Monaural recall and the right-ear advantage

Lists of eight nonsense syllables were monaurally presented to right-handed men and women for free recall, half to each ear on each trial. Results showed a right-ear advantage (REA) in the recall of recency items, but not primacy items and for males only. Among males only that subgroup without familial sinistrality demonstrated the REA. Results offer support for the following: (A) the language mechanisms involved in short-term “echoic” memory are particularly well-lateralized; (B) mechanisms underlying monaural REAs may be similar to those responsible for the asymmetries found in other paradigms; (C) processing demands and strategies inherent to the monaural technique may account in part for its limited reliability in yielding REA and for the present absence of REA among females.     

Developmental differences in the allocation of processing capacity

Recently psychologists have formulated a comprehensive view of attention involving allocation of processing capacity. Although developmental changes in processing capacity have been proposed as one source of age differences in certain cognitive skills, there has been little systematic investigation of this hypothesis. In the present study, second and sixth graders and adults (8, 12, and 20 years of age, respectively) performed a letter-matching task (primary task) concurrently with an auditory detection task (secondary task). Changes in reaction time in the secondary task as a function of manipulations of the primary task were used to estimate capacity allocation to the primary task. Primary task variables included stage of processing (alerting, encoding, rehearsing, responding) and matching condition (physical-identity vs name-identity matching). Age differences in secondary task performance were found to be related to stage of processing but not to matching condition. Earlier stages of the letter match task (alerting, encoding) required somewhat more capacity allocation in younger subjects. Later stages (rehearsing, responding) made substantially higher demands on capacity in children. Capacity allocation may be an important cognitive variable mediating developmental differences in basic information processing skills, and may underlie age trends found in performance of certain complex cognitive tasks.     

Relationship between parental discipline and children's ability to cope with stress

A questionnaire was developed to assess the use of disciplinary methods by parents regarding their children's approach to fearful situations. The predictive validity of this tool was evaluated by correlational analyses with the assessment of fear (behavioral, subjective, and physiological) in their children during hospitalizations for surgery. The results confirmed the usefulness of the questionnaire. Parents who reported use of positive reinforcement, modeling, and persuasion as ways of encouraging the child to deal with fearful situations had children who were low in anxiety during the actual stressful life experience. The reported use of punishment, force, or reinforcement of dependency was correlated with higher anxiety. Differences in the use of these methods by mothers and fathers are reported. The reliability of the questionnaire and its relationship to social desirability and the sex of the child are discussed.     

Emotion regulation and psychopathological symptoms of Chinese school‐age children: A person‐centred and multi‐informant approach

Emotion regulation (ER) is a critical component of children's development. Many previous studies have utilised a single‐assessment method to reflect child ER, which might result in losing important information regarding the unique contribution of each informant. With a person‐centred approach and multi‐informant reports (mother, teacher and child), the current study examined 196 children's (age M = 9.21, SD = 1.10, range = 7–11 years; 51% girls) ER patterns and their associations with psychopathological symptoms in a Chinese sample. A model‐based clustering procedure resulted in 3 ER groups: the poor family ER group (n = 36), poor school ER group (n = 120), and overall good ER group (n = 40). Significant differences were found among ER clusters on teacher‐reported child psychopathological symptoms compared on the levels of withdrawn depression, somatic complain, thought problems and attention problems. No significant differences were found on the mother‐reported psychopathological symptoms. Compared with children in the poor school or poor family ER clusters, children in the overall good ER group demonstrated fewer psychopathological symptoms at school. Our results confirmed the advantage of adopting multi‐informant assessments to fully capture children's emotional profiles and linked these profiles with children's emotional and behavioural functioning at school.     

Relationships between parenting practices and perceptions of child behaviour among Korean immigrant mothers and fathers

This study examined parenting styles and culturally‐specific parenting practices of Korean immigrant mothers (N = 128) and fathers (N = 79) of children (ages 6–10) in New Zealand and the parenting predictors of child behaviour. Participants completed questionnaires on parenting styles and practices, and parental perceptions of child behaviour. Both parents indicated a high degree of devotion (Mo jeong) and involvement in care and education of their child with fathers were more likely than mothers to utilise shaming/love withdrawal and modesty encouragement. Results of regression analyses showed that there were some differences between mothers and fathers in the parenting predictors of child internalising and externalising behaviour problems and prosocial behaviour. Across the whole sample, there were contrasting relationships for authoritative parenting styles, devoted/involved parenting and modesty encouragement/shaming/non‐reasoning parenting practices with child behaviour problems. Results indicated a blend of Western and Korean parenting practices were being utilised after settling in New Zealand.     

IMPACT OF PARENTAL BINGE EATING DISORDER: EXPLORING CHILDREN'S EMOTIONAL/BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS AND THE QUALITY OF PARENT–CHILD FEEDING INTERACTIONS

This study examines psychopathological problems in children of parents with binge eating disorder (BED), particularly the effect of parental diagnosis on their offspring's psychopathology and the mediating power of the quality of parent–infant feeding interactions. Two hundred parents and their offspring were administered a questionnaire for the assessment of their children's psychopathology at 18 (T1) and 36 (T2) months of age. An observational measure to evaluate feeding interactions was administered at T1. Children with both parents with BED showed the highest affective, anxiety, oppositional/defiant, and autism spectrum problems, but no influence of paternal diagnosis was found on the offspring's psychopathology. Maternal BED had an influence on children's affective and autism spectrum problems, and diagnosis of BED in both parents had an effect on infants’ affective problems. Paternal BED had an effect on oppositional/defiant problems through the quality of father–infant interactions, and maternal BED had an effect on the offspring's affective and anxiety problems through the mediation of mother–infant interactions. These results suggest the importance of intervention programs focusing both on parental psychopathology and on mother–child and father–child feeding interactions in families with parents with BED.     

It is time for a general comment on children’s spiritual development

Reviewing the general comments by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the state reports to the CRC reveal a mixed picture. How could a general comment by CRC on the right to spiritual development assist states in their policies and programmes? First, current understandings of spiritual well-being – one’s relationship to oneself, others, nature and the transcendent – encompass all relevant dimensions of meaning-making, enhanced awareness and connectedness. Second, the CRC has elaborated on spiritual development in 16 of its 21 general comments, providing sources from which a comprehensive elaboration can be done. Third, the understanding of the term spiritual is diverse among states. Fourth, a general comment will clarify the term spiritual development and inspire and guide relevant policies and programmes.     

高血压患者应激反应特点及行为人格的关系研究

为了解高血压患者心血管反应的特征及与健康人群的差异,使用实验和问卷调查的方法对高血压患者和健康居民进行研究。结果显示,两组在任务期和恢复期的心血管反应差异显著（P〈0．05）;病例组的健康实践行为和消极应对方式水平较高,积极应对方式有待提升;健康实践行为和恢复期舒张压呈负相关,积极应对方式和任务期收缩压呈正相关（P〈0...     

Cross-cultural comparison of drivers’ tendency to commit different aberrant driving behaviours

The first aim of the present study was to identify key items which are rated differently by drivers from Finland, Sweden, Greece and Turkey. The second aim was to examine how these key items relate to drivers’ self-reported accident involvement. Similar comparisons have previously been conducted in Europe but these have only included items classified as violations and errors, but not lapses. A sample of Finnish (N = 200), Swedish (N = 200), Greek (N = 200) and Turkish (N = 200) drivers completed the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) and reported their accident involvement during the previous 3 years. The results showed that nine key items (which drivers from different countries rated differently) could be identified. These items included two aggressive violations, four ordinary violations, three lapses, but no errors. Out of these nine items, five items (Become angered by a certain type of driver and indicate your hostility by whatever means you can, Disregard the speed limit on a motorway, Overtake a slow driver on the inside, Pull out of a junction so far that the driver with right of way has to stop and let you out and Get into the wrong lane approaching a roundabout or a junction) could explain differences in drivers’ self-reported yearly accident involvement when all four countries were taken together. At the same time, none of the items could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Finland and Sweden while one of the items (Overtake a slow driver on the inside) could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Greece and two of the items (Become angered by a certain type of driver and indicate your hostility by whatever means you can and Disregard the speed limit on a residential road) could explain differences in self-reported yearly accident involvement in Turkey. This shows that different countries have different problems with regard to aberrant driving behaviours which need to be taken into account when promoting traffic safety interventions and the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) can be used to diagnose risk areas and to better inform road safety practitioners within and between countries.