The stability and causal effects of task‐specific and generalized self‐efficacy in college1

This research investigated the stability and causal effects of task‐specific self‐efficacy and generalized self‐efficacy in college students. In Study 1, task‐specific self‐efficacy and generalized self‐efficacy scales were administered to university students (N = 237) on two occasions, with an interval of 2 months. In Study 2, task‐specific (care‐work) self‐efficacy and generalized self‐efficacy scales were administered to college students who were studying to be care workers (N = 49) on three occasions (before the first care‐work practicum, after the practicum, and 3 months later). The results of both studies indicated that generalized self‐efficacy was more stable than task‐specific self‐efficacy. In Study 1, both generalized self‐efficacy and task‐specific self‐efficacy affected each other in daily life. Study 2 examined the effects of an ego‐engaged experience (the first care‐work practicum) for task‐specific (care‐work) self‐efficacy and generalized self‐efficacy. The results indicated that changes in care‐work self‐efficacy did not affect generalized self‐efficacy.     

Attention Is Required to Coordinate Reaching and Postural Stability during Upper Limb Movements Generated While Standing

Abstract

In the present study we investigated how attention contributes to the interaction between reach planning and execution, and postural control. Reaching movements were generated while standing and were performed either in isolation or in conjunction with a secondary reaction time (RT) task. In addition, to better understand how online movement control is affected by this interaction, the reaching movements could be unexpectedly perturbed medial-laterally. Postural kinetic, arm kinematic and RT, and secondary RT measures were used to characterize the responses. Results indicate task performance worsened when both the reaching and secondary tasks were completed simultaneously. Our results imply the generation of reaching movements while standing requires attentional resources to properly coordinate the interaction between the reaching task and postural control.     

Stability,Change, and Informant Variance in Newlyweds' Physical Aggression: Individual and Dyadic Processes

Individual and dyadic stability models of newlyweds' physical aggression were evaluated in a sample of 394 newlywed community couples recruited at engagement and followed for 2.5 years. Aggression in young couples was hypothesized to be a stable, enduring trait, consistent with a latent state–trait conceptualization. However, the findings indicated that aggression can more parsimoniously be conceptualized as a “somewhat stable” trait with strong short‐term correlations that gradually decrease at increasing intervals. Aggression was significantly dyadic. Men and women's aggression were consistently associated with one another across time beginning at engagement, with little evidence that one person's aggression evoked aggression in the partner in the time intervals studied. Consistency in a person's reporting of aggression, not shared with the partner, was strongest for self‐reports. Aggr. Behav. 38:1‐15, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Temporal stability of behavioural intention as a moderator of intention–health behaviour relationships

Seven prospective studies of health behaviours containing eight prospective datasets testing the moderating role of intention stability on intention–behaviour and past behaviour–behaviour relationships were examined within the context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The measure of intention stability was based on lack of change in intentions between the two measurement time points. Across different behaviours, samples and time frames more stable intentions were associated with intentions at time 1 that were stronger predictors of behaviour at time 2. Intention stability did not consistently moderate the past behaviour–behaviour relationship. Across studies the frequency-weighted mean correlation between intentions and behaviour was substantially greater for stable (r ₊?=?0.60) compared to unstable (r ₊?=?0.27) intentions (Z _difference?=?6.65, p?<?0.001). The past behaviour–behaviour correlation was also stronger for stable (r ₊?=?0.50, p?<?0.001) compared to unstable (r₊ ?=?0.34, p?<?0.001) intentions (Z _difference?=?3.12, p?<?0.01). Perceived behavioural control was the variable most strongly related to stable intentions. Implications for understanding the role of health cognitions in the performance of health behaviour are discussed.     

The use of implementation intentions and the decision balance sheet in promoting exercise behaviour

Although increasing exercise and fitness has often been associated with positive health outcomes, infrequent exercise participation has remained a problem. Since two distinct motivational and volitional phases to goal pursuit have been proposed, a combined motivational (decision balance sheet, DBS) and volitional (implementation intentions) intervention was predicted to be more effective in increasing exercise behaviour than a control or either strategy alone. A total of 86 students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions, and were all asked to try to exercise two more times a week than they currently did, over a four week period. Their fitness levels were measured through fitness tests conducted pre- and post-intervention. A priori orthogonal contrasts indicated that the experimental strategies produced a greater increase in exercise frequency and total time spent exercising per week and accordingly showed greater fitness improvements than the control group. Moreover, the volitional groups taken together produced greater increase in time spent exercising and a marginally greater improvement in frequency than the DBS alone. The combined intervention led to improvements in fitness and marginal increases in frequency over the implementation intention alone group. It is proposed that for the combined group the DBS may have aided recall of the implementation intention or increased commitment to it, as remembering and then acting on the plan, in the stated place and time, mediated the implementation intention–behaviour relationship. The combined intervention produced the greatest fitness improvements, indicating that this strategy can lead to important health benefits.     

Analysis of the relation between structure and the superconducting transition in YBa2 Cu3 O∼7

Abstract

It is shown that in the high-T_c YBa₂ Cu₃ O_～7 superconductor the critical temperature is a function of the orthorhombic distortion (b–a)/a of the unit cell. From the extrapolation of the (b - a)/a ratio against T_c , a maximum critical temperature of 66 K for the tetragonal phase of YBa₂ Cu₃ O_～7 was predicted. From the correlation between the transition width δT_c and the orthorhombic distortion there was deduced an upper limit for T_c , in the orthorhombic phase of YBa₂ Cu₃ O_～7 of 94·5K.     

Determination of glass-forming ability of Ge1− x Sn x Se2.5 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) alloys using differential scanning calorimetry

The glass-forming ability of Ge_{1? x} Sn _x Se_2.5 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) alloys was studied using differential scanning calorimetry. Samples were scanned at different heating rates under non-isothermal conditions. Various simple quantitative methods were employed to assess the stability of the glassy materials in the above-mentioned system. All of these methods are based on characteristic temperatures, such as the glass-transition temperature, T _g, the onset-of-crystallization temperature, T _c, and the peak crystallization temperature, T _p. A crystallization rate factor, K, has also been used as a measure of the thermal stability of the glasses. It was found that Ge_0.7Sn_0.3Se_2.5 was the least stable among all the samples.     

Phenomenological model of variant change during magnetization of martensite

The present study deals with the straining of ferromagnetic martensite in a magnetizing field. A phenomenological model of the movement of the interface between martensitic variants is developed for calculation of the strength of the magnetic field required for a variant change. The effect of uniaxial stress on interface movement is also examined. The results are applied to the martensite phases of NiMnGa and FePd ferromagnetic shape-memory alloys.     

Parenting Attitudes and the Self-Esteem of Young Children

Second-, third-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children evaluated relationship qualities of a self-nominated friend and a self-nominated very best friend over a 6-month school year period. Results demonstrated that 76% of the friend relationships and 50% of the very best friend relationships were maintained over the course of the study. Children in maintained friendships evaluated their relationships more positively and also reported having larger friendship networks in general compared with children whose friendships did not endure over time. Thus those with unstable relationships are having difficulty initiating new friendships as well. For very best friends, positive relationship qualities (e.g., caring) did not change over time for children in maintained relationships, while positive relationship qualities decreased over time for children in nonmaintained relationships. Further, no differences emerged between children in maintained and nonmaintained very best friendships on perceptions of negative relationship qualities (e.g., conflict).     

Energetic Cost and Stability during Human Walking at the Preferred Stride Frequency

The possibility that preferred modes of locomotion emerge from dynamical and optimality constraints and the energetic and dynamical constraints on preferred and predicted walking frequency are explored in this article. Participants were required to walk on a treadmill at their preferred frequency, at a frequency predicted as the resonance of a hybrid pendulum-spring model of the legs, and at frequencies ±15%, ±25%, ±35% of the predicted frequency. Walking at the preferred and predicted frequencies resulted in minimal metabolic costs and maximal stability of the head and joint actions. Mechanical energy conservation was constant across conditions. The head was more stable than the joints. The joints appeared to be in service of the head in maintaining a stable trajectory. The major findings of this study suggest a complementary relationship between energetic (physiological) and stability constraints in the adoption of a preferred frequency of walking. Multiple subsystems may be involved in constraining observed macroscopic behavior in intact biological systems. The approach and results of the study imply that a useful tack in understanding how dynamical control structures arise is to study the potential criteria that serve to act as constraints on skilled movement patterns in unimpaired and impaired populations.