Joint Effects of Peer Presence and Fatigue on Risk and Reward Processing in Late Adolescence

Witnessing Intimate Partner Violence as a Child and Associated Consequences

Intimate partner violence (IPV) continues to be a global problem. The increasing international research, focussing on children who witness IPV between their parents, indicates that these circumstances might influence children in different ways. Despite these efforts, little evidence stems from Germany. Using data from a German school student survey from 2017 and 2019 (N = 21,382), this paper aims to examine the consequences of witnessing IPV. The present paper takes a closer look at children's violent behaviour, attitudes and quality of life while controlling for other potential influences (e.g. physical and psychological child abuse). Results indicate that IPV has a significant negative effect on children's quality of life, in particular on children's sense of security at home and children's life satisfaction. No other effects were significant. In discussing these complex dynamics, the results of the present study highlight the importance of considering children who witness IPV as direct victims. A home with personal threats cannot provide emotional and physical security. Coping with this absence of a secure base at home may lead to the neglect of important developmental tasks during that time, which can have possible far-reaching implications on different areas of children's lives (e.g. social competence). Further research examining the severity and duration of witnessing IPV within the context of a longitudinal design is recommended.

Need for cognition moderates the impairment of decision making caused by nightshift work in nurses

The current study explores the effect of nightshift work on the decision-making competence and performance of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and analyzes whether individual differences in the need for cognition (NFC) can moderate this effect. A total of 107 female nurses were recruited to complete the decision-making competence scale and IGT at two times, after a night shift and after a day shift. The results revealed that the IGT scores and decision-making competence of nurses after nightshift work significantly declined, and also that the decrease in decision-making competence was related to the nurses’ performance of the IGT. Additionally, the decreasing degree of IGT and decision-making competence scores of the high-NFC group were significantly lower than those of the low-NFC group after nightshift work. In can be concluded that the decrease in decision-making competence which was related with poor decision-making due to nightshift work. NFC moderated the effect of nightshift work on decision-making.

Impulsive and risky decision-making in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): The need for a developmental perspective

Impulsive and risky decision-making peaks in adolescence, and is consistently associated with the neurodevelopmental disorder Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), regardless of age. In this brief review, we demonstrate the similarity of theoretical models explaining impulsive and risky decision-making that originate in two relatively distinct literatures (i.e., on adolescence and on ADHD). We summarize research thus far and conclude that the presence of ADHD during adolescence further exacerbates the tendency that is already present in adolescents to make impulsive and risky decisions. We also conclude that much is still unknown about the developmental trajectories of individuals with ADHD with regard to impulsive and risky decision making, and we therefore provide several hypotheses that warrant further longitudinal research.

An ERP investigation of children and adolescents' sensitivity to wins and losses during a peer observation manipulation

The purpose of this ERP P3 study was to test a peer observation manipulation (being observed by a peer versus being alone) on neural markers of attention to reward (win-feedback) and punishment (loss-feedback) during the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Participants (126 children, 53 % male, 8–10 years; 196 early adolescents, 50 % male, 11–13 years; and 121 mid-adolescents, 52 % male, 14–16 years) were assessed by age group and pubertal status. Individual differences in how participants felt about being observed by a peer, and self-report personality factors, also were examined. Findings indicated that early and mid-adolescents (and individuals in mid-puberty and late-puberty) were sensitive to peer observation as both groups showed larger neural responses to loss-feedback in the peer condition than in the alone condition. Conversely, children (and individuals in pre- and early-puberty) were unaffected by peer observation. In addition, there clearly were individual differences in how rewarding versus anxiety-provoking participants found the peer experience. Early adolescents and mid-adolescents (and individuals in mid- and late-puberty) who reported feeling more anxious about the peer observation elicited larger neural responses to loss-feedback, and individuals in mid- and late-puberty in particular reported higher worry and lower sensation-seeking scores than those who reported a positive experience.