Adopted Individuals’ Views on the Utility and Value of Expanded Carrier Screening

Adoptees may not have family medical history and ethnicity information. Carrier screening assesses reproductive risk. Expanded carrier screening (ECS) screens for many genetic conditions regardless of a patient’s knowledge of family history and ethnicity. This study aimed to better understand the opinions and attitudes of adopted individuals on the use of ECS in determining a patient’s reproductive genetic risks. Specifically, the study assessed how adopted individuals feel that results of ECS may be useful to them and whether adoptees feel that meeting with a genetics professional in the process of undergoing ECS would be useful. Adult adoptees (N?=?124) were recruited online. Their opinions on ECS were explored. The majority reported they had never been offered carrier screening (92%). The majority of adoptees wanted ECS (76%). Neither the amount of contact with biological relatives nor having medical knowledge about biological relatives was significantly associated with adoptees’ desire to pursue ECS. There was a significant positive correlation between adoptees of higher education levels and the amount they would pay for ECS (p?=?0.004). The majority of participants (95%) indicated a genetics professional would be helpful when undergoing ECS. The findings suggest this population may want ECS and support from genetics healthcare professionals. Advocacy for genetic counseling and testing for adoptees appears justifiable.     

The Balint group experience for medical students: a pilot project

Loss of empathy has been reported in medical students as they move through the clinical phases of their training. Several researchers have attempted to address this issue by exploring ways of heightening students’ awareness of the emotional, non-biomedical aspects of illness and the dynamics of the doctor–patient relationship, using a variety of reflective group discussion methods. This pilot project employed the specific group method developed by Michael Balint for general practitioners working in London after the Second World War. The pilot was based on one group of six third-year graduate students, meeting weekly over six weeks. Evaluation includes pre- and post-questionnaires, a 1000-word essay and leaders’ observations. The results suggest that the traditional Balint method needs to be modified for students at a point in their training where they have not yet been exposed to patients for long enough to develop meaningful patient relationships. Nevertheless, there was some evidence of a heightened awareness of the dynamics of doctor–patient relationships and the importance of psychological/emotional factors (including their own prejudices) when interacting with a patient. Balint-style groups could be an effective way of encouraging medical students to reflect on the importance of emotions in the doctor–patient relationship.     

Measuring How Systems-Centered® Members Connect with Group Dynamics: FSQ-2 Construct Validity

Understanding and intervening at the connection between group dynamics and member behavior has been a long-standing challenge. Functional subgrouping (FS) is the core Systems-centered training and therapy (SCT) method and is hypothesized to solve vexing member/group dynamic problems such as scapegoating. The self-report Functional Subgrouping Questionnaire-2 (FSQ-2) was developed to measure the amount of functional subgrouping in a group. The current FSQ-2 construct validity study aims to determine whether: 1) FSQ-2 scores change across sessions; 2) level of SCT experience is related to scores; and 3) SCT experience moderates change in FSQ-2 scores over SCT training. Results from groups at various SCT training events showed higher FSQ-2 responses for those with greater SCT experience, and increased scores over time. However, change over time on most FSQ-2 items did not depend on SCT experience level. Findings provide further support for the construct validity of the FSQ-2, and thus also for the SCT model. Suggestions for future SCT/FSQ-2 research are made.     

Levels of processing in disruptive effects of prior information

Under certain conditions, advance information about possible letter alternatives may depress recognition of single tachistoscopically presented letters followed by a pattern mask. Neill and Walling (1981) found that this “before-disruption effect” occurred specifically when alternatives were featurally similar. In contrast, Experiment 1 of the present study found that precuing facilitated identification of unfamiliar stimuli composed of letterlike features, particularly when alternatives differed in only one critical feature. Contrary to Smith, Haviland, Reder, Brownell, and Adams (1976), composition of letterlike features is therefore not sufficient to produce the before-disruption effect. The before-disruption effect appears to occur when there is opportunity to represent the stimulus at a deeper (i.e., name) level, but foreknowledge of a critical distinguishing feature biases processing instead toward the level of physical features. Congruent with this analysis, Experiment 2 found the before-disruption effect for letters to be attenuated when targets were unpredictably upper- and lowercase, necessitating name-level matching to the alternatives. Experiment 3 found the superior identification of unprecued letters to be paradoxically associated with inferior target detection, as indicated by concurrent presence/absence judgments. In addition, identification of unprecued letters, but not precued letters, was significantly above chance on trials in which overt target detection failed to occur. The results are consistent with recent suggestions that pattern masking does not terminate perceptual processing, but rather interferes with conscious awareness of completed visual analysis.     

Channeling identity: A study of storytelling in conversations between introverted and extraverted friends

This narrative study examined the process of personal storytelling between college-age friends who were similarly introverted or extraverted. Participants were 19 introverted and 20 extraverted same-sex pairs (49% female) who had been friends for an average of 18 months. Stories emerged spontaneously during 10-min catch-up conversations. Extraverted friends more often told stories that changed the topic, and more often co-constructed story plots. Introverted friends more often told stories that were embedded in a developing theme, and constructed story plots solo. With regard to content, extraverted friends told stories about romance more so than introverted friends, whose stories more often concerned family/hometown, and older events. The findings suggest that the traits of extraversion and introversion channel the identity-making process.     

Work-family climate, organizational commitment, and turnover: Multilevel contagion effects of leaders

This paper presents empirical research analyzing the relationship between work-family climate (operationalized in terms of three work-family climate sub-scales), organizational leadership (i.e., senior manager) characteristics, organizational commitment and turnover intent among 526 employees from 37 different hotels across the US. Using multilevel modeling, we found significant associations between work-family climate, and both organizational commitment and turnover intent, both within and between hotels. Findings underscored the importance of managerial support for employee work-family balance, the relevance of senior managers’ own work-family circumstances in relation to employees’ work outcomes, and the existence of possible contagion effects of leaders in relation to work-family climate.     

Reliable Ratings or Reading Tea Leaves: Can Parent,Teacher, and Clinician Behavioral Ratings of Preschoolers Predict ADHD at Age Six?

To assess the relative ability of parent, teacher, and clinician behavioral ratings of preschoolers to predict ADHD severity and diagnosis at 6 years of age. Hyperactive/inattentive preschoolers [N?=?104, 75 % boys, Mean (SD) age?=?4.37 (0.47) years] were followed over 2 years (mean?=?26.44 months, SD?=?5.66). At baseline (BL), parents and teachers completed the ADHD-RS-IV and clinicians completed the Behavioral Rating Inventory for Children following a psychological testing session. At age 6, [Mean (SD) age?=?6.62 (0.35) years], parents were interviewed with the K-SADS-PL; teachers completed the ADHD-RS-IV; and laboratory measures of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention were obtained from children. Hierarchical logistic and linear regression analyses examined which combination of BL ratings best predicted 6-year-old ADHD diagnosis and severity, respectively. At age 6, 56 (53.8 %) children met DSM-IV criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD. BL ratings from parent/teacher/clinician, parent/teacher and parent/clinician combinations significantly predicted children who had an ADHD diagnosis at age 6. Parent and clinician, but not teacher, behavior ratings were significant independent predictors of ADHD diagnosis and severity at 6-years-old. However, only clinician reports of preschoolers’ behaviors predicted laboratory measures of over-activity and inattention at follow-up. Cross-situationality is important for a diagnosis of ADHD during the preschool years. Among parents, teachers and clinicians, positive endorsements from all three informants, parent/teacher or parent/clinician appear to have prognostic value. Clinicians’ ratings of preschoolers’ inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity are valid sources of information for predicting ADHD diagnosis and severity over time.     

Reducing the backlash effect: Self‐monitoring and women's promotions

Previous research shows that masculine (agentic) women suffer from a backlash effect in which they are sanctioned for violating the feminine gender role stereotype. We examine the impact of self‐monitoring on the promotion rates of MBA men and women over an 8‐year period following graduation. Results show that women who were more masculine as well as high on self‐monitoring received more promotions, suggesting that self‐monitoring is associated with an absence of backlash effects.     

Self-discrepancy: comparisons of the psychometric properties of three instruments

In 2 studies, the psychometric properties of 3 methods for measuring real-ideal and real-ought self-discrepancies were compared: the idiographic Self-Concept Questionnaire-Personal Constructs, the nonidiographic Self-Concept Questionnaire-Conventional Constructs, and the content-free Abstract Measures. In the 1st study, 125 students at a university clinic completed the 3 instruments and measures of anxiety and depression before individual therapy. In the 2nd study, 278 undergraduates completed the 3 instruments at 2 time points 4 weeks apart and completed multiple measures of anxiety and depression at the 2nd time point. Internal consistency alphas were consistently strong for the personal construct measures (.90 to .92) and moderate to strong for the conventional construct measures (.82 to .90). Test-retest reliability coefficients were above .70 for the personal construct and conventional construct measures, but the coefficients for the latter were inflated by the stability of their error terms. The 2 discrepancies were found to be factorially distinct even though they were highly correlated. Convergent and discriminant evidence of validity was found in both studies for all measures except the abstract real-ought discrepancy. Convergence was as strong or stronger for the personal construct measures in comparison to the other measures. Test-criterion evidence of validity, with multiple measures of anxiety and depression as criteria, was found in both studies for all measures except for the abstract real-ought discrepancy in relation to anxiety. Overall, the findings support the idiographic personal construct instrument most strongly for clinical assessment and for clinical, translational, and personality research.