The Relation of Birth Order,Age of Mother,and Size of Family to Intelligence

Variables thought to be associated with the magnitude of interrelationship observed among the elements in a system of social attitudes were investigated. Subjects (N = 753) were asked to respond to an inventory requesting self-report and background data. Several weeks later, Ss were given two forms of the Social Attitude Scale, a scale tapping the liberalism-conservatism domain. The results indicated that those Ss who reported recent changes in religious, moral, or political attitudes displayed a more highly interconnected system of liberal-conservative attitudes than those who did not. Variables relating to active participation in social affairs tended to be associated with higher levels of attitude system organization. Sex differences were observed, with men displaying higher levels of system organization than women. This relationship held even when participation rates were taken into consideration.     

Adjusting to job demands: The role of work self-determination and job control in predicting burnout

This study examined the dynamic interplay among job demands, job control, and work self-determination in order to predict burnout dimensions. A three-way interaction effect was found between job demands, job control and work self-determination in predicting each dimension of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment). Overall, results showed that job control moderates the unhealthy effects of job demands in predicting emotional exhaustion and depersonalization only for employees with high levels of work self-determination. In addition, job control increases the relation between job demands and the sense of personal accomplishment only for employees with high levels of work self-determination. These results are discussed in light of the Job Demand-Control model.     

Marital Status,Home Environments,and Family Strain: Complex Effects on Preschool Children's School Readiness Skills

The current study examined the complex associations among marital status, home environments, and family strain (i.e. income, maternal depressive symptoms, social support, and parenting stress), as they predict preschool children's pre‐academic and social skills at 36 and 54 months. Findings from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 897) showed that the home learning environment, which was significantly lower among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single‐parent families and children's pre‐academic skills at 36 and 54 months. Additionally, parenting stress, which was significantly higher among single‐parent families, worked as a mediator to explain the relationship between single status and the home learning environment. Finally, moderation analyses showed that family income is important for improving the home social environment, and the home social environment is strongly associated with children's social skills in single‐parent families, but not in cohabiting families. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of strain rate on the orientation dependence of microstructure in nickel single crystals

The deformation microstructures of nickel single crystals (99.945 wt.%) during dynamic plastic deformation and quasi-static compression to a true strain of 0.20 were comparatively investigated. The deformation microstructures are orientation dependent, forming cell structure, slip plane aligned or not slip plane aligned extended boundaries. It is found that the orientation spread decreases, remains unchanged and becomes enhanced when loading along 〈0?0?1〉, 〈0?1?1〉 and 〈1?1?1〉, respectively, as strain rate increases.     

A longitudinal person-centred approach to the job demands-control model

We used a longitudinal design and a person-centred methodology to test the strain and learning hypotheses of the job demands–control model among Finnish employees (n = 926), who were followed-up at three time points covering a period of 2 years (2008–2010). First, we identified longitudinal subgroups in demands and control across three measurement points. Second, we examined how these subgroups differed in strain (job exhaustion) and motivation-related outcomes (vigour at work, work–family enrichment). Growth mixture modelling revealed four subgroups: “stable high strain”, “stable low strain”, “increasing control”, and “decreasing control”. The stable high- and low-strain subgroups also differed in the outcomes studied (exhaustion, work–family enrichment) as suggested by the demands–control model. The findings also suggest that job control is subject to changes over time and that these changes are likely to be associated with changes in employee outcomes. Malleability of job control should be kept in mind in job stress interventions, likewise the fact that some employees suffer from chronic job stress.     

Aspiration Strain and Mental Health: The Education‐Contingent Role of Religion

This study examines whether dimensions of religious involvement (i.e., perceived divine control, private religious practices, and religious social integration) buffer associations between aspiration strain and mental health outcomes (i.e., psychological distress, loneliness, and optimism). We also test three‐way interactions to determine whether the stress‐buffering effects of religious involvement are amplified among undereducated persons. We test our hypotheses with cross‐sectional survey data from Vanderbilt University's Nashville Stress and Health Study (2011–2014), a probability sample of non‐Hispanic white and black adults from Davidson County, Tennessee (n = 1,252). Results from multivariate regression models confirmed: (1) aspiration strain was positively associated with psychological distress and loneliness, and negatively associated with optimism; and (2) religious involvement attenuated these associations, but only for respondents with less than or equal to a high school education. We discuss the implications and limitations of our findings and outline avenues for future research.     

Genetic differences in the mouse defense test battery

The mouse defense test battery (MDTB) has been designed to examine anxiogenic- or anxiolytic-like properties of psychoactive drugs through effects on specific defensive behaviors. In the present study, the MDTB was used to evaluate the potential contribution of genetic factors to these behaviors. The data revealed pronounced differences in several defense reactions among four inbred strains (BALB/c, C57BL/6, CBA, DBA/2) and one outbred (Swiss) mouse line. Thus, when subjects were introduced into the apparatus, Swiss and C57BL/6 displayed the highest levels of horizontal and vertical activities, while BALB/c and DBA/2 mice showed intermediate and CBA low activity rates. When subjects were chased by the rat, C57BL/6 mice used flight as the dominant defense strategy, while the defensive responses of BALB/c, C57BL/6, and DBA/2 mice consisted of flight reactions and risk assessment activities. However, when flight or escape was not possible, risk assessment became the predominant feature of the defense repertoire in the C57BL/6 mice. When defensive threat/attack behaviors were required, Swiss, BALB/c, DBA/2, and C57BL/6 mice showed very similar reactions in terms of the magnitude of the responses observed. CBA mice were poorly defensive in all these test situations. Finally, after the rat was removed from the test apparatus, Swiss, DBA/2, and C57BL/6 mice displayed more vertical activities than BALB/c mice. These latter, however, showed an increased level of ambulation compared to the activity recorded before the rat exposure. Together, these findings indicate that genetic factors contribute to defensive behaviors in this animal model of anxiety. The different behavioral profiles displayed by the strains used here may provide the means to obtain a better insight into the neurobehavioral mechanisms involved in anxiety-related disorders. Aggr. Behav. 23:19–31, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Time to completion of web-based physics problems with tutoring

We studied students performing a complex learning task, that of solving multipart physics problems with interactive tutoring on the web. We extracted the rate of completion and fraction completed as a function of time on task by retrospectively analyzing the log of student-tutor interactions. There was a spontaneous division of students into three groups, the central (and largest) group (about 65% of the students) being those who solved the problem in real time after multiple interactions with the tutorial program (primarily receiving feedback to submitted wrong answers and requesting hints). This group displayed a sigmoidal fraction-completed curve as a function of logarithmic time. The sigmoidal shape is qualitatively flatter for problems that do not include hints and wrong-answer responses. We argue that the group of students who respond quickly (about 10% of the students) is obtaining the answer from some outside source. The third group (about 25% of the students) represents those who interrupt their solution, presumably to work offline or to obtain outside help.