Preface

Summary

Child victimization is a serious and on-going problem in the United States and throughout the world. In 2000, an estimated 900,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in the United States. New and different responses to child maltreatment will have to be developed and implemented in response to the increasingly diverse contexts and situations within which maltreatment occurs. Emerging trends in adult-child boundary violations are explored within this volume from a cross-section of disciplines, including law, sociology, criminal justice, psychology, and health services. The selections analyze issues critical to child maltreatment and offer intriguingly different perspectives of present and future issues related to child abuse.     

Factors Predicting Dating Violence Perpetration Among Male and Female College Students

This study examined the importance of witnessing parental violence, experiencing childhood violence, problems with alcohol, length of relationship, relationship satisfaction, anger management skills, and partner's use of physical and psychological aggression for male and female perpetrators of dating violence in college. For males, partner's use of physical aggression, low anger management skills, and high relationship satisfaction were the strongest predictors of physical aggression. For females, partner's uses of physical and psychological aggression were the most important predictors of their use of physical aggression. The model in this study was a good predictor of male violence, accounting for 81% of the variance; however, it only accounted for 51% of the variance in female violence.     

Gender Differences in the Association of Intimate Partner Violence and Relationship Values among College Students

Although research has indicated that cognitions and situational factors play a role in relationship satisfaction and aggression, few studies have investigated the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and relationship values. We addressed this gap by measuring college students’ perpetration of and victimization by four types of IPV; namely, physical violence, sexual violence, threats, and psychological aggression over the past year. One-way ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses were used to measure the association between IPV and the endorsement of relationship values. The results suggest that past IPV perpetration and victimization correlated with the current endorsement of relationship values for males more than females. In general, male perpetrators rated relationship values such as security, investment, others’ approval, and daily conflict as less important than non-perpetrators. Although male victimization explained significant variance in security, investment, and others’ approval, the results were somewhat mixed as to whether victimization related to higher or lower ratings of relationship values, with the majority of the results suggesting an inverse correlation between relationship value endorsement and IPV experience. Future research can investigate mediating factors in the relationship between IPV and relationship value endorsement, as well as look at how IPV and relationship values influence decisions concerning relationship maintenance.     

Consequences of Child and Adult Sexual and Physical Trauma among Deaf Adults

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the consequences of sexual and physical trauma among a sample of deaf adults. Thirty-two men and 45 women completed the Life Event Checklist (LEC), the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI), the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire–20 (SDQ–20) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. In this sample, 40.6% of the male participants and 53.3% of the female participants had experienced some type of sexual trauma during their lifetimes. Physical trauma was reported by 75% of males and 71.1% of female participants. For those who had experienced childhood sexual trauma, the odds ratio of revictimization in adulthood was 6.69. Sexual trauma also rarely occurred by itself. Two thirds of all participants with sexual trauma histories also reported some type of physical abuse. Participants with sexual trauma histories displayed significantly more symptoms of PTSD and depression than people without such trauma history. Physical and sexual abuse represent significant problems in the deaf community. The authors include a call for the development of targeted intervention attempts to prevent further victimization in deaf child and adolescent populations.     

Religiosity of young adults: does childhood maltreatment make a difference?

Previous research on the association between maltreatment in childhood and later religious beliefs and behaviours suggests that maltreatment may have either negative or positive influences on religiosity. However, methodological limitations of previous studies may limit their generalisability. The present study attempted to address these limitations. We examined associations between childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and several dimensions of adult religiosity in a large sample of college students (N = 763). Associations between child maltreatment and religiosity were weak (rs ≤ 0.09). After controlling for possible demographic confounds, the only significant association was between childhood emotional abuse and religious questing.     

Exercise type relates to inhibitory and error processing functions in older adults

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the association between exercise type and inhibition of prepotent responses and error detection. Totally, 75 adults (M = 68.88 years) were classified into one of three exercise groups: those who were regular participants in open- or closed-skill forms of exercise, and those who exercised only irregularly. The participants completed a Stroop and task-switching tasks with event-related brain potentials (ERPs) recorded. The results revealed that regular exercisers displayed faster reaction times (RTs) in the Stroop task compared with irregular exercisers. The open-skill exercisers exhibited smaller N200 and larger P300a amplitudes in the Stroop task compared with irregular exercisers. Furthermore, the open-skill exercisers showed a tendency of shorter error-related negativity latencies at the task-witching test. The findings suggest that older adults may gain extra cognitive benefits in areas such as inhibition functioning and error processing from participating in open-skill forms of physical exercises.     

Activity experiences shape perceived fitness trajectories: Results from a 6-month randomized controlled trial in older women

ABSTRACT

In this study we addressed the subjective benefits of activity interventions that were designed to improve cognitive fitness in old age. Two hundred and fifty-nine women (aged 70–93 years) were randomized to participate in an exercise or a computer course or a control condition for 6 months. Subjective ratings of the perceived change of cognitive and physical fitness components were captured before, during, after the intervention interval, and at a 10-month follow-up. Positive and negative affect levels and objective cognitive fitness parameters served as possible covariates. Multilevel modeling revealed that the computer group rated memory and concentration as having improved at 4 months and again at 6 months. The exercise group, in contrast, perceived physical capacities as maintained or improved. The characteristics of the activity experience seem to determine the perceived fitness changes. We conclude that actual learning experiences improve one's self-concept of abilities.     

不同年级学生自然阅读过程信息加工活动特点研究

探讨不同年级学生自然阅读过程的信息加工活动特点,包括两个实验。实验１结果表明,低年级学生自然阅读后再复述文章时需要重读原文的时间比高年级学生要多,据此初步推知,低年级学生自然阅读过程可能主要是单一的语言解码信息加工活动,高年级学生自然阅读过程可能同时进行了语言解码与组织连贯的信息加工活动,以后者为主。实验２比较不同年级的学生在自然阅读、理解任务阅读与记忆任务阅读三种情况下对文章信息保持的效果,结果     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article: James Arnt Aune, Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness Daniel Bar–Tal, Shared Beliefs in a Society: Social Psychological Analysis Francis A. Beer, Meanings of War & Peace Joseph R. Blaney and William L. Benoit, The Clinton Scandals and the Politics of Image Restoration Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss–Morse (eds.), What Is It About Government That Americans Dislike? Jacob Shamir and Michal Shamir, The Anatomy of Public Opinion Joseph B. Underhill–Cady, Death and the Statesman: The Culture and Psychology of U.S. Leaders During War     

Meaningful patterns of activity amongst the long‐term inner city unemployed: a qualitative study

A number of studies have sought to establish the social psychological factors involved in the maintenance of active lifestyles during long‐term unemployment. The aim of this study was to describe and account for the development and maintenance of different patterns of activity, with reference to their perceived meaningfulness. This was undertaken with a sample of Birmingham's inner city, long‐term unemployed population recruited from three inner city Jobcentres, including men and women, and White, Asian and African Caribbean participants (N = 24). Interviews were conducted using a semi‐structured interview guide. Using the qualitative software program, NUD.IST, the data were analysed according to the principles of the grounded theory approach. Activities were characterized as: domestic; educational; work‐like; socializing; and none. A model of meaningful activity in the context of formal unemployment was developed. The main components of the model were: features of formal employment that inhibited participants' engagement in it; the requirements for personal meaningful activity (challenging activity, effort and commitment, and being valued by others); the consequences of meaningful activity (opportunities for self‐determination and self‐development, and achievement, competence, and confidence) and consolidating factors (social comparison, self‐appraisal, religious and political beliefs, and social support). Theories of unemployment of Jahoda, Warr, and Fryer are considered in the light of the present findings. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.