University of North Carolina at Greensboro

About: University of North Carolina at Greensboro is a education organization based out in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 5481 authors who have published 13715 publications receiving 456239 citations. The organization is also known as: UNCG & UNC Greensboro.

Self-Awareness and the Emotional Consequences of Self-Discrepancies

Abstract: Several self theories explore the effects of discrepant self-beliefs on motivation and emotion. This research intersected two self theories: self-discrepancy theory and objective self-awareness theory. Self-discrepancy theory predicts that ideal and ought discrepancies cause different negative emotions; objective self-awareness theory predicts that high self-awareness will strengthen the relationship between self-discrepancies and emotions. People (N =112) completed measures of self-discrepancies and emotions (dejection, agitation, positive affect, and negative affect). Self-focused attention was manipulated with a large mirror. When self-awareness was low, self-discrepancies had weak, nonsignificant relations to emotion. When self-awareness was high, however, self-discrepancies strongly predicted emotional experience. These effects were general-ideal and ought discrepancies affected emotions because of their substantial shared variance, not their unique variance. Implications for theories of self-discrepancies and emotions are considered.

Understanding communication dynamics on Twitter during natural disasters: A case study of Hurricane Sandy

Abstract: This study investigates Twitter usage during Hurricane Sandy following the survey of the general population and exploring communication dynamics on Twitter through different modalities. The results suggest that Twitter is a highly valuable source of disaster-related information particularly during the power outage. With a substantial increase in the number of tweets and unique users during the Hurricane Sandy, a large number of posts contained firsthand information about the hurricane showing the intensity of the event in real-time. More specifically, a number of images of damage and flooding were shared on Twitter through which researchers and emergency managers can retrieve valuable information to help identify storm damages and plan relief efforts. The social media analysis revealed the most important information that can be derived from twitter during disasters so that authorities can successfully utilize such data. The findings provide insights into the choice of keywords and sentiments and identifying the influential actors at different stages of disasters. A number of key influencers and their followers from different domains including political, news, weather, and relief organizations participated in Twitter-based discussions related to Hurricane Sandy. The connectivity of the influencers and their followers on Twitter plays a vital role in information sharing and dissemination throughout the hurricane. These connections can provide an effective vehicle for emergency managers towards establishing better bi-directional communication during disasters. However, while government agencies were among the prominent Twitter users during the Hurricane Sandy, they primarily relied on one-way communication rather than engaging with their audiences, a challenge that need to be addressed in future research.

The contribution of mediator-based deficiencies to age differences in associative learning.

Abstract: Production, mediational, and utilization deficiencies, which describe how strategy use may contribute to developmental trends in episodic memory, have been intensively investigated. Using a mediator report-and-retrieval method, the authors present evidence concerning the degree to which 2 previously unexplored mediator-based deficits--retrieval and decoding deficiencies--account for age deficits in learning. During study, older and younger adults were instructed to use a strategy (imagery or sentence generation) to associate words within paired associates. They also reported each mediator and later attempted to retrieve each response and the mediator produced at study. Substantial deficits occurred in mediator recall, and small differences were observed in decoding mediators. Mediator recall also accounted for a substantial proportion of the age deficits in criterion recall independently of fluid or crystallized intelligence. Discussion focuses on mediator-based deficiencies and their implications for theories of age deficits in episodic memory.

Family Empowerment as a Mediator between Family-Centered Systems of Care and Changes in Child Functioning: Identifying an Important Mechanism of Change

Abstract: We investigated the associations among perceived fidelity to family-centered systems of care, family empowerment, and improvements in children's problem behaviors. Participants included 79 families, interviewed at two time points across a one-year period. Paired samples t-tests indicated that problem behaviors decreased significantly across a one-year period. Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both fidelity to family-centered systems of care and family empowerment independently predicted positive change in children's problem behavior over a one-year period. However, when family empowerment is entered first in the regression, the relationship between fidelity to family-centered systems of care and change in children's problem behavior drops out, indicating that family empowerment mediates the relationship between family-centered care and positive changes in problem behaviors. Consistent with other literature on help-giving practices, family empowerment appears to be an important mechanism of change within the system of care philosophy of service delivery. Implications for practice and staff training are discussed.

Adolescents’ Perceptions of Parental Behaviors as Predictors of Adolescent Self–Esteem in Mainland China

Abstract: Parents’ child-rearing behaviors have been identified as major sources of influence on the self-esteem of adolescents from Western societies and Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. The pattern of relationships found in samples of Hong Kong adolescents has been similar to the pattern found among samples of U.S. adolescents, but contrary to what might be expected in collectivistic societies such as mainland China. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to test specific dimensions of parenting behaviors as possible predictors of adolescents’ self-esteem in mainland China. Self-report data were acquired for this study from 480 adolescents who attended secondary schools located in Beijing. Results indicated that patterns of socialization between parents and adolescents in mainland China were similar to those found in the United States, although explanations for these results may differ from those characteristic of the United States and other Western societies. Reasoning, monitoring, and autonomy-granting behavior by Chinese parents were positive predictors, whereas punitiveness was a negative predictor of Chinese adolescents’ self-esteem (both males and females). Contrasting with patterns commonly found in the United States was the finding that parental support was not a predictor of Chinese adolescents’ self-esteem.