Who is to blame? The relationship between ingroup identification and relative deprivation is moderated by ingroup attributions

Contradictory evidence can be found in the literature about whether ingroup identification and perceived relative deprivation are positively or negatively related. Indeed, theoretical arguments can be made for both effects. It was proposed that the contradictory findings can be explained by considering a hitherto unstudied moderator: The extent to which deprivation is attributed to the ingroup. It was hypothesised that identification would only have a negative impact on deprivation, and that deprivation would only have a negative impact on identification, if ingroup attributions are high. To test this, attributions to the ingroup were experimentally manipulated among British student participants (N = 189) who were asked about their perceived deprivation vis-à-vis German students, yield ing support for the hypotheses

Optimizing the diagnostic power with gastric emptying scintigraphy at multiple time points

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastric Emptying Scintigraphy (GES) at intervals over 4 hours after a standardized radio-labeled meal is commonly regarded as the gold standard for diagnosing gastroparesis. The objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate the best time point and the best combination of multiple time points for diagnosing gastroparesis with repeated GES measures, and 2) to contrast and cross-validate Fisher's Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), a rank based Distribution Free (DF) approach, and the Classification And Regression Tree (CART) model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 320 patients with GES measures at 1, 2, 3, and 4 hour (h) after a standard meal using a standardized method were retrospectively collected. Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and the rate of false classification through jackknife cross-validation were used for model comparison.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Due to strong correlation and an abnormality in data distribution, no substantial improvement in diagnostic power was found with the best linear combination by LDA approach even with data transformation. With DF method, the linear combination of 4-h and 3-h increased the Area Under the Curve (AUC) and decreased the number of false classifications (0.87; 15.0%) over individual time points (0.83, 0.82; 15.6%, 25.3%, for 4-h and 3-h, respectively) at a higher sensitivity level (sensitivity = 0.9). The CART model using 4 hourly GES measurements along with patient's age was the most accurate diagnostic tool (AUC = 0.88, false classification = 13.8%). Patients having a 4-h gastric retention value >10% were 5 times more likely to have gastroparesis (179/207 = 86.5%) than those with ≤10% (18/113 = 15.9%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>With a mixed group of patients either referred with suspected gastroparesis or investigated for other reasons, the CART model is more robust than the LDA and DF approaches, capable of accommodating covariate effects and can be generalized for cross institutional applications, but could be unstable if sample size is limited.</p

Differences in cerebral response to esophageal acid stimuli and psychological anticipation in GERD subtypes - An fMRI study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To evaluate whether there are differences in the cerebral response to intraesophageal acid and psychological anticipation stimuli among subtypes of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty nine patients with GERD and 11 healthy controls were enrolled in this study after gastroscopy and 24 hr pH monitoring. GERD subjects were divided into four subgroups: RE (reflux esophagitis), NERD+ (non-erosive reflux disease with excessive acid reflux), NERD-SI+ (normal acid exposure and positive symptom index) and NERD-SI+ (normal acid exposure and negative symptom index, but responded to proton pump inhibitor trial). Cerebral responses to intraesophageal acid and psychological anticipation were evaluated with fMRI.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During intraesophageal acid stimulation, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) region was significantly activated in all subgroups of GERD; the insular cortex (IC) region was also activated in RE, NERD+ and NERD-SI- groups; the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) region was activated only in RE and NERD-SI- groups. The RE subgroup had the shortest peak time in the PFC region after acid was infused, and presented the greatest change in fMRI signals in the PFC and ACC region (<it>P </it>= 0.008 and <it>P </it>= 0.001, respectively). During psychological anticipation, the PFC was significantly activated in both the control and GERD groups. Activation of the IC region was found in the RE, NERD-SI+ and NERD-SI- subgroups. The ACC was activated only in the NERD-SI+ and NERD-SI- subgroups. In the PFC region, the NERD-SI- subgroup had the shortest onset time (<it>P </it>= 0.008) and peak time (<it>P </it>< 0.001). Compared with actual acid infusion, ACC in RE and IC in NERD+ were deactivated while additional areas including the IC and ACC were activated in the NERD-SI+ group; and in NERD-SI- group, onset-time and peak time in the PFC and IC areas were obviously shorter in induced anticipation than in actual acid infusion.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The four subgroups of GERD patients and controls showed distinctly different activation patterns and we therefore conclude GERD patients have different patterns of visceral perception and psychological anticipation. Psychological factors play a more important role in NERD-SI+ and NERD-SI- groups than in RE and NERD+ groups.</p

Ambivalence toward men: comparing sexism among Polish, South African and British university students

This study extends the literature on attitudes toward gender roles by exploring whether the nature of sexism (i.e., benevolence and hostility directed at men) differs among university students from two under-researched countries, Poland (n = 190) and South Africa (n = 188), in a comparison with students in the United Kingdom (n = 166). Based on empirical literature applying Ambivalent Sexism Theory, and in the light of the socio-political context, it was hypothesized that: (1) both hostile and benevolent attitudes toward men in Poland would be more liberal than in South Africa and more conservative than in the United Kingdom, and (2), women would exhibit more hostile but less benevolent attitudes than men in relatively more conservative South Africa. The Ambivalence to Men Inventory was used to measure the two types of sexist attitudes about men. Findings supported the first hypothesis for hostile attitudes and partially for benevolent attitudes. South African and Polish students were more benevolent and hostile to men than British students, and students from South Africa were more hostile than those from Poland. Moreover, as predicted, a significant country-by-gender interaction revealed that South African women had more hostile and less benevolent attitudes to men than South African men. No such gender gap was present in the case of hostile attitudes in Poland and benevolent attitudes in the United Kingdom. Findings are discussed in terms of Ambivalent Sexism Theory and the countries’ socio-cultural context

Evaluating the Psychometric Quality of Social Skills Measures: A Systematic Review

Introduction - Impairments in social functioning are associated with an array of adverse outcomes. Social skills measures are commonly used by health professionals to assess and plan the treatment of social skills difficulties. There is a need to comprehensively evaluate the quality of psychometric properties reported across these measures to guide assessment and treatment planning. Objective - To conduct a systematic review of the literature on the psychometric properties of social skills and behaviours measures for both children and adults. Methods - A systematic search was performed using four electronic databases: CINAHL, PsycINFO, Embase and Pubmed; the Health and Psychosocial Instruments database; and grey literature using PsycExtra and Google Scholar. The psychometric properties of the social skills measures were evaluated against the COSMIN taxonomy of measurement properties using pre-set psychometric criteria. Results - Thirty-Six studies and nine manuals were included to assess the psychometric properties of thirteen social skills measures that met the inclusion criteria. Most measures obtained excellent overall methodological quality scores for internal consistency and reliability. However, eight measures did not report measurement error, nine measures did not report cross-cultural validity and eleven measures did not report criterion validity. Conclusions - The overall quality of the psychometric properties of most measures was satisfactory. The SSBS-2, HCSBS and PKBS-2 were the three measures with the most robust evidence of sound psychometric quality in at least seven of the eight psychometric properties that were appraised. A universal working definition of social functioning as an overarching construct is recommended. There is a need for ongoing research in the area of the psychometric properties of social skills and behaviours instruments