Internet use and depression among older adults

The findings regarding the impact of Internet use on well-being are mixed and studies are often criticized due to small samples and lack of consistency in measurement. Fewer studies have examined this issue among older adults. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between Internet use and depression among retired Americans age 50 years or older. Using data from the Health and Retirement Survey, the study estimates the relationship between Internet use and depression through combined use of regression and propensity score methodologies. All empirical methods indicate a positive contribution of Internet use to mental well-being of retired older adults (?50 years), reducing depression categorization by approximately 20–28%.     

Parent-child interactions during the initial weeks following brain injury in young children.

Objective: To understand how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects parent-child interactions acutely following injury. Participants: Young children hospitalized for TBI (n = 80) and orthopedic injuries (OI; n = 113). Method: Raters coded videotaped interactions during free play and structured tasks for parental warmth/responsiveness and negativity and child warmth, behavior regulation, and cooperation. Raters also counted parental directives, critical/restricting statements, and scaffolds. Results: Parents of children with TBI exhibited less warm responsiveness and made more directive statements during a structured task than parents in the OI group. Children with TBI displayed less behavior regulation than children with OI. Parental warm responsiveness was more strongly related to child cooperativeness in the OI group than in the TBI group. Child behavior also mediated group differences in parental responsiveness and directiveness. TBI accounted for as much variance in parental behaviors as or more than did sociodemographic factors. Conclusion: TBI-related changes in child behavior may negatively influence parent-child interactions and disrupt the reciprocity between parent and child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of parafoveal preview benefit in high and low working memory capacity readers: Implications for eye movement control.

The experiment in this article extended studies by A. W. Inhoff and K. Rayner (see record 1988-06513-001) and J. M. Henderson and F. Ferreira (see record 1990-18858-001) to determine how the printed frequency of two adjacent words influenced the benefit of having parafoveal preview of the 2nd word. High- and low-span participants (assessed by M. Daneman and P. A. Carpenter's, [see PA, Vol 66:2775] Reading Span Test) were tested to determine whether working memory capacity influenced parafoveal preview benefit. Parafoveal preview benefit was determined by an interaction of both words' frequencies in first fixation and by the 2nd word's frequency in gaze duration. However, readers were generally fixated closer to the beginning of the 2nd word when the 1st word was low frequency. When the viewing distance confound was minimized, the prior word's frequency did affect parafoveal preview benefit. Parafoveal preview benefit did not vary between reading groups. Group distributions of fixation duration provided no evidence for J. M. Henderson and F. Ferreira's fixation cutoff model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children.

22 potential correlates of children's physical activity were examined. 201 Mexican-American and 146 Anglo-American families with 4-yr-old children were studied. Children's physical activity was directly observed in the evening at home on 4 visits for 1 hr each time. Anglo-American children and male children were found to be more active. Demographic variables explained 11% of the variance in children's physical activity. After adjusting for demographics, 3 children's variables and 6 social-family variables did not account for significantly more variance. Five environmental variables accounted for 11% additional variance. Variables observed concurrently with physical activity, such as time spent outdoors and prompts to be active, were highly associated with children's physical activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of online safety behaviour: towards an intervention strategy for college students

How can young adults be motivated to enact security precautions? Communication about the risks of Internet use or online safety communication is a context in which personal responsibility is especially salient. The present research builds on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to examine the role of a previously unexplored variable, personal responsibility, in the protective behaviour of college students. Two studies are reported here. In the first (N?=?565), the relationship of personal responsibility to safe (i.e. protective) online behaviour is tested in relationship to standard PMT variables. A multiple regression analysis of survey data shows that personal responsibility explained additional variance in protective behaviour after accounting for the effects of traditional threat and coping appraisal variables. Building on this, the second study (N?=?206) examines the possibility of influencing personal responsibility through an intervention and experimental manipulation among college students. The experimental manipulation of personal responsibility found evidence of a causal relationship between personal responsibility and protective behaviour in the college student sample. Interactions with pre-existing levels of safety involvement and self-efficacy were uncovered. Based on the results, strategies for targeted online safety interventions are suggested.     

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and diffusion studies of large molecule penetrants into a polyester

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements are reported for a polyester and free volume characteristics determined as a function of temperature. The glass‐rubber transition was determined using DMTA. The diffusion behaviour of a series of large molecules; dioctyl phthalate, 2‐ethyl hexylbenzyl phthalate, nonyl phenol ethoxylate, isopropyl myristate, and oleic acid into the polyester were investigated using gravimetric measurements. The permeation does not follow simple Fickian type behaviour and the rate of diffusion of 2‐ethyl hexylbenzyl phthalate is surprisingly high in comparison to the other systems studied. At or above the T_g, the diffusion rates for all the systems studied increase substantially. The sizes of the permeant molecules in their lowest energy conformation were calculated theoretically. Comparison of the size of the molecules and that of the void size measured by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements divides the molecules into two groups. Isopropylmyristate and oleic acid exhibits cross sections which would allow the molecules to slither into cavities. The remaining molecules have cross sections which are larger than the available void size and must swell the matrix before diffusion can occur. The permeation behaviour is influenced by the available free volume but dominated by the solubility characteristics of the permeants. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 52:1978–1984, 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

No A 4 U: The relationship between multitasking and academic performance

The proliferation and ease of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as Facebook, text messaging, and instant messaging has resulted in ICT users being presented with more real-time streaming data than ever before. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in individuals increasingly engaging in multitasking as an information management strategy. The purpose of this study was to examine how college students multitask with ICTs and to determine the impacts of this multitasking on their college grade point average (GPA). Using web survey data from a large sample of college students at one university (N = 1839), we found that students reported spending a large amount of time using ICTs on a daily basis. Students reported frequently searching for content not related to courses, using Facebook, emailing, talking on their cell phones, and texting while doing schoolwork. Hierarchical (blocked) linear regression analyses revealed that using Facebook and texting while doing schoolwork were negatively associated with overall college GPA. Engaging in Facebook use or texting while trying to complete schoolwork may tax students' capacity for cognitive processing and preclude deeper learning. Our research indicates that the type and purpose of ICT use matters in terms of the educational impacts of multitasking.     

Rigidity: A flexible concept.

A survey of tests and experiments reveals little consistency of results due to poorly constructed and administered tests, failure to control relevant variables, and lack of tight theoretical conception. 220 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Place Matter? The Effects of Concentrated Poverty on the Computer Use of Elementary Students

For several decades, scholars have investigated technological inequality within American society. These studies have focused on individual-level predictors of computer use such as income, education, and technological skills. Although these individual-level inequities are important contributors of technological inequalities, they neglect the importance of place, including neighborhood-level factors such as median income, racial composition, and educational attainment. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the current literature by examining neighborhood-level effects of concentrated poverty on the trajectory of computer use (the change in computer use over a one-year period). Data were collected from fourth and fifth grade classrooms from two data points in a public school district in a mid-sized city in the southeastern United States. Results indicate that measures of concentrated poverty have an influence on the trajectory of computer use among elementary students. These findings suggest that social inequalities at the neighborhood level need to be addressed to further eliminate the digital divide in computer use among elementary students.     

Testosterone influences spatial cognition in older men.

Testosterone (TST) plays a role in the organization of behavior during development. The authors examined whether TST could play a maintenance role in behavior as well. In a double-blind manner, verbal and visual memory, spatial cognition, motor speed, cognitive flexibility, and mood in a group of 56 healthy older men (aged 60–75 yrs) who were supplemented for 3 mo with TST were assessed. The increase in TST levels to 150% of baseline levels resulted in a significant enhancement of spatial cognition, but no change in any other cognitive domain was found. TST supplementation influenced the endogenous production of estradiol, and estradiol was found to have an inverse relationship to spatial cognitive performance. These results suggest that TST supplementation can modify spatial cognition in older men; however, it is likely that this occurs through TST's influence on estrogen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)