Morningness‐eveningness and educational outcomes: the lark has an advantage over the owl at high school

Background. Chronotype refers to individuals’ preference for morning or evening activities. Its two dimensions (morningness and eveningness) are related to a number of academic outcomes. Aims. The main goal of the study was to investigate the incremental validity of chronotype as a predictor of academic achievement after controlling for a number of traditional predictors. In so doing, a further aim was ongoing validation of a chronotype questionnaire, the Lark‐Owl Chronotype Indicator. Sample. The sample comprised 272 students attending 9th and 10th grades at five German high schools. Data was also obtained from 132 parents of these students. Method. Students were assessed in class via self‐report questionnaires and a standardized cognitive test. Parents filled out a questionnaire at home. The incremental validity of chronotype was investigated using hierarchical linear regression. Validity of the chronotype questionnaire was assessed by correlating student ratings of their chronotype with behavioural data on sleep, food intake, and drug consumption and with parent ratings of chronotype. Results. Eveningness was a significant (negative) predictor of overall grade point average (GPA), math–science GPA, and language GPA, after cognitive ability, conscientiousness, need for cognition, achievement motivation, and gender were held constant. Validity evidence for the chronotype measure was established by significant correlations with parent‐ratings and behavioural data. Conclusions. Results point to the possible discrimination of adolescents with a proclivity towards eveningness at school. Possible explanations for the relationship between chronotype and academic achievement are presented. Implications for educational practice are also discussed.     

Assessing Resources in a Population of Hemodialysis Patients: A New Approach to Improve Quality of Care

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - Hemodialysis patients constitute a vulnerable population. Their health needs are considerable and they often present psychological symptoms such as...     

Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur Schwingungsdynamik menschlicher Lernvorgänge

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Sanctity of the Body and the Relational Paradigm

The individual is in constant interaction with others from birth onwards. The primary experience evolves from the innate need for bodily touch and connection, which form the foundation for the psychobiological structure of the individual. The body’s anatomy is made to yearn for another, for building a home with the body of another. This makes the body the focal instrument, which is discernible already in the mother–child relationship, as well as later in male–female or husband–wife relationships. The body thus provides the most sacred space, and deep within it carries a natural yearning for another, for having a relationship with another. Relationships are the means through which the body can come to full realization.     

Verbatim and Semantic Imitation in Indexing Resources on the Web: A Fuzzy‐trace Account of Social Tagging

Social tagging is a widespread phenomenon on the Web allowing users to tag resources, such as photos, by freely chosen labels. Imitation of other users' tagging behavior is deemed to increase the inter‐individual consistency of tag assignments. Both verbatim and semantic mechanisms have been proposed where the first case suggests reuse of the exact words and the second reuse of the concept without necessarily the word form. Here, we present a multinomial model of assigning tags that integrates these perspectives. On the basis of the fuzzy‐trace theory, the model includes separate parameters for the retrieval of verbatim and gist traces of encountered tags. Results of two experiments demonstrate that both types of memory traces contribute substantially and independently to tag productions. We conclude that the imitation of tags may be explained within one fuzzy‐trace framework that contributes to our understanding of emergent phenomena in social information systems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ADHD Symptoms in Middle Adolescence Predict Exposure to Person-Related Life Stressors in Late Adolescence in <Emphasis Type="Italic">5-HTTLPR</Emphasis> S-allele Homozygotes

Literature suggests that life stressors predict attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and that this relationship is moderated by the serotonin transporter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR). It is less clear whether, on reverse, ADHD symptoms may influence the risk of exposure to life stressors. Furthermore, the role of life stressors may vary across development depending on the type of life stressor. We used threewave longitudinal data of 1,306 adolescents from the general population and clinicreferred cohort of the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey. The 5-HTTLPR genotype (SS, LS, LL), parent-reported ADHD symptoms at three time points (T1: Mage?=?11.2; T2: Mage?=?13.5; T3: Mage?=?16.2 years), and the number of personrelated (‘dependent’) and environment-related (‘independent’) life stressors occurring between measurements (T1-T2, T2-T3) were assessed. Using path analyses, we examined bidirectional relations between exposure to these life stressors and ADHD symptoms between the separate waves moderated by 5-HTTLPR status. Exposure to life stressors did not predict ADHD symptoms. Rather, we found that in 5-HTTLPR Sallele homozygotes, ADHD symptoms in middle adolescence (T2) predicted exposure to the number of person-related life stressors later in adolescence (T2-T3, p?=?0.001). There was no relation with environment-related life stressors. Our study suggests that S-allele homozygotes with higher levels of ADHD symptoms in middle adolescence are more vulnerable to becoming exposed to person-related (‘dependent’) life stressors in late adolescence. Findings emphasize the need to be aware of social-emotional adversities that may occur in genetically vulnerable adolescents with ADHD symptoms in the transition into adulthood.     

Boundary Disturbances and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Female graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology retrospectively rated maternal and paternal boundaries in their families of origin. Subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-3 were used to assess disordered eating, including drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, bulimia symptoms, and overall risk. Results indicated that maternal enmeshment and maternal psychological control were related to disordered eating. Further, daughters who reported that their mothers shielded them from parents’ conflict and adult concerns were less likely to report drive for thinness or bulimic tendencies. With respect to paternal boundary problems, paternal infantilization (overprotection) was significantly related to daughters’ drive for thinness.