The Other‐Race Effect in a Longitudinal Sample of 3‐, 6‐ and 9‐Month‐Old Infants: Evidence of a Training Effect

We investigated the development of the other‐race effect “ORE” in a longitudinal sample of 3‐, 6‐, and 9‐month‐old Caucasian infants. Previous research using cross‐sectional samples has shown an unstable ORE at 3 months, an increase at 6 months and full development at 9 months. In Experiment 1, we tested whether 9‐month‐olds showed the ORE with Caucasian and African faces. As expected, the 9‐month‐olds discriminated faces within their own ethnicity (Caucasian) but not within the unfamiliar ethnicity (African). In months. In Experiment 2, we longitudinally tested infants at 3, 6, and 9 months by presenting either the Caucasian or the African faces used in Experiment 1. In contrast to previous cross‐sectional studies and Experiment 1, we found that infants discriminated between all stimuli. Hence, we did not find the ORE in this longitudinal study even at 9 months. We assume that the infants in our longitudinal study showed no ORE because of previous repetitive exposure to African faces at 3 and 6 months. We argue that only a few presentations of faces from other ethnic categories sufficiently slow the development of the ORE.     

Pluralistic ignorance and Hooking up

“Hooking up “—when two people agree to engage in sexual behavior for which there is no future commitment—has become popular on college campuses. In this study we examined the extent to which pluralistic ignorance affects hooking up. One hundred thirty‐six female and 128 male college students answered questions regarding their own comfort and their perceived peers'comfort in engaging in a variety of sexual behaviors while hooking up. We hypothesized and found that both women and men rated their peers as being more comfortable engaging in these behaviors than they rated themselves. Men expressed more comfort than did women in engaging in these behaviors, and both sexes overestimated the other gender's comfort with hooking up behaviors. Pluralistic ignorance appears to apply to hooking up on college campuses, and we explore some potential consequences of pluralistic ignorance in this context.     

American Racism: Implications for Social Work

The opportunity to conduct research into an area of personal disability provides the graduate student additional maturation and increased self-realization. The student is thereby able to contribute significantly to the corporate knowledge of the disability through integration of past personal experience with the knowledge and techniques gained through professional education.     

Longitudinal Pathways between Maternal Mental Health in Infancy and Offspring Romantic Relationships in Adulthood: A 30‐year Prospective Study

Longitudinal pathways between maternal mental health in infancy and offspring romantic relationship outcomes in adulthood were examined using a 30‐year prospective longitudinal study of 196 mothers and their children. Structural equation modeling revealed that maternal mental health at 30 months was related to offspring relationship status and relationship attachment insecurity at 30 years. The adolescent variables of offspring mental health and parental relationship status mediated the link between maternal mental health and offspring relationship status. In addition, adolescent mental health and family conflict mediated the pathway between maternal mental health and offspring attachment insecurity. These results highlight the importance of individual and parental mental health to romantic relationship outcomes, and emphasize the value of taking a developmental approach to the study of romantic relationships.     

Multiple constraint and truncated skew models

Attention is focussed on a truncated version of the extended two-piece skew-normal distribution, studied by Arnold et al. [On multiple constraint skewed models. Statistics. 2009;3(3):279–293]. When the truncation point is set equal to zero, the resulting model can be viewed as a flexible extension of the half-normal model. Properties of the truncated distribution are investigated and corresponding likelihood inference is considered. The methodology is applied to data set involving non-negative observations and it is verified that the fit of the truncated model compares favourably with that of the half-normal.     

Conducting Research Among Older Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Adults

Gerontologists and developmental researchers have neglected the study of sexual orientation among older adults. The apparent assumptions are either that it does not exist or that it is not necessary to know; consequently, older lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults remain invisible groups with the exception of a relatively small number of studies using convenience samples. This article examines some conceptual, practical and ethical challenges involved in designing and conducting research among older LGB adults. The limitations and emphases of extant research and the challenges in conducting such research are examined. The design of two studies that focused on mental and physical health and on care-giving among older LGB adults are discussed to suggest ways of meeting the challenges.     

Bounds on the expected maximum

Let (X₁,X₂, …,X_n) be jointly distributed random variables. Define X_n:n = max(X₁,X₂, …,X_n).Bounds on E(X_n:n), obtained by putting constraints on the distributions and/or dependence structure of the X_i's, are surveyed.     

Does Increased Use of Generic Medicines by Elders in Belgium Help to Contain Escalating Health Care Budgets?

This study explored the use of generic medicines among elders in Belgium. The generic market share by volume for elders in 2010 was 23.1%, while this was 23.7% for the total Belgian population in 2009. Pharmaceutical expenditure in Belgium was €649.74 per capita for elders in 2010. Calculations of possible savings through an increased use of generic medicines showed that these savings were rather limited (4.48% when the generic market share by volume increased to 95%). The full potential of generic medicines in the elder population has not yet been realized in Belgium, due to the limited use of generic medicines and their relatively high prices. The Belgian government should implement additional incentives for physicians, pharmacists, and patients to increase the use of generics and combine these with policies to lower prices of generic medicines and policies to decrease the volume of medicines used by elders and rationalize the prescribing of medicines for elders.