The Association Between Psychological Well-Being and Problematic Use of Internet Communicative Services Among Young People

Previous studies on problematic Internet use have focused almost exclusively on the fact that presence of negative functioning, such as social anxiety, depressive symptoms, or loneliness, represents a risk factor for unhealthy use of the web. For this reason the aim of the present study was to investigate the association between psychological well-being dimensions and problematic use of Internet communicative services. In the current study 495 undergraduate students were recruited. The Italian adaptations of the Psychological Well-being Scales and the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2) were used to assess psychological well-being dimensions and generalized problematic Internet use, respectively. Psychological well-being dimensions explained a significant portion of variance for the GPIUS2 total score levels, after controlling for sex, age, and occupational status. The levels of Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, and Positive Relations with Others acted as significant negative predictors of the tendency to use the web for regulating negative feelings, compulsive use of the web, and the negative outcomes that can arise as a result. The overall findings of the present study provide preliminary evidence that low psychological well-being is associated with problematic use of Internet communicative services.     

Doubling‐down on deprivation: Using latent profile analysis to evaluate an age‐old assumption in relative deprivation theory

Theorists have long argued that two forms of relative deprivation exist: individual‐based relative deprivation (IRD) whereby a person feels deprived relative to other individuals and group‐based relative deprivation (GRD) whereby a person feels his/her ingroup is deprived relative to other groups. Combinations of IRD and GRD are therefore assumed to produce four response profiles: (i) high on IRD and GRD (i.e. ‘doubly deprived’); (ii) high on IRD, low on GRD; (iii) low on IRD, high on GRD; or (iv) low on IRD and GRD. The existence of these profiles, however, has never been assessed. We address this oversight by using latent profile analysis to identify distinct response patterns to measures of IRD and GRD. Across two studies, we found no support for this typology, nor the oft‐assumed doubly deprived profile. Rather, response patterns showed moderate levels of IRD across discrete profiles accompanied by considerable variability in GRD.     

Motor imagery ability and internal representation of movement in children with probable developmental coordination disorder

It has been hypothesised that deficits in the functioning of the mirror neuron system (MNS) and internal modelling may contribute to the motor impairments associated with DCD. These processes can be explored behaviourally through motor imagery paradigms. Motor imagery proficiency of children with and without probable DCD (pDCD) was examined using a complex hand rotation task to explore whether motor imagery strategies could be used during more complex tasks. Forty-four boys aged 7–13 years participated, 22 with pDCD (mean = 9.90 years ± 1.57) and 22 controls (mean = 9.68 years ± 1.53). Participants completed the task twice: with and without motor imagery instructions. Stimuli were presented in two rotational axes – palm/back, and eight 45° rotational steps. Both groups showed evidence of following the biomechanical and postural constraints of actual movements. Responses of children with pDCD were slower and less accurate than controls, with group differences increasing alongside task complexity. A greater impact of biomechanical constraints for accuracy was observed in the DCD group. The response characteristics of children with pDCD likely reflects a reduced capacity to mentally manipulate a body schema and reduced visuo-motor processing capabilities. Behaviourally, these processes are linked to MNS and internal modelling function, suggesting deficits in these systems may contribute to the movement difficulties characteristic of DCD.     

Examining the association between psychological wellbeing with daily and intra-individual variation in subjective wellbeing

A number of studies identify distinct dimensions of psychological and subjective wellbeing. However, few investigations have examined how these distinctive wellbeing dimensions may be related over time. The present study aimed to contribute to this growing body of research by adopting a measurement burst design to examine the association between psychological functioning with daily and intra-individual variation in affect over a 14-day period, controlling for personality. Participants (N = 45) comprised a sample of Australian adults from Canberra, Australia who were observed on up to 14 days over a 2-week period (Mobs = 10.9 (SD = 3.1)). Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimates from a multi-level structural equation model identified psychological functioning as only weakly associated with daily positive affect, and unrelated to daily levels of negative affect and intra-individual variation in both affect domains when adjusting for demographic, personality and daily stressors. Positive and negative daily events were most strongly associated with positive and negative feelings, respectively. Post-hoc analysis within a Bayesian context confirmed our ML results whilst a Monte Carlo simulation identified sufficient statistical power of significant parameters. Overall, evidence for an association between psychological functioning and daily affect was not identified.     

Team adaptation to an unforeseen system failure: Limits of the potential aids of shared knowledge and standardized communication

The present study investigates the potential benefits of a team’s shared knowledge and standardized communication in adapting to an unforeseen change by combining literature on adaptation and team performance. Each of 20 teams performed a dynamic team task and was suddenly confronted with a simulated partial system breakdown. Results show that a methodological framework designed to describe performance adaptation to an unforeseen change in individuals can also be used to model performance adaptation in teams. The system failure was followed by a performance drop and a subsequent period of gradual performance recovery. Accuracy of teams’ shared knowledge correlated positively with performance before and after the change, confirming and extending the literature on shared mental models. However, the amount of knowledge similarity did not aid teams in adapting to the unforeseen system breakdown. In addition, improving teams’ standardized communication had no damping effect on the sudden performance drop and neither helped them during the subsequent recovery period. These results show that even though shared knowledge and efficient communication are of high value to team performance and success, these characteristics are limited in aiding adaptive team performance after unforeseen unique changes that force team members to update their strategies.     

An evaluation of computer-based programmed instruction for promoting teachers' greetings of parents by name

Although greeting parents by name facilitates subsequent parent-teacher communication, baseline measures revealed that 4 preschool teachers never or rarely greeted parents by name during morning check-in. To promote frequent and accurate use of parents' names by teachers, the effects of a fully automated computerized assessment and programmed instruction (CAPI) intervention were evaluated in a multiple baseline design. The CAPI intervention involved assessment and training of relations among parents' and children's pictures and names, and produced rapid learning of parent names. The CAPI intervention also resulted in substantial improvements in the classroom use of parents' names for 3 of the 4 teachers; however, a supervisor-mediated feedback package (consisting of instructions, differential reinforcement, and error correction) was necessary to maintain name use for 2 of those teachers. The practical strengths and limitations of computer-based teacher training are discussed.     

Is prospective memory related to depression and anxiety? A hierarchical MPT modelling approach

Prospective memory (PM) refers to remembering to perform an action in the future. One hundred and twenty-nine students completed a laboratory event–based PM task as well as depression and anxiety questionnaires. The data were analysed with the beta-MPT version of the multinomial processing tree model of event-based PM. Thereby, the prospective and retrospective components of PM were estimated for each participant and were then correlated with depression and anxiety. State anxiety was negatively correlated with the prospective component of PM. Neither depression nor trait anxiety were related to either component of PM.     

Strategic grouping in the spatial span memory task

Spatial short-term memory performance was examined in relation to participants’ strategies. A total of 20 adult participants viewed and reproduced sequences of locations that varied in length (five, six, seven, or eight locations) and spatial separability (a manipulation of the configurations). In trial-by-trial self-reports, participants described five types of strategies. Chunking the spatial sequences into groups of three or four locations was the sole strategy associated with increased accuracy. Participants demonstrated considerable variability in the strategies that they selected, suggesting that cognitive resources are allocated to strategy selection, execution, and monitoring in the spatial span task. Spatially separable sequences were more accurately recalled than nonseparable sequences, independent of strategic grouping, suggesting two levels of grouping in the spatial span task.