Sex, temperament, and family context: How the interaction of early factors differentially predict adolescent alcohol use and are mediated by proximal adolescent factors.

Adolescent alcohol use is common and has serious immediate and long-term ramifications. While concurrent individual and context factors are robustly associated with adolescent alcohol use, the influence of early childhood factors, particularly in interaction with child sex, are less clear. Using a prospective community sample of 362 (190 girls), this study investigated sex differences in the joint influence of distal childhood and proximal adolescent factors on Grade 10 alcohol use. All risk factors and two-way early individual-by-context interactions, and interactions of each of these with child sex, were entered into the initial regression. Significant sex interactions prompted the use of separate models for girls and boys. In addition to the identification of early (family socioeconomic status, authoritative parenting style) and proximal adolescent (mental health symptoms, deviant friends) risk factors for both girls and boys, results highlighted important sex differences. In particular, girls with higher alcohol consumption at Grade 10 were distinguished by the interaction of early temperamental disinhibition and exposure to parental stress; boys with higher alcohol consumption at Grade 10 were distinguished primarily by early temperamental negative affect. Results have implications for the timing and type of interventions offered to adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

具有3个曲柄的三环板减速器设计计算软件开发

具有3个曲柄的新型三环板减速器装置可以达到动平衡,特别适用于高速、重载场合。为了便于设计者设计这种新型传动装置,采用V B.net软件开发了辅助设计计算软件,实现了界面化的设计计算。并通过V B.net编程来二次开发Solid W orks三维造型软件,用户只需要在V B界面中输入计算模型的参数就可以对设计计算的主要零部件进行三维参数化建模了。该软件的开发对该新型减速器的设计具有重要的意义。     

Type D personality and the development of PTSD symptoms: A prospective study.

Psychological trauma and prolonged stress may cause mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Pretrauma personality is an important determinant of posttraumatic adjustment. Specifically, trait neuroticism has been identified as a risk factor for PTSD. Additionally, the combination of high negative affectivity or neuroticism with marked social inhibition or introversion, also called Type D personality (Denollet, 2000), may compose a risk factor for PTSD. There is no research available that examined pretrauma Type D personality in relation to PTSD. The present study examined the predictive validity of the Type D personality construct in a sample of Dutch soldiers. Data were collected prior to and 6 months after military deployment to Afghanistan. Separate multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the predictive validity of Type D personality. First, Type D personality was defined as the interaction between negative affect and social inhibition (Na × Si). In a second analysis, Type D was defined following cutoff criteria recommended by Denollet (2000). Results showed that negative affectivity was a significant predictor of PTSD symptoms. Social inhibition and the interaction Na × Si did not add to the amount of explained variance in postdeployment PTSD scores over the effects of childhood abuse, negative affectivity, and prior psychological symptoms. A second analysis showed that Type D personality (dichotomous) did not add to the amount of explained variance in postdeployment PTSD scores over the effects of childhood abuse, and prior psychological symptoms. Therefore, Type D personality appears to be of limited value to explain development of combat-related PTSD symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of the social and academic competence of economically disadvantaged bilingual preschool children.

This longitudinal study was conducted to gain understanding of the social–emotional and academic development of economically disadvantaged bilingual preschool children. In Study 1, the authors combined cognitive, psychosocial, and cultural-linguistic factors to determine profiles of social competence as measured by peer play. A person-centered analysis of 207 Hispanic American preschoolers (ages 4 and 5 years) yielded 6 distinct profiles, 2 of which were socially competent and 1 of which was vulnerable. Findings revealed profile differences in social competence and a significant relationship between bilingualism and social–emotional development. In Study 2, the authors determined which profiles were associated with later academic achievement and growth of English proficiency. Findings indicated a significant relationship of early social–emotional development to later academic success and English acquisition, highlighting the role of bilingualism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal stability of temperamental exuberance and social–emotional outcomes in early childhood.

The goals of the current study were to investigate the stability of temperamental exuberance across infancy and toddlerhood and to examine the associations between exuberance and social–emotional outcomes in early childhood. The sample consisted of 291 4-month-olds followed at 9, 24, and 36 months and again at 5 years of age. Behavioral measures of exuberance were collected at 9, 24, and 36 months. At 36 months, frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry was assessed. At 5 years, maternal reports of temperament and behavior problems were collected, as were observational measures of social behavior during an interaction with an unfamiliar peer in the laboratory. Latent profile analysis revealed a high, stable exuberance profile that was associated with greater ratings of 5-year externalizing behavior and surgency, as well as observed disruptive behavior and social competence with unfamiliar peers. These associations were particularly true for children who displayed left frontal EEG asymmetry. Multiple factors supported an approach bias for exuberant temperament but did not differentiate between adaptive and maladaptive social–emotional outcomes at 5 years of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of classroom quality in ameliorating the academic and social risks associated with difficult temperament.

The present study examines the moderating role first grade classroom quality may have on the relations between children's difficult temperament (assessed in infancy) and their academic and social outcomes in early elementary school (first grade). Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, 1032 children were rated by their mothers at 6 months of age on difficult temperament. The quality of first grade classroom environments were then observed and rated along three domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Regression analyses examined the statistical interactions between difficult temperament and classroom quality domains on children's academic and social outcomes. Results indicate high-quality classroom environments may ameliorate the academic and social risks associated with having a difficult temperament. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Calvin Springer Hall (1909–1985).

On April 4, 1985, Calvin Springer Hall died in his home on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Cruz. One of psychology's most versatile and influential theorists, investigators, and writers, he made major contributions to behavioral genetics, dream theory and research, the study of animal temperament, and the systematic exposition of personality theory. Few psychologists have had such pervasive impact on so many major areas within their discipline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temperament profiles from infancy to middle childhood: Development and associations with behavior problems.

The authors applied I-States as Objects Analysis (ISOA), a recently proposed person-oriented analytic approach, to the study of temperament development in 921 Norwegian children from a population-based sample. A 5-profile classification based on cluster analysis of standardized mother reports of activity, sociability, emotionality, and shyness at ages 18 months, 30 months, 4-5 years, and 8-9 years was interpretable and highly replicable. The prevalence of temperament profiles changed markedly with age, and individual stability in temperament profiles was significant. Specific typical and atypical developmental sequences of profiles were identified. Selective patterns of concurrent group differences in externalizing and internalizing problems by temperament profiles were remarkably similar across ages. The findings to some degree support the notion that individual temperament-variable values take on meaning in relation to the whole individual configuration and indicate some lawfulness in temperament changes over time. Future person-oriented studies of temperament development should replicate the current results using multiple data sources, rigorous tests of gender differences, and latent group modeling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive vulnerability in parents and their 5-year-old child's temperament: A family system perspective.

The actor-partner interdependence model was used to test whether one parent's depressive vulnerability (self-criticism and dependency) was associated with the same parent's own (an intraparental association) and the other parent's (a cross-parental association) ratings of their 5-year-old child's temperament (536 parents, 268 dyads). The more vulnerable the parents were, the more the children showed negative affectivity and lack of effortful control. Significant interactions with the parent's gender and between the spouses' depressive vulnerabilities were found, highlighting the fact that child outcomes are dependent on family processes. All associations were independent of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms. The influence of personality-based depressive traits on child temperamental outcomes and effective parenting is discussed with reference to between-dyad family dynamics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Growth in temperament and parenting as predictors of adjustment during children's transition to adolescence.

The author examined relations among demographic risk (income, maternal education, single-parent status), growth in temperament (fear, irritability, effortful control), and parenting (rejection, inconsistent discipline) across 3 years and the prediction of children's adjustment problems in a community sample (N=190; ages 8-12 years at Time 1). Family income was related to higher initial levels of fear, irritability, rejection, and inconsistency and lower effortful control but was not related to changes in these variables. Higher initial rejection predicted increases in child fear and irritability. Higher initial fear predicted decreases in rejection and inconsistency. Higher initial irritability predicted increases in inconsistency, and higher initial effortful control predicted decreases in rejection. When growth of parenting and temperament were considered simultaneously, increases in effortful control and decreases in fear and irritability predicted lower Time 3 internalizing and externalizing problems. Increases in rejection and inconsistent discipline predicted higher Time 3 externalizing, although sometimes the effect appeared to be indirect through temperament. The findings suggest that temperament and parenting predict changes in each other and predict adjustment during the transition to adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)