Investigating Friendship Difficulties in the Pathway from ADHD to Depressive Symptoms. Can Parent–Child Relationships Compensate?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with friendship difficulties. This may partly account for the increasingly recognised association between ADHD and subsequent depression. Little is known about the types of friendship difficulties that could contribute to the association between ADHD and depressive symptoms and whether other relationships, such as parent–child relationships, can mitigate against potential adverse effects of friendship difficulties. In a representative UK school sample (n?=?1712), three main features of friendship (presence of friends, friendship quality and characteristics of the individual’s classroom friendship group) were assessed in a longitudinal study with two assessment waves (W1, W2) during the first year of secondary school (children aged 11-12 years). These friendship features (W1) were investigated as potential mediators of the prospective association between teacher-rated ADHD symptoms (W1) and self-rated depressive symptoms (W2) seven months later. Parent–child relationship quality (W1) was tested as a moderator of any indirect effects of ADHD on depression via friendship. ADHD symptoms were inversely associated with friendship presence, friendship quality and positive characteristics of classroom friendship groups. Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with presence and quality of friendships. Friendship quality had indirect effects in the association between ADHD and subsequent depressive symptoms. There was some evidence of moderated mediation, whereby indirect effects via friendship quality attenuated slightly as children reported warmer parent–child relationships. This highlights the importance of considering the quality of friendships and parent–child relationships in children with ADHD symptoms. Fostering good quality relationships may help disrupt the link between ADHD symptomology and subsequent depression risk.

     

A longitudinal SEM approach to STAI data:two comprehensive multitrait-multistate models

I investigated psychometric properties of data gathered with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983, 1993) using structural equation modeling. Two features were integrated into the modeling: Bistability refers to the duality that is raised once the wording effect is recognized, and second-order, state-residual/trait decomposition refers to the basic bidimensionality of the data, which is revealed in a longitudinal perspective. I tested the approach on 2 samples of French adults (total N = 888) borrowed from Vautier and Jmel (2003). The models provided acceptable goodness of fit and supported the empirical need for hypothesizing 2 trait factors and 4 transient sources of true variance. I assessed the multidimensional composition of the composites using reliability analyses. I discuss theoretical consequences of the approach.     

Coping with examinations: Exploring relationships between students' coping strategies,implicit theories of ability,and perceived control

Background Relatively little is known about the contribution of students' beliefs regarding the nature of academic ability (i.e. their implicit theories) on strategies used to deal with examinations. Aims This study applied Dweck's socio‐cognitive model of achievement motivation to better understand how students cope with examinations. It was expected that students' implicit theories of academic ability would be related to their use of particular coping strategies to deal with exam‐related stress. Additionally, it was predicted that perceived control over exams acts as a mediator between implicit theories of ability and coping. Sample Four hundred and ten undergraduate students (263 males, 147 females), aged from 17 to 26 years old (M = 19.73, SD = 1.46) were volunteers for the present study. Methods Students completed measures of coping, implicit theories of academic ability, and perception of control over academic examinations during regular classes in the first term of the university year. Results Multiple regression analyses revealed that incremental beliefs of ability significantly and positively predicted active coping, planning, venting of emotions, seeking social support for emotional and instrumental reasons, whereas entity beliefs positively predicted behavioural disengagement and negatively predicted active coping and acceptance. In addition, analyses revealed that entity beliefs of ability were related to coping strategies through students' perception of control over academic examinations. Conclusions These results confirm that exam‐related coping varies as a function of students' beliefs about the nature of academic ability and their perceptions of control when approaching examinations.     

A comparison of the contrast effects in sound localization in the horizontal and vertical planes

The effect of a background sound on the auditory localization of a single sound source was examined. Nine loudspeakers were arranged crosswise in the horizontal and the median vertical plane. They ranged from -20 degrees to +20 degrees, with the center loudspeaker at 0 degree azimuth and elevation. Using vertical and horizontal centimeter scales, listeners verbally estimated the position of a 500-ms broadband noise stimulus being presented at the same time as a 2 s background sound, emitted by one of the four outer loudspeakers. When the background sound consisted of continuous broadband noise, listeners consistently shifted the apparent target positions away from the background sound locations. This auditory contrast effect, which is consistent with earlier findings, equally occurred in both planes. But when the background sound was changed to a pulse train of noise bursts, the contrast effect decreased in the horizontal plane and increased in the vertical plane. This discrepancy might be due to general differences in the processing of interaural and spectral localization information.     

Domain-specific anger expression assessment and blood pressure during rest and acute stress

Anger expression has been linked to hypertension, although assessment of anger expression has not accounted for situational influences. We predicted that anger expression style varies across social situations. Two studies assessed reported anger expression in three domains (home, work, and during free time) and compared findings to those obtained using a global assessment. Participants reported expressing anger more openly when at home and they tend to exert greater control when at work. The domain-specific assessment was also more sensitive to sex differences than the general assessment. The second study examined the influence of this domain-specific anger expression assessment on blood pressure (BP) at rest and during acute challenge. In addition to replicating the first study, the second study showed that open anger expression particularly at work was associated with elevated BP. These studies represent a first step towards improving assessment of anger expression and determining how anger might relate to hypertension risk.     

Context-gated knowledge partitioning in categorization

According to the knowledge partitioning framework, people sometimes master complex tasks by creating multiple independent parcels of partial knowledge. Research has shown that knowledge parcels may contain mutually contradictory information, and that each parcel may be used without regard to knowledge that is demonstrably present in other parcels. This article reports 4 experiments that investigated knowledge partitioning in categorization. When component boundaries of a complex categorization were identified by a context cue, a significant proportion of participants learned partial and independent categorization strategies that were chosen on the basis of context. For those participants, a strategy used in one context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts, suggesting that knowledge partitioning in categorization can be complete.     

Pigeons discriminate objects on the basis of abstract familiarity

Knowledge of previous encounters with conspecifics is thought to be beneficial as it allows fast and appropriate behavioral responses toward those animals. This level of categorization goes beyond perceptual similarity and requires the individual to refer to a more abstract common referent, namely familiarity. It has been shown that pigeons are able to form functional classes of conspecifics that are based on familiarity. To date, we do not know whether this ability is restricted to the social context (including heterospecifics) or if it can also be used to classify inanimate objects. Furthermore, the factors influencing the formation of this functional class are still unknown. Here, we show that pigeons (Columba livia) are able to use a categorical rule of familiarity to classify previously unseen photographs of objects from their living environment. Pigeons that lacked real-life experience with the objects were not able to do so. This suggests that perceptual features alone were not sufficient for class recognition. To investigate the impact of additional functional properties of the objects, familiar objects were further divided into two subcategories, namely those that were considered functionally relevant to the birds and those that were not. Although the majority of pigeons learned to categorize photographs of objects based on familiarity alone, our results also suggest an unlearned preference for “relevant” familiar objects. The results presented here suggest that pigeons are able to learn to extract the discriminative feature of abstract familiarity from pictures by referring to previous real-life experience but that additional functions of objects lead to a preference of these objects.     

Situational Content Moderates the Association Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Behavioral Effectiveness

It has been suggested that self-regulatory goal processes are pervasive and powerful determinants of human behavior. Behavior, in turn, is thought to influence both emotions and cognitions to affect future self-set goals. Although determinants and consequences of self-set goals have been examined independently in past research, there is a paucity of theoretical integration across motivational theories. In this article, major elements from social-cog- nitive and attribution theories-and some elements from expectancy and con- trol theories-are integrated with goal theory to develop a cyclical model of self-set goals. In the development and discussion of this model, we present ar- guments for (a) how self-set goals are chosen, (b) how self-set goals affect subsequent behavior, and (c) how self-set goals change over time. Hypotheses are proposed, theoretical implications are discussed, and future research di- rections are suggested.     

Coping with systematic bias during bilateral movement

The present studies examined the nature of kinematic interlimb interference during bilateral elbow movements of 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 frequency ratios and the manner in which subjects cope with coordination bias. Analysis of movement trajectories in the first experiment indicated progressively greater angular velocity assimilation across 2:1 and 3:1 conditions. The desired temporal relationship was maintained by slowing or pausing the low-frequency movement at peak extension while the high-frequency arm produced intervening cycles. An increase in amplitude was also evident for concurrent, homologous cycles. Movement smoothness was emphasized and additional practice was provided in a second experiment. This resulted in dissociated peak angular velocity between limbs and eliminated hesitations and amplitude effects. Bias was still evident, however, as an intermittent approach toward a 1:1 ratio within each cycle. This systematic tendency was somewhat greater at the lower of two absolute frequency combinations but was not influenced by the role of each arm in producing the higher or lower frequency movement. The findings from the first experiment suggest that subjects initially accommodate interlimb kinematic assimilation, while producing the intended timing ratio, by intermittently slowing or pausing the lower-frequency movement. This attenuates the need for bilaterally-disparate movement parameters and provides additional time for organizing residual kinematic differences, perhaps reducing transient coupling. Evidence from the second experiment indicates that subtle relative motion preferences are still evident following sufficient practice to perform the movements smoothly. The within-cycle locations of the points of greatest interlimb bias for the 2:1 rhythms were positively displaced from those previously observed for 1:1 oscillations. The persistent coordination tendencies noted in both experiments perhaps reflect an assimilation/compensation cycle and constitute one potential source of the systematic error that often emerges during the acquisition of complex skills.     

Localization of moving sound

The final position of a moving sound source usually appears to be displaced in the direction of motion. We tested the hypothesis that this phenomenon, termed auditory representational momentum, is already emerging during, not merely after, the period of motion. For this purpose, we investigated the localization of a moving sound at different points in time. In a dark anechoic environment, an acoustic target moved along the frontal horizontal plane. In the initial, middle, or final phase of the motion trajectory, subjects received a tactile stimulus and determined the current position of the moving target at the moment of the stimulus by performing either relative-judgment or pointing tasks. Generally, in the initial phase of the auditory motion, the position was perceived to be displaced in the direction of motion, but this forward displacement disappeared in the further course of the motion. When the motion stimulus had ceased, however, its final position was again shifted in the direction of motion. The latter result suggests that representational momentum in spatial hearing is a phenomenon specific to the final point of motion. Mental extrapolation of past trajectory information is discussed as a potential source of this perceptual displacement.