Who's controlling whom? Infant contributions to maternal play behavior

Because the way mothers play with their children may have significant impacts on children's social, cognitive, and linguistic development, researchers have become interested in potential predictors of maternal play. In the present study, 40 mother–infant dyads were followed from child age 5–20 months. Five‐month habituation rate and 13 and 20 month temperamental difficulty were found to be predictive of maternal play quality at 20 months. The most parsimonious theoretical model was one in which habituation was mediated by temperamental difficulty in predicting mother play. Consistent with prior speculation in the literature, these data support the possibility that mothers adjust some aspects of their play behaviors to fit their children's cognitive and temperamental capabilities. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

潜变量交互效应分析方法

简要回顾了分析显变量交互效应的常用方法。详细讨论了目前分析潜变量交互效应的主要方法,包括用潜变量的因子得分做回归分析、分组线性结构方程模型分析、加入乘积项的结构方程模型分析和两步最小二乘回归分析,并比较和评价了这些方法的优缺点。最后归纳了潜变量交互效应分析方法的研究趋势,并介绍了新近进展(包括LMS方法和GAPI方法)。     

An Evolutionary Perspective on Family Studies: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences

An evolutionary perspective of human development provides the basis for the differential‐susceptibility hypothesis which stipulates that individuals should differ in their susceptibility to environmental influences, with some being more affected than others by both positive and negative developmental experiences and environmental exposures. This paper reviews evidence consistent with this claim while revealing that temperamental and genetic characteristics play a role in distinguishing more and less susceptible individuals. The differential‐susceptibility framework under consideration is contrasted to the traditional diathesis‐stress view that “vulnerability” traits predispose some to being disproportionately affected by (only) adverse experiences. We raise several issues stimulated by the literature that need to be clarified in further research. Lastly, we suggest that therapy may differ in its effects depending on an individual's susceptibility.     

La fausse couche : du côté des hommes

ObjectiveThe experience and psychological consequences of a miscarriage have been widely studied but mainly among women. This qualitative study aims to examine the experience of men whose woman has had a spontaneous abortion.MethodThirteen men who have lost an early pregnancy during the five past years participated to a semi-directive interview. The interview was based on the analytical framework previously established and took into account various themes such as psychological experience, marital relationship, guilt, coping strategies, social support given to the spouse, and significance of the loss. All the interviews have been transcribed and studied with a thematic analyse.ResultsResults underline the difficulties linked to the experience of miscarriage among men. Many of them were shocked and have had a sustainable significant distress expressed by sadness, tears or depressive symptoms. In addition to their own difficulties, men have to confront women's distress and want to be a support. Guilt was expressed more or less directly, concerning the miscarriage but also concerning men's reactions toward women. Some of them who encountered psychological problems found very difficult not to be able to support their wife. A miscarriage is a difficult event for a couple and two men interviewed separated shortly after. Several coping strategies were used by men, the most common were seeking social support and avoidance. As in women, significance of the loss was different among men, some of them have lost a child, others an embryo or a life project.ConclusionResults show the variety of feelings and reactions of men that highlight the need to consider their psychological distress. While all men are not equally involved in miscarriage, difficulties encountered by some of them can last several months. Given this results, support interventions for males seems interesting.     

Mother's marital satisfaction associated with the quality of mother‐father‐child triadic interaction

Low marital satisfaction has been shown to be a risk factor for early parenthood and parent‐child relationship problems (Erel & Burman, 1995 ; McHale, 1995 ). The aim of this study was to assess how parental reports of marital satisfaction related to family alliance and coordination in the observed triadic interaction. The study group included 120 families. Marital satisfaction was evaluated during pregnancy, at 4 months, and at 18 months using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Christensen, Crane & Larsson, 1995 ) for both parents. Mother‐father‐child interaction was analyzed in the Lausanne Triadic Play setting and coded using the Family Alliance Assessment Scale (Favez, Lavanchy Scaiola, Tissot, Darwiche & Frascarolo, 2011 ) when the child reached 18 months of age. The mother's higher marital satisfaction at every measuring point was associated with a cooperative family alliance and/or higher family coordination at 18 months. The father's experience of marital satisfaction was not related to family interaction at any assessment point. Our study suggests that a mother's experience of lower marital satisfaction during pregnancy may be an early sign of later problems in family relationships.     

Double dissociation between implicit and explicit affiliative motives: A closer look at socializing behavior in dyadic interactions

In the present research, we followed two objectives. First, we aimed to replicate the classic finding by McAdams, Jackson, and Kirshnit (1984) that strong implicit affiliative motives predict high levels of nonverbal socializing behavior (eye contact, laughing, smiling) in dyadic interactions with an unacquainted person. Second, we applied a dual-motives perspective and hypothesized a double dissociation between implicit and explicit motives. Whereas implicit motives were supposed to predict nonverbal socializing, the corresponding explicit motives were supposed to predict verbal socializing (i.e., self-disclosure). Using observational data from 123 university students in ostensibly casual conversations, the findings by McAdams et al. were replicated, and the double-dissociation hypothesis was confirmed. These results corroborate dual-motives theory in the domain of affiliative motivation.     

Direct Democracy and Institutional Trust: Relationships and Differences Across Personality Traits

Direct democracy plays a prominent role in the explanation of institutional trust. To date, however, empirical findings on the effects of direct democracy remain inconclusive. In this article, we argue that this inconclusiveness can be partly ascribed to the diverse effects direct democracy has on individuals. In other words, direct democracy influences institutional trust, but how and to what degree depends on individuals’ personality traits. Running hierarchical analyses of unique survey data from a random sample of eligible Swiss voters, we document three findings: First, we show that the number of ballot measures is not directly associated with institutional trust. Second, we demonstrate that the Big Five personality traits affect the propensity to trust. Third, some of these traits also alter the relationship between direct democracy and institutional trust, suggesting that certain personality types are more likely to be sensitive to popular votes than others and that not everyone is equally likely to respond to political stimuli, even in highly democratic environments.     

Parents Produce Explicit Cues That Help Toddlers Distinguish Joking and Pretending

While separate pieces of research found parents offer toddlers cues to express that they are (1) joking and (2) pretending, and that toddlers and preschoolers understand intentions to (1) joke and (2) pretend, it is not yet clear whether parents and toddlers consider joking and pretending to be distinct concepts. This is important as distinguishing these two forms of non‐literal acts could open a gateway to understanding the complexities of the non‐literal world, as well as the complexities of intentions in general. Two studies found parents offer explicit cues to help 16‐ to 24‐month‐olds distinguish pretending and joking. Across an action play study (n = 25) and a verbal play study (n = 40) parents showed more disbelief and less belief through their actions and language when joking versus pretending. Similarly, toddlers showed less belief through their actions, and older toddlers showed less belief through their language. Toddlers' disbelief could be accounted for by their response to parents' language and actions. Thus, these studies reveal a mechanism by which toddlers learn to distinguish joking and pretending. Parents offer explicit cues to distinguish these intentions, and toddlers use these cues to guide their own behaviors, which in turn allows toddlers to distinguish these intentional contexts.