Conditions Of High Support Research Articles

Social Support Influences Preference for Feminine Facial Cues in Potential Social Partners : A Replication

Attractive facial cues are preferred by most but, interestingly, people tend to find certain facial features more attractive depending on the context. This replication of Watkins and colleagues (2012) investigates how priming different social support conditions influences preferences for feminized or masculinized faces. In this study, 124 participants were recruited to complete an online survey where they were asked to imagine a time they felt socially isolated (low support condition) or a time they felt emotionally supported (high support condition). Participants were then shown 20 pairs of masculinized and feminized versions of the same face and were asked to rate attractiveness. Overall, feminine female faces and masculine male faces were significantly preferred. We did not replicate the finding that femininity is preferred under conditions of low social support. Future research is needed to make conclusions about how perceived social support influences our perception of faces.

Breast Support Alters Knee Joint Biomechanics During A Landing Task.

Females have a greater rate of traumatic knee injuries than male athletes. Trunk position has been shown to affect knee joint biomechanics during a landing task. Given the position of breast tissue, insufficiently supported breasts may also alter knee joint biomechanics. However, no previous research has investigated the effect of breast tissue or support on knee joint biomechanics during landing. PURPOSE: to determine the effect of breast support on knee and hip joint kinetics during a landing task. METHODS: Fifteen female athletes performed five step-off landings from a height of 40 cm in each of three bra support conditions: control (CON), low support (LOW) and high support (HIGH). 3D kinematics and ground reaction forces (GRFs) were simultaneously recorded using a 9-camera motion capture system (240 Hz,) and pair of force platforms (1200 Hz,)..) was used to calculate knee and hip joint angles and moments. Custom software (was used to determine peak joint angles and moments. Repeated measures ANOVAs with Tukey’s post-hoc analyses were used to compare mean knee and hip joint kinetics. RESULTS: No differences in peak knee abduction moments were observed, though peak knee external rotation moments were smaller in the LOW compared to CON (p = 0.007) and HIGH conditions (p = 0.013). No differences were observed between CON and HIGH (p = 0.423). No differences were observed in peak hip abduction moment or peak hip external rotation moment. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that knee joint biomechanics during a landing task are affected by breast support. The current study did not address the role of trunk orientation or differences in breast size amongst participants. Future research should address the role of breast motion on trunk kinematics and kinetics.Table 1: Mean knee and hip joint moments in the CON, LOW and HIGH support conditions.

Harnessing Social Influence Theory to Improve Attitudes Towards Gay Parents

Despite the legal recognition of gay men’s right to marry and form families in numerous countries, they remain at risk of mental health impacts from prejudice. This novel experimental study aimed to harness social influence theory to improve heterosexuals’ attitudes towards gay parents. Three hundred and forty-seven community members (Mage = 38.7 years, 52% male) and 249 university students (Mage = 19.9 years, 42% male) volunteered for an online quasi-experiment in mid-2018. Participants were randomly allocated to reading a vignette that contained either a highly supportive group attitude about gay parents, a less supportive group attitude about gay parents or an unrelated filler-task. The study found that (i) exposure to a high-support condition improved individuals’ attitudes towards the social context of gay parents, compared to baseline, within the student sample; (ii) males reported significantly less positive attitudes towards gay parents than females in the community sample; and (iii) religiosity significantly moderated attitudes towards gay parents’ parenting skills among those in the baseline condition and not among those the high-support condition, in both samples. The findings suggest that group attitudes can be harnessed to mitigate the negative relationship between higher religiosity and individual attitudes towards gay parents. The findings are important in the aftermath of divisive debates about legalising same-sex marriage and parenting. The study findings point to the potential for religious groups to share overtly supportive group messages about gay parents, rather than staying silent, in order to prevent the harms of prejudice towards this vulnerable population.

A randomized controlled trial of different levels of coach support in an online intervention for relationship distress

Recently-developed online interventions for relationship distress show promising results; however, the degree to which paraprofessionals need to be involved with web-based interventions for relationship distress remains unclear. The present study sought to determine if varying levels of coach contact moderated gains during the online OurRelationship program, which was previously shown to be effective by Doss and colleagues (2016). Three hundred fifty-six heterosexual couples (712 individuals) enrolled in the OurRelationship program and were randomized to a Low or High coach support condition. Couples in both conditions experienced significant improvements in relationship satisfaction as well as depressive and anxious symptoms (within-group d = 0.43–0.71). Using intent-to-treat analyses, there were no significant differences over the intervention between groups in improvements in relationship satisfaction or depressive symptoms. However, couples in the high-support condition reported significantly greater decreases in anxious symptoms. Furthermore, couples in the low-support group were significantly more likely to drop out prematurely. Overall, results indicated that minimal coach support may be a viable option to facilitate dissemination of online interventions for relationship distress. This study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03332875).

Accountability and satisfaction: organizational support as a moderator

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceived organizational support (POS) moderates accountability's relationship with job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach– Self-report data were collected from one organizational sample from the USA and one organizational sample from Sweden.Findings– The results support the hypothesis that POS moderates the relationship between accountability and job satisfaction in the two samples. Specifically, the findings show that accountability relates positively to satisfaction under high support conditions and, in one sample, negatively to satisfaction under low support condition.Research limitations/implications– The current results suggest that social context is vital to a more informed evaluation of how accountability relates to work outcomes. Organizations should show their employees that they care about them. This can be achieved through starting, maintaining, and nurturing those initiatives that are interpreted positively by the employees.Social implications– Scandals represent examples of accountability failures. The implications of these scandals are not merely limited to individual companies and their employees. The wellbeing of the employees is part of the wellbeing of the society.Originality/value– This study offers new insights on the relationship between accountability and job satisfaction. First, it demonstrates how organizational support perception functions as a moderator of this relationship. Second, it reports replicable results from two organizational samples – one from North America and one from Europe.

Bra–breast forces generated in women with large breasts while standing and during treadmill running: Implications for sports bra design

This study aimed to determine the bra–breast forces generated in women with large breasts while these women wore different levels of breast support during both upright standing and treadmill running. The mean bilateral vertical component of the bra–breast force in standing was 11.7 ± 4.6 N, whereas during treadmill running the mean unilateral bra–breast force was 8.7 ± 6.4 N and 14.7 ± 10.3 N in the high and low support conditions, respectively. Furthermore, breast mass was significantly correlated with vertical breast displacement (R2 = 0.62) in the high support condition. The wide range of breast masses of women with large breasts is an important consideration for designers of sports bras to ensure these bras can reduce force generation and breast discomfort by providing a high level of breast support while these women participate in physical activity.

Work–family conflict, perceived supervisor support and organizational commitment among Brazilian professionals

The current study examines a variety of relationships pertaining to work–family conflict among a sample of Brazilian professionals, in order to shed light on work–family issues in this cultural context. Drawing from the cultural values of Brazil and social identity theory, we examine the relationships of two directions of work–family conflict (work interference with family and family interference with work), perceived supervisor support, and sex with affective and continuance organizational commitment. Work interference with family was related to higher continuance commitment and perceived supervisor support was related to higher affective commitment. An interaction between family interference with work and perceived supervisor support predicting continuance commitment revealed a reverse buffering effect such that the relationship was stronger under conditions of high support. Results are discussed within the Brazilian context.

The amount of retrieval support modulates age effects on episodic memory: Evidence from event-related potentials

This experiment was designed to explore the impact of age and amount of retrieval support on episodic memory and its electrophysiological correlates. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while young and older participants performed a word-stem cued-recall task in a low-support condition (LSC) in which the stem was composed of three letters, and a high-support condition (HSC) in which the cue consisted of four letters. Behavioral analyses showed that recall in the older group was less accurate than in the young group in the LSC, but no age differences were observed in the HSC. In the LSC, old/new ERP effects at frontal and parietal sites were later and less sustained for the older adults. Furthermore, the parietal old/new effect was symmetrically distributed for older adults, whereas it was predominant over the left hemisphere for their younger counterparts. In addition, young participants demonstrated early and long-lasting frontal and parietal effects in the HSC but with predominance over the right hemisphere, whereas the older adults exhibited a frontal effect and an early and long-lasting parietal effect becoming predominant over the left hemisphere. No age differences in the time course of the parietal old/new effect were observed in this more supportive condition. In addition, in the last period, the left parietal effect was greater for the older group. This study suggests that episodic memory performance and ERP correlates of recall processes are more similar between young and older adults when increased support is provided at retrieval.

Social support, social stressors at work, and depressive symptoms: Testing for main and moderating effects with structural equations in a three-wave longitudinal study.

This study investigated the moderating effects of social support by supervisors and colleagues relative to social stressors at work and depressive symptoms using a structural equations approach in a 3-wave longitudinal study over 1 year. The analyses were based on a randomly drawn sample (N = 543) of citizens in the area around Dresden in the former East Germany. LISREL analysis with latent moderating effects revealed a moderating effect for supervisor support. This applied only if the time lag was 8 months, but not for longer or shorter lags. Under low-support conditions depressive symptoms were increased by social stressors, whereas, contrary to expectations, social stressors reduced subsequent depressive symptoms under high-support conditions. No moderating effect for colleague support was found. Several mechanisms are discussed that may explain the results.

Psychosocial antecedents of athletic injury: the effects of life stress and social support on female collegiate gymnasts.

The article presents information from two studies of a research program investigating psychosocial antecedents of athletic injury. Study 1 describes the development of the Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA). The LESCA demonstrated good content validity and provided a stable measure of life stress. The LESCA's validity and the moderating effects of social support were explored in the second study. The LESCA provided a construct-valid measure of life stress and was a better predictor of athletic injury than the Social and Athletic Readjustment Rating Scale. Social support moderated the stress-injury relationship in such a way that LESCA negative life stress accounted for 11% to 22% of injury variances in low-support conditions; LESCA positive life stress accounted for 14% to 20% of injury variances in high-support conditions. Mechanisms underlying the stress-injury relationship and directions for future research are discussed with respect to the model outlined by M. B. Andersen and J. M. Williams in 1988.

Task effects on young children's performance in manipulating a pencil

To investigate the effect of the task on children's overt motor behavior in manipulating a pencil, a study was conducted in which the on-task behavior of 84 three-year-old children was observed. In addition to a free drawing task the children had to draw circles and vertical strokes under a high support condition, eliciting their ‘optimal performance’. It was found that the circle evoked relatively mature, i.e. distal behavior, and the free drawing task relatively immature, i.e. proximal behavior, with the strokes falling in between. Girls were more advanced than boys on all tasks. It was argued that in observing writing behavior as part of an assessment of children's neuro-motor status a task should be used that elicits optimal performance. Furthermore,the findings have some consequences for the study of stages in writing development.