Relations of parental status with alcohol use patterns and attitudes about underage drinking

In a sample of 143 adults from a population of households in Idaho, significant differences in patterns of alcohol use and attitudes about underage drinking were related to parental status. Nonparents reported drinking alcohol more frequently than parents. Parents were significantly more likely than nonparents to report that it is never acceptable for minors to drink alcohol, that minors should not be allowed to drink alcohol at parties with no parents present, and that "sting" operations by police are warranted. Surprisingly, nonparents were significantly more likely than parents to report stores and bars are not careful enough about selling alcohol to minors.     

First graders' literacy and self-regulation gains: The effect of individualizing student instruction

We examined the effect of individualizing student instruction (ISI; N = 445 students, 46 classrooms) on first graders' self-regulation gains compared to a business-as-usual control group. Self-regulation, conceptualized as a constellation of executive skills, was positively associated with academic development. We hypothesized that the ISI intervention's emphasis on teacher planning and organization, classroom management, and the opportunity for students to work independently and in small groups would promote students' self-regulation. We found no main effect of ISI on self-regulation gains. However, for students with weaker initial self-regulation, ISI was associated with greater self-regulation gains compared to peers in control classrooms. The ISI effect on self-regulation was greater when the intervention was more fully implemented.     

Are True Scores and Construct Scores the Same? A critical examination of their substitutability and the implications for research results

Relations between constructs are estimated based on correlations between measures of constructs corrected for measurement error. This process assumes that the true scores on the measure are linearly related to construct scores, an assumption that may not hold. We examined the extent to which differences in distribution shape reduce the correlation between true scores on a measure and scores on the underlying construct they are intended to measure. We found, via a series of Monte Carlo simulations, that when the actual construct distribution is normal, nonnormal distributions of true scores caused this correlation to drop by an average of only .02 across 15 conditions. When both construct and true score distributions assumed different combinations of nonnormal distributions, the average correlation was reduced by .05 across 375 conditions. We conclude that theory‐based scales intended to measure constructs usually correlate highly with the constructs they are constructed to measure. We show that, as a result, in most cases true score correlations only modestly underestimate correlations between different constructs. However, in cases in which the two constructs are redundant, this underestimation can lead to the false conclusion that the constructs are ‘correlated but distinct constructs,’ resulting in construct proliferation.     

The child in time: The influence of parent–child discussion about a future experience on how it is remembered

We investigated the influence of preparation provided by parents on preschoolers’ recall. One day before children participated in a staged novel event, parents discussed the event with their child either with (verbal+photos) or without (verbal) photographs. Parents and children in a control condition read an unrelated story. Then 8–10 days later the children were interviewed about the event. Children in the verbal+photos condition recalled significantly more than those in the control condition. Parental preparation style (e.g., evaluations, hypothetical language) was associated with the child's contributions to the preparatory discussion, but no aspect of parent or child style or content was associated with children's verbal recall. Similarly, there were no significant associations between children's performance on a task of episodic future thinking, and their preparatory discussion or recall, although episodic future thinking was strongly associated with language ability. The potential underlying mechanisms and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Lies and Body Cruelties in the Analytic Hour

Discussing an intensive case study of female sexual dysfunction, this paper studies mutual deregulation and disintegration as it unfolds in the transference–countertransference dyad. I propose that ethical transgressions are potentiated in analytic dyads in which the analyst's hope for either solitude or mutuality is foreclosed. This hope can be foreclosed by the particulars of the therapeutic interaction as well as by the theoretical and clinical aspects of analytic training. The deregulation that both precipitates and follows such transgression can be healed (in the analyst, in the analysis) only by the restitution of the therapist's agency, the reduction of paranoid-schizoid guilt and shame, and the location (in the analyst) of depressive, “I-Thou” remorse.     

Bill Clinton and John E Kennedy: The Dark Side of Charisma

In this review essay, I provide a summary of the basic tenets of Stuart A. Pizer's book, Building Bridges: The Negotiation of Paradox in Psychoanalysis. Focusing on the concepts of negotiation, paradox, and potential space, he privileges them as constituting the basic structure and process of the analytic relationship. Therapeutic action resides specifically in the analyst's optimizing of the potential space within which intrapsychic and interpersonal negotiation can occur. Negotiating paradox is a uniquely human capacity, difficult to sustain, but essential for a “distributed” self, one that is decentered and dynamic rather than disassociated. Pizer extends the reach of these concepts by developing them in relation to gender, evolution, species, and mediation. He also considers that which is nonnegotiable, a relational property between analyst and patient, at the brink of which deep analysis occurs. The book, with its elegant theoretical model and clinically useful tool, provides a rich potential space within which I was able to engage fruitfully.     

Effect of Age and Gender in the Control of Elbow Flexion Movements

In previous studies of rapid elbow movements in young healthy men, characteristic task-dependent changes in the patterns of muscle activation when movement speed or distance was varied have been reported. In the present study, the authors investigated whether age or gender is associated with changes in the patterns of muscle activity previously reported in young men. Arm movements of 10 healthy older and 10 healthy younger participants (5 men and 5 women in each group) were studied. Surface electromyograms (EMGs) from agonist (biceps) and antagonist (triceps) muscles, kinematic and kinetic parameters, as well as anthropometric and strength measures were recorded. All 4 groups of participants showed similar task- (distance or speed) dependent changes in biphasic EMG activity. Similar modulation of the initial rate of rise of the EMG, integrated agonist and antagonist EMG activity, as well as their relative timing were observed in all 4 groups. Those results suggest that older individuals of both genders retain the control strategies for elbow movements used by young individuals. Despite the qualitative similarities in the patterns of muscle activation, the men moved more quickly than the women, and younger participants moved more quickly than older participants. Those performance differences could not be explained in terms of differences in body size and strength alone.     

Cohort Differences in Hand Test Performance: A Time Lagged Analysis

In order to examine the impact of cultural differences (cohort and/or time of measurement) on the intrapsychic processes of older adults, two samples (1976, n = 102; 1986, n = 88) of older persons were compared with regard to their Hand Test (HT; Bricklin, Piotrowski, & Wagner, 1962; Wagner, 1983) performance. Relative to those studies investigating cultural effects in personality at the socioadaptational level (Neugarten, 1977), no research to date has examined this issue utilizing projective methods of assessment. Time-lagged analyses of HT scores of these two samples of elderly adults suggested that there appear to be clear age-related variance in HT performance for both content and derived HT variables. Age-related within-sample variability for most HT scores supported this interpretation. These findings are in contrast to those utilizing more standardized, nomothetic measures of personality functioning that suggest stability of personality in adulthood.