The Role of Emotion Dysregulation in the Links Between Sibling Victimization and Internalizing Symptoms in Middle Childhood

Despite sibling victimization being a relatively common occurrence, there is a dearth of research examining the outcomes associated with this interpersonal stressor, including internalizing symptoms. The current study sought to advance the literature by longitudinally examining the links from sibling victimization to depression and anxiety symptoms while also considering peer victimization in a sample of elementary school-age youth (51.8% boys, M age?=?8.72) who were initially in 3rd and 4th grade. Further, emotion dysregulation was examined as a mediator of these associations. Youth provided self-reports at three separate time points approximately 6 months apart. Path analysis models indicated that emotion dysregulation mediated the association between sibling, but not peer, victimization and increased depression symptoms. However, neither sibling nor peer victimization were associated with anxiety symptoms over time. Results suggest the importance of attending to sibling victimization for the prevention of emotion dysregulation difficulties and ultimately early symptoms of depression. Youth assessments need to include questions about both sibling and peer victimization, and sibling victimization needs to be included as a target of prevention and intervention for subsequent internalizing difficulties.

     

Pain Catastrophizing and Functional Disability in Youth with Chronic Pain: An Examination of Indirect Effects

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Pediatric pain conditions are not uncommon and may lead to functional disability. The purpose of this study is to examine indirect effects of...     

Ambient lighting alters motivational responses to advertisements for foods of different energetic value

Motivation and Emotion - Ambient lighting has been identified as a motivationally relevant context that affects cognition, emotion, and behavior, including food consumption and choice. This study...     

Apparent misalignment of oblique coplanar bars in depth

Following preliminary observations of apparent misalignment of coplanar surfaces in a three-dimensional (3-D) form of the Poggendorff Figure viewed in depth, the effect was investigated in five experiments and compared with the 2-D Poggendorff effect in the same object in a sixth. The effect in depth occurred with the complete object when it was viewed binocularly but did not do so with the oblique bars alone or when the object was viewed monocularly. The effect did not vary with oblique-parallel angles of 30°, 45°, and 60° and was absent when the angle was 90°. It varied as a function of the distance between the parallels, but was unaffected by a regular pattern on the oblique bars. A smaller 2-D Poggendorff effect occurred when the upper edges of the object were viewed from above. Although the depth effect was robust, its variance was high compared with that of the 2-D effect, indicating that acuity for misalignments of oblique elements in depth is poor. An explanation of apparent misalignment of oblique elements in 2-D and 3-D space in terms of a perceptual compromise between alignment in an oblique axis and separation relative to the axes of the parallels is proposed.     

Gender differences in the relation between stressful life events and adjustment among school-aged children

The study evaluated gender differences in the relation between stressful life events and adjustment among elementary school children. In Study I, anxiety, aggression, submissive withdrawal, and life event questionnaires were completed by 63 Israeli children. The frequency of life events was associated with increased anxiety and trends toward heightened withdrawal and aggression among boys, but not girls. In Study II, 80 Israeli mothers of elementary school children completed parallel questionnaires regarding their child. As in Study I, life events were associated among boys, but not girls, with increased anxiety and a trend toward heightened withdrawal. No gender difference arose in the association for aggression. Discussion focused on the possible roots of these findings in differential patterns of stress sensitivity, resilience, and coping, and on their ramifications for the study of cross-situational gender differences.     

Age-related changes in deferred imitation from television by 6- to 18-month-olds

During the second year of life, infants exhibit a video deficit effect. That is, they learn significantly less from a televised demonstration than they learn from a live demonstration. We predicted that repeated exposure to televised demonstrations would increase imitation from television, thereby reducing the video deficit effect. Independent groups of 6- to 18-month-olds were exposed to live or videotaped demonstrations of target actions. Imitation of the target actions was measured 24 hours later. The video segment duration was twice that of the live presentation. Doubling exposure ameliorated the video deficit effect for 12-month-olds but not for 15- and 18-month-olds. The 6-month-olds imitated from television but did not demonstrate a video deficit effect at all, learning equally well from a live and video demonstration. Findings are discussed in terms of the perceptual impoverishment theory and the dual representation theory.     

In the Eyes of the Beholder: how Adolescents,Teachers and School Counselors Construct Adolescent Images

This study had two objectives: (a) to examine the adolescent image teachers and school counselors construct (category-based images) by comparing it with the adolescent's self-image (self-as-target based), and (b) to explicate the discrepancy between category-based adolescent images as constructed by teachers, counselors, and adolescents by underlying social cognitive processes. To this end, 269 eighth-grade adolescents and 104 junior high school teachers and school counselors responded to the self-image questionnaire for young adolescents (SIQYA). Adolescents responded either to self-image questionnaires or to an adolescent-your-age version and school staff to an eighth-grader image version. One-way MANOVAs comparing the nine SIQYA scales indicated that overall, teachers' and school counselors' adolescent images were less positive than adolescents' adolescent images (as reported both regarding the self or another adolescent). These findings were interpreted in terms of two social psychological processes: positive illusion and adolescent stereotypes. Discussion also addresses the implications of these findings for educators' knowledge regarding normal adolescent processes and psychological hardships intensified during adolescence.     

The role of facial orientation in newborn infants’ preference for attractive faces

Several previous experiments have found that newborn and young infants will spend more time looking at attractive faces when these are shown paired with faces judged by adults to be unattractive. Two experimental conditions are described whose aim was to find whether the ‘attractiveness effect’ is affected by the orientation of the facial stimuli. Pairs of attractive and less attractive faces (as judged by adults) were shown to newborn infants (mean age 2 days 20.5 hours), where each pair was presented both upright and inverted through 180°. In the former (upright) condition, but not the latter (inverted) condition, the infants looked longer at the attractive faces, and the difference in attractiveness preference between the conditions was statistically significant. These findings are clear evidence that infants’ early representation of faces contains information about faces that is orientation‐specific. The results are discussed in terms of innate facial representations and rapid learning about faces in the hours from birth.