Psychology

Few studies have explored the impact of different types of neglect on children's development. Measures of cognition, language, behavior, and parenting stress were used to explore differences between children experiencing various forms of neglect, as well as to compare children with and without a history of early neglect. Children, ages 3 to 10 years with a history of familial neglect (USN), were compared to children with a history of institutional rearing (IA) and children without a history of neglect using the Differential Abilities Scale, Test of Early Language Development, Child Behavior Checklist, and Parenting Stress Index. Factors predicting child functioning were also explored. Compared with youth that were not neglected, children with a history of USN and IA demonstrated lower cognitive and language scores and more behavioral problems. Both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were most common in the USN group. Externalizing behavior problems predicted parenting stress. Higher IQ could be predicted by language scores and an absence of externalizing behavior problems. When comparing the two neglect groups, shorter time spent in a stable environment, lower scores on language skills, and the presence of externalizing behavior predicted lower IQ. These findings emphasize the importance of early stable, permanent placement of children who have been in neglectful and pre-adoptive international settings. While an enriching environment may promote resilience, children who have experienced early neglect are vulnerable to cognitive, language and behavioral deficits and neurodevelopmental and behavioral evaluations are required to identify those in need of intervention.

Previous research has demonstrated a considerable amount of negative consequences resulting from psychological reactance. The purpose of this study was to explore opportunities to reduce the amount of reactance. Using the method of perspective taking as an intervention, the current study of 196 Austrians and 198 Filipinos examined whether reactance could be reduced and whether individualists and collectivists differ concerning reactance and their perspective taking abilities. Our results indicated that participants who took the perspective of the person who threatened them experienced less reactance than participants who did not take this approach. This was the case for people from both cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless, comparisons among the two cultural groups yielded different reactions to restrictions. This indicates that individualists are more sensitive to a self-experienced restriction than collectivists, but less sensitive to a restriction of another person. Consequently, we consider culture to be a crucial determinant in predicting the amount of reactance.

This paper argues that System 1, (the mental processing system mainly involved in the processing of unconscious information) in contrast to System 2, (mainly involved in the processing of conscious information), processes not only local information conveyed by sensory organs, but also nonlocal ones, that is, those beyond the detection range of sensory organs. The striking similarities observed between the characteristics of local and nonlocal information processing by System 1, offer the possibility of using most of the experimental protocols used to investigate local information for the nonlocal information. Available evidence is presented and a research agenda is outlined that could raise fascinating questions and answer about the functioning of the human mind.

Understanding the role of neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex and mesolimbic brain regions has become the subject of intensive neuroscience research worldwide. In the 1970s, our group provided evidence that rats exposed to darkness significantly augmented their alcohol intake. At that time, we proposed that melatonin was the culprit. At around the same time, our laboratory, amongst a few others, proposed that dopamine-adducts with acetaldehyde to induce alcohol intake both in rodents and in humans. While the work in these areas has declined considerably over the years, more recent scientifically sound studies continue to show the importance of these earlier controversial ideas involving alcohol abuse and alcoholism. A review of the literature has provided impetus to systematically access the newer genetic and molecular neurobiological findings relevant to the physiological and psychological motives for high alcohol consumption in animals and humans alike. Thus, we hypothesize that darkness-induced alcohol intake is linked not only to serotonergic-melatonin mechanisms, but also to dopaminergic regulation of brain mesolimbic pathways involving neuronal expression switching in response to long photoperiods affecting gene expression.

The present study aimed to reveal the role of neuroticism on the relationship between self-esteem and aggressive emotion. We conducted a cross-sectional study in which a battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess self-esteem, neuroticism and aggressive emotion in 1085 Chinese adolescents (N = 1085, M age = 16.38 years, 753 boys). We found that self-esteem could make a negative prediction of aggressive emotion both in males and females. And also, we found the mediating role of neuroticism was in both males and females, on the relations between self-esteem and aggressive emotion, especially, the moderating role of neuroticism among males in the aspect of relationship between self-esteem and aggressive emotion. In conclusion, neuroticism was of importance for aggressive emotion, which was conducive to interventions. According to these findings, at the same time, implications and limitations were discussed in the content.

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and vocational interests using a sample of 272 Greek 10th and 11th Grade students. Trait Emotional Intelligence model (Petrides & Furnham, 2000, 2001, 2003) and Holland’s RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising & Conventional) vocational interest model are used. Trait Emotional Intelligence is assessed with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Adolescent Short Form (TEIQue-ASF) (Petrides, Sangareeau, Furnhum, & Frederickson, 2006) and the RIASEC types are assessed with the Self-Directed Search-SDS (Holland, 1994). The results show that trait emotional intelligence is positively correlated to the Enterprising Type in all SDS subscales. Additionally, emotional intelligence has low positive correlations with the Investigative and Realistic Types (only in the “Competencies” and “Self-Estimates” subscales), and the Social and Conservative Types (only in the “Competencies” subscale). Implications for research and adolescents’ career counselling are also discussed.

This paper examines risk and protective factors associated with delinquent behaviour among Pacific youth living in New Zealand (NZ). As part of the longitudinal Pacific Islands Families study, 11-year-olds Pacific youth participated in multidisciplinary interviews which included questions about involvement in delinquent behaviours. Peer pressure was the strongest risk factor for delinquency, and protective factors were higher self-perception, teacher evaluation scores, and perceived support from friends. Pacific boys reported significantly more delinquent behaviours than Pacific girls. Maternal acculturation was significantly associated with the delinquent behaviour of youth. Youth of mothers categorized as integrators (high Pacific/high NZ) having lower odds for delinquency than youth of mothers categorized as assimilators (low Pacific/high NZ). Youth from the largest Pacific Island groups (Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands) were also significantly more likely to engage in delinquent behaviour than those from smaller island groups. Implications of these findings for prevention and further research are discussed.

Many studies have shown that smoking can be related to worse sleep quality. However, as the impact of smoking, double view points on mental health and chronotype have been shortened. An integrated questionnaire including the diurnal type scale constructed by Torsvall & ?kerstedt, and questions on smoking was administered to 1376 students attending university and mental training schools (693 women and 683 men), 19.9 years on average in 2010-2013. Only 4.1% of the participants were smokers and they tended to be more evening-typed than non-smokers (p = 0.061). Smokers had significantly more difficulty falling asleep (p = 0.003) and more frequently lacked emotional control (p = 0.001) than non smokers. Smoking, being evening-type and having poor mental health may all be correlated in students attending Japanese university and medical training schools.

This study tries to investigate the current relationship between the habit to use mobile phone and the diurnal type scale and sleep habit in Japanese students. An integrated questionnaire was administered to 555 students aged 18 - 30 years old attending university and medical training schools for physical therapists and medical nurses (average age: 19.8 ± 1.6 years) in 2015. Integrated questionnaire included questions on sleep habits, the circadian typology, mental health (out of emotion-control, anger, irritation, depression), meal habits, the diurnal type scale (Torsvall & ?kerstedt, 1980). Most of all students have their own mobile phones and 96% of their phones are “smart phones”. Two hundreds and twenty four students of 531 ones used their phones within 30 min per one usage, whereas 180 students used it 5 - 6 hours per one. There have been significantly no differences in the diurnal type scale scores due to the durations of usage per one usage. Students who put their own mobile phones near to their body during night sleep occupied 461 of 543 students, and they were much more evening-typed than those who put their mobile phones at places far from bed in the same room (p < 0.001). In the cases when night sleep would almost start, phone calls could come from some person, 102 students of 537 ones soon responded to it, whereas 200 ones checked the call but did not respond and felt in sleep. These 302 students were much more evening-typed than 230 students who did not mention this call without checking it and felt in sleep (p < 0.001). The usual life by the students aged 18 - 30 years seems to depend on the usage of smart phones very strictly and may strongly relate to sleep habits and also night usage of smart phones are possible to enhance the evening-typed life.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound impacts on mental health. We examined whether mental health differed based on sociodemographic and background characteristics, political party affiliation, and concerns about COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional, national sample of 1095 U.S. adults were surveyed October 22-26, 2020. The survey collected information on demographics, risk and protective behaviors for COVID-19, and mental health using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) scale. Independent samples t-tests, one-way Analysis of Variance tests, and a multivariable linear regression model were conducted. Results: Regression results showed respondents with criminal justice (B = -6.56, 95% CI = -10.05, -3.06) or opioid misuse (B = -9.98, 95% CI = -14.74, -5.23) histories reported poorer mental health than those without. Those who took protective behaviors (e.g., wearing masks) reported poorer mental health compared to those who indicated protective behaviors were unnecessary (B = 7.00, 95% CI = 1.61, 12.38) while those who took at least one risk behavior (e.g., eating in a restaurant) reported better mental health than those who did not. Conclusions: Our study shows that certain groups have experienced poorer mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that mental health should continue to be monitored so that public health interventions and messaging help prevent the spread of COVID-19 without increasing poor mental health outcomes.

This paper examined temporal changes in self-esteem among middle school students in Japan from 1989 to 2002. Previous research showed that self-esteem decreased among middle school students between 1999 and 2006. However, it was unclear whether such a decrease was also present in other periods of time. To obtain a better understanding of how people adapt to socio-economic environments, it is important to gain a more comprehensive view of such long-term cultural/social changes. Therefore, to supplement the findings of the existing research on changes in self-esteem, we analyzed large-sample time-series data collected in Japan in 1989 and 2002. We found that middle schoolers’ self-esteem decreased from 1989 to 2002, consistent with previous research. Thus, our study extends the previous research by presenting additional data showing the decrease in self-esteem in Japan.

The purpose of this study was to test the factorial validity of the job-related affective well-being scale—the IWP Multi-Affect Indicator. The sample was composed of 1466 police officers and collected through self-report questionnaires. With the objective of validating the factorial structure of the IWP Multi-Affect Indicator, several models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. The results supported a four-factor structure: anxiety, comfort, depression and enthusiasm, as well as a five-factor structure including the same four factors plus a second-order factor called global affective well-being.

This study aimed to examine the prevalence of truancy and its associated factors among school going Malaysian adolescents. The Malaysia Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) was conducted from February to April 2012 involving 28,933 students aged 12 - 17 years old. A two-stage cluster sampling was used to select the schools and students with an overall response rate of 88.6%. The data were obtained using the GSHS questionnaire. The prevalence of truancy was 30.8% and significantly higher among male than female (32.9% vs 28.7%). The factors associated with truancy were current smoker (aOR: 2.23; 95% CI: 2.03 - 2.46), current drug user (aOR: 2.23; 95% CI: 1.52 - 3.29), current alcohol use (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.24 - 1.56), having been bullied (aOR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.22 - 1.42) and not currently live with both parents (aOR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.16 - 1.35). High truancy among school going adolescents warrants a new effective strategy to control truancy in Malaysia.

Educators and government administrators are keen to find interventions to change the rapidly declining enrollments in senior high school mathematics. In 2012, PISA introduced measures to examine the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), a prominent theory from social psychology for encouraging changes in behavior (and perhaps mathematics enrollments). This paper sought to examine the applicability of the TPB for predicting the relationship between students’ intentions, their mathematics attitudes, subject norms, perceived controllability and self-efficacy as well as their mathematics behaviour, using items created by PISA 2012 question designers to assess these TPB constructs. Australian PISA 2012 data from 14,481 students found that the hypothesized TPB antecedents for studying mathematics were very poor predictors of mathematical intentions and indirectly, weak predictors of mathematical behaviour. The Attitudes factor i.e. an interest in mathematics, was found to be the strongest predictor of mathematical intentions. The poor predictive capacity of the TPB was proposed to have been due to ill-defined indicator items in the PISA 2012 measuring instruments, which did not comply with the TPB’s principles of compatibility and aggregation. Future studies testing the TPB in the context of studying mathematics would benefit from undertaking Elicitation studies to identify appropriate TPB antecedents and indicators of the mathematics behaviour being targeted.

Breast Cancer has been extensively studied. However, there is limited knowledge about how psychological factors such as levels of self-compassion may be related to disease onset. This study examined whether higher levels of self-compassion may be associated with a delayed onset of cancer and its progression and lower hyper-arousal scores in Australian women with breast cancer, using retrospective recollections as part of the study design. Participants from Australian cancer support groups were invited to complete an online survey including demographic and cancer history information, a hyper-arousal scale and a self-compassion scale (self-report scales). After data screening 23 of the 31 responding participants were included in the study. Correlation and regression analyses were used to analyse the relationships. Higher levels of self-compassion were related to later onset of breast cancer and to lower hyper-arousal scores. The findings suggest that self-compassion may be a protective factor in relation to hyper-arousal and early onset and progression of disease. The implication, subject to more extended research, is that counsellors, therapists and physicians may reduce the personal and health costs of those with breast cancer by helping them become more aware of and better users of effective self-compassion strategies.

AA is defined in the psychoanalytic literature as fear of impending psychic or physical destruction that is triggered by personal survival threats. Little or no attention in the psychoanalytic literature was given to collective or group survival threats. We developed a short measure for AA that includes both kinds of survival threats. We used a clinical sample of 399 mental health clients and measures for cumulative trauma, PTSD, cumulative trauma related disorders, depression and anxiety. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis, multiple regressions, and path analysis. The developed short measure has good reliability, strong divergent and predictive validity and generally fit the theoretical assumptions that underlie the construct. The measure can be useful in clinical screening, and in psychological and political research, especially with the multiply traumatized. Subsequent research that utilized the measure replicated the findings.

Participant selection is an important step in research on individual differences. If detecting an effect of a personality variable is predicated on the use of extreme groups, then mistakenly including participants who are not in the extremes may weaken the ability to see an effect. In this study, changes in trait worry were evaluated in 68 undergraduate students reporting low or high levels of worry. Participants completed the abbreviated Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ-A) three times: 1) at the beginning of the se- mester; 2) 3 - 13 weeks later; and 3) 1 hr later, following a psychophysiological assessment session. Test–retest reliability across the three administrations was high, but almost half of the sample no longer met the pre-defined criteria for classification as low or high worriers at the second administration. That is, scores were reliable, but not stable, across time. Instability of self-report worry was significantly greater for high worriers than for low worriers, and this effect was predicted by trait anxiety at the beginning of the semester. These findings suggest that the PSWQ-A is sensitive to factors other than trait worry, which may result in dilution of effects when participants are selected for extreme worry scores. This also sug- gests that screening participants weeks before the actual study should be supplemented by readministra- tion of the screening questionnaire, to identify participants who no longer meet criteria for inclusion.