Testing mediator variables in a resistance training intervention for obese adults with type 2 diabetes

A poor understanding of behaviour change mechanisms has hindered the development of effective physical activity interventions. The aim of this study was to identify potential mediators of change in a home-based resistance training (RT) program for obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Obese individuals with type 2 diabetes (N?=?48) were randomly allocated to either an RT intervention (n?=?27) or a control group (n?=?21) for the 16-week study period. The study sample included 16 men and 32 women and the mean age of participants was 54.4 (±11.7) years. Participants in the RT group received a multi-gym and dumbbells and home supervision from a certified personal trainer. RT behaviour was measured using a modified Godin Leisure Time Questionnaire. Social-cognitive constructs were measured and tested in a mediating variable framework using a product-of-coefficients test. The intervention had a significant effect on RT behaviour (p?<?0.001) and muscular strength (p?<?0.001). The intervention had a significant effect on RT planning strategies (p?<?0.01), which mediated the effect of the intervention on RT behaviour. The home-based RT program successfully targeted participants’ RT planning strategies which contributed to their exercise adherence.     

Low Self-Esteem as a Risk Factor for Loneliness in Adolescence: Perceived - but not Actual - Social Acceptance as an Underlying Mechanism

Low self-esteem has been shown to relate to concurrent and later feelings of loneliness in adolescence. However, it remains unclear why low self-esteem puts adolescents at risk for experiencing loneliness. Further, longitudinal research on the direction of effects between loneliness and self-esteem is virtually non-existent. The present study aims to fill these gaps in the literature. First, the direction of effects between loneliness and self-esteem was investigated in two independent longitudinal studies: a five-wave study sampling Dutch adolescents (M age?=?15.22 years at T1; 47 % female; N?=?428) and a three-wave study sampling Belgian adolescents (M age?=?14.95 years at T1; 63 % female; N?=?882). Second, the underlying role of social acceptance was investigated in the latter sample by applying a multi-method approach that included actual (i.e., peer-reported) and perceived (i.e., self-reported) social acceptance. Results indicated that self-esteem and loneliness influenced one another in a reciprocal manner. Furthermore, the dominant path from self-esteem to loneliness was partially mediated by perceived—but not actual—social acceptance. The importance of distinguishing actual from perceived social acceptance is discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Explicit- and Implicit Bullying Attitudes in Relation to Bullying Behavior

The main aim of this study was to examine whether an assessment of implicit bullying attitudes could add to the prediction of bullying behavior after controlling for explicit bullying attitudes. Primary school children (112 boys and 125 girls, M age = 11 years, 5 months) completed two newly developed measures of implicit bullying attitudes (a general Implicit Association Test on bullying and a movie-primed specific IAT on bullying), an explicit bullying attitude measure, and self reported, peer reported, and teacher rated bullying behavior. While explicit bullying attitudes predicted bullying behavior, implicit attitudes did not. However, a significant interaction between implicit and explicit bullying attitudes indicated that in children with relatively positive explicit attitudes, implicit bullying attitudes were important predictors of bullying behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Motivational synchronicity: Priming motivational orientations with observations of others’ behaviors

Two experiments tested the motivational synchronicity hypothesis, according to which observation of a target person’s behavior implying an intrinsic or an extrinsic motivational orientation primes the observers’ corresponding motivational orientation. Experiment 1 revealed that participants exposed to a target person intrinsically motivated to perform a task, relative to those exposed to an extrinsically motivated target person, showed greater intrinsic motivation (free-choice persistence) for the same task. Experiment 2 extended this in two important ways: (1) different tasks were used for the target and participant in order to rule out an expectation-based interpretation of the results, and (2) performance on an activity known to be facilitated by intrinsic motivation was used as the dependent measure. It appears that simply observing others’ motivational orientations influences the accessibility of the observers’ corresponding motivational orientation.     

Impact of Peer Partner Support on Self Efficacy for Justice-Involved Parents: A Controlled Study of Juvenile Justice 101

Systems of care and other health-related initiatives have encouraged the proliferation of parent support policies in mental health, child welfare and education systems. However, the juvenile court system has relatively few programs that provide direct peer support for parents and little is known about the impact of parent support on families navigating the court process. Juvenile Justice 101 is one of only a few such programs. The present study examined the effect of the peer support element of Juvenile Justice 101 compared to video-only and no intervention conditions in a pre/post-test design. One hundred and ten parents agreed to participate in the study, 54 on a day with the peer support condition, 28 on a video-only day and 28 on a no-intervention day. Sixteen parents in the peer support condition were able to participate in the full program and seven parents in the video-only condition participated in the full video. Analyses disaggregate the effects of condition assignment and participation. Self-efficacy in navigating the juvenile court process improved for parents who participated in peer support but no improvement was observed for the other conditions. Parents in the peer support condition also rated peer partners higher than court staff on a dimension assessing process of care. The implications for practice and policy for peer support and family-driven services in juvenile court are discussed.     

Temporal integration differences between crossed and uncrossed stereoscopic mechanisms

In this study, we investigated temporal integration of disparity information for crossed and uncrossed stereopsis. Across three experiments, exposure duration thresholds were measured for stereoscopic stimuli created from dynamic random-dot stereograms. In Experiment 1, an investigation of disparity detection showed that detection thresholds were equal for the crossed and uncrossed directions. In Experiment 2, an examination of duration limits for depth perception showed that critical durations were lower, and depth more veridical, for crossed depth than for uncrossed depth. In Experiment 3, an investigation of depth discrimination revealed that discrimination thresholds were lower for crossed depth than for uncrossed depth. These results suggest that crossed and uncrossed mechanisms differ in terms of their temporal integration properties at processing levels involving the computation and discrimination of depth.     

AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT IN APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS: A REVIEW

Measurement is a critical aspect of the scientific process. If measurement systems are not accurate and precise, the findings of experiments will most likely be spurious. In applied behavior analysis, the most prevalent form of measurement is human observation with automated measurement being used sporadically. Automated measurement is generally more accurate as it minimizes recording error. This paper reviews some of the common measurement systems currently in use and examines some new technologies that may expand the use of automated recording in the future. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE USE OF RESPONSE PREVENTION TO ELIMINATE NOCTURNAL THUMBSUCKING

The effects of a response prevention strategy consisting of the fading of restraint and the removal of reinforcers on nocturnal thumbsucking behavior was evaluated in four experiments. In the first experiment, nocturnal thumbsucking was restrained for approximately 1 week by having each of two boys wear a boxing glove to bed. Next they wore absorbent cotton over the thumb for 11 nights. During the last phase in this condition, they wore a fingertip bandage over the thumb for 10 to 11 nights. The response prevention package completely eliminated thumbsucking behavior in both boys. In the second experiment, the removal of reinforcers alone for nocturnal thumbsucking had little or no effect on the thumbsucking behavior of three girls whereas the later introduction of the entire package completely suppressed thumbsucking in all three girls. In the third experiment, the package was evaluated in the absence of the glove restraint condition. The results showed that the treatment package was effective in the absence of the glove restraint condition for all three children. The final experiment examined whether the package could be effective if the absorbent cotton condition was abruptly removed without using the fingertip bandage condition. The results showed the treatment to be effective with one of two boys, but not the other.     

The reinforcing effects of houselight illumination during chained schedules of food presentation

Pigeons' keypecking was maintained under two- and three-component chained schedules of food presentation. The component schedules were all fixed-interval schedules of either 1- or 2-min duration. Across conditions the presence of houselight illumination within each component schedule was manipulated. For each pigeon, first-component response rates increased significantly when the houselight was extinguished in the first component and illuminated in the second. The results suggest that the increase was not the result of disinhibition or modification of stimulus control by component stimuli, but appears to result from the reinforcement of responding by the onset of illumination in the second component. Additionally, the apparent reinforcing properties of houselight illumination resulted neither from association of the houselight with the terminal component of the chained schedule nor through generalization of the hopper illumination present during food presentation. The results of the present series of experiments are related to previous demonstrations of illumination-reinforced responding and to the interpretation of data from experiments employing houselight illumination as stimuli associated with timeout or brief stimuli in second-order schedules.