Bound to Feel Bad About Oneself: Relations Between Attachment and the Self-conscious Emotions of Guilt and Shame in Children and Adolescents

Two cross-sectional studies were conducted to explore the relationship between attachment and the self-conscious emotions of guilt and shame in childhood. Study 1 was performed in non-clinical children aged 9–13 years (N = 688) who completed a single-item measure of attachment style and a vignette-based instrument for assessing guilt and shame. Results showed that children who classified themselves as insecurely attached displayed higher levels of shame and maladaptive types of guilt as compared to securely attached children. Study 2 was conducted in adolescents aged 12–18 years (N = 135), of whom the majority was referred to a clinical setting because of externalizing problems. Adolescents filled in a dimensional scale for measuring attachment quality to parents and peers and the above mentioned vignette-based instrument of guilt and shame. It was found that the clinical adolescents generally exhibited lower levels of self-conscious emotions as compared to non-clinical adolescents. Within this clinical group, communication to parents and peers was associated with higher levels of self-conscious emotions, and alienation was accompanied by higher levels of maladaptive forms of guilt and shame. Altogether, these results fit with the theory that attachment (in)security is involved in people’s proneness to experience self-conscious emotions.     

A Danish version of the Sensation Seeking Scale and its relation to a broad spectrum of behavioral and psychological characteristics

The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate the internal consistency and construct validity of the Danish translation of Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS). The secondary aim was to extend the range of psychological variables and behaviors that have been related to sensation seeking. The sample consisted of 691 subjects (363 males and 328 females) with a mean age of 31.7 years. The internal consistency of the scales was evaluated by coefficient alpha and intercorrelations among the five scales derived from the SSS were computed. Information on other variables was collected through standardized tests as well as questionnaires and interviews developed especially for this study. The results showed that the Danish SSS is a psychometrically sound instrument and revealed the relationship between sensation seeking and a broad spectrum of psychological traits and behaviors: socioeconomic status, academic achievement, intelligence, personality, smoking, alcohol and drug use, sexuality, driving and public transportation violations, and leisure time activities. Thus, this study confirmed and expanded the findings of many previous studies, while the results supported the validity of the Danish SSS and corroborated the usefulness of the concept of sensation seeking.     

Testimonial Engagement: Undocumented Latina Mothers Navigating a Gendered Deportation Regime

This community-based qualitative study investigated the real or threatened impact of immigration enforcement on undocumented mothers as they navigate a “gendered deportation regime.” We analyzed seven interviews with undocumented mothers who have experienced the deportation of someone close to them and live under the constant threat of deportation. Based on an inductive, team-based analysis process, we present case examples of four themes that illustrate how undocumented mothers describe their experience negotiating the aftermath and threat of deportation: quality of life, material possibilities, balancing the social, and engaging with advocacy networks. Findings expand on previous research emphasizing the impact of “deportability” on the everyday lives of undocumented immigrants by attending to gendered aspects of immigration enforcement. As a collaborative research team composed of social work faculty, graduate students, and immigrant rights activists, we also critically engage with our attempts to meld research and community organizing in order to illustrate challenges that scholars and social service practitioners face when working with undocumented populations.     

Measurement Properties for a Scale Assessing Self-Regulation in Parents and Parenting Practitioners

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parenting self-regulation is increasingly recognised as an important facet of positive parenting, as it allows parents to manage their thoughts, behaviours,...     

Cognitive deficits, schizophrenia, and the anterior cingulate cortex

Cognitive deficits are thought to be responsible for some of the symptoms and dysfunction in schizophrenia. Recent research on the anterior cingulate cortex supports this assumption. More detailed and definitive evidence for this association will require identification of specific neural networks whose abnormal structure, connections or activity create the cognitive deficits in question.     

¿Puede un antropoide generar una oración?

Resumen

Se analizaron más de 19.000 locuciones de varios signos de un chimpancé de corta edad (Nim), en busca de regularidades sintácticas y de semánticas. Las regularidades léxicas se observaron en el caso de las combinaciones de dos signos: determinados signos (por ejemplo, más) tendían a aparecer en una posición concreta. Estas regularidades no podían atribuirse a la memorización o a los hábitos de poslción, lo que hace pensar en una restricción estructural. Esta conclusión, sin embargo, se rechazó al analizar la grabación video, que mostraba cómo la mayoría de las locuciones de Nim se apoyaban en la locución anterior de su maestro, y que Nim interrumpía a sus maestros mucho más que un niño el lenguaje del adulto. Las expresiones de signos de otros antropoides (como muestran las películas) revelaban pautas similares de diálogo no humano.