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The purpose of this study was to examine the effect Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) levels have on college students' preferences for different exercise settings. Those exercise settings included exercising with people of same gender, exercising with people who were physically fit, and exercising with people of similar body shapes. In addition, the study investigated the role of gender concerning these exercise setting preferences. Furthermore, this study examined the relationship between SPA levels and students' preferences for different type of physical fitness activities and their perceived physical fitness (PPF). A sample of 375 undergraduate male and female students at Ball State University were selected using a purposeful sampling procedure. The participants were enrolled in the coeducational Physical Education Fitness/Wellness course (PEFWL) during spring 2000 semester. During a scheduled class, the participants completed a 35item questionnaire which assessed SPA levels, PPF, and other items related to exercise setting.In this study, male participants were significantly higher in PPF than female participants, whereas female participants were significantly higher in SPA than male participants. To address the five research hypotheses, logistic and multiple regression analyses were used (p<.05). Both SPA and gender were significant predictors of participants' preference for exercising with people of same gender, participants' preference for exercising with people physically fit, and participants' preference for exercising with people of same body shape. Gender significantly predicated the preference of participating in the physical activity groups of physical conditioning and swimnastics/fitness swimming. Finally, SPA was the only significant predicator (p<.001) of participants' PPF. Based on the results of this study, SPA played a critical role in college-age students' exercise setting preferences. Students' self-presentational concerns about their physiques being negatively evaluated by others may indeed influence their exercise setting preferences. / School of Physical Education

It is widely acknowledged in the literature that grief is most intense when it is experienced by parents whose children have died. However, as recently as 20 years ago, mothers whose children died at birth or before the pregnancy had reached full term were often dismissed as merely medical patients, and their psychological reactions were not considered or acknowledged by professionals, their friends, or their families. More recently fields such as psychology have recognized that women who have experienced pregnancy loss have complex psychological reactions to their loss. The present study examined the patterns of grief of women who have had a pregnancy end in spontaneous abortion or stillbirth and the ways in which these women gave meaning to their experiences. Participants were asked to complete several measures including the Perinatal Grief Scale (PGS), the Hogan Grief reaction Checklist (HGRC), the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSS), and the Inventory of Social Support (ISS). The participants also wrote a narrative account of their loss experience. These narratives were content analyzed to delineate common themes. The findings indicated several important factors which may be useful in understanding and assisting in post-loss adjustment.

The purpose of this study was to determine differences between the same subjects' music preferences at the elementary and high school levels, and the relationship between these findings and the following variables: peer preferences, musical training, excerpt familiarity, grade, gender, and race.

The emerging consensus among investigators seems to be that bulimia is a multidetermined disorder with a number of contributing factors, including biological components, sociocultural factor, personality, and family characteristics (Garfinkel & Garner, 1982). An etiological model was examined in this study integrating two important theoretical perspectives in the bulimia literature: the stress-coping perspective (Cattanach & Rodin, 1988) and the family systems perspective (Minuchin et al., 1978). Five latent variables: Family Characteristics, Coping Resources, Psychological Disturbance, Environmental Stressors, and Bulimia were represented by twelve measured variables. Structural Equation Modeling analysis allowed for the simultaneous examination of the hypothesized interrelationships between model variables. Findings confirmed a direct impact of psychological disturbances on bulimic symptoms. Hypothesized indirect relationships of family characteristics, coping resources and environmental stressors to bulimia were confirmed. Treatment implications as well as directions for future research were discussed.

The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of fictitious scoring updates on psychological momentum (PM) and athletic performance in a competitive basketball setting. The participants included in this study were 50 male undergraduate students who reported having played basketball previously and qualified by being able to make more than 24% (12 out of 50) of their 3-point shots in a pre-trial session. Participants were told that they were competing in a 50 shot, 3-point shooting competition against another individual, equal in ability. After every 10 shots, participants were given a fabricated score update and answered four questions used to measure PM. Results showed that the fictitious score updates significantly (p < .01) influenced participants’ PM scores, where those who were told they led had higher PM scores than those who were told they trailed. As for shooting performance, no significant differences (p = .76) were found between positive and negative PM states for participants who reported experiencing both during the competition. Together, these findings suggest that manufactured score updates can influence PM, but resultant performance differences may not exist. Results of this study lend support to the notion that PM is experienced by athletes. However, when examining basketball shooting performance, the momentum-performance relationship is statistically unsupported. Thus, although PM is thought of by many as a game-changing factor, this study would suggest that PM plays a negligible role in changes to individual performance.

Degree: MA in Psychology by Coursework and Research Report, 2016 / A comprehensive study has demonstrated that language experience provides cognitive benefits above the attainment of a second language (Bialystok, Craik, Green & Gollan, 2009) and thus it is purported that being a bi/multilingual stimulates memory and other executive functions (Jessner, 1999).The relation between language experience and verbal working memory and visual and verbal long-term memory was explored by assessing 30 healthy, young multilingual adults. The instruments that were used for this study are as follows: The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) which rated self-reported language experience/s, the Letter-Number Sequencing subtest from the WAIS-IV which assessed verbal working memory, the Visual Reproduction (VR) subtest from the WMS-IV which evaluated visual long-term memory and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) which measured verbal memory and learning. The results of the ANOVA statistics found that there was a correlation between language experience and verbal long-term memory (which was measured by utilising the RAVLT), but no links between language experience and verbal working memory and visual long-term memory were found. The results suggest that the language experience of young, multilingual adult South Africans is not related with verbal working memory and visual long-term memory. / MT2017

O Teste d2 é um dos instrumentos de avaliação psicológica mais utilizados internacionalmente para mensuração da atenção concentrada e seu sucessor, o Teste d2-R, foi concebido para acrescentar melhorias fundamentais tanto no material, quanto nas instruções de aplicação e forma de avaliação. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo realizar estudos psicométricos de padronização deste teste referentes ao estabelecimento de normas, evidências de validade e precisão. A amostra de padronização foi composta por 910 sujeitos voluntários, sendo 74,29% do sexo feminino e 25,71% do sexo masculino, com idades entre 17 e 69 anos (M=28,96 e DP=8,74) e escolaridade variando do ensino fundamental completo ao superior completo, residentes na cidade de São Paulo. A precisão foi investigada por meio da consistência interna pelo alfa de Cronbach e método das metades, e a validade foi obtida pela correlação com os testes de atenção concentrada d2 e AC, e os Testes G-36, G-38 e Raven Avançado (série I e II) foram usados para investigar a relação entre a atenção e a inteligência. O d2-R fornece medidas para os totais de Objetos Alvos Processados (OAP), Desempenho de Concentração (DC), Erros de Omissão (EO), Erros de Troca (ET) e Porcentagem de Erros (E%). A Análise de Variância em função das variáveis sexo, faixa etária e nível de escolaridade para todas as medidas indicou diferenças entre as médias dos grupos apenas para OAP e DC em função da idade e escolaridade. Também foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significante (p<0,05) entre os sexos para EO, apenas na faixa etária de 29 a 38 anos. Foram estabelecidas as normas em percentis para a amostra total, por nível de escolaridade e por faixa etária, e para o EO na faixa etária indicada para os dois sexos. A precisão pelo método das metades entre blocos pares e ímpares, corrigida pela fórmula de Spearman-Brown, foi superior a 0,900 para todas as variáveis, exceto para o Erro de Troca, na faixa de 39 a 69 anos e para o ensino fundamental/médio e o superior completo, sendo suas correlações, respectivamente, 0,828; 0,848 e 0,883. Para amostra, total os coeficientes de Alfa de Cronbach variaram entre 0,901 e 0,966, relacionados ao OAP, DC, E%, EO, sendo considerados bastante elevados. Somente em relação ao ET os valores obtidos foram um pouco mais baixos, entre 0,816 e 0,970, mas ainda assim, indicando uma consistência elevada. Quanto à validade foram encontrados iv coeficientes estatisticamente significantes com o AC e o d2, confirmando a validade do d2-R. Foram encontradas correlações baixas, porém estatisticamente significantes ao nível de 0,01 entre os resultados do DC do d2-R e o Teste G-36, bem como entre OAP e DC do d2-R e os Testes G-38 e Raven Avançado Série II, indicando que a atenção é uma aptidão relacionada à inteligência, embora as duas capacidades sejam independentes. Os resultados confirmam as qualidades psicométricas do Teste d2-R para a amostra da cidade de São Paulo / The d2 Test is a psychological assessment tool widely used in most countries to measure concentrated attention. Its successor, the d2-R Test, was devised to carry out relevant improvements in the testing material, instructions for its administration and procedure for assessment. The current research aimed at doing psychometric studies for standardization of the d2-R, establishing norms, evidence of validity and reliability. The standardization sample was composed of 910 volunteers, 74.29% of whom were women and 25.71% were men. The age range was 17-69 years (M=28.96 and SD=8.74), their educational level varied from elementary school to college graduates and all participants lived in São Paulo city, Brazil. Cronbachs alpha and split-half method were used to investigate internal consistency reliability whereas validity was examined by correlating d2-R with concentrated attention tests d2 and AC. The relationship between attention and intelligence was investigated by means of Tests G-36, G-38 and Raven\'s Advanced Progressive Matrices (set I and set II). The d2-R Test provides measures for the total number of Target Object Processed (TOP), Concentration Performance (CP), Errors of Omission (EO), Errors of Commission (EC) and Error Percentage (E%). Analysis of Variance comprising gender, age range and education variables for all measures indicated differences in means among groups only for TOP and CP in relation to age and education. Statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was also observed between sexes for EO, although only in the 29-38 age range. Percentile norms were established for total sample, in accordance with education and age range, and for EO in accordance with the age range applicable for both genders The odd-even split-half reliability, corrected by the Spearman-Brown formula, was above 0.900 for all variables, except for Errors of Commission in the 39-69 age range (0.828), and for middle school (0.848) and college (0.883). Cronbachs alpha coefficients for reliability varied from 0.901 to 0.966 in relation to PTO, CP, E%, EO, which is considered very high. Even though the Error of Commission coefficients were slightly lower (0.816 0.970), it still indicates a high vi internal consistency. As for validity, the coefficients were statistically significant when correlating with AC and d2, which confirms the validity of the d2-R. The correlation coefficients were low, although statistically significant at the 0.01 level in reference to CP in d2-R and Test G-36 and also PTO and CP from d2-R and Test G-38 and Raven (set II), which suggests that attention is a skill related to intelligence, even though both aptitudes are independent. Results confirm the psychometric qualities of the d2-R Test for the sample from São Paulo city

O Teste Toulouse-Pierón foi um dos primeiros instrumentos de avaliação objetiva da atenção concentrada, dando origem a muitos outros, em vários países, incluindo o Brasil. O presente estudo teve como objetivo realizar uma nova padronização deste teste, com normas, estudos de precisão e validade e bibliografia atualizada, de modo a obter os requisitos mínimos necessários para sua aprovação pelo Conselho Federal de Psicologia (CFP), de acordo com a Resolução N º 002/2003 do CFP. Para o estabelecimento das normas os participantes foram 701 sujeitos voluntários, de ambos os sexos, com idade e escolaridade variável, residentes na cidade de São Paulo e Osasco. A amostra foi constituída por alunos de cursos de Ensino Supletivo Fundamental e Médio de escolas públicas e particulares, cursos de nível Superior e Superior Tecnológico em faculdades públicas e particulares e de candidatos a processos seletivos para preenchimento de vagas de trabalho em empresas privadas. Deste modo, obteve-se uma amostra composta por três níveis de escolaridade, a saber, ensino fundamental, médio e superior. A precisão foi investigada por meio do reteste, tendo sido obtidos coeficientes significantes para a rapidez, qualidade e omissões, mas não para os erros. A validade simultânea foi investigada em relação aos testes AC e D2 e o Teste das Matrizes Progressivas de Raven Escala Avançada foi usado para verificar a relação entre a atenção e a inteligência. A Análise de Variância em função das variáveis faixa etária, sexo e nível de escolaridade para a Rapidez do Toulouse-Pierón indicou diferenças nos resultados apenas para as duas últimas variáveis, sendo que a diferença entre os sexos somente ocorreu para amostra de nível superior. Foram estabelecidas as normas em percentis para a amostra global, por nível de escolaridade e por sexo para o nível Superior. Quanto à validade foram encontrados coeficientes estatisticamente significantes com os resultados do AC e do D2, confirmando a validade do Toulouse Pierón. A correlação do resultado de Rapidez com o Raven foi significante, mas baixa, uma vez que a atenção contribui para o desenvolvimento da inteligência, porém elas constituem duas capacidades independentes. Os resultados confirmam as qualidades psicométricas do Teste Toulouse-Pierón e indicam a necessidade ii do uso de tabelas diferenciadas em função do nível de escolaridade. Também ficou evidenciada a necessidade de estabelecer limite tempo de aplicação menor principalmente para o nível de escolaridade Superior / Toulouse-Pierón test was one of the first tools for an accurate assessment of concentrated attention and it preceded numerous others in many countries, including Brazil. The present study aims at setting new standards for this test, establishing criteria, with validity and reliability studies and an updated bibliography in order to obtain the minimum requirements for its approval in the Federal Council of Psychology (Conselho Federal de Psicologia - CFP) in accordance with its Resolution no 002/003.To establish the criteria, 701 subjects were used. They were both male and female volunteers, varied in age and educational background, all resident in the cities of São Paulo and Osasco. The sample was taken from private and public elementary and secondary adult education programs, college courses, technical college courses and job selection processes for the private sector. Thus a sample with three different educational levels - elementary, secondary and higher education - was obtained. Reliability was investigated by means of the test-retest method. Although the coefficient of Error was randomic, significant coefficients of Speed, Quality and Omission were verified. Concurrent validity was investigated in relation to AC and D2 concentrated attention tests and Ravens Progressive Matrices Test - Advanced Scale was used to verify the correlation between attention and intelligence. Analysis of variance by age rage, gender and educational levels indicated significant differences in the Speed scores on basis of educational level in the Toulouse-Pierón Test. Also the difference in relation to gender was significant only in the higher education group. Percentile norms were established for the global sample, for each educational level and for gender in the higher education sample. Statistically significant correlation coefficients were found to the results of the AC and D2 tests, confirming the validity of the Toulouse-Pierón Test. The correlation between the Speed scores and Raven test was significant, but low, indicating iv that they are independent abilities and that attention contributes for the development of intelligence. The results have confirmed the psychometric qualities of the Toulouse- Pierón Test and pointed out the need for specific standards for different education levels as well as the need for setting a shorter time limit, particularly when assessing the higher education group

Background: Previous research has reported positive correlations between perfectionism, anxiety and depression within community adolescent samples. Psychological distress has the potential to develop into adulthood; therefore consideration is required about potential mechanisms that could positively impact on this trajectory. Self-compassion has been shown to be negatively associated with psychopathology and positively related to psychological well-being. It has also been found to be inversely related to maladaptive perfectionism (negative aspects of perfectionism) in adult populations. No previous studies have examined both constructs of perfectionism and self-compassion in an adolescent population and what impact they may have on psychological distress and well-being. Aims: This research had two aims: 1. Conduct a systematic literature review exploring the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety/stress in young people; 2. Establish empirically whether perfectionism and self-compassion have a role in the prediction of psychological distress and psychological well-being in an adolescent population. Method: For the first aim a systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify studies that explored the relationships between perfectionism and anxiety/stress in young people. Fourteen papers were identified which were subsequently subjected to methodological appraisal using quality criteria. To address the second aim an empirical study was conducted. It was a cross-sectional, quantitative design using self-report surveys, in an adolescent population (n=128; 64.1% female, mean age 16.24 years) across schools in Edinburgh. Results: The results of the systematic review suggested that there is a significant relationship between perfectionism and anxiety and/or stress in young people; however, some inconsistent results were found between the perfectionism subtypes and their impact on anxiety. Methodologically, the studies held good internal validity, but external validity was poor meaning that the ability to generalise findings beyond the remit of the studies was questionable. The results of the empirical study demonstrated a significant relationship between perfectionism and self-compassion and a subsequent relationship with psychological distress and psychological well-being in the adolescent population. An interaction effect between perfectionism and self-compassion was also established for some of the variables, with self-compassion playing a particularly significant role in this relationship. Conclusions: Overall, there is evidence to suggest a link between perfectionism and psychopathology in adolescents. The factors of perfectionism and self-compassion demonstrated a significant relationship, with both constructs having an impact on psychological well-being in particular. Self-compassion demonstrated a strong predictive relationship to both psychological distress and psychological well-being. The significant findings regarding self-compassion in particular suggest that it may be a potential strategy for working with young people (either clinically or in academic settings) who experience psychological distress related to perfectionistic tendencies. Further research exploring perfectionism and self-compassion and the link with psychopathology in adolescents is much needed. In particular, studies are required which attempt to focus on this area with alternative designs (non cross-sectional), different methodologies and various clinical and non-clinical adolescent populations.