The Influence of Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting Stress and Depressive Symptoms on Own and Partner's Parent‐Child Communication

This study examines how parenting stress and depressive symptoms experienced by mothers and fathers influence their own (actor effects) and the partner's (partner effects) parent–child communication. Based on the Actor‐Partner Interdependence Model, data from 196 families were analyzed, with both parents rating their parenting stress and depressive feelings, and parents as well as children rating the open parent–child communication. Actor effects were found between parenting stress and open parent–child communication, whereas partner effects were prominent between depressive symptoms and open parent–child communication. The results provide no evidence for gender differences in the strength of the pathways to open parent–child communication. Our findings demonstrate the need to include both parents in studies on parent–child communication to enhance our understanding of the mutual influence among family members.     

Structural Personality Organization as Assessed With Theory Driven Profile Interpretation of the Dutch Short Form of the MMPI Predicts Dropout and Treatment Response in Brief Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy for Axis I Disorders

It is generally believed that people "normally" see male figures on Card III and females on Card VII, and that seeing females on III by males may be an indication of confused sexuality. Brown (1971) suggests that recently there has been a marked increase in the number of males who see females on III and that this indicates a cultural change toward a blurring of sex roles. Present findings are that male subjects through 60 years of age see substantial numbers of females on Card III. More males do see females on III in 1970 than earlier, but it seems to be the age of the subject more than the decade in which he lives that primarily determines response.     

Parenting stress and marital relationship as determinants of mothers' and fathers' parenting

Using the actor–partner interdependence model, we explore how various sources of stress and support experienced by fathers and mothers influence their own parenting styles and the parenting styles of the partner. Data from 227 couples were analyzed, with mothers and fathers rating their parenting stress and marital relationship and children rating the parenting styles of both mothers and fathers. Structural equation models revealed actor effects of parenting stress on demanding and responsive parenting styles, as well as partner effects between positive aspects of marital relationship and responsive parenting style. The results further indicate that the strength of these pathways is similar for both mothers and fathers and do not support the hypothesis that the parenting of fathers is more vulnerable than the parenting of mothers.     

Academic self-concept in high school: predictors and effects on adjustment in higher education

Academic self-concept is considered a relevant psychological construct influencing many educational outcomes directly or indirectly. Therefore, the major focus of the current study is on the predictors and effects of academic self-concept in late adolescence. First, we studied the simultaneous effects of individual, class-average and school-average achievement (i.e., assessed by school grades) on academic self-concept in the final year of high school, thereby replicating and extending previous research on the big-fish-little-pond effect model. Second, the predictive value of high school academic self-concept for academic adjustment and success in the first year of higher education was examined. The sample comprised 536 twelfth grade students (44% boys) recruited from 24 schools (67 classes) that were representative with regard to geographical region and educational network in Flanders. Structural equation modeling showed that, when examining the joint contribution of school- and class-average achievement, only class-average achievement was significantly and negatively associated with academic self-concept. Furthermore, a significant effect of academic self-concept in high school on academic adjustment and success in higher education (in addition to any effects of high school academic achievement) was found. These results highlight the importance of considering academic self-concept in educational research and policy.     

The end-state comfort effect facilitates joint action

Motor experts can accurately predict the future actions of others by observing their movements. This report describes three experiments that investigate such predictions in everyday object manipulations and test whether these predictions facilitate responses to the actions of others. Observing video excerpts showing an actor reaching for a vertically mounted dial, participants in Experiment 1 needed to predict how the actor would rotate it. Their predictions were specific to the direction and extent of the dial rotation and improved proportionate to the length of the video clip shown. Testing whether such predictions facilitate responses, in the subsequent experiments responders had to undo an actor's actions, back-rotating a dial (Exp 2) and a bar (Exp 3). The responders' actions were initiated faster when the actors' movements obeyed the so-called end-state comfort principle than when they did not. Our experiments show that humans exploit the end-state comfort effect to tweak their predictions of the future actions of others. The results moreover suggest that the precision of these predictions is mediated by perceptual learning rather than by motor simulation.     

Sport competition anxiety and sex role

Competitive trait anxiety scores, measured by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test, were obtained from subjects of both sexes. Subjects also were classified into one of five sex-role endorsement categories according to scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. It was predicted that greater endorsement of a feminine sex role, regardless of sex of the subject, would be associated with high levels of competitive trait anxiety. Analysis of variance showed no significant difference for sex of subject, but significant differences for both sex-role endorsement and sex × endorsement interaction. Both differences were attributed to male subjects' responses. Generally, masculine males were less anxious than other subjects, while feminine males were more anxious. There were no significant differences among female groups.The author expresses thanks to Elizabeth Y. Poland and Robert E. Hill, Jr., for their numerous helpful comments during the preparation of this article.     

Insular activity during passive viewing of aversive stimuli reflects individual differences in state negative affect

People differ with regard to how they perceive, experience, and express negative affect. While trait negative affect reflects a stable, sustained personality trait, state negative affect represents a stimulus limited and temporally acute emotion. So far, little is known about the neural systems mediating the relationship between negative affect and acute emotion processing. To address this issue we investigated in a healthy female sample how individual differences in state negative affect are reflected in changes in blood oxygen level-dependent responses during passive viewing of emotional stimuli. To assess autonomic arousal we simultaneously recorded changes in skin conductance level. At the psychophysiological level we found increased skin conductance level in response to aversive relative to neutral pictures. However, there was no association of state negative affect with skin conductance level. At the neural level we found that high state negative affect was associated with increased left insular activity during passive viewing of aversive stimuli. The insula has been implicated in interoceptive processes and in the integration of sensory, visceral, and affective information thus contributing to subjective emotional experience. Greater recruitment of the insula in response to aversive relative to neutral stimuli in subjects with high state negative affect may represent increased processing of salient aversive stimuli.     

Design explanation: determining the constraints on what can be alive

This paper is concerned with reasonings that purport to explain why certain organisms have certain traits by showing that their actual design is better than contrasting designs. Biologists call such reasonings ‘functional explanations’. To avoid confusion with other uses of that phrase, I call them ‘design explanations’. This paper discusses the structure of design explanations and how they contribute to scientific understanding. Design explanations are contrastive and often compare real organisms to hypothetical organisms that cannot possibly exist. They are not causal but appeal to functional dependencies between an organism’s different traits. These explanations point out that because an organism has certain traits (e.g., it lives on land), it cannot be alive if the trait to be explained (e.g., having lungs) were replaced by a specified alternative (e.g., having gills). They can be understood from a mechanistic point of view as revealing the constraints on what mechanisms can be alive.