Socioeconomic differences in children's health: how and why do these relationships change with age?

The effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on health are well documented in adulthood, but far less is known about its effects in childhood. The authors reviewed the literature and found support for a childhood SES effect, whereby each decrease in SES was associated with an increased health risk. The authors explored how this relationship changed as children underwent normal developmental changes and proposed 3 models to describe the temporal patterns. The authors found that a model's capacity to explain SES-health relationships varied across health outcomes. Childhood injury showed stronger relationships with SES at younger ages, whereas smoking showed stronger relationships with SES in adolescence. Finally, the authors proposed a developmental approach to exploring mechanisms that link SES and child health.     

Adaptationism--how to carry out an exaptationist program

Adaptationism is a research strategy that seeks to identify adaptations and the specific selective forces that drove their evolution in past environments. Since the mid-1970s, paleontologist Stephen J. Gould and geneticist Richard Lewontin have been critical of adaptationism, especially as applied toward understanding human behavior and cognition. Perhaps the most prominent criticism they made was that adaptationist explanations were analogous to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (outlandish explanations for questions such as how the elephant got its trunk). Since storytelling (through the generation of hypotheses and the making of inferences) is an inherent part of science, the criticism refers to the acceptance of stories without sufficient empirical evidence. In particular, Gould, Lewontin, and their colleagues argue that adaptationists often use inappropriate evidentiary standards for identifying adaptations and their functions, and that they often fail to consider alternative hypotheses to adaptation. Playing prominently in both of these criticisms are the concepts of constraint, spandrel, and exaptation. In this article we discuss the standards of evidence that could be used to identify adaptations and when and how they may be appropriately used. Moreover, building an empirical case that certain features of a trait are best explained by exaptation, spandrel, or constraint requires demonstrating that the trait's features cannot be better accounted for by adaptationist hypotheses. Thus, we argue that the testing of alternatives requires the consideration, testing, and systematic rejection of adaptationist hypotheses. Where possible, we illustrate our points with examples taken from human behavior and cognition.     

The validity of the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence as a measure of fluid intelligence

The current investigation examined the validity of the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI), an intelligence test that is purported to measure fluid intelligence. The CTONI was evaluated in comparison with the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test (KAIT), an established measure of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Ninety-seven adults were administered these instruments in counterbalanced order. Results indicated that the sample's mean CTONI Nonverbal IQ (NIQ) deviated significantly from the mean KAIT Crystallized, Fluid, and Composite IQs. The CTONI mean NIQ underestimated KAIT Fluid and Composite IQs when individual participants were subdivided into existing KAIT ability categories and mean score comparisons were made. Results also indicated that the CTONI NIQ correlated strongly and positively with the KAIT Composite and Fluid IQs. Furthermore, the CTONI Geometric NIQ scale clearly demonstrated discriminant and convergent validity, whereas, the CTONI Pictorial NIQ (PNIQ) did not.     

Slow down,you move too fast: emotional intelligence remains an "elusive" intelligence

Commentators on the R. D. Roberts, M. Zeidner, and G. Matthews (2001) article on the measurement of emotional intelligence (EI) made various pertinent observations that confirm the growing interest in this topic. This rejoinder finds general agreement on some key issues: learning from the history of ability testing, developing more sophisticated structural models of ability, studying emotional abilities across the life span, and establishing predictive and construct validity. However, scoring methods for tests of EI remain problematic. This rejoinder acknowledges recent improvements in convergence between different scoring methods but discusses further difficulties related to (a) neglect of group differences in normative social behaviors, (b) segregation of separate domains of knowledge linked to cognitive and emotional intelligences, (c) potential confounding of competence with learned skills and cultural factors, and (d) lack of specification of adaptive functions of EI. Empirical studies have not yet established that the Multi-Factor Emotional Intelligence Scale and related tests assess a broad EI factor of real-world significance.     

Relative Effectiveness of Values Clarification and Symbolic Modeling in Enhancing the Moral Values of Adolescents in Selected Nigerian Schools

Using quasi-experiment, this study explored the effects of values clarification and symbolic modeling on moral intent to act in a sample of 120 high school students from Ogun State, Nigeria. Despite widespread disapproval and outright condemnation by the public, moral offences by the adolescent population have become increasingly frequent and grave in both the urban and rural areas of Nigeria. Believing that programs set by the government could impact the level of moral behavior among the youths of Nigeria, various leaders in Nigeria have attempted to make a difference in the moral life of the nation, such as “Ethical Revolution” by President Shehu Shagari in 1982; “War Against Indiscipline” by General Mohammed Buhari in 1985. In this study, both values clarification and symbolic modeling options demonstrated significant impacts on moral behavior as measured by the Moral Behavioral Inventory (MBI) and the Adolescent Personal Development Inventory (APDI).     

Indecent Medicine: In Defense of the Absolute Prohibition against Physician Participation in Torture

In a recent article, Gross (2004) Gross, M. 2004. Doctors in the decent society: Torture, ill-treatment, and civic duty. Bioethics, 18(2): 181–203. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA][CROSSREF] [Google Scholar] argues that physicians in decent societies have a civic duty to aid in the torturing of suspected terrorists during emergency conditions. The argument presupposes a communitarian society in which considerations of common good override questions of individual rights, but it is also utilitarian. In the event that there is a ticking bomb and no other alternative available for defusing it, torture must be used, and physicians must play their part. In an earlier article, Jones (1980) Jones, G. 1980. On the permissibility of torture. Journal of Medical Ethics, 6: 11–13. [INFOTRIEVE][CSA] [Google Scholar] also argues in favour of physician participation in torture, going so far as to enthusiastically endorse the allocation of research resources as well to ensure that the ability to meet emergency situations is as efficient as scientifically possible. I argue against both these views and defend the absolute prohibition against torture generally, and against any participation by physicians in particular. I show that these arguments are incompatible with liberal or decent societies, and that the institutional requirements for making torture effective would constitute an unacceptable degradation both of medical ethics and practice, as well as of political institutions in general.     

The Role of Hardiness and Grit in Predicting Performance and Retention of USMA Cadets

We examined the relative effectiveness of hardiness and grit as predictors of performance and retention among first year cadets at the USMA. Based on past research and theory, we expected that both hardiness and grit would predict unique variance in performance and retention even after controlling for past performance as measured by the Whole Candidate Score. Results of regression analyses revealed that hardiness and grit predicted unique variance in first year retention, but only hardiness predicted first year performance at USMA. These findings suggest that hardiness assessment and training may prove valuable in enhancing performance and retention within military training environments.     

The Continuing Role of Hardiness and Grit on Performance and Retention in West Point Cadets

Being an army reservist involves stress and uncertainty. While some individuals use exercise to cope with stress, no previous research has ever studied the relationship between army reservists exercise habits and perceived stress. The current study examined the hypothesis that Israeli army reserves in combat roles would report greater perceived stress and (to cope with the stress) exhibit more intensive exercise habits, as well as higher risk for exercise addiction, than the army reserves who are in a non-combat (i.e., office job) role and controls who are not in the army reserve. Participants (n = 277) completed questionnaires assessing their regular exercises habits, perceived stress, and risk for exercise addiction. The results showed that combat reserves scored higher on all dependent measures than non-combat reserves and controls. Perceived stress accounted for 38.8% to 56.6% of the variance in the risk of exercise addiction. Findings suggest that Israeli army reserves in combat role exercise more, for longer episodes, with greater reported intensity, and are at a greater risk for exercise addiction than the reserves in non-combat roles and controls. The higher risk for exercise addiction in the combat reserves, accompanied by a lower predictive power of the perceived stress, reflects a weaker association between these two variables in this group, most likely because combat reserves feel obliged to be physically fit in case of active deployment. This is the first study to show that differences in reservists’ roles is associated with different levels of risk for exercise addiction.     

A Comparison of Expert Ratings and Self-Assessments of Situation Awareness During a Combat Fatigue Course

The current study compared expert-observer ratings of situation awareness (SA) with subjective self-ratings of SA in Norwegian military academy cadets during a summer combat survival course. The cadets (N?=?30) completed an 8-day combat survival course characterized by sleep and food deprivation, continuous operations, and altered circadian entrainment cues. Results indicated that self-ratings of SA did not correlate consistently with expert-observer SA ratings, and self-ratings were consistently higher than expert-observer ratings. The results are congruent with expected effects of these extreme conditions on cognition and self-awareness, demonstrate a pronounced self-enhancement bias and suggest that subjective measures of SA are not likely to provide valid estimates of SA under extreme conditions.