Patterns of Competence and Adjustment among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful Families

In order to test Maccoby and Martin's revision of Baumrind's conceptual framework, the families of approximately 4,100 14-18-year-olds were classified into 1 of 4 groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful) on the basis of the adolescents' ratings of their parents on 2 dimensions: acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision. The youngsters were then contrasted along 4 sets of outcomes: psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and problem behavior. Results indicate that adolescents who characterize their parents as authoritative score highest on measures of psychosocial competence and lowest on measures of psychological and behavioral dysfunction; the reverse is true for adolescents who describe their parents as neglectful. Adolescents whose parents are characterized as authoritarian score reasonably well on measures indexing obedience and conformity to the standards of adults but have relatively poorer self-conceptions than other youngsters. In contrast, adolescents from indulgent homes evidence a strong sense of self-confidence but report a higher frequency of substance abuse and school misconduct and are less engaged in school. The results provide support for Maccoby and Martin's framework and indicate the need to distinguish between two types of "permissive" families: those that are indulgent and those that are neglectful.     

Crowds on Hessle Road

A Strange Sight Strangers to Hessle Road in Hull,East Yorkshire,on a Saturday in July might be surprised to see lots of brightly dressed people running along the road,pushing prams as fast as they can.They might be more surprised to see that inside each pram isn’t a baby,but an adult who is jumping out regularly and quickly drinking a pint of beer at a pub before jumping into the pram again to continue.     

Effects of caffeine on time trial performance in sedentary men

Abstract

It is not known if ergogenic effects of caffeine ingestion in athletic groups occur in the sedentary. To investigate this, we used a counterbalanced, double-blind, crossover design to examine the effects of caffeine ingestion (6 mg · kg^?1 body-mass) on exercise performance, substrate utilisation and perceived exertion during 30 minutes of self-paced stationary cycling in sedentary men. Participants performed two trials, one week apart, after ingestion of either caffeine or placebo one hour before exercise. Participants were instructed to cycle as quickly as they could during each trial. External work (J · kg^?1) after caffeine ingestion was greater than after placebo (P = 0.001, effect size [ES] = 0.3). Further, heart rate, oxygen uptake and energy expenditure during exercise were greater after caffeine ingestion (P = 0.031, ES = 0.4; P = 0.009, ES = 0.3 and P = 0.018, ES = 0.3; respectively), whereas ratings of perceived exertion and respiratory exchange ratio values did not differ between trials (P = 0.877, ES = 0.1; P = 0.760, ES = 0.1; respectively). The ability to do more exercise after caffeine ingestion, without an accompanying increase in effort sensation, could motivate sedentary men to participate in exercise more often and so reduce adverse effects of inactivity on health.     

The Relation Between Callous-Unemotional Traits,Psychosocial Maturity,and Delinquent Behavior Among Justice-Involved Youth

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are a risk factor for severe and persistent patterns of juvenile delinquency. Given the influence of CU trait assessments in justice-system settings, it is important to determine whether the predictive utility of CU traits is conditional on the absence of protective psychosocial factors. Employing a sample of justice-involved male youth (N = 1,216, M_age = 15.29), this study examined whether psychosocial maturity (PSM) outweighs or attenuates the effect of CU traits on delinquency. Results indicated that youth with high CU traits or low PSM offended more during the year following their first arrest. Additionally, PSM moderated the relation between CU traits and offending, such that higher PSM was associated with less offending but only among low CU youth.     

How Do the Different Components of Episodic Memory Develop? Role of Executive Functions and Short‐Term Feature‐Binding Abilities

This study investigated the development of all 3 components of episodic memory (EM), as defined by Tulving, namely, core factual content, spatial context, and temporal context. To this end, a novel, ecologically valid test was administered to 109 participants aged 4-16 years. Results showed that each EM component develops at a different rate. Ability to memorize factual content emerges early, whereas context retrieval abilities continue to improve until adolescence, due to persistent encoding difficulties (isolated by comparing results on free recall and recognition tasks). Exploration of links with other cognitive functions revealed that short-term feature-binding abilities contribute to all EM components, and executive functions to temporal and spatial context, although ability to memorize temporal context is predicted mainly by age.     

Optimal Test Characteristics for Maximal Anaerobic Work on the Bicycle Ergometer

Abstract

Two separate experiments were conducted to ascertain the optimum protocol for a maximum anaerobic work output test on the bicycle ergometer. Data from 58 subjects indicated that the test duration needs to be approximately 40 sec and the optimal frictional resistance, 5.0 to 6.0 kp (30 to 36 kpm/rev). The desirability of using performance tests to represent biophysiologic data is discussed.     

Students’ Perception of Risk About Nanotechnology After an SAQ Teaching Strategy

We experimented with teaching nanotechnology in high school within the perspective of citizenship education in science by involving experts in nanotechnology, education, ethics and philosophy. After training, the students debated a Socially Acute Question (SAQ) that they elaborated during the various phases of instruction. The field of SAQs represents a French orientation for the teaching of SocioScientific Issues. We analyzed the interactions of students in the debate to determine their risk perception on nanotechnology. We compared and put their arguments into perspective using various analytical frameworks. We observed two contrasting argumentative tendencies: one reflecting a positivist view that involved an individualistic use of nanotechnology and science and one carrying a critical and humanistic vision of the use of nanotechnology and science.