Sociopolitical Control for Immigrants: The Role of Receiving Local Contexts

This study examines the individual and contextual factors associated with sociopolitical control expressed by immigrants in southern Spain. We used hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the relations between individual (community participation, social connectedness, and perceived cultural competence of receiving community services) and municipality characteristics (city community participation, city social connectedness, and city community services’ cultural competence) and immigrants’ feelings of sociopolitical control. Data were analyzed using a two‐level model based on 707 Moroccan immigrants in 25 municipalities. After adjusting for gender, educational level, and psychosocial confounding factors, we observed a positive association between social connectedness and sociopolitical control at the individual level. At the contextual level, we observed a positive association between (a) city community participation, (b) city social connectedness, and (c) city community services’ cultural competence, and sociopolitical control. Indeed, living in a municipality where there are community services with high levels of cultural competence and where, on average, many people participate in organizations and neighbors are connected, was associated with higher levels of perceived control in the sociopolitical domain for immigrants. We also discuss implications for community‐based research and practice.     

A self‐determination theory approach to health and well‐being in the workplace: Results from the sixth European working conditions survey in Spain

Research to date has underlined the importance of positive organizational psychology to improve health and psychological well‐being (PWB) in the workplace. The purpose of the present research is to test a model linking satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as identified by self‐determination theory (SDT), and various individual work‐related outcomes, such as job satisfaction, PWB, and health problems in Spanish employees. Nationally representative data from the sixth European Survey on Working Conditions is Spain were used. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine the mediational role of job satisfaction in the relationships between psychological need satisfaction in the workplace and its consequences for PWB and health problems in Spanish employees. The results indicated that the fulfillment of basic psychological needs in the workplace is related to higher job satisfaction and that higher job satisfaction is associated with higher PWB and fewer health problems. Higher perceived competence and relatedness in the workplace were also related to greater PWB and fewer health problems. These results suggest that SDT is a valid approach that may guide interventions in the workplace to promote job satisfaction, PWB, and physical health in employees.     

What predicts anti‐Roma prejudice? Qualitative and quantitative analysis of everyday sentiments about the Roma

The present research focused on two primary goals: (a) identifying the content of sentiments about the Roma to which Hungarians are exposed during everyday family conversations, and (b) determining which types of everyday sentiments about the Roma most strongly predict Hungarian respondents’ anti‐Roma prejudice. Content analyzing open‐ended responses from a representative sample of Hungarians (N = 505), we found that more than 76% of the respondents reported being exposed to negative stereotypes about the Roma, 27% to threats posed by Roma, and 16% to overt dehumanization of Roma; additionally more than 20% reported hearing no positive sentiments about the Roma in everyday family conversations. We then examined which negative and positive sentiments most strongly predicted respondents’ anti‐Roma prejudice (using measures of social distance and modern racism). Higher social distance scores were predicted by a lack of positive sentiments, whereas lower social distance scores were most strongly predicted by unambiguously positive sentiments expressed during family conversations. Higher modern racism scores were further predicted by sentiments expressing dehumanization, threat, and violence against Roma. Together, these results attest to the extremity of anti‐Roma sentiments expressed regularly by Hungarians, and suggest how exposure to specific sentiments may foster anti‐Roma hostility. Moreover, these findings provide guidance regarding the specific negative anti‐Roma sentiments that should be combated to enhance the effectiveness of anti‐prejudice interventions.     

Teaching children with autism spectrum disorder to tact olfactory stimuli

Research on tact acquisition by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has often focused on teaching participants to tact visual stimuli. It is important to evaluate procedures for teaching tacts of nonvisual stimuli (e.g., olfactory, tactile). The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature on secondary target instruction and tact training by evaluating the effects of a discrete‐trial instruction procedure involving (a) echoic prompts, a constant prompt delay, and error correction for primary targets; (b) inclusion of secondary target stimuli in the consequent portion of learning trials; and (c) multiple exemplar training on the acquisition of item tacts of olfactory stimuli, emergence of category tacts of olfactory stimuli, generalization of category tacts, and emergence of category matching, with three children diagnosed with ASD. Results showed that all participants learned the item and category tacts following teaching, participants demonstrated generalization across category tacts, and category matching emerged for all participants.     

School climate and ethnic‐racial identity in school: A longitudinal examination of reciprocal associations

The messages youth receive in schools about how they matter as individuals and as members of ethnic‐racial groups are influential in constructing their developing ethnic‐racial identities (ERI). However, the developing ERI students hold also have a role in shaping their experiences at school. The current study examined the longitudinal and reciprocal association between ERI (exploration and resolution) and school climate (support for cultural pluralism and teacher supportiveness) among 491 Black, Latino, and White middle school youth (M_age = 12.03, SD = 1.05, range: 11–17) in the Midwest. Cross‐lagged analyses revealed that greater perceptions of support for cultural pluralism within the school predicted greater exploration and resolution at later time points for all students. Moreover, greater exploration and resolution among White students was predictive of greater perceptions of support for cultural pluralism at the school. Higher quality teacher–student relationships predicted greater engagement in ERI exploration for all youth. The findings highlight the importance of school climate in helping shape ERI among youth attending a culturally diverse school and the role of such youth in shaping the climate at their school.     

The Effects of Sociocultural Pressures and Exercise Frequency on the Body Esteem of Adolescent Girls in Korea

Sociocultural pressures to be thin and exercise frequency have been reportedly related to female adolescents’ body esteem in previous research. Using 490 female middle school students in Korea, this study examined the mediating role of thin-ideal internalization on the relationships of sociocultural pressure (i.e., parental, peer, and media) and exercise frequency to body esteem. The results indicated that parental pressure only had a direct relationship with body esteem, but no indirect relationship. Media pressure, peer pressure, and exercise frequency were indirectly, but not directly, related to body esteem through thin-ideal internalization. The implications and future directions of research are discussed.     

Parents‐in‐law's topic avoidance: Understanding the role of interaction goals and relational characteristics

Utilizing dual logic from a multiple goals and relational turbulence theory, this study examined parents‐in‐law's interaction goals for topic avoidance with their children‐in‐law. Data from 159 parents‐in‐law revealed that multiple and conflicting goals were associated with parents‐in‐law's topic avoidance. Furthermore, relational parameters (i.e., relational uncertainty and partner influence) were associated with the goals in‐laws pursued. Results augment theorizing on a multiple goals perspective, relational turbulence, and topic avoidance, as well as theoretically ground the study of in‐law communication.     

What if they are right? Network approval,expectations, and relationship maintenance behaviors

This study drew on uncertainty reduction and decision‐making theories to investigate how perceptions of approval of romantic relationships from family and friends can influence romantic partners' dynamics. Using a dyadic approach, the authors examined whether expectations of a partner's behavior in the relationship mediated the associations between perceived social network approval and relationship maintenance behaviors in a sample of 137 couples. The actor–partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) was applied. Results showed that women's and men's perceptions of approval from their own and their partner's network were associated with their own level of expectations of their partner's behaviors. In turn, women's and men's expectations were associated with their own and their partner's maintenance behaviors.     

When preschoolers follow their eyes and older children follow their noses: visuo‐olfactory social affective matching in childhood

Recognition of emotional facial expressions is a crucial skill for adaptive behavior that most often occurs in a multi‐sensory context. Affective matching tasks have been used across development to investigate how people integrate facial information with other senses. Given the relative affective strength of olfaction and its relevance in mediating social information since birth, we assessed olfactory–visual matching abilities in a group of 140 children between the ages of 3 and 11 years old. We presented one of three odor primes (rose, fish and no‐odor, rated as pleasant or unpleasant by individual children) before a facial choice task (happy vs. disgusted face). Children were instructed to select one of two faces. As expected, children of all ages tended to choose happy faces. Children younger than 5 years of age were biased towards choosing the happy face, irrespective of the odor smelled. After age 5, an affective matching strategy guided children's choices. Smelling a pleasant odor predicted the choice of happy faces, whereas smelling the unpleasant or fish odor predicted the choice of disgusted faces. The present study fills a gap in the developmental literature on olfactory‐visual affective strategies that affect decision‐making, and represents an important step towards understanding the underlying developmental processes that shape the typical social mind.     

Reach tracking reveals dissociable processes underlying inhibitory control in 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds and adults

Researchers have proposed that two processes featuring distinct types of inhibition support inhibitory control: a response threshold adjustment process involving the global inhibition of motor output and a conflict resolution process involving competitive inhibition among co‐active response alternatives. To target the development of these processes, we measured the reaching behavior of 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds (Experiment 1) and adults (Experiment 2) as they performed an Eriksen flanker task. This method provided two key measures: initiation time (the time elapsed between stimulus onset and movement onset) and reach curvature (the degree to which a movement deviates from a direct path to the selected target). We suggest that initiation time reflects the response threshold adjustment process by indexing the degree of motoric stopping experienced before a movement is started, while reach curvature reflects the conflict resolution process by indexing the degree of co‐activation between response alternatives over the course of a movement. Our results support this claim, revealing different patterns effects in initiation time and curvature, and divergent developmental trajectories between childhood and adulthood. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the dissociation between global and competitive inhibition, and offer new insight into the development of inhibitory control.