Associations between perceptions about siblings' development and emerging adults' adulthood attainment

Siblings shape each other's attitudes and behaviors during childhood and adolescence; however, it is less clear if siblings continue to influence each other in emerging adulthood. This study investigated the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings in domains of adulthood attainment. Participants included 1,750 emerging adults from the United States between the ages of 18 and 29 years. Data were collected via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings showed that perceptions of siblings' adulthood attainment were positively related to emerging adults' development in those same domains. Moreover, the extent to which emerging adults modeled their siblings enhanced these associations; neither birth order nor gender composition moderated these findings. In short, processes of sibling influence continue to be relevant in emerging adulthood.     

Religiosity and social support: A mediational model of adjustment in emerging adults

The goal of the current study was to examine the association between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and psychological well-being and determine the mediating effects of social support on the relationship between the religious predictor and well-being outcomes. Participants included 432 first-year college students (166 men and 266 women) from a mid-size state university in Pennsylvania, USA. Religious activity, religious importance, and social support were found to correlate with the well-being indices. Religious importance was found to be a significant predictor of self-esteem and life-satisfaction. Additionally, social support was found to be a significant predictor of self-esteem and life-satisfaction. Finally, social support was found to mediate the relationship between religious importance and life-satisfaction. Results are discussed in developmental and clinical context.     

The interface of identity distress and psychological problems in students’ adjustment to University

Identity distress, psychological symptoms, and adjustment to university (academic, social, and person-emotional) were examined among students in Spain (N = 241; M_age = 19.0 (1.6), Md = 19; 84% female) and Canada (N = 531; M_age = 19.8 (2.2), Md = 19; 82% female). The expected positive relationships were found between these variables. Similarly, increased identity distress of Spanish students and greater maladjustment at university for those in Canada were associated with contextual differences in the respective environments. Psychological problems mediated the linkages between identity distress with academic, social, and person-emotional functioning at university, respectively. Also, psychological problems and context/country were independent predictors of students’ identity distress. Findings underscore the importance of examining contextual factors that influence student adjustment to university in relation to identity development and mental health and they offer suggestions for further research and counseling services.     

Protective factors for depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood

Emerging adulthood is characterized by pervasive changes in identity and relationships. These challenges can entail problems for subjective well-being, leading to depressive symptoms. The development of an autonomous-related self is considered crucial for emerging adults’ personal growth and psychological well-being. Autonomous-related self is linked to self-esteem and secure attachment style, which are also protective factors for depression. The current research sought to investigate the relation between autonomous-related self and depressive symptoms, as well as the role of secure attachment style and self-esteem, in a sample of 356 Italian emerging adults. Gender differences were taken into account in preliminary analyses. Gender differences emerged for autonomous-related self and self-esteem, while secure attachment and depression levels were similar across gender. Our results suggest that autonomous-related self, mediated by self-esteem and secure attachment style, is a protective factor for emotional states of depression, controlling for social desirability. These findings emphasize the importance of taking autonomy and relatedness into account in emerging adulthood and represent a starting point for future studies.     

Sacred Canopies or Religious Markets? The Effect of County-Level Religious Diversity on Later Changes in Religious Involvement

Secularization theories, such as Berger's Sacred Canopy argument, hold that religious diversity leads to a decline in religious participation. Religious market models (e.g., Finke and Stark) argue the opposite. Voas, Olson, and Crockett found that nearly all of the vast research exploring this important question prior to 2002 was flawed due to a previously unrecognized noncausal statistical relationship between measures of religious diversity and measures of religious participation. Since 2002, this methodological issue has largely stymied research on this important topic. We first describe how, following Voas et al.’s recommendations, longitudinal models can overcome these problems. We then apply these methods to data measuring the religious composition of all U.S. counties found in the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies from 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Using multilevel longitudinal regression models, we find that greater county-level religious diversity is followed by later declines in county-level religious participation rates. The negative effect size of religious diversity is large and robust to changes in the control variables and different methods of measuring religious diversity.     

如何正确认识和处理新发与复燃传染病

近40年来,由于诸多因素的影响,新发传染病陆续出现,再发传染病在某些地区"死灰复燃",并且呈现出不同以往传染病的新特点,如病原体的变异、人兽共患性、传播速度快、流行范围广等,加之传媒的"双刃剑"作用,共同造成了新发与复燃传染病的种种不确定性。因此,正确认识和积极防治新发与复燃传染病已成为新世纪人类亟待解决的重大问题,是当前世界疾病预防控制工作中的重要内容。     

Trust in business alliances between mainstream and emerging companies in South Africa

This study explored perceived trust between mainstream and emerging business partner entities in South Africa. A purposive sample of 25 managers from mainstream companies (n = 7) and emerging companies (n = 18) participated in the study. The managers Q-sorted trust-related items with follow-up interviews. The Q-sort data were subjected to factor analysis to reveal clustered perceptions about trust in business partnerships. Interview data were thematically analysed to place the findings from the factor structure analysis into context. The results indicate both mainstream and emerging business partners shared six conceptions or ways of perceiving trust: sincerity-trust, values-trust, duped-trust, vigilance-trust, deceit-trust, and propensity to trust alliances. Integrity seemed to be more salient in the emerging companies. The sincerity-, values-, duped-, and vigilance-trust were manifestations of perceptions of partner integrity, revealing the centrality of honesty in defining trust in business partnerships.     

Loneliness in the Daily Lives of Young Adults: Testing a Socio‐cognitive Model

A socio‐cognitive model of loneliness states that lonely people are characterized by two characteristics, hypersensitivity to social threat and hyposensitivity to social reward. However, these characteristics have not yet been examined in the daily lives of young adults. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to examine these two characteristics in young adults and whether relationship status, living situation, and type of company moderated the relationship between sensitivity to threat and reward and feelings of loneliness. The Experience Sampling Method was used, and data were collected among 219 first‐year college students (M age = 19.60, 91% female). Participants filled out questionnaires on their smartphone at five random time points per day, on 11 consecutive days. Multilevel analyses showed support for hypersensitivity to social threat, in that students high in loneliness were more negatively affected by negative perceptions of company. Results for hyposensitivity to social reward were in the opposite direction; students high in loneliness were more positively affected by positive perceptions of company than students low in loneliness. These relations were not moderated by relationship status or living situation. Our findings may indicate that loneliness serves as a motivational state that increases susceptibility to the environment in order to restore social relationships. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Emotional autonomy and adjustment among emerging adults: The moderating role of family relationships

Emerging adults build their personal maturity within the family context; however, few studies focus on the role of emotional autonomy during this stage. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between emotional autonomy and adjustment during emerging adulthood, bearing in mind the possible moderating role of parental support in this relationship. Data were collected from 1,502 Spanish undergraduate students (903 women) aged between 18 and 29. Participants completed measures of emotional autonomy (EAS, Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986), family social support (MSPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988), psychological well-being (PWBS; Ryff, Lee, Essex & Schmutte, 1995) and psychological distress (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). The results indicate that emotional autonomy correlates negatively with family support and psychological well-being and positively with psychological distress. However, only when young people perceive a family context with low social support is gaining emotional distance from their parents associated with an increase in their psychological well-being. Our findings highlight the crucial role that the family environment plays in well-being during young adulthood, and reveal that the effect of emotional distancing from parents on adjustment depends on the quality of the family climate. Future research should seek to gain greater insight into emotional autonomy during emerging adulthood, taking into account cross-cultural diversity.