Co-ruminating, or excessively discussing problems, with friends is proposed to have adjustment trade-offs. Co-rumination is hypothesized to contribute both to positive friendship adjustment and to problematic emotional adjustment. Previous single-assessment research was consistent with this hypothesis, but whether co-rumination is an antecedent of adjustment changes was unknown. A 6-month longitudinal study with middle childhood to midadolescent youths examined whether co-rumination is simultaneously a risk factor (for depression and anxiety) and a protective factor (for friendship problems). For girls, a reciprocal relationship was found in which co-rumination predicted increased depressive and anxiety symptoms and increased positive friendship quality over time, which, in turn, contributed to greater co-rumination. For boys, having depressive and anxiety symptoms and high-quality friendships also predicted increased co-rumination. However, for boys, co-rumination predicted only increasing positive friendship quality and not increasing depression and anxiety. An implication of this research is that some girls at risk for developing internalizing problems may go undetected because they have seemingly supportive friendships.

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Although girls disclose to friends about problems more than boys, little is known about processes underlying this sex difference. Four studies (Ns = 526, 567, 769, 154) tested whether middle childhood to mid-adolescent girls and boys differ in how they expect that talking about problems would make them feel. Girls endorsed positive expectations (e.g., expecting to feel cared for, understood) more strongly than boys. Despite common perceptions, boys did not endorse negative expectations such as feeling embarrassed or worried about being made fun of more than girls. Instead, boys were more likely than girls to expect to feel “weird” and like they were wasting time. Sex differences in outcome expectations did help to account for girls’ greater disclosure to friends.

Whereas much research addresses relations of youths’ heterosexual romantic relationships with sexual and/or delinquent activities, less attention has been paid to youths’ more normative, day-to-day activities with romantic partners. This gap in the literature is problematic given that these activities define the substance of the relationships and likely are connected to relationship satisfaction. In the current study, 223 youths in fifth (28 boys; 32 girls), eighth (31 boys; 40 girls), and eleventh (36 boys; 56 girls) grades reporting current romantic relationships indicated their engagement in activities with romantic partners and relationship satisfaction. Findings revealed important grade differences in activity involvement, with eighth- and eleventh-graders reporting higher engagement than fifth-graders, especially in out-of-school activities. Additionally, engagement in out-of-school activities was most strongly associated with relationship satisfaction for all grades.

The question of judgment times for the different categories of the psychophysical methods has recently been reopened by the work of Kellogg 1 and that of Fernberger and Irwin. 2 Kellogg confirmed the earlier findings of Martin and Miiller 3 and of George, 4 all of whom found that the equality judgment required a longer time for its formulation than did the judgments of difference-either greater or less.It would seem that these several studies are in complete conformity and that the question of the time relations of the different categories of the psychophysical judgment was rather definitely settled. But Fernberger and Irwin, working with the method of single stimuli, found no significant differences between the judgment times for the categories of 'less,' 'intermediate ' and 'great.' In view of this disparity of results for Fernberger and Irwin and all of the earlier studies, it has seemed worth while to repeat the experiment with the method of constant stimuli for several reasons. In the case of George's study, it would seem that there were too few reaction times taken for the averages to have real statistical significance. Let us hasten to add that the reaction times were in the nature of a by-product in this experiment inasmuch as George's primary interest was in obtaining introspective reports of the process of judgment.

This study examined whether combining classroom curriculum with direct experience with people with disabilities (PWDs) can influence change in undergraduate students’ attitudes toward PWDs. Undergraduate students ( N = 68) enrolled in a psychology course completed the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale at the beginning and end of the semester. During the semester, students learned about various disabilities and participated in a 10-hr service-learning project that required direct, supervised interaction with PWDs at a local, nonprofit organization that provides employment services to adults with disabilities. Students reported more positive attitudes toward PWDs at the end of the semester. Having an increased comfort level in interacting with PWDs can give students pursuing careers that involve working with PWDs an advantage.