group; n = 462]) and a control group (n = 483). All participants were recruited from schools.

Main outcome measures: Social cognitions, self-regulatory processes and F&V intake.

Results: The intervention led to an increase in F&V intake for adolescents in the short and long terms. Adolescents in the M + A group increased their F& V intake more than adolescents in the A group. Outcome expectancies, self-monitoring, intentions, action and coping planning, perceived social support and behavioural automaticity mediated the effect of the intervention on F&V intake.

Conclusion: The theory-based intervention led to an increase in F&V intake and promoted more positive social cognitions and self-regulatory processes among Iranian adolescents. The findings also provide evidence that involving mothers in an intervention can confer additional benefit.     

Ageing and bilingualism: absence of a "bilingual advantage" in stroop interference in a nonimmigrant sample

Previous research has found an advantage for bilinguals relative to monolinguals on tasks of attentional control. This advantage has been found to be larger in older adults than in young adults, suggesting that bilingualism provides a buffer against age-related declines in executive functioning. Using a computerized Stroop task in a nonimmigrant sample of young and older monolinguals and bilinguals, the current investigation tried to replicate previous findings of a bilingual advantage. A bilingual advantage would have been demonstrated by smaller Stroop interference (i.e., smaller increases in response time for incongruent than for neutral trials) for bilinguals than for monolinguals. The results showed that bilingual young adults showed a general speed advantage relative to their monolingual counterparts, but this was not associated with smaller Stroop interference. Older adults showed no effect of bilingualism. Thus, the present investigation does not find evidence of a bilingual advantage in young or older adults and suggests limits to the robustness and/or specificity of previous findings.     

Body image change in obese and overweight women enrolled in a weight-loss intervention: the importance of perceived versus actual physical changes

Using the exercise and self-esteem model as a guiding framework, this study examined variables related to body image change among 88 overweight and obese women (M(age)=28.4±7.8; M(BMI)=31.6±3.5) participating in a 16-week diet and exercise weight-loss intervention. Measures of body image and potential mechanisms of body image change (actual and perceived physical changes, self-efficacy) were administered at baseline, Weeks 8 and 16. Body image improved significantly over the study time-points (ps<.001). Perceived physical changes accounted for most explained variance (12-37%) in body image change (total R(2)(adj)=.21-.50). Improved perceptions of body fat were a particularly important predictor in each model (ps≤.04). Results support the notion that to improve body image, perceived changes to the body are more important than actual changes. Such information is integral to developing theories to explain body image change and interventions to maximize it.     

Does temporal integration of face parts reflect holistic processing?

We examined whether temporal integration of face parts reflects holistic processing or response interference. Participants learned to name two faces “Fred” and two “Bob.” At test, the top and bottom halves of different faces formed composites and were presented briefly separated in time. Replicating prior findings (Singer & Sheinberg, Vision Research, 46, 1838–1847, 2006), naming of the target half for aligned composites was slowed when the irrelevant half was from a face with a different name rather than from the original face. However, no interference was observed when the irrelevant half had a name identical to the name of the target half but came from a different learned face, arguing against a true holistic effect. Instead, response interference was obtained when the target half briefly preceded the irrelevant half. Experiment 2 confirmed a double dissociation of holistic processing versus response interference for intact faces versus temporally separated face halves, suggesting that simultaneous presentation of facial information is critical for holistic processing.     

Age-related differences in interlingual priming: a behavioural and electrophysiological investigation

Reaction time (RT) and the N400 ERP component were measured to examine age-related differences in bilingual language processing. Although young bilinguals appear to access both languages simultaneously (i.e., non-selective access), little is known about language selection in older adults. The effect of language context on language selectivity was investigated using interlingual homographs (IH; i.e., words with identical orthography but distinct semantic features in two languages, e.g., coin meaning 'corner' in French and 'money' in English). Younger and older French/English bilinguals were presented with triplets of letter strings comprised of a language context cue, an IH, and a target word, in a lexical decision semantic priming task. RT and ERP results support non-selective language access in young adults; however, the older bilinguals used the language context cue to bias their reading of the IH. Results are discussed in terms of age-related changes in language processing and context use in bilinguals.     

Exploring Academic Dishonesty among University Students in Barbados: An Extension to the Theory of Planned Behaviour

This paper applies Beck and Ajzen’s (Journal of Research in Personality 25:285–301, 1991) extended version of the theory of planned behaviour model to the decisions of students to engage in academic dishonesty (cheating and lying). The model proposes that students’ intentions to engage in dysfunctional behaviours may be influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and moral obligation. This study was done using a survey questionnaire of 363 undergraduate students at a West Indian University. Based on the extended version of the theory of planned behaviour, with the exception of subjective norms which only predicted students’ intentions to cheat, it was found that attitudes, perceived behavioural control and moral obligation were significant predictors of students’ intentions to perform academic dishonesty behaviours in the form of cheating and lying. The results of the study have given further support to the use of the extended version of the theory of planned behaviour. Implications are discussed.     

Predicting ideal body mass index: what does clothing size have to do with it?

This study examined demographic and anthropometric variables as predictors of ideal body mass index (BMI) from cross-sectional, archival, self-reported data from the Psychology of Size Survey of 4014 U.S. residents collected in 2007. As hypothesized, ideal BMI can be predicted by a within gender hierarchical multiple regression analysis with the predictor variables of age, number of clothing sizes from ideal size, and current BMI; these variables account for 54.1% of variance in women's ideal BMI and 65.5% of variance in men's ideal BMI. Findings also demonstrated a logarithmic relationship between current BMI and ideal BMI, with increasing variance in ideal BMI for individuals with high current BMIs. These findings evidence the strong role of current body characteristics in the formation of ideals. Understanding how individuals conceptualize body ideals can inform researchers and practitioners alike, as this evidence has important implications related to both medical and psychological health.