Internet Use Associated Body-Surveillance Among Female Adolescents: Assessing the Role of Peer Networks

Body-surveillance is a core element of self-objectification, which has been recognized as a health hazard, particularly in female adolescents. Although the role of peers in self-objectification has been documented, the utility of ego-centered network approach has not been demonstrated. Using an online sample of 211 Croatian female adolescents, this study explored whether structural characteristics of self-reported networks (composed of same-sex peers one has discussed sexuality with) moderated the relationship between the use of social networking sites (SNS) and body-surveillance. Controlling for parental monitoring and accounting for self-esteem—which was negatively associated with adolescent body-surveillance—smaller network size amplified the association between SNS use and body-surveillance. Apart from confirming the overlap between offline and online peer networks in shaping adolescent body image concerns, this study’s findings suggest that adolescent women who frequently use SNS and those with fewer close friends are more vulnerable to social media-related body-objectification than their peers.     

Can implicit measures detect source information in crime-related amnesia?

Participants who are asked to simulate amnesia for a mock crime have a weaker memory for this event when they have to give up their role as a feigner, than those who are not asked to feign memory loss. According to the source monitoring framework (SMF), this memory-undermining effect of simulating amnesia for a crime would be due to misattribution of the right source of information. However, we know that the content of self-generated information (e.g., feigned version of the crime) might be preserved and recognised over time as a result of elaborative cognitive processing. In the present study, we aimed to contrast these two explanations. We showed participants a mock crime video and we instructed them to either feign amnesia (simulators) or confess the mock crime (confessors). Next, a free recall memory test was administered. After one week, participants were asked to perform a personalised source monitoring task using the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT). As predicted, we found that simulators were able to discriminate the content of their self-generated feigned story of the crime from the original version. Moreover, simulators were quicker than confessors at the aIAT task. Practical and theoretical implications of our results are discussed.     

Investigating the Affective Signature of Forgivingness across the Adult Years

Though dispositional forgiveness has been associated with affective well-being, it remains unclear whether these associations are consistent throughout adulthood. The current study investigated whether forgivingness interacted with chronological age or future time perspective to predict affect at the trait and daily level. Participants (n = 332, mean age: 45.5 years) completed baseline measures of forgivingness, positive and negative affect, and future time perspective, along with daily assessments of positive and negative affect for up to ten days. Results suggest that the associations between forgivingness and affective well-being differ somewhat based on age and future time perspective, and level of analysis.     

Integration of audio‐visual information for spatial decisions in children and adults

In adults, decisions based on multisensory information can be faster and/or more accurate than those relying on a single sense. However, this finding varies significantly across development. Here we studied speeded responding to audio‐visual targets, a key multisensory function whose development remains unclear. We found that when judging the locations of targets, children aged 4 to 12 years and adults had faster and less variable response times given auditory and visual information together compared with either alone. Comparison of response time distributions with model predictions indicated that children at all ages were integrating (pooling) sensory information to make decisions but that both the overall speed and the efficiency of sensory integration improved with age. The evidence for pooling comes from comparison with the predictions of Miller's seminal ‘race model’, as well as with a major recent extension of this model and a comparable ‘pooling’ (coactivation) model. The findings and analyses can reconcile results from previous audio‐visual studies, in which infants showed speed gains exceeding race model predictions in a spatial orienting task (Neil et al., 2006) but children below 7 years did not in speeded reaction time tasks (e.g. Barutchu et al., 2009). Our results provide new evidence for early and sustained abilities to integrate visual and auditory signals for spatial localization from a young age.     

Chinese Perceptions of Threats from the United States and Japan

People's threat perceptions play a role in influencing foreign policies towards perceived adversary countries. Earlier research has identified multiple components shaping mass-level threat perceptions including military power, adversary country's perceived intentions, and national identities. On the individual level, education, use of media, and interest in politics have been shown to influence threat perceptions. However, most studies on perceptions of security threats fail to include both contextual and individual-level explanatory factors and to consider that different national threats may be constructed differently. This research bridges formation of threat perceptions on the individual level to wider societal processes and provides an empirical perspective to understanding threat perceptions among the educated section of the Chinese population. To analyze threat perceptions, students from leading Chinese universities (N = 771) took part in a survey in the autumn of 2011 and spring of 2012. Respondents who followed conventional media were more likely to perceive both the United States and Japan as threatening, and the effect of media consumption was particularly strong with regards to perceived threat from Japan. In addition, each threat perception was significantly associated with threat-specific explanatory factors. Potential explanatory factors of threat perceptions were explored with linear regression models.     

Optimism and pessimism as predictors of change in health after death or onset of severe illness in family.

The authors prospectively examined changes in health after a major life event (death or onset of severe illness in family) among 5,007 employees (mean age=44.8 years) whose optimism and pessimism levels were assessed in 1997 and major life events in 2000. Health was indicated by sickness absence days during a period covering 36 months prior to the event and 18 months after the event. Increase in sick days after the event was smaller and returned to the prevent level more quickly among highly optimistic individuals than among their counterparts with low optimism. Parallel changes were not observed in relation to pessimism. These findings suggest that optimism may reduce the risk of health problems and may be related to a faster recovery after a major life event.     

Assessing Reflective Parenting in Interaction With School-Aged Children

The aim of this study was to examine whether it was possible to develop a reliable and valid assessment of reflective parenting implicit in interaction with school-aged children using an adaptation of the Squiggle paradigm developed by Winnicott (1968 Winnicott, D. W. (1968). Playing: Its theoretical status in the clinical situation. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 49, 591–599.[PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and a manualized coding system (Normandin, Leroux, Ensink, Terradas, &; Fonagy, 2015 Normandin, L., Leroux, A., Ensink, K., Terradas, M. M., &; Fonagy, P. (2015). Reflective Parenting Assessment coding manual (Unpublished manual). University Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada. [Google Scholar]). A total of 158 mother–child dyads participated when children were age 5 to 12. Of this group, 89 children had experienced sexual abuse. Interrater reliability using the manualized coding system was excellent. The factor analysis identified a reflective parenting stance factor, in addition to an affectionate support factor and a negative parenting factor. Furthermore, there was a medium strength relationship between the mother's reflective parenting stance evident in her interactions with her child and parental reflective functioning assessed using the Parent Development Interview (Slade, Aber, Bresgi, Berger, &; Kaplan, 2004 Slade, A., Aber, J. L., Bresgi, I., Berger, B., &; Kaplan, M. (2004). The Parent Development Interview–Revised (Unpublished protocol). The City University of New York, New York, NY. [Google Scholar]), suggesting the parental reflective stance is a good indicator of parental reflective functioning in interaction. With regard to parent reports of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors, the reflective parenting stance was the only predictor of internalizing difficulties and a significant predictor of externalizing difficulties in addition to sexual abuse.     

Child and family‐related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

International adoptees need to cope with stressful transitions and to develop secure attachment with their caregivers at the same time. Although most children adopted from abroad adjust fine, they are at increased risk of psychological problems. We investigated whether both child and family‐related factors are associated with later psychological problems and whether the length of time spent at home after adoption before daycare moderates these associations among internationally adopted children in Finland (FinAdo, Finnish Adoption Study). The sample consisted of 1,265 children (708 girls, 557 boys) who arrived in Finland before they started school (mean age 2 years at arrival). Later behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). According to our results, male gender, older age, child's early clinical symptoms (problems of sensory processing) and single parenthood were associated with later behavioral problems measured by CBCL scores. Longer stay at home before the start of daycare or school modified these results. Longer stay at home was associated with less later behavioral externalizing problems in girls but not in boys compared to those who spent a shorter time at home.