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A survey of seven Canadian research granting agencies concerning weighting of criteria in applications for graduate student awards found undergraduate grades were heavily weighted. However, literature on early career indicators suggests this is not an effective predictor of future research productivity. Strategies for improving use of predictive criteria are suggested. (Author/MSE)

Objectives: To longitudinally describe prosocial behaviour development from childhood to adolescence, using multiple informants within Canadian and Italian samples. Method: Participants in Study 1 were 1037 boys from low socioeconomic status (SES) areas in Montreal, Canada, for whom yearly teacher and mother reports were obtained between the ages of 10 and 15. Participants in Study 2 were 472 children (209 girls) from Genzano, Italy, for whom yearly self and teacher reports were obtained between the ages of 10 and 14. Developmental trajectories were estimated from ratings by each informant to identify subgroups of children following distinct courses of prosocial development. Results: In Study 1, three trajectory groups (low/declining 53%, high/declining 16%, high/steep declining 31%) were identified from teacher ratings, while five trajectories (low/stable 7%, low/declining 19%, moderate/stable 41%, high/declining 24%, high/stable 9%) were identified from mother ratings. Small but significant associations were observed between mother and teacher ratings. In Study 2, three trajectory groups (low/stable 9%, moderate/stable 50%, high/stable 42%) were identified from self-ratings, while four trajectory groups (low/stable 8%, moderate/declining 48%, high/declining 37%, increasing 7%) were identified from teacher ratings. Small but significant associations were observed between self- and teacher ratings. Conclusions: The present studies investigated levels of prosocial behaviours from childhood to adolescence, using a multi-informant, cross-cultural perspective. All but one of the developmental trajectories identified were characterised by stable or declining levels of prosocial behaviours. Further research longitudinally investigating prosociality across developmental periods is needed to clarify prosocial behaviour development over time.

Of students who enroll in 4-year universities, 25% never finish. Precipitating causes of early departure include poor academic progress and lack of clear goals and motivation. In the present study, we investigated whether an intensive, online, written, goal-setting program for struggling students would have positive effects on academic achievement. Students (N = 85) experiencing academic difficulty were recruited to participate in a randomized, controlled intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 intervention groups: Half completed the goal-setting program, and half completed a control task with intervention-quality face validity. After a 4-month period, students who completed the goal-setting intervention displayed significant improvements in academic performance compared with the control group. The goal-setting program thus appears to be a quick, effective, and inexpensive intervention for struggling undergraduate students. Keywords: goal setting, university, academic achievement, student retention, intervention DOI: 10.1037/a0018478

Studies l and 2 assessed performance on a battery of dorsolateral prefrontal cognitive ability (D-PFCA) tests, personality, psychometric intelligence, and academic performance (AP) in 2 undergraduate samples. In Studies 1 and 2, AP was correlated with D-PFCA (r = .37, p < .01, and r = .33, p < .01, respectively), IQ (r = .24, p < .05, and r = .38, p < .01, respectively), and Conscientiousness (r = .26, p < .05, and r = .37, p < .01, respectively). D-PFCA remained significant in regression analyses controlling for intelligence (or g) and personality. Studies 3 and 4 assessed D-PFCA, personality, and workplace performance among (a) managerial-administrative workers and (b) factory floor workers at a manufacturing company. Prefrontal cognitive ability correlated with supervisor ratings of manager performance at values of r ranging from .42 to .57 (ps < .001), depending on experience, and with factory floor performance at pr = .21 (p = .02), after controlling for experience, age, and education. Conscientiousness correlated with factory floor performance at r = .23. Keywords: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, academic performance, job performance, personality, intelligence

Objective: Alcohol may have psychomotor stimulant properties during the rising limb of the blood alcohol curve at commonly self-administered doses. Increased heart rate (HR) immediately after alcohol consumption may serve [...]

The correlations between trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse disorders are analyzed. Potential pathways to PTSD-substance abuse comorbidity are considered including the onset of the disorders, patients' perceptions of drug effects and differences between PTSD patients with and without comorbid substance use disorders. The effects of alcohol and other drugs on PTSD are also examined.

Objective. A highly replicable research finding is that alcohol intoxication tends to induce aggressive responding. Recent research investigating the role of cognitive function in this relationship has shown that individuals who perform poorly on certain cognitive tasks have difficulty responding to contingencies to inhibit aggression, while high performers do not. High performers, however, do show increased aggression while intoxicated. This study investigated whether subjects with above average cognitive functioning would, when intoxicated, inhibit aggression in order to attain monetary reward. Method: Men (N = 43), aged 18-30, selected on the basis of high performance on a neuropsychological test putatively assessing function of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the spatial conditional associative learning task, participated in a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Task. Half the subjects were acutely alcohol intoxicated, the other half were sober. Furthermore, half the subjects in each of these groups received contingent monetary reward for choosing lower shocks. Aggression was defined as shock intensity delivered to a sham opponent. Results: Contrary to the hypothesis, intoxicated subjects, even though significantly impaired cognitively relative to their nonintoxicated peers (F = 4.29, 1/41 df, p [is less than] .05), appeared to have no difficulty inhibiting their aggression in order to gain monetary reward. That is, there was no difference between intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects on the dependent variable, shock intensity, when contingent money was available (F = .01, 1/20 df, p = .935). Conclusion: This finding provides further evidence that alcohol-induced aggression is not a uniform phenomenon, and it suggests a neuropsychological mechanism that may mediate the relationship. It may be that individuals with above average cognitive abilities retain sufficient residual functioning to inhibit aggressive responding, even when acutely alcohol intoxicated. (J. Stud. Alcohol 59: 599-607, 1998), Replicable research found alcohol intoxication tends to increase aggressive behavior. This research further found that individuals who perform well in cognitive tasks show more aggression when intoxicated, while poor performers do not. A further study of alcohol-related aggressiveness showed men between the ages of 18 and 31, when intoxicated, are able to inhibit their aggression to gain monetary reward., VIOLENCE is a serious problem in North America, with one of the most important situational determinants of aggression being alcohol intoxication (Baron and Richardson, 1994). Research has shown that more [...]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between paternal alcoholism paternal absence, and the development and stability of behavioral problems in boys, from kindergarten to the end of elementary school. Method: A sample of 642 boys originating from low socioeconomic status (SES) families was used. Paternal alcoholism was established using the Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test. Behavioral problems (opposition, hyperactivity, inattention, physical aggression and anxiety) were assessed by teachers' reports when the boys were 6 and 12 years old. Four groups of boys were created on the basis of paternal alcoholism (nonalcoholic, alcoholic) and family structure (intact families, nonintact/father-absent families). Results: Consistent with personality theories of alcholism, results showed that a propensity for physical aggression and low anxiety best distinguished sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) from non-SOMAs at both ages (6 and 12 years), even when SES was controlled. In addition, SOMAs were more oppositional and hyperactive than non-SOMAs at both ages. No significant effects were observed for family structure or age, or an interaction between these factors and paternal alcoholism in the multi-variate analysis. Conclusions: The results suggest that problem behaviors in SOMAs begin early and persist over time, and that paternal alcoholism and family structure are not associated with changes in boys' behaviors between kindergarten and the end of elementary school in this population, at least in the sample used. (J Stud Alcohol 59: 387-398, 1998), Boys between the ages of 6 and 12 were more physically aggressive and hyperactive if their fathers were alcoholics. There was also no significant effects due to family structure, father absenteeism or age. Sons of male alcoholics, regardless of socio-economic status, exhibit aggressive behavior between kindergarten and elementary school. These persist over time., Parental alcoholism has been associated repeatedly with an elevated risk of negative outcomes in the offspring (Chassin et al., 1991; Reich et al., 1993; Sher, 1991; West and Prinz, 1987). [...]

The relationship of heart rate regulation to anxiety and to antisocial behaviors in adolescent boys was studied. Heart rate and respiratory activity of subjects over 4-6 years were gathered with yearly intervals. Antisocial behavior was found related to reduced levels of heart rate, while, anxiety accounts for level enhancement. Anxiety was also observed to enhance sympathetic mediation of phasic postural effect on heart rate and affect the automatically mediated components of heart rate variability from postural and respiratory sources.