Family of Origin Predictors of Marital Outcomes Among Coptic Orthodox Christian Egyptian-American Couples

Despite the importance of family within the Coptic community, the extant literature on Coptic family relationships is remarkably limited. The purpose of this study was to explore parental marital quality and family of origin (FOO) quality as predictors of marital satisfaction and marital stability among Coptic Orthodox Christian Egyptian-American couples. Self-report survey data from 255 married Coptic couples living in the United States were analyzed using an actor-partner interdependence model. Results indicated husband FOO quality predicted both marital satisfaction (β =.51, SE?=?.18, p?=?.005) and marital stability (β?=?.51, SE?=?.22, p?=?.022) among Coptic husbands but not among Coptic wives. Results further indicated wife parental marital quality, wife FOO quality, and husband parental marital quality were not predictive of marital satisfaction or marital stability among Coptic husbands or wives. Clinical implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Repeated Exposure to Forward Support-Surface Perturbation During Overground Walking Alters Upper-Body Kinematics and Step Parameters

Locomotion requires both proactive and reactive control strategies to maintain balance. The current study aimed to: (i) ascertain upper body postural responses following first exposure to a forward (slip) support-surface perturbation; (ii) investigate effects of repeated perturbation exposure; (iii) establish relationships between arms and other response components (trunk; center of mass control). Young adults (N = 11) completed 14 walking trials on a robotic platform; six elicited a slip response. Kinematic analyses were focused on extrapolated center of mass position (xCoM), bilateral upper- and forearm elevation velocity, trunk angular velocity, and step parameters. Results demonstrated that postural responses evoked in the first slip exposure were the largest in magnitude (e.g., reduced backward stability, altered reactive stepping, etc.) and preceded by anticipatory anterior adjustments of xCoM. In relation to the perturbed leg, the large contra- and ipsilateral arm responses observed (in first exposure) were characteristically asymmetric and scaled to the degree of peak trunk extension. With repeated exposure, xCoM anticipatory adjustments were altered and in turn, reduced posterior xCoM motion occurred following a slip (changes plateaued at second exposure). The few components of the slip response that persisted across multiple exposures did so at a lesser magnitude (e.g., step length and arms).     

Nonlinear approach to study the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on local dynamic stability in lower extremity joint kinematics and muscular activity during pedalling

Researchers have reported contradictory results on the effect of static and dynamic stretching on subsequent performance. Due to the importance of performance through static and dynamic stretching, the aim of this study is to investigate the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching protocols on local dynamic stability in lower extremity joint kinematics and muscular activities during pedalling using a nonlinear dynamics approach. Using a randomised crossover trial design, fifteen active males participated voluntarily in this research (mass: 69.02 ± 10.52 kg, height: 174.00 ± 6.74 cm, and age: 21.20 ± 1.47 years) and completed a pedalling trial in situations of without stretching (WS), after static (SS), and dynamic stretching (DS) of lower extremity. The lower extremity joint angles in the sagittal plane and the electrical activity of soleus, gastrocnemius medialis, tibialis anterior, vastus medialis, biceps femoris, and rectus femoris muscles were collected during 30 pedalling cycles at 70 rates per minute. The results of the repeated measure ANOVA indicated that the knee and ankle angle largest LyE was significantly lower in DS compared to WS and SS. The largest LyE in muscle activity is also significantly lower for all the muscles after DS compared to WS and SS (P ≤ 0.05). Regarding the positive effects of DS on the joints and the muscle activity local dynamic stability, it is suggested to use DS than SS in the warm-up program before repetitive activities like pedalling.     

Are there attentional demands associated with haptic modalities while walking in young,healthy adults?

Study designA prospective, observational study.ObjectivesTo assess the attentional demands of using haptic modalities during walking using a multi-task paradigm in young, healthy adults.SettingBiomechanics of Balance and Movement (BBAM) Lab, University of Saskatchewan.MethodsTwenty-two (12 male) young, healthy adults performed walking trials with and without a verbal reaction time (VRT) task, as well as with and without the use of haptic anchors and light touch on a railing. Walking performance was evaluated using normalized stride velocity and step width, and dynamic stability was evaluated using step width variability and medial-lateral margin of stability (ML MOS) and its variability.ResultsThere were no significant differences in VRT when walking with and without added haptic input and no interactions between the added VRT task and added haptic input. Step width increased and variability of the ML MOS increased during trials with the VRT task compared to trials without the VRT task. The ML MOS decreased when using both haptic tools with a greater decrease when using light touch on the railing compared to when using the haptic anchors. Normalized stride velocity and step width decreased when using light touch on the railing only.ConclusionBoth haptic tools affected stability during walking. Using the railing to add haptic input had a greater effect on walking stability and was the only haptic tool to affect walking performance. Attentional demands should be considered in future research and applications of adding haptic input during walking.     

Examining the Clinical Efficacy of Core Transformation: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This randomized clinical trial with a sample of adults (N = 129) from India explored the effects of a single core‐transformation session on symptom experience and psychological growth. The results over the total 8‐week study period indicated significant, moderate overall effect sizes (ds = 0.63 and 0.52) for symptom experience, emotional stability, affect balance, global well‐being, and purpose in life. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Stability of choices in a risky decision‐making task: a 3‐year longitudinal study with children and adults

In a 3‐year follow‐up to Levin and Hart's ( 2003 ) study, we observed the same children, now 9–11 years old, and their parents in the same risky decision‐making task. At the aggregate level the same pattern of means was observed across time periods. At the individual level the key variables were significantly correlated across time periods for both children and adults. Taken together with the results from the original study and earlier studies, these results solidify the following conclusions: children utilize both probability and outcome information in risky decision‐making; the tendency to make more risky choices to avoid a loss than to achieve a gain of equal magnitude, which is a major tenet of the leading theories of risky decision‐making, occurs for children as well as adults; children make more risky choices than adults; temperamental predictors of risky choice are valid for children as well as for adults. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Postural stability with exhaustive repetitive sit-to-stand exercise in young adults

Previous research has indicated that muscle fatigue due to repeated bouts of physical activity can have negative residual effects on balance; however investigations using multi-joint forms of exercise involved in everyday settings and determination of how control of posture is altered during the physical activity itself are limited. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate alterations in postural stability before, during, and after prolonged multi-joint STS exercise in healthy young adults. Center of pressure (COP) acquisitions were collected during repetitive STS exercise, while voluntary limits of stability (LOS) testing was performed before, immediately after, and 10 min after STS exercise. By 50% total STS exercise time, fatigue resulted in increased anterio-posterior (y) and medio-lateral (x) COP path lengths (p = 0.003 and p = 0.018 respectively) and an anterior shift of COP at seat-off towards the mid-foot (p = 0.010). No significant change in LOS mean amplitude was found after STS exercise; however a significant fatigue effect resulted in increased COPy sway velocity at maximal lean positions (p = 0.006), but returned to PRE values after 10 min of rest. Declines in postural stability during repetitive STS exercise was associated with reduced control of COP, as well as a reduced ability to stably control COP at extreme postural limits; however, 10 min was adequate in young adults for recovery. These results may have important implications for monitoring fall risk due to acute bouts of exercise induced muscle fatigue from repetitive multi-joint activities such as the STS.     

Consistency in maternal affect and positive vocalization over the first year of life

Consistency in parenting infants has positive developmental outcomes. Yet, the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in consistency of maternal behaviors is not well understood. We investigated individual-order continuity of maternal smile and laughter and positive vocalization from 6 to 12 months of age in 82 mother-infant dyads. Overall, individual differences in maternal smile and laughter, and positive vocalization were consistent across time. A multidimensional measure of SES moderated the association of maternal smile and laughter from 6 to 12 months, such that infants from lower SES families were vulnerable to unpredictable parenting - experiencing a lack of consistency in maternal smiles and laughter.     

Individual,Community, and National Resilience in Peace Time and in the Face of Terror: A Longitudinal Study

The present paper is based on thrice-repeated measures. The sample constituted 561 Jewish Israeli adults who experienced these terror attacks. The study examined individual, community and national resilience and their associations with resilience-promoting factors (sense of coherence, social support, and self-efficacy); as well as resilience-suppressing factors (distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure). Results indicated that resilience scores were quite stable across the three repeated measures, whereas sense of coherence, distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure significantly changed across the three repeated measures. Sense of coherence was the best predictor for individual, community, and national resilience.     

Emotional intelligence compensates for low IQ and boosts low emotionality individuals in a self-presentation task

The research on emotional intelligence (EI) has focused mainly on testing the incremental validity of EI with respect to general intelligence and personality; less attention has been devoted to investigating the potential interaction effects. In a self-presentation task that required participants to obtain positive evaluations from others, individuals low in IQ but high in EI performed as well as the high IQ individuals. In addition, the low emotionality individuals performed significantly higher when also high in EI. The results extend the previous findings on the compensatory effect of EI on low IQ to the domain of interpersonal effectiveness and shed light on the effective functioning of personality traits when interpreted with the interaction of EI. Overall this study suggests that the role of EI in predicting performance might have been overlooked by checking solely for main effects and illustrates new venues for understanding the contribution of EI in explaining emotion-laden performance.