Improving the Social-Behavioral Adjustment of Adolescents: The Effectiveness of a Social Skills Group Intervention

We evaluated the efficacy of a social skills training intervention designed to improve adolescents’ social, emotional and behavioral adjustment, Social Skills Group Intervention-Adolescent (S.S.GRIN-A). Seventy-four adolescents (ages 13–16 years) and their parents were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (N = 40) or a wait-list control group (N = 34). Adolescents in the treatment and control groups were compared on global self-concept, social self-efficacy, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems pre- and post-intervention. Youth in the treatment group demonstrated enhanced global self-concept, increased social self-efficacy, and decreased internalizing problems as compared to youth in the control group. No differences in externalizing behavior were found. We discuss the effectiveness of S.S.GRIN-A as a general program designed for addressing a range of adjustment issues and social skill deficits in adolescents.     

Sex Differences in the Effects of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Social Organization on Rural Adolescents’ Aggression Trajectories

We determined whether effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on trajectories of aggression were moderated or mediated by neighborhood social organization and examined sex differences in neighborhood effects for rural adolescents. We used five waves of survey data collected over 2.5 years linked with neighborhood data from interviews with parents and the US Census. The sample (N = 5,118) was 50.1% female, 52.0% white and 38.3% African–American; average age at baseline was 13.1 years. Multilevel growth curve models for both girls and boys showed no significant interactions between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and indicators of social organization. Neither sample showed evidence of mediated effects. In main effects models, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with the average aggression trajectory for girls. For boys, the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and social disorganization appeared to be confounded with each other. Neighborhood disadvantage is detrimental for rural girls regardless of the level of social organization.     

Role of motor processes in extrinsically encoding mental transformations

Previous research has shown that imagined perspective rotations elicit spatial and low-level cortical motor areas of the brain when participants rely on knowledge of their physical body, or body percept (Wraga, Flynn, Boyle, & Evans, 2010). The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether recruitment of the body percept would activate low-level cortical motor areas of the brain within other classes of mental transformations. Participants performed imagined object and perspective rotations of three-dimensional Shephard-Metzler (1971) stimuli. For each task, participants used button presses serving as virtual pointers to locate a prescribed portion of the stimuli with respect to their "right" and "left." We found low-level cortical motor activation (M1) for both mental transformations; however, the degree to which such activation related to participants' performance differed, as well as the recruitment of additional nonmotoric strategies. The results are discussed in terms of recent hypotheses regarding the role of the body percept in extrinsically encoded mental transformations.     

Hand dominance influences the processing of observed bodies

In motor tasks, subgroups of lefthanders have been shown to differ in the distribution of attention about their own bodies. The present experiment examined whether similar attentional biases also apply when processing observed bodies. Sixteen right handers (RHs), 22 consistent left handers (CLHs) and 11 relatively ambidextrous inconsistent left handers (ILHs) performed an own body transformation task in which they were instructed to make speeded left–right judgements about a schematic human figure. Attentional biases associated with handedness were found to extend to observed bodies: CLHs’ judgements were faster to the figure’s left side, while ILHs, like RHs, showed facilitated performance to the figure’s right side. These results demonstrate a novel embodiment effect whereby the processing of a static schematic human figure is modulated by an individual’s personal motor capabilities. This finding suggests that motor simulation may contribute to whole body perception in the absence of actual or implied actions.     

危机情境中的期望差异效应

本文提出了期望差异效应的概念并细致阐述了期望差异效应可能是导致风险沟通障碍的原因。期望差异效应是指处于同一情境中的一方对另一方的期望与另一方自我期望之间的差异。围绕上述问题,研究者在阐述了期望差异效应的含义以及期望差异效应可能的心理表征和认知根源之后,细致分析了期望差异效应的强化因素及其可能导致的风险沟通障碍。有关期望差异效应的研究尚处于起步阶段,界定期望差异效应的心理表征,确定期望差异效应的测量工具,探索期望差异效应的影响因素以及分析期望差异效应与风险沟通障碍的关系等都可以作为未来的研究方向。     

The Role of Families and Care Givers as Risk and Protective Factors in Preventing Youth Violence

This paper reviews research which discusses the risk and protective functions that families and other caregivers provide in influencing the development of aggressive behavior in youth. Currently, there is an emphasis on providing violence prevention programs in the school environment, typically with little parental or caregiver involvement. By enhancing the role of families and caregivers in youth violence prevention programs, we assert that an unique opportunity exists to both address specific risk factors for violence while enhancing the protective features of the family. Relatedly, the risk literature on youth violence indicates that the most influential risk factors (i.e., the family, community, and peers) have their principle impact on youth aggression outside the school. We suggest a shift in the focus of violence prevention programming that is more inclusive of families as both a risk and protective agent. In support of this position, relevant theory and reviews of exemplary family-involved programs are offered. Challenges to involving youth caregivers are identified and recommendations for overcoming those challenges suggested. Last, recommendations for future research and public policy in the prevention of youth violence are offered.     

B2C电子商务中消费者的风险来源及其影响

研究目的是通过考察B2C(Business to Consumer)电子商务中消费者知觉到的风险来源来验证电子商务交易中的虚实界面假设。通过访谈法和问卷法调查了337名被试,探讨了B2C电子商务中消费者认知到的风险来源结构,以及这些风险来源对消费者认知风险的影响。结果表明：消费者在B2C电子商务中的认知风险一部分来源于虚实界面     

我国民众对SARS信息的风险认知及心理行为

采用分层抽样的调查方法,对全国17个城市的4231名市民进行了SARS疫情中风险认知特征和心理行为的研究。结果发现：（1）负性信息,包括患病信息和与自身关系密切的信息,更易引起民众的高风险认知; 正性信息,包括治愈信息和政府防范措施的信息,能降低个体风险认知水平。（2）我国民众5月中旬风险认知因素空间位置分析结果表明, SARS病因处于不熟悉和难以控制一端,“愈后对身体的影响和有无传染性”处于不熟悉一端,这是引起民众风险意识的主要因素。（3）结构方程分析结果表明,SARS疫情信息是通过风险认知对个体的应对行为、心理健康产生影响的, 并初步验证了风险评估、心理紧张度、应对行为和心理健康等指标对于危机事件中民众心理行为的预测作用     

自我保护性医疗的伦理扫描--论患方知情同意与医方规避风险

自我保护性医疗是近年来医方为应对医患关系重构而采取的一种行为模式,其本身和影响具有全新特点,充满价值冲突;这种行为模式,客观上是对应医疗风险尤其是重大医疗风险的;主观上同医方免责期待的张扬以及对知情同意的解读直接相关;因而,正当的自我保护性医疗既取决于医方合理的免责期待,以及改变对知情同意的误读,更依赖于自身的医学伦理综合素质的打造和完善。