Beyond fathering behaviors: Types of dads.

Sixty-nine maritally intact, middle-class Caucasian families rearing their 15-month-old firstborn male child participated in a study of fathering. Two 1-hr naturalistic home observations per family were conducted near dinnertime to record father-child interactions, which were then used to rate father involvement. Cluster analysis of fathering ratings revealed 4 groups of dads: caretakers, playmates-teachers, disciplinarians, and disengaged fathers. Information on demographics, personality, marital quality, relatedness, moods and hassles, and infant emotionality was gathered via parental reports. Analysis of antecedent variables indicated that the caretaker and playmate-teacher fathers were more educated, had more prestigious occupations, were less neurotic, had more confidence in the dependability of others, and experienced fewer daily hassles than the disciplinarian and disengaged fathers. Discriminant analysis demonstrated the collective ability of the antecedent variables to distinguish the 4 groups of fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents of fathering: Some further exploration.

Antecedents of caregiving and affiliative behaviors were examined in 68 Israeli 1st-time fathers. Data were collected from parents during pregnancy and while the infants were 9 mo old, using questionnaires and nonstructured observations. Personal and contextual sources were almost equally influential in determining aspects of fathering. Personality dimensions of autonomy as well as sensitivity, perception, and openness to experience predicted caregiving, whereas affiliation predicted playful behaviors. Viewing fatherhood as a self-enriching experience was predictive of caregiving and play. Marital satisfaction was more infuential in determining both aspects of fathering than was marital consensus. Fathers' occupational prestige was important in determining the extent of paternal involvement in other modes of interaction. Non-Western ethnic origin negatively predicted caregiving but positively predicted affiliative behaviors. Marriage was associated with fathers' personality, suggesting that transfer from the quality of the couple's relationships to the parent–child relationships may be a function of personal variables, because men with certain personalities tend to participate both as caring husbands and fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal gatekeeping, coparenting quality, and fathering behavior in families with infants.

The present study examined the role of maternal gatekeeping behavior in relation to fathers' relative involvement and competence in child care in 97 families with infant children. Parents' beliefs about fathers' roles were assessed prior to their infant's birth. Parents' perceptions of maternal gatekeeping behavior (encouragement and criticism) and coparenting relationship quality were assessed at 3.5 months postpartum. The authors assessed fathers' relative involvement and competence in child care using a combination of parent report and observational measures. Results suggest that even after accounting for parents' beliefs about the paternal role and the overall quality of the coparenting relationship, greater maternal encouragement was associated with higher parent-reported relative father involvement. Moreover, maternal encouragement mediated the association between coparenting quality and reported relative father involvement. With respect to fathers' observed behavior, fathers' beliefs and parents' perceptions of coparenting relationship quality were relevant only when mothers engaged in low levels of criticism and high levels of encouragement, respectively. These findings are consistent with the notion that mothers may shape father involvement through their roles as "gatekeepers." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting the behavior of children under frustration.

"A replication of the Barker, Dembo, and Lewin experiment on frustration and regression was carried out in order to test the hypothesis that ego-control capacity in children, measured independently, is predictive of individual differences following frustration. The specific hypotheses were: (1) Under-controlling children would evidence greater decrement in their level of play constructiveness following frustration, and (2) would make direct attacks on the frustrating barrier to a greater extent than Over-controlling children. Both of the hypotheses were essentially supported." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Information quantity and quality affect the realistic accuracy of personality judgment.

Triads of unacquainted college students interacted in 1 of 5 experimental conditions that manipulated information quantity (amount of information) and information quality (relevance of information to personality), and they then made judgments of each others' personalities. To determine accuracy, the authors compared the ratings of each judge to a broad-based accuracy criterion composed of personality ratings from 3 types of knowledgeable informants (the self, real-life acquaintances, and clinician-interviewers). Results supported the hypothesis that information quantity and quality would be positively related to objective knowledge about the targets and realistic accuracy. Interjudge consensus and self-other agreement followed a similar pattern. These findings are consistent with expectations based on models of the process of accurate judgment (D. C. Funder, 1995, 1999) and consensus (D. A. Kenny, 1994). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational citizenship behavior and the quantity and quality of work group performance.

Despite the widespread interest in the topic of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), little empirical research has tested the fundamental assumption that these forms of behavior improve the effectiveness of work groups or organizations in which they are exhibited. In the present study, the effects of OCBs on the quantity and quality of the performance of 218 people working in 40 machine crews in a paper mill located in the Northeastern United States were examined. The results indicate that helping behavior and sportsmanship had significant effects on performance quantity and that helping behavior had a significant impact on performance quality. However, civic virtue had no effect on either performance measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of goal level on performance: A trade-off of quantity and quality.

Conducted 6 experiments with a total of 338 undergraduates to determine the existence of a linear effect of goal level on performance. Exp I failed to replicate such an effect with a standard addition task. Exps II–IV did replicate a goal effect with several "creativity" tasks; the higher the goal, the more responses given. The quality of responses also changed as a systematic function of the goal level, with higher goal levels producing responses that were farther from ideal, in Euclidean distance. Exp V showed the same effect, using selection of geometric figures from a fixed set with systematically varied properties. In Exp VI, the addition task was changed to estimation of sums, to permit qualitative variations in response. Under these conditions, both quantity and quality of response changed as a function of goal level, as predicted. A cognitive theory is offered in place of the previous motivational theories: The goal level defines the task for the S and induces a systematic trade-off of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of responses. Extensions into related work that can also be seen as quantity–quality trade-offs are discussed. (French summary) (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting early gambling in children.

This large population-based study (N = 1,125) examined whether low inhibition (i.e., low anxiety) predicted early gambling, above and beyond disinhibition (i.e., impulsivity) and whether the two personal dispositions operated independently or interactively. It also examined whether the predictive role of these personal dispositions towards early gambling depended on parent gambling. Children's personal dispositions were assessed at ages 6, 7, and 8 years through teacher ratings. Parent gambling participation and gambling problems were assessed when the children were 8 years old. Finally, children's early gambling was measured through self-reports when the children were 10 years old. Results showed that teacher-rated impulsivity predicted early gambling for both genders. In addition, low anxiety predicted early gambling behavior, above and beyond impulsivity and control variables, albeit only in boys. Impulsivity and anxiety did not interact with each other, nor did they interact with parent gambling in predicting early gambling. However, parent gambling participation, but not problems, additively predicted early gambling for boys and for girls. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring the quality and quantity of information-giving to in-patients

Community health councils (CHCs) were set up in the United Kingdom in 1974 as part of the reorganization of health care delivery. They were intended to have a 'watch dog' function, monitoring the quality of health care in their own district and acting as a link between the providers of care and the public, who are the health care consumers. This paper describes a year-long survey undertaken by one CHC to monitor the quality of information-giving in acute hospital care. A large sample of 1500 discharged patients were sent questionnaires relating to satisfaction with information-giving, and a good response rate was achieved. Results indicate a generally high level of satisfaction, particularly relating to information about surgical and other technical procedures. Information was less satisfactory about non-technical aspects of care and about administrative procedures.     

Fathers and preschool behavior problems.

Fathers have seldom been the focus of research investigating the causes and correlates of early behavior problems. Two studies examined fathers of preschool boys with and without clinic-referred behavior problems. Six domains of risk were examined: life stress, social support, psychological symptoms, parenting attitudes, positive involvement, and harsh discipline. Clinic fathers differed from fathers of matched comparison boys with respect to all of these except social support, but only harsh discipline contributed uniquely to clinic status. These domains correctly classified 81% of the boys. Within the clinic group, teacher-rated problem severity 1 year later was predicted by fathers' life stress, psychological symptoms, and positive involvement, indicating that different factors may account for initial clinic status versus stability of problems. Mothers' self-report data better predicted clinic group membership, whereas fathers' data better predicted Year 2 outcomes for clinic boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using the evidence. A need for quantity, not quality?

The gene for alpha-stimulating guanine-nucleotide binding polypeptide, Gnas, has been considered as a candidate for the imprinting effects ascribed to distal mouse Chromosome (Chr) 2. Its human homologue (GNAS1) appears, from clinical and biochemical studies of patients with Albright hereditary osteodystrophy, to be paternally imprinted. GNAS1 maps to 20q13, a region that shows linkage conservation with distal mouse Chr 2. We have mapped Gnas within the imprinting region on distal Chr 2 by linkage analysis. To establish if Gnas is imprinted, we have looked for expression differences in tissues taken from mice carrying maternal duplication/paternal deficiency for distal Chr 2 (MatDp2) and its reciprocal (PatDp2). RNA in situ hybridization revealed high levels of Gnas mRNA in glomeruli of PatDp2 embryos at late gestation and lower levels in glomeruli of MatDp2 embryos. These results strongly suggest that Gnas is maternally imprinted and suggest that the mouse gene may be imprinted in a manner opposite that predicted in human.     

Predicting compliance of children with and without developmental delay.

Noncompliance is a common problem exhibited by children with developmental delay (DD; Walker, 1993). The authors evaluated whether performance on the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) test would predict compliance of children with and without DD to instructions alone (IA) versus instructions with modelling and/or gestures (IMG) administered by their caregivers. The ABLA test uses standard prompting and reinforcement procedures to assess the ease or difficulty with which a testee is able to learn a simple imitation and five two-choice discriminations. Twenty-one children without DD and 16 children with DD were presented with five age-appropriate educational tasks by their respective caregivers in a structured teaching session that included IA on some trials and IMG on others. The ABLA test performance reliably predicted the compliance of the children in the two conditions, and the results were consistent across both groups. The results are important for providing information to caregivers on how best to instruct their children in an effort to increase compliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hands in the air: Using ungrounded iconic gestures to teach children conservation of quantity.

Including gesture in instruction facilitates learning. Why? One possibility is that gesture points out objects in the immediate context and thus helps ground the words learners hear in the world they see. Previous work on gesture's role in instruction has used gestures that either point to or trace paths on objects, thus providing support for this hypothesis. The experiments described here investigated the possibility that gesture helps children learn even when it is not produced in relation to an object but is instead produced "in the air." Children were given instruction in Piagetian conservation problems with or without gesture and with or without concrete objects. The results indicate that children given instruction with speech and gesture learned more about conservation than children given instruction with speech alone, whether or not objects were present during instruction. Gesture in instruction can thus help learners learn even when those gestures do not direct attention to visible objects, suggesting that gesture can do more for learners than simply ground arbitrary, symbolic language in the physical, observable world. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The quantity and quality of aftercare services: Relationship with recidivism in mental hospital patients.

Studied 79 16–88 yr old mental patients who were released to a 3-county area and received aftercare services. Patient information on prehospital, inhospital, and posthospital variables was collected from existing records to determine the relationship between the community support system available to the patient and 3 criteria of subsequent recidivism. Current situational factors were found to be the most important single predictors of recidivism, while the magnitude of aftercare services received was not related to recidivism. However, when variables associated with self-selection into the aftercare program were partialled out, the patient's living situation was the best predictor of recidivism, and greater aftercare costs indicating a greater amount of contact were found to be associated with a higher recidivism rate. Results suggest that aftercare services need to be directed at prevention and skill building and that aftercare should not be relied on as an intervention strategy. (French summary) (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinction between quality and quantity of problem-solving responses among depressed older women.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the extent to which depressed and nondepressed community-dwelling older women differed in their problem-solving responses to vignettes describing problematic situations common in this population. Contrary to expectations, the depressed and nondepressed older women showed an equal capacity to follow traditional problem-solving steps. There were differences, however, in the quality of solutions generated for dealing with social isolation and interpersonal conflict as judged by peer evaluators. Further work is needed in understanding the components of effective problem solving most important for adjustment to real-life difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

钢铁企业余热资源的"量"与"质"

通过对钢铁企业余热资源总量的调研、实测与计算,对各生产系统现有的各类余热资源"量"与"质"进行分析与评价,从中可以找出钢铁企业余热资源回收利用的薄弱环节和潜力所在,为制定合理、有效的节能措施提供依据.     

Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Children Living With Drug-Abusing Fathers: Comparisons With Children Living With Alcohol-Abusing and Non-Substance-Abusing Fathers.

Although the effects of paternal alcoholism on the psychosocial adjustment of children are well documented, the impact of fathers' illicit drug abuse on their children is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to compare the adjustment of children living in families with drug-abusing fathers (n = 40) with that of children with fathers who abused alcohol (n = 40) and children with non-substance-abusing fathers (n = 40). Children with drug-abusing fathers experienced more internalizing and externalizing symptoms than children with alcoholic or non-substance-abusing fathers. Interparental conflict and parenting behavior mediated the relationship between family type and children's adjustment. Interventions to improve fathers' parenting behavior and reduce partner conflict may lead to better adjustment among custodial children of drug-abusing fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related variation of topological evaluation of numerical quantity in nonconserving children.

Findings from a study with 24 2-5 yr old children who failed to demonstrate number conservation tend to support the view of Piaget that responses of nonconserving children to questions about number tend to vary with age. Strategies used by these Ss were consistent across 3 perceptual configurations (row, circular, and north-south-east-west arrangements). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)