Specific language deficiencies in children with early onset hydrocephalus

Specific language abilities of children with early onset hydrocephalus were compared to nonhydrocephalic comparison groups. Ninety children, aged 5 to 7 years, composed six subject groups: three groups having a history of hydrocephalus due to spina bifida, prematurity-intraventricular hemorrhage, or aqueductal stenosis. and three comparison groups of children with spina bifida who had never been shunted, premature children with no hydrocephalus, and normal controls. Group performance scores were compared on measures of phonological awareness, semantics, fluency, and word retrieval. Children with hydrocephalus performed below their peers on all measures. These results indicate that early onset hydrocephalus has a substantial adverse impact on the development of a wide range of specific language abilities.     

Humor styles impact the relationship between symptoms of social anxiety and depression

Recent research suggests that examining humor styles may contribute to our understanding of clinical problems, such as risk and resiliency. The goal of the current study was to examine whether humor styles moderate the association between social anxiety and depressive symptoms in an unselected sample. Three-hundred and six participants (66% female) at a large Southern US university completed self-report measures of humor styles and symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Regression analyses suggested that affiliative and self-defeating humor styles individually moderated the relationship between social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Clinical implications regarding the monitoring of humor use as a means of understanding the maintenance of depressive symptoms among socially anxious individuals are discussed.     

Body Surveillance and Body Shame in College Men: Are Men Who Self-Objectify Less Hopeful?

The current study examined self-objectification and hope in a sample of undergraduate men from a Midwestern university in the United States (N?=?227). Specifically, an online survey utilizing self-report measures examined the associations between body surveillance, body shame, trait hope, social relationship hope, and romantic relationship hope were considered through the lenses of Objectification Theory and the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, bivariate correlations showed that more body surveillance was associated with less trait agency, less trait pathways, less social relationship pathways, and less romantic relationship pathways. As well, more body shame was associated with less trait agency, less trait pathways, less social relationship pathways, less romantic relationship agency, and less romantic relationship pathways. Additionally, consistent with Hypothesis 2 and the model proposed by Objectification Theory, body shame explained relations between body surveillance and hope, specifically, trait agency, social relationship pathways, romantic relationship agency, and romantic relationship pathways in a path analysis. This work fills an important gap in the current literature, as it is the only study to date that examines relations between self-objectification and hope, and furthers objectification research among men. Results are discussed within the context of Objectification Theory and the Broaden and Build Theory of Positive Emotions. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Gender Differences in Elaborative Parent–Child Emotion and Play Narratives

Reminiscing about the past is an everyday activity that has implications for children’s developing memory and socioemotional skills. However, little research has systematically examined how mothers and fathers may differentially elaborate and engage their daughters and sons in reminiscing. In this study, we asked 42 broadly middle-class, highly educated U.S., mostly Caucasian mothers and fathers from the same families, living in the southeastern U.S., to reminisce about a happy, sad, peer conflict, parental conflict, playground and special outing experience with their 4-year-old child. Narratives were coded for parental styles of cognitive elaboration and joint engagement. Results indicated that mothers are both more elaborative and engaged with children than fathers are, especially about negative emotional and positive play experiences. Thus, mothers appear to be helping children recount and understand their personal past more than fathers, and specifically, in working through difficult emotions that may facilitate emotion regulation skills.     

Dissociated developmental trajectories for semantic and phonological false memories

False recognition following presentation of semantically related and phonologically related word lists was evaluated in 8-, 11-, and 13-year-olds. Children heard lists of words that were either semantic (e.g., bed, rest, wake …) or phonological associates (e.g., pole, bowl, hole …) of a critical unpresented word (e.g., sleep, roll), respectively. A semantic false memory was defined as false recognition of a semantically related but unpresented word. A phonological false memory was defined as false recognition of a phonologically related but unpresented word. False memories in the two tasks showed opposite developmental trends, increasing with age for semantic relatedness and decreasing with age for phonological relatedness.     

The positive and negative semantic dimensions of relationship satisfaction

Semantic differential items were reconfigured to assess relationship satisfaction across separate positive and negative attitude dimensions. Study 1 (N = 1,656) supported a 2‐factor model for the Positive and Negative Semantic Differential (PN–SMD), as well as its convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity over the 16‐item Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; J. L. Funk & R. D. Rogge, 2007) using known correlates of relationship satisfaction as criteria. Study 2 (N = 89) replicated the convergent, criterion‐related, and incremental validity findings of Study 1 using different criterion measures, the CSI, a bipolar semantic differential measure designed for assessing relationship satisfaction, and an existing 2‐dimensional measure of relationship satisfaction. The authors demonstrated across studies that the PN–SMD captures criterion‐relevant information about ambivalence versus indifference toward the relationship—associations that are only detectable when using a 2‐dimensional satisfaction measure.     

Flashbulb Memories for September 11th can be Preserved in Older Adults

Flashbulb memories (FMs) are vivid, long-lasting memories for the source of surprising, arousing news. Laboratory studies have consistently found that older adults, especially those with below-average frontal lobe (FL) function, are impaired in source memory relative to young. We tested memory for the source of news concerning the September 11th terrorist attacks in older adults with high or low frontal lobe function and in young people. We found no age differences in source memory a year after the event and no differences related to FL function. Flashbulb memories may be different from usual cases of source memory because of their emotional content, personal importance, or social relevance.     

Toward a Better Understanding of the Relationship Between Friendship and Happiness: Perceived Responses to Capitalization Attempts, Feelings of Mattering, and Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs in Same-Sex Best Friendships as Predictors of Happiness

Friendship is a consistent correlate of happiness, yet less is known about the associations of friendship specific experiences and feelings with happiness. In this study (n = 4,382) the roles of perceived responses to capitalization attempts, perceived mattering to and satisfaction of basic psychological needs in same-sex best friendships in happiness among men and women were investigated. Findings showed that although all of the friendship variables were positively associated with happiness to varying degrees, basic needs satisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor of happiness. Additional analyses revealed that competence need satisfaction was the most important need predicting happiness. Importantly, these findings were gender invariant. The findings were discussed in light of theory and empirical literature and suggestions were made for future research.