The pursuit of self-esteem and its motivational implications

Although recent studies have found contingent self-esteem (CSE) to be negatively related to individuals' well-being, research concerning its implications for motivation and engagement is scarce. In two studies, we investigated the relation between CSE, motivation, and engagement in achievement-related situations. A first cross-sectional study among second year high school students (N = 641; 54.1% female) confirmed the hypothesized motivational ambiguity associated with academic CSE. Beyond the contribution of academic self-esteem, academic CSE was positively related to behavioral and emotional engagement, but also to emotional disaffection and test anxiety. These associations could partially be explained by motivational quality, as CSE was also positively related to both autonomous and controlled types of motivation. In a second experimental study among university students (N = 72; 70.8% female), who participated in a tangram puzzle task under varying feedback circumstances, global CSE related to more tension, while predicting less behavioral task perseverance. These effects were not moderated by the type of feedback provided (i.e., positive vs. negative). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed

Synthetic biology of modular proteins

The evolution of natural modular proteins and domain swapping by protein engineers have shown the disruptive potential of non-homologous recombination to create proteins with novel functions or traits. Bacteriophage endolysins, cellulosomes and polyketide synthases are three examples of natural modular proteins with each module having a dedicated function. These modular architectures have been created by extensive duplication, shuffling of domains and insertion/deletion of new domains. Protein engineers mimic these natural processes in vitro to create chimeras with altered properties or novel functions by swapping modules between different parental genes. Most domain swapping efforts are realized with traditional restriction and ligation techniques, which become particularly restrictive when either a large number of variants, or variants of proteins with multiple domains have to be constructed. Recent advances in homology-independent shuffling techniques increasingly address this need, but to realize the full potential of the synthetic biology of modular proteins a complete homology-independent method for both rational and random shuffling of modules from an unlimited number of parental genes is still needed

Gedrags- en emotionele problemen

Gedrags- en emotionele problemen komen veel voor. Schattingen van de prevalentie ervan lopen uiteen, afhankelijk van in welk land de gegeevns verzameld zijn, welke onderzoeksmethoden er gebruikt zijn, welke leeftijd en welk geslacht de kinderen en jongeren hebben en op welke problematiek gefocust wordt. Nagenoeg iedere leerkracht krijgt in zijn loopbaan dan ook te maken met gedrags- en emotionele problemen. De school speelt een sleutelrol bij het vroegtijdig signaleren ervan en het adequaat doorverwijzen van de betrokken kinderen en gezinnen. In deze bijdrage bespreken we hoe de diagnostiek van gedrags- en emotionele problemen vorm krijgen in de schoolcontext. We hanteren hierbij een ontwikkelingdspychopatisch referentiekader

Development and validation of a Self-esteem Contingency Questionnaire for Adolescents

Self-esteem (SE) contingency refers to the extent to which one’s level of self-esteem depends on meeting certain internal or external criteria and has been identified as a psychological risk factor. Addressing limitations of existing SE contingency questionnaires, we developed a domain-specific situation-response questionnaire for adolescents that (1) measures SE contingency in domains which are considered important for adolescents, based on multidimensional self-concept models, and (2) includes balanced numbers of positive and negative items per domain, allowing to distinguish between upward and downward contingencies. The current findings support the reliability and validity of the new 24-item questionnaire in a sample of high school students (N=599, age range 15-22). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the 4 (domains) x 2 (valence) structure of our questionnaire and its convergent and discriminant validity was established. Finally, external validity was supported by finding the expected associations with psychological control and depressive symptoms.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Development and validation of a Self-esteem Contingency Questionnaire for Adolescents journaltitle: Personality and Individual Differences articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.001 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe