Delinquency and Substance Use among Gang-Involved Youth: The Moderating Role of Parenting Practices

This study uses longitudinal data from an ethnically diverse sample of 300 ninth grade students to examine the moderating effect of parenting practices upon the relationship between gang involvement and adolescent problem behavior. Results of hierarchical linear modeling indicate that gang involvement is a highly significant positive predictor of each of three categories of problem behavior (minor delinquency, major delinquency, and substance use). Three of the four parenting variables (behavioral control, psychological control, parent–adolescent conflict, and warmth) are found to moderate the relationship between gang involvement and problem behavior, with the most consistent effects found for behavioral control and warmth. These findings indicate that intervention efforts aimed at reducing the impact of gang involvement on adolescent development should consider factors that may decrease the deleterious behavioral outcomes associated with youth gangs.     

Mother— and Father—Child Mutuality in Anglo and Indian British Families: A Link with Lower Externalizing Problems

We observed mother- and father-child dyadic mutuality (responsiveness, interaction reciprocity, and cooperation), and its association with child behavior problems, in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 125 male (51%) and female 7-to-9-year-old children. Dyadic mutuality and positivity were coded from in-home videotaped structured tasks, and parents completed ratings of child externalizing problems. Mothers showed more mutuality than fathers. The same child showed moderately similar mutuality with both of her or his parents (r = .47). Mutuality was higher among Anglo parents compared to Indian parents, an effect that was due in part to acculturation (i.e., years since immigration, native language use, traditional native culture attitudes). Greater mutuality, when coupled with dyadic positive affect, was associated with fewer externalizing problems (R2 = .24). This pattern held across gender, ethnic, and sociocconomic groups.     

Rigidity in Parent—Child Interactions and the Development of Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior in Early Childhood

Behavioral rigidity is a common feature of many psychopathologies, yet the association between rigidity and the development of childhood psychopathology has not been studied. State space grids (a dynamic systems [DS] method) were used to examine the relation between rigidity in parent-child interactions and childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. High-risk kindergarten children (n = 240) and their parents were observed for 2 hr engaging in a variety of tasks that were expected to elicit a range of affect. State space grid analysis of the observational data revealed an association between rigidity in parent-child interactions and child externalizing behavior problems in the fall and spring of kindergarten and 1st grade, and with growth in those problems over time. Rigidity was associated with concurrent levels and with chronic high-level internalizing problems. Strengths and limitations of the new DS methodology in relation to understanding child psychopathology are discussed.     

Racial allyship: Novel measurement and new insights

Allies are members of an ingroup who work toward fairness for people in an outgroup. Ally behaviors include calling out discrimination and fighting for inclusion of outgroup members, and it includes public and private behaviors. As such, White allies can be an important means of reducing racism against people of color. There are few means of assessing and quantifying allyship in ingroup members, and as such, there is a need for methods for assessing allyship that can be used to better understand characteristics of allies and determine if interventions designed to reduce prejudice can improve allyship. To that end we describe an innovative scenario-based measurement technique to quantify interpersonal allyship, with White students as ingroup members (N = 987) and Black students as outgroup members (N = 61). Measurement of allyship is conducted based on participant responses to hypothetical racially-sensitive scenarios where microaggressions are occurring or likely to occur. Items were developed based focus group input, and rated by diversity experts for relevance. The factor structure of allyship items was examined by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The final 10-item Interpersonal Racial Allyship Scale (IRAS) was negatively correlated to 3 measures of racist attitudes and 1 measure of microaggressive behaviors, and it was positively correlated to 2 measures of outgroup liking. It also predicted making racially supportive statements in a laboratory task. We report on characteristics of allies, noting that allied behaviors are correlated with less prejudice, stronger positive feelings toward outgroup members, and a greater likelihood of having other marginalized identities. Implications of findings and applications of the scale are discussed.     

Re‐Member MOVE: The Anatomy of a Reconciliation

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia city officials authorized the dropping of a bomb on a house in a residential neighborhood, killing 11 people of the MOVE organization—including five children—destroying 61 homes and rendering nearly 250 residents homeless. The years leading up to this tragedy involved multiple instances of police brutality, one of which resulted in the more than 40‐year incarceration of nine MOVE members (commonly known as the MOVE 9). In this first‐person account, we review literature on reconciliation and apologies, explore the value of reconciliation in community psychology, and reflect on our involvement as a reconciliation strategist and a community psychologist in initiating, developing and facilitating a reconciliation process. A model of iterative reconciliation as a creative multilevel and multipurpose tool relevant for community psychology is proposed. The reconciliation process began in September 2018 between key players involved with the MOVE organization and Philadelphia officials and community members and family and involved multiple community gatherings and conversations with many stakeholders. Ultimately, through the extensive reconciliation process, the authors facilitated the issuing of an apology on May 13, 2020 by the Council of the City of Philadelphia.     

Work–family conflicts,cognitive appraisal,and burnout: Testing the mediation effect with structural equation modelling

Work–family conflict constitutes an important source of occupational stress predicting teachers’ burnout, and cognitive variables have shown to be core structures in explaining human adaptation to stress. Nevertheless, the role of cognitive appraisal needs to be fully analysed to comprehend how it can mediate the relationship between stress and burnout. In order to understand the potential mediation of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between stress and burnout, we adopted conceptual models of stress that highlighted the value of cognitive appraisal on positive and negative reactions to work demands. Also, we analysed the potential moderation of sex and age in the relationship between work–family conflict, cognitive appraisal, and burnout due to inconsistent findings on how these personal variables can interfere on these relations. In this study, we used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the mediating of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between work–family conflicts and burnout. A survey with measures of work–family conflicts, cognitive appraisal, and burnout was administered to the participants consisting of 438 Portuguese teachers from kindergarten through high school, aged between 28 and 67 years (M = 46.85; SD = 7.88), 304 of whom were females (69.41%). The results confirmed that cognitive appraisal partially mediated the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout. The mediation effect of cognitive appraisal on the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout was invariant regardless of teachers’ sex or age. In sum, cognitive appraisal should be considered in order to understand teachers’ adaptation to work.     

When and how health-oriented leadership relates to employee well-being—The role of expectations,self-care,and LMX

Despite the increasing interest in leaders’ health-promoting behavior, the employees’ role in the effectiveness of such behavior and the mechanisms underlying how such leadership behavior affects their well-being have largely been ignored. Drawing on implicit leadership theories, we advance the health-oriented leadership literature by examining employees’ ideals, that is, their expectations regarding such leader behavior, as a moderating factor. We propose that higher expectations increase the association between actual health-oriented leader behavior and employee-rated leader-member relationships (LMX) and health-oriented behaviors by employees, which, in turn, positively relate to their well-being (here: exhaustion and work engagement). We tested our theoretical model in three studies, using a cross-sectional design (Study 1, N = 307), a two-wave time-lagged design (Study 2, N = 144) and an experimental design (Study 3, N = 173). We found that the effect of actual health-oriented leader behavior on LMX is contingent on employees’ ideal health-oriented leader behavior. Yet, for employees’ self-care behavior, the proposed moderation was only significant in Study 1. High expectations strengthened the relationship between actual health-oriented leader behavior with LMX and self-care behavior, which, in turn, were associated with less exhaustion and more work engagement (only LMX), supporting most of our mediation hypotheses. Our results highlight the pivotal role of employees’ expectations regarding leaders’ health support and help in building practical interventions with regard to leaders’ health promotion.     

Effective use of the blank comparison procedure in simple discrimination by infant capuchin monkeys: A methodological note

In studies of simple and conditional discrimination, procedures are needed to measure those aspects of stimuli that control behavior. The blank comparison procedure is one such procedure. It was designed explicitly for assessing S+ and S- functions when discriminative stimuli are presented simultaneously. In this procedure, a neutral stimulus serves sometimes as S+ and sometimes as S-. Its discriminative function is defined in relation to other stimuli in the display. The present study aimed to prepare 2 infant female capuchin monkeys for the effective use of the blank comparison procedure in a simple discrimination task. First, simple discrimination training was applied up to a stable accuracy criterion of ≥90%. This training was followed by the replacement of S+ and then of S- stimuli with new stimuli. Ultimately, trials with the blank comparison were introduced. Following this sequence, both monkeys immediately displayed highly accurate blank-comparison performances without the need for stimulus control shaping or other preparatory discrimination training. Thus, this procedure sequence may be an efficient, effective method for establishing blank-comparison baselines for experimental analyses of S+/S- discriminative functions and perhaps for other applications in teaching simple and conditional discrimination performances to this species and others.     

Equivalence relations do exist before they are tested: Confirmatory evidence revealed by EEG measurements

We examined equivalence-based N400 effects by comparing EEG data from participants with different experiences with equivalence testing. Before a priming task used in EEG measurement, Group 1 was given only matching-to-sample training trials whereas Group 2 was exposed to matching-to-sample training and equivalence probe trials. We asked whether exposure to the reinforcement contingency was sufficient to bring about an N400 outcome that might indicate potentially emergent equivalence relations or if such a response depended on experience with equivalence tests. Results showed robust N400 in both groups. Experience with equivalence tests did not further increase the N400 effects. Our findings add confirmatory evidence that equivalence relations may originate via the reinforcement contingency alone. Furthermore, complementary EEG data collected from priming tasks involving words from natural language showed functional overlap between laboratory-defined equivalence and natural word-based N400 effects.