Materialism and the Family Structure–Stress Relation

In this study, we examined the role that materialism plays in the family structure–stress relation in a sample of adolescents. Materialism is a complex construct that appears to both mediate and moderate the family structure–stress relation as well as have both positive and negative effects. The happiness dimension of materialism in particular appears to both mediate and moderate the family structure–stress relation. Adolescents who associate happiness with material possessions report higher levels of family stress due to family disruption (parental divorce) compared with those who are less likely to associate happiness with material possessions. This finding runs contrary to recent marketing research. Additionally, we found the success dimension of materialism to have a direct and salubrious impact on family stress levels.     

Vulnerability to false memory: The effects of stress, imagery, trait anxiety, and depression

There is now abundant evidence that false memories can be created inside and outside the laboratory, and much is known about the kinds of techniques and manipulations that encourage the creation of false memories. However, rather less is known about the influence of naturally occurring variables over which the experimenter or clinician has little or no control. The current study investigated the influence of some of these variables on false memory creation. The influence of individual differences in depression, trait anxiety, imagery vividness and the interaction of these factors with stress was studied. Subjects studied series of pictures and words and then attempted to recall all the pictures presented, at a low-stress time and then later at a high-stress time. Intrusions from words at recall were the false memories in this study. Subjects who experience more vivid imagery were more vulnerable to false memories when they were stressed. Low trait anxious subjects were more likely to assign remember judgement to a false memory when they were stressed. These findings are discussed in terms of the source monitoring framework and implications for clinical practice. The author thanks Ainslie Lown for help in collecting and analyzing data from the first part of this study.     

Racial identity, social context, and race-related social cognition in African Americans during middle childhood

This study examined the effect of changes in racial identity, cross-race friendships, same-race friendships, and classroom racial composition on changes in race-related social cognition from 3rd to 5th grade for 73 African American children. The goal of the study was to determine the extent to which preadolescent racial identity and social context predict expectations of racial discrimination in cross-race social interactions (social expectations). Expectations of racial discrimination were assessed using vignettes of cross-race social situations involving an African American child in a social interaction with European Americans. There were 3 major findings. First, expectations for discrimination declined slightly from 3rd to 5th grade. Second, although racial composition of children's classrooms, number of European American friends, gender, and family poverty status were largely unrelated to social expectations, having more African American friends was associated with expecting more discrimination in cross-racial interactions from 3rd to 5th grade. Third, increases in racial centrality were related to increases in discrimination expectations, and increases in public regard were associated with decreases in discrimination expectations. These data suggest that as early as 3rd grade, children are forming attitudes about their racial group that have implications for their cross-race social interactions.     

Walking reveals trunk orientation bias for visual attention

Our trunks influence where we perform actions in space. Thus, trunk direction may define a region of spacethat is accorded special treatment by the attention system. We investigated conditions under which a trunk orientation bias for attention might be relevant for healthy adults. Three experiments compared visual detection performance for participants standing and walking on a treadmill. Together, the experiments disambiguate the relative contributions of motor activity, motor load, and cognitive load on trunk orientation biases. In Experiment 1, trunk orientation biases (i.e., faster target detection for targets in front of the body midline) were observed in both forward and sideways walking conditions, but not in standing conditions. In Experiment 2, we ruled out the notion that the trunk orientation bias arose from increased motor activity; in fact, the bias was greatest when participants walked at an unusually slow pace. In Experiment 3, we directly compared motor load with cognitive load in a dual-task paradigm; cognitive load influenced overall performance speed, but only motor load produced trunk orientationbias. These results suggest that a trunk orientation bias emerges during walking and motor load conditions.     

Testing the measurement equivalence of personality adjective items across cultures

Although previous research has examined cross-cultural differences in personality, many of these studies neglected to first establish that the measures being used were equivalent in meaning across cultures. Using samples of Chinese, Greek, and American respondents, the measurement equivalence of the Big Five Mini-Markers [Saucier, G. (1994). Mini-markers: A brief version of Goldberg’s unipolar Big-Five markers. Journal of Personality assessment, 63, 506–516] was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicate that all of the scales demonstrate configural invariance, but fail to show metric or scalar invariance. Several adjectives from these scales were found to exhibit bias at the item-level. The practical implications of these results are discussed and future research is suggested.     

Walking speed and global cognition: results from the OKLAHOMA Study

Executive functioning and processing speed have been related to physical functioning in non-demented, elderly samples; however, the relationship between walking speed and global cognition has not been examined. Six hundred and seventy-five community dwelling older adults were enrolled through their primary care physicians. Walking speed was assessed on a 50-foot course at usual pace. Global cognition was assessed with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Total Scale score. After adjusting for age, gender, and education, there was a strong inverse relationship between walking speed and global cognition, with slower walkers performing worse on the cognitive measures, faster walkers performing better on the cognitive measures, and the intermediate walkers performing in the middle. In these older adults, global cognition was related to walking speed.     

Satisfaction with Components of the Therapeutic Model: Perspectives of Consumers and Professionals

We provide information about consumer and provider perceptions using a mixed-model pilot study within the Intensive Mental Health Project (IMHP), a school-based treatment service for children with SED and their families. Caregiver, youth, and provider questionnaires developed for this project elicited quantitative and qualitative information on treatment satisfaction, therapeutic alliance, and active involvement in treatment. Caregivers and children overall had positive perceptions of the services they received through IMHP. Providers reported very good working relationships with most children and families. Consumers also provided constructive comments about how to improve services. Our results add support to the importance of therapeutic alliance and collaboration, which are guiding principles of the IMHP.     

Reaction time and established risk factors for total and cardiovascular disease mortality: Comparison of effect estimates in the follow-up of a large, UK-wide, general-population based survey

Higher cognitive function is associated with faster choice reaction time (CRT), and both are associated with a reduced risk of mortality from all-causes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, comparison of the predictive capacity of CRT, an emerging risk factor, with that for established ‘classic’ risk factors for mortality, such as smoking, hypertension or obesity, is lacking. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative impact of CRT with a range of established risk factors for all-cause and CVD mortality. The UK Health and Lifestyle Survey (HALS) is a national sample survey of adults in England, Scotland, and Wales. In 1984/85, data on lifestyle factors, socioeconomic status, and health were collected for 9003 individuals. CRT data were available for 7414 individuals. With different predictor variables having differing coding structures, we used the relative index of inequality (RII) to explore the relation of a range of risk factors with mortality by computing the risk in disadvantaged (high risk; e.g., smokers) relative to advantaged (low risk; e.g., non-smokers) persons. During an average of 20 years of follow-up, there were 1289 deaths (568 ascribed to CVD). In age- and sex-adjusted models in which all-cause mortality was the outcome of interest, CRT mean (RII = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.98, 3.33) was the second most important predictor of death after smoking (RII = 3.03, 95% CI = 2.45, 3.75). For death from CVD, CRT mean (RII = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.55, 3.43) was again the second most important risk factor for death, behind systolic blood pressure (RII = 4.37, 95% CI = 3.03, 6.29). These analyses suggest that CRT, a moderately high correlate of intelligence, is an important risk factor for death from all-causes and CVD.     

Adolescents’ preferences for sexual dimorphism are influenced by relative exposure to male and female faces

Exposure to a particular population of faces can increase ratings of the normality and attractiveness of similar-looking faces. Such exposure can also refine the perceived boundaries of that face population, such that other faces are more readily perceived as dissimilar. We predicted that relatively less exposure to opposite-sex faces, as experienced by children at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools, would decrease ratings of the attractiveness of sexual dimorphism in opposite-sex faces (that is, boys at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for feminised faces, and girls at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for masculinised faces). Consistent with this prediction, girls at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated significantly stronger preferences for facial femininity in both male and female faces. Boys at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated marginally stronger preferences for facial masculinity in male faces, but did not differ in their ratings of female faces. These effects were attenuated among some single-sex school pupils by the presence of adolescent opposite-sex siblings. These data add to the evidence that long-term exposure to a particular face population can influence judgements of other faces, and contribute to our understanding of the factors leading to individual differences in face preferences.