Dimensional analysis of a categorical diagnostic interview: the DICA-IV

The aim of this study is to obtain dimensions from a categorical diagnostic interview. 512 children aged 8 to 17 attending public centers for children's mental health and presenting some form of psychological disorder were interviewed with the "Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents" (DICA-IV). Analysis of the principal components indicate that a two-dimensional model (externalizing-internalizing) satisfactorily explain the data collected from the children and their parents. The data from the adolescents are better represented by a three-dimensional model (attention problems-internalizing-antisocial behavior). The factor scales show good internal consistency and significantly relate to other criteria of psychopathology and incapacity (concurrent validity). These results show that it is possible to use DICA-IV to obtain categorical and dimensional indicators simultaneously. The latter are particularly sensitive for measuring changes over the course of disorders.     

Core self-evaluations and job and life satisfaction: the role of self-concordance and goal attainment

The present study tested a model explaining how the core self-evaluations (i.e., positive self-regard) concept is linked to job and life satisfaction. The self-concordance model, which focuses on motives underlying goal pursuit, was used as an explanatory framework. Data were collected from 2 samples: (a) 183 university students (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and life satisfaction were used) and (b) 251 employees (longitudinal measures of goal attainment and job satisfaction were utilized). In both studies, the core self-evaluations concept was positively related to goal self-concordance, meaning that individuals with positive self-regard were more likely to pursue goals for intrinsic and identified (value-congruent) reasons. Furthermore, in both studies, goal self-concordance was related to satisfaction (job satisfaction in Study 1 and life satisfaction in Study 2).     

Are the inhibitory and faciliatory effects during retrieval of semantically related items present in amnestic mild cognitive impairment?

Prefrontal functions subserve inhibition control for retrieval of semantically related items inducing forgetting 19 a-MCI patients and 29 controls underwent neuropsychological evaluation and retrieval-practice paradigm (RPP) to estimate baseline remember (BR), retrieval-induced facilitation (FAC) and retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). A-MCI patients underwent also 3 T-MRI to assess relationship between regional grey matter (rGM) volumes and RPP indexes Behaviourally, RIF and FAC were both observed controls, while RIF only was observed in a-MCI patients. In patients but not in controls, RIF was associated with cognitive efficiency and FAC with memory performance. Patients showed also associations between BR and rGM volumes in the precuneus, no association was found between rGM volumes and RIF and FAC. A-MCI patients did not benefit from repeated practice during retrieval of studied items, which is likely due to their memory disorder. In contrast, patient cognitive efficiency would drive retrieval suppression of interfering stimuli.     

Health campaign channels: tradeoffs among reach,specificity, and impact

Stanford University's Five-City Multifactor Risk Reduction Project (FCP) was a 14-year trial of community-wide cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction through integrated programs of community organization and mass media health promotion. The project was launched in 1978 in 5 central California cities, including Monterey, Salinas, Modesto, and San Luis Obispo. TV public service announcements (PSAs), TV shows, booklets, printed tip sheets with brief health suggestions on 7 topics, and newspaper coverage were the types of mass media approaches used in the FCP. These strategies are compared with regard to reach, specificity, and impact for a 5-year study period from 1979/80. Reach is measured as the number of messages intervention community residents remembered, specificity was assessed by examining whether the campaign differentially reached people who were already knowledgeable and practicing cardiovascular disease risk reduction, and impact is defined as the amount of knowledge gained during the course of the campaign. Reach was highest for tip sheets, while specificity was highest for booklets followed by TV programs. Newspaper messages had the most impact, followed by booklets and TV PSAs, tip sheets, and TV programs. Communication channels varied according to reach, specificity, and impact, with each criterion being distinct. No channel was optimal for all 3 of the outcome measures.     

Conciliatory gestures facilitate forgiveness and feelings of friendship by making transgressors appear more agreeable

The authors examined how conciliatory gestures exhibited in response to interpersonal transgressions influence forgiveness and feelings of friendship with the transgressor. In Study 1, 163 undergraduates who had recently been harmed were examined longitudinally. Conciliatory gestures exhibited by transgressors predicted higher rates of forgiveness over 21 days, and this relationship was mediated by victims' perceptions of their transgressors' Agreeableness. Study 2 was an experiment including 145 undergraduates who experienced a breach in trust from an anonymous partner during an iterated prisoner's dilemma. When transgressors apologized and offered financial compensation, participants reported higher levels of forgiveness and feelings of friendship when compared to a control condition and an aggravating condition. The effects of apology/compensation on forgiveness and perceived friendship were mediated by victims' perceptions of their transgressors' Agreeableness. Results suggest that conciliatory gestures promote forgiveness in part by depicting transgressors as more sympathetic, considerate, fair, and just (i.e., agreeable).     

Effect of the violation of normality and sphericity in the linear mixed model in split-plot designs

This study aimed to evaluate the robustness of the linear mixed model, with the Kenward-Roger correction for degrees of freedom, when implemented in SAS PROC MIXED, using split-plot designs with small sample sizes. A Monte Carlo simulation design involving three groups and four repeated measures was used, assuming an unstructured covariance matrix to generate the data. The study variables were: sphericity, with epsilon values of 0.75 and 0.57; group sizes, equal or unequal; and shape of the distribution. As regards the latter, non-normal distributions were introduced, combining different values of kurtosis in each group. In the case of unbalanced designs, the effect of pairing (positive or negative) the degree of kurtosis with group size was also analysed. The results show that the Kenward-Roger procedure is liberal, particularly for the interaction effect, under certain conditions in which normality is violated. The relationship between the values of kurtosis in the groups and the pairing of kurtosis with group size are found to be relevant variables to take into account when applying this procedure.     

El cierre gramatical: Una prueba para la medida de la habilidad morfosintáctica

Resumen

Este estudio fue diseñado para elaborar una prueba psicológica que midiera la habilidad gramatical del niño catalán expuesto a un ambiente castellano-catalán. La hipótesis de trabajo y procedimiento empleados se basaron en el «Grammatic Closure», una de las pruebas del Illinois Test of Psicolinguistic Abilities (ITPA). La muestra experimental constó de 400 niños tomados de la población escolar catalana de edades comprendidas entre 3 y 10 años. El coeficiente de fiabilidad global fue.95 y el coeficiente de fiabilidad para cada edad comprendió valores entre.97 y.48. La validez de la prueba quedó determinada para cada edad mediante la relación entre los resultados específicos y el coeficiente de inteligencia. Los resultados obntenidos indicaron que. el niño adquiría los automatismos básicos de su lengua materna alrededor de los 7 años. Entre los 7 y 10 años, la adquisición de nuevas estructuras gramaticales dependía, aparentemente, del aprendizaje. La lengua utilizada en la escuela resultó también un factor importante. La prueba presentada aquí puede servir de modelo para la elaboración de instrumentos semejantes aplicables a otras comunidades lingüísticas.     

Being grateful is beyond good manners: Gratitude and motivation to contribute to society among early adolescents

Gratitude, a positive response to receiving a benefit, may contribute more to youth than just momentary happiness. It may ignite in youth a motivation for “upstream generativity” whereby its experience contributes to a desire to give back to their neighborhood, community, and world. We tested this notion by longitudinally examining early adolescents’ gratitude and their social integration, or motivation to use their strengths to help others and feel connected to others at a macro level. Middle school students (N = 700) completed measures of gratitude, prosocial behavior, life satisfaction, and social integration at baseline (T1), 3-months (T2), and 6-months (T3) later. Using bootstrapping to examine multiple mediators, controlling for demographics and social integration at T1, we found that gratitude at T1 predicted social integration at T3 and that prosocial behavior and life satisfaction at T2 mediated the relation. Further mediational analyses showed that gratitude and social integration serially enhanced each other. This prospective evidence aligns well with the interpretation that gratitude may help to initiate upward spirals toward greater emotional and social well-being. Implications are discussed in terms of gratitude’s role in positive youth development.