Exploring Associations Between Student Academic Achievement, Worry, Personality, and Parental Warmth and Control

This correlational study evaluates the relationships between academic achievement, worry, personality, and parental warmth and control. Results add to the existing literature surrounding what behaviors parents may or may not practice when raising their children and what connections these behaviors may have to their children succeeding academically and/or experiencing worrisome thoughts when they’re college-aged. Additionally, the role of student personality in parenting behaviors, academic achievement, and worry is evaluated. Multiple correlational hypotheses are offered and evaluated along with a moderation model (personality and worry as moderators of the relationship between parenting and academic achievement). 273 college students completed an online survey responding to items assessing their academic achievement (high school and college GPAs & ACT scores), general level of worry, personality (conscientiousness, neuroticism, love of learning, and achievement striving), and the warmth and control displayed by up to three caregivers. Results showed significant positive correlations between parental warmth and academic achievement, parental warmth and conscientiousness, male parental control and worry (r = .20, p \u3c .01), parental control and neuroticism, conscientiousness and high school GPA (r = .21, p \u3c .01), and between neuroticism and worry (r = .76, p \u3c .01). Significant negative correlations were found between parental control and academic achievement and between parental warmth and neuroticism. Model testing partially supported the hypothesis that personality and worry moderate the relationship between parenting and academic achievement. Complete results of this study may be helpful in informing the ways parents behave to increase the likelihood that their children develop into academically successful and mentally healthy individuals

Exploring Associations Between Student Academic Achievement, Worry, Personality, and Parental Warmth and Control

Parenting styles are related to high academic achievement (AA) and worrying, and yet excessive worrying may be related to lower AA. This study evaluates the potential nuanced relationships between AA, worry, parental warmth and control, and conscientiousness. 273 college students self-reported their GPAs and ACT scores, level of worry, conscientiousness, and their caregivers’ warmth and control. Parental warmth and control predicated AA, conscientiousness, and worry (r2 = .02 - .10), especially for male caregivers. Conscientiousness (R2 = .08) and worry (R2 = .03) moderated the relationship between parenting for male caregivers and academic achievement. Implications discussed include informing parents of behaviors that may increase their children’s academic success and psychological wellbeing

The influence of harasser-victim dyads and observer sex on perceived sexual harassment

This study investigated how sex of an observer, harasser, and victim may influence perceptions of sexual harassment (SH). We hypothesized that (1) women would perceive more sexual harassment than men, across all study conditions, (2) the most sexual harassment would be perceived in male harasser-female victim vignettes, (3) the least sexual harassment would be perceived in female harasser-male victim vignettes, (4) Men in the no definition control group would report the most perceived SH, those in the MacKinnon (more inclusive) definition condition would perceive slightly less SH than those in the control condition, but more than those in the EEOC. Four hundred and thirteen participants, 186 males and 227 females, age 18-25, were recruited via MTURK. Participants were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire asking them to rate the extent to which different vignettes qualified as SH. The vignettes differed in the level of their SH, from superficial, verbal comments to derogatory attitudes. Univariate ANOVAs indicate that that female participants were more likely to perceive SH than male participants across the vignettes. Additionally, more SH was perceived when the harasser was male and when the victim was female. Interactions were found between harasser sex and victim sex, between harasser sex, victim sex, and participant sex, and between definition condition, participant sex, and victim sex. The results help to further understanding of how individuals think of and perceive SH in a variety of work settings and situations. Applications range from legal proceedings to SH training in the workplac

Mesopontine rostromedial tegmental nucleus neurons projecting to the dorsal raphe and pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus: psychostimulant-elicited Fos expression and collateralization

The mesopontine rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) is a GABAergic structure in the ventral midbrain and rostral pons that, when activated, inhibits dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra compacta. Additional strong outputs from the RMTg to the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus pars dissipata, dorsal raphe nucleus, and the pontomedullary gigantocellular reticular formation were identified by anterograde tracing. RMTg neurons projecting to the ventral tegmental area express the immediate early gene Fos upon psychostimulant administration. The present study was undertaken to determine if neurons in the RMTg that project to the additional structures listed above also express Fos upon psychostimulant administration and, if so, whether single neurons in the RMTg project to more than one of these structures. We found that about 50% of RMTg neurons exhibiting retrograde labeling after injections of retrograde tracer in the dorsal raphe or pars dissipata of the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus express Fos after acute methamphetamine exposure. Also, we observed that a significant number of RMTg neurons project both to the ventral tegmental area and one of these structures. In contrast, methamphetamine-elicited Fos expression was not observed in RMTg neurons labeled with retrograde tracer following injections into the pontomedullary reticular formation. The findings suggest that the RMTg is an integrative modulator of multiple rostrally projecting structures

An Evolutionary Hypothesis of Binary Opposition in Functional Incompatibility about Habenular Asymmetry in Vertebrates

Many vertebrates have asymmetrical circuits in the nervous system. There are two types of circuit asymmetry. Asymmetrical circuits in sensory and/or motor systems are usually related to lateralized behaviors. It has been hypothesized that spatial asymmetry in the environment and/or social interactions has led to the evolution of asymmetrical circuits by natural selection. There are also asymmetrical circuits that are not related to lateralized behaviors. These circuits lie outside of the sensory and motor systems. A typical example is found in the habenula (Hb), which has long been known to be asymmetrical in many vertebrates, but has no remarkable relationship to lateralized behaviors. Instead, the Hb is a hub wherein information conveyed to the unilateral Hb is relayed to diverging bilateral nuclei, which is unlikely to lead to lateralized behavior. Until now, there has been no hypothesis regarding the evolution of Hb asymmetry. Here, we propose a new hypothesis that binary opposition in functional incompatibility applies selection pressure on the habenular circuit and leads to asymmetry. Segregation of the incompatible functions on either side of the habenula is likely to enhance information processing ability via creating shorter circuits and reducing the cost of circuit duplication, resulting in benefits for survival. In zebrafish and mice, different evolutionary strategies are thought to be involved in Hb asymmetry. In zebrafish, which use a strategy of structurally fixed asymmetry, the asymmetrical dorsal Hb leads to constant behavioral choices in binary opposition. In contrast, in mice, which use a strategy of functionally flexible lateralization, the symmetrical lateral Hb is functionally lateralized. This makes it possible to process complicated information and to come to variable behavioral choices, depending on the specific situation. These strategies are thought to be selected for and preserved by evolution under selection pressures of rigidity and flexibility of sociability in zebrafish and mice, respectively, as they are beneficial for survival. This hypothesis is highly valuable because it explains how the Hb evolved differently in terms of asymmetry and lateralization among different species. In addition, one can propose possible experiments for the verification of this hypothesis in future research

Input-specific control of reward and aversion in the ventral tegmental area

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons have important roles in adaptive and pathological brain functions related to reward and motivation. However, it is unknown whether subpopulations of VTA dopamine neurons participate in distinct circuits that encode different motivational signatures, and whether inputs to the VTA differentially modulate such circuits. Here we show that, because of differences in synaptic connectivity, activation of inputs to the VTA from the laterodorsal tegmentum and the lateral habenula elicit reward and aversion in mice, respectively. Laterodorsal tegmentum neurons preferentially synapse on dopamine neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens lateral shell, whereas lateral habenula neurons synapse primarily on dopamine neurons projecting to the medial prefrontal cortex as well as on GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric-acid-containing) neurons in the rostromedial tegmental nucleus. These results establish that distinct VTA circuits generate reward and aversion, and thereby provide a new framework for understanding the circuit basis of adaptive and pathological motivated behaviours.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant NIH NS069375)JPB FoundationNational Institute of Mental Health (U.S.

Designer receptors show role for ventral pallidum input to ventral tegmental area in cocaine seeking.

The ventral pallidum is centrally positioned within mesocorticolimbic reward circuits, and its dense projection to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) regulates neuronal activity there. However, the ventral pallidum is a heterogeneous structure, and how this complexity affects its role within wider reward circuits is unclear. We found that projections to VTA from the rostral ventral pallidum (RVP), but not the caudal ventral pallidum (CVP), were robustly Fos activated during cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking--a rat model of relapse in addiction. Moreover, designer receptor-mediated transient inactivation of RVP neurons, their terminals in VTA or functional connectivity between RVP and VTA dopamine neurons blocked the ability of drug-associated cues (but not a cocaine prime) to reinstate cocaine seeking. In contrast, CVP neuronal inhibition blocked cocaine-primed, but not cue-induced, reinstatement. This double dissociation in ventral pallidum subregional roles in drug seeking is likely to be important for understanding the mesocorticolimbic circuits underlying reward seeking and addiction

Sensory regulation of dopaminergic cell activity: Phenomenology, circuitry and function

Dopaminergic neurons in a range of species are responsive to sensory stimuli. In the anesthetized preparation, responses to non-noxious and noxious sensory stimuli are usually tonic in nature, although long-duration changes in activity have been reported in the awake preparation as well. However, in the awake preparation, short-latency, phasic changes in activity are most common. These phasic responses can occur to unconditioned aversive and non-aversive stimuli, as well as to the stimuli which predict them. In both the anesthetized and awake preparations, not all dopaminergic neurons are responsive to sensory stimuli, however responsive neurons tend to respond to more than a single stimulus modality. Evidence suggests that short-latency sensory information is provided to dopaminergic neurons by relatively primitive subcortical structures – including the midbrain superior colliculus for vision and the mesopontine parabrachial nucleus for pain and possibly gustation. Although short-latency visual information is provided to dopaminergic neurons by the relatively primitive colliculus, dopaminergic neurons can discriminate between complex visual stimuli, an apparent paradox which can be resolved by the recently discovered route of information flow through to dopaminergic neurons from the cerebral cortex, via a relay in the colliculus. Given that projections from the cortex to the colliculus are extensive, such a relay potentially allows the activity of dopaminergic neurons to report the results of complex stimulus processing from widespread areas of the cortex. Furthermore, dopaminergic neurons could acquire their ability to reflect stimulus value by virtue of reward-related modification of sensory processing in the cortex. At the forebrain level, sensory-related changes in the tonic activity of dopaminergic neurons may regulate the impact of the cortex on forebrain structures such as the nucleus accumbens. In contrast, the short latency of the phasic responses to sensory stimuli in dopaminergic neurons, coupled with the activation of these neurons by non-rewarding stimuli, suggests that phasic responses of dopaminergic neurons may provide a signal to the forebrain which indicates that a salient event has occurred (and possibly an estimate of how salient that event is). A stimulus-related salience signal could be used by downstream systems to reinforce behavioral choices

The GABAergic tail of the ventral tegmental area,a new control center of the dopaminergic system

Les systèmes dopaminergiques (DA) mésencéphaliques jouent un rôle clé dans de nombreuses fonctions cérébrales. A l'origine de ces systèmes, se trouve notamment l'aire tegmentale ventrale (VTA). Dans les années 2000, une nouvelle sous-région de la VTA a étThe midbrain dopaminergic systems play a key role in various brain functions, and the ventral tegmental area (VTA) is one of the main structure from which these systems originate. In the years 2000, a new subregion of the VTA was identified and named tVT