Middle school peer reputation in high-achieving schools: Ramifications for maladjustment versus competence by age 18.

In an upper-middle class setting, we explored associations between students' peer reputation in Grades 6 and 7 with adjustment at Grade 12. With a sample of 209 students, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of peer reputation dimensions supported a 4-factor model (i.e., popular, prosocial, aggressive, isolated). Structural equation models were used to examine prospective links between middle school peer reputation and diverse Grade 12 adjustment indices, including academic achievement (Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and grade point average), internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Prosocial reputation was connected to higher academic achievement levels and fewer externalizing symptoms. Both prosocial and isolated reputations were negatively associated with dimensions of substance use, whereas popularity was positively associated. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

Dynamic Assessment of Narratives Among Navajo Preschoolers.

Purpose: This study examined whether the Predictive Early Assessment of Reading and Language (PEARL), a dynamic assessment of narratives that measures language comprehension and production, accurately classifies Navajo preschoolers with typically developing (TD) language or with language impairment (LI). Method: Ninety 4- and 5-year-old Navajo preschoolers were identified as having LI or are TD (n = 45 each) via a 5-measure battery: parent report, teacher report, English narrative, independent educational plan, and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamental Preschool-Second Edition (Wiig, Secord, & Semel, 2004). Children completed a PEARL pretest, a narrative mediation phase providing principles of narrative structure, and a PEARL posttest. A modifiability score reflected responsiveness to mediation. Results: The PEARL pretest and posttest each distinguished children with LI versus TD children with 89% accuracy; modifiability scores identified children with 100% accuracy. The PEARL story grammar subtest at pretest and posttest best distinguished LI versus TD. A revised cutoff score on the PEARL pretest decreased the diagnosis of TD children as having LI; the standard PEARL posttest cutoff was retained. Conclusion: The PEARL is a promising assessment for accurately differentiating Navajo preschool children with LI from those with TD language, particularly with a revised pretest cutoff score.

Tests of Simple Slopes in Multiple Regression Models with an Interaction: Comparison of Four Approaches.

In multiple regression researchers often follow up significant tests of the interaction between continuous predictors X and Z with tests of the simple slope of Y on X at different sample-estimated values of the moderator Z (e.g., ±1 SD from the mean of Z). We show analytically that when X and Z are randomly sampled from the population, the variance expression of the simple slope at sample-estimated values of Z differs from the traditional variance expression obtained when the values of X and Z are fixed. A simulation study using randomly sampled predictors compared four approaches: (a) the Aiken and West ( 1991 ) test of simple slopes at fixed population values of Z, (b) the Aiken and West test at sample-estimated values of Z, (c) a 95% percentile bootstrap confidence interval approach, and (d) a fully Bayesian approach with diffuse priors. The results showed that approach (b) led to inflated Type 1 error rates and 95% confidence intervals with inadequate coverage rates, whereas other approaches maintained acceptable Type 1 error rates and adequate coverage of confidence intervals. Approach (c) had asymmetric rejection rates at small sample sizes. We used an empirical data set to illustrate these approaches.

Cognitive changes across the menopause transition: A longitudinal evaluation of the impact of age and ovarian status on spatial memory.

Cognitive changes that occur during mid-life and beyond are linked to both aging and the menopause transition. Studies in women suggest that the age at menopause onset can impact cognitive status later in life; yet, little is known about memory changes that occur during the transitional period to the postmenopausal state. The 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) model simulates transitional menopause in rodents by depleting the immature ovarian follicle reserve and allowing animals to retain their follicle-deplete ovarian tissue, resulting in a profile similar to the majority of perimenopausal women. Here, Vehicle or VCD treatment was administered to ovary-intact adult and middle-aged Fischer-344 rats to assess the trajectory of cognitive change across time with normal aging and aging with transitional menopause via VCD-induced follicular depletion, as well as to evaluate whether age at the onset of follicular depletion plays a role in cognitive outcomes. Animals experiencing the onset of menopause at a younger age exhibited impaired spatial memory early in the transition to a follicle-deplete state. Additionally, at the mid- and post- follicular depletion time points, VCD-induced follicular depletion amplified an age effect on memory. Overall, these findings suggest that age at the onset of menopause is a critical parameter to consider when evaluating learning and memory across the transition to reproductive senescence. From a translational perspective, this study illustrates how age at menopause onset might impact cognition in menopausal women, and provides insight into time points to explore for the window of opportunity for hormone therapy during the menopause transition period. Hormone therapy during this critical juncture might be especially efficacious at attenuating age- and menopause- related cognitive decline, producing healthy brain aging profiles in women who retain their ovaries throughout their lifespan.

Incorporating husband influences into a model of physical activity among older women.

BACKGROUND: Health behaviour models focus primarily on intrapersonal constructs (e.g., self-efficacy) which are good predictors of intention but less so of actual behaviour. Influences from the social environment, namely from close others, may improve prediction of engagement in ongoing behaviour. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to broadly assess husband influence on physical activity and to determine whether a multidimensional assessment of husband influence would improve prediction of wives' physical activity. DESIGN: A two-wave (separated by 4 months) observational study of married women was employed. METHOD: Women (n = 160, Mage  = 63 years) reported intention, planning, and self-efficacy for physical activity as well as previous month physical activity through Wave 1 mailed surveys. In Wave 2 telephone interviews conducted 4 months later, women reported on their perception of husband influences and their own physical activity in the previous month. RESULTS: Psychometric analyses supported five components of social support along with social control, injunctive norms, and descriptive norms as a broad assessment of husband social influence on physical activity. Husband influences significantly improved prediction of wives' physical activity, over and above intrapersonal predictors (ΔR(2)  = .09). Social control related negatively to behaviour; moderation analyses revealed a strong negative association when women's intentions were low. CONCLUSIONS: This work highlights the interpersonal social context and post-intentional influences on daily health behaviour and offers guidance on the expansion of models of health behaviour as well as potential targets for intervention. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Behavioural intentions are the best predictors of behaviour; however, much variability in actual behaviour remains to be explained. Romantic partners are frequent providers of health-related social support and social control. What does this study add? Provides multidimensional assessment of husband influence. Improves prediction of behaviour using husband influences. Demonstrates moderator of social control on behaviour.

Undergraduate study in psychology: Curriculum and assessment.

The undergraduate curriculum in psychology profoundly reflects and shapes the discipline. Yet, reliable information on the undergraduate psychology curriculum has been difficult to acquire due to insufficient research carried out on unrepresentative program samples with disparate methods. In 2014, APA launched the first systematic effort in a decade to gather national data on the psychology major and program outcomes. We surveyed a stratified random sample of department chairs/coordinators of accredited colleges and universities in the United States that offer undergraduate courses and programs in psychology. A total of 439 undergraduate psychology programs (45.2%) completed the survey. This article summarizes, for both associate and baccalaureate programs, the results of the Undergraduate Study in Psychology. Current practices concerning the introductory course, the courses offered, core requirements, the psychology minor, and tracks/concentrations are presented. The frequency of formal program reviews and program-level assessment methods are also addressed. By extending prior research on the undergraduate curriculum, we chronicle longitudinal changes in the psychology major over the past 20 years.

Psychosocial Vulnerability, Resilience Resources, and Coping with Infertility: A Longitudinal Model of Adjustment to Primary Ovarian Insufficiency.

BACKGROUND: The infertility associated with primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) presents significant emotional challenges requiring psychosocial adjustment. Few investigations have explored the longitudinal process of adaptation to POI. PURPOSE: This longitudinal investigation tests a model of adjustment to POI that includes separate psychosocial vulnerability and resilience resource factors. METHODS: Among 102 women with POI, personal attributes reflective of vulnerability and resilience were assessed at baseline. Coping strategies were assessed 4 months later and measures of distress and well-being 12 months later. RESULTS: As hypothesized, confirmatory factor analysis yielded separate, inversely correlated vulnerability and resilience resource factors at baseline, and distress and well-being factors at 12 months. Contrary to predictions, maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies were not bi-factorial. Moreover, a single stand-alone strategy, avoidance (i.e., refusing to acknowledge stress), mediated the association between baseline vulnerability and 12-month distress. CONCLUSIONS: For women with POI, interventional studies targeted to reduce avoidance are indicated.

Daily social enjoyment interrupts the cycle of same-day and next-day fatigue in women with fibromyalgia.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a debilitating symptom of fibromyalgia (FM) that has limited treatment options. Some evidence, however, has linked positive social engagement with reduced within-day fatigue. PURPOSE: This study elaborated longitudinal within-day and across-day relations between FM fatigue and social enjoyment. METHODS: One hundred seventy-six women with FM completed 21-day automated diaries assessing morning and end-of-day fatigue, and both afternoon social enjoyment and stress within two social domains: non-spousal and spousal. RESULTS: In the non-spousal domain, analysis supported a mediational path from lower morning fatigue to higher afternoon social enjoyment, which predicted lower end-of-day fatigue, and subsequently, lower next-morning fatigue. Enjoyment exerted a greater impact on within-day fatigue than did stress. Patterns in the spousal domain were similar, but the mediated path was nonsignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Positive social engagement offers relief from FM fatigue that carries over across days and may provide an additional target to enhance the effectiveness of current interventions.

Navigating to new frontiers in behavioral neuroscience: traditional neuropsychological tests predict human performance on a rodent-inspired radial-arm maze.

We constructed an 11-arm, walk-through, human radial-arm maze (HRAM) as a translational instrument to compare existing methodology in the areas of rodent and human learning and memory research. The HRAM, utilized here, serves as an intermediary test between the classic rat radial-arm maze (RAM) and standard human neuropsychological and cognitive tests. We show that the HRAM is a useful instrument to examine working memory ability, explore the relationships between rodent and human memory and cognition models, and evaluate factors that contribute to human navigational ability. One-hundred-and-fifty-seven participants were tested on the HRAM, and scores were compared to performance on a standard cognitive battery focused on episodic memory, working memory capacity, and visuospatial ability. We found that errors on the HRAM increased as working memory demand became elevated, similar to the pattern typically seen in rodents, and that for this task, performance appears similar to Miller's classic description of a processing-inclusive human working memory capacity of 7 ± 2 items. Regression analysis revealed that measures of working memory capacity and visuospatial ability accounted for a large proportion of variance in HRAM scores, while measures of episodic memory and general intelligence did not serve as significant predictors of HRAM performance. We present the HRAM as a novel instrument for measuring navigational behavior in humans, as is traditionally done in basic science studies evaluating rodent learning and memory, thus providing a useful tool to help connect and translate between human and rodent models of cognitive functioning.

Correcting injunctive norm misperceptions motivates behavior change: a randomized controlled sun protection intervention.

OBJECTIVE: Despite long-standing social psychological research supporting the influence of injunctive norms (i.e., what is commonly approved or disapproved) on behavior, support for this influence on health behaviors is limited. We examined the utility of correcting misperceptions of injunctive norms for improving sun protection and whether changes in attitudes mediated the injunctive norm-intention relationship. METHOD: At baseline 263 community residing primarily White women, aged 37 to 77 years, reported their beliefs about sun protection and tanning and their perceptions of "typical women's" approval of sun protection versus tanning. Women underestimated approval of sun protection and overestimated approval of tanning. In a randomized trial, 189 of these women received either information about sun protection or information plus personalized normative feedback (PNF). PNF compared each woman's own perceptions of typical women's approval of tanning and sun protection with actual normative values, both measured at baseline. PNF communicated that most women approve of others who sun protect. RESULTS: PNF led to more positive sun protection injunctive norms, attitudes, and intentions at immediate posttest and more positive intentions and self-reported behavior at 4-week follow-up. Baseline discrepancy between a woman's beliefs and actual normative values related negatively to changes in sun protection in the control condition but positively in the PNF condition. As hypothesized, changes in attitudes partially mediated the influence of PNF on changes in intentions. CONCLUSIONS: The present research demonstrates the utility of correcting injunctive norm misperceptions for promoting healthy behaviors. That attitudes changed in response to PNF and mediated the norm-intention relationship suggests a method for influencing attitudes that may limit reactance.

Neighborhood contexts and the mediating role of neighborhood social cohesion on health and psychological distress among Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents.

BACKGROUND: Neighborhood social cohesion (NSC) may contribute to understanding how neighborhood contexts influence the physical and mental health of residents. PURPOSE: We examined the relation of NSC to self-rated mental and physical health and evaluated the mediating role of NSC on relations between neighborhood socioeconomic status, ethnic composition, and health. METHODS: A sample of 3,098 Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents within 597 census tracts in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona rated their health, psychological distress, and their perceptions of NSC. Census tract estimates provided neighborhood contextual measures. RESULTS: Neighborhood social cohesion was significantly related to better physical and mental health. Both individually rated NSC and neighborhood-level NSC mediated relations between neighborhood contexts and health outcomes. Substantive findings were consistent across Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents. CONCLUSIONS: The findings have implications for improving ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in physical and mental health through attention to social cohesion among neighborhood residents.

Estimating Latent Variable Interactions With Non-Normal Observed Data: A Comparison of Four Approaches.

A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to investigate the robustness of four latent variable interaction modeling approaches (Constrained Product Indicator [CPI], Generalized Appended Product Indicator [GAPI], Unconstrained Product Indicator [UPI], and Latent Moderated Structural Equations [LMS]) under high degrees of non-normality of the observed exogenous variables. Results showed that the CPI and LMS approaches yielded biased estimates of the interaction effect when the exogenous variables were highly non-normal. When the violation of non-normality was not severe (normal; symmetric with excess kurtosis < 1), the LMS approach yielded the most efficient estimates of the latent interaction effect with the highest statistical power. In highly non-normal conditions, the GAPI and UPI approaches with ML estimation yielded unbiased latent interaction effect estimates, with acceptable actual Type-I error rates for both the Wald and likelihood ratio tests of interaction effect at N ≥ 500. An empirical example illustrated the use of the four approaches in testing a latent variable interaction between academic self-efficacy and positive family role models in the prediction of academic performance.

Integration of five health behaviour models: common strengths and unique contributions to understanding condom use.

The purpose of this research was to select from the health belief model (HBM), theories of reasoned action (TRA) and planned behaviour (TPB), information-motivation-behavioural skills model (IMB) and social cognitive theory (SCT) the strongest longitudinal predictors of women's condom use and to combine these constructs into a single integrated model of condom use. The integrated model was evaluated for prediction of condom use among young women who had steady versus casual partners. At Time 1, all constructs of the five models and condom use were assessed in an initial and a replication sample (n = 193, n = 161). Condom use reassessed 8 weeks later (Time 2) served as the main outcome. Information from IMB, perceived susceptibility, benefits, and barriers from HBM, self-efficacy and self-evaluative expectancies from SCT, and partner norm and attitudes from TPB served as indirect or direct predictors of condom use. All paths replicated across samples. Direct predictors of behaviour varied with relationship status: self-efficacy significantly predicted condom use for women with casual partners, while attitude and partner norm predicted for those with steady partners. Integrated psychosocial models, rich in constructs and relationships drawn from multiple theories of behaviour, may provide a more complete characterisation of health protective behaviour.

Cognitive and emotional factors associated with elective breast augmentation among young women.

The purpose of this research was to propose and evaluate a psychosocial model of young women's intentions to obtain breast implants and the preparatory steps taken towards having breast implant surgery. The model integrated anticipated regret, descriptive norms and image norms from the media into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Focus groups (n = 58) informed development of measures of outcome expectancies, preparatory steps and normative influence. The model was tested and replicated among two samples of young women who had ever considered getting breast implants (n = 200, n = 152). Intentions and preparatory steps served as outcomes. Model constructs and outcomes were initially assessed; outcomes were re-assessed 11 weeks later. Evaluative attitudes and anticipated regret predicted intentions; in turn, intentions, along with descriptive norms, predicted subsequent preparatory steps. Perceived risk (susceptibility, severity) of negative medical consequences of breast implants predicted anticipated regret, which predicted evaluative attitudes. Intentions and preparatory steps exhibited interplay over time. This research provides the first comprehensive model predicting intentions and preparatory steps towards breast augmentation surgery. It supports the addition of anticipated regret to the TPB and suggests mutual influence between intentions and preparatory steps towards a final behavioural outcome.

Planning bridges the intention-behaviour gap: age makes a difference and strategy use explains why.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines age-differential association patterns between intentions, planning and physical activity in young and middle-aged individuals. The effectiveness of planning to bridge the intention-behaviour gap is assumed to increase with advancing age. We explore the use of behaviour change strategies that include selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) as underlying mechanisms for age differences. METHODS: In N = 265 employees of a national railway company (aged 19-64 years), intentions, planning, SOC strategy use and physical activity were assessed at baseline (Time 1) and again 1 month later (Time 2). Hypotheses were tested in two different path models. RESULTS: Age moderates the extent to which planning mediates the intention-behaviour relation due to an increasing strength of the planning-behaviour link. As a possible psychological mechanism for these age differences, we identified SOC strategy use as a mediator of the age by planning interaction effect on physical activity. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest differential mechanisms in behaviour regulation in young and middle-aged individuals.

Perceived susceptibility measures are not interchangeable: absolute, direct comparative, and indirect comparative risk.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an explanation of perceived susceptibility judgment that accounts for both inconsistencies among commonly used measures of perceived susceptibility (i.e., absolute risk, direct comparative risk, and indirect comparative risk) and their inconsistent relationships to disease risk factors. Inconsistencies are attributed to differential processing of general versus personal risk factors, coupled with the method of computation of the risk measures. DESIGN AND MEASURES: Study 1 characterized risk factors as general versus personal. In Studies 2 and 3, community-residing adult women (ns = 432 and 147, respectively) rated perceived susceptibility to osteoporosis, breast cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, rated risk factors, and reported personal medical history. RESULTS: Correlations and regression analyses mainly supported our characterization of the source of inconsistencies among susceptibility measures and their relationships to risk factors. CONCLUSION: Perceived susceptibility measures are not interchangeable and can lead to opposite conclusions about correlates of perceived susceptibility. Researchers are cautioned against using indirect comparative measures, computed as difference scores, and are encouraged to use other methods to compel participants to consider the risk of others when making comparative judgments.

A mediation analysis of the ATHENA intervention for female athletes: prevention of athletic-enhancing substance use and unhealthy weight loss behaviors.

OBJECTIVE: To explain, through mediation analyses, the mechanisms by which ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives), a primary prevention and health promotion intervention designed to deter unhealthy body shaping behaviors among female high school athletes, produced immediate changes in intentions for unhealthy weight loss and steroid/creatine use, and to examine the link to long-term follow-up intentions and behaviors. METHODS: In a randomized trial of 1668 athletes, intervention participants completed coach-led peer-facilitated sessions during their sport season. Participants provided pre-test, immediate post-test, and 9-month follow-up assessments. RESULTS: ATHENA decreased intentions for steroid/creatine use and intentions for unhealthy weight loss behaviors at post-test. These effects were most strongly mediated by social norms and self-efficacy for healthy eating. Low post-test intentions were maintained 9 months later and predicted subsequent behavior. CONCLUSIONS: ATHENA successfully modified mediators that in turn related to athletic-enhancing substance use and unhealthy weight loss practices. Mediation analyses aid in the understanding of health promotion interventions and inform program development.