American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate‐level data to investigate (a) population‐level value changes between the pre‐recession (2004–2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008–2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population‐level values with national economic climates over long‐term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate‐level values across 1966–2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual‐level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self‐views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies.     

Perfectionism erodes social self-esteem and generates depressive symptoms: Studying mother-daughter dyads using a daily diary design with longitudinal follow-up

The perfectionism social disconnection model (PSDM) asserts socially prescribed perfectionism confers risk for depression by eroding social self-esteem. However, self-oriented perfectionism and other-oriented perfectionism are neglected in extant tests of the PSDM. Moreover, the PSDM attributes the source of depression to dispositional characteristics without considering interpersonal contexts. We expanded and tested the PSDM in 218 mother-daughter dyads using a daily diary design with longitudinal follow-up. Daughters completed measures of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism (Wave 1), social self-esteem (Wave 2), and depression (Wave 1 and Wave 3). Mothers completed a measure of other-oriented perfectionism (Wave 1). Daughters’ socially prescribed and self-oriented perfectionism, and mothers’ other-oriented perfectionism, conferred vulnerability to daughters’ depression by lowering daughters’ social self-esteem.     

Infant massage improves attitudes toward childbearing,maternal satisfaction and pleasure in parenting

The first year of motherhood is a period of growth and adaptation in women's lives with several challenges such as identifying the baby’s needs and giving appropriate answers, so that mother and baby get to know each other and form a strong bond. Infant massage is one of the approaches that make an important contribution to the psychological and physiological wellbeing of both baby and mother, helping to form a harmonious relationship. This longitudinal study assessed the benefits of infant massage in the relationship between mother and baby, from birth to 12 months old. Comprising 194 dyads of mothers and their babies the subjects were divided into two groups of 97 dyads each. The Experimental group (EG) comprised mothers who undertook infant massage in a postnatal program with a physical therapist once a week. The Control group (CG) comprised mothers who did not attend any postnatal program and did not perform infant massage. Self-reported measures of attitudes concerning motherhood (CAQ-P), experience associated to motherhood (WBPB), parental satisfaction (PSS) and maternal separation anxiety (MSAS) were evaluated. Results showed that mothers in the experimental group were better adapted to motherhood, had greater confidence in their abilities and received more support from their mothers and husbands than mothers in the control group and were therefore more confident in their abilities. The EG group experienced a stronger relationship with their babies and described it as more positive than mothers in the control group. This longitudinal study suggests that mothers who learned how to perform infant massage had more positive attitudes towards the experience of motherhood in helping to increase the level of knowledge, regulation and proximity in the dyad. These findings can in turn help mothers to develop strategies that enable them to better cope with motherhood.     

A tutorial on how to do a Mokken scale analysis on your test and questionnaire data

Over the past decade, Mokken scale analysis (MSA) has rapidly grown in popularity among researchers from many different research areas. This tutorial provides researchers with a set of techniques and a procedure for their application, such that the construction of scales that have superior measurement properties is further optimized, taking full advantage of the properties of MSA. First, we define the conceptual context of MSA, discuss the two item response theory (IRT) models that constitute the basis of MSA, and discuss how these models differ from other IRT models. Second, we discuss dos and don'ts for MSA; the don'ts include misunderstandings we have frequently encountered with researchers in our three decades of experience with real‐data MSA. Third, we discuss a methodology for MSA on real data that consist of a sample of persons who have provided scores on a set of items that, depending on the composition of the item set, constitute the basis for one or more scales, and we use the methodology to analyse an example real‐data set.     

Development of infant prehension handedness: A longitudinal analysis during the 6- to 14-month age period

Handedness is a developmental phenomenon that becomes distinctively identifiable during infancy. Although infant hand-use preferences sometimes have been reported as unstable, other evidence demonstrates that infant hand-use preference for apprehending objects can be reliably assessed during the second half of the infant's first year of life. The current study provides further insight into the stability of prehension preferences. We modeled individual and group level patterns of prehension handedness during the period from 6 to 14 months of age. We examined the developmental trajectories for prehension handedness in relation to the sampling rate at which preferences are assessed. The results revealed interesting developmental changes in prehension handedness that can only be identified when using monthly sampling intervals. We conclude that using non-linear multilevel models of infant handedness with monthly sampling intervals permit us to accurately capture the developmental changes in manual skills that occur during this period of infancy.     

A circle of traits: A perceptual mapping of the NEO-PI-R

The five factor model, a dominant model of personality today, is based on the pre-structuring of test-components and factor analytic (FA) interpretations. These procedures have been criticised, especially FA’s limitation to accurately identify the underlying structure of constructs. This paper examined whether the NEO-PI-R revealed the same trait structures when analysed through alternative statistical procedures. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was employed alongside FA techniques (N = 384). FA indicated the presence of five factors, but NMDS suggested a more parsimonious arrangement, comprising three (similar to Eysenck’s PEN model), or even two “super structures”. Furthermore, a circular trait arrangement was a reasonable alternative, suggesting that traits can be meaningfully (re)classified based on their kind and their integrative centrality. Over-reliance on FA models might not be the most appropriate approach for a better understanding of personality.     

华人人际关系的概念化--针对中国香港地区大学生的实证研究

以杨中芳所构建的华人人际关系概念化理论模型为蓝本,并采用以往的实证研究方法为基础,揭示了当代华人对人际关系如何进行概念化及其潜在的认知维度。杨氏模型认为华人人际关系主要由既定成分、情感成分和工具成分组成。该研究以中国香港地区的大学生为被试进行调查,首先采用访谈的形式,分家族、学校及日常生活情境建立人际关系清单。然后采用多维量法(Multi-dimensional scaling)处理被试对关系进行分类的数据。结果发现,在不同的生活情境中,被试均依据情感程度对关系进行分类。在等级差异明显的家族和学校情境中,被试依据辈份和等级差异的突显性进行分类;而在等级差异小的生活情境中,则采用功利程度为标准。本文对被试在不同情境中所采用的不同维度进行了讨论,并提出华人人际关系的义务具有工具性质的实证结果。     

The effect of university roommate contact on ethnic attitudes and behavior

This study examined the effect of living with White, Asian American, Latino, or African American roommates on affective, cognitive, and behavioral indicators of prejudice among university students. We used a five-wave panel study with approximately 2000 students to examine the effect of roommate contact in two ways: First, through a field experimental test by examining prejudice as a function of living with randomly assigned roommates during the first year of university. Second, net of pre-existing attitudes, we examined the effects of voluntary roommate contact during the second and third year of university on fourth year prejudice. Consistent with contact theory, both randomly assigned and voluntary contact decreased prejudice. Also, there was generalization to other outgroups, particularly from Black roommates to Latinos, and vice versa. Finally, an interesting exception was found for contact with Asian American roommates, whether randomly assigned or voluntary, which tended to make attitudes towards other groups more negative. Potential explanations for this result are discussed.     

Stevens’ Direct Scaling Methods and the Uniqueness Problem

Stevens postulated that we can use the responses of a participant in a ratio scaling experiment directly to construct a psychophysical function representing the participant's sensations. Although Stevens' methods of constructing measurement scales are widely used in the behavioral sciences, the problem of which scale type is appropriate to describe ratio scaling data is still unresolved. To deal with this problem, we develop a theoretical framework to specify the scale type attained by Stevens' direct scaling methods. It is shown, under fairly mild background assumptions, that the behavioral axioms presented in this paper are necessary and sufficient for the psychophysical functions to be ordinal-, interval-, log-interval-, or ratio-scales. Furthermore, suggestions on how to test these behavioral axioms are provided. Requests for reprints should be sent to thomas.