Clinical Validity and Interpretation of the Gordon Diagnostic System in ADHD Assessments

Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) data were analyzed for 165 referred children with ADHD combined type and 46 referred children without ADHD, 6–16 years of age. Results showed significant differences between children with and without ADHD on the GDS standard scores and the IQ-GDS differences scores. Using a GDS composite standard score of 13 points or more below IQ to classify children as having ADHD resulted in the highest diagnostic accuracy (86%), with positive predictive power equal to 91%, and negative predictive power 67%. Results for the GDS compared favorably with those reported for other continuous performance tests. The findings lend support to the GDS as a clinically useful component of an ADHD evaluation.     

Nonverbal signals speak up: Association between perceptual nonverbal dominance and emotional intelligence

Emotional communication uses verbal and nonverbal means. In case of conflicting signals, nonverbal information is assumed to have a stronger impact. It is unclear, however, whether perceptual nonverbal dominance varies between individuals and whether it is linked to emotional intelligence. Using audiovisual stimulus material comprising verbal and nonverbal emotional cues that were varied independently, perceptual nonverbal dominance profiles and their relations to emotional intelligence were examined. Nonverbal dominance was found in every participant, ranging from 55 to 100%. Moreover, emotional intelligence, particularly the ability to understand emotions, correlated positively with nonverbal dominance. Furthermore, higher overall emotional intelligence as well as a higher ability to understand emotions were linked to smaller reaction time differences between emotionally incongruent and congruent stimuli. The association between perceptual nonverbal dominance and emotional intelligence, and more specifically the ability to understand emotions, might reflect an adaptive process driven by the experience of higher authenticity in nonverbal cues.     

Sexual harassment in the context of double male dominance

It has been suggested that numerically male-dominated workplaces propagate cultural norms that support sexual bravado, sexual posturing, and the denigration of feminine behaviour (Sbraga & O'Donohue, 2000 Sbraga, T. P. and O'Donohue, W. 2000. Sexual harassment. Annual Review of Sex Research, 11: 258–285. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). These cultural norms are features of normative male dominance, which have been shown to increase the risk of sexual harassment. This implies that the effect of numerical male dominance on sexual harassment may be mediated by the level of normative male dominance in the work environment. The aim of this study was to test this assumption. Our sample consisted of 1295 police women, who filled out an Internet questionnaire. The results suggest that normative male dominance indeed mediates the relation between numerical male dominance and sexual harassment. We add to the sexual harassment literature by building on Gruber's concept of double dominance. Our study helps to make clear why women are at greater risk of sexual harassment in work situations where men outnumber women than in more gender-balanced workplaces.     

Biomechanical Study of Tandem Stance in Healthy Young Adults: Effects of Weight-Bearing and Limb Dominance

Postural strategies of healthy young adults to control tandem stance were investigated through the calculation of the relative contribution of the two loading-unloading (LU) and pressure-distribution (PD) mechanisms and the two legs for controlling the resultant center-of-pressure (CP_Res) displacements. Weight-bearing asymmetry and limb dominance were also studied. For antero-posterior and medio-lateral CP_Res displacements, LU and PD mechanisms mainly contribute, respectively. A significant LU contribution is nonetheless observed for medio-lateral control, due to a lateral gap between the CP positions under each foot despite a strict sagittal alignment for the two feet. Moreover, for medio-lateral control, the respective involvement of the two legs is related to the level of weight-bearing asymmetry, whereas the front leg mainly controls the antero-posterior sway. By specifying potential effects of body-weight asymmetry and limb dominance, to a better testing of patients with deficiencies in lateral sway control.     

Transcendental Meditation and Social Psychological Attitudes

Students who practiced Transcendental Meditation (TM) from four university and college campuses were individually matched on seven variables with students from the general population of the same campuses (N # 23 matches). Results of a questionnaire designed to tap six social psychological attitudes indicated significant differences between these groups on five attitudes, with meditating students indicating more positive attitudes. In addition, matched meditating students (N # 6 matches) were compared on the variables of exposure to the TM philosophy and length of time meditating. Results on the exposure dimension found no significant difference between those with high or low exposure on the measured attitudes. Results on the length dimension found long term meditators with significantly more positive attitudes than short term meditators.     

Author Index

The association between family functioning and adolescent adjustment was examined in 429 Chinese adolescents via children's and parents' reports. The ratings obtained from the different sources indicated that family functioning was significantly related to measures of (a) adolescent psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), (b) school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct), and (c) problem behavior (smoking and abusing psychotropic drugs). The findings suggest that there is an intimate link between family functioning and the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.     

The dimensional structure of people's fears,threats, and concerns and their relationship with right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation

Most theories addressing the topic have proposed that threat and fear underlie right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA), and many empirical findings have been consistent with this proposition. Important questions, however, remain unanswered, such as whether RWA is associated with fear and threat in general or only specific kinds of fear and threat. Theories of RWA generate markedly different predictions on this issue, particularly with respect to social or personal fears, and whether the association would also hold for the closely related construct of social dominance orientation (SDO). We investigated the issue by asking 463 undergraduate students to rate their feelings of fear, concern, and anxiety to a comprehensive 93‐item list of potential fears and threats, which were formulated as either personal or social. Exploratory factors analysis identified five distinct fear–threat factors: Harm to Self, Child, or Country; Personal and Relationship Failures; Environmental and Economic Fears; Political and Personal Uncertainties; and Threats to Ingroup. All the fear–threat factors were correlated with RWA, with the strongest correlations being for Threats to Ingroup, and with stronger effects for social than for personal fears. None of the fear factors correlated with SDO. These relationships were not affected by controlling for Social Desirability or Emotional Stability (EMS). When the intercorrelations between fear factors and EMS were controlled using ridge regression, only Threats to Ingroup predicted RWA. Structural equation modeling indicated good fit for a model in which low levels of EMS had a significant path to Threats to Ingroup, which in turn had a significant path to RWA, and EMS having a significant though weak indirect (fully mediated) inverse effect on RWA. Implications of these findings for theories of authoritarianism and future research are discussed.     

The association of environmental,individual factors,and dopamine pathway gene variation with smoking cessation

This study aimed to examine whether dopamine (DA) pathway gene variation were associated with smoking cessation, and compare the relative importance of infulence factors on smoking cessation. Participants were recruited from 17 villages of Shandong Province, China. Twenty-five single nucleotide polymorphisms in 8 DA pathway genes were genotyped. Weighted gene score of each gene was used to analyze the whole gene effect. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) of the total gene score for smoking cessation. Dominance analysis was employed to compare the relative importance of individual, heaviness of smoking, psychological and genetic factors on smoking cessation. 415 successful spontaneous smoking quitters served as the cases, and 404 unsuccessful quitters served as the controls. A significant negative association of total DA pathway gene score and smoking cessation was observed (p < 0.001, OR: 0.25, 95% CI 0.16–0.38). Dominance analysis showed that the most important predictor for smoking cessation was heaviness of smoking score (42%), following by individual (40%), genetic (10%) and psychological score (8%). In conclusion, although the DA pathway gene variation was significantly associated with successful smoking cessation, heaviness of smoking and individual factors had bigger effect than genetic factors on smoking cessation.     

红色和蓝色对中国汉族大学生情绪的启动效应

通过3个实验探讨红色和蓝色对中国汉族大学生的情绪意义。实验1采用限制联想法考察红色和蓝色的情绪意义。实验2、实验3采用启动范式, 分别考察在知觉水平和概念水平上红色和蓝色对情绪的启动效应。结果发现：(1)知觉水平：在唤醒度和优势度上, 红色知觉引发了高唤醒、高优势情绪, 蓝色知觉引发了低唤醒、低优势情绪, 这与国外研究基本一致; 但在愉悦度上, 红色知觉既能引发高愉悦情绪, 也能引发低愉悦情绪, 而蓝色知觉只引发了高愉悦情绪, 这体现出本土化特点。(2)概念水平：在唤醒度和愉悦度上, 红色概念引发了高唤醒、高优势情绪, 蓝色概念引发了低唤醒、低优势情绪, 这与知觉水平基本一致; 但在愉悦度上, 红色概念只启动了高愉悦情绪, 而蓝色概念同时启动了高愉悦和低愉悦的情绪, 这与知觉水平不一致。本研究表明：(1)红色和蓝色对中国汉族大学生情绪引发的特点主要表现在愉悦度上; (2)颜色知觉和颜色概念对情绪的引发机制可能具有如下特点：颜色知觉对情绪的三维度具有直接的引发作用; 而颜色概念对情绪唤醒度和优势度的引发是以颜色知觉为中介, 对愉悦度的引发则是以社会文化为原因。本研究探讨了红色和蓝色对中国汉族大学生情绪的作用, 对红色和蓝色在中国社会环境中的应用具有一定的实际价值; 同时, 直接比较并剖析了颜色知觉与概念对情绪的引发特点, 对于揭示二者对情绪引发的内部机制具有一定的理论意义。