Economic Strain and Adolescent Violence. Are extracurricular activities a conditioning effect?

This article examines the extent to which participation in sports acts as a conditioning effect to the relationship between economic disadvantage and adolescent violent delinquency. Deriving hypotheses from general strain and social control theories, we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to test if type of extracurricular activity participation diminishes the risk of economic disadvantage on violent delinquency. In support of social control theory, the direct effect of academic clubs and performing arts is negatively associated with adolescent violence. Additionally, analyses indicate that participation in contact sports decreases the relationship economic disadvantage and violent delinquency when other strain controls are added including race/ethnicity, family structure, lack of parental supervision, etc. Overall findings are expected of the social control conditioning effect of general strain theory.

Experimental, Theoretical and Simulation Studies on the Thermal Behavior of PLA-Based Nanocomposites Reinforced with Different Carbonaceous Fillers

Many research efforts have been directed towards enhancing the thermal properties of polymers, since they are classically regarded as thermal insulators. To this end, the present study focuses on the thermal investigation of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) filled with two types of carbon nanotubes (trade names: TNIMH4 and N7000), two type of graphene nanoplatelets (trade names: TNIGNP and TNGNP), or their appropriate combination. A significant increase in the thermal conductivity by 254% with respect to that of unfilled polymer was achieved in the best case by using 9 wt% TNIGNP, resulting from its favorable arrangement and the lower thermal boundary resistance between the two phases, matrix and filler. To theoretically assist the design of such advanced nanocomposites, Design of Experiments (DoE) and Response Surface Method (RSM) were employed, respectively, to obtain information on the conditioning effect of each filler loading on the thermal conductivity and to find an analytical relationship between them. The numerical results were compared with the experimental data in order to confirm the reliability of the prediction. Finally, a simulation study was carried out with Comsol Multiphysics® for a comparative study between two heat sinks based on pure PLA, and to determine the best thermally performing nanocomposite with a view towards potential use in heat transfer applications.

Variable subject pronoun expression revisited: This is what the Paisas do

We explore subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Medellín, Colombia using 4,623 tokens to test eight predictors. The 28% overall pronominal rate found is significantly higher than those in other mainland communities. Grammatical person exerts the greatest conditioning effect, with uno ‘one’ strongly favoring overt subjects. Findings for verb class reveal that speech and cognitive verbs promote overt subjects. However, our in-depth analysis unveils opposing tendencies between different pronominal subject + verb collocations for the same verb. E.g., whereas (yo) soy ‘I am’ strongly favors overt subjects, (ellos) son ‘they are’ favors null subjects. These findings suggest that analyses focusing on infinitives do not constitute the most accurate way to explore verb effects on SPE. Moreover, the effect of age reveals a low pronominal rate among the youngest speakers, a finding that appears to have cognitive and acquisitional implications, as younger speakers would be expected to have higher pronominal rates. In general, this study contributes to expand our knowledge of SPE. Further, the findings regarding age and the lexical effect of the verb open promising research paths.

Dynamics of the Causes Of Crime: a Life-Course Application of Situational Action Theory for the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood

Purpose According to the Developmental Ecological Action Model (DEA) of the situational action theory (SAT), changes in crime rates over the life-course are explained through personal (moral) maturation and socio-ecological selection. This assumption is empirically tested by comparing results for the conditioning effect of the principle of moral correspondence (as an essential part of SAT’s perception-choice process) on crime rates for the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Methods Comparing two waves of a German longitudinal study (CrimoC, 17 and 26 years old, n = 1738), a series of logistic and multinomial logistic regressions and ensuing estimated transition probabilities capture the cross-sectional but also developmental processes involved. Additionally, the CrimoC study offers a differential analysis of offending scales, separating offenses into youth and adult crimes. Results The principle’s conditioning effect on crime could be replicated at both times. We can observe a general trend of individual transitions, which correspond to predicted personal maturation and socio-ecological selection. The transitions correlate with the expected reduction in crime rates over time. Males and females show comparable results. The separation into different offending scales yielded tentative insights. Conclusion We found stability in the mechanisms leading to crime as proffered by SAT and DEA across time. Personal (moral) maturation and socio-ecological selection are likely to be the driving forces behind reducing crime in adulthood. Future research needs to explain in detail how life-course events influence these factors. Considering adult crimes in the analysis is a promising endeavor that warrants further investigation.

Incidental Attitude Formation via the Surveillance Task: A Preregistered Replication of the Olson and Fazio (2001) Study

Evaluative conditioning is one of the most widely studied procedures for establishing and changing attitudes. The surveillance task is a highly cited evaluative-conditioning paradigm and one that is claimed to generate attitudes without awareness. The potential for evaluative-conditioning effects to occur without awareness continues to fuel conceptual, theoretical, and applied developments. Yet few published studies have used this task, and most are characterized by small samples and small effect sizes. We conducted a high-powered ( N = 1,478 adult participants), preregistered close replication of the original surveillance-task study (Olson & Fazio, 2001). We obtained evidence for a small evaluative-conditioning effect when “aware” participants were excluded using the original criterion—therefore replicating the original effect. However, no such effect emerged when three other awareness criteria were used. We suggest that there is a need for caution when using evidence from the surveillance-task effect to make theoretical and practical claims about “unaware” evaluative-conditioning effects.