Strength-based assessment of African-American adolescents with behavioral disorders

The study examined consistencies and differences between 60 parents and their adolescent children with behavioral problems when rating the adolescents' strengths. The parents and teenagers agreed on most of the strength categories of the Behavior and Emotional Rating Scale. However, caretakers rated the adolescents as more involved in family life, while the adolescents rated themselves as more involved in school activities.     

The effect of hormone replacement therapy on mood and everyday memory in younger mid-life women

Research on the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on both mood and memory indicates that oestrogen may enhance verbal memory in younger mid-aged women. This study examined the effect of HRT on everyday memory, while accounting for mood changes, in women between ages 40 and 60. A within-subjects comparison of 17 women, showed that mood, everyday memory, working memory, and delayed verbal memory improved after 3 months of HRT use. The improvement in memory was not mediated by mood, but changes in mood were moderated by exercise habits. The results suggest that verbal memory in particular may be enhanced by HRT in this age group, and everyday memory is an important construct to consider in future research.     

Development of preferences for the human body shape in infancy

Two studies investigated the development of infants' visual preferences for the human body shape. In Study 1, infants of 12, 15 and 18 months were tested in a standard preferential looking experiment, in which they were shown paired line drawings of typical and scrambled bodies. Results indicated that the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes over typical body shapes, while the younger infants did not show differential responding. In Study 2, 12- and 18-month-olds were tested with the same procedure, except that the typical and scrambled body stimuli were photographic images. The results of Study 2 again indicated that only the 18-month-olds had a reliable preference for the scrambled body shapes. This finding contrasts sharply with infants' precocious preferences for human faces, suggesting that infants' learning about human faces and human bodies follow different developmental trajectories.     

Personality change over 40 years of adulthood: hierarchical linear modeling analyses of two longitudinal samples

Normative personality change over 40 years was shown in 2 longitudinal cohorts with hierarchical linear modeling of California Psychological Inventory data obtained at multiple times between ages 21-75. Although themes of change and the paucity of differences attributable to gender and cohort largely supported findings of multiethnic cross-sectional samples, the authors also found much quadratic change and much individual variability. The form of quadratic change supported predictions about the influence of period of life and social climate as factors in change over the adult years: Scores on Dominance and Independence peaked in the middle age of both cohorts, and scores on Responsibility were lowest during peak years of the culture of individualism. The idea that personality change is most pronounced before age 30 and then reaches a plateau received no support.     

Factor structure of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III in schizophrenia

This report examines and compares the factor structure of the new edition of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III) in a sample of chronic schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder outpatients (n = 120) and an age-matched sample of individuals drawn from the WAIS-III standardization sample (n = 200). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses similar to those reported by the developers of the scale suggested that a model of WAIS-III performance with correlated factors for verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, working memory, and processing speed fit the data from the schizophrenia sample as well as it fit the nonclinical comparison sample and fit the data from both samples better than alternative models.     

The psychological benefit of future vividness in goal persistence: An illustrative case of the class of 2020 before & during COVID-19

Graduating during COVID-19, the Class of 2020 had difficulty pursuing their future goals. This research examined the likelihood of academic and career goal change early in the pandemic, disparities in persistence by socioeconomic status (SES), and how psychological resources mitigated goal change during the early stages of the pandemic. This 4-year study surveyed students in the Class of 2020 eight times from their first week in college (Fall 2016) to their last semester before graduation (Spring 2020; N = 115; 20% below middle SES, 80% middle SES or above). Even in the first weeks of COVID-19, a quarter of students changed goals. Lower SES students were less likely to persist in their post-graduation plans. Nevertheless, students who entered college with a vivid image of their future were more likely to have secured a graduate school or job prospect prior to COVID-19, and, in turn, were less likely to change goals.     

Thou Shalt Not Covet Another Man? Exploring Constructions of Same‐Sex and Different‐Sex Infidelity Using Story Completion

This study explores conceptualisations of same‐ versus different‐sex infidelity in the context of a heterosexual marriage using story completion. A convenience sample of 57 female and male participants completed one of four versions of a story stem featuring a husband who is either emotionally or sexually unfaithful with a woman or a man. A social constructionist thematic analysis found that same‐sex infidelity was conceptualised as the ‘worst case scenario’ and was underpinned by a heteronormative framing of repressed homosexuality. By contrast, heterosexual infidelity was understood in terms of relational deficits and the wife assuming responsibility for these. Overall, the analysis shows that in making sense of same‐sex and heterosexual infidelity, the participants drew on familiar discourses of sexuality and gender, suggesting that despite social psychological theorising related to sexual fluidity, essentialist ideas remain firmly in place. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the usefulness of a rarely used tool—the story completion task—for accessing socio‐cultural discourses and dominant meanings surrounding a particular topic. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.