Parents and their child, a co-op game or not: outcomes of (in)appropriate parental mediation

status: accepte

Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater: applying the principle of ‘universalism without uniformity' to autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting

Socialization scholars differ in how they view parenting processes: On one hand, scholars working from the perspective of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) underscore the universally growth-promoting role of parenting that is perceived to support autonomy and the universal costs associated with parenting that is perceived as controlling. On the other hand, scholars adopting a more relativistic perspective focus on moderating factors (e.g., personality, culture) that may reduce or even cancel out the benefits of parents' support of autonomy and the costs of controlling parenting. In this article, we apply the principle of universalism without uniformity to this literature and review evidence for this principle. Specifically, we maintain that room for individual differences exists within SDT in children's appraisal of potentially autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting practices, and in the way they cope with controlling parenting. This perspective emphasizes children's active contribution in shaping the socialization process

Eco-evolutionary dynamics during range expansion in a herbivorous arthropod

The earth’s climate has a history of alternating glacial and interglacial periods, which have recurrently forced major rearrangements in species assemblages. Today, however, scientists are worried because the predicted rate of climate change is faster than any of these past temperature changes, and anticipated to have dramatic consequences for the earth’s biodiversity. One way in which species may respond to the current global warming, is by shifting their range pole- or upwards. During such shifts, individuals encounter changing environmental conditions (like a shortened breeding season) and become assorted according to their dispersal capacities (best dispersers at the front). Range shifts thus entail strong selection pressures that may profoundly shape range front phenotypes. This PhD thesis studies the ecological and evolutionary processes related to range shifts, using the two-spotted spider mite (a herbivorous pest that recently expanded its European range northwards) as a model species

On the association between adolescent autonomy and psychosocial functioning: examining decisional independence from a self-determination theory perspective

In the present study, we focus on the concept of adolescent autonomy and its relation with psychosocial functioning. Specifically, we aim to differentiate between 2 prevailing conceptualizations of autonomy, that is, (a) autonomy defined as independence versus dependence and (b) autonomy defined as self-endorsed versus controlled functioning. A 2nd goal is to examine the relative contribution of each autonomy operationalization in the prediction of adolescents' adjustment (i.e., well-being, problem behavior, and intimacy). Data were gathered in a sample of 707 Belgian adolescents. Using a newly developed questionnaire, we assessed both the degree of independent decision making per se and the self-endorsed versus controlled motives underlying both independent and dependent decision making. The degree of independent decision making could clearly be differentiated from the underlying motives for doing so. Moreover, independent decision making as such showed unique associations with more problem behavior. Further, as expected, self-endorsed motives for both independent and dependent decision making generally related to an adaptive pattern of psychosocial functioning, and controlled motives were associated with maladjustment. The discussion focuses on the difference between the 2 perspectives on autonomy and on the different meaning of the motives underlying independent, relative to dependent, decision making

Perceived maternal autonomy-support and early adolescent emotion regulation: a longitudinal study

This study investigated longitudinal associations between perceived maternal autonomy-supportive parenting and early adolescents' use of three emotion regulation (ER) styles: emotional integration, suppressive regulation, and dysregulation. We tested whether perceived maternal autonomy support predicted changes in ER and whether these ER styles, in turn, related to changes in adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms, self-esteem). Participants (N= 311, mean age at Time 1 = 12.04) reported on perceived maternal autonomy support, their ER styles, and adjustment at two moments in time, spanning a one-year interval. Cross-lagged analyses showed that perceived maternal autonomy support predicted increases in emotional integration and decreases in suppressive regulation. By contrast, emotional dysregulation predicted decreases in perceived autonomy-supportive parenting. Further, increases in emotional integration were predictive of increases in self-esteem, and decreases in suppressive regulation were predictive of decreases in depressive symptoms. Together, the results show that early adolescents' perception of their mothers as autonomy-supportive is associated with increases in adaptive ER strategies and subsequent adjustment

In-situ mechanical testing at the synchrotron

A major challenge in metallurgy is to understand the relation between the microstructure of a metal and its behaviour under an applied load or temperature. This requires a detailed characterization of the evolution of the microstructure at different length scales through the determination of the crystal structure, defect density, grain size distribution, texture etc. During last decade in-situ mechanical testing under synchrotron radiation has become a widespread tool to investigate the evolution of the microstructure of single and polycrystals during deformation [1]. Many such in-situ deformation tests are performed during continuous or interrupted uniaxial tensile and/or compression tests. Several microstructural properties such as the development of intergranular elastic strains and texture evolution can be directly compared with results from, for instance, molecular dynamics simulations or crystal plasticity modeling. While such tests have proven to be very useful, for further refinement of existing models it is crucial to obtain information from other, more complex deformation tests. In this work we highlight three such tests recently performed at the Swiss Light Source: (1) in-situ cyclic fatigue of Cu single crystals under shear conditions, (2) stress reduction tests on nanocrystalline Ni and (3) ultrafine-grained AlMg subjected to strain path changes. (1) It is well known that under cyclic fatigue of metals dislocation patterning occurs. The nature of the resulting dislocation structure depends on several parameters, including stacking fault energy, dislocation mobility and loading conditions. To obtain a better understanding of how these structures form a new continuum dislocation-based constitutive model in the crystal plasticity finite element framework is currently under development [2]. In order validate this new model in-situ Laue experiments during cyclic shear loading of Cu single crystals have been performed. Laue diffraction is very sensitive to crystal orientation and therefore allows tracking with high resolution the evolution of the crystallographic misorientation between the various dislocation-poor regions that appear under cyclic deformation. (2) Transient testing is a well recognized technique to capture rate limiting deformation mechanisms. Among the many methods strain rate jump and stress relaxation tests are the most popular ones. Stress reduction tests are maybe less well known, they have however shown to be a suitable technique to determine the full transient response of a material subject to a changing loading condition [3]. In this work we report on stress reduction tests performed on electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni. Depending on the magnitude of the stress reduction we observe different regimes, revealling the presence of various deformation mechanisms. The results are interpreted in terms of a competition between plasticity based on dislocation nucleation/glide and recovery mechanisms at grain boundaries [4]. (3) Engineering materials often experience complex strain paths during synthesis or under service conditions. For instance, many metals exhibit a lower yield stress (Bauschinger effect) when the sign of the load is reversed after plastic deformation. Some materials, however, exhibit a larger yield stress after the loading direction is changed. These and other phenomena play an important role in manufacturing but are not well captured by current state-of-the-art crystal plasticity models. It is therefore crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms. In this work we present a new biaxial deformation rig that was developed for in-situ testing at the synchrotron. It allows performing complex strain path changes while x-ray diffraction patterns are acquired. We report on the first feasibility tests that were recently performed on a cold-rolled AlMg alloy

Spatial selection and local adaptation jointly shape life-history evolution during range expansion

In the context of climate change and species invasions, range shifts increasingly gain attention because the rates at which they occur in the Anthropocene induce rapid changes in biological assemblages. During range shifts, species experience multiple selection pressures. For poleward expansions in particular, it is difficult to interpret observed evolutionary dynamics because of the joint action of evolutionary processes related to spatial selection and to adaptation toward local climatic conditions. To disentangle the effects of these two processes, we integrated stochastic modeling and data from a common garden experiment, using the spider mite Tetranychus urticae as a model species. By linking the empirical data with those derived form a highly parameterized individual-based model, we infer that both spatial selection and local adaptation contributed to the observed latitudinal life-history divergence. Spatial selection best described variation in dispersal behavior, while variation in development was best explained by adaptation to the local climate. Divergence in life-history traits in species shifting poleward could consequently be jointly determined by contemporary evolutionary dynamics resulting from adaptation to the environmental gradient and from spatial selection. The integration of modeling with common garden experiments provides a powerful tool to study the contribution of these evolutionary processes on life-history evolution during range expansion