The Effects of Commercials on Children’s Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toy Use

Sixty-two first and second grade students (28 boys, 34 girls) were exposed to one of three commercial videotapes in which either all-boys (traditional condition) or all-girls (nontraditional) were playing with a toy. Participants in the control condition were exposed to nontoy commercials. After exposure to one of the conditions participants performed a toy sort where they were asked if six toys, including the two manipulated toys, were for boys, girls, or both boys and girls. Participants in the nontraditional condition were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for both boys and girls than were participants in the traditional condition, who were more likely to report that the manipulated toys were for boys. This effect was stronger for boys than for girls.     

The impact of parents’ mental health on parent–baby interaction: A prospective study

The aims of the current study were to examine the effect of fathers’ and mothers’ pre and postnatal mental health on mother–infant and father–infant interactions. Mental health was broadly defined to include anxiety, depression and PTSD. A community sample of 44 mothers and 40 fathers from 45 families completed questionnaire measures of mental health in late pregnancy and three months postpartum. Mother–infant and father–infant interactions were observed and videoed three months postpartum and analysed using the CARE-index. Results showed that prenatal mental health, in particular anxiety, was associated with parent–infant interactions to a greater extent than postnatal mental health. Fathers’ prenatal symptoms were associated with higher paternal unresponsiveness and infant passivity whilst fathers’ postnatal symptoms were associated with higher levels of infant difficulty in the father–baby interaction. The results also indicated that mothers and fathers interaction with their babies were similar, both on average and within the couples, with 34% being inept or at risk. These findings highlight the need for early detection and prevention of both mental health and parent–infant relationship problems in fathers as well as mothers. However, further prospective and longitudinal studies are needed to understand the influences of parental mental health on the parent–infant interactions further. Also it should be noted that the mental health scores were low in this sample, which may reflect the sample characteristics. Future studies therefore would benefit from focusing on more vulnerable groups of parents.     

The Challenge of Christian Schooling in a Secular Society

This article evaluates the position of Christian schooling within a liberal democracy and the rights of Christians within a secular state. I challenge the fundamental liberal tenet of individual autonomy as the supreme goal of education and put the case that Christian schools are a vital part of a diverse, tolerant and inclusive society. Although intended as a theoretical resource, current developments in faith-based education in the United Kingdom are used to exemplify important political and philosophical arguments that will be of value to Christian educators in the United States and elsewhere.     

Associations between parental gendered attitudes and behaviours and children’s gender development across middle childhood

The present study used a longitudinal, multi-informant approach to examine which specific elements of parents’ gendered attitudes and behaviours were predictive of multiple dimensions of children’s gender development. One hundred and six families with two children (older sibling M = 7.45 years and younger sibling M = 5.19 years at Time 1) were assessed at two time points four to five years apart. At Time 1, parents reported on division of household labour, their own gender-role attitudes (GRAs), and children’s gendered preferences. At Time 2, children reported on their gendered preferences, GRAs and gendered personality traits. Results from multilevel modelling showed that fathers’ egalitarian GRA and egalitarian division of household tasks were predictive of egalitarian child GRA and outcomes, but child sex did not moderate these relationships. As some gender measures were more strongly correlated than others, these findings highlight the importance of examining multiple dimensions of both children’s and parents’ gendered attitudes and behaviours.     

Clarifying boundaries of binge eating disorder and psychiatric comorbidity: a latent structure analysis

Binge eating disorder (BED) presents with substantial psychiatric comorbidity. This latent structure analysis sought to delineate boundaries of BED given its comorbidity with affective and anxiety disorders. A population-based sample of 151 women with BED, 102 women with affective or anxiety disorders, and 259 women without psychiatric disorders was assessed with clinical interviews and self-report-questionnaires. Taxometric analyses were conducted using DSM-IV criteria of BED and of affective and anxiety disorders. The results showed a taxonic structure of BED and of affective and anxiety disorders. Both taxa co-occurred at an above-chance level, but also presented independently with twice-as-large probabilities. Within the BED taxon, diagnostic co-occurrence indicated greater general psychopathology, lower social adaptation, and greater premorbid exposure to parental mood and substance disorder, but not greater eating disorder psychopathology. Eating disorder psychopathology discriminated individuals in the BED taxon from individuals in the affective and anxiety disorders taxon. Diagnostic criteria of BED were more indicative of the BED taxon than were criteria of affective and anxiety disorders. The results show that at the latent level, BED was co-occurring with, yet distinct from, affective and anxiety disorders and was not characterized by an underlying affective or anxiety disorder.     

From beliefs to skills: the secularization of literacy and the moral education of citizens

The premise advanced here is that reading is of religious and spiritual significance; consequently, when literacy is secularized, divorced from faith and considered apart from readers’ beliefs and values, there are consequences for learning. It is suggested that current educational policy which legitimates the view that literacy is more concerned with skills (which are often misguidedly regarded as neutral) than beliefs (and interpretation) militates against the fostering of morally aware citizens. Young people need to do more than communicate accurately and in an appropriate form; they need to be sufficiently discriminating readers of the world they inhabit and of people’s beliefs and values. It is suggested that when proper attention is devoted to values in literacy education (as well as skills) children will have the language they need to negotiate wisely in a market place of ideas where an astonishingly diverse array of goods is on offer.     

Future time perspective: adolescents' predictions of their interpersonal lives in the future

This study investigated adolescent future time perspective. The interpersonal subscale of the Future Likelihood Inventory was administered to a sample of adolescents aged 15 to 20 years. Based on the results of this study of interpersonal life projections, it appears that adolescents do not perceive divorce in their future. However, periods of singlehood, widowhood, and nuclear family life are perceived as extremely likely, particularly among female adolescents. Differences in future time perspective were revealed for gender but not age.     

Adolescents' relationships to siblings and mothers: a multivariate genetic analysis.

Research has consistently demonstrated that children's behavior toward their siblings tends to resemble interactions occurring in the parent-child relationship. This study examined the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences to the covariation between sibling relationships and mother-adolescent relationships. Reported and observed family interactions were assessed for 719 same-sex sibling pairs of varying degrees of genetic relatedness. The covariance between mother-adolescent and sibling interactions was decomposed into genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental components. The overlapping effects of shared environment on the two relationship subsystems explained most of the covariance. Smaller but significant genetic and nonshared environmental effects were also found. The consistency of these findings with family processes, such as modeling, is discussed.     

A multiple-observations model for response latency and the latencies of correct and incorrect responses in recognition memory

A model for response latency in recognition memory is described which is a strength model incorporating the notion of multiple observations and with the additional assumptions that the variance of the strength distributions increase with set size and that the observer attempts to keep his error rate at a constant level over set size. It is shown that the model can, without recourse to particular parameter values, predict a near linear RT set-size function and, since it is a (TSD) model in its decision aspects, can account for errors and hence error latencies in the recognition task. After the model is described, two experiments are performed which test the prediction that correct mean latency is generally shorter than incorrect mean latency. The prediction is confirmed and this feature is discussed in general, the model being compared with that of Juola, Fischler, Wood, and Atkinson (1971) in this respect. Some possible modifications to the latter model are also considered.