Social Competence and Antisocial Behavior: Continuity and Distinctiveness Across Early Adolescence

The degree of continuity and distinctiveness in social competence and antisocial behavior was examined in a longitudinal structural equation model. Participants were 391 typically developing Norwegian middle school students (51% boys), their parents, and teachers and were assessed when they were approximately 13 years of age (a school cohort in 8th grade) and again 17 months later, when they were about 15 years old (in 10th grade). Social competence showed considerable stability across middle school, more than did antisocial behavior. Low social competence at age 13 predicted antisocial behavior at age 15, over and above the variance explained by the earlier assessment of antisocial behavior. While social competence and antisocial behavior both showed a relatively strong negative association concurrently and demonstrated considerable overlap, results suggested that the two constructs should be considered separate dimensions. Findings are presented within a transactional framework and implications for prevention efforts and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Cat is out of the Bag: The Joint Influence of Previous Experience and Looking Behavior on Infant Categorization

We examined the effect of 4‐month‐old infants' previous experience with dogs, cats, or both and their online looking behavior on their learning of the adult‐defined category of cat in a visual familiarization task. Four‐month‐old infants' (N = 123) learning in the laboratory was jointly determined by whether or not they had experience with pets at home and how much they shifted their gaze back and forth between the stimuli during familiarization. Specifically, only infants with pets at home who also exhibited high levels of switching during familiarization remembered the individual cat exemplars or formed a summary representation of those cats. These results are consistent with recent theorizing about the processes of how infants' categorical representations are formed, and provide new understanding into how infants' categorization unfolds over time.     

Event frequency,excitement and desire to gamble,among pathological gamblers

In this study we compared gambling behaviour of 15 pathological gamblers (PG) and 15 non-problem gamblers (NPG) on two conditions of a commercially available slot machine. One condition used a commercially available two-second event frequency (games per minute), while the other condition used an experimental three-second event frequency. The payback percentage (wins relative to losses) and reward frequency (wins over number of games played) varied randomly across conditions. The results showed that PG had significantly higher measures than NPG on time spent gambling, excitement level and desire to play again in the two-second condition. In the three-second condition there were no differences in excitement level and desire to play again. The number of PG playing the maximum time (60 minutes) was reduced in the three-second version, and reward frequency contributed to reduction in time spent gambling. The results may have implications for understanding behavioural mechanisms of pathological gambling among slot machine players.     

Health Disparities and Arab-American Elders: Does Intergenerational Support Buffer the Inequality–Health Link?

This study examines whether social relations with a child influences health disparities among Arab-American elders living in the Detroit metropolitan area (Michigan). Data were drawn from 101 Arab-Americans aged 56 and above. Findings indicate that having less education links to lower self-ratings of health, more chronic illness, and less functional health. Those with lower levels of education who report an excellent relationship with their child have fewer functional limitations than those reporting less than excellent relationships. Elders with less education who perceive emotional support available from their child have fewer chronic illnesses than similar elders without such support. Findings suggest that among Arab-Americans with lower education levels, intergenerational relations seem to confer a potentially significant benefit.     

Puberty and the Evolution of Developmental Science

In recent decades, theoretical and methodological advances have operated synergistically to advance understanding of puberty and prompt increasingly comprehensive models that engage with the temporal, psychosocial, and biological dimensions of this maturational milepost. This integrative overview discusses these theoretical and methodological advances and their implications for research and intervention to promote human development in the context of changing maturational schedules and massive ongoing social transformations.     

Teen Mothers and Welfare Reform: Challenging the Boundaries of Risk

A major component of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) included policies directed to encouraging marriage while discouraging nonmarital births. Teen mothers were of particular concern as policymakers argued that there is a link between teenage childbearing and welfare receipt. This paper seeks to reframe the concept of at-risk teen mothers by looking to the socially construction of boundaries—an imagery that brings to the forefront the complex relations between young mothers and welfare reform policy. From this standpoint, we discuss how welfare reform might address the multiple issues facing teen mothers including housing, education and training, child care, transportation, health, healthy relationships and parenting skills.