Aggression and social status: the moderating roles of sex and peer‐valued characteristics

Research on peer rejection has long emphasized links between aggressive behavior and peer liking, with aggressive children and adolescents being more rejected by peers. However, recent research shows that at least some aggressive students enjoy considerable power and influence and are perceived as “popular” within the peer group. To understand the processes underlying links between aggression and social status, the present research considered three distinct indices of social status (social preference, perceived popularity, and power) and investigated the degree to which the possession of peer‐valued characteristics moderated the links between status and aggression and whether these links varied by sex. A sample of 585 adolescents (grades 6–10) completed peer evaluation measures assessing social status, aggression (overt/physical, indirect/relational), and the degree to which peers possessed eight different peer‐valued characteristics (e.g., attractiveness, athleticism, etc.). Although sociometric indices of status were significantly related to perceived popularity, especially for boys, perceptions of power were more strongly linked to perceived popularity than to sociometric likeability. Moreover, the three indices of social status were differentially related to peers' assessments of aggression and to peer‐valued characteristics, with notable sex differences. As predicted, regression analyses demonstrated that the observed relationships between social status and aggression were moderated by the possession of peer‐valued characteristics; aggressive students who possessed peer‐valued characteristics enjoyed higher levels of perceived popularity and power and less disliking than those who did not. This relationship varied as a function of sex, the type of aggression considered, and the status construct predicted. Aggr. Behav. 32:396–408, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Influence of the interests of children with autism on everyday learning opportunities

Findings from a pilot study investigating the influence of the interests of young children with autism on parents' provision of everyday informal child learning opportunities are described. 17 children (13 boys, 4 girls) were divided into two groups that received everyday learning opportunities of Low interest and High interest, based on parents' bi-weekly ratings of the interestingness of the opportunities to the children, using an investigator-developed measure. A brief intervention of 12 to 14 weeks showed that the children in the High interest-based group were provided more learning opportunities than were the Low interest-based group, and that the parents indicated that their children benefited more from the learning opportunities. Implications for future research are described.     

Parallelism Effects and Verb Activation: The Sustained Reactivation Hypothesis

This study investigated the processes underlying parallelism by evaluating the activation of a parallel element (i.e., a verb) throughout and-coordinated sentences. Four points were tested: (1) approximately 1,600ms after the verb in the first conjunct (PP1), (2) immediately following the conjunction (PP2), (3) approximately 1,100ms after the conjunction (PP3), (4) at the end of the second conjunct (PP4). The results revealed no activation at PP1, suggesting activation related to the initial presentation had decayed by this point; however, activation was observed at PP2, PP3, and PP4, suggesting the conjunction elicits reactivation that is sustained throughout the second conjunct. These findings support a specific hypothesis about parallelism, the sustained reactivation hypothesis. This hypothesis claims that, in conjoined structures, a cue that is associated with parallelism elicits the reactivation of material from the first conjunct and that this activation is sustained until integration with the second conjunct can be completed.     

Using Gender Role Conflict Theory in Counseling Male‐to‐Female Transgender Individuals

Ignoring gender socialization while counseling transgender clients neglects a significant aspect of the transgender experience. To address this, the authors review the literature on gender role conflict (GRC) theory as it pertains to the transgender experience of biological males whose authentic self is female. They explore the main types of distress experienced by transgender individuals, detail the therapeutic process using a GRC theory perspective, specify how GRC applies to transgender individuals, and suggest ways to work with this population.     

Body image in patients with body dysmorphic disorder: Evaluations of and investment in appearance,health/illness,and fitness

Body image is an important aspect of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) which has received little investigation. Ninety-two BDD participants who participated in one of three BDD pharmacotherapy studies completed the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, which assesses attitudinal body image, specifically evaluations of and investment in appearance, health/illness, and physical fitness. Scores were compared to population norms. Compared to norms, BDD participants were significantly less satisfied with their appearance. Less satisfaction was associated with more severe BDD and greater delusionality. Men with BDD were significantly more invested in their appearance compared to male population norms. Compared to population norms, males and females with BDD felt less physically healthy and females were less invested in a healthy lifestyle. However, compared with population females, females with BDD were less alert to being ill. These findings suggest that patients with BDD differ from population norms in a number of important aspects of body image.     

Working memory and cognitive styles in adolescents' attainment

Background. Working memory, the ability to store and process information, is strongly related to learning outcomes. Aims. The aim of the present study is to extend previous research on early learning and investigate the relationship between working memory, cognitive styles, and attainment in adolescents using both national curriculum tests and teacher‐based assessments. Sample. A group of 164 13‐year‐olds from a school in England were recruited. Methods. They took tests of working memory and cognitive styles. The school provided the attainment scores. Results. Working memory was found to be the predictor of learning outcomes in English, Maths, and Science, as well as all teacher assessments. There was also a significant interplay between working memory, styles, and attainment. For students with high working memory, their style preference does not impact attainment. Students most at risk were analytics with low working memory as they performed worse in the most subjects. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the interplay between working memory and cognitive styles can be useful in developing suitable interventions to support students.     

Moral virtue and practical wisdom: theme comprehension in children, youth, and adults

The authors tested 3 hypotheses about the relation of moral comprehension to prudential comprehension by contrasting comprehension of themes in moral stories with comprehension of themes in prudential stories among third-grade, fifth-grade, and college students (n = 168) in Study 1, and among college students, young and middle-aged adults, and older adults (n = 96) in Study 2. In both studies, all groups were statistically significantly better at moral theme comprehension than prudential theme comprehension, suggesting that moral comprehension may develop prior to prudential comprehension. In Study 2, all groups performed equally on moral theme generation whereas both adult groups were significantly better than college students on prudential theme generation. Overall, the findings of these studies provide modest evidence that moral and prudential comprehension each develop separately, and that the latter may develop more slowly.     

The impact of rape on women's sexual health risk behaviors.

This study used cluster analysis to identify three patterns of sexual health risk behaviors in a sample of adult rape survivors (N=102). Women in the 1st cluster (high risk) reported substantial increases from pre- to postrape in their frequency of sexual activity, number of sexual partners, infrequency of condom use, and frequency of using alcohol and/or drugs during sex. The 2nd cluster (moderate risk) reported increases in frequency of sexual activity and number of partners but mitigated that risk with increased condom use. Survivors in the 3rd cluster (low risk) indicated that their sexual health behaviors had become much less risky postrape. An ecological model predicting cluster membership revealed that individual-level and contextual factors predict patterns of risk behaviors.     

Against a role for attentional disengagement in the gap effect: A friendly amendment to Tam and Stelmach (1993)

Saccadic reaction time (RT) is reduced when the fixation point is removed shortly before target onset. Although Tam and Stelmach (1993) argued that thisgap effect could not be explained solely by the idea that fixation offset disengaged visual attention and preferred an explanation based on disengagement of the oculomotor system, they felt that they could not rule out a hybrid model in which both oculomotorand attentional disengagement contribute to the gap effect. Our analysis of the dual response experiment (Experiment 4), upon which this hybrid model was based, shows that manual and saccadic responses were likely compromised by a grouping or delay strategy and that subjects may not have been attending as instructed. On these grounds, we argue that Tam and Stelmach (1993), like Kingstone and Klein (1990; 1993a) provide no evidence that attentional disengagement contributes to the gap effect. An alternative proposal (Klein & Kingstone, 1993), that motor preparation and oculomotor disengagement combine additively to produce the gap effect, is consistent with the data from Tam and Stelmach’s Experiments 1–3, is similar to the explanation that they prefer, and has been strongly supported when directly tested (Kingstone, Klein, & Taylor, 1994).