Avoidance of Heights on the Visual Cliff in Newly Walking Infants

Work with infants on the “visual cliff” links avoidance of drop‐offs to experience with self‐produced locomotion. Adolph's (2002) research on infants' perception of slope and gap traversability suggests that learning to avoid falling down is highly specific to the postural context in which it occurs. Infants, for example, who have learned to avoid crossing risky slopes while crawling must learn anew such avoidance when they start walking. Do newly walking infants avoid crossing the drop‐off of the visual cliff? Twenty prewalking but experienced crawling infants were compared with 20 similarly aged newly walking infants on their reactions to the visual cliff. Newly walking infants avoided moving onto the cliff's deep side even more consistently than did the prewalking crawlers. Thus, in the context of drop‐offs in visual texture, our results show that once avoidance of drop‐offs is established under conditions of crawling, it is developmentally maintained once infants begin walking.     

Infant locomotion shapes proximity to adults during everyday play in the U.S.

Learning to walk expands infants’ access to the physical environment and prompts changes in their communicative behaviors. However, little is known about whether walking also shapes infants’ proximity to their adult social partners during everyday activities at home. Here we followed 89 infants (42 boys, 47 girls; 92% White, not Hispanic or Latino) longitudinally and documented connections between infant locomotion and infant-adult proximity on two timescales: (1) across developmental time, by comparing data from a session when infants could only crawl to a later session when they could walk (M walk onset = 12.15 months, range = 8-15); and (2) in real time, by testing whether the amount of time that infants spent in motion (regardless of their locomotor status) related to their interpersonal distance to adults. The developmental transition to walking corresponded to a significant, but modest, decrease in infant-adult proximity. Infants’ moment-to-moment locomotion, however, was strongly related to patterns of interpersonal distance: infants who spent more time in motion spent less time near adults and instigated more proximity transitions, resulting in shorter and more dispersed bouts of proximity throughout sessions. Findings shed new light on how infants’ motor achievements can reverberate across other domains of development, and how changes in infant development that researchers often observe over months arise from infants’ moment-to-moment experiences.     

Evidence of Early Strategies in Learning to Walk

Learning to walk is a dynamic process requiring the fine coordination, assembly, and balancing of many body segments at once. For the young walker, coordinating all these behavioral levels may be quite daunting. In this study, we examine the whole‐body strategies to which infants resort to produce their first independent steps and progress over the first months of walking experience. Six infants were followed weekly from the onset of independent upright locomotion for 8 weeks, and then every other week until 4 months of walking experience. The walking kinematics from the infants' earliest steps were cluster‐analyzed and the infants were classified into 3 groups. Follow‐up comparisons with kinematics recordings were used to quantify the infants' strategies more precisely and track how these early forms of walking evolved over time. Results revealed that in the first weeks of independent walking, 3 infants used a stepping strategy, 1 used a twisting strategy, and 2 used a falling strategy to move their body forward and perform their first unsupported steps. As the infants gained walking experience, their walking patterns became more similar. These findings indicate that infants discover different solutions to use their body and control their balance when beginning to walk. With time, infants adopt a more efficient solution that incorporates and integrates elements of the different strategies.     

Comparability of the 6-min walk test using different test configurations

The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is a common component of fitness assessments of older adults; however, differing course configurations might affect 6MWT performance. It is unclear how comparable 2 different configurations are. To determine the comparability of 2 courses, 35 adults >65 years of age completed two 6MWT, once walking around a 20- by 5-yd outdoor rectangle and once on an indoor oval track (circumference 144.3 yd). Scores for the 2 tests were internally consistent (intraclass correlation coefficient = .95). The participants walked farther on the oval track than around the rectangle (639 +/- 19 vs. 582 +/- 16 yd; p < .0001), but responses to the rectangular configuration could be readily estimated using the equation 66.7 yd + 0.807 x (oval walking distance), R2 = .85. Thus, within-participant responses are similar across both 6MWT, but the course configuration affects the distance walked.     

Locomotion development and infants' object interaction in a day-care environment

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between the development of locomotion and infants' interaction with others involving objects. Observations took place in a multi-person situation—a day-care class—for one-year-old infants for 1 year. The study participants were 13 infants and 7 caregivers (all Japanese). Frequencies of infants’ manual contact with objects and moving before contact with them did not differ according to locomotion developmental level. However, infants who began walking engaged in more social interactions than those who were cruising or crawling. Throughout all locomotor developmental periods, social interactions increased in frequency when more caregivers were present. As infants began to walk, they moved more prior to social interactions, had more frequent bidirectional and triadic social interactions, and moved and interacted more often with others during a single object episode. These results suggest that crawlers' engagement with objects is relatively object-oriented, while for walkers, locomotion seems to be driven by social stimuli. Infants who have begun to walk moved among caregivers and peers in a multi-person environment and developed more elaborated social interactions through objects.     

Socioeconomic Status and Age: The Effect of Income Sources and Portfolios on U.S. Adult Mortality

Despite the persistent inverse relationship between family income and mortality, no one has examined the effect of distinct income sources or income portfolios on mortality risk. We link the National Health Interview Survey to the Multiple Cause of Death file and use hazard models to examine income-related mortality across four age groups. Income from jobs, self-employment, interest, and dividends each predicts lower mortality at the younger, middle, and early old ages. Diverse income portfolios buffer against mortality risk at all ages, net of the amount of income received. These findings illuminate the various dimensions of income that shape U.S. mortality risks.     

Nutrition of the elderly: Interactions with physical activity

Elderly subjects have a lower energy requirement compared to young adults as a result of lower physical activity and a lower basal metabolic rate. A lower energy intake in the elderly could lead to undesirable low intakes of essential nutrients. The reduction of the energy turnover is caused by, or a consequence of, a decrease in active cell mass. Thus, the effect of exercise training on habitual activity across age ranges, and age-related changes in body composition in relation to habitual activity level, are investigated here. The focus is on data on physical activity and body composition obtained with doubly labelled water. The results suggest that exercise training does not affect energy requirement in the elderly and the age-related decrease in fat-free mass is not delayed in subjects with a relatively high habitual activity level. Beneficial effects of exercise training in the elderly are endurance, flexibility, range of motion and balance control, all contributing to a delay in the age-induced impairment of personal mobility. Energy intake will inevitably go down as a result of a reduction of the energy requirement. Thus, the nutrition of elderly subjects needs more attention with regard to the essential nutrients than the nutrition of younger adults.     

Reliability and Validity of the IPAQ-L in a Sample of Hong Kong Urban Older Adults: Does Neighborhood of Residence Matter?

This study examined reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form (IPAQ-LC) in Chinese seniors, including moderating effects of neighborhood walkability and socioeconomic status (SES) on reliability and validity. The IPAQ-LC was interviewer-administered (n = 96), accelerometer and 7-day walk-diary data were collected (n = 94), and the IPAC-LC was readministered (N = 92). Acceptable reliability was found for all measures of physical activity (PA) overall and across different types of neighborhood. Participants from highly walkable neighborhoods were more reliable at estimating walking for transport. Participants from low-SES areas were less reliable at estimating leisure-time PA and sitting but more reliable at estimating transport-related walking. IPAQ-LC walking was significantly related to light- but not moderate-intensity accelerometry-based PA. It was moderately to strongly related to a 7-day diary of walking. The data imply slow-paced walking, probably due to age, climate, and terrain. The findings suggest that the IPAQ-LC's reliability and validity are acceptable in Chinese seniors.     

The identification of emotions from gait information

The present study examined the potential for information provided in a person's style of walking to reveal certain emotions. Ten subjects observed five walkers expressing four different emotions and made emotion identifications as well as judgments about specific gait characteristics. Results revealed that subjects were able to identify sadness, anger, happiness, and pride from gait information at better than chance levels; however, identifications of pride were significantly less accurate than were identifications of sadness and anger. In addition, subjects' acuracy varied across the five walkers. Results also revealed that gait characteristics such as the amount of arm swing, stride length, heavyfootedness, and walking speed differentiated the emotions expressed by walkers.Portions of this paper were presented at the 26th meeting of the New England Psychological Association, Boston, MA, November, 1986.Joann M. Montepare received a Ph.D. in Social-Developmental Psychology from Brandeis University. She is presently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Research On Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley MA, 02181. Her research interests include the development of subjective perceptions of age and the impact of nonverbal information on social stereotypes of age. Sabra Goldstein and Annmarie Clausen hold B.A. degrees in Psychology from Wellesley College. Please address reprint requests to the first author.     

Counselors' Beliefs About Ritual Abuse: An Australian Study

ABSTRACT

This study compares the beliefs held by Center Against Sexual Assault (CASA) workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists about ritual abuse. These beliefs were examined across a number of dimensions, of which five are discussed here: definitions of ritual abuse; number of cases identified between 1985–95; belief of client statements; religious beliefs; and training in therapy for sexual assault. In spite of the literature indicating broad disagreement with the definition of ritual abuse in other studies, results indicate 70% of all counselors agreed with a single definition of ritual abuse, and 85% agreed that ritual abuse was an indication of genuine trauma. There were 153 cases of ritual abuse identified by counselors between 1985-1995. Not one of these counselors believed that any of the claims made by their clients were intentionally fabricated. Overall, the CASA workers were much more likely to believe their client's ritual abuse and marginally more likely to identify ritual abuse cases than other therapists. Religious beliefs had no relationship to the identification of ritual abuse. Training in recognition and treatment of sexual abuse was significantly positively related to the identification of ritual abuse cases.     

Selectivity,adaptation, or disruption? A comparison of alternative hypotheses on the effects of migration on fertility: the case of Brazil

This study, based on Brazilian data from 1976, compared the fertility of migrants and stayers at both origin and destination areas. Observed patterns of fertility differentials were then analyzed in terms of 4 hypotheses of fertility behavior focused on processes of socialization, adaptation, selectivity, and disruption. In the study sample, 31% of migrants moved from rural to urban areas, 45% of moves were between urban areas, and 20% of moves were between rural areas. Among rural-to-urban migrants, only 1/3 moved from traditional to modern regions. To uncover the main patterns of migrant and stayer fertility differentials in the study population, the major flows of migrants by origin and destination were disaggregated by recency of migration, education, and age. The overall conclusions were as follows: 1) rural-urban migration flows need to be disaggregated into various modern/traditional cross-classifications (e.g., modern-rural, traditional-urban, frontier-urban) and greater emphasis needs to be placed on rural-urban, urban-urban, and rural-rural flows; 2) no robust quantitative measures of migrant-stayer fertility differentials held across migrant groups, implying that migrants differing in terms of age, education, origin, and destination are likely to behave in significantly variable fashion with regard to stayer standards of fertility behavior; 3) migrant groups with overall lower fertility levels, such as the young and better educated, are less likely to experience significant fertility reduction to bridge the origin/destination fertility gap; 4) rural-to-rural migrants do not appear to experience any lasting fertility reduction even when they move to areas with lower overall fertility rates; 5) urban-to-rural migrants tend to bridge a larger fraction of the uphill fertility gap than rural-to-urban migrants; and 6) there was evidence of partial adaptation for most migrant categories once disruption effects disappear and evidence consistent with the socialization hypothesis (no fertility reduction for at least 1 generation) was apparent for migrants originating in the least developed parts of Brazil, the frontier region, and the traditional-rural region.     

Demands on Finite Cognitive Capacity Cause Infants' Perseverative Errors

This research unites traditionally disparate developmental domains—cognition and locomotion—to examine the classic cognitive issue of the development of inhibition in infancy. In 2 locomotor A‐not‐B tasks, 13‐month‐old walking infants inhibited a prepotent response under low task demands (walking on flat ground), but perseverated under increased task demands (descending a staircase). Despite elimination of factors previously associated with infant perseveration, infants still perseverated in the difficult stairs condition. Increasing cognitive load by manipulating task difficulty affected infants' ability to inhibit repeated responses that were no longer appropriate. Evidence supports a cognitive capacity account of infant perseveration, in which infants' performance depends on allocation of cognitive and attentional resources.     

Holistic wellness as a means to developing a lifestyle approach to health behavior among college students

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the influence of a holistic model of wellness on activity level among obese and sedentary college students. PARTICIPANTS: They recruited 41 participants for an 11-week program. METHODS: Participants were required to record daily walking totals and complete 5 bimonthly classes where principles of holistic wellness were discussed. Pre- and posttest values of activity level (walking activity, cardiovascular training, general activity, and resistance training) and pre- and posttest knowledge and self-efficacy related to principles of holistic wellness. Participants also completed a 1-month followup. RESULTS: Participants who completed the program reported increases in general exercise activity, resistance training, and walking behavior, as well as self-efficacy and knowledge concerning principles of holistic wellness. The authors also observed decreases in participants' body fat and body mass. CONCLUSIONS: Relevance to adherence of exercise behavior and a lifestyle approach to health are discussed. Future directions and limitations are highlighted.     

The Dimensions of Subjective Well-Being Among Black Americans:

This study examined the factorial structure of subjective well-being (SWB) among black Americans. A multiple indicator structural equation model that includes 17 items (observed indicators) and four first-order factors was proposed to account for the dimensionality of subjective well-being encompassing strain, life satisfaction, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Data for the research came from the 1980 National Survey of Black Americans. Analysis of covariance structures, or LISREL, was used to evaluate three alternative measurement models of subjective well-being. The findings revealed that the four factor model was not supported and consistently replicated across two randomly divided subsamples. The results suggest that subjective well-being among black Americans tends to be multidimensional. Implications of the results for future are discussed.     

Correlates of physical activity in a community sample of older adults in Appalachia

Although much has been learned about the global determinants of physical activity in adults, there has been a lack of specific focus on gender, age, and urban/rural differences. In this church-based community sample of Appalachian adults (N = 1,239), the primary correlates of physical activity included age, gender, obesity, and self-efficacy. Overall, 42% of all participants and 31% of adults age 65 years or older met recommended guidelines for physical activity, which suggests that most participants do not engage in adequate levels of physical activity. Of participants who met physical activity guidelines, the most common modes of moderate and vigorous activity were walking briskly or uphill, heavy housework or gardening, light strength training, and biking. These particular activities that focus on building self-efficacy might be viable targets for intervention among older adults in rural communities.     

Process evaluation of an environmental walking and healthy eating pilot in small rural worksites

Small Steps are Easier Together (SS) was a pilot environmental intervention in small rural worksites in Upstate New York in collaboration with Extension educators. Worksite leaders teamed with co-workers to select and implement environmental changes to increase walking steps over individual baseline and to choose healthy eating options over 10 weeks. Participants were 226 primarily white, women employees in 5 sites. A mixed methods process evaluation, conducted to identify determinants of intervention effectiveness and to explain differences in outcomes across worksites, included surveys, self-reports of walking and eating, interviews, focus groups, and an intervention log. The evaluation assessed reach, characteristics of recruited participants, dose delivered, dose received, and context and compared sites on walking and eating outcomes. Emergent elements of participant-reported dose received included: active leadership, visible environmental changes, critical mass of participants, public display of accomplishments, accountability to co-workers, and group decision making. Participants at sites with high reach and dose were significantly more likely than sites with low reach and dose to achieve intervention goals. Although this small pilot needs replication, these findings describe how these evaluation methods can be applied and analyzed in an environmental intervention and provide information on trends in the data.     

The Five Cs of Positive Youth Development: Configurations of Thriving in Four U.S. Adolescent Samples

Positive youth development (PYD) models are widespread, but the empirical evidence for them is primarily nomothetic (i.e., investigations of universal patterns). Contemporary developmental theory suggests that concepts and processes within PYD models should also be explored with respect to specificity. This study demonstrates how the Five Cs Model, a predominant PYD model, can be advanced using group-differential methods. Secondary data from four studies of adolescents were used to test: (1) Whether there were subgroups who varied in their patterns of scores across the Five Cs, and (2) Whether subgroups also varied in Contribution behaviors. Unexpectedly, the four data sets used could not be combined, yielding an opportunity to discuss consistencies and inconsistencies in findings across the four data sets through contextual and sample differences. Findings demonstrate how understanding specificity in theorized concepts and processes in PYD models can complement studies of universal patterns, which are both necessary to advance PYD research and practice.     

The Role of Family Background in the Heterogeneity of Self-Employment in Some Transition Countries

Aim of this paper is to shed light on how some determinants, especially in the spheres of family background, differently affect the heterogeneous category of self-employment across four transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic), where more or less restrictive policies towards start-ups have been implemented during the pre-1989 years, different liberalization processes have gradually been carried out and distinct policy interventions to support self-employment have been adopted in the post-1989 period. At this end, three-stage structural multinomial logit models as discrete choice models are estimated on 2005 EU-SILC data, which also allows to account for generational changes over time. Country-specific profiles of self-employment are drawn and, even though the self-employment is often devised in a dualist perspective, which stresses its marginal nature as refuge from poverty rather than a way to accumulate capital, significant differentiations within the ranks of self-employed also exist.     

Prospective analysis of time out-of-home and objectively measured walking duration during a week in a large cohort of older adults

Background

Physical activity is considered an effective measure to promote health in older people. There is evidence that the number of outdoor trips increases physical activity by increasing walking duration. The objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between daily time out-of-home and walking duration. Furthermore, predictors for walking duration and time out-of-home were evaluated.

Methods

Walking duration was measured prospectively over a 1 week period by a body-fixed sensor and the time out-of-home was assessed by a questionnaire at the same days. Seven thousand, two hundred and forty-three days from 1289 older people (mean age 75.4 years) with both sensor-based measures and completed questionnaires were included in the analyses. To account for several observation days per participant multilevel regression analyses were applied. Analyses were stratified according to the time out-of-home (more or less than 100 min/day).

Results

In the group with less than 100 min out-of-home, each additional minute out-of-home added 20 s to overall walking duration. If the time exceeded 100 min the additional increase of walking duration was only moderate or weak. Leaving the home once added 40 min of walking, the following trips 15 to 20 min. Increasing age, lower gait speed, comorbidities, low temperature, rain and specific week days (Sunday) decreased both the time out-of-home and walking duration. Other variables like gender (female), isolation or living with a spouse reduced the time out-of-home without affecting walking duration.

Conclusions

Being out-of-home increases daily walking duration. The association is strongest if the time out-of-home is 100 min or less.

     

Framing distance: local vs. non-local news in Hong Kong press

Geographical location as a “natural” attribute of news has always been a source of news manipulation. This research investigates how different community newspapers select, interpret, and package events originating in places of varying distances. Contextualized in Hong Kong, three media frames (authority, conflict, and attribution) are closely examined and theoretically connected to three types of newspapers (mass appeal, elite, and pro-establishment) across four locales (local, mainland China, Asian, and international). To test the hypotheses, a large-scale content analysis of 14 daily newspapers in Hong Kong was conducted. On the whole, findings supported the three hypotheses, showing that local news was systematically differentiated from non-local news in terms of the frequency of political authorities cited, presence of diversified opinions, and the likelihood of either individuals or institutions being blamed for social wrongs. Considerable variations were detected across different types of newspapers as well. Theoretical and social implications of the empirical findings are discussed.