The study of musical ability has gained considerable traction across disciplines in recent years. In comparison, less effort has been invested in the development of sound measures of musical ability. To redress this gap, we conducted four studies to empirically validate two brief measures derived from the Profile of Music Perception Skills (PROMS)-an exceptionally inclusive battery of musical abilities that takes about 1 h to complete. In the Short-PROMS, test duration was reduced to less than half an hour by substantially reducing the number of trials per subtest. In the Mini-PROMS, the number of subtests was reduced to four, resulting in a battery that takes 15 min to complete. Both measures exhibited good internal consistency and retest reliability. Support for convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity was found across the studies. Additional strengths of the new instruments include their suitability for online administration and a feature called Modular PROMS, which offers researchers the possibility to request customized batteries that may include any combination of the subtests. The role of refining objective assessment instruments in research on music and the mind is discussed.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on various aspects of life, but questions about its effects on close relationships remain largely unanswered. In the present study, we examined perceived changes in relationship satisfaction at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by using an international sample of 3,243 individuals from 67 different countries, mostly from Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In April and May 2020, participants responded to an online survey that included questions about relationship satisfaction, their satisfaction before the pandemic, other relationship aspects (e.g., shared time), special circumstances (e.g., mobility restrictions), and enduring dispositions (e.g., insecure attachment). A decline in time shared with one’s partner was most strongly associated with perceived decreases in relationship satisfaction, resulting in a different pattern of findings for cohabiting and non-cohabiting individuals. Among the most influential moderators were anxious and avoidant attachment. The findings offer insights into both aggravating and protecting factors in couples’ responses to pandemic-related stressors.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on various aspects of life, but questions about its effect on close relationships remain largely unanswered. In the present study, we examined changes in relationship satisfaction at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by using a sample of 3,243 individuals from 68 different countries. Participants responded to an online survey that included questions about relationship aspects (e.g., shared time, housework division), special circumstances (e.g., exit restrictions), and enduring dispositions (e.g., insecure attachment). A decline in time shared with one’s partner was the strongest predictor of decreases in relationship satisfaction, resulting in a different pattern of findings for cohabiting and non-cohabiting individuals. Among the most influential moderators were lockdown policies and insecure attachment. Differential involvement of men and women in household duties remained largely unchanged. The findings offer insights into aggravating and/or protecting factors in couples’ responses to pandemic-related stressors.

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Associations between childhood poverty and cognitive outcomes have been examined from multiple perspectives. However, most evidence is based on cross-sectional data or longitudinal data covering only segments of the developmental process. Moreover, previous longitudinal research has mostly relied on data from Western nations, limiting insights of poverty dynamics in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we use data from the Mauritius Child Health Project, a large-scale prospective longitudinal study conducted in a then low-income country, to examine long-term associations between poverty in early childhood and cognitive performance across childhood and adolescence. Poverty-related factors were assessed at age 3 years and comprised indicators of psychosocial adversity and malnutrition. Cognitive functioning was assessed at ages 3 and 11 years by using standardized intelligence measures and at age 17 years by means of a computerized test battery. Using multiple hierarchical regression models, we found that chronic malnutrition and parental characteristics showed similar-sized, independent associations with initial cognitive functioning at age 3 as well as at age 11 years. For age 17 years, however, associations with early childhood risk factors vanished and instead, cognitive functioning was predicted by performance on prior cognitive assessments. Sex was also found to be a powerful predictor of cognitive trajectories, with boys improving and girls worsening over time, regardless of the level of their initial exposure to risk. The current findings indicate that, to prevent cognitive impairment, interventions tackling poverty and malnutrition should focus on the infancy period and be designed in a gender-sensitive way.