The current study sought to prospectively explore the potential main effects and interactive relations among drive for thinness, life event stress, and harm avoidance in the prediction of disordered eating in an ethnically diverse sample of women (N = 58). During the initial and follow-up assessments, standardized questionnaires were utilized to assess drive for thinness, life event stress, and a harm avoidant temperament. Additionally, semi-structured diagnostic interviews were administered to assess disordered eating. Results revealed a significant interaction between drive for thinness and life event stress in the prediction of eating pathology. Neither the two-way life event stress x harm avoidance interaction nor the three-way drive for thinness x life event stress x harm avoidance interaction were significant predictors of eating pathology. These findings suggest that the previously suggested relation between drive for thinness and pathological eating is dependent upon the degree of life event stress experienced.

The aim of this thesis was to examine the validity of the main concepts of metacognitive theory in a Turkish sample and set the stage for metacognitive research in Turkey from the clinical psychology perspective. In addition to this, research attention was focused on two important topics remained to be empirically validated in the metacognition literature: (1) the unique contributions of &ldquo / cognitive content&rdquo / versus &ldquo / metacognition&rdquo / to the prediction of anxiety and depression symptoms, and (2) the vulnerability function of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. To achieve these generic aims of the study, a two-step research plan each of which has its own specific objectives was followed. Data for cross-sectional and prospective parts of the study were collected from Turkish and British non-clinical samples. In the cross-sectional part, mainly the independent contribution of metacognitions to pathological worry, obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, and anxiety and depressive symptoms above and beyond the contribution of cognitive content was evaluated. By doing so, also the relationship patterns between metacognitions and psychological symptomatology were revealed in the Turkish sample. Consistent with the recent burgeoning of research, the association between increased levels of metacognitions and increased levels of anxiety and depression was shown in the Turkish sample, as well. Moreover, metacognitive factors were found to be associated with the symptoms of anxiety and depression independently of the relevant cognitive content. In most analyses, metacognitions emerged as slightly stronger predictors of a given symptom dimension compared to the relevant cognitive content. In the prospective part, the causal role of metacognitions following stress in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms was examined. In the Turkish sample, higher levels of negative beliefs about worry predicted augmentation in anxiety and depression symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. Besides, higher levels of lack of cognitive confidence interacted with higher levels of daily hassles to predict intensification of the anxiety scores. However, the British data did not support the causal role of metacognitions in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. The statistical comparisons between Turkish and British samples indicated that the Turkish sample has a tendency to score significantly higher than the British sample on the metacognitive variables. Moreover, for all but one metacognitive factor, the interactions with cultural group (Turkish vs. British) were not significant in predicting psychopathology, indicating generalization of metacognitive theory to both the Turkish and British samples. Findings of this study were well in line with the metacognitive theory and discussed in the light of the relevant literature.

The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of year in teacher education program and gender on prospective elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / knowledge of history of mathematics and their attitudes and beliefs towards the use of history of mathematics in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Moreover, the relationship between prospective teachers&rsquo / knowledge of history of mathematics and their attitudes and beliefs about the history of mathematics usage was examined. The data of the study were obtained from 1593 prospective teachers who were enrolled in first, second, third, and fourth years of Elementary Mathematics Education undergraduate program of nine universities located in seven geographical regions of Turkey through clustered random sampling. The scales used in the data collection were Knowledge of History of Mathematics (KHM) Test and Attitudes and Beliefs towards the Use of History of Mathematics in Mathematics Education (ABHME) Questionnaire. The two-way ANOVA results clarified that prospective teachers&rsquo / knowledge of history of mathematics improved as the years enrolled in the program increased. Results also revealed that males had significantly higher mean scores on KHM Test than females in the first two years of the program. In the third and fourth years, this situation reversed such that females had higher KHM mean scores, but this difference was not statistically significant. Results also showed that prospective teachers&rsquo / ABHME mean scores increased as years of enrollment in the program increased. More clearly, senior prospective teachers&rsquo / relevant mean scores were significantly higher than that of freshmen and sophomores, and juniors&rsquo / attitudes and beliefs were significantly higher than that of freshmen. In addition, females&rsquo / ABHME mean scores were significantly higher than that of males for all years. Lastly, a positive correlation between prospective elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / KHM mean scores and ABHME mean scores was found through Pearson product-moment correlation analysis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prospective elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / use of strategies and their achievement levels in solving mathematical problems with respect to year level. The data were collected from 250 prospective elementary mathematics teachers enrolled in an elementary mathematics education program from a state university in Central Anatolian Region. Problem Solving Test (PST) was used to accomplish the purpose of the study. The data collection tool adapted by the researcher included nine open ended problems. In this study, item based in-depth analysis was employed to determine a variety of problem solving strategies used by prospective teachers.The frequencies and percentages of categories were gathered for each item and for each year level. The results of this study revealed that prospective elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / problem solving achievement was moderately high. Prospective elementary mathematics teachers in each year level were able to use various problem solving strategies to a certain extent. More specifically, the results indicated that &lsquo / making a drawing&rsquo / and &lsquo / intelligent guessing and testing&rsquo / strategies were among the most prominent strategies frequently used by prospective teachers. Setting up an equation and using a formula was other strategies used by prospective teachers. On the other hand, finding a pattern strategy was the least frequent strategy used by prospective teachers.

Prospective memory refers to the ability to remember to carry out delayed intentions, more precisely, to remember to initiate and execute an intended action at some point in the future. The development and progression of prospective memory across the lifespan is still heavily under debate. Only few studies have so far investigated prospective memory development in childhood, revealing an inconsistent pattern. In adulthood, studies in the laboratory and naturalistic studies showed paradoxical results with age deficits in the laboratory and age benefits in naturalistic tasks. Up to now, no conceptual model has been suggested to guide research on prospective memory development across the lifespan. Thus, the present work examined the effect of central factors from the multiprocess framework (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000) on the development of prospective memory in four different age-groups: pre-schoolers, school-age children, young and old adults. The first study explored the role of task motivation in age differences in prospective memory performance across the pre-school age-range. No main effect of age or motivation in prospective memory performance was found, yet a significant interaction, indicating that for younger children motivation or task importance may help allocating the available resources to the task elements of interest. Evidence from the second study indicated that 9-10 year old school children outperform 6-7 year old school children on a measure of prospective memory, and that retrieval-based factors (ongoing task absorption, cue salience, cue focality) systematically influenced performance. Of particular importance for possible developmental mechanisms was the finding of an age x cue focality interaction, suggesting that age effects may be modulated by cue focality. The third study examined the effect of task setting in a laboratory procedure and the effect of motivation in a naturalistic procedure on prospective memory performance in young and older adults. Results from the laboratory prospective memory procedure revealed significant age-related decline for irregular tasks but not for regular and focal tasks. In addition, in the naturalistic procedure, the age benefit was eliminated when young adults were motivated by incentives. Results from the present work indicated that already pre-school age children were able to remember to perform intended actions and this ability increased across school-age. In adulthood, the results revealed a decline with age on a pure performance level. Yet, older adults may be able to compensate for basic cognitive impairments if task conditions reduce the need for controlled attention. Furthermore, the present work suggest, that factors of the multiprocess framework may indeed affect age-differences in prospective memory performance throughout the lifespan, as cue focality and task importance were related to prospective memory development in children and adults. Thus, the multiprocess approach might serve as foundation for a lifespan theory of the development of prospective memory.

Zum Thema der Weisheitszahnentfernung existieren zahlreiche Publikationen überwiegend aus dem universitären Umfeld, von denen ein Großteil retrospektiv erhoben wurde. Prospektive Studien hingegen, die sich mit den Komplikationen der ambulanten Weisheitszahnentfernung einschließlich des postoperativen Heilungsverlaufs in der niedergelassenen mund-, kiefer- und gesichtschirurgischen Praxis befassen sind äußerst selten. In dieser prospektiven Studie wurden 330 Patienten im Zeitraum von November 2002 bis Juni 2005 in einer Gemeinschaftspraxis für Mund-, Kiefer und Gesichtschirurgie in Leipzig operiert und nachuntersucht, bei denen zusammen 1005 obere und untere Weisheitszähne entfernt wurden. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit lag auf der Identifikation von Merkmalen und operativen Maßnahmen, die das Risiko typischer intra- und postoperativer Komplikationen, die Dauer eines Eingriffes sowie das postoperative follow up unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Patientenalters beeinflussen. Weisheitszahnentfernungen in einem Alter unter 18 Jahren korrelierten mit stärkerer postoperativer Schwellung, Kieferklemme und Schmerzempfindung sowie erhöhtem Risiko einer Wundheilungsstörung. Insbesondere aus der Germektomie resultierten lange OP-Zeiten. Sowohl chirurgische Komplexität als auch begleitende Komplikationen stiegen ab einem Alter von 25 Jahren an. Daher empfehlen wir unter Abwägung von chirurgischem Schwierigkeitsgrad, aber auch der bereits dargelegten Begleitfaktoren ein Alter zwischen 18 und 24 Jahren als günstigsten Zeitpunkt für die Entfernung dritter Molaren.

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Stuart Marcovitch; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 28, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-43).

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007.

Prospective memory (PM) refers to a person’s ability to remember to do something in the future. It is a complex behaviour that is essential for the daily functioning of young and old alike. Despite its importance in everyday life, few studies have sought to examine PM in a naturalistic way and even fewer have done so using school-aged children. The current study aimed to understand a particular form of time-based PM (TBPM), general TBPM, in children through the use of a novel naturalistic paradigm. In addition, the study aimed to add to the current PM literature by including an analysis of the circumstances surrounding a child’s prospective remembering. Results demonstrated that general TBPM was not significantly related to the parent-report Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire for Children (PRMQC) or to the Memory for Intentions Screening Test for Youth (MISTY). Interestingly, general TBPM was not found to significantly relate to WM either. Descriptive analyses of the qualitative data demonstrated that no trigger rehearsals were most often responsible for children’s successful PM remembering. In contrast, when children forgot to complete their PM tasks, they most often reported being too busy with other things as the reason. The current findings provide preliminary support for the existence of a new sub-type of TBPM. They also call into question the utility of using measures like the MISTY and PRMQC to evaluate the ecological validity of new PM task paradigms. Consequently, future research should focus on validating current PM measures before using them to evaluate the ecological validity of new ones. Finally, it is also believed that the inclusion of qualitative measures assessing the contexts of PM retrieval have important implications for the effective development of future interventions for children who experience PM difficulties. / Graduate / 0621 / 0633 / 0620 / kdtalbot@uvic.ca

The current study sought to prospectively explore the potential main effects and interactive relations among drive for thinness, life event stress, and harm avoidance in the prediction of disordered eating in an ethnically diverse sample of women (N = 58). During the initial and follow-up assessments, standardized questionnaires were utilized to assess drive for thinness, life event stress, and a harm avoidant temperament. Additionally, semi-structured diagnostic interviews were administered to assess disordered eating. Results revealed a significant interaction between drive for thinness and life event stress in the prediction of eating pathology. Neither the two-way life event stress x harm avoidance interaction nor the three-way drive for thinness x life event stress x harm avoidance interaction were significant predictors of eating pathology. These findings suggest that the previously suggested relation between drive for thinness and pathological eating is dependent upon the degree of life event stress experienced.