Examines the prevalence of nervous habits, tics, and stuttering and the relationship between these behaviors and general anxiety in college students (n=256). Participants completed self-report measures of general anxiety and somatic awareness. Relationships were found between number of nervous habits and self-reported awareness of bodily…

Using reports by mothers about their 1- to 10-year-old children's behavior and, years later, by these same children, now parents themselves, of their 2-year-old children's behavior, assessed six behavior variables that reflected two higher-order behavioral patterns. Found stability across generations in the "inhibited" but not the…

Parents of 78 young people with Down syndrome, age 17 to 24 years, were asked whether their offspring had ever used private speech (talking out loud to themselves). Results confirm the universality of private speech and its developmental pattern. No association was found between private speech and behavior problems, communication difficulties or…

Develops a model for privacy regulation in workplaces that identifies three elements: environmental mechanisms (physical elements of workspaces), behavioral mechanisms (overt and cognitive behaviors expressing territoriality or adaptation), and social mechanisms (organizational policy and social supports for individual and group privacy. (Contains…

Examines the interrelationships among adolescent health risk behaviors using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health for 12,955 adolescents. Findings show distinct differences for males and females in risk profile, but few distinctions between profiles based on socioeconomic characteristics. (SLD)

Examined the everyday lives of adolescents with low, middle, or high levels of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as assessed by either parent or teen. Found that adolescents with high ADHD levels recorded more negative moods, lower alertness, more entertaining activities relative to achievement-oriented pursuits, more time with…

Data from a nationally representative sample of 5,238 U.S. adults were used to examine the extent to which physical assault victimization was associated with suicidal ideation behavior (SIB). The results from multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that physical assault victimization was positively associated with SIB after adjusting…

Differences between males and females in regard to conflict behaviors toward same-sex and opposite-sex peers were examined in a sample of 501 undergraduate university students. Findings support the view that preferences regarding conflict behaviors are different for males and females, particularly as exhibited toward same-sex and opposite-sex…

The dynamics of self-injurious behaviors were examined in 8 adults with mental retardation. Analysis of trajectories of the arm movements and impact forces of head blows found a high degree of cycle-to-cycle consistency in the qualitative dynamics of limb motions, indicating the motions are often stereotyped in nature. (Contains references.) (CR)

Summarizes highlights of a discussion among 11 leaders in the field of child sexual abuse concerning the behavioral manifestations of child sexual abuse. (DB)

Studied personality, temperament, and behavioral factors as predictors of the development of eating disorders in 726 girls and 698 boys in junior high school when the 3-to-4-year study began. Discusses negative affect/attitudes as a generalized psychopathology vulnerability factor for disordered eating. (SLD)

Explored the association between preschoolers' hostile attribution and aggressive behaviors. Found that hostile/aggressive children were significantly more likely to possess a hostile attributional bias than less aggressive children. Also found that preschoolers were capable of distinguishing between intentional and unintentional actions when…

The effect of firearm availability on suicide may differ among age groups. Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between suicide rates and household firearm ownership for four age groups in the nine census regions from 1979 to 1994, adjusting for regional divorce rates, education, unemployment, and urbanity. (BF)

Cole, Martin, and Dennis (this issue) considered many important conceptual and methodological issues in their discussion of emotion regulation. Although it may be necessary to develop an integrated definition of the construct of emotion regulation, the definition provided in the Cole et al. article is too encompassing. It is important to…

As cognitive architectures move to account for increasingly complex real-world tasks, one of the most pressing challenges involves understanding and modeling human multitasking. Although a number of existing models now perform multitasking in real-world scenarios, these models typically employ customized executives that schedule tasks for the…