The Influence of Posttreatment Mutual Help Group Participation on the Friendship Networks of Substance Abuse Patients

The effect of 12-step mutual help groups (e.g., Narcotics Anonymous) on members' friendship networks has received little attention. This 1-year longitudinal study examined such effects in a sample of 2,337 male substance abuse inpatients, 57.7% of whom became significantly involved in 12-step activities (e.g., reading program literature, attending meetings) after treatment. An a priori model of the interplay of 12-step involvement and friendship networks was tested using structural equation modeling, and found to have excellent fit to the data. Twelve-step group involvement after treatment predicted better general friendship characteristics (e.g., number of close friends) and substance abuse-specific friendship characteristics (e.g., proportion of friends who abstain from drugs and alcohol) at follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of how mutual help group involvement benefits patients and how the self-help group evaluation paradigm should be broadened.     

Loneliness,HPA stress reactivity and social threat sensitivity: Analyzing naturalistic social challenges

Loneliness has been linked to poor health through an increased activation of threat surveillance mechanisms, such as the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis (HPA ). The socio‐cognitive model (Cacioppo & Hawley) proposes that lonely people have an increased social threat sensitivity which activates the HPA axis. The current study examined the impact of loneliness on HPA stress reactivity and social threat sensitivity in response to naturally occurring social challenges. Participants (N = 45) were prospective undergraduates attending a 3‐day university preparation programme over the summer, prior to commencing their university studies. Cortisol levels and perceived stress were measured before and after an ice breaker session on Day 1 and a lecture session on Day 3. Social threat sensitivity was also measured on the first and third day. When meeting unfamiliar peers in the ice breaker session, HPA stress reactivity was evident, but it was not markedly different in those who reported high levels of loneliness than those with low levels. The high loneliness group had higher levels of perceived stress and increased social threat sensitivity than the low loneliness group on both testing days. The findings show partial support for the socio‐cognitive model of loneliness because increased threat sensitivity was demonstrated in the high loneliness group. The findings indicate that lonely people do not respond in a physiologically different way to specific social challenges, but they typically report higher social threat sensitivity and higher perceived stress than their non‐lonely peers.     

Behavior analysis/modification for everyone

This paper presents a very brief overview of people's attempt to understand and change behavior and shows how behavior analysis is different from these views. The importance of everyone knowing and using behavioral principles in their everyday life is stressed and the opposition to a behavioral approach is discussed. The aims of the organization called Behavior Analysis/Modification in the Regular Classroom is presented and some steps that this organization is following in an attempt to help to disseminate the knowledge and use of behavioral principles in the schools is presented.     

Validation of continuous measures of peer social interaction with self- and teacher-reports of friendship and social engagement

ABSTRACT

The present study validates a new procedure that combines continuous measures of proximity (Ubisense) and vocalization (LENA) into measures of peer social interaction. The data were collected from 4 boys and 5 girls (ages 2–3 at the outset) on 8 separate days (3–4 hours per day) over the course of an academic year. Teacher reports of friendship were positively correlated with continuous measures of dyadic social interaction (i.e., the amount of time two children spent in proximity to one another, talking). Self-reports of reciprocated friendship were marginally correlated with continuous measures of dyadic social interaction, but only in the spring semester (when children were older and their reports of friendship more reliable). At the individual level, peer nominations of likeability, and teacher ratings of sociability and withdrawal were correlated with continuous measures of social interaction (i.e., the amount of time a child spent in proximity to other children, talking).     

A Longitudinal Investigation of the Friendship Model of Relational Interdependent Self-Construal

A four-wave longitudinal study examined how relational-interdependent self-construal (RISC) or the tendency to think of one’s self in terms of close relationships, was related to cognitions and behaviors within friendships. In same-sex friendships, in both concurrent and prospective analyses, own RISC was associated with perceived friend’s RISC, own relationship supportive behaviors, and own relationship quality. Perceived friend’s RISC predicted perceived friend’s relationship supportive behaviors. Own behaviors predicted fulfillment of own friendship functions, which predicted own relationship quality. In prospective analyses, behaviors mediated the RISC-friendship function relation, and behaviors and friendship functions both mediated the RISC-relationship quality relation. However, the influence of perceived friend’s RISC on subsequent variables was through its association with perceived friend’s behavior, which was associated with own friendship functions concurrently.     

The Role of Personality Factors in the Reduction of Intergroup Anxiety and Amelioration of Outgroup Attitudes via Intergroup Contact

Two studies investigated the role of personality factors in the amelioration of outgroup attitudes via intergroup contact. In study 1, the effect of extraversion on outgroup attitude operated via an increase in cross‐group friendship, whereas openness to experience and agreeableness had a direct effect on outgroup attitude. In study 2, we included intergroup anxiety as a mediator explaining these relationships, and we ruled out ingroup friendship as a potential confound. We found that the relationships between openness to experience and agreeableness on the one hand and outgroup attitude on the other were mediated by reduced intergroup anxiety. In addition, the effect of extraversion on outgroup attitude operated via an increase in cross‐group friendship that was in turn associated with lower levels of intergroup anxiety. Across both studies, the friendship–attitude relationship was stronger among those low in agreeableness and extraversion. We discuss the importance of integrating personality and situational approaches to prejudice reduction in optimizing the impact of contact‐based interventions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influences Between Online‐Exclusive,Conjoint and Offline‐Exclusive Friendship Networks: The Moderating Role of Shyness

Prior research has indicated that shy adolescents are more motivated to form friendships online than to form friendships offline. Little is known about whether having friendships found exclusively online may impact self‐esteem and forming offline friendships for these adolescents. This study therefore aimed to provide insight into the moderating role of shyness in the longitudinal interplay between friendships in online and offline contexts in early adolescence. Adolescents and their friends (193 girls, 196 boys; M_age = 13.29) were followed with three consecutive measurements with intervals of eight months. Results showed that particularly for shy adolescents, having friends exclusively online predicted increases in self‐esteem. Self‐esteem, in turn, was found to predict forming more friendships found both offline and online and forming more friendships found exclusively offline. Thus, findings supported the social compensation perspective that shy adolescents may benefit from having friends exclusively online, as these friendships may increase self‐esteem, thereby facilitating the formation of friendships found partially and completely offline. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Prejudice‐reduction in Culturally Mixed Classrooms: The Development and Assessment of a Theory‐driven Intervention Among Majority and Minority Youth in Finland

The aim of this field experiment was to develop and assess an intervention promoting positive intergroup relations in culturally diverse schools. The intervention was based on extended contact and social learning and utilized behavioural journalism as its method. Intervention effects were assessed on out‐group attitudes, perceived importance of future contact, perceived peer norms and intergroup anxiety among ethnic majority (N = 583) and minority (N = 214) youth in grades 7–9 in Finnish secondary schools (total N_experimental = 388; total N_control = 409). As a result of the intervention, both groups showed a tendency to perceive future intergroup contact as more important, and this effect was most notable for younger participants and girls. Prototypicality of in‐group and out‐group peer models contributed positively to intervention effects. However, unexpectedly, the intervention also increased experiences of intergroup anxiety among the oldest participants. The results are discussed taking into account the developmental stage of the youth studied. Besides critically assessing the effectiveness of the intervention, recommendations for improving theory‐driven prejudice‐reduction and for the development of future interventions in culturally diverse contexts are given. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aggression Norms in the Classroom Social Network: Contexts of Aggressive Behavior and Social Preference in Middle Childhood

In a cross‐sectional sample of African‐American 2nd–4th grade students (N = 681), we examine the moderating effects of classroom overt and relational aggression norms on peers’ social acceptance of classmates who exhibit overt and relational aggression in urban schools. Extending theory and research on classroom norms, we integrate social network data to adjust aggression norms based on children’s direct and indirect connections in the classroom. Results of multilevel models indicate that network‐based classroom aggression norms moderated relations between children’s aggressive behavior and their social preference. Specifically, children benefited socially when their form of aggressive behavior fit with what was normative in the classroom social context. The moderating effect of classroom aggression norms was stronger for the association between overt aggression and social preference than relational aggression and social preference. Relationally aggressive youth were socially preferred by peers regardless of the classroom norm, although this positive association was magnified in classrooms with higher levels of relational aggression. Future research focused on aggression norms within classroom social networks are discussed and implications for school prevention efforts are considered.     

The Council of Newton: A Pedagogical Exercise for Understanding Conceptual and Historical Difference with Respect to Intra‐Religious Notions of Divinity

In this essay, I examine the following pedagogical question: how can we unlock students' mistaken notions that religious “traditions” are monoliths, and instead help them to recognize, puzzle over, and appreciate the complex multiplicity and vibrant set of doctrinal and ritual conversations that characterize religious traditions? More specifically, how can we teach students to recognize these differences with respect to a religion's notions of god? And how can we do so even when students are particularly stuck on, invested in, or trained to see homogeneity? In answer to these questions, I present an exercise that I have used in my World Religions courses. This exercise – which I call the “Council of Newton” (named for the building in which I first taught it) – is particularly effective because it helps students uncover and wrestle with this diversity at two levels: conceptually and historically.