This investigation explored gender differences and relations among facets of adult stress measured by self-reported cognitive, emotional, and continuous psychophysiological responses to child and non-child stressors. The 46 male and 47 female participants displayed increased heart rate (HR) while watching a video of a happy infant and a decreased HR (associated with increased attentiveness) during a crying infant video. During a cold pressor task, males' HR increased while females revealed a contrary decline in HR. No differences between hyperactive and non-hyperreactive participants were found regarding hypothetical parenting plans or self-reported emotionality. Findings suggest more gender similarity than dissimilarity, possibly due to the evolving nature of parenting (i.e., males and females sharing increasingly analogous parenting roles).

Research indicates that classroom behaviors in students may be good predictors of academic success. The present study investigated the relationship between classroom peers, positive and negative classroom behaviors, early literacy and mathematics ability, and classroom model in 214 predominately low-income preschool children in 21 classes across a six-county area. It was hypothesized that peer classroom behavior would be a significant predictor of individual child ability and that peers would have differential influence across classroom models. Results indicated that peer classroom behavior was not a significant predictor of individual child ability. Individual child classroom behaviors, specifically positive behaviors, emerged as a significant predictor of child ability. Peer ability and peer positive classroom behaviors emerged as significant predictors of individual child ability in classrooms that were structured with an academically directed model, but not in classrooms that were more structured with a combination of academic and child-centered models.

Because a child's first day of school can be anxiety provoking, familiar soothing inanimate objects, such as blankets, might help to minimize discomfort related to this novel situation. The current study examined the anxiety level of twenty-six one- to four-year-old children and their mothers at three times 1) before the first day of school, 2) during separation from their mother on the first day of school, and 3) after home from their first day of school. Maternal report was used to assess child and mother anxiety levels (Likert scale 0- 10) and child level of attachment to a familiar inanimate object. No differences in anxiety levels were found among attached children who brought their attachment object with them on their first day of school, attached children without their objects, and unattached children with or without a familiar object. Children's anxiety did differ among the assessment times, verifying that separation from their mothers on first day of school is a low arousal situation. Mother's anxiety was not positively related to children's anxiety. Future studies might further explore an observed trend of children attached to inanimate objects displaying less anxiety than their unattached counterparts across school-related transitions.

Non-pathological sleep parameters in relation to cognition among individuals who do not qualify as having sleep disorders or who are not subjected to extended periods of total sleep deprivation have not been adequately investigated in previous studies. The current study investigates the influence of circadian typology (morning-type vs. evening-type individuals), time of session (AM vs. PM), habitual sleep practices (sleep hygiene), sleep quality, life stress, and the presence of an acute stressor on sustained attention, memory, and mental rotation performance. Several main effects emerged for individual variables above; however, the data failed to reveal significant interactions among these variables. The evidence in this study of non-pathological sleep parameters affecting cognitive performance presents a need for further investigation.

Nonmonosexuality invisibility in the scientific literature is explored as well as opposing historical viewpoints of nonmonosexuality's origins and nature. A focus group was used to explore the sexual identities of self-identified nonmonosexual women, their own journeys toward sexual identity formation, and the extent to which society has impacted their ability to express these identities. Using Consensual Qualitative Methodology (C. E. Hill, S. Knox, B. J. Thompson, E. N. Williams, S. A. Hess, & N. Ladany, 2005; C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997), several themes emerged: (a) defining one's identity; (b) social consciousness; (c) experiences of marginalization; and (d) strategies for managing one's identity in the face ofbiphobia. Results are discussed in light of focus group dynamics and benefits. Keywords: qualitative analysis, focus group, bisexual, women, identity formation, social structure

This research used a trait-based impression formation task to explore the effect of instructional set and opportunity for thought on inconsistency discounting. It was predicted that attitude polarization would be attenuated, regardless of opportunity for thought, when discounting incongruent information was difficult. When discounting incongruent information was easy, attitude polarization was expected to increase as opportunity for thought increased. The relationship between discounting and opportunity for thought was expected to be accentuated when individuals are low in tolerance for ambiguity. The results did not support these predictions. Explanations for the results are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.

A correlational study investigated the nature of excuses, including the relationship of excuse complexity, uniqueness, frequency, and success to the level of knowledge the recipient has about the excuse giver. Analysis of results from responses of 121 participants to questionnaires describing excuses to employers, teachers, parents, and spouse/boy/girlfriends found that the complexity and uniqueness of excuses vary positively with the knowledge level of the recipient, but only when an unequal power relationship exists between the recipient and the excuse giver. Excuses to recipients with a low personal knowledge level of the excuse giver, such as employers or teachers, tended to be simple in nature, contained a minimum amount of information, and were usually common and frequently occurring. In contrast, excuses to recipients with a high personal knowledge of the excuse giver, such as parents who lived with the participants, tended to be complex in nature, contained significantly larger amounts of information, were generally more specific to the excuse giver and less frequently occurring. Old excuses were used more than new excuses in all contexts. Previously used excuses were also more frequent in low or neutral confidence conditions, and were more likely to be successful. Excuses were more successful to employers or teachers than to parents or spouse/boy girlfriends. Different categories emerged for different recipients of the excuses: the illness category was used most in the work context, and the miscellaneous category was used most in the parent and spouse/boy/girlfriend contexts. The influence of external control, and short and long term intimacy factors on the nature of excuses was discussed.

Imaginary audience scores for males and females have not demonstrated consistent differences in the literature. In this study, scores on the Imaginary Audience Scale (lAS) and on the Imaginary Audience subscale of the Adolescent Egocentrism-Sociocentrism scale (ABS) were compared to self-rating of gender attributes on the Personality Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Results for 64 females and 32 males surveyed at a southeastern university indicate that one's self-rating of gender attributes correlates with imaginary audience scores while biological gender does not. As masculine attribute scores increase, lAS scores and Abiding Self subscale scores decrease. As masculine-feminine attribute scores (traits favored by both sexes) increase, imaginary audience scores increase on all measures.

The current research examined whether mock jurors make differential assessments of guilt of defendants based on inclusion or exclusion of confession evidence and type of coercion to determine if jurors' behavioral reactions to confession evidence could be predicted. Hypotheses addressed effects of various factors on jurors' decisions of verdicts regarding defendants' guilt or innocence and their certainty of these verdicts: inclusion of confession evidence, type of coercion used in obtaining confessions, admissible or inadmissible presentation of confession evidence, and influence of potential predictor variables. Predictor variables assessed included participants' Belief in a Just World, Spheres of Control, New Authoritarianism, and Belief in False Confession Evidence. No main effects were found for participants' first or second verdicts or certainty assessments.

A trait-based impression formation task was used to investigate whether inconsistency discounting is one of the cognitive processes that produce self-generated attitude polarization. Three predictions were made. First, attitude polarization would increase as opportunity for thought increased. Second, inconsistency discounting would also increase as opportunity for thought increased. Third, the relationship between discounting and opportunity for thought would differ with individual differences in need for closure, need for structure, and intolerance of ambiguity. The results did not support the predictions. In contrast with the findings of previous self-generated attitude change investigations, differential opportunity for thought did not affect attitude change. Explanations for the results and directions for future research are discussed.