Parent–Child Attunement Moderates the Prospective Link between Parental Overcontrol and Adolescent Adjustment

Parental overcontrol (OC), behavior that intrusively or dominantly restricts child autonomy, has been identified as a transdiagnostic risk factor for youth. However, it is as yet unknown whether the association between parental OC and child maladjustment remains even when OC is exerted infrequently or by attuned parents. Rather, the selective use of OC might steer children away from danger. Taking a developmental psychopathology approach, this study focuses on the larger parent–child relationship context, testing whether either the dose at which parents demonstrate OC or the degree to which children perceive their parents as attuned determines whether OC is risky or protective for adolescents’ adjustment. Among a community sample of 114 families of children followed from the ages of 12–18, we examine whether OC, behaviorally coded from triadic mother–father–child discussions in middle childhood, is associated with later risky behavior and anxiety symptoms in adolescence. Overcontrol exerted by either mothers or fathers had a curvilinear effect on adolescent risky behaviors, and this effect was moderated by children's perceived attunement. Although OC generally was associated with increased risky behaviors, low doses of OC or OC exerted by highly attuned parents protected against engagement in risky behaviors. No main effect of OC was observed on adolescent anxiety; however, mothers’ OC interacted with perceived parental attunement, such that OC exerted by less attuned parents predicted greater anxiety. Results underscore that the effect of parenting behaviors depends on the larger parent–child relationship context.     

The Powerful Other: How Divine Control Shapes the Relationship Between Personal Control and Psychological Distress

In the sociological study of mental health, the sense of personal control represents a core psychological resource, but some studies document a curvilinear association between personal control and depressive symptoms. This body of research is largely secular in orientation, even though research also demonstrates that some individuals believe in an involved and engaged Powerful Other (e.g., God). We evaluate if such beliefs moderate the relationship between personal control and depression. Using data from the 2005 Work, Stress, and Health Study in the United States (N = 1,791), we first demonstrate that the sense of personal control has an overall curvilinear association with depression, in line with previous research. Then, we document that divine control beliefs modify this association such that the curvilinear association is found primarily among individuals with low levels of divine control. By contrast, among those who more strongly endorse divine control, we observe no relationship between personal control and depression. We situate our findings in the differing and complicated perspectives on the implications of religious beliefs for psychological resources and well‐being.     

Influence of prolonged wearing of unstable shoes on upright standing postural control

ObjectiveTo study the influence of prolonged wearing of unstable shoes on standing postural control in prolonged standing workers.MethodsThe participants were divided into two groups: one wore unstable shoes while the other wore conventional shoes for 8 weeks. Stabilometry parameters related to centre of pressure (CoP), rambling (RM) and trembling (TR) as well as the total agonist/antagonist muscle activity, antagonist co-activation and reciprocal activation were evaluated during upright standing, before and after the 8 weeks period. In both moments, the subjects were evaluated wearing the unstable shoes and in barefoot.ResultsThe unstable shoe condition presented increased CoP displacement related variables and decreased co-activation command compared to barefoot before and after the intervention. The prolonged wearing of unstable shoes led to: (1) reduction of medial–lateral CoP root mean square and area; (2) decreased anteroposterior RM displacement; (3) increased anteroposterior RM mean velocity and mediolateral RM displacement; (4) decreased anteroposterior TR RMS; and (5) increased thigh antagonist co-activation in the unstable shoe condition.ConclusionThe unstable shoe condition is associated to a higher destabilising effect that leads to a selection of more efficient and accurate postural commands compared to barefoot. Prolonged wearing of unstable shoes provides increased effectiveness and performance of the postural control system, while wearing of unstable shoes in upright standing, that are reflected by changes in CoP related variables and by a reorganisation of postural control commands.     

Lower back pain in nurses working in home care: linked to work–family conflict,emotional dissonance,and appreciation?

In industrial countries home care services for elderly people living in the community are growing rapidly. Home care nursing is intensive and the nurses often suffer from musculoskeletal pain. Time pressure and job control are job-related factors linked to the risk of experiencing lower back pain (LBP) and LBP-related work impairment. This survey investigated whether work-family conflict (WFC), emotional dissonance and being appreciated at work have incremental predictive value. Responses were obtained from 125 home care nurses (63% response rate). Multiple linear regression showed that emotional dissonance and being appreciated at work predicted LBP intensity and LBP-related disability independently of time pressure and job control. WFC was not a predictor of LBP-related disability in multiple regression analyses despite a zero-order correlation with it. Redesigning the working pattern of home care nurses to reduce the emotional demands and improve appreciation of their work might reduce the incidence of LBP in this group.     

留守妇女与儿童焦虑的代际传递:有调节的中介效应

基于发展系统论和社会提供论构建的有调节的中介模型,对322名留守、323名非留守母子进行为期半年共两次的追踪测查,考察家庭（母亲心理控制）、学校（教师支持）和同伴（朋友支持）系统对焦虑代际传递的影响机制。结果发现：（1）心理控制对留守、非留守母子焦虑的代际传递均起部分中介作用;（2）留守母子焦虑代际传递的中介效应受教师支持的调节,随教师支持水平的提高,中介效应变得不再显著;（3）留守、非留守母子焦虑代际传递的直接效应受朋友支持的调节,随朋友支持水平的提高,直接效应变得不再显著。未来研究可聚焦于母亲、教师、同伴的视角打破留守母子焦虑的代际传递。     

学前教育年限与母亲受教育水平对农村一年级 小学生学校适应的影响

研究采用同伴提名法、教师和家长报告法,对农村135名一年级小学生进行了为期一年的追踪调查,在此基础上,考察了学前教育年限、母亲受教育水平与学校适应之间的关系。结果表明:(1)学前教育年限越长,小学生越多地表现出积极社会行为,但这种优势仅体现在小学入学初期;(2)母亲受教育水平越低,小学生越多地表现出敏感退缩行为和受拒绝同伴关系;(3)对于母亲受教育水平较低的小学生,学前教育年限越长,其攻击冒犯行为越多;而对于母亲受教育水平较高的小学生,学前教育年限越长,其攻击冒犯行为越少。可见,母亲受教育水平与学前教育年限相互作用,共同影响儿童发展结果,且母亲受教育水平的影响作用更为明显。     

MOST intelligent people are accurate and SOME fast people are intelligent.: Intelligence,working memory,and semantic processing of quantifiers from a computational perspective

The paper explores the relationship between intelligence and the semantic processing of natural language quantifiers. The first study revealed that intelligence is positively associated with the subjects' performance when solving a picture verification task with one of the four types of sentences: Aristotelian (e.g. ‘All cars are red’), parity (e.g. ‘An even number of cars are red’), numerical (e.g. ‘More than five cars are red’), and proportional (‘More than half of the cars are red’). The strongest relationship was observed between the cognitive ability and the accuracy of proportional sentences, in accordance with the computational theory which predicts the highest engagement of working memory (WM) within the group of proportional quantifiers. Moreover, individuals with higher intelligence reacted faster, but this was observed only in case of quantifiers with low complexity. Exploring further, in the second study we found that WM and intelligence were both significant predictors of subjects' score on proportional sentences. In the third study, we examined the relationships between quantifiers, intelligence, short-term memory (STM), and executive control function. STM was correlated with all types of quantifiers that need counting and keeping track of elements (parity, numerical, and proportional). Only proportional quantifiers were associated with cognitive control. The obtained results are discussed within the computational paradigm of language processing.     

Reliability and plasticity of response inhibition and interference control

This study investigated the internal reliability, temporal stability and plasticity of commonly used measures of inhibition-related functions. Stop-signal, go/no-go, antisaccade, Simon, Eriksen flanker, Stroop and Continuous Performance tasks were administered twice to 23 healthy participants over a period of approximately 11 weeks in order to assess test–retest correlations, internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), and systematic between as well as within session performance changes. Most of the inhibition-related measures showed good test–retest reliabilities and internal consistencies, with the exception of the stop-signal reaction time measure, which showed poor reliability. Generally no systematic performance changes were observed across the two assessments with the exception of four variables of the Eriksen flanker, Simon and Stroop task which showed reduced variability of reaction time and an improvement in the response time for incongruent trials at second assessment. Predominantly stable performance within one test session was shown for most measures. Overall, these results are informative for studies with designs requiring temporally stable parameters e.g. genetic or longitudinal treatment studies.     

Impact of negative affectively charged stimuli and response style on cognitive-control-related neural activation: An ERP study

The canonical AX-CPT task measures two forms of cognitive control: sustained goal-oriented control (“proactive” control) and transient changes in cognitive control following unexpected events (“reactive” control). We modified this task by adding negative and neutral International Affective Picture System (IAPS) pictures to assess the effects of negative emotion on these two forms of cognitive control. Proactive and reactive control styles were assessed based on measures of behavior and electrophysiology, including the N2 event-related potential component and source space activation (Low Resolution Tomography [LORETA]). We found slower reaction-times and greater DLPFC activation for negative relative to neutral stimuli. Additionally, we found that a proactive style of responding was related to less prefrontal activation (interpreted to reflect increased efficiency of processing) during actively maintained previously cued information and that a reactive style of responding was related to less prefrontal activation (interpreted to reflect increased efficiency of processing) during just-in-time environmentally triggered information. This pattern of results was evident in relatively neutral contexts, but in the face of negative emotion, these associations were not found, suggesting potential response style-by-emotion interaction effects on prefrontal neural activation.