Behavioral state organization of very low birth weight infants: Effects of developmental handling during caregiving

Handling infants for nursing care in the neonatal intensive care unit has been associated with physiological and behavioral distress. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an individualized approach to nursing care designed to reduce stressors and support behavioral organization would positively affect behavioral state organization during caregiving. The developmental approach was contrasted with a traditional approach in 38 infants (< 1700 g, 53% female, 85% white) at 28, 30, and 32 weeks postconceptional age. Subjects served as their own controls in a cross-over design, with assessment of four caregiving sessions at each age. Results showed that with developmental caregiving, time spent in sleep and drowsy wakefulness was higher, and time in alert and non-alert wakefulness and fuss/cry was lower than with traditional caregiving. Results demonstrate a positive effect of developmental handling for behavioral state organization. However, the findings for the alert state were unexpected and require further exploration of how alertness may be promoted without the physiological and behavioral costs of disorganized arousal.     

Insurance Coverage and Mental Health Service Use by Adolescents with Serious Emotional Disturbance

This paper examines the relationships between insurance coverage, need, and mental health services in a community-based sample of 1,015 youths who were 9, 11, and 13 years old at the beginning of the study. They were followed over a two-year period. A strong measure of need based on a standardized diagnostic interview was available and repeated over three annual waves. Data on service use was collected quarterly across two years. Major findings included: (a) high need (serious emotional disturbance [SED]) was strongly related to use of any mental health services; (b) services use was much more likely to occur with public (Medicaid) insurance coverage than either private or no insurance; (c) considerable unmet need was observed even for youths with SED; (d) school-based mental health services potentially substituted for professional mental health services; and (e) there was little unnecessary use of mental health services in the low need group. The major policy implication of these findings is that the regulation of insurance benefits should be based on level of need, rather than on arbitrary limits which are likely to either reduce the probability of or appropriate amount of care for youths who most need mental health services.     

The Contribution of Hope and Affectivity to Diabetes-Related Disability: An Exploratory Study

This study examined the relationships of the dispositional variables of hope, positive affectivity (PA), and negative affectivity (NA) with disease status and illness-related psychosocial functioning in a sample of 45 young adults with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Canonical analyses revealed one significant canonical function between the dispositional and psychosocial outcome variables. Primary contributors to the relationship were higher NA and lower PA and maladaptive emotional behavior. A linear multiple regression analysis using hope and affectivity as predictors failed to account for a significant proportion of variance in objective disease status as measured by hemoglobin A _1C (HbA_1C). The results support previous findings that affectivity may relate to self-reported, disease-related outcome, but not necessarily to objective measures of health status. Future studies of adaptation to chronic illness should consider including measures of illness-related behaviors (e.g., adherence), as well as subjective and objective measures of health status.     

An Examination of Date Rape, Victim Dress, and Perceiver Variables Within the Context of Attribution Theory

Researchers examined the influence of victimdress, perceiver gender, situational relevance, andpersonal relevance on attributions of responsibility fordate rape. Participants were from a campus population described as 75% White non-Hispanic, 14% Blacknon-Hispanic, 2% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 4% nonresidentaliens, and 3% other, and were characterized asprimarily middle class. Participants read a date rapescenario, viewed a photograph of the victim, attributedresponsibility to victim and perpetrator, and estimatedsituational relevance and personal relevance.Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) indicated a significant difference between groups(perceiver gender, victim dress) on the two dependentvariables (responsibility of victim and perpetrator) andthe covariates. There were significant differences in attribution of responsibility to the femalevictim due to perceiver gender, victim dress, and thecovariate personal relevance, accounting for a smallproportion of variance. Men attributed moreresponsibility to the victim than women. Both men and womenwho viewed a photograph of the victim in a short skirtattributed more responsibility to the victim than thosewho viewed a photograph of the victim in a moderate or long skirt. As womens' personal relevanceincreased, attribution of responsibility to the victimdecreased. Men attributed less responsibility to themale perpetrator than women. As mens' situational relevance increased, attribution ofresponsibility to the perpetrator decreased. Presumably,participants' attributed responsibility was motivated byblame avoidance. Theoretical and practical implications are presented.     

A Systematic Framework for Integrating Psychological Evaluations and Interventions

A systematic framework for an integrative approach to psychological evaluations and interventions is proposed based on the executive system model of intelligence, the transactional processes of stress and coping, and the field properties of the personal domain. The executive system of intelligence is a comprehensive model that helps to explain the active components of various types of psychotherapies. We are proposing that psychotherapies facilitate clients' uses of their executive functions to develop coping strategies in their transactions with the environment and the events in their life space. A clinical case is presented to illustrate our systematic approach to psychological evaluation and intervention.     

Psychological distress in the local hillsborough or ‘host’ community following the Hillsborough football stadium diaster

This paper describes levels of psychological distress and accounts of disaster among the local host community following the Hillsborough Football Stadium disaster. Thirty-two participants were interviewed 4–6 months after the event. Rates of psychological distress symptoms were high in the sample as measured by PTSD (DSM III criteria), Impact of Events Scale (IES) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The study also explores the relationships between levels of exposure, levels of distress and participants' accounts of the disaster. Implications for community outreach projects after disasters are discussed.     

Children's size judgments when size and distance vary: Is there a developmental trend to overconstancy?

A review of the experimental literature on size constancy in children shows that studies permitting unrestricted viewing in natural settings provide only limited support for the hypothesis, proposed by Wohlwill, of a developmental trend from under- to overconstancy. A study is reported in which subjects aged 8 to 18 years made magnitude estimations of height for targets whose height and distance from them varied. For distances up to 15 m, and heights from 5 to 50 cm, size constancy prevailed at all ages: The same number was assigned to a given height at every distance. If a developmental trend exists, it requires either younger subjects or greater distances to be revealed.     

The effect of exposure duration on the apparent contrast of sinusoidal gratings

Apparent contrast determined for sinusoidal grating targets which were flashed for varying durations appears to follow a temporal course similar to a Broca-Sulzer curve, and this temporal course is also influenced by the spatial frequency of the grating target. These results were discussed in terms of differential latency and temporal integrating characteristics of spatial frequency channels.