Executive function as a mechanism for the emergence and expression of moral knowledge.

We outline two accounts by which executive function (EF) supports children's moral reasoning: an emergence and an expression account. The emergence account postulates that EF supports the development of moral concepts because it relates to how children navigate their early social environments and how well they can internalize moral messages. The expression account postulates that EF supports children's in-the-moment moral reasoning for complex moral situations. We present data from two studies with preschool children to assess each account. In support of the emergence account, EF longitudinally and positively predicted moral reasoning, but only for children who have experienced moderate forms of peer conflict. In support of the expression account, EF was only correlated with judgments that required the coordination of multiple pieces of information (i.e., retaliation and criterion judgments). We conclude that EF is an important cognitive mechanism of moral development and discuss various implications of these findings for both moral development and EF theory.

Longitudinal Associations among Psychological Control, Positive and Negative Interactions, and Adolescents' Domain-Specific Disclosure to Parents.

Although much research has shown that parental psychological control undermines adolescents' routine disclosure to parents, past research has not examined whether the effects of psychological control on disclosure are domain-specific and mediated by the quality of adolescents' interactions with mothers and fathers. The present one-year longitudinal study examined whether parental support and negative interactions with each parent mediated longitudinal associations between adolescents' ratings of psychological control and adolescents' disclosure about routine prudential, personal, and multifaceted activities, as defined by social domain theory. These issues were examined over one year in 174 mostly White (74%), U.S. middle class middle adolescents (M = 15.70 years, SD = 0.63, 83 males). Greater parental psychological control was associated over time with less disclosure to both parents about personal activities and less disclosure to fathers about multifaceted issues. Perceived declines in support fully mediated the effects of psychological control on adolescent disclosure to mothers about personal issues and partially mediated the effects on disclosure to fathers about personal and multifaceted issues. In addition, negative interactions led to decreased disclosure about prudential issues. Thus, perceived psychological control and relationship quality had domain-specific and parent-specific longitudinal effects on adolescent disclosure to parents about their routine activities.

Validity and Reliability of the Premorbid Adjustment Scale in a Sample of Turkish Schizophrenic Patients.

OBJECTIVE: The Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) has gained a reputation as the foremost retrospective assessment tool, although little is known about its reliability and validity. The aim of the study is to examine the psychometric properties of the PAS in a sample of Turkish schizophrenic patients. METHODS: The research was carried out with 80 patients with schizophrenia and 50 healthy people. The sociodemographic form and PAS were applied to both groups. In addition, the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS)-II and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale were applied to the patients. In the statistical evaluation, the internal consistency coefficient, explanatory factor analysis, and correlation with other scales were calculated. RESULTS: The average age of the schizophrenia group was 39.15 ± 12.19 and 45.9 ± 12.18 for control. The average years of education (9.91 ± 3.79 for the schizophrenia group and 11.08 ± 4.73 for control) and gender distribution (55% of the schizophrenia group and 46% of the control group were female) were similar. The internal consistency of the PAS was 0.93, and the subscales were between 0.75 and 0.92. Two-factor solution was observed, explaining 72.97% of the total variance. In regard to convergent validity, the correlation coefficients between the total scores of DAS II and PAS and PAS late and early adolescence and childhood were 0.45, 0.53, 0.48, 0.37, and 0.22, respectively (P < .001). The correlation coefficients between the total score of PAS and the total score of DAS 1, DAS 3, DAS 4, DAS 5, and DAS 6 were calculated as 0.46, 0.43, 0.39, 0.48, and 0.44 (P < .001), respectively. The PAS significantly differentiated the schizophrenia group from the control group. CONCLUSION: The PAS is reliable and valid for Turkish.

Social Fitness and the Social Domain: A Holistic Approach Based on Total Force Fitness.

The Total Force Fitness (TFF) framework was envisioned as a holistic framework of interrelated domains, whereby impact in one domain could have cascading implications for the others. For this reason, definitional clarity surrounding how to achieve fitness in the various domains is crucial. Social fitness definitions tend to focus on individual efforts and overlook the powerful impact of the social group and the social environment on the individual. In this article, various definitions of social fitness are analyzed in an effort to broaden the current understanding of the social domain. Some of the knowledge gaps in understanding social fitness and the resulting challenges are addressed before reviewing a few existing social fitness interventions. Finally, this study offers recommendations for improvement, along with future directions for the increased integration of the social domain into the TFF framework.

Why do children comply with parental restrictions in the personal domain?

Numerous studies have shown that children judge some issues as personal and up to them to decide, yet they often comply with parental restrictions regarding these choices. The current study investigated children's judgments and justifications in response to stories where hypothetical mothers prohibited children's personal choices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 123 U.S. children (56 male) ranging from 5 to 9 years of age (M = 6.80 years). Responses were examined as a function of age, type of domain explanation, and whether punishment was specified or not. Across ages, and when presented initially without a prohibition, children judged personal activities as acceptable and wrong for the hypothetical mother to prohibit, based mainly on personal reasons. However, when mothers were described as giving prudential or social-conventional explanations for restricting children's choices, most children reported that the actor should comply regardless of domain condition. Children rated prudential explanations as more acceptable than conventional explanations, provided mostly domain-consistent justifications for their judgments, and attributed more negative emotions to being unable to pursue personal choices in the conventional condition than in the prudential condition. In addition, justifications but not judgments varied by punishment condition in interaction with maternal explanation domain. Children also believed that they themselves should comply with maternal prohibitions more than the hypothetical story actor should. Thus, although prototypical issues were viewed as personal, children across middle childhood thought that children should and would comply when mothers provide explanations for maternal prohibitions and more so for prudential explanations than for conventional explanations.

Post COVID-19 pandemic assessment of quality of life of dental students using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 bitterly jolted the lives of masses around the globe, and affected the physical, mental, health, and quality of life of majority of individuals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the quality of life of dental students of public and private colleges and those residing in college accommodation and own home using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 402 dental students of a private and public university. Students' t-test was used to compare the data. Relationship between gender, institute and accommodation (college accommodation or own home) was assessed by multiple linear regression. P-value of < 0.05 was taken significant. RESULTS: The participants rated their quality of life to be good (mean Score 3.99±SD 0.93) during the post COVID-19 pandemic, while satisfaction with health was neutral to satisfactory (mean Score 3.77±SD 0.87). A significant difference regarding physical health and social relationship domains was observed between the private and public university students. Significant differences in all domains of QOL was also reported among students living in own homes versus those students utilizing college accommodation. CONCLUSION: The post COVID-19 quality of life of dental students in both private and public institutes differed with respect to physical and environmental domains. The difference was more significant among the student living in college accommodation than those living at home, which underscores that effort should be made to facilitate the students to improve their the quality of life post pandemic so that they may be more focused on studies and perform better.

Subverting parental overreach: Children endorse defiance and deception as legitimate modes of moral resistance and social opposition.

This research examined how children evaluate the legitimacy of various sorts of rules as well as children's reasoning about the legitimacy of covertly defying and lying to parents to resist those rules. We asked U.S. 6-, 8-, and 11-year-olds (N = 118) to assess seven hypothetical situations depicting comparably aged children engaged in defiance and deception to circumvent parents' prohibitions. The nature of parents' justifications for the prohibitions varied in terms of social-cognitive domain (moral, personal, prudential, pragmatic, or conventional). Evaluations and justifications for the legitimacy of parents' prohibitions and children's defiance and deception were examined, as were general evaluations of deception and parental authority. Across situations, increased age was associated with decreased acceptance of proscriptions and, in several situations, increased acceptance of defiance and deception. Children responded significantly differently to prohibitions by domain of norm. With age, children increasingly justified defiance and deception for reasons of personal autonomy. They also increasingly endorsed defiance and deception as moral obligations required to resist immoral norms. This research shows that children value parental authority, but not at the expense of their personal autonomy, and they value honesty but sometimes subordinate it to competing moral concerns.

Self-care and Wellness Checks in Emergency Field Hospitals During COVID-19 Pandemic: A New Self-check Tool for Military Personnel and Civilians.

The authors explore the impact of cumulative stress on United States (US) military service members (SM), including soldiers and medical personnel, deployed to serve in New York City (NYC) communities. Their mission was to assist in establishing emergency field hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Causative biopsychosocial factors are presented, as well as the impact of wellness checks, which were utilized to monitor the mood and morale of frontline healthcare providers, military personnel, and infected patients in a 2,500-bed emergency field hospital and a 1,000-bed Naval hospital ship operating in the metropolitan NYC area. The authors introduce a self-care and wellness tool, which assesses five core domains (physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual) for the purpose of assessing and improving individual overall well-being during periods of heightened stress. This instrument could aid attending medical personnel in identifying patients at risk of suicide. Likewise, the utility of this self-care tool is applicable to both military SM and civilians, and includes soldiers and medical personnel.

Exploring Airbnb Host Wellbeing and Host-Guest Conflicts in Network Hospitality.

Despite a plethora of studies examining hosting experiences of Airbnb guests, the wellbeing of hosts has received limited attention. Drawing on both top-down and bottom-up theories of wellbeing, we explore the different ways in which Airbnb enhances or diminishes host wellbeing using a multidimensional lens (material, relational and subjective wellbeing). Data is collected from in-depth interviews with twenty-two Airbnb hosts. We also identify tensions and conflicts in the host-guest relationship using the three interactional hospitality domains of commercial, social and private. Through a deductive process, we find that participating in Airbnb both enhances and diminishes the material, relational and subjective aspects of wellbeing for hosts. Inductively, we find that a lack of territorial boundaries in shared accommodation contribute to conflicts that reduce wellbeing. This exemplifies a tension that exists in the private-commercial domain of network hospitality provision. We provide implications for peer-to-peer accommodation providers on developing the managerial skills of hosts, and helping hosts set realistic expectations around hosting to reduce the conflicts and tensions that arise from the intersectionality of the various Airbnb hospitality domains in such a way that the wellbeing of hosts is enhanced.

Preschoolers learn new moral and conventional norms from direct experiences.

By observing others, children can learn about different types of norms, including moral norms rooted in concerns for welfare and rights, and social conventions based on directives from authority figures or social consensus. Two experiments examined how preschoolers and adults constructed and applied knowledge about novel moral and conventional norms from their direct social experiences. Participants watched a video of a novel prohibited action that caused pain to a victim (moral conditions) or a sound from a box (conventional conditions). Next, they saw a transgressor puppet, who had either watched the video alongside participants or not, engage in the prohibited action. Preschoolers and adults rapidly constructed distinct moral and conventional evaluations about the novel actions. These distinctions were evident across several response modalities that have often been studied separately, including judgments, reasoning, and actions. However, children did not reliably track the puppet's knowledge of the novel norms. These studies provide experimental support for the idea that children and adults construct distinct moral and conventional norms from social experiences, which in turn guide judgments, reasoning, and behavior.

Middle school students' engagement in and beliefs about student misbehavior: A social domain approach.

INTRODUCTION: Through the lens of social domain theory, the present study examined how 7th grade students coordinated social and moral reasoning when thinking about transgressions. METHOD: Eighty-nine 7th-grade students (Meanage = 13.05 years; 46 female students) were sampled to assess their beliefs about and engagement in school and classroom misbehavior. Interactive sorting tasks were employed to examine how participants coordinated competing social concerns inherent in everyday misbehaviors. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that engagement and reasoning were domain differentiated; students engaged most in conventional and contextually conventional transgressions and least in transgressions that involved harm to others (moral) or to the self (prudential). Sorting task responses revealed that, over and above domain-consistent reasoning (e.g., moral reasoning used to justify decisions about moral transgressions), students appealed to conventional justifications like teacher authority, school rules, and peer norms when reasoning about all types of misbehavior (i.e., moral, conventional, contextually conventional, and prudential). Reasoning also differed by misbehavior groupings. Analyses also indicated that the number of social cognitive domains that a participant considered relevant when defining a transgression was negatively associated with engagement in that transgression. Finally, a multigroup path analysis model revealed that the association between type of reasoning and misbehavior was moderated by misbehavior group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this study increased understanding of the ways that individuals coordinate social and moral concerns in everyday decision making. Moreover, discussion focused on how the results can be used to support domain-based values education and in more effective teacher/administrator responses to student misbehavior.

Intranasal oxytocin in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders: A multilevel meta-analysis.

Intranasal oxytocin has been shown to promote social functioning and has recently been applied as a treatment for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current meta-analysis aims to assess the crucial question of oxytocin's efficacy in the treatment of ASD. We performed a systematic literature search, including randomized, single- or double-blind/open-label and placebo-controlled clinical trials as well as single-arm, non-randomized and uncontrolled studies investigating exogenous oxytocin effect on ASD. A total of 28 studies (N = 726 ASD patients) met our predefined inclusion criteria. We used a multilevel meta-analytic model and found that oxytocin had beneficial effects on social functioning, but did not find strong evidence for symptoms improvement in the non-social domain. Our findings suggest that oxytocin administration can be regarded as an effective treatment for some core aspects of ASD, especially in the domain of social functioning, highlighting the promise of using oxytocin as a new-generation therapeutic to address core social impairments in ASD.

Exploration of life satisfaction of Korean people with sensory impairments across the lifespan.

BACKGROUND: Approximately, 600,000 people in South Korea have registered as people with either visual or hearing impairment or both. Individuals with sensory impairments are more likely to have limited physical and social functioning, which consequently affected their health, well-being and life satisfaction. While diverse elements were considered as critical determinants of life satisfaction among individuals with sensory impairments, only few studies examined the relationships between life domains and life satisfaction of the population. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the relationships between life domains and life satisfactions among Korean individuals with sensory impairments. METHODS: This study used 2015 national data from Korea to explore the relationships across different age groups. A total of 965 participants were selected, and they were divided into three groups: (a) middle aged group (MAG; 54 and below, 35.2%), (b) late-middle aged group (L-MAG; 55-64; 35.2%), and (c) older adult group (OAG; 65 and older; 29.5%). Demographic variables (e.g., perceived socioeconomic status, the severity of disabilities), the satisfaction of seven life domains, and the overall life satisfaction were measured. RESULTS: Although most of the life domains were significant predictors of overall life satisfaction, the leisure domain was the strongest determinant of the overall life satisfaction to MAG and OAG and the second strongest predictor to L-MAG. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of leisure for quality of life of individuals with sensory impairments and suggests an implication to researchers and practitioners to increase accessibility for individuals with sensory impairments to leisure facilities and programs.

Impact of Selective Eating on Social Domains Among Transition-Age Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Study.

Food selectivity is a common feeding problem among autistic children. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the impact of selective eating on key social domains-with family, peers, and in other social situations-of transition-age autistic youth who self-identified as being food selective. Interviews were conducted with 20 autistic youth ages 18-23 years. Data were analyzed using descriptive and thematic coding. Participants had developed a range of strategies to cope with their food selectivity, and although some expressed concerns, they did not feel that it had a major impact on social situations. A responsive approach to supporting such youth would likely involve recognizing the effort and skills that the youth have already developed around this issue.

Social domains of discrimination against people who inject drugs: Links with health and wellbeing.

AIMS: People who inject drugs frequently experience discrimination. However, little is known about how discrimination experienced in different social domains is linked to health and wellbeing. DESIGN: We used data collected in 2016 from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), an Australian survey of people who inject drugs. We used a modified version of the Discrimination Scale (DISC-12) to assess discriminatory behaviours in diverse social domains, including public institutions, neighbours, family and friends. We used the Kessler-10 scale, the Personal Wellbeing Index and specific items from the IDRS questionnaire to assess participants' health and wellbeing. FINDINGS: Sixty three percent of participants who responded to the discrimination module included in the IDRS 2016 (N = 796) reported ever having experienced discrimination due to their injecting drug use and 53% reported having experienced discrimination in the past month. Discrimination in all social domains analysed was linked with poor health and wellbeing, except for housing. Self-reported mental health problems and poorer general health were most frequently associated with discrimination. Participants who experienced discrimination from friends were three times more likely to report mental health problems (AOR=3.0, CI95=1.5-6.0). CONCLUSIONS: There are significant associations between the domains in which discrimination takes place and the health and wellbeing of people who inject drugs. Our findings highlighted the importance of assessing the social domains of discrimination in relation to mental health. Further research needs to assess not just whether a group or individual is discriminated against, but rather how they are likely to perceive this discrimination and how this experience can affect their life as a whole.

Does group membership affect children's judgments of social transgressions?

Children judge in-group members more favorably than out-group members. They also judge moral transgressions as more serious and more worthy of punishment than conventional transgressions. Here we asked whether children's judgments of moral and conventional transgressions vary by the group membership of the transgressor (in-group, neutral, out-group, or self). In addition, we asked whether judgments of the transgressions would extend to the transgressors themselves, including cases in which the self was the transgressor. Results show that transgressions committed by out-group members were judged as being more serious and more punish-worthy than those committed by members of other groups. In addition, children judged out-group transgressors more harshly, and the self more leniently, than other group members. Overall, results suggest that group membership does affect judgments of transgressions and transgressors, with out-group members consistently judged the most negatively and the self consistently judged the least negatively. However, when judging the transgressor or the seriousness of the transgression, domain distinctions do persist even as group membership varies. Although, when assigning punishment, domain distinctions persist only when judging the transgressions of out-group members and neutral individuals. These findings demonstrate the powerful effect of group membership on the judgments of both acts and actors, indicating that when judging transgressions children consider not only the moral or conventional status of the act but also the group membership of the actor.

The impact of effort-reward imbalance on loneliness of the elderly: the multiple mediation effect of social support and control belief in social domain.

Objective: The empirical studies of loneliness have experienced unprecedented growth in the past decades. As such, there is now a growing body of research showing that loneliness is negatively related to physical and mental health. More recently, one of the most widely tested models of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) posits that the imbalance between high effort and low reward elicits strong negative emotions and sustained stress responses. Despite these developments, the mechanism between ERI and loneliness of the elderly remains unclear. In the current study, we explored how ERI influences loneliness via social support and control belief in social domain. Method: We selected a convenience sample aged 53-84 years old (N = 231) to complete a series of standard psychological assessments. Results: Multiple mediation analysis showed that (1) the positive effect of ERI on loneliness was partially mediated by social support (95% IC = -.001 to .078) and control belief in social domain (95% IC = .028 to .154), and (2) the chain mediating effect of both mediators was also significant (95% IC = .037 to .112). Discussion: The study suggests that ERI can influence loneliness through decreasing social support and subsequently reducing control belief in social domain.

Teaching tolerance or acting tolerant? Evaluating skills- and contact-based prejudice reduction interventions among Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli youth.

Although contact-based interventions are the cornerstone of prejudice reduction, in high-conflict environments, incendiary contact with outgroups can instead exacerbate negative attitudes. Supplementing contact interventions with social-cognitive/emotional approaches may, instead, help facilitate positive contact. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two prejudice reduction interventions among 148 Palestinian-Israeli and 154 Jewish-Israeli 5th grade students (Mage.years = 10.55, SD = 0.26) in a high conflict area. Schools in Jaffa, Israel were assigned to a social-cognitive/emotional skills-based intervention, a skills- and contact-based intervention (i.e., skills, skills+contact), or the control group-all delivered as part of the curriculum. Prejudice was assessed through participants' judgments of and justifications about hypothetical scenarios of intergroup exclusion in peer and home contexts at pre-test, post-test, and 6-month follow-up. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed various main effects including gender, ethnicity, and context in which the exclusion occurred (peer/home). Significant higher level interactions with group by time demonstrated the positive influence of both treatment groups on prejudice reduction. The skills and skills+contact groups became more rejecting while the control group became more accepting of exclusion across time. Additionally, the skills and skills+contact groups increased in moral and empathic reasoning over time, whereas the control group increased in social conventional and stereotyped prejudiced reasoning. These findings illustrate the effectiveness of in-school social-cognitive/emotional skills and combined skills+contact approaches in reducing the prejudiced attitudes of Palestinian- and Jewish-Israeli pre-adolescents, especially in areas with protracted conflict.

College Students' Evaluations and Reasoning About Exclusion of Students with Autism and Learning Disability: Context and Goals may Matter More than Contact.

This study used mixed-effects logistic regression to examine undergraduates' (N = 142) evaluations and reasoning about scenarios involving disability-based exclusion. Scenarios varied by disability [autism spectrum disorder (ASD) versus learning disability (LD)], the context of exclusion (classroom versus social), and whether or not a grade was at stake. Participants were more likely to determine exclusion was acceptable if the excluded student had an ASD diagnosis, there was a grade at stake, and it occurred in a classroom. Exclusion was less likely to be considered acceptable in the "no grade" compared to the "grade" conditions for LD students, but remained high in both conditions for autistic students. This study also describes contextual variations in participants' justifications for their evaluations.

A matter of fact? Adolescents' assumptions about crime, laws, and authority and their domain-specific beliefs about punishment.

This study examined adolescents' beliefs about the amount of punishment individuals should receive for violating different laws and whether these beliefs are connected with their informational assumptions (i.e., perceived facts) about crime, laws, and authority. American adolescents (N = 340; Mage = 16.64, 58.2% female) reported their judgments concerning the appropriate punishment for violating laws regulating domain-specific behaviors and their informational assumptions regarding the prevalence and causes of crime, beliefs that authority is knowledgeable, and the purpose of punishment. Greater internal attributions for crime was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate moral and conventional issues. Greater beliefs that punishment teaches right from wrong was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate drug-related prudential issues, and lower punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate personal issues. Greater beliefs that authorities are more knowledgeable than others was associated with stronger punishment judgments for violating laws that regulate personal issues.