Health Is Associated With Antiparasite Behavior and Fear of Disease-Relevant Animals in Humans

Evolutionary arms races between humans and parasites resulted in a set of behavioral adaptations that serve as parasite-avoidance mechanisms. We investigated associations among reported health of the respondent, antiparasite behavior, and sensitivity to disgust and fear of disease-relevant and irrelevant animals. Ninety-seven participants (15–19 years old) rated their fear and disgust at 25 colorful pictures of disease-relevant and disease-irrelevant invertebrates. Consistent with previous work, we found that participants reported greater fear and disgust of disease-relevant invertebrates relative to disease-irrelevant invertebrates. Better perceived health correlated with lower fear of disease-relevant invertebrates. Sensitivity to disgust correlated with reported antiparasite behaviors. Contrary to expectations, we found a positive correlation between antiparasite behavior and reported health, which suggests that antiparasite behavior influences perceived health (but not vice versa), and we found that males perform more antiparasite behaviors than females. These results support the idea that disgust and fear of disease-relevant objects are adaptive emotions that prevent contact with contagious objects, especially in individuals with low perceived health.     

Spatial Proportional Reasoning Is Associated With Formal Knowledge About Fractions

Proportional reasoning involves thinking about parts and wholes (i.e., about fractional quantities). Yet, research on proportional reasoning and fraction learning has proceeded separately. This study assessed proportional reasoning and formal fraction knowledge in 8- to 10-year-olds. Participants (N = 52) saw combinations of cherry juice and water in displays that highlighted either part–whole or part–part relations. Their task was to indicate on a continuous rating scale how much each mixture would taste of cherries. Ratings suggested the use of a proportional integration rule for both kinds of displays, although more robustly and accurately for part–whole displays. The findings indicate that children may be more likely to scale proportional components when being presented with part–whole as compared with part–part displays. Crucially, ratings for part–whole problems correlated with fraction knowledge, even after controlling for age, suggesting that a sense of spatial proportions is associated with an understanding of fractional quantities.     

Enhanced Cardiac Perception Is Associated With Increased Susceptibility to Framing Effects

Previous studies suggest in line with dual process models that interoceptive skills affect controlled decisions via automatic or implicit processing. The “framing effect” is considered to capture implicit effects of task‐irrelevant emotional stimuli on decision‐making. We hypothesized that cardiac awareness, as a measure of interoceptive skills, is positively associated with susceptibility to the framing effect. Forty volunteers performed a risky‐choice framing task in which the effect of loss versus gain frames on decisions based on identical information was assessed. The results show a positive association between cardiac awareness and the framing effect, accounting for 24% of the variance in the framing effect. These findings demonstrate that good interoceptive skills are linked to poorer performance in risky choices based on ambivalent information when implicit bias is induced by task‐irrelevant emotional information. These findings support a dual process perspective on decision‐making and suggest that interoceptive skills mediate effects of implicit bias on decisions.     

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Is Associated With Attenuated Interoceptive Responses to Self-Critical Rumination

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent and dangerous behavior. Those with a history of NSSI often report high levels of self-critical rumination (SCR), a form of negatively valenced introspective self-referential processing. It is plausible that this overly analytical style of relating to the self might hinder the ability to process interoceptive signals, thereby increasing the capacity to engage in behaviors that cause bodily harm. Two studies investigated whether trait or state SCR influenced aspects of interoception in those with and without a history of NSSI. In Study 1 (N = 180), irrespective of NSSI history, trait SCR was associated with finding attending to the heartbeat unpleasant. However, no associations were observed for interoceptive confidence, or metacognitive insight into their interoceptive abilities (confidence–accuracy correspondence). Trait SCR was associated with having higher interoceptive accuracy, but only in those without a history of NSSI. In Study 2 (N = 98), irrespective of NSSI history, state self-criticism led to a more negative interoceptive valence, and reduced participants’ metacognitive insight. In those without a history of NSSI, state self-criticism also increased interoceptive accuracy—an effect attenuated in those with NSSI. These findings suggest that those with NSSI are characterized by a blunted interoceptive response to negatively valenced self-focused attention.     

Aerobic Fitness Is Associated With Cognitive Control Strategy in Preadolescent Children

The authors used a conditional accuracy function (CAF) method to compute the mean accuracy of multiple reaction time ranges, to investigate the association between aerobic fitness and the utilization of cognitive control strategy during preadolescence. Thirty-eight higher- and lower-fit children were grouped according to their cardiorespiratory capacity (VO_2max) and completed a modified flanker task. Seventeen young adults were recruited as a reference group of maturation. The results showed that higher-fit children exhibited an adult-like performance pattern, and demonstrated increased overall response accuracy compared to lower-fit children, with a disproportionally larger increase in individual responses when the time allowed for discriminative processing was constrained. These findings suggest that aerobic fitness is associated with enhanced cognitive control and development of a more proactive control strategy during flanker task in preadolescent children.     

Teams Behaving Badly: Factors Associated With Anti-Citizenship Behavior in Teams

We examined anti-citizenship behavior at the team level of analysis in a sample of 71 change management teams. Data were collected using a questionnaire methodology and through examination of company records. Results indicate that team leader solecism, team commitment, and perceived organizational support, but not team size, are highly correlated ( p .05) with team anti-citizenship behavior (TAB). Multiple regression results suggest that team leader solecism accounts for more unique variance in TAB than the other three variables.     

Gender Differences in Risk and Promotive Classifications Associated With Adolescent Delinquency

How likely are children exposed to multiple risk factors to engage in delinquent behavior, to what extent do promotive factors mitigate exposure to these risk factors, and do the predictors of delinquent behavior differ by gender? To address these questions, the authors analyzed data from youths (229 boys, 187 girls) who completed the third wave of the Lehigh Longitudinal Study using Latent Profile Analysis. A unique risk and promotive class with slightly elevated rates of exposure to parental violence, mean levels of other risk factors and low levels of promotive factors was present for girls but not for boys. Additionally, for boys and girls, high-risk, low-promotive individuals were significantly more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than low-risk, high-promotive cases. Findings suggest the need to examine risk and promotive factors in combination to account for their shared influences on developmental outcomes for youth.     

Speech Planning at Turn Transitions in Dialog Is Associated With Increased Processing Load

Speech planning is a sophisticated process. In dialog, it regularly starts in overlap with an incoming turn by a conversation partner. We show that planning spoken responses in overlap with incoming turns is associated with higher processing load than planning in silence. In a dialogic experiment, participants took turns with a confederate describing lists of objects. The confederate’s utterances (to which participants responded) were pre‐recorded and varied in whether they ended in a verb or an object noun and whether this ending was predictable or not. We found that response planning in overlap with sentence‐final verbs evokes larger task‐evoked pupillary responses, while end predictability had no effect. This finding indicates that planning in overlap leads to higher processing load for next speakers in dialog and that next speakers do not proactively modulate the time course of their response planning based on their predictions of turn endings. The turn‐taking system exerts pressure on the language processing system by pushing speakers to plan in overlap despite the ensuing increase in processing load.     

An Increase in Early Adolescent Undercontrol Is Associated With the Use of Denial

This is a longitudinal study of change in undercontrol and its relation to the use of defense mechanisms with participants from the Berkeley Guidance Study of the Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. I predicted that use of the immature defense of Denial, but not Projection or Identification, would be related at early adolescence to an increase in undercontrol as assessed from 2 independent measures. The assessment of Ego Undercontrol indicated that the majority of children decreased with age, but for those who increased at early adolescence, the increase was significantly related to the use of Denial. Similarly, assessment of Externalizing Behavior Problems at early adolescence indicated that an increase in Externalizing Problems was related to the use of Denial. In addition to indicating psychological immaturity, the use of Denial prevents these children from recognizing the negative impact of their undercontrolled behavior.     

An Empirical Examination of Symptom Substitution Associated With Behavior Therapy for Tourette's Disorder

Over the past six decades, behavior therapy has been a major contributor to the development of evidence-based psychotherapy treatments. However, a long-standing concern with behavior therapy among many nonbehavioral clinicians has been the potential risk for symptom substitution. Few studies have been conducted to evaluate symptom substitution in response to behavioral treatments, largely due to measurement and definitional challenges associated with treated psychiatric symptoms. Given the overt motor and vocal tics associated with Tourette’s disorder, it presents an excellent opportunity to empirically evaluate the potential risk for symptom substitution associated with behavior therapy. The present study examined the possible presence of symptom substitution using four methods: (a) the onset of new tic symptoms, (b) the occurrence of adverse events, (c) change in tic medications, and (d) worsening of co-occurring psychiatric symptoms. Two hundred twenty-eight participants with Tourette’s disorder or persistent motor or vocal tic disorders were randomly assigned to receive behavioral therapy or supportive therapy for tics. Both therapies consisted of eight sessions over 10 weeks. Results indicated that participants treated with behavior therapy were not more likely to have an onset of new tic symptoms, experience adverse events, increase tic medications, or have an exacerbation in co-occurring psychiatric symptoms relative to participants treated with supportive therapy. Further analysis suggested that the emergence of new tics was attributed with the normal waxing and waning nature of Tourette’s disorder. Findings provide empirical support to counter the long-standing concern of symptom substitution in response to behavior therapy for individuals with Tourette's disorder.     

Black Children's Adaptive Functioning and Maladaptive Behavior Associated With Quality of Family Support

The authors investigated differences in low-income Black children's adaptive functioning and maladaptive behavior in association with their father-figures' presence or absence, grade level, gender, and quality of family support as perceived by the children's caregivers.     

Less Engagement in Pleasurable Activities Is Associated With Poorer Quality of Life for Veterans With Comorbid Postdeployment Conditions

The presence of multiple comorbid conditions is common after combat deployment and complicates treatment. A potential treatment approach is to target shared mechanisms across conditions that maintain poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL). One such mechanism may be decrements in pleasurable activities. Impairment in pleasurable activities frequently occurs after deployment and may be associated with poorer HRQOL. In this brief report, we surveyed 126 veterans who had previously sought an assessment at a Veterans Affairs postdeployment health clinic and assessed pleasurable activities, HRQOL, and postdeployment health symptoms. Forty-three percent of veterans met our criteria for all 3 postdeployment conditions (posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and chronic widespread physical symptoms). Greater engagement in pleasurable activities was associated with better HRQOL for all veterans regardless of type or level of postdeployment health symptoms. Future research should study if interventions that encourage veterans with postdeployment health conditions to engage in pleasurable activities are effective rehabilitation strategies.     

Mindfulness Among Genetic Counselors Is Associated with Increased Empathy and Work Engagement and Decreased Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

Genetic counselors experience high rates of compassion fatigue and an elevated risk for burnout, both of which can negatively impact patient care and retention in the profession. In other healthcare professions, mindfulness training has been successfully used to address similar negative psychological sequelae and to bolster empathy, which is the foundation of our counseling work. We aimed to assess associations between mindfulness and key professional variables, including burnout, compassion fatigue, work engagement, and empathy. Data were collected via an anonymous, online survey that included validated measures of mindfulness and these key professional variables. The survey was completed by 441 genetic counselors involved in direct patient care. Half of the respondents (50.1%) reported engaging in yoga, meditation, and/or breathing exercises. Mindfulness was positively correlated with work engagement (r?=?0.24, p?<?0.001) and empathy (as measured through four subscales: perspective taking (r?=?0.15, p?=?0.002), empathic concern (r?=?0.11, p?=?0.03), fantasy (r?=???0.11, p?=?0.03) and personal distress (r?=???0.15, p?=?0.001)). Mindfulness was negatively correlated with compassion fatigue (r?=???0.48, p?<?0.001) and burnout (r?=???0.50, p?<?0.001). Given these findings, mindfulness training may be a valuable addition to graduate and continuing education for genetic counselors. The integration of mindfulness into the genetic counseling field will likely improve professional morale and well-being, while promoting workforce retention and bolstering the relational and counseling aspects of our clinical work.     

Conscious Control Is Associated With Freezing of Mechanical Degrees of Freedom During Motor Learning

This study investigated whether conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning. Participants practiced a throwing task using either error-strewn or error-reduced practice protocols, which encourage high or low levels of conscious control, respectively. After 24 hr, participants engaged in a series of delayed retention and transfer tests. Furthermore, propensity for conscious control was assessed using participants' ratings and freezing was gauged through movement variability of the throwing arm. Performance was defined by mean radial error. In the error-strewn group, propensity for conscious control was positively associated with both freezing and performance. In the error-reduced group, propensity for conscious control was negatively associated with performance, but not with freezing. These results suggest that conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning.     

Inaccuracy of Perceived Competence Ratings Is Associated With Problem Behaviors in 5-Year-Old Children

The authors examined problem behaviors in preschool children as a function of perceived competence. Prior research has demonstrated a link between inaccuracy of self-perceptions and teacher-reported externalizing behaviors in preschool aged boys. This study extended past research by adding data collected from observed behaviors in a laboratory setting, as well as parent reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Five-year-old children completed the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA) in the lab, participated in a 10-min puzzle interaction task with their cotwin and mother, and completed a short task assessing cognitive abilities. Children were grouped into 3 self-esteem categories (unrealistically low, realistic, and unrealistically high) based on comparisons of self-reported (PSPCSA) versus actual competencies for maternal acceptance, peer acceptance, and cognitive competence. Results showed that children who overreported their maternal acceptance and peer acceptance had significantly more parent-reported externalizing problems as well as internalizing problems. There were no significant differences in accuracy for cognitive competence. The findings from this study underscore the negative impact of unrealistically high self-appraisal on problem behaviors in young children.     

Behavior Problems in Young Children With or At Risk for Developmental Delay

We examined the prevalence of behavior problems and their relationship to child, parent, and family factors in 76 children with or at risk for developmental delay. Parents reported that 42% of the children had behavior problems. Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) scores revealed that 25% of the sample scored above the borderline cutoff. Although the total, externalizing, and internalizing mean CBC scores did not differ from the normative group (same-aged peers without developmental delay), each of the syndrome subscales was significantly higher in the study group. The Reiss Scales for Children's Dual Diagnosis revealed that, as compared to older children (4 years) with developmental delay, the study sample scored significantly lower on the total score and 8 of the 10 subscales. Increased CBC total scores were significantly related to dependency and management of the child, birth weight, gestational length, paternal illness, maternal depression, perceived personal burden of care, maternal escape-avoidance coping strategy, family disharmony, and financial stress. CBC total scores were significantly negatively correlated with being of a multiple birth, paternal education, maternal employment, two-parent family, family social support, and family income. Multiple regression analyses revealed that an empirically-derived combination of child, parent, and family variables accounted for 31% of the variance in CBC total scores. Our findings suggest that 2-year old children with or at-risk for developmental delay may already be showing signs of increased risk of behavior problems relative to peers without developmental delay. We identified several child, parent, and family variables that may help to pinpoint children at increased riskxs for psychopathology.     

Misperception Among Gay Men of the Risk for AIDS Associated with Their Sexual Behavior1

Until a vaccine against AIDS is developed, the most effective strategy for preventing the spread of the disease among gay men, the largest risk group, is to persuade them to abstain from particular kinds of sexual practices implicated in the transmission of the AIDS virus. Motivation to comply with risk-reduction guidelines, however, is dependent in part on a realistic appraisal of the degree of risk associated with one's sexual practices. Data are presented from 160 asymptomatic gay men. Their subjective assessment of the riskiness of their sexual behavior is compared to an objective assessment of the riskiness of their sexual practices. Factors associated with a tendency to underestimate the riskiness of one's practices are examined. Finally, the implications of the findings for public health education efforts among gay men are discussed.     

Delayed Sleep Timing in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Is Associated With Diminished Response to Exposure and Ritual Prevention

Exposure and ritual prevention (ERP) and pharmacotherapy are typically associated with significant symptom reductions for individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, many patients are left with residual symptoms and other patients do not respond. There is increasing evidence that delays in sleep timing/circadian rhythms are associated with OCD but the potential effects of delays in sleep timing on ERP warrant attention. This paper presents data from 31 outpatients with OCD who participated in ERP. Results showed that delayed sleep timing was common and that individuals with delayed bedtimes benefited significantly less from treatment and were significantly more likely to be nonresponders compared to individuals with earlier bedtimes. Further, the effects of sleep timing remained statistically significant even after controlling for global sleep quality, negative affect, and several other variables. These findings add to a growing literature suggesting the utility of better understanding the role of disruptions in the timing of sleep in OCD.