This study explores this issue within a sample of 72 children, encompassing 40 older two-year-olds with an average age (Mage) of 278 (.14) and a spread of 250-300, and 32 older four-year-olds with an average age (Mage) of 477 (.16) and a spread of 450-500, living in Michigan, USA. Different aspects of children's ownership understanding were assessed with a battery of four established ownership tasks. 819% of the children's performance displayed a predictable sequence, ascertained through a Guttman test's analysis. Our findings revealed that recognizing one's own, familiar possessions came first, followed by comprehending permission as a signifier of ownership second, then grasping the concept of ownership transfers third, and finally, tracking groups of identical items last. From this ordering, two foundational ownership principles emerge on which further reasoning can be developed: the inclusion of information about known owners in a child's mental models of objects, and the acknowledgement that control plays a crucial role in establishing ownership. The observed progression constitutes a crucial initial step in the formulation of a formal ownership scale. This investigation facilitates the task of charting the conceptual and informational processing demands (including executive functions and memory) that are expected to be fundamental to shifts in ownership understanding across the period of childhood. In 2023, the APA holds all rights to the PsycINFO database record's contents.
Our research investigated the growth and changes in how students grasped the numerical value of fractions and decimals throughout the educational span from fourth grade to twelfth grade. Using fraction and decimal magnitude comparison tasks and estimation exercises on 0-1 and 0-5 number lines, Experiment 1 evaluated the rational number magnitude knowledge of 200 Chinese students (92 female and 108 male), from fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and twelfth grades. Decimal magnitude representations achieved earlier accuracy, experienced more rapid improvement, and ultimately attained a higher asymptotic precision than fractional magnitude representations. Examining individual distinctions revealed a positive link between the accuracy of decimal and fraction magnitude representations, consistent throughout all ages. A group of 24 fourth-grade students, comprising 14 girls and 10 boys, completed the identical tasks in Experiment 2, while the compared decimals varied in the number of digits after the decimal point. Both magnitude comparison and estimation tasks revealed a persistent advantage for decimal representation, indicating that enhanced decimal accuracy is not exclusive to decimals with equal digit counts, while the presence of unequal decimal digit counts did impact performance on both magnitude comparison and number line estimations. The consequences for pedagogical strategies and the comprehension of numerical advancement are discussed in depth. All rights to this PsycINFO database record, as of 2023, are held by the American Psychological Association.
Two experimental studies examined the changes in anxiety levels – both perceived and physiological – for children (7 to 11 years old; N=222; 98 female) undergoing a performance task, following observation of a similar task outcome, either negative or neutral, in a peer. School catchment areas in London, United Kingdom, studied in the sample showed a wide range of socioeconomic statuses, from low to high, with a percentage of students from ethnic minority backgrounds varying from 31% to 49%. In the initial investigation, subjects watched one of two films of a young person skillfully playing a straightforward musical instrument, a kazoo. In one particular film, an assembly of onlookers offers a critical reaction to the displayed performance. The other film garnered a response from the audience that was neither positive nor negative. To gauge perceived and actual heart rate, and in conjunction with measuring individual differences in trait social anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and effortful control, participants were filmed playing the instrument. To improve our understanding of Study 1's results, Study 2 replicated Study 1, augmenting it with a manipulation check and adding measurements of effortful control and self-reported anxiety. In studies 1 and 2, multiple regression analyses established a connection between a blunted heart rate reaction in children with low effortful control and viewing a negative performance film compared with a neutral one. These findings propose a correlation between diminished effortful control in children and their disengagement from performance tasks when the social context becomes more threatening. A comparative analysis of the impact of negative performance and neutral films on children's self-reported anxiety levels, utilizing hierarchical regression analyses in Study 2, revealed a significant difference. The results collectively suggest that witnessing negative peer outcomes can exacerbate anxiety connected to performance situations. Return this document, as legally required by PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved.
Repeated words and pauses, characteristic speech disfluencies, offer insights into the cognitive systems driving speech production. Understanding the potential impacts of aging on speech fluidity therefore provides insights into the overall resilience of these systems across the life span. A common belief is that older adults display greater disfluency, but the existing evidence is inadequate and offers various, often opposing, results. A noteworthy deficiency is the lack of longitudinal data, which is necessary to assess whether an individual's disfluency rates change over the course of time. A longitudinal, sequential investigation, using 325 interviews with 91 participants aged 20 to 94, scrutinizes variations in disfluency rates throughout life. These individuals' speech in subsequent interviews was analyzed to determine the level of increased disfluency. Our study showed that age was significantly correlated with both slower speech and the increased repetition of words. In contrast, age did not demonstrate a relationship with other forms of speech impediments, including vocal pauses ('uh's and 'um's) and self-corrections. This research reveals that, despite age not being a major factor in speech stumbling, age triggers modifications in other speech characteristics, including rate and sophistication of vocabulary and grammar, in some individuals, which then predict speech disfluency levels across the lifespan. These research outcomes resolve prior inconsistencies in this body of work, establishing a framework for future empirical investigations into the cognitive processes governing modifications in speech production during the healthy aging process. The PsycINFO database record from 2023, created by APA, is subject to copyright protection.
Expanding upon Westerhof et al.'s (2014) meta-analysis, this work updates the longitudinal investigation of subjective aging's effect on health. A methodical search spanning numerous databases (APA PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus) generated 99 articles, detailing a total of 107 research studies. MD224 The participant studies demonstrated a median of 1863 adults, all with a median age of 66 years. Randomized meta-analysis indicated a statistically significant, albeit small, effect size (likelihood ratio = 1347; 95% confidence interval [1300, 1396]; p < 0.001). The magnitude of our meta-analytic results is consistent with the findings of the earlier meta-analysis, involving 19 studies. While the longitudinal connection between SA and health outcomes exhibited substantial heterogeneity, the impact remained consistent across chronological age, welfare state classification (differing levels of social security), follow-up duration, health outcome type, and study quality. The effects of self-perceptions of aging, when evaluated using multiple-item measures, were amplified compared to assessments using only a single item of subjective age, demonstrably so for indicators of physical health. Building on five times the number of studies from the 2014 review, this meta-analysis concludes that the associations of SA measures with health and longevity over time are robust, though slight. MD224 Further research efforts should prioritize understanding the mechanisms linking stress and health outcomes, including potential two-way interactions. Please acknowledge that all rights to this 2023 PsycInfo Database Record are held by APA and be returned.
Adolescents' substance use is intrinsically linked to the nature of their relationships with their peers. In this regard, decades of research endeavors have examined the connection between substance use and the overall degree of closeness adolescents feel to their peers, defined herein as peer intimacy.
The project's results demonstrated a spectrum of achievements and shortcomings, ultimately resulting in mixed outcomes. The study sought to understand how different ways of measuring peer connectedness and substance use impacted their interconnectedness.
To establish a complete body of research, we utilized a systematic review approach to identify studies investigating the association between peer bonding and substance use. A three-level meta-analytic regression method was used to examine empirically how the operationalization of these variables affected the magnitude of effect sizes across diverse studies.
Our investigation, utilizing multilevel meta-analytic regression models, encompassed 128 studies out of the total of 147. Operationalizations of peer connectedness differed considerably, utilizing a combination of sociometric and self-report approaches to measure this construct. Substance use was most strongly predicted by sociometric indices that specifically focused on the concept of popularity. MD224 Observations of substance use demonstrated a less consistent relationship with indicators of social standing among peers, as well as self-reported data.
A link exists between perceived popularity among peers and a higher rate of substance use amongst adolescents.