Repeat Offending in Australian Populations: Profile of Engagement in Antisocial and Risk-Taking Behaviours Abstract Antisocial behaviour is described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as behaviours that demonstrate a disregard for or the violation of social norms. The age–crime curve model states that engagement in antisocial and risk-taking behaviours is prevalent during adolescence; however, further research is required to explore the applicability of this model for a selection of behaviours. A convenience sample (n = 393) was used to explore adult’s retrospective profiles of engagement using the Antisocial Engagement Questionnaire. The initial ages of engagement for 45 antisocial and risk-taking behaviours in an Australian sample were recorded (overall mean age = 17.01, SD = 2.51) and evidence for the age–crime curve model documented. Significant differences were found between the mean initial ages with antisocial behaviours occurring earlier than substance-related behaviours. Prevalence rates of engagement within the sample were also documented which were used to explore repeat offending and compared with previously recorded rates of engagement. As will be discussed, these findings are important for practitioners and researchers, in addition to informing the development of interventions, and the allocation of resources.

Emerging Adults’ Risk-Taking Behaviors: Personal and Social Predictors Abstract The purpose of the present study was to investigate associations between emerging adults’ perceptions of their peers’ involvement in risky behavior, ability to resist peer influence, self-efficacy beliefs to resist risk-taking behaviors and personal traits—sensation seeking and emotion regulation—, and frequency of involvement in risky sex, drugs, and alcohol. The 437 participants were diverse undergraduates from a large urban university. The results showed strong associations. Self-efficacy to resist risks and peer involvement in risks, each played a significant role in relations.

Using Mental Imagery to Manipulate the Future Time Perspective of Young Adults: Effects on Attentional Bias in Relation to Depressive Tendencies Abstract Socioemotional selectivity theory postulates that a person with an expansive future time perspective adopts positive and negative information equally to prepare for future events, whereas a person with a limited future time perspective favors selecting positive over negative information, which suggests an information processing bias. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine both whether future mental imagery can affect future time perspectives and whether attentional biases can be observed under manipulated future time perspective conditions. To control for depressive tendencies, which was assumed to affect the examination of attentional bias, 24 college students with high depressive tendencies [6 men, 18 women; mean age 18.46 years, standard deviation (SD) = 0.66] and 22 with low depressive tendencies (7 men, 15 women; mean age = 18.73 years, SD = 1.12) were recruited as participants and instructed to generate mental imagery about the long-term (short-term) future in order to achieve a limited (expansive) future time perspective condition. Attentional bias was then examined using an exogenous cueing task with long cue presentations. The effectiveness of the manipulation method used in this study was confirmed, and the results of the effects on attentional biases were analyzed. A significant difference in the difficulty of attentional disengagement from negative stimuli was observed among the participants with high depressive tendencies under the expansive future time perspective condition.

Personality Traits and Attachment Orientations: Longitudinal Associations Around the Event of Childbirth Abstract The current study examined the longitudinal associations of the Big Five personality traits (i.e., Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness) with attachment orientations (i.e., Anxiety and Avoidance) around the event of childbirth. For this purpose, the authors conducted a three-wave longitudinal research program (second prepartum trimester, 6 months postpartum, and 1 year postpartum) using cross-lagged models on 204 parental couples. The results showed that (a) Neuroticism was longitudinally associated with Anxiety and (b) Extraversion was associated within time points with Avoidance.

A Prediction Model for Separation Anxiety: The Role of Attachment Styles and Internalizing Symptoms in Italian Young Adults Abstract Following recent literature, which stresses the importance of broadening the conceptualization of mental functioning in youth, this paper investigated the relations between indicators of attachment styles, internalizing symptoms, and separation anxiety in 379 non-referred Italian university students, as captured by the relationship questionnaire, the experiences in close relationships-revised, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), and the adult separation anxiety-27. Psychometric properties of all measures were scrutinized and a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to support the soundness of a one-factor model representing indicators of all PAI internalizing symptoms: Anxiety, Anxiety-related disorders, Depression, Somatization, and Suicidal ideation. Then, a multivariate analysis was performed in order to test a model of relation linking attachment styles, internalizing symptoms, and separation anxiety scores. Results supported the mediation role of Internalizing symptoms in the association between preoccupied attachment and separation anxiety scores. Preoccupied attachment towards the romantic partner, as compared to attachment towards family and friends, played a more relevant role in predicting internalizing symptoms and separation anxiety scores. Findings corroborate the combined use of the over-mentioned indicators as a screening battery for the dimensional assessment of the interplay among these variables in young adults. Implications and limitations of the study are presented and discussed.

Study on the Relationship Among Perceived Emotionally Painful Events in Schools and Families, Self-esteem, and Health Problems of University Students in Taiwan Abstract This study treated 321 university students in Taiwan as the subjects, of which 59.8% are males and 40.2% are females. The investigation included a scale of the classmates’ emotionally painful events, a scale of the teachers’ emotionally painful events, a scale of the siblings’ emotionally painful events, a scale of the parents’ emotionally painful events, Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, and a scale of health problems. Using the structural equation model, this study conducted data analysis. The findings of this study recognized the kinds of emotionally painful events that could significantly predict university students’ self-esteem and health problems, and demonstrated that self-esteem could be a protective factor for the effects of emotionally painful events from classmates on health problems.

Developing a New Perspective in Late Life: The PATH Program Abstract Self-transcendence is a developmental process inherent in late life that shapes one’s perspective on self, others, the material world, and the spiritual or existential dimension. Self-transcendence has been associated with well-being, life satisfaction, coping, depression, self-care, and health-related quality of life, but few interventions designed to promote development of self-transcendence or explore its effects on community-dwelling older adults were identified. This paper reports qualitative results obtained as part of a mixed methods pilot study assessing the Psychoeducational Approach to Transcendence and Health (PATH) Program in 20 older women at two community senior centers. The PATH Program, an 8-week theory-based intervention, combines mindfulness exercises, group processes, and creative projects, reinforced by at-home practice, to create an experience that is meaningful, emotionally supportive, and cognitively stimulating. The specific aim was to evaluate participants’ experiences of the PATH Program and the meanings ascribed to those experiences. Findings indicated group members gained a new perspective on life and death, discovered personal meaning in past experiences, and found support for positive self-identities, with new options for self-care and personal growth. The study supported the structure and contents of the PATH Program and suggested it merits further testing. The PATH Program has the potential to be a practical and affordable intervention available for use in multiple settings where older adults gather such as retirement communities, faith-based groups, adult day centers, and assisted living facilities.

Parental Emotion Socialization and Adult Outcomes: The Relationships Between Parental Supportiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Trait Anxiety Abstract Despite the burgeoning interest in the relationships between parental emotion socialization practices, emotion regulation (ER), and anxiety in youth, there is considerably less research focusing on the ways in which parental emotion socialization in childhood is associated with these variables in adulthood. A sample of 202 university students completed an online survey, which aimed to examine the relationships between retrospective reports of parental emotion socialization strategies in childhood, ER in adulthood, and trait anxiety. Adult perceptions of their parents’ use of unsupportive emotion socialization strategies in childhood was related to lower levels of ER skills and greater use of maladaptive ER strategies in adulthood, while perceptions of parents’ use of supportive strategies were related to higher levels of ER skills and greater use of adaptive ER strategies. Together, adult perceptions of unsupportive parental emotion socialization strategies in childhood and their ER skills and ER strategy use in adulthood predicted trait anxiety.

Profiling Reminiscers: Using a Self-Report Measure of Frequency and Functions of Reminiscence to Identify Individual Patterns of Retrieval Abstract Reminiscence, a specific form of autobiographical memory that aids in the development of a sense of self, serves several functions. The current study extends the literature on reminiscence (between-group differences in reminiscence functions) by examining the heterogeneity of reminiscence to identify patterns of reminiscence using person-centered statistics. The study utilized data collected by Webster and colleagues comprised of 907 participants ranging in age from 17 to 88 years. Latent profile analysis and finite mixture modeling were used to discern distinct profiles of the Reminiscence Functions Scale’s eight functions of reminiscence, age, and gender. A three-class solution fit the data best, indicating that three distinct profiles of reminiscing were present in the data. The Young-Adult Self-Negative reminiscing profile was characterized by the highest scores on the Bitterness Revival and Boredom Reduction factors. The Middle-Adult Self-Positive reminiscing profile had the lowest mean scores on all reminiscing factors among the three profiles, but was relatively high on Identity, Problem-Solving, Teach/Inform, and Conversation factors. The Older-Adult Self-Positive Pro-Social reminiscing profile was characterized by the highest scores on Death Preparation, Identity, Problem-Solving, Teach/Inform, and Conversation factors. This study contributes to our understanding of reminiscence by identifying distinct patterns of reminiscence functions and age and offering further support for the three higher-order factor structure of reminiscing.

Time Perspective and Risky Behaviors Among Nigerian Young Adults Abstract We examined time perspective and risky behaviors among Nigerian young adults. Time perspective was defined as thoughts and emotions toward the past, the present, and the future. Self-report measures assessed orientations and positive and negative feelings about each time period. Risky behaviors were assessed with a composite instrument that included various experiences including getting into trouble with the police and running away from home. Findings indicated that participants (a) had more positive than negative feelings about time periods, (b) thought more frequently about the present and the future than the past, (c) emphasized the present and the future equally, and (d) perceived either the present and the future to be related to one another and separated from the past or that all time periods were related to one another in a linear pattern. Results also showed that risky behaviors were associated with positive and negative feelings toward the present in theoretically expected directions.