In the midst of a pandemic, the efficacy of official measures to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis largely depends on public attitudes towards them, where conspiracy beliefs represent potential threats to the efficacy of measures such as vaccination. Here, we present predictors and outcomes associated with a COVID-19 vaccination conspiracy belief. In a representative survey of Germany, sociodemographic predictors of this belief were found to include age, federal state, migration background and school leaving qualification. The study revealed correlations with trust in scientific and governmental information sources, respondents’ self-assessment of being informed about science, general conspiracy mindedness, the frequency of using Twitter and messaging apps, as well as willingness to voluntarily take the COVID-19 vaccine. Our results cohere with and build on the general literature on conspiracy mindedness and related factors. The findings provide an evidence base for more effective health and crisis communication in Germany and beyond.

Zusammenfassung. Die körperliche Entwicklung im Jugendalter hat auch für psychologische Fragestellungen eine große Bedeutung. Es liegen mehrere Verfahren vor, um den Pubertätsstatus ohne Rückgriff auf medizinische Verfahren, die oft teuer und Psychologen nicht direkt zugänglich sind, zu erfassen. Die amerikanische Pubertal Development Scale (PDS, Petersen, Crockett, Richards & Boxer, 1988 ) ist eines dieser Verfahren. Sie ermöglicht, fünf Entwicklungsstadien bei Jungen und Mädchen anhand von jeweils drei Kriterien zu differenzieren. Die vorliegende Studie überprüft verschiedene Gütekriterien einer deutschen Übersetzung. 106 Jungen und 108 Mädchen, im Durchschnitt 11,23 Jahre alt (SD = 0.89), wurden im häuslichen Kontext zu ihrer körperlichen Entwicklung befragt. Eine Fremdeinschätzung des Pubertätsstatus erfolgte durch die Eltern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zum einen, dass sowohl die interne Konsistenz als auch verschiedene Maße der Kriteriumsvalidität zufriedenstellende Werte erreichen. Zum anderen zeichnen sich jedoch auch systematische Geschlechterunterschiede und Unterschiede in der Fremd- und Selbstbeurteilung ab, die bei der Anwendung und Interpretation der PDS zur Vermeidung von Fehleinschätzungen beachtet werden sollten. Weitere notwendige Validierungsschritte werden diskutiert.

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In everyday life, people are confronted with common beliefs about how women and men differ from each other. These beliefs make them wonder about their personal femininity and masculinity. But what hides behind these constructs? In this article, we will discuss the potential and limitations of different definitions. We will focus on methodological issues which can trigger new discussions about the social implications of gender differences-which are not part of this paper. One of the major questions here is whether it is methodologically justifiable (legitimate) to make individual predictions based on group differences. An issue that is not only relevant in regards to femininity and masculinity. In general, all definitions of masculinity and femininity show more limitations than potentials. They are either neglecting certain sub-groups or are based on stereotypes (either displaying common beliefs or exaggerated group differences). Individual predictions derived from these constructs are questionable due to oversimplification/reductionism (e.g., when forming groups). By pointing out that constructs like femininity and masculinity can in fact limit an individual's development, it is suggested to clearly differentiate between different types of differences and to clearly state what can and cannot be said when "measuring" an individual's masculinity and femininity. Since femininity and masculinity can be seen as example constructs, and generalizations are part of many research processes, general implications beyond these concepts are being discussed.

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious mental disorder with a multifactorial etiopathogenesis, adolescent girls being especially vulnerable. Parents can be a resource and occasionally a burden when their children suffer from AN; thus, parents play a key role in recovery. This study focused on parental illness theories of AN and how parents negotiate their responsibilities. Methods: To gain insights into this dynamic, 14 parents (11 mothers, 3 fathers) of adolescent girls were interviewed. Qualitative content analysis was used to provide an overview of the parents’ assumed causes for their children’s AN. We also looked for systematic differences in the assumed causes among different groups of parents (e.g., high versus low self-efficacy). A microgenetic positioning analysis of two mother–father dyads provided further insight into how they viewed the development of AN in their daughters. Results: The analysis stressed the overall helplessness of parents and their strong need to understand what was going on. Parents differed in stressing internal and external causes, which influenced whether they felt responsible and how much they felt in control and able to help. Conclusions: Analysing the variability and dynamics shown can support therapists, especially those working systemically to change the narratives within families for better therapy compliance and outcomes.