Predictors of Entry into Age-Discordant Relationships Among Adolescent Girls

Teenage girls in age-discordant relationships remain of concern for healthy development and well-being. We examine whether factors from several sociological frameworks—self-esteem, deviance, social ecology, family cohesion, and religious involvement—predict entry into such relationships. With longitudinal data on 1,537 adolescent girls, we use structural equation modeling to assess risk and protective factors by age group. Results indicate that few social factors predict entry to such relationships; only religious involvement for the youngest adolescents and self-esteem for middle adolescents predict entry. While adolescent girls who date older males are largely like their peers, any impact of social factors may vary by the developmental stage that adolescent girls occupy.     

Deviance,deference, and demeanor: Birthday cards as ceremonial tokens

The present paper examines the incidence of deviant messages and images in one of the most widely used modes of interpersonal communication, i.e., birthday cards. The sample consists of 535 birthday cards randomly selected from fourteen retail outlets in a metropolitan (SMSA) area. Each outlet represented a geographically distinct high‐traffic area varying in type of establishment (discount, drug, dime, department, grocery and card stores) and socioeconomic level of the community. Both the incidence and type of deviance, the characteristics of cards in which deviance is represented, and the characteristics of the sender/receiver population are discussed within the context of Goffman's concept of ceremonial activity.     

Development in reading and math in children from different SES backgrounds: the moderating role of child temperament

Socioeconomic risks (SES risks) are robust risk factors influencing children's academic development. However, it is unclear whether the effects of SES on academic development operate universally in all children equally or whether they vary differentially in children with particular characteristics. The current study aimed to explore children's temperament as protective or risk factors that potentially moderate the associations between SES risks and academic development. Specifically, latent growth modeling (LGM) was used in two longitudinal datasets with a total of 2236 children to examine how family SES risks and children's temperament interactively predicted the development of reading and math from middle childhood to early adolescence. Results showed that low negative affect, high effortful control, and low surgency mitigated the negative associations between SES risks and both reading and math development in this developmental period. These findings underline the heterogeneous nature of the negative associations between SES risks and academic development and highlight the importance of the interplay between biological and social factors on individual differences in development.     

Effect of interaction type on the characteristics of pet-directed speech in female dog owners

Recent studies focusing on the interspecific communicative interactions between humans and dogs show that owners use a special speech register when addressing their dog. This register, called pet-directed speech (PDS), has prosodic and syntactic features similar to that of infant-directed speech (IDS). While IDS prosody is known to vary according to the context of the communication with babies, we still know little about the way owners adjust acoustic and verbal PDS features according to the type of interaction with their dog. The aim of the study was therefore to explore whether the characteristics of women’s speech depend on the nature of interaction with their dog. We recorded 34 adult women interacting with their dog in four conditions: before a brief separation, after reuniting, during play and while giving commands. Our results show that before separation women used a low pitch, few modulations, high intensity variations and very few affective sentences. In contrast, the reunion interactions were characterized by a very high pitch, few imperatives and a high frequency of affectionate nicknames. During play, women used mainly questions and attention-getting devices. Finally when commanding, women mainly used imperatives as well as attention-getting devices. Thus, like mothers using IDS, female owners adapt the verbal as well as the non-verbal characteristics of their PDS to the nature of the interaction with their dog, suggesting that the intended function of these vocal utterances remains to provide dogs with information about their intentions and emotions.     

Lived Experiences of Men With Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative disorders affect 29% of the clinical population, with women diagnosed 9 times more often than men. For this study, the authors used a phenomenological approach to uncover experiences of 5 men with dissociative identity disorder. Findings revealed 5 themes: history, alters, male gender expectations and identity, challenges, and strengths and support. Implications for practitioners are discussed.     

Online psychophysics: reaction time effects in cognitive experiments

Using the Internet to acquire behavioral data is currently on the rise. However, very basic questions regarding the feasibility of online psychophysics are still open. Here, we aimed to replicate five well-known paradigms in experimental psychology (Stroop, Flanker, visual search, masked priming, attentional blink) in three settings (classical “lab”, “web-in-lab”, “web”) to account for possible changes in technology and environment. Lab and web-in-lab data were both acquired in an in-lab setting with lab using “Gold Standard” methods, while web-in-lab used web technology. This allowed for a direct comparison of potential differences in acquisition software. To account for additional environmental differences, the web technology experiments were published online to participate from home (setting web), thereby keeping the software and experimental design identical and only changing the environmental setting. Our main results are: First, we found an expected fixed additive timing offset when using web technology (M = 37 ms, SD = 8.14) and recording online (M = 87 ms, SD = 16.04) in comparison to lab data. Second, all task-specific effects were reproduced except for the priming paradigm, which couldn’t be replicated in any setting. Third, there were no differences in error rates, which are independent of the timing offset. This finding further supports the assumption of data equality over all settings. Fourth, we found that browser type might be influencing absolute reaction times. Together, these results contribute to the slowly but steadily growing literature that online psychophysics is a suitable complement – or even substitute – to lab data acquisition.     

The benefits of self-forgiveness on mental health: Evidence from correlational and experimental research

Previous research on self-forgiveness is mixed. Some argue self-forgiveness may have a salutary influence on mental health problems following an offense, whereas others suggest it may provide an excuse to reoffend. In two studies, we provide correlational and experimental evidence for the salutary effects of self-forgiveness following an offense. In Study 1 (N = 100), self-forgiveness was associated with lower levels of disordered eating behavior. In Study 2 (N = 462), participants recalled a drinking-related transgression, and were randomly assigned to a self-forgiveness or neutral priming condition. Results revealed that participants in the self-forgiveness condition reported significantly more self-forgiving beliefs and fewer feelings of remorse and self-condemnation than participants in the neutral priming condition to the degree that participants believed their drinking was the cause of the offense. These findings highlight the salutary effects of self-forgiveness.