Effects of A Parenting-Focused Mindfulness Intervention on Adolescent Substance Use and Psychopathology: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Substance use and psychopathology symptoms increase in adolescence. One key risk factor for these is high parent stress. Mindfulness interventions reduce stress in adults and may be useful to reduce parent stress and prevent substance use (SU) and psychopathology in adolescents. This study tested the feasibility and effects of a mindfulness intervention for parents on adolescent SU and psychopathology symptoms. Ninety-six mothers of 11–17 year olds were randomly assigned to a mindfulness intervention for parents (the Parenting Mindfully [PM] intervention) or a brief parent education [PE] control group. At pre-intervention, post-intervention, 6-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up, adolescents reported on SU and mothers and adolescents reported on adolescent externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Primary intent to treat analyses found that the PM intervention prevented increases in adolescent SU over time, relative to the PE control group. The PM intervention also prevented increases in mother-reported externalizing symptoms over time relative to the PE control group. However, PM did not have a significant effect on internalizing symptoms. PM had an indirect effect on adolescent-reported externalizing symptoms through greater mother mindfulness levels at post-intervention, suggesting mother mindfulness as a potential intervention mechanism. Notably, while mothers reported high satisfaction with PM, intervention attendance was low (31% of mothers attended zero sessions). Secondary analyses with mothers who attended?>??=?50% of the interventions (n?=?48) found significant PM effects on externalizing symptoms, but not SU. Overall, findings support mindfulness training for parents as a promising intervention and future studies should work to promote accessibility for stressed parents.

Clinical Trials Identifier: NCT02038231; Date of Registration: January 13, 2014

     

Family Experience of Safe: A New Intervention for Families of Children with a Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Systemic Autism-related Family Enabling (SAFE) is a new intervention for families of children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). SAFE responds to international and national recommendations for improved care and the reported needs of families. SAFE draws from Family Therapy techniques, Attachment Narrative Therapy and known preferences of individuals with autism. Twenty two families of a child with a diagnosis of ASD severity level 1 or 2 were recruited. The families attended five 3-hour sessions. Family members completed the Helpful Aspects of Therapy Questionnaire (HAT) after each session. Analysis of the HAT data revealed that adults and children experienced SAFE to be helpful which was elaborated in terms of the following themes: therapist as helping reflection, increased understanding, feeling closer, more confident to reflect and problem solve, improved communication and feeling less alone and isolated. The findings are discussed to consider how SAFE can be improved and implemented to offer support for families. SAFE is a good candidate to fill a gap in autism related care.

     

Attachment, breakup strategies, and associated outcomes: The effects of security enhancement on the selection of breakup strategies

People tend to use different strategies to dissolve their romantic relationships (Baxter, 1982). The factors predicting selection of breakup strategies, and especially personality factors, have received relatively little attention. In five studies, using community and students samples, we revised the measure used to assess breakup strategy use, examined the outcomes of the revised strategies, and investigated the associations of these strategies with attachment dimensions. Attachment avoidance was associated with using less direct breakup strategies; whereas attachment anxiety was associated with using strategies meant to keep open the option of getting back together. In Studies 4 and 5, attachment-security primes were found to decrease these tendencies. Implications for relationship dissolution and attachment theory are discussed.     

Selective defensiveness or nondefensiveness: How does relative autonomy relate to excuse-making when goal pursuits do not succeed?

Relative autonomy (RA) is high when goals are value-consistent and volitionally enacted. This research compared 2 views of RA??s influence on excuse-making after hypothetical or recalled failures to attain exercise goals: i.e., RA could reduce all forms of excuse-making (nondefensiveness), or only those that harm continued goal-pursuit (selective defensiveness). Drawing on the typology of excuses by Schlenker et al. (Psychol Rev 101:632?C652, 1994), Studies 1?C3 showed that individuals with higher RA toward exercise perceived less legitimacy in, and especially avoided using excuses that denied the goal??s self-relevance. This excuse-type, when compared with denying control, was most harmful to commitment, and was less effective at reducing culpability. Study 4 showed that internalization of the exercise goal was supported only when excuse-making was tolerated by an ostensible authority. Together, these findings support the selective defensiveness view.     

Sense of control in late life: health and survival implications

Believing that one can influence outcomes presumably fosters a psychological sense of control. So too, however, might adaptive ways of thinking known as secondary control (SC) processes that operate when outcomes are believed to be unattainable. Using a 5-year prospective design and a representative sample of adults (ages 79-98), folk beliefs (e.g., "negative experiences can be a blessing in disguise") were used to assess SC processes. The authors expected SC Folk Beliefs would predict Sense of Control (Hypothesis 1) which, in turn, would predict self-rated health, hospital admissions, and survival (Hypothesis 2). An indirect relationship was hypothesized: SC Folk Beliefs were expected to predict outcomes through the Sense of Control (Hypothesis 3). Support was found for all hypotheses providing insights into the antecedents and consequences of a sense of control and about how SC beliefs and a sense of control function in the context of health.     

Disengagement and Engagement Coping with HIV/AIDS Stigma and Psychological Well-Being of People with HIV/AIDS

The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS poses a psychological challenge to people living with HIV/AIDS. We hypothesized that that the consequences of stigma-related stressors on psychological well-being would depend on how people cope with the stress of HIV/AIDS stigma. Two hundred participants with HIV/AIDS completed a self-report measure of enacted stigma and felt stigma, a measure of how they coped with HIV/AIDS stigma, and measures of depression and anxiety, and self-esteem. In general, increases in felt stigma (concerns with public attitudes, negative self-image, and disclosure concerns) coupled with how participants reported coping with stigma (by disengaging from or engaging with the stigma stressor) predicted self-reported depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Increases in felt stigma were associated with increases in anxiety and depression among participants who reported relatively high levels of disengagement coping compared to participants who reported relatively low levels of disengagement coping. Increases in felt stigma were associated with decreased self-esteem, but this association was attenuated among participants who reported relatively high levels of engagement control coping. The data also suggested a trend that increases in enacted stigma predicted increases in anxiety, but not depression, among participants who reported using more disengagement coping. Mental health professionals working with people who are HIV positive should consider how their clients cope with HIV/AIDS stigma and consider tailoring current therapies to address the relationship between stigma, coping, and psychological well-being.     

Attachment and amae in Japanese romantic relationships

Amae is a Japanese term that refers to an individual's inappropriate behaviour when he/she presumes indulgence from a significant other. The link between attachment style and amae has been debated, but few studies have examined this link empirically. This study examined the association of attachment style with amae behaviour in Japanese dating couples over a two‐week period. Results showed that for Japanese men, anxious attachment was positively associated with their amae behaviour, and in turn, with their increased relationship quality. Conversely, avoidant attachment was negatively associated with their amae behaviour, and in turn, with their decreased relationship quality.     

Auditory Processing Measures: Correlation with Neuropsychological Measures of Attention,Memory, and Behavior

It has been suggested that measures of auditory processing (AP) are sensitive measures of attention resulting in the high comorbidity of auditory processing disorder (APD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Others have found that selected AP measures share significant variance with memory tasks. The current study investigated the relation between AP measures and various neuropsychological measures presumed to measure attention and memory in 36 children with a mean age of 7.78 years (SD = 1.61) referred to an outpatient facility. Results indicate that AP measures significantly correlated with each other as well as with some measures of attention, memory, and behavior ratings. Results suggest that although AP measures include elements of both attention and memory, these measures also appear to assess processes not tapped by other measures of attention and memory. The correlation of AP measures with parent-and teacher-rated withdrawal, parent-rated somatization, conduct, and depression, as well as teacher-rated attention, anxiety, learning problems, social skills, and leadership suggest that auditory processing problems may manifest in myriad behaviors across settings. Implications for practice and future research are presented.     

Sustaining Primary Control Striving for Achievement Goals During Challenging Developmental Transitions: The Role of Secondary Control Strategies

Developmental transitions are imbued with ubiquitous uncertainties that undermine goal striving in many otherwise committed individuals. Our seven-month study examined whether cognitive selective secondary control strategies (motivation-focused thinking) facilitate the enactment of achievement goals among young adults experiencing the landmark school to university transition. Sequential regression analyses demonstrated that (a) achievement goals predicted selective secondary control, (b) selective secondary control predicted behavioral selective primary control striving, and (c) selective primary control predicted final course grades. Findings support Heckhausen et al.'s (2010 Heckhausen , J. , Wrosch , C. , &; Schulz , R. ( 2010 ). A motivational theory of life-span development . Psychological Review , 117 , 32 – 60 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) proposition that selective secondary control bolsters selective primary control striving and enables goal attainment during difficult transitions.     

How you ask matters: An experimental investigation of the influence of mood on memory self-perceptions and their relationship with objective memory

Stronger relationships often emerge between mood and memory self-efficacy (MSE) than between MSE and memory abilities. We examined how social desirability, mood congruency and framing influence the mood–MSE relationship. Social desirability correlated with all self-report measures, and covarying social desirability diminished the mood-MSE relationship while enhancing the relationship between MSE and objective memory. Participants rated their memory more harshly on positively than neutrally or negatively worded MSE items. Current mood state did not affect MSE overall or when items were worded positively or neutrally. However, on negatively worded items, participants in a negative mood exhibited lower MSE than participants in a positive mood. Thus, both MSE and the mood–MSE relationship depended upon question wording. These results indicate that controlling social desirability and item framing on MSE questionnaires may reduce their confounding influence on memory self-perceptions and the influence of mood on self-reported abilities, allowing subjective memory to more accurately reflect objective memory in healthy and clinical populations.