Friends are a vital source of social relations throughout the lifespan and across developmental stages. Our knowledge of how friendships develop over time, especially from childhood through adulthood, is limited. Furthermore, it is now recognized that this specific type of relationship influences health across the life course in unique ways. Using…

In a national survey of U.S. adults, the number of close friends increased with age and 76% reported having three or more. However, 8% reported having none. There are limited parallel data for gifted learners but the survey provided an opportunity to compare the two groups. The numbers of close friends for gifted learners appears to increase from…

Visual Reproduction is a condition to measure Visual Spatial Memory as one of the cognitive domains commonly used to measure visuo-spatial memory. Geometric figures serve as stimulus material, and probands have to reproduce the figures from memory through a hand drawing. The scoring of the drawing has subjective elements. This study aims to…

We designed grip strength standards for youth by back-extrapolating cutpoints based on weakness at age 65. Existing standards, based on insufficient bone mineral content (BMC), were also compared in a nationally representative sample. Altogether, 6837 participants (n = 2199 [less than or equal to] 18.9 years of age) from the National Health and…

This study examines the relationship between parenting styles (authoritarian, indulgent, authoritative, and neglectful) and its relations with personal and social adjustment beyond adolescence. Participants were 2131 Spanish children, divided into adolescents (n = 616), young adults (n = 606), middle-aged adults (n = 502) and older adults (n…

Visuospatial processing speed underlies several cognitive functions critical for successful completion of everyday tasks, including driving and walking. While it is widely accepted that visuospatial processing speed peaks in early adulthood, performance across the lifespan remains incompletely characterized. Additionally, there remains a lack of…

Purpose: This study examined differences in selected acoustic measures of speech and voice according to age and sex and across families. Method: Participants included 169 individuals, 79 men and 90 women, from 18 families, ranging in age from 17 to 87 years. Participants reported no history of articulation disorders, stroke or active neurologic…

Background: E-cigarette use has increased rapidly in the past decade despite studies showing their negative health outcomes. There is limited knowledge on the characteristics of users and possible interventions. Purpose: This study presents the demographic characteristics of e-cigarette users in California, propose tailored interventions, and…

Climate change is a global issue affecting individuals, industries, and economies around the world. Many individuals know the risks of climate change and are willing to change their behaviour, but still contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. This discrepancy between willingness and action has been described as the…

This study investigated the relationship between Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE), Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA), Out-of-Class Foreign Language Use (OCFLU) and learner factors (FL and FL proficiency level). Participants were 611 foreign language (FL) learners aged 16-72 at Spanish Official Language Schools. An online questionnaire was…

Solitude occurs from childhood to old age. In this special issue introduction, we offer a lifespan perspective on matters of solitude with the aim to point to pertinent issues in the field. We propose that solitude serves important functions that may vary across different times in life and that solitude needs to be considered in the context in…

This paper aims at connecting Self-Determination Theory (SDT) with research on moral identity. It is argued that SDT provides a unique and integrative framework for addressing important questions that have guided research on moral identity for many years: What is a moral identity? How is it linked to moral action? How do moral identities develop?…

Background: Food cravings typically influence individuals' diets and ultimately their health. However, the differences in food cravings between genders with normal BMI values are unclear.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in food craving intensity between genders with normal BMI values. Methods: The research group…

This study examined age trends in anxious and depressive symptoms, from older adolescence to old age, and explored the association between anxious and depressive symptoms with gender, ASD severity, and socio-economic factors. Two hundred and fifty-five individuals with ASD (151 males, M[subscript age] = 33.52 years, SD[subscript age] = 14.98) took…

Many connectives, such as "therefore" and "however," are used very frequently in the written modality. Their acquisition thus represents an important milestone in developing written language competences. In this article, we assess the development of competence with such connectives by native French speakers in a sentence-level…