Into the looking glass: Literacy acquisition and mirror invariance in preschool and first-grade children

At what point in reading development does literacy impact object recognition and orientation processing? Is it specific to mirror images? To answer these questions, forty-six 5- to 7-year-old preschoolers and first graders performed two same–different tasks differing in the matching criterion-orientation-based versus shape-based (orientation independent)-on geometric shapes and letters. On orientation-based judgments, first graders out- performed preschoolers who had the strongest difficulty with mirrored pairs. On shape-based judgments, first graders were slower for mirrored than identical pairs, and even slower than preschoolers. This mirror cost emerged with letter knowledge. Only first graders presented worse shape-based judgments for mirrored and rotated pairs of reversible (e.g., b-d; b-q) than nonreversible (e.g., e-ә) letters, indicating readers’ difficulty in ignoring orientation contrasts relevant to letters.

Authentic Leadership Questionnaire: invariance between samples of Brazilian and Portuguese employees

The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) is used to assess authentic leadership (AL). Although ALQ is often used in empirical research, cross-cultural studies with this measure are scarce. Aiming to contribute to filling this gap, this study assesses the invariance of the ALQ measure between samples of Brazilian (N = 1019) and Portuguese (N = 842) employees. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was performed, and the results showed the invariance of the first- and second-order factor models between the Brazilian and Portuguese samples. The results are discussed considering their cultural setting, with the study’s limitations and future research directions being pointed out.

Estabelecimento do mecanismo de supressão da invariância percetiva em crianças disléxicas: um estudo experimental com crianças do 1º ciclo do ensino básico

O presente estudo investigou se as dificuldades das crianças disléxicas na leitura estão relacionadas com défices no processamento da orientação de estímulos visuais. A amostra foi constituída por 12 crianças disléxicas no final do 4.º ano, e dois grupos de controlo: 12 crianças de final de 4.º ano emparelhadas em idade cronológica e 11 crianças de final de 2.º ano emparelhadas em idade de leitura. As crianças realizaram duas tarefas experimentais igual-diferente onde tinham que assinalar letras ou figuras que tivessem a mesma forma, na tarefa de orientação independente, ou a mesma forma e a mesma orientação, na tarefa de orientação dependente. As crianças disléxicas tiveram dificuldade em identificar como diferentes, pares de letras ou figuras espelhadas, tal como as crianças mais novas, o que não aconteceu com as crianças com a mesma idade cronológica. Os resultados sugerem que as crianças disléxicas têm dificuldade com a orientação quando é necessário esta ser tida em conta; Establishment of the suppression of perceptual invariance mechanism in dyslexic children: an experimental study with children of the 1st cycle of Basic Education Abstract: This study investigated if the difficulties of dyslexic children in reading are related to deficits in processing the orientation of visual stimuli. The sample included 12 dyslexic children at the end of the 4th grade, and two control groups: 12 children also at the end of the 4th grade, matched on chronological age, and 11 children at the end of 2nd grade matched on reading age. The children performed two same-different experimental tasks which required them to identify the letters or figures that had the same shape - independent orientation task - or the same shape and the same orientation - dependent orientation task. Dyslexic children performed worse than chronological controls and similar to younger children when they were required to explicitly identify as different pairs of mirrored letters or figures. The present data suggests that dyslexic children may have some deficit in processing the orientation of visual stimuli.

Self-report depressive symptoms do not directly predict suicidality in nonclinical individuals: Contributions toward a more psychosocial approach to suicide risk

Although suicidality is associated with mental illness in general and depression in particular, many depressed individuals do not attempt suicide and some individuals who attempt to or do die by suicide do not present depressive symptoms. This article aims to contribute to a more psychosocial approach to understanding suicide risk in nonclinical populations. In advocating a psychosocial perspective rather than a depression-focused approach, this article presents four diverse studies that demonstrate sampling and measurement invariance in findings across different populations and specific measures. Study 1 tests the mediation effects of 2 interpersonal variables, thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness, in the association between depressive symptoms and recent suicidality. Studies 2 and 3 evaluate the contribution of hopelessness and psychache, beyond depressive symptoms, to suicidality. Study 4 tests the contribution of life events behind depressive symptoms, and other relevant sociodemographic and clinical variables, to the estimation of “future suicidality.” Overall, results demonstrate that depressive symptoms do not directly predict suicidality in nonclinical individuals, but that other psychosocial variables mediate the association between depressive symptoms and suicidality or predict suicidality when statistically controlling for depressive symptoms. The article contributes to understanding some of the nonpsychopathological factors that potentially link depressive symptoms to suicide risk and that might themselves contribute to suicidality, even when controlling for depressive symptoms.

Gender differences in first-year College students’ academic expectations

Based on a multidimensional definition of academic expectations (AEs), the authors examine students’ AE component scores across countries and genders. Two samples (343 Portuguese and 358 Spanish students) completed the Academic Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ) six months after enrolling in their universities. Factorial invariance was ensured across countries and genders, allowing us to study AEs using the APQ for both genders and in both countries. No significant differences in factor means were found between countries, indicating that AEs are not an obstacle to student mobility. Gender differences were found in some AE factor means, Training for employment, Personal and social development, Student mobility, Political engagement and citizenship, and Social pressure, with males exhibiting higher scores. Because these differences are not supported by most literature in this domain, further studies are needed to clarify the causes of women’s lower expectations and, therefore, risk of adaptation difficulties.