This study investigated to what extent, and under what circumstances, pair collaboration influences the realism in eyewitness confidence in event memory. The participants first saw a short film clip and then confidence rated their answers to questions on its content. A condition (the Individual–Pair condition) where individual effort preceded pair collaboration showed better calibration compared with a condition (the Simple Pair condition) where no individual effort took place. Furthermore, within the Individual–Pair condition, better calibration, and lower overconfidence, were found in the pair phase compared with the individual phase. The eyewitnesses in the Individual–Pair condition made more realistic judgements of the total number of questions answered correctly. In a control experiment no effect on realism in confidence was found when individuals performed the same task twice. The improved realism in the Individual–Pair condition may partly be explained in terms of the increased accuracy and lowered confidence found for such items where the pair members’ had given different answers in the individual phase, and by a risky shift effect for such items where they had given the same answer.

Taking a social psychological approach to metacognitive judgments, this study analyzed the difference in realism (validity) in confidence and frequency judgments (i.e., estimates of overall accuracy) between one’s own and another person’s answers to general knowledge questions. Experiment 1 showed that when judging their own answers, compared with another’s answers, the participants exhibited higher overconfidence, better ability to discriminate correct from incorrect answers, lower accuracy, and lower confidence. However, the overconfidence effect could be attributable to the lowest level of confidence. Furthermore, when heeding additional information about another’s answers the participants showed higher confidence and better discrimination ability. The overconfidence effect of Experiment 1 was not found in Experiment 2. However, the results of Experiment 2 were consistent with Experiment 1 in terms of discrimination ability, confidence, and accuracy. Finally, in both experiments the participants gave lower frequency judgments of their own overall accuracy compared with their frequency judgments of another person’s overall accuracy.

This study examined age differences in phasic heart rate in response to neutral, negative and positive pictures. Heart rate changes and subjective ratings were analyzed in 22 middle-aged (40-55 years) and 30 older (56-78 years) participants. The effects of valence on the HR pattern across time were similar to that obtained by Bradley and co-workers. Conversely to previous studies, we did not report any age-related reduction in cardiac reactivity. Instead, when viewing positive pictures, the triphasic wave form appeared in the group of older adults, but for younger participants, it was replaced by a sustained deceleration. These results were interpreted in the light of the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att se om det förekommer stereotypiska bilder av värderingar hos människor som anser sig höra till höger respektive vänster på den politiska skalan i Sverige. Studien har genomförts som en experimentell inomgruppsdesign där fokus legat på fyra  enligt psykologisk teori olika grundvärderingar som anses stå i motsats till varandra - selftranscendence och selfenhancement samt normativism och humanism. I Sverige finns ingen tidigare forskning på området, men forskning som utförts i andra länder indikerar att politiska opponenter utvecklar stereotypiska bilder av varandra och att detta kan påverka förhandlingar samt eventuellt också leda till överdrivna konflikter dem emellan. Den aktuella studien utgjordes av personer som skattar sig själva att höra till vänster (N=92) respektive höger (N=42) på den svenska politiska skalan. Resultatet visade att det skiljer sig markant i hur deltagare generellt skattade typiska personer som röstar antingen åt vänster eller höger inom den svenska politiken vad gäller deras grundvärderingar och slutsatsen kunde därför dras att det existerar stereotypiska värderingsbilder för de olika ändarna på den svenska höger- och vänsterskalan. Personer som själva skattar sig höra till vänster inom den svenska politiken visade sig också ha en tendens att i något högre grad utveckla stereotypiska värderingsbilder än personer som skattar sig till höger. För vidare forskning föreslås att jämföra stereotypiska värderingsbilder med verkliga värderingsskillnader mellan människor som skattar sig höra till höger respektive vänster för att kunna dra bättre slutsatser kring vilken påverkan dessa skulle kunna ha vad gäller konflikter inom politiken.

Including vulnerable groups of students such as students with learning disabilities in mainstream school research, require ethical considerations and questionnaire adaptation. These students are often excluded, due to low understanding or methodologies generating inadequate data. Students with disability need be studied as a separate group and provided accessible questionnaires. This pilot study aims at developing and evaluating student self-reported measures, rating aspects of student experiences of school-based Physical Education (PE). Instrument design, reliability and validity were examined in Swedish secondary school students (n = 47) including students, aged 13, with intellectual disability (n = 5) and without impairment and test–retested on 28 of these students. Psychometric results from the small pilot-study sample were confirmed in analyses based on replies from the first wave of data collection in the main study (n = 450). Results show adequate internal consistency, factor structure and relations between measures. In conclusion, reliability and validity were satisfactory in scales to measure self-efficacy in general, in PE, and aptitude to participate. Adapting proxy ratings for functioning into self-reports indicated problems. Adequacy of adjustments made were confirmed and a dichotomous scale for typical/atypical function is suggested for further analyses.

School bullying is a complex social and relational phenomenon with severe consequences for those involved. Most children view bullying as wrong and recognize its harmful consequences; nevertheless, it continues to be a persistent problem within schools. Previous research has shown that children's engagement in bullying perpetration can be influenced by multiple factors (e.g., different forms of cognitive distortions) and at different ecological levels (e.g., child, peer-group, school, and society). However, the complexity of school bullying warrants further investigation of the interplay between factors, at different levels. Grounded in social cognitive theory, which focuses on both cognitive factors and social processes, this study examined whether children's bullying perpetration was associated with moral disengagement at the child level and with collective moral disengagement and prevalence of pro-bullying behavior at the classroom level. Cross-level interactions were also tested to examine the effects of classroom-level variables on the association between children's tendency to morally disengage and bullying perpetration. The study's analyses were based on cross-sectional self-report questionnaire data from 1,577 Swedish fifth-grade children from 105 classrooms (53.5% girls; M_age = 11.3, SD = 0.3). Multilevel modeling techniques were used to analyze the data. The results showed that bullying perpetration was positively associated with moral disengagement at the child level and with collective moral disengagement and pro-bullying behavior at the classroom level. Furthermore, the effect of individual moral disengagement on bullying was stronger for children in classrooms with higher levels of pro-bullying behaviors. These findings further support the argument that both moral processes and behaviors within classrooms, such as collective moral disengagement and pro-bullying behavior, need to be addressed in schools' preventive work against bullying.

This study examined the links between seven specific mechanisms of moral disengagement and indirect bullying, direct bullying, and pro-aggressive bystander behavior. In addition, the moderating role of gender on these associations was examined. Participants were 317 Swedish students in Grades 4 to 8 (M_age=12.6, SD = 1.35; 62% girls). Multivariate multiple regression analyses showed that indirect bullying was predicted by gender and victim attribution. Direct bullying was predicted by moral justification, and for girls, by victim attribution. Pro-aggressive bystander behavior was predicted by diffusion of responsibility, victim attribution, gender, and age. That is, boys and younger students were more prone to take the aggressor’s side compared with girls and older students. Furthermore, the relation between pro-aggressive bystander behavior and distortion of consequences appeared stronger in boys than in girls. These results highlight the relative importance of specific moral disengagement mechanisms and may have implications for interventions targeting bullying.

This three-year longitudinal study examined both within- and between-person effects of moral disengagement on verbal bullying perpetration in early adolescence. Data came from the first four waves (T1-T4, Grades 4 to 7) of an ongoing longitudinal project examining social and moral correlates of bullying in Swedish schools. Participants included 2432 Swedish early adolescents (52% girls; M_age at T1 = 10.55 years). Students completed self-report measures of verbal bullying perpetration and moral disengagement. Results of a multilevel growth model showed that verbal bullying increased over time (regression coefficient for Grade was b = 0.04, SE = 0.01, p < .001). Additionally, the verbal bullying trajectories of participants with higher average levels of MD were higher (regression coefficient for MD¯ was b = 0.28, SE = 0.02, p < .001) and steeper (regression coefficient for the Grade ×MD¯ interaction was b = 0.02, SE = 0.01, p = .018), indicating that these students scored higher on verbal bullying in general and increased more in verbal bullying over time, compared to students with lower levels of average MD. Variations around one's own mean of MD over time was also significantly associated with concurrent changes in verbal bullying (regression coefficient for time-varying MD was b = 0.21, SE = 0.01, p < .001).

The distinction between semantic and episodic memory is discussed on the basis of an empirical study focusing on mental representations and autobiographical memory. The notion of episodic memory is called in question. An alternative model is proposed which is grounded in whether the memory is refering to the self or not, and if a phenomenal reliving experience is activated or not. In the proposed model autobiographical memory and semantic memory are partly overlapping but the recollective memory is regarded to be a "natural kind" and consequently secluded. Everything a person knows and remembers has its origin in experiences. If the experiences are emotionally significant for the self they will fill a different function for the individual than they will if they are emotionally neutral. This is the crucial point for whether the memory of an experience will become a semantic memory or an autobiographical memory.

Via semantisk analys har förekomst och variation av KRAFTmetaforer i två olika typer av texter jämförts. Hypotesen är att kognitiva neurala nätverk som ansvarar för den abstrakta tanken är tätt sammanbundna med kognitiva neurala nätverk som representerar känsloerfarenhet baserat på sensoriska upplevelser. Analysen utfördes på två olika typer av texter. Resultatet visar på signifikant skillnad i förekomsten av antalet metaforer i de olika texterna. Ett antagande för undersökningen var att självbiografiska texter är mer förankrade i känsloerfarenhet baserat på sensoriska upplevelser än vad argumenterande texter är. Resultatet visar dock att de argumenterande texterna innehåller ett större antal metaforer än de självbiografiska texterna, vilket står i strid med hypotesen. Två tolkningar av resultatet är därför möjliga. 1) Sensoriska upplevelser har inget med förekomst av KRAFTmetaforer att göra. 2) Argumenterande texter visar mer eller kan visa mer känsloerfarenhet baserat på sensoriska upplevelser än självbiografiska texter. I resultaten finns belägg som stödjer den teoretiska referensramen för hur abstrakt tänkande uppstår samt hur abstrakt betydelse uppstår dvs som ett resultat av sensoriska erfarenheter baserat på kroppsliga upplevelser som kan spåras i språket genom metaforiska processer. De slutsatser man kan dra utifrån resultaten i denna undersökning stödjer hypotesen att det neurala nätverk som ansvarar för den abstrakta tanken är tätt sammanbundet med det neurala nätverk som representerar sensorisk erfarenhet baserat på kroppsliga upplevelser

The aim of the study was to investigate the relation between the phenomenological quality of memory (Tulving, 1985) and the realism (validity) in confidence judgement when using emotional pictures (I.A.P.S; Lang, Ohman, & Vaitl, 1988). A series of three experiments was completed where the participants judged the phenomenological quality of their memory and/or their confidence. The results showed facilitation for the negative pictures in a matrix search task in the encoding phase, where negative pictures were more easily and quickly detected, compared to positive ones. In the memory phase of the experiments a higher degree of recollective experience (a larger proportion of 'remember' responses) was found for negative pictures. A higher level of confidence for recognition of negative pictures than for positive ones was obtained, but no general valence dependent effect on the realism in the confidence judgement was found. However, when analysing only the remember responses, negative pictures showed higher overconfidence than the positive pictures. The results support that a recollective experience induces higher confidence and overconfidence. 

Groove-based rhythm is a basic and much appreciated feature of Western popular music. It is commonly associated with dance, movement and pleasure and is characterized by the repetition of a basic rhythmic pattern. At various points in the musical course, drum breaks occur, representing a change compared to the repeated pattern of the groove. In the present experiment, we investigated the brain response to such drum breaks in a repetitive groove. Participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while listening to a previously unheard naturalistic groove with drum breaks at uneven intervals. The rhythmic pattern and the timing of its different parts as performed were the only aspects that changed from the repetitive sections to the breaks. Differences in blood oxygen level-dependent activation were analyzed. In contrast to the repetitive parts, the drum breaks activated the left cerebellum, the right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG), and the superior temporal gyri (STG) bilaterally. A tapping test using the same stimulus showed an increase in the standard deviation of inter-tap-intervals in the breaks versus the repetitive parts, indicating extra challenges for auditory-motor integration in the drum breaks. Both the RIFG and STG have been associated with structural irregularity and increase in musical-syntactical complexity in several earlier studies, whereas the left cerebellum is known to play a part in timing. Together these areas may be recruited in the breaks due to a prediction error process whereby the internal model is being updated. This concurs with previous research suggesting a network for predictive feed-forward control that comprises the cerebellum and the cortical areas that were activated in the breaks.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the recovery of brain function after moderate hypoglycaemla in normal man. Hypoglycaemia was induced by an intravenous infusion of insulin (2.5 mU/kg) in seven healthy right-handed men aged 25.4+1.1 years (Mean • SD). The brain function was evaluated with P300-amplitude after auditory stimulus, reaction time measurements and EEG before, during (2.4+0.44 mmol/l for 70 min) and three times in the recovery period following hypoglycaemia. Hypoglycaemia caused a reduction in the P300-amplitude, a prolongation in reaction time and minor changes in the EEG-activity. 15 min after normalisation of the blood glucose level, the P300-amplitude was lower than during hypoglycaemia and still 1,5 hrs after normalisation of the blood glucose level, there was a marked reduction in the P3OO-amplitude. 4 hrs after normalisation of the blood glucose, the P300-amplitude was restituted. The reaction time was shorter 15 min after normalisation of the blood glucose compared to hypoglycaemia, but was not nermalised until 1,5 hrs after of recovery following hypoglycaemia. The EEG-changes were normalised 15 min after hypoglycaemia.

We conclude that moderate hypglycaemia causes marked effects in P300 and reaction time and that brain function measured as P300 is not restored after 1,5 hrs but at 4 hrs after normalisation of hypoglycaemia.

Two recent studies have challenged the well-established belief that offending behaviors are inversely related to the personality trait of conscientiousness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore prisoners’ levels of traits according to the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality compared to control groups, with a focus on conscientiousness. Two separate samples of inmates in Swedish high-security prisons were investigated in three studies. Inmates and non-inmates completed a Swedish-language translation of Goldberg’s (1999) International Personality Item Pool questionnaire (IPIP-NEO, Bäckström, 2007). Male inmates (n = 46) in Studies 1 and 2 scored higher on conscientiousness than non-inmates (norm data based on approximately 800 males, and a students’ sample), which conflicts with previous results. Study 3 further explored the conscientiousness differences on the facet level. Male and female inmates (n = 131) scored higher on order and self-discipline (even after an adjustment for social desirability) than students (n = 136). In conjunction with previous findings, these differences are interpreted as being either temporal or enduring adjustments to the prison environment. It is suggested that researchers and clinical teams should cautiously interpret the FFM factor of conscientiousness (and its facets) when planning the further treatment of inmates.

Bakgrund Individer med psykiska sjukdomar är ett vanligt förekommande patientklientel på somatiska vårdavdelningar. Att vårda dessa individer kräver ofta mycket arbete och fokus från allmänsjuksköterskan. Syftet var att belysa vad som kan ligga till grund för sjuksköterskors attityder till vårdandet av patienter med psykiska sjukdomar i somatiska vårdmiljöer. Metod Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie, på ett systematiskt vis, baserad på data från tolv vetenskapliga studier. Vetenskaplig litteratur inom området söktes upp, granskades, analyserades och sammanställdes. Resultat Sjuksköterskans attityder visade sig främst vara kopplade till dennes vård- och arbetsmiljö, sjuksköterskeutbildningen och den tillgång till stöd som sjuksköterskan upplevde samt hennes tidigare erfarenheter.  Resultatet presenteras utifrån tre kategorier: Vårdmiljöns betydelse för sjuksköterskans attityder, Utbildningens och kunskapens betydelse för sjuksköterskans attityder samt Erfarenhetens betydelse för sjuksköterskans attityder. Diskussion De mest centrala fynden diskuteras utifrån resultatets tre kategorier. Om sjuksköterskeutbildningar utökade kursutbudet inom psykiatrisk omvårdnad och om möjlighet till bättre stöd och kontinuerlig utbildning, blev tillgänglig för personal på somatiska vårdavdelningar, skulle detta förmodligen förändra den negativa inställning som många sjuksköterskor har till vårdandet av psykiskt sjuka patienter. Det skulle också skapas bättre förutsättningar för sjuksköterskor att kunna bistå med en bättre vård. Det har utförts relativt lite forskning inom området, ytterligare forskning är önskvärd.

With a sample of 430 participants this study aimed to investigate if the relationship between the individual’s moral foundations and prejudice attitudes is moderated by the individual’s attitude towards ambiguity, understood as the factors discomfort with ambiguity, moral absolutism and need for complexity. To create a measurement for prejudice attitudes an exploratory factor analysis was performed on the participants positive or negative affective attitude responses towards 21 different social groups and categories. The analysis replicated earlier findings and showed the presence of 3 prejudice factors: derogated-, dangerous- and dissidient groups. To test the main hypothesis 6 multiple regressions controlling for age was performed. The result showed no presence of a moderation effect but there was support for several main effects. Overall the prediction effect for prejudice attitudes was stronger for binding foundations than the individuals attitude towards ambiguity. Binding foundations predicted more prejudice attitudes regardless of type of prejudice but the effect was strongest for prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Moral absolutism predicted prejudice attitudes towards dissident- and derogated groups. Need for complexity predicted more prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. Discomfort with ambiguity predicted less prejudice attitudes towards dissident groups. In comparison moral absolutism showed the strongest prediction effect of the ambiguity factors in predicting attitudes towards dissident groups. Age showed signs of a main effect in that older individuals tended to be more tolerant towards derogated- and dissident groups. Limitations and suggestions for further research is also discussed. 

Psychopathic traits can have negative consequences such as antisocial behaviour and low empathy. In order to be able to prevent it, research has looked at various reasons why such traits develop. Among other things, they have looked at whether insecure attachment styles have a connection with psychopathic traits.

In this study, 102 people participated in a convenience sample. Of those who responded, 83.3% were women and the rest were men, most were in the age groups between 41–64 years.

This study showed a weak association between insecure-avoidant attachment style and psychopathic traits. Other studies have been done with other sample groups with problems such as psychiatric diagnosis and crime. Probably the result would have been different with a different selection. The tendency, however, is that there is a connection between insecure-avoidant attachment style and psychopathic traits. 

Previous research has shown that about 30% of adolescent girls and 15% of adolescent boys suffer from disordered eating (DE) which can be defined as problematic eating below criteria for eating disorders according to DSM-V (Hautala et al., 2008; Herpertz-Dahlman et al., 2008). Even sub-clinical unhealthy weight-control behaviors have predicted outcomes related to obesity and eating disorders five years later (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2006). However, two issues question the validity of DE. First, in contrast to eating disorders, under- or overweight/obesity are not necessary parts of DE. Second, some symptoms and correlates of DE are similar to those of depression. E.g., parent-adolescent relationships seem to play an important role in explaining both DE (Hautala et al., 2011; Berge et al., 2010) and internalizing problems (Soenens et al., 2012). Thus, this study examined associations between DE and a wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems, parent-adolescent relationship characteristics, and food intake and sleep habits in a general population of adolescents. Comparing results with and without controlling for depression reveals whether DE is a specific problem or merely a depressive symptom. This study also explored whether DE and the other variables under study are associated independently of weight status (underweight, overweight/obesity, and normal weight), specific to under- or overweight, or spurious if taking weight status into account.

The study is based on the first wave of an on-going longitudinal study, and all measures are child-reported (N=1,281). Adolescents attending grades 7 to 10 in a Southern Swedish municipality (age 12.5 to 19.3, M = 15.2, SD = 1.2) filled out questionnaires in class.  DE was measured using the SCOFF, a five-item screening scale validated for use in general populations (e.g. Muro-Sans et al., 2008; Noma et al., 2006).

The results of univariate ANOVAs indicate that associations with DE were largely independent of weight status. Moreover, most associations with disordered eating were spurious when controlling for depression. However, some associations remained. Above and beyond depression effects, adolescents with DE reported lower self-esteem, stronger feelings of being over-controlled by their parents and active withholding of information towards them, consumption of fewer meals during the week, and higher levels of daytime sleepiness. Boys with ED slept more hours during the week and ate more fruits and vegetables than boys without ED. In conclusion, despite an overlap between depressive symptoms and disordered eating, this study provides ample evidence that sleep, nutrition habits, self-esteem, and parental control issues distinguish eating disordered adolescents from those suffering from general depressive symptoms.

Uppsatsens övergripande syfte är att få en ökad kunskap om medievåld och dess exponering. En webbaserad enkät har använts där människor av alla åldrar och kön deltagit i studien. Yngsta deltagaren var 18 år och äldsta 61 år gammal. 64 kvinnor och 45 män deltog. Huvudresultat efter ett t-test och en två-vägs ANOVA visade på att det inte fanns några huvudeffekter med skillnader i empati relaterade till kön eller hög respektive låg medieexponering i just dagspress. Däremot visade det sig det fanns en signifikant interaktion där kön tillsammans med hög och låg exponering av medievåld, hade en effekt på empati. Kvinnor som exponerades mer av våldsrelaterad media i dagspress visade sig ha en högre empatisk förmåga än män. Analys av skönlitteratur och hur empati, relaterat till kön och våldsexponering, visade att kvinnor i denna studie hade tendens till en högre empati än män. De ytterligare tre exponeringsvariablerna: facklitteratur, film och TV-spel, visade inga indikeringar för interaktionseffekter men visade sig däremot ha signifikanta huvudeffekter mellan könen. Självkänsla som beroende variabel visade sig att inte variera på grund av de beroende variablerna kön eller hög- samt låg medieexponering (likt ovanstående) och gav inga signifikanta resultat.

 The present study aimed to research links between autistic traits and creativity in the average adult population. The sample consisted of 108 adults,​ 60 females, 48 males, age 18-66 (M=34,90; SD=10,85), from 20 different social media pages who participated in the study through self-report questionnaires about autistic traits and creativity. The result shows that the autistic traits of difficulties in imagination and difficulties in social skills has associations with difficulties in creativity, while the autistic trait of attention to detail has associations with benefits in creativity. The creativity domains, differences between men and women and the method of self-report are discussed.

The major part of the existing research on psychological effects on participating in war or residing in a war zone shows negative effects on the person’s mental health. However not all research, from an international perspective, shows the same results. Since we haven’t found any research regarding Swedish conditions and there has been a recent implementation of a decision from the Supreme Commander regarding commanded international service for all staff within the Swedish armed forces, the question has now become more relevant. This essay intends to examine how the direct contacts with warring counterparts have contributed to a change in Swedish soldier’s perception of their own aggression levels. High levels of aggression may be included in various types of mental illness, particularly in post-traumatic stress. Furthermore, perceived aggression levels in relation to involvement in direct fighting and combat exposure is investigated. The result demonstrates a clear increase in perceived aggression levels after the intervention, albeit from low levels. There was also an increase in perceived aggression in relation to the degree of personal combat exposure.

Denna kvantitativa studie undersökte om det var möjligt att kategorisera mordbrännares aggression som instrumentell eller reaktiv utifrån Cornells (1996) kodningsguide. Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien var att tillföra en förståelse om hur teorin gällande reaktivt och instrumentell aggression kan tillämpas när det gäller mordbrännare, och därmed även förhoppningsvis utöka användningsområdet för teorin. Studien bygger på 87 fällande domar från Sveriges hovrätter där gärningspersonerna blivit dömda för försök till mordbrand, mordbrand alternativt till grov mordbrand mellan år 2017-2018 från två av hovrätterna och mellan 2016-2018 från fyra av hovrätterna. Domarna bedömdes av två oberoende bedömare, tillika författarna av denna studie. Med en hög interbedömarreliabilitet visade resultatet av undersökningen att det var möjligt att skilja reaktiva gärningspersoner från instrumentella. Variablerna planering och målinriktning förekom i större utsträckning hos de gärningspersoner som klassades som instrumentella, medan variablerna provokation och känslomässig upphetsning oftare förekom hos reaktiva gärningspersoner. Sambanden mellan variablerna omfattning, relation samt ställning i skuldfrågan och typ av aggression var däremot ej signifikanta. Vidare implikationer av studien visar ett utökat användningsområde för Cornells (1996) kodningsguide, men att det finns skäl till att kritisera den dikotoma klassificeringen. Ett alternativ kan vara att utöka klassificeringen, alternativt att för just mordbrännare använda sig av Canter och Fritzons (1998) kodningsguide som är speciellt framtagen för mordbrännare, men har vissa likheter med Cornells (1996).

Every day we take in large amounts of information from the external world, and we also synthesize representations of things or situations that we have not perceived through our senses. The ability to distinguish between a memory that contains representations from external world and a memory representing an imagined picture is necessary to make sense of the surroundings. This process is called reality monitoring. In the present study we aimed to confirm the existence of the reality monitoring network as reported by previous studies. Further, we wanted to extend these findings by investigating the effect of stimuli aversiveness on the reality monitoring processes and its neural correlates. 

Twenty-five subjects were included in the study after passing a somatic and psychiatric health screening. The subjects first completed an encoding task of 80 trials outside the scanner. Small descriptions of either an object or a situation (two or three word sentences) were presented on a computer screen. Immediately after the description was shown, a frame that was either empty or containing a picture related to the description was shown for three seconds. The subjects were instructed to look at the picture in the frame or imagine a relevant picture when the frame was empty. The subjects were then instructed to consider whether the pictures were “Unpleasant” or “Not unpleasant” by choosing between the two alternatives on the computer screen. A retrieval task was carried out as Blood-Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) fMRI data was collected. During this task the participants were presented with small descriptions that were either presented during the encoding task or they were new. The subjects were to decide whether they previously had viewed a picture associated with the description (a V trial), whether they had imagined a picture associated with the description (an I trial) or whether the description was entirely new (an N trial). The subjects completed a total of 140 randomly presented trials during two runs (20 trials of each category and 20 baseline trials). T2*-weighted functional MRI images were collected on a 3T General Electrics Signa HDx scanner. Data were analysed using SPM8.

Overall, most of the trials were considered neutral, and this was true within both the I and the V conditions. Fewer I trials than V trials were considered aversive. The response times were longer in I compared to the V for the aversive trials, and there was a trend for the same effect for the neutral trials. There were no significant differences in response time between neutral and aversive trial. The analysis of the retrieval task behavioural data revealed a higher accuracy rate for aversive trials in the I than the V, while there was no effect for neutral trials. An ANOVA for the corresponding response times showed a main effect of source of encoding where responses were shorter in V than I trials. In paired tests this difference was significant for neutral trials. Paired tests of emotional content within source showed a difference between aversive and neutral trials for I. Successful retrieval and discrimination between sources of encoding generated activations in the left posterior precuneus. Activations of the anterior cingulate were also present. An effect of stimuli aversiveness on brain activation was present in mediolateral prefrontal cortex and the precuneus, indicating a stronger effort of these regions during retrieval of source memory linked to aversive stimuli.

In summary, activation patterns in reality monitoring networks were replicated from earlier studies. Further, the results suggest that activations in overlapping networks are increased for aversive stimuli compared to neutral stimuli.

In this paper the concept of incentive motivational salience is briefly described, pioneering studies on the subject of the mesolimbic motivational system are reviewed, and studies we have been involved in conducting which elaborate on this subject are discussed. In particular, we aim to show that the mesolimbic motivational system is recruited as a reaction to primary and secondary reinforcers as a function of salience, that is independent of valence. Furthermore, studies showing that both psychological and pharmacological interventions can affect the function of the mesolimbic motivational system and how its' dysfunction is related to psychopathological phenomena with an emphasis on psychosis are discussed.

The present study investigated differences in judgments of one’s own and others’ knowledge (the own-other difference). Consistent with the below-average effect (e.g., Kruger, 1999), our main results showed that the participants gave lower knowledge ratings of their own extent of knowledge than of another person’s extent of knowledge (Experiment 1). Furthermore, lower and more realistic judgments were found when the participants judged their own as compared with when judging another person’s overall accuracy (frequency judgments) of answering knowledge questions correctly (Experiment 1 and 2). On the basis of these results it is argued that judgmental anchoring may be important also in the context of indirect comparisons, and that previous conclusions of cross-cultural psychology regarding the above-average effect may be oversimplified.

The study of complex social networks is an inherently interdisciplinary research area with applications across many fields, including psychology. Social network models describe, illustrate and explain how people are connected to each other and can, for example, be used to study information spread and interconnectedness of people with different kinds of traits. One approach to social network modelling, originating mainly in the physics literature, is to generate targeted kinds of social networks using models with specialized mechanisms while analyzing and deriving features of the models. Surprisingly though, and despite the popularity of this approach, there is no available functionality for generating a wide variety of social networks from these models. Thus, researchers are left to implement and specify these models themselves, restricting the applicability of these models. In this article, I provide a set of Matlab functions enabling the generation of artificial social networks from 22 different network models, most of them explicitly designed to capture features of social networks. Many of these models originate in the physics literature and may therefore not be familiar to psychological researchers. I also provide an illustration of how these models can be evaluated in terms of a simulated model comparison approach and how they can be applied to psychological research. With the already existing network functionality available in Matlab and other languages, this should provide a useful extension to researchers.

Much of cognitive psychology is premised on the distinction between automatic and intentional processes, but the distinction often remains vague in practice and alternative explanations are often not followed through. For example, Hendricks, Conway and Kellogg (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39, 491–1500, 2013) found that dual tasks at training versus at test dissociated performance in two different artificial grammar learning tasks. This was taken as evidence for underlying automatic and intentional processes. In this article, a different explanation is considered based on test learning and similarity, where participants are assumed to update their knowledge at test. Contrasting formal memory models of test learning are implemented, and it is concluded that the models account for the relevant dissociations without assuming a distinction between automatic and intentional processes.

Artificial grammar learning (AGL) has been used extensively to study implicit learning. In this task participants first observe letter sequences generated by a grammar. In a later test phase participants are asked to distinguish new grammatical and ungrammatical sequences. Participants are able to do this, both when the letters instantiating the grammar remain the same (standard AGL) and when the letters are changed between training and test (transfer AGL).

Virtually all models of AGL assume that there is no learning during the test phase. Yet, test learning can occur in AGL and the structural constraints of a grammar can imply useful cues at test as well as at training. For example, grammatical test sequences are often more similar to each other than are ungrammatical test sequences to each other. Similarity to test sequences observed so far can then be used as a cue for classification.

In the current research I used an episodic memory model, Minerva II, in order to simulate a recent study by Hendricks et al. (2013). They found that for standard AGL performing dual tasks at test was more detrimental to performance than dual tasks at training. For transfer AGL performing dual tasks at training reduced performance as much as dual tasks at test. The authors interpreted these results as revealing automatic vs. intentional process in AGL: transfer AGL requires intentional processes at both training and test, whereas standard AGL requires intentional processes at test but only automatic processes at training.

I modelled these experiments using a version of Minerva II extended to learn at test. The model encodes sequences probabilistically into memory based on a learning rate at both training and test. Each test sequence is classified based on the similarity to sequences encoded in memory so far, so that test sequences also influence classification. The model does not distinguish between automatic and intentional processes. The learning rate at training was varied independently of the learning rate at test in order to simulate dual task manipulations in different phases of the task. In order to model transfer AGL I used a simple repetition coding scheme in Minerva II.

For standard AGL the simulations revealed that learning rate at test had a much greater impact on classification than learning rate at training in Minerva II.  In contrast, for transfer AGL the effects of changing learning rates at training was the same as changing learning rate during test. In essence, the empirical data may not reveal automatic vs. intentional processes, but simply effects of a single similarity process. The simulation results and the notion of test learning invites useful avenues for further computational and empirical research in order to establish the processes involved in implicit learning. 

Meningsfullt liv är idag ett etablerat forskningsämne inom psykologin. Nyligen har det uppstått viss konsensus om att begreppet meningsfullt liv är multidimensionellt och främst består av dimensionerna förståelse (en slags känsla av sammanhang), syfte (innehav av viktiga livsmål) och betydelse (upplevelsen att ens existens är av värde). Den aktuella studien hade som syfte att undersöka vilka samband som finns mellan dessa dimensioner och variablerna tacksamhet, självbildsklarhet, optimism, ensamhet och livstillfredsställelse. Tidigare forskning har funnit signifikanta samband, men då har främst endimensionella meningstest använts. En hypotes i den aktuella studien var att det skulle uppstå signifikanta samband även med användande av ett multidimensionellt mätinstrument bestående av nyss nämnda tre dimensioner. En annan hypotes var att studien vid multipla regressionsanalyser skulle upptäcka minst något fall där en meningsdimension är särskilt framträdande när det gäller att predicera ett visst utfall. Hypoteserna testades genom en enkätundersökning som främst hade universitetsstudenter som deltagare. Sammanlagt deltog 191 personer i studien. Den första hypotesen fick entydigt stöd. Angående den andra hypotesen uppstod fall där inte alla tre meningsdimensioner samtidigt unikt kunde predicera ett visst utfall. När utfallet var ensamhet visade det sig att alla tre meningsdimensioner kunde predicera detta utfall ungefär likvärdigt. Men när utfallet var exempelvis självbildsklarhet visade det sig att det främst var förståelse som kunde predicera detta utfall och i viss mån betydelse, men däremot inte syfte. Uppsatsens slutsats är därmed att det verkar finnas åtminstone vissa fall då det kan vara relevant att göra åtskillnad mellan olika meningsdimensioner och inte mäta begreppet meningsfullt liv enbart endimensionellt.

Negative stress affects our physical and psychological health. How we perceive our general stress affects our experience of work and situations therein. The things that are perceived as stressful vary among individuals and how we deal with our perceived stress also varies. The purpose of this study was to clarify to what extent our general perceived stress-level inter-acted with the sense of coherence in our experience of work and situations at work. Another purpose was to examine how the interaction were affected by age. Lastly, the purpose was to see if there is any differences between genders. Men and women (N=171) working 100 % in the last month participated in my study.

To collect the data, I used Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC) and Work Experience Measurement Scale (WEMS) in conjunction with question each participant´s background. The multiple regression analysis showed that PSS was the strongest predictor variable on experience of work and situations at work (B = -1.22, p< .001). SOC had a smaller relationship (B = 0.35, p< .01). Gender (B = -1.70, p = .717) and age (B = -0.22, p = .430) was not found to be significant. With the predictor variable SOC, the explained variance was 24.2% and when PSS was added to the model, the explained variance increased significantly to 28.4%.

Pictures and other visio-spatial signs with iconicity diverge in expression, and in how they operate on meaning. Like all signs, pictures are polysemous (Groupe µ 1992) and have several layers of meaning - such as being perceptual objects and signs, having pragmatic and contextual meanings etc. (Medin et al 1993; Tversky 1977). Pictures also rely on iconic meaning (Sonesson 1989). Similarity is a predominant feature in iconic signs – however similarity is not a single kind of relationship. The relevance of similarities differs. Sometimes, but not always, perception of similarities is tightly coupled to the conception of a sign relation. Important in this presentation, is the point that via the sign relation one may gain insight into structurally different organizations of similarity relations. A concept of Iconic Attitude (Lenninger 2019) is presented and discussed as a Phenomenal outlook that responds to the qualities in the iconic ground and thus may “manifest” a visual generalization in a specific sign perception.

Goodman, N. 1972. Seven strictures on similarity. In Problems and projects, 437–446. Indianapolis/New York: Bobbs-Merrill.

Groupe µ (1992). Traité du signe visuel. Pour une rhétorique de l'image. Paris: Seuil.

Medin, D. L, Goldstone, R. L., & Gentner, D. (1993). Respects for Similarity. Psychological Review, 100(2), 254-278.

Lenninger, S. (2019). The metaphor and the iconic attitude. Cognitive Semiotics, 12(1).

Sonesson, G. (1989). Pictorial Concepts: inquiries into the semiotic heritage and its relevance to the interpretation of the visual world. Lund University Press: Lund.

Tversky. A. (1977). Features of similarity. Psychological Review, 84(4), 327-352.

Mental health difficulties like anxiety and depression are highly prevalent among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of the study was to examine the effects of stress, self-esteem and coping strategies on mental health difficulties. The ASD group consisted of 123 individuals and 115 persons without diagnoses. According to the independet t-test, people within ASD had statistically significantly higher degrees of both anxiety and depression Both groups had elevated levels of anxiety. The ASD group had also elevated degrees of depression. Social venting was a preventive factor against developing depression in both groups. The ASD group had lower self-esteem and higher perceived stress compared to the control group. The ASD group had statistically significantly higher levels of affective coping and denial. The ASD group had also less degrees of problem solving and positive reinterpretation compared to the control group. 

The restoration of cognitive function was studied in 10 healthy men aged 26 years (25.5 +/- 1.2 years; mean +/- SD) after insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (arterialized blood glucose 2.5 +/- 0.4 mmol l-1) for 62 +/- 8 min. Another group of six men participated in a single blind sham study for comparison. The hypoglycaemic event caused a significant increase (p = 0.006) in serum adrenaline levels. Ratings of adrenergically mediated symptoms increased during hypoglycaemia (p = 0.006), as did neuroglycopenic symptoms (p = 0.002), although neuroglycopenia ratings increased in both studies. During hypoglycaemia, P300 amplitudes in a relatively demanding visual search task decreased (p = 0.02), whereas easier tasks were unaffected. The amplitudes were restored after 40 min of normoglycaemia. Reaction time deteriorated after restoration of normoglycaemia, suggesting an effect of hypoglycaemia on learning. Thus, hypoglycaemia at a blood glucose level that is common among patients treated with insulin causes clear cognitive dysfunction, although restoration of the cognitive dysfunction to normal was fast.

The ability to detect deception is of critical value in criminal and investigative contexts. This study has investigated beliefs about deception detection held by police officers (N = 63) and police students (N = 130). The results show that there are inconsistencies when comparing the beliefs to empirical research findings. One example is the belief that liars avert their gaze. The results are discussed and contrasted with the Truth-Default Theory. Instead of a focus on cues that are probabilisticallyassociated with deception, the Truth-Default Theory focuses on contextualized communication content. The theory recognizes that people are truth biased. Truth-Default Theory proposes that reliance on cues pushes the accuracy of deception detection to the level of chance.

Aims: This study searches for developmental mechanisms explaining why parents possess less knowledge about their adolescent children, as these get older. Family processes related to adolescents’ striving for and parents’ granting of autonomy, and adolescents’ relations outside the family might be such developmental mechanisms.

Methods: A total of 2,415 Swedish adolescents aged 13 to 18 participated in at least two consecutive waves of a five-year time-sequential survey study with annual assessments. Of a sub-sample of 10-16 year-olds, 1,223 parents filled out questionnaires at Times 1 and/or 3. Multi-level analyses were conducted to test whether family process variables and adolescents’ relations outside the family explained intraindividual residual change of parental knowledge, and whether these effects explained normative age variations of knowledge.

Results: Adolescent-reported parental knowledge declined more and more steeply with age. Adolescents’ reduced disclosure of information and their defiance of parental requests explained about 40 percent of this normative age variation. Other processes such as increasing parental solicitation of information and adolescents’ improved peer relations had an enhancing effect on parental knowledge and thus slowed down the decline of knowledge. Few gender differences occurred.

Conclusions: Adolescents achieve autonomy from parents by managing information they provide to them and by acting against parental requests. These autonomy-related behaviors explain a large portion of the normative age decline of knowledge. However, increased parental solicitation and improved relations outside the family increasingly contribute to parental knowledge, thus limiting its decline. This suggests that family members balance adolescents’ autonomy and their connectedness with the family.

Parents can support their adolescent child’s psychosocial development by a parenting style which is warm and involved, firm and consistent, and which grants psychological autonomy (the freedom to have one’s own thoughts and feelings). Psychological autonomy granting is regarded as particularly beneficial for the prevention of anxiety, depression, or other kinds of internalizing distress (McLeod, et al., 2007; Steinberg, 2001). However, longitudinal research has produced mixed evidence (Birmaher, et al., 2000; Colarossi & Eccles, 2003; Galambos et al., 2003; Steinberg, et al., 1994). Even less is known on long-term effects into young adulthood. Besides parental behaviors, also the parent-adolescent relationship might be important. Teens who feel close to their parents and who communicate frequently with them might experience a “secure base” which protects against depression and fosters the children’s well-being even in the future. Thus, this study examined reciprocal effects between parenting styles (psychological control and affection) and the parent-adolescent relationship (felt closeness to and communication with parents) and emotional, social and psychological well-being, and depression.

This study used the 2002, 2005, and 2007 waves of an ongoing longitudinal study, representative for the USA. Out of 1,319 adolescents aged 11-19 in 2002, 575 young adults, then 18-22 years old were re-interviewed in 2005. By 2007, more adolescents had reached young adulthood, thus, 878 young adults of age 18-24 were re-interviewed in 2007. Also 224 of the originally youngest adolescents were re-interviewed in 2007 as a separate sample. Parenting styles were assessed in the adolescent data collections 2002 and 2007, and parent-child relationships and well-being at all occasions.

Albeit adolescents’ perceptions of mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles were highly correlated, specific effects on well-being occurred in cross-lagged regression analyses. Maternal psychological control in 2002 predicted lowered levels of emotional and social well-being and elevated levels of depression in 2005 (β’s = -.10, -.08, and .11, resp.). In part, these effects were found even after five years in 2007. Maternal support did not have any significant effects. For fathers, only one effect was found, of psychological control 2002 on depressive symptoms 2007 (β = .08). Measures of the parent-adolescent relationship did not predict well-being, with the exception of communication to mothers in 2002 which predicted emotional well-being in 2005.

In the opposite direction of effects, depression predicted maternal psychological control five years later (β = .18, p = .023), despite the smaller sample of still adolescent respondents. Also some effects of parenting and of well-being on the parent-young adult relationship occurred.

In conclusion, advice to parents might focus on how to avoid psychologically controlling behaviors, especially for mothers were these might conflict most with North-American gender roles. Future research should investigate why such detrimental behaviors occur in response to adolescents’ emotional problems. That parental support as a general style proved unimportant does not mean that support never would be needed: It might be that in key situations of danger or adolescent problems, adolescents need the impression that parents care, and not only abstain from psychological control (Olsson & Wik, 2009).

Barber (e.g., 1996, 2005) has proposed that parental behavioral control has a unique effect on adolescents’ normbreaking, even if psychological control and support are statistically controlled.  Barber uses a scale of parental knowledge as a measure of behavioral control.  However, parental knowledge and normbreaking are more closely associated with adolescents’ free disclosure of information than with behavioral control.  Moreover, disclosure explains part of the association between knowledge and normbreaking, whereas behavioral control does not (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000).  This makes parental knowledge a questionable measure of behavioral control, and it suggests that family communication and relationship processes affect normbreaking more than behavioral control does.  However, Kerr and Stattin did not specifically test Barber’s theory.  They did not statistically control psychological control and support which might have “cleaned” parental knowledge of its relationship and communication-associated facets and thus might have left a more valid measure of parental control.  Thus, the first aim of this study is to test whether the unique association of parental knowledge with adolescent normbreaking, after controlling psychological control and parental support, can be explained by parental behavioral control—as Barber proposes—or rather by family relationship processes—as Stattin and Kerr suggest.

Given previous empirical findings (e.g., Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000), interpreting parental knowledge as an index of relationship properties or as behavioral control might both be insufficient.  As an alternative, this paper takes an action-theoretical perspective and views parental knowledge as an expectancy in an expectancy-value model.  The extent to which adolescents ascribe knowledge about themselves to their parents can be seen as adolescents’ expectancy that the parents will gain knowledge about their actions.  A value that together with this expectancy might predict less adolescent normbreaking is adolescents’ desire to please and comfort their parents.  According to Individuation Theory (Youniss & Smollar, 1985), this is a common desire among adolescents.  If adolescents expect their parents will be knowledgeable about their activities, and if they do not want to worry them, they might engage in less normbreaking than adolescents who either do not care about their parents’ worries or who expect that the parents will not know about their normbreaking.  The second aim of this study is to test this interaction effect on normbreaking.

A German sample of 968 13- and 16-year-olds filled out questionnaires at school.  Scales for parental knowledge, psychological control, parental support, and normbreaking were identical to Barber’s (2005) study.  Behavioral control was measured with scales for spare-time control (curfew rules, low laissez-faire), school control, and harsh punishments.  Family relationship processes were tapped by scales of parental warmth and openness and of adolescents’ caring for their parents.  The latter measure aimed at assessing family processes similar to those covered by Kerr and Stattin’s scale of free disclosure of information.  Finally, the desire to please and comfort their parents was measured with a newly developed scale.  All measures evinced adequate psychometric properties.

Concerning the first aim of this study, parental knowledge was strongly related to low normbreaking (Model 0), even after controlling psychological control and parental support (Model 1).  Although the various facets of behavioral control were associated with normbreaking (Model 0), only punishments explained a small part of the effect of parental knowledge (Model 2c).  But punishments were inversely related to parental knowledge and predicted more instead of less normbreaking.  Out of the two family relationship process variables, caring for parents explained a small part of the effect of parental knowledge (Model 2e).  In total, however, the largest part of the effect of parental knowledge remained unexplained (Model 3).  Thus, the results do not support Barber’s idea that parental knowledge is an index of behavioral control.  The findings support Stattin and Kerr’s (2000, Kerr & Stattin, 2000) critique of knowledge as a measure of behavioral control.  However, also family relationship processes explained only little of the association between parental knowledge and normbreaking.

The results testing the expectancy-value model of parental knowledge and the desire to please the parents, explaining low normbreaking, were as follows.  Parental knowledge, the desire to please the parents, and their interaction predicted low normbreaking (if latent main effect factors were scaled to SD = 1, beta = –.39, –.22, and ‑.06, resp., all p’s < .05).  The stronger the desire to please the parents, the steeper the decline of normbreaking with increasing parental knowledge.  Most adolescents desired strongly to please their parents.  However, results suggest almost no effect of parental knowledge if adolescents have no desire to please their parents.  In summary, the proposed expectancy-value model is supported by the data.

Barber has described parenting as a unidirectional process.  This description rests on studies using parental knowledge as an index for parental behaviors.  As in previous studies, this interpretation of parental knowledge is not supported.  This paper provides initial support for a new view on parental knowledge:  Adolescents actively decide about what they do, in the light of what they expect the consequences to be and how they evaluate them.

Parental support predicts low levels of depression in teenagers, and psychological control high levels. However, this pattern holds true for cross-sectional research only whereas longitudinal support is mixed at best. Moreover, few studies have investigated long-term effects into young adulthood. This study explores effects of teenagers’ experienced parental support and psychological control on depression and parent-child relationships in young adulthood, three and five years later. It also explores parental behaviors as outcomes of teen depression. Out of 1,319 U.S. American adolescents aged 11-19 in 2002, those who had reached young adulthood by 2005 (n = 575) and 2007 (n = 878), respectively, were re-interviewed. Also the youngest participants, who still were in adolescence, took part in 2007 (n = 224). In cross-lagged panel regressions, maternal psychological control predicted depression and low well-being over time whereas maternal support predicted close parent-child relationships. For the youngest participants, effects on parenting were tested, and depression predicted increased maternal psychological control after five years. Only few effects were found for fathers. These findings suggest that psychological control does not make young adults withdraw from the relationship, despite their increased independence. Instead, they still expose themselves to this parenting behavior, resulting in increased depression. Depression also contributes to psychological control, resulting in a vicious circle of maternal psychological control and youth depression. Parental support in contrast is linked to relationship closeness over time, but largely unrelated to both depression and psychological control. The differential roles of psychological control and support will be discussed further.

Paradoxically, knowledge that parents posses about their adolescent children’s activities declines with age, but low levels of knowledge are associated with externalizing and internalizing problems. Might there only be a small group of adolescents with steeply declining parental knowledge? Or, are interindividual differences in knowledge and its normative decline independent of each other? This study will explore different trajectories of knowledge in order to answer this question.

Second, why is low parental knowledge associated with adolescent problems? Focusing on internalizing problems, does parental knowledge really predict them over time, or do they reduce parental knowledge, for example because a depressed or unconfident adolescent tends to withdraw from conversation? This study will determine the direction of effects.

Third, if parental knowledge predicts internalizing problems, why is this so? Previous studies suggest that both knowledge and internalizing might result from family interaction processes (Kerr & Stattin, 2000), but the same results could also be read as mediation from knowledge via family interactions to internalizing. Furthermore, knowledge was only partly explained by parent-adolescent interaction processes, lending doubt to the interpretation of parental knowledge as a mere expression of them (Barber, 2005). Thus, parental knowledge might either be an indicator of parent-adolescent communication or a causal factor in its own. This study will contribute to clarification. Aversive parental behaviors and adolescent non-disclosure and oppositional behavior were chosen as predictors because they belong to problematic parent-adolescent interactions and because of their links to adolescent internalizing problems.

A representative Swedish community sample of 1,744 adolescents of age 10-14 at T0 was re-assessed at four annual occasions T1-4. Each year, adolescents filled out questionnaires at school.

Using Growth Mixture Modeling, three trajectories of parental knowledge, and two trajectories each of self-esteem and depression were revealed across T1-4. The three knowledge trajectories differed in level, but each trajectory had virtually the same age decline.

In all subsequent analyses, the effects of predictor variables at T0 on T1-4 trajectories of either knowledge or depression, or self-esteem were tested, above and beyond the stability of the respective dependent variable since T0. These analyses revealed effects of parental knowledge on trajectories of depression and self-esteem, but not vice versa.

A conceptual model was concluded from a series of analyses including parent-adolescent interaction variables. If parents exerted aversive behaviors such as being harsh or making fun of their children, these disclosed not much information and behaved oppositional which in turn predicted low levels of parental knowledge. Although knowledge had predicted adolescent depression and low self-esteem when entered in the analyses alone, it did not consistently predict these variables if adolescents’ opposition and non-disclosure were taken into account.

In conclusion, the normative decline of parental knowledge and interindividual differences are two independent phenomena which might have different causes. This study has contributed to an understanding of how parent-adolescent interactions lead to interindividual differences in knowledge. Low levels of knowledge were not a consistent causal factor for adolescent internalizing symptoms, but clearly indicated parent-adolescent problems.

Associations between parenting behaviors of support, behavior control and overcontrol, and psychological control/disrespect with adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems have been studied extensively (Barber et al., 2012; Kerr & Stattin, 2000), and also adolescent behaviors of disclosure and secrecy in the context of these problems (Frijns et al., 2010). However, few studies have assessed how parent and child behaviors might moderate each other’s associations with problems (Keijsers et al., 2009). This study investigates interaction effects of the above-mentioned parent and adolescent behaviors when predicting depression, loneliness, and low self-esteem (internalizing), and delinquency, aggression, and drug/alcohol use (externalizing). Given the variety of behaviors and problems under study, it is hypothesized that various kinds of moderation effects will emerge.

An ethnically diverse sample of 1,281 adolescents attending grades 7 to 10 in a Southern Swedish municipality (age 12.5 to 19.3, M = 15.2, SD = 1.2) filled out questionnaires in class. All scales have been published internationally; however, some items were added to short scales. Each of the internalizing and externalizing problems was regressed on all possible combinations of one of the four parenting variables and one of the two adolescent behaviors under study, resulting in 48 regression analyses.

Confirming previous findings, parent psychological control and overcontrol were associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, and behavior control and insufficient support with internalizing problems. Adolescent disclosure predicted low levels of both kinds of problems and secrecy predicted high levels. Two-way interactions of parent and adolescent behaviors added significantly (p < .05) to the variance in 13 of 48 analyses which is beyond chance level (p < .001). In addition to the inspection of significant effects, t-values across all analyses were analyzed in order to distinguish between more general trends and solitary effects on specific internalizing or externalizing problems only. Confirming the hypothesis, interaction effects varied across the combinations of parent and adolescent behaviors (η² = .26) and were further moderated by the distinction between internalizing and externalizing problems (η² = .38). These effects were grouped into five kinds of interaction effects: In mutually enhancing and mutually exacerbating effects, two positive or two negative, respectively, behaviors increased each other’s associations with problem levels. In protection effects, usually adolescents’ behavior reduced associations between negative parenting and problems. Relationship split effects might reflect an alienated parent-adolescent relationship in which negative behaviors cannot do much additional harm. Finally, maintained relationship/sabotage means that the lowest level of problems occurred if one generation maintained the relationship by a positive behavior and the other generation abstained from “sabotaging” it by a negative behavior. Otherwise, problem behaviors increased sharply without the other generation’s behavior having any large effect any longer.

In conclusion, analyses provide ample evidence that adolescents’ behavior moderates links between parents’ behaviors and adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Possible causal interpretations include adolescents as “gatekeepers” of parenting efforts, families’ functional and dysfunctional adaptations, and parent and child behavior combinations as consequences of internalizing and externalizing problems.

Is there another way to predict adolescents’ depressive symptoms than by trait-like parenting characteristics, such as affective support (Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005)? Drawing from a systems perspective (Lollis & Kuczynski, 1997) and Social Domain Theory (Smetana & Asquith, 1994), this paper suggests that parental responses in key situations might be important for the development of adolescent depression: (a) adolescent-parent conflict; (b) dangerous situations; (c) need of help with a problem. These three situations require steering adolescents’ behaviors in a responsive way, i.e., combinations of demandingness and responsiveness. Thus, the roles of authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and indifferent parental responses in these key situations will be rested.

In order to have a standard of comparison, well-established parenting styles (Barber, et al., 2005; Steinberg, 2001) will be evaluated, too. Lack of support has been found to predict depressive symptoms. The prediction by behavior control and the support-by-control interaction will be tested as well, for a better comparability to the test of parental responses in specific situations.

A total of 108 Swedish adolescents aged 14-15 (67 girls, 41 boys) filled out questionnaires at school. For depressive symptoms and parental support, well-established American scales were used. Behavior control was measured by scales tapping parental control and solicitation of information, respectively. 3 (situations) by 4 (parental responses) by 2 (parent genders) scales of parental responses in key situations were newly developed. For each type of situations, the respondents received two typical examples (e.g., having problems with a friend or a girlfriend/boyfriend as an example of a problem) and rated the frequencies of various parental responses. Because all mother and father scales were highly correlated, they were standardized and added (complementary analyses with either mother or father data yielded similar results; so did analyses including adolescent gender).

Parental responses in key situations explained 30% of variance of adolescent depression. Authoritative responses to problems were associated with low levels of depression. Moreover, indifferent responses to all three kinds of situations predicted higher levels of depression.

Main effects of parenting style variables explained 14% of the variance of depression. Adding the interactions between support and parental control and solicitation explained additional 8% of variance. Most of this effect was due to an interaction between acceptance and solicitation. Authoritarian parenting predicted the highest depression levels whereas supportive styles predicted low depression. When entering either reactions in key situation first into the regression equation and parenting styles next, or vice versa, each of them predicted significant portions of variance above and beyond the other. However, reactions in key situations produced the larger increase in explained variance.

Albeit cross-sectional data do not allow for causal conclusions, this study has generated important hypotheses for future studies: If parents constantly bother their adolescent child with requests to talk about something, in combination with low levels of support, the child is likely to show elevated levels of depression. Even more deleterious might be adolescents’ experience to be left alone when they need their parents.