Feeling recovered and thinking about the good sides of one’s work.

Consistent with a positive psychology perspective, this longitudinal study investigated relations between positive and negative nonwork experiences (i.e., feeling recovered, thinking about the positive and negative aspects of one’s work during leisure time) with different job performance dimensions. In total, 358 employees working with persons with special needs responded to two questionnaires at an interval of 6 months. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that feeling recovered during leisure time predicted an increase in task performance after 6 months. This relation was mediated by occupational self-efficacy. Positive work reflection was found to predict an increase in proactive behavior (personal initiative, creativity) and organizational citizenship behavior. Negative work reflection was unrelated to job performance. Our results emphasize the role of positive nonwork experiences for employees’ job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are memberships in race, ethnicity, and gender categories merely surface characteristics?

Comments on Deep-level diversity and leadership (see record 2010-24768-017) by Kristen M. Klein and Mo Wang. In the special issue on Diversity and Leadership (April 2010), the authors made a strong case for the importance of diversity in workplace leadership, rejected premature declarations that workplace discrimination is obsolete, and called for leadership theories that acknowledge and promote the value of diversity. We suggest that researchers could better predict and increase leader effectiveness by explicitly addressing deep-level characteristics in theory and practice. By promoting surface-level diversity in leadership opportunities and deep-level similarities in leadership training, it is conceivable that organizations could counter adverse impact in leader selection while also improving organizational outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children’s representations of family relationships, peer information processing, and school adjustment.

This study examined children’s peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism underlying the association between their insecure representations of interparental and parent–child relationships and school adjustment in a sample of 210 first graders. Consistent with emotional security theory (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), results indicated that children’s insecure representations of the interparental relationship were indirectly related to their academic functioning through association with their negative information processing of stressful peer events. Insecure interparental relationships were specifically linked with negative peer information processing patterns that, in turn, predicted increases in child maladjustment over a 1-year period. These pathways remained robust after taking into account the roles of representations of parent–child relationships, trait measures of child negative affect, and socioeconomic characteristics as predictors in the analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opportunity for interaction? A naturalistic observation study of dual-earner families after work and school.

Everyday patterns of interaction can strengthen or undermine bonds between family members. This naturalistic observation study focused on an understudied facet of family life: opportunities for interaction among dual-earner family members after work and family members’ responses to these opportunities. Thirty dual-earner couples and their children were observed and video-recorded in their homes throughout two weekday afternoons and evenings. Two interaction opportunities were analyzed: (1) the behavior of family members toward a parent returning home from work and (2) the physical proximity of family members throughout the evening. Three main findings emerged. Women, who tended to return home before men, were greeted with positive behavior and reports of the day’s information from family members. Men, in contrast, returned home later in the day and received positive behavior or no acknowledgment from family members distracted by other activities. Throughout the evening, mothers spent more time with children whereas fathers spent more time alone. Couples were seldom together without their children. The implications of observed interaction patterns and the contribution of naturalistic observation methods to the study of family relationships are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Home numeracy experiences and children’s math performance in the early school years.

Children’s numerical competence in kindergarten is highly predictive of their acquisition of mathematics in Grade 1 and Grade 2, suggesting that experiences at home before schooling are important in understanding how numeracy develops. In this study, the mathematical skills of 146 children in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 were correlated with the frequency with which parents reported informal activities that have quantitative components such as board and card games, shopping, or cooking. Effect sizes were consistent with research relating home literacy experiences to children’s vocabulary. The present research supports claims about the importance of home experiences in children’s acquisition of mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instruction, teacher–student relations, and math achievement trajectories in elementary school.

Children enter elementary school with widely different skill levels in core subjects. Whether because of differences in aptitude or in preparedness, these initial skill differences often translate into systematic disparities in achievement over time. How can teachers reduce these disparities? Three possibilities are to offer basic skills training, to expose students to higher order instruction, or to provide socioemotional support. Repeated measures analyses of longitudinal data from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development revealed that children with low, average, or high math skills prior to elementary school followed different but parallel trajectories of math achievement up through fifth grade. When enrolled in classes with inference-based instruction, however, the initially least skilled children narrowed the achievement gap as long as they did not have conflictual relations with their teachers. They did not make this kind of progress if they were in classes focused exclusively on basic skills instruction or if they were in inference-focused classes but had conflictual relations with teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family–school connections and the transitions of low-income youths and english language learners from middle school to high school.

The theoretical and policy focus on parental involvement in education has evolved into a consideration of 2-way connections between families and schools. Working from a social capital perspective emphasizing the importance of information in periods and domains of uncertainty, the author tested a specific application of this reconceptualization in this study. Multilevel models of the National Education Longitudinal Study (n = 17,899) revealed that youths started high school in higher level math when parents, middle school personnel, and high school personnel were in contact with each other and when middle school personnel bridged middle school and high school. The observed effects of other family–school patterns on math and of all family–school patterns on science were driven by selection, including the personal characteristics that select adolescents into different family–school configurations. Multiple forms of family–school communication were related to reduced income and language disparities in math and science coursework, regardless of their associations with coursework in the general population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do gender differences in help avoidance vary by ethnicity? An examination of African American and European American students during early adolescence.

The present research examined whether the nature of gender differences varies by race for two types of academic engagement in the classroom (help avoidance and voice with the teacher) in a sample of early adolescents (N = 456; 55% female, 60% African American and 40% European American) making the transition to middle school. Growth curve analyses indicated that help avoidance increased over time, voice remained stable, and achievement declined. In line with hypotheses based on cultural variations in the female role, there were no gender differences in help avoidance for African American students, whereas for European American students, girls were lower in help avoidance than were boys. For African American students, there were no gender differences in voice with the teacher, whereas for European American students, girls were higher than were boys. These group differences were present at all 3 waves. For all students, increases in help avoidance negatively predicted changes in achievement, whereas increases in voice positively predicted achievement. Results underscore the importance of examining gender and ethnicity together to understand academic adjustment during early adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of mother–child behavior.

This study examined the role of ethnicity in untrained observers’ ratings of videotaped mother–child interactions. Participants were Black, White, and Latino undergraduates (N = 109), who rated videotapes of 4 Black, 4 White, and 4 Latino mother–child dyads. Overall, participants of different ethnicities showed more similarities than differences in their ratings of parent–child behavior. There was, however, evidence that participant ethnicity and parent–child ethnicity interacted for ratings of child defiance/negative emotion. Black and White participants differed in their ratings of Black and White children’s defiance/negative emotion, with members of each ethnic group favoring children of their own ethnic group. Intergroup contact appeared to play a role in ratings of parent behavior among Black observers. Black observers who reported low intergroup contact tended to rate Black mothers high on strictness and low on permissiveness. More research is needed to better understand the role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of parent and child behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is research into ethnicity and health racist, unsound, or important science?

Much historical research on race, intelligence, and health was racist, unethical, and ineffective. The concepts of race and ethnicity are difficult to define but continue to be applied to the study of the health of immigrant and ethnic minority groups in the hope of advancing understanding of causes of disease. While a morass of associations has been generated, race and ethnicity in health research have seldom given fundamental new understanding of disease. Most such research is "black box epidemiology." Researchers have not overcome the many conceptual and technical problems of research into ethnicity and health. By emphasising the negative aspects of the health of ethnic minority groups, research may have damaged their social standing and deflected attention from their health priorities. Unless researchers recognise the difficulties with research into ethnicity and health and correct its weaknesses, 20th century research in this subject may suffer the same ignominious fate as that of race science in the 19th century.     

Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic colorblindness in social interaction.

One strategy practiced by many Whites to regulate the appearance of prejudice during social interaction is to avoid talking about race, or even acknowledging racial difference. Four experiments involving a dyadic task investigated antecedents and consequences of this tendency. Observed colorblindness was strategic in nature: Whites' acknowledgment of race was highly susceptible to normative pressure and most evident among individuals concerned with self-presentational aspects of appearing biased (Study 1). However, this tendency was often counterproductive, as avoiding race during interracial interaction predicted negative nonverbal behavior (Study 1), a relationship mediated by decreased capacity to exert inhibitory control (Study 2). Two studies examining White and Black observers' impressions of colorblind behavior revealed divergent assessments of actors' prejudice in situations where race was clearly relevant (Study 3) but convergent assessments when race was less relevant (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications for interracial interaction are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cold work hardening in stages IV and V of F.C.C. metals—I. Experiments and interpretation

The paper presents numerous measurements which confirm stages IV and V to be general ranges of cold work deformation. Analogous to stage II, stage IV exhibits a linear athermal hardening with constant strain rate sensitivity and activation enthalpy. In stage IV the dislocation cell size is constant, while the dislocation density growth rate is markedly reduced compared with stages II and III. Features of stage V are analogous to stage III, the increase of strain rate sensitivity (decrease of activation enthalpy) indicating the onset of thermally activated dislocation annihilation. In stage V, the mechanism is identified as dislocation climb from observing subgrain formation and saturation in density of deformation induced vacancies. Comparisons with recent investigations of stage IV and V at high temperatures suggest a common picture of low and high temperature deformation which only requires principles of storage and annihilation for both screw and edge dislocations.     

Why attend school? Chinese immigrant and European American preschoolers' views and outcomes.

The developing views of the purposes of school learning (PSLs) and related achievement among immigrant Chinese preschoolers and their European American (EA) age-mates were examined. Both culture and socioeconomic status (SES) were considered simultaneously, an often neglected research approach to studying Asian children. One hundred and fifty 4-year-olds—50 each of middle-class Chinese (CHM), low-income Chinese (CHL), and EA children—completed 2 story beginnings about school and were also tested for their language and math achievement. Results showed that 4-year-olds held sophisticated PSLs, ranging from intellectual to social and affect benefits. Large cultural and SES differences also emerged. CHM children mentioned more adult expectation and seriousness of learning than EA children who expressed more positive affect for self and compliance with adults. CHL children mentioned fewest PSLs. Achievement scores for oral expression of both immigrant groups were significantly lower than those of EA children despite similar reading and math achievement. Controlling for culture and SES, the authors found that children's articulated intellectual, but not other purposes, uniquely predicted their achievement in all tested domains. Cultural and SES influences on immigrant children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A short, valid, predictive measure of work–family conflict: Item selection and scale validation.

The purpose of this research is to develop an abbreviated version of Carlson, Kacmar, and Williams’s (2000) multidimensional measure of work–family conflict. The abbreviated measure would have high utility in research situations in which a measure representative of the entire theoretical construct is desired, but the use of a long measure is precluded, as in diary and longitudinal designs. Two 3-item abbreviated measures based on Carlson et al.’s multidimensional measures were developed, 1 to assess work-to-family conflict and 1 to assess family-to-work conflict. Two samples were used to provide concurrent and predictive validity evidence for the abbreviated measure. Results from Study 1 indicate that the abbreviated measure has the expected factor structure and exhibited concurrent and predictive validity that replicated results found with Carlson et al.’s 18-item measure. Results from Study 2 provide additional psychometric and construct validity evidence for the abbreviated measure; the abbreviated measure was internally consistent, exhibited good test–retest reliability, and was systematically related to measures of role stressors, work–family balance, and well-being outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work pressure, workplace social resources, and work–family conflict: The tale of two sectors.

Although research has extensively examined work–family issues in the private sector, little is known about sector-related differences. Here, we used data from the 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce and multiple-group structural equation modeling to compare the levels and mechanisms through which work pressure and 3 workplace social resources (i.e., work–family culture, supervisor support, and coworker support) are related to work–family conflict in the public and private sectors. First, work–family culture affected work–family conflict directly in the private sector and indirectly, through reduced work pressure, in the public sector. Moreover, work–family culture had a much stronger impact on supervisor support in the private sector. Second, public sector employees perceived higher levels of supervisor and organizational support while experiencing higher levels of work pressure. The study illustrates the necessity of differentiating between the 2 sectors of employment when studying work–family relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of a looker’s past reliability on infants’ reasoning about beliefs.

We investigated whether 16-month-old infants’ past experience with a person’s gaze reliability influences their expectation about the person’s ability to form beliefs. Infants were first administered a search task in which they observed an experimenter show excitement while looking inside a box that either contained a toy (reliable looker condition) or was empty (unreliable looker condition). The infants were then administered a true belief task in which they watched as the same experimenter hid a toy in 1 of 2 locations. In the test trial, the infants witnessed the experimenter search for the toy in a location that was consistent or inconsistent with her belief about the toy’s location. Results for the true belief task indicated that only the infants in the reliable looker condition looked longer at the incongruent than at the congruent search behavior. These findings are consistent with evidence suggesting that infants encode the identity of agents based on past reliability and implicitly attribute beliefs to others during the 2nd year of life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers’ and fathers’ attributions for adolescent behavior: An examination in families of depressed, subdiagnostic, and nondepressed youth.

This study examined whether parents of adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms or disorder make more negative and fewer positive attributions for their adolescents’ behavior than do parents of nondepressed adolescents, and whether parental attributions for adolescents’ behavior contribute to parenting behavior, above and beyond the adolescents’ behavior. Parents and adolescents (76 girls and 48 boys) participated in videotaped problem-solving interactions (PSIs). Each parent subsequently watched the videotape and offered attributions for their adolescent’s behavior. In addition, parent and adolescent behavior during the PSIs was coded. Mothers and fathers in families of nondepressed adolescents made significantly fewer negative attributions for their children’s behavior than did parents in families of adolescents with diagnostic or subdiagnostic levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, mothers’ and fathers’ negative attributions were related to greater levels of observed aggressive behavior and lower levels of observed facilitative behavior during the PSIs controlling for both demographic characteristics and the relative level of adolescent aggressive and facilitative behavior during the PSI. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cold work hardening in stages IV and V of F.C.C. metals—II. Model fits and physical results

The paper presents a common concept for work hardening of f.c.c. metals at temperatures below 0.5 T_m up to very high strains. The concept considers statistical dislocation dynamics in terms of screw and edge dislocations and their specific interactions, and also allows for deformation-induced vacancies. By fitting the concept equations to experiment and using measured interaction parameters, very good agreement with strengthening data and dislocation densities of Cu and Al is achieved. The resulting fit parameters exhibit the expected order of magnitude and temperature dependence of dislocation storage and annihilation, for each dislocation type. The annihilation parameter of edge dislocations yields vacancy migration enthalpies of ≈0.2 eV for CU and Al indicating core migration of vacancies. From this the vacancy concentration is calculated for all strains and temperatures in question. Up to ≈0.3 T_m, the saturation concentration of vacancies decreases, but reincreases beyond this temperature following the thermal vacancy concentration.     

Early career psychologists: Understanding, engaging, and mentoring tomorrow’s leaders.

This article on mentoring describes demographic characteristics and challenges faced by early career psychologists (ECPs) and how mentoring can significantly shape the development of ECPs’ professional and personal identity. ECPs have a significant impact on how psychology will evolve and be recognized in the marketplace. Mentors have the opportunity to significantly shape the development of this early career professional and thus assure the dynamic future of psychology. The characteristics of a mentor, the mentoring process of an ECP, diversity issues, and strategies for effective mentoring are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)