Maternal Caregiving Moderates the Relation Between Temperamental Fear and Social Behavior with Peers

Temperament works in combination with a child’s environment to influence early socioemotional development. We examined whether maternal caregiving behavior at infant age 9 months moderated the relation between infant temperamental fear (9 months) and observations of children’s social behavior with an unfamiliar peer at age 2 in a typically developing sample of 155 children. When infants received lower quality maternal caregiving, temperamental fear was inversely related to observed social engagement and aggression. These relations were nonsignificant when infants received higher quality maternal caregiving. Findings indicate that variations in temperamental fear may predict individual differences in future peer interactions, but sensitive, nonintrusive caregiving behaviors can attenuate these associations.     

The association between sensation seeking and e-cigarette use in Texas young adults: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To examine the associations between sensation seeking and ever and current e-cigarette use in Texas young adults (18–29 years old). Current cigarette use was examined as a potential effect modifier of the associations. Participants: Participants included college students enrolled in four-year and two-year colleges in four metropolitan areas in Texas (n = 5,418) who completed the survey between November 2014 and February 2015. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized mixed effects logistic regression to determine the associations between mean sensation seeking scores and ever and current e-cigarette use after controlling for covariates. Results: After controlling for covariates, significant associations between sensation seeking and both ever and current e-cigarette use were observed; however, these associations were significant for noncurrent smokers only (adjusted odds rations [AOR] = 1.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.39, 1.73; AOR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.54, 2.15, respectively). Conclusions: Sensation seeking is an important factor in identifying college students who may be at increased risk for e-cigarette use behaviors.     

Life goals and gender differences among chronically homeless individuals entering permanent supportive housing

This research seeks to understand goals and the gender differences in goals among men and women who are transitioning into permanent supportive housing. Men and women experience homelessness differently. Data collected for this study come from a longitudinal investigation of HIV risk behavior and social networks among women and men transitioning from homelessness to permanent supportive housing. As part of this study, 421 baseline interviews were conducted in English with homeless adults scheduled to move into permanent supportive housing; participants were recruited between September 2014 and October 2015. This paper uses goals data from the 418 male-or female-identified respondents in this study. Results identified goal differences in education and general health between men and women that should be taken into account when service providers, policy makers, and advocates are addressing the needs of homeless women.     

Infants’ Speed Discrimination: Effects of Different Ratios and Spatial Orientations

This study addressed the question whether 6‐month‐olds’ speed discrimination is ratio dependent and whether an oblique effect (i.e., more accurate discrimination of cardinally as opposed to obliquely oriented objects) affects their speed discrimination skills. Infants were habituated to visual displays showing a ball moving with constant speed and tested with the familiar and a novel speed in the test phase. This ball moved either on a cardinally or obliquely oriented trajectory. Irrespective of orientation, infants looked longer at the novel speed when speeds differed by a ratio of 1:2, whereas they looked indiscriminable at the novel and familiar speeds when they differed by a ratio of 2:3. Our results show remarkable parallels to infants’ ratio‐dependent discrimination behavior in other domains (time, distance, and number), implying that different magnitudes may be processed by the same underlying mechanism. However, our findings also indicate that speed discrimination was not influenced by spatial orientation in a similar way as has been found for other visual perceptual processes.     

A study of grouped failure time data and the misapplication of recurrent event modeling

Clinical trials often assess whether or not subjects have a disease at predetermined follow-up times. When the response of interest is a recurrent event, a subject may respond at multiple follow-up times over the course of the study. Alternatively, when the response of interest is an irreversible event, a subject is typically only observed until the time at which the response is first detected. However, some recent studies have recorded subjects responses at follow-up times after an irreversible event is initially observed. This study compares how existing models perform when failure time data are treated as recurrent events.     

Race,risk, and American religious groups' views of Nazi Germany in 1935

What explains American religious groups' views of Nazi Germany before the U.S. entered the Second World War? Using a comparative-historical approach, we employ a novel set of data on 25 of America's most prominent religious denominations to answer this question. We find that two factors were crucial in explaining religious elite discourse about Hitler in the U.S. in 1935: whether leaders believed in white supremacy and whether their denominations were incumbents or challengers in the American religious field. Our findings underscore the growing theoretical consensus that racial resentment is key to support for authoritarianism and call attention to religious groups' complicity in its growth, both active and passive.     

Longitudinal Change in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aimed to examine changes in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of 1,339 adolescents (9–18 years old, 59% female) from three countries. We also examined if age, race/ethnicity, disease burden, or strictness of government restrictions moderated change in symptoms. Data from 12 longitudinal studies (10 U.S., 1 Netherlands, 1 Peru) were combined. Linear mixed effect models showed that depression, but not anxiety, symptoms increased significantly (median increase = 28%). The most negative mental health impacts were reported by multiracial adolescents and those under ‘lockdown’ restrictions. Policy makers need to consider these impacts by investing in ways to support adolescents’ mental health during the pandemic.     

The missing link: the role of social work schools and evidence-based practice

The translation and adoption of evidence-based practice principles has proved to be more difficult than researchers anticipated. Schools of social work are in a unique position to support this process within their home communities. Using the evidence-based practice process steps outlined by previous researchers, this article identifies specific strategies that schools of social work can adopt to support their broader communities as they attempt to adopt and sustain empirically supported interventions.