Neurological soft signs and school achievement: The mediating effects of sustained attention

A group of 115 black male adolescents drawn from a clinically unselected birth cohort, half of whom were known to have had neurological soft signs at age 7, were examined at age 17 to determine the relation between soft signs and performance on standard tests of school achievement and sustained attention. Three signs measured at age 17-dysgraphesthesia, difficulties with rapid alternating movements (dysdiadochokinesis), and motor slowness—were related to lower concurrent and past IQ and to impaired performance on laboratory and paper-and-pencil measures of sustained attention. The relation between signs and the attentional measures remained significant after IQ was statistically controlled. The three age 17 soft signs as well as age 7 signs were related to impaired performance on standardized tests (age 17) of school achievement. Most of the relation between signs and school achievement could be accounted for by the variance signs shared with sustained attention. One sign, mirror movements, was unrelated to all other attentional and cognitive measures.The study was supported by center grant MH 306906 and research training grant 5 T32 MH 13043-13 from the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as by the City College and the City University Computing Centers. We thank Lillian Belmont and two reviewers for their critical comments on an earlier version of the paper. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Joseph Barmack.     

The effect of knowledge of reversibility on the reversibility of ambiguous figures

The role of knowledge of the reversibility of reversible figures was tested in four experiments. Two ambiguous figures, the vase-face figure and a depth-reversing pyramid-hallway figure were shown to high school students. In the Uninformed condition, subjects were not told that the figures were reversible. A sampling procedure was used in which subjects reported what they perceived at 5-sec intervals. Viewing durations of up to 3 min were used, and approximately half of all subjects did not reverse at all during the uninformed condition, whereas virtually all subjects reversed quickly and frequently once they knew that the figures were reversible. These results are not consistent with neural fatigue models of perceptual reversal.     

Alcohol use and depression among African-American and Caucasian adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in reported alcohol use and depressive symptomatology among a sample of 524 African-American and Caucasian adolescents. Of specific interest was determining if ethnicity, gender, and age predicted severity of scores obtained on the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS) and Adolescent Drinking Index (ADI). Extreme groups were formed using upper (> 75%) and lower (< 25%) quartiles. Three other groups were formed using each instrument's normatively derived cutoff scores: depressed only (RADS > 77), heavy drinking (ADI > 16) and mixed (RADS > 77, ADI > 16). Several results were obtained. First, Caucasians obtained significantly higher scores on the ADI than African-Americans, although no differences were obtained for the RADS. Females scored higher on the RADS but lower on the ADI than males. In terms of extreme scores, females were less likely to belong to the severe depression group, while older adolescents in general and African-Americans in particular had a greater probability of belonging to the heavy-drinking group. Finally, using RADS and ADI cutoff scores, females were less likely than males to belong to the depression only group as were African-Americans. Older adolescents, in general, and African-Americans in particular had a greater probability of belonging to the mixed group than did their counterparts.     

Salient worries of at-risk youth: needs assessment using the things I worry about scale

At-risk students in the southern United States were surveyed using the Things I Worry About Scale. From their responses, 13 categories were ranked from most salient to least salient. The rank order obtained in the present study was compared to that obtained with a normative group of youths in Northern Ireland. The two rank orders were found to be significantly correlated. The relatedness of the rank orderings of the two seemingly disparate samples suggests the universality of the Things I Worry About Scale. The merits of using the scale as part of a comprehensive needs assessment are discussed.     

Can Religion Help Prevent Obesity? Religious Messages and the Prevalence of Being Overweight or Obese Among Korean Women in California

This research examines the influence of messages from religious leaders and congregants on whether Korean women are overweight or obese. Data were drawn from telephone interviews with a probability sample (N = 591) of women of Korean descent living in California. Overweight or obese prevalence was measured using World Health Organization standards for Asians (BMI > 23). Respondents reported the frequency of messages discouraging “excessive eating” or encouraging “exercise” from religious leaders and congregants during a typical month. When conditioned on leaders’ messages, the frequency of congregants’ messages was associated with a significantly lower probability of being overweight or obese, although messages from either in the absence of the other were unassociated with being overweight or obese. At least for Korean women, religion may help prevent obesity via religious-based social mechanisms.     

Psychological Distress in a Sample of Teachers

This article describes a cross-sectional study of the links between job-related stressors and depressive and psychophysiologic symptoms and morale in 67 New York City teachers. The teachers' mean score on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; M = 13.03) was higher than might be expected from average community residents. The teachers also tended to express dissatisfaction with their jobs. The CES-D and the Psychophysiologic Symptom Scale were correlated as highly as their reliabilities would permit, a finding consistent with the view that the CES-D and the Psycho physiologic Symptom Scale measure the same construct, nonspecific psychological distress. The correlational findings suggest that distress is distinct from job-related morale, which was indexed by measures of motivation to continue teaching and job satisfaction. The results of regression analyses, which controlled for sociodemographic factors, indicated that the level of job strain (frequency of ongoing stressors) is more closely related to psychological distress and low morale than episodic stressors, including crimes in which the teacher was victim. The regression analyses also indicated that colleague support was related to lower symptom levels and higher morale.     

Do Christian Denominations Exhibit Higher Rates of Alcohol Consumption? A Study of Korean American Women in California

Although Korean American women show high levels of involvement in religious practices and high prevalence of alcohol consumption, no studies have assessed the association between religious denomination and alcohol intake among this group of women. This cross-sectional study examined the associations of religious denomination and religious commitment to alcohol consumption among Korean American women in California. Polychotomous regression models were used to provide estimates of the associations between religious denomination and religious commitment to alcohol consumption. Catholic Korean American women (OR 5.61 P < 0.01) and Independent Christian women (OR 4.87 P < 0.01) showed stronger associations to heavy alcohol consumption when compared to Conservative Christian Korean American women. Path analysis suggested that specific denominations had both direct and indirect effects on the outcome of interest, and that religious commitment and drinking models served as moderators for this phenomenon.     

Time perception and the filled-duration illusion

A reproduction design is used to show that temporal intervals containing brief tones appear longer than empty intervals of the same duration, the effect being independent of duration. These and previous data are discussed within a theoretical framework which allows for the interrelation of data from different time perception tasks; and a reversible encoding model is stated which accounts for much of the data obtained with empty intervals. A “chunking” model, in which tones occurring in an interval serve to segment the interval during encoding, can account for the filled-duration illusion if certain conditions are met. Finally, mechanisms that are consistent with these conditions are stated.