The moderating role of internalising negative emotionality in the relation of self-regulation to social adjustment in Italian preschool-aged children

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of internalising negative emotionality (i.e., anxious, concerned, and embarrassed displays) in the association between children's self-regulation and social adjustment. Seventy-four Italian children (44 girls, 30 boys; M age?=?35.05 months, SD?=?3.57) were assessed using two self-regulation tasks. Internalising negative emotionality was assessed through observations of children's emotion expressions during the tasks. Teachers evaluated children's social competence and internalising and externalising problems. Results demonstrated that among children who exhibited internalising negative emotionality, self-regulation was positively associated with social competence and negatively related to externalising problems. Our results suggest that self-regulation may play a crucial role for social adjustment when children show emotions such as anxiety and embarrassment during challenging situations.     

Psychological Adjustment,Social Responsiveness and Parental Distress in an Italian Sample of Siblings of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

The psychosocial adjustment of siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a relatively recent field of study, but results in literature are often inconsistent, and studies specifically focused on samples of siblings of children with high-functioning ASD are very few. This paper analyzes the level of social impairment (index of broader autism phenotype), the risk of internalizing and externalizing problems (index of psychological adjustment) and the parenting distress in an Italian sample of siblings of children with high-functioning ASD (n = 26). The presence of risk factors (birth order, sex and number of siblings in the family) and the role of the siblings’ age are also explored. The data were collected through self-report instruments administered to parents. The results do not show higher average risk levels for psychosocial adjustment problems, even though a minority of the cases is at risk for social impairments (7.7 %), internalizing (23.1 %), externalizing (3.8 %) and total difficulties (11.5 %) and for distress in the parent–child system (15 %). Distress in the parent-sibling system seems to be modulated by the sibling’s features and to be higher when the sibling is older than the child with ASD. Additionally, a link between difficulties in psychological adjustment and broader autism phenotype is suggested.     

Sensori-motor integration during stance: Time adaptation of control mechanisms on adding or removing vision

Sudden addition or removal of visual information can be particularly critical to balance control. The promptness of adaptation of stance control mechanisms is quantified by the latency at which body oscillation and postural muscle activity vary after a shift in visual condition. In the present study, volunteers stood on a force platform with feet parallel or in tandem. Shifts in visual condition were produced by electronic spectacles. Ground reaction force (center of foot pressure, CoP) and EMG of leg postural muscles were acquired, and latency of CoP and EMG changes estimated by t-tests on the averaged traces. Time-to-reach steady-state was estimated by means of an exponential model. On allowing or occluding vision, decrements and increments in CoP position and oscillation occurred within about 2 s. These were preceded by changes in muscle activity, regardless of visual-shift direction, foot position or front or rear leg in tandem. These time intervals were longer than simple reaction-time responses. The time course of recovery to steady-state was about 3 s, shorter for oscillation than position. The capacity of modifying balance control at very short intervals both during quiet standing and under more critical balance conditions speaks in favor of a necessary coupling between vision, postural reference, and postural muscle activity, and of the swiftness of this sensory reweighing process.     

Adaptation to continuous perturbation of balance: progressive reduction of postural muscle activity with invariant or increasing oscillations of the center of mass depending on perturbation frequency and vision conditions

We investigated the adaptation of balancing behavior during a continuous, predictable perturbation of stance consisting of 3-min backward and forward horizontal sinusoidal oscillations of the support base. Two visual conditions (eyes-open, EO; eyes-closed, EC) and two oscillation frequencies (LF, 0.2 Hz; HF, 0.6 Hz) were used. Center of Mass (CoM) and Center of Pressure (CoP) oscillations and EMG of Soleus (Sol) and Tibialis Anterior (TA) were recorded. The time course of each variable was estimated through an exponential model. An adaptation index allowed comparison of the degree of adaptation of different variables. Muscle activity pattern was initially prominent under the more challenging conditions (HF, EC and EO; LF, EC) and diminished progressively to reach a steady state. At HF, the behavior of CoM and CoP was almost invariant. The time-constant of EMG adaptation was shorter for TA than for Sol. With EC, the adaptation index showed a larger decay in the TA than Sol activity at the end of the balancing trial, pointing to a different role of the two muscles in the adaptation process. At LF, CoM and CoP oscillations increased during the balancing trial to match the platform translations. This occurred regardless of the different EMG patterns under EO and EC. Contrary to CoM and CoP, the adaptation of the muscle activities had a similar time-course at both HF and LF, in spite of the two frequencies implying a different number of oscillation cycles. During adaptation, under critical balancing conditions (HF), postural muscle activity is tuned to that sufficient for keeping CoM within narrow limits. On the contrary, at LF, when vision permits, a similar decreasing pattern of muscle activity parallels a progressive increase in CoM oscillation amplitude, and the adaptive balancing behavior shifts from the initially reactive behavior to one of passive riding the platform. Adaptive balance control would rely on on-line computation of risk of falling and sensory inflow, while minimizing balance challenge and muscle effort. The results from this study contribute to the understanding of plasticity of the balance control mechanisms under posture-challenging conditions.     

People believe each other to be selfish hedonic maximizers

Current computational models of theory of mind typically assume that humans believe each other to selfishly maximize utility, for a conception of utility that makes it indistinguishable from personal gains. We argue that this conception is at odds with established facts about human altruism, as well as the altruism that humans expect from each other. We report two experiments showing that people expect other agents to selfishly maximize their pleasure, even when these other agents behave altruistically. Accordingly, defining utility as pleasure permits us to reconcile the assumption that humans expect each other to selfishly maximize utility with the fact that humans expect each other to behave altruistically.     

Grandparent-grandchild contact and attitudes toward older adults: moderator and mediator effects

Two studies tested the intergroup contact hypothesis in the context of the grandparent-grandchild relationship. The hypothesis suggests that contact with an out-group member has more influence on attitudes toward the out-group when group memberships are salient. In Study 1, the predicted link was found but only for grandparents with whom the grandchild had more frequent contact. The second study examined only the most frequent grandparent relationship and replicated the effect. This study also investigated the role of various mediators of the link between quality of contact and attitudes, as well as quality of contact and perceived out-group variability. Perspective taking, anxiety, and accommodation mediated the effects of contact on attitudes, whereas individuation and self-disclosure mediated the effects of contact on perceived out-group variability. Moderated mediational analysis indicated that the moderating effect of group salience occurs between quality of contact and the mediator, not between the mediator and attitudes.     

A method for the definition of a self-awareness behavior dimension with clinical subjects: A latent trait analysis

The main scope of the present study was to devise a method in order to define a dimension characteristic of self-awareness behaviors with clinical subjects. To do so, I adopted a latent trait methodological approach. I studied the way patients expressed their treatment requests through their behaviors, both during their admission to a medical center in Northern Italy and after a period of treatment that involved an integrated (psychoanalytical and pharmacological) approach. The subjects were 48 females suffering from affective disorders, often combined with personality disorders. Five self-awareness indicators were identified, based both on interviews conducted with the patients and on the literature on the subject. The data gathered were analyzed by means of the many-facet Rasch model (Linacre, 1989). The results confirmed the existence of a self-awareness dimension characterized by the five indicators. Moreover, there was evidence that an improvement in self-awareness occurred during the pretreatment to posttreatment time period for both the affective disorders with personality problems patients and the affective disorders without personality problems patients. The estimation of bias/interactions showed the existence of specific behavioral differences between the two groups of patients. This study demonstrates the appropriateness of the methodological tool adopted, opening new expectations with regard to the integration of two approaches—psychoanalytical and pharmacological ones—in the treatment of psychiatric subjects.     

Midlife and Beyond: Issues for Aging Women

The author discusses issues confronted by aging women, particularly those related to ageism and body image, emphasizing society's role in influencing women's perceptions of their bodies. Although body image issues cause anxiety throughout most women's lives, women entering middle age become more conscious of this concern. Problems related to a woman's realization that she no longer conforms to society's standards of youth and beauty include low self‐esteem, depression, and anxiety.