Spousal similarity in depression: a dyadic latent panel analysis of the panel study of Belgian households

Dyadic latent panel analysis (DLPA) was applied to eight waves of the Panel Study of Belgium Households (N = 954 couples). DLPA decomposes the observed variance of both members of a dyad into variance due to stable factors, factors that gradually change over time, and occasion-specific factors including random error. Total observed similarity between members of a dyad on one occasion is decomposed into stable similarity, similarity in factors that change over time, and occasion-specific similarity. The results show that depressive symptoms are influenced by stable and changing factors and that spousal similarity in both factors contribute to spousal similarity in depression on a single occasion. Spousal similarity in factors that change gradually over time suggests that shared-environmental factors contribute to depressive symptoms.     

Comparison of tongue muscle characteristics of preterm and full term infants during nutritive and nonnutritive sucking

Background

Independent oral feeding requires coordination of suck, swallow and breathe and the lingual musculature plays a significant role in this coordinative action. However, clinical benchmarks of lingual function fundamental to successful feeding have not been explored.

Aims

The present study tests our model for quantifying infant lingual force and size and compares the muscle measures of interest in two cohorts: healthy full-term infants (FT) (N = 5) and healthy preterm infants (PT) (N = 6).

Method

Using an instrumented pacifier and bottle nipple, we determined the resultant compressive forces applied to the nipple by the tongue during nutritive (NS) and nonnutritive sucking (NNS). Muscle size was estimated from measures of posterior tongue thickness using ultrasonography.

Results

After controlling for weight and post menstrual age, statistically significant differences were found between FT and PT infants beginning to feed for NNS frequency and NS tongue force. Clinically significant differences were detected for NNS tongue force and posterior tongue thickness. Additionally, PT infants demonstrated a significant difference in mean tongue force between NS and NNS and FT infants did not. FT infants demonstrated a significant difference in mean frequency between NS and NNS and PT infants did not. Linear regression indicated that mean posterior tongue thickness alone predicted 55% of the variance in NS force.

Conclusions

Results demonstrate the feasibility of our approach and suggest that infant tongue muscle characteristics necessary for successful feeding differ between healthy full term infants and preterm infants who are beginning oral feeding.     

When Good Consumers Turn Bad: Psychological Contract Breach in Committed Brand Relationships

To better understand the conditions under which committed consumers continue to support their preferred brand after a transgression versus turn against the brand and the underlying theoretical process, we study the interplay between brand commitment and specific types of transgressions. Across three scenario‐based and field studies, we show that consumers have psychological contracts with brands, which dictate the terms of the relationship, and for committed consumers, violations of any aspect in (out of) the contract results in a negative (indifferent) response. Furthermore, we demonstrate that consumer trust is the underlying mechanism: committed consumers exhibit more negative responses to in‐contract transgressions as a result of their lower trust in the brand.     

Strengthening the Role of Unmarried Fathers: Findings from the Co‐Parent Court Project

While the importance of fathers in unmarried coparent families is a strong area of social and political interest, a dearth of community‐based interventions exists for supporting the role of fathers in at‐risk families. The Co‐Parent Court (CPC) was a 3‐year demonstration project evaluating the effectiveness of a collaborative intervention to support unmarried coparents establishing paternity and improving their coparenting relationships and paternal involvement in their child's life. A randomized‐control experimental design was employed. The paper will explore father involvement and coparent relationship outcomes.     

Sb 2 Te 3 and In 0.2 Sb 1.8 Te 3 : A comparative study of thermoelectric and related properties

Sb 2 Te 3 and its solid solutions with group III elements such as In are materials of current interest for their potential thermoelectric applications. Single crystals of Sb 2 Te 3 and In 0.2 Sb 1.8 Te 3 have been grown by the Bridgman method and their powder X-ray diffractograms obtained and indexed. The transport properties, namely electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity, as well as the optical bandgap of the alloys have been measured and are compared. The ternary alloy containing In has a smaller optical bandgap and lower electrical and thermal conductivity than Sb 2 Te 3, but a higher Seebeck coefficient.     

Two-Year-Olds' Object Retrieval Based on Television: Testing a Perceptual Account

Two-year-olds frequently fail to use information provided by video to find objects hidden in an adjacent room. Schmitt and Anderson (2002) hypothesized that they fail to map the 2-dimensional (2D) video image onto the 3D layout of the search space. Two experiments tested whether 2-year-olds can successfully use information from video when the search space is 2D or when the information is provided verbally (by telling the child where the toy is hidden). In both experiments, children performed poorly in the video conditions but performed well in direct live experience comparison conditions, contradicting Schmitt and Anderson's hypothesis. Performance was above chance on the first trial in the video conditions, suggesting that 2-year-olds do have a memory of the hiding location, albeit one that is easily disrupted by perseverative errors on subsequent trials. Overall, the results are most consistent with the hypothesis that very young children give priority to direct experience over mediated information.     

Two-and-a-Half-Year-Olds’ Memory for Sources of Actions: Contextual Support Facilitates Recall

This research examines the early emergence of source-monitoring abilities. Previous research has consistently demonstrated that children as young as 3 to 4 years of age do well on simple versions of action-based source-monitoring tasks. Research on even younger children, however, remains lacking. In this study we examined whether 2½-year-olds could accurately recall source on a simplified task. For the procedure, we used an action-based task in which children collaborate with an experimenter to build a model farm. During construction, the child and the experimenter took turns placing items on the farm. After construction, children were administered a source memory test in which they were asked to recall who had placed each item. To more closely examine factors that influence source accuracy in this young population, we included two conditions that varied in terms of contextual support. In the no-context-cues condition, in line with typical source-monitoring tasks, children were asked the source test question while items were presented individually and the farm was not in view. In the context-cues condition, the original spatial array of farm items was left intact to provide additional cues for children's source decisions. The main finding was that children in both conditions showed high levels of source accuracy at test indicating a surprisingly early age of emergence for this ability. Also, as predicted, children in the context-cues condition were the most accurate in attributing source.     

Source Monitoring and Executive Function in 2.5- to 3-Year-Olds

Hala, Brown, McKay, and San Juan (2013) found that children as young as 2.5 years of age demonstrated high levels of accuracy when asked to recall whether they or the experimenter had carried out a particular action. In the research reported here, we examined the relation of early-emerging source monitoring to executive function abilities. Participants were children aged 2.5- to 3-years old. For the source-monitoring procedure, we used the Hala et al. (2013) task in which children and the experimenter took turns placing a total of 20 items on a model farm (encoding phase). For the source memory test, children were asked who had placed each item (retrieval phase). Executive function measures included assessments of working memory, delay-inhibitory control, and conflict-inhibitory control. The main finding was that inhibitory control measures were significantly related to performance on the source-monitoring task. This relation held for the conflict-inhibitory control measures even when controlling for age and vocabulary. The findings of this research suggest that even at the early age of 2.5 years, development of executive control is linked to the emergence of source-monitoring ability.     

Gambling, health and age: data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

The health effects of recreational gambling are presently unclear, particularly across age groups. Theories of healthy aging suggest that social activities, including gambling, may be beneficial to the health of older adults. Using cross-sectional data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (N=43,093), the authors examined associations between gambling (categorized as nongambling, recreational gambling, or problem/pathological gambling) and health and functioning measures stratified by age (40-64 years and >/=65). Problem/pathological gambling was uniformly associated with poorer health measures among both younger and older adults. Among younger respondents, poorer health measures were also found among recreational gamblers. However, among older respondents, recreational gambling was associated not only with some negative measures (e.g., obesity) but also with some positive measures (e.g., better physical and mental functioning). Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the relationship between gambling and health in older adults in the context of healthy aging.     

The utility of the AusEd driving simulator in the clinical assessment of driver fatigue

Several driving simulators have been developed which range in complexity from PC based driving tasks to advanced "real world" simulators. The AusEd driving simulator is a PC based task, which was designed to be conducive to and test for driver fatigue. This paper describes the AusEd driving simulator in detail, including the technical requirements, hardware, screen and file outputs, and analysis software. Some aspects of the test are standardized, while others can be modified to suit the experimental situation. The AusEd driving simulator is sensitive to performance decrement from driver fatigue in the laboratory setting, potentially making it useful as a laboratory or office based test for driver fatigue risk management. However, more research is still needed to correlate laboratory based simulator performance with real world driving performance and outcomes.