The impact of self-control and texting-related accidents on the relationship between mindfulness and mobile texting while driving behavior

Distracted driving behavior often occurs when drivers mindlessly send or receive text messages with their mobile devices. It is imperative to understand the relationship between mindfulness and texting while driving behavior because distracted driving behavior has led to a reported increase in texting related accidents and mortalities. Based on this report, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between mindfulness, self-control, frequency of texting-related accidents, near-miss accidents, and texting while driving behavior. Using a total of 609 adults with an average age of 34.11 (SD = 12.21), results showed that observe, aware, and describe were related to texting while driving. Additionally, we found evidence that self-control partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and texting while driving. Results also showed that near-miss texting while driving accidents moderated the relationship between mindfulness and texting behavior while driving. The observed inverse relationship between mindfulness and texting while driving can increase researchers’ understanding of self-control’s role in vehicular accidents triggered by texting. Implications and limitations are offered, along with suggestions for future research.     

Recovery from post‐traumatic stress disorder in children following road traffic accidents: the role of talking and feeling understood

Forty children were assessed 6 weeks and 8 months after involvement in a road traffic accident (RTA). Ten of the 21 children suffering post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 6 weeks continued to fulfil diagnostic criteria at 8 months. There was no evidence of delayed onset of PTSD in children who had not developed this condition at 6 weeks. Talking about the accident and feeling understood were associated with recovery. Providing children with opportunities to talk about their accident may be helpful in preventing or reducing psychological distress. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Possible psychosomatic hazards to the therapist: patients as self-objects

This speculative paper concerns certain fundamentals of healing and psychotherapy which we mistakenly tend to take for granted. I discuss our need for the feeling of harmony, wholeness, and oneness. I call this archetypal need our 'normal autistic expectation'. When met, we experience well-being and 'healing'. If not sufficiently and reliably met, this expectation becomes an omnipotent demand ('autistic demand'). Frustration then brings about angry destructiveness, either outwardly directed or inwardly directed, with bodily changes which must be processed if bodily damage is to be minimized. Bereavement, the loss of a person necessary for one's feeling of wholeness (a 'self-object'), is an extreme and well-researched example of such damage. Our selfobjects are 'healing' when they help us to complete our sense of self. Our patients-, our profession, our colleagues, our place of work and our financial security are normally all part of our self-object structure. I give examples where patients' own needs for survival or intactness mean that they have to externalize their own hurt and anger for long periods of their therapy. This often means that the therapist's own wholeness and health are under attack, and even damaged permanently, or at least until the damage can be processed. The nature of 'processing' in this sense is therefore in need of energetic research.     

Stages in the development of aggressive behavior in early childhood

Primary manifestations of aggression appear in the behavior of children in the second half of the first year of life. The frequency of Occurrence of interpeer aggression increases with age, and reaches its maximum in the third year. The frequency of aggression may later decrease, but there are considerable individual differences. Changes a h Occur in the form in which aggression is manifested; its motivational background and associated elicitors; its direction, duration, timing, and other operational characteristics, and in the modes of its acquisition. A certain continuity may be traced, however, in any of these features and the development of aggression may be perhaps more adequately represented by the following sequence of developmental stage:

• 1 Stage of preaggressive behavior;
• 2 Stage of primary differentiation;
• 3 Stage of the appearance of the individual pattern of aggressive behavior;
• 4 Stage of secondary differentiation of aggression;
• 5 Stage of the beginning of the transition into covert behavior—internalization of aggression

These stages represent certain facets of the interaction between the changing behavioral performance of the child and herlhis social environment, and may be used for evaluating aggressive behavior in young children.     

Prosocial behavior is related to later executive function during early childhood: A longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

Previous research has shown that executive function is correlated with prosocial behavior during early childhood. Whether early prosocial behaviors were associated with later executive function during preschool years or vice versa was thus examined in a longitudinal design. The prosocial behaviors and executive function of children (N = 64) aged 42 to 65 months were evaluated twice (Times 1 and 2), based on teachers’ reports and children’s performance on hot and cool executive function tasks. Results revealed that prosocial behaviors at Time 1 were associated with later hot executive function at Time 2, but executive function at Time 1 was not related to prosocial behaviors at Time 2. These findings suggest that prosocial behaviors may enhance children’s hot executive function.     

Reactivity to home observation: a comparison of audio recorded behavior with observers present or absent

THE STUDY COMPARED THE BEHAVIOR OF FAMILY MEMBERS AT HOME AS RECORDED BY AUDIOTAPE RECORDINGS IN TWO CONDITIONS: with an observer present or absent. Behavioral differences were expected as a function of differential reactivity to these observational procedures, but none was found, and there was no evidence of adaptation effects in either condition. In general, significant positive correlations were obtained between the rates of recorded behavior in both situations. The implications of these findings for the development of nonreactive observation procedures were discussed.     

A place within the heart: finding a home with parental objects

For adopted and Looked After children with compromised early experiences, there can be troubling phantasies and anxieties associated with parental objects. These internal object relations can seriously restrict the development of secure intimate relationships with new parental figures. Adoptive parents and foster carers bear the brunt of the associated difficulties. Clinical work with the child, parents/carers, family, or network, may help processes of containment, differentiation, working through, mourning, and integration. This paper is based on thinking derived from clinical work with children who are adopted or Looked After, and with adoptive parental couples, carers, and networks. The primary focus is on how the child needs to find a ‘psychic home’ in the minds of others for their damaged internal parental objects, and the emotional capacities required in adoptive parents to provide this. I describe some of the complexities for adoptive parents and others in providing what is needed to enable the child to experience their internal parental objects in a fuller way. This process can allow the child to introject, identify with, and re-imagine their internal parental objects, and through this develop a more realistic relationship to their adoptive parents and to their birth parents. It promotes trust, freedom, and emotional depth in the relationship with parental figures.     

Examining program quality in early childhood home visiting: From infrastructure to relationships

Although there are many examples of evidence-based early childhood home-visiting programming, the field itself struggles with modest outcomes and variable levels of program effectiveness. This article documents the experience of creating a statewide monitoring system to assess home-visiting program quality and compliance to identified standards, integrating multiple sources of information across different domains of functioning. Monitoring results from 57 programs are summarized, with variable but promising levels of quality. Programs generally report satisfaction and benefit from the process. In addition, the relationship between direct observations of home visits and home-visitor report of their approach to working with families is analyzed. Results suggest significant, albeit small, associations. Although there are trade-offs between comprehensiveness of information gathering and practical application, the use of monitoring findings to support home-visiting programs holds potential for quality improvement.     

儿童父母拒绝与同伴拒绝的关系:问题行为的中介作用和家庭环境纷杂度的调节作用

为探讨儿童父母拒绝、问题行为、家庭环境纷杂度和同伴拒绝的关系,该研究构建了一个有调节的中介模型。采用自我报告、母亲报告和同伴提名的方式对济南市三所小学4年级至6年级共307名被试进行测查,结果表明：（1）父母拒绝对儿童的同伴拒绝和外化问题行为均有显著的正向预测作用;（2）儿童的外化问题行为在父母拒绝与同伴拒绝之间起部分中介作用;（3）家庭环境纷杂度调节了父母拒绝通过儿童的外化问题行为影响同伴拒绝的中介过程的前半路径,即低家庭环境纷杂度可以作为一种保护因素,降低遭受父母拒绝的儿童出现外化问题行为的风险。     

“Walking the talk”: the role of frontline supervisors in preventing workplace accidents

ABSTRACT

Most existing safety research focuses on climate and leadership, with most leadership studies investigating transformational leadership, which is likely to be more impactful when exhibited by executives that by frontline supervisors. Therefore, focusing on frontline supervisors, we investigate how leaders who “walk the talk”, by directly modelling safety behaviours, might encourage subordinates to behave more safely. Using a three-level sample consisting of 579 employees and their supervisors working in 161 groups within 53 organizations, we test a multisource multilevel indirect effects model. Results indicate that safety climate and supervisors modelling safety compliance explain unique variance in safety outcomes. We then addressed an unanswered question concerning whether safety climate is best conceptualized as a group or organizational-level phenomenon, finding that the group-level assessment of safety climate explained more variance in safety outcomes than the organizational-level assessment of safety climate. Both sets of results are consistent with social information processing theory and social learning theory, which highlight the immediate social environment’s influence on employees’ behaviour.     

Family functioning and involvement in home visiting: Examining program characteristics as moderators to support retention in services

Developing strategies to improve retention in home visiting programs is critical to their success. The purpose of the study is to examine how the content provided during home visits moderates the association between family risks (economic, household functioning, and conflict) and retention in services. Parents (n = 1,322) voluntarily enrolled in Healthy Families America (n = 618) and Parents as Teachers (n = 704). Family characteristics were collected using the Family Map Inventories. Multilevel analyses showed a moderating impact of the time home visitors spent supporting parent–child interaction for all family risks examined. Moderating effects demonstrated a stronger positive association between focusing on the parent–child relationship and retention at 6 and 12 months for parents demonstrating greater needs. There were no moderating effects of child development content or case management activities with retention at 6 and 12 months. Together, families were more likely to stay in services when home visitors focused on parent–child interaction and child development, but less likely retained with more case management. Parents with greater risks were more likely to remain in services with more time focused on supporting parent–child interactions. Findings suggest the need to support our home visiting workforce in their work to promote healthy parent–child relationships.     

How to nudge drivers to reduce speed: The case of the left-digit effect

To decrease the negative consequences of a road crash, even a small reduction in driving speeds can make a significant difference. We examined the possible application of the left-digit effect as a nudge to reduce road speed. In the marketing field, this effect is based on reporting price tags that are characterized by a low leftmost number and a high rightmost number (e.g., a price tag of €14.99 rather than €15.00). We applied the same strategy to improve road safety. Participants were college students (43.75% female, mean age = 24.06 years in Study 1; 50% female, mean age = 23.53 years in Study 2) who were asked to drive in a simulator on a route that had both usual unmodified road signs (e.g., 50 km/h) and the same road signs increased or decreased by one unit (e.g., 49, 51 km/h). We compared the average median speeds in road segments with unmodified road signs with those in road segments with the corresponding modified signs. The average median speeds in the presence of a sign modified by the reduction of 1 km/h were significantly lower compared with the median average speeds recorded with unmodified signs. We showed that the application of psychological insights can reduce driving speeds and therefore increase road safety.     

Parental Alcoholism and Co-Occurring Antisocial Behavior: Prospective Relationships to Externalizing Behavior Problems in their Young Sons

The hypothesis that parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior would be indirectly linked to child externalizing behavior problems through child lack of control, current levels of parent depression, family conflict, and parent–child conflict was tested using manifest variable regression analysis. Participants were a community sample of 125 families with an alcoholic father and 83 ecologically matched but nonsubstance abusing families involved in the first 2 waves of an ongoing longitudinal study (with 3 years between each wave). All families had a biological son who was 3–5 years old at study onset. Results revealed that child lack of control mediated the relation between paternal alcoholism and the son's subsequent externalizing behavior problems. Family conflict was a significant mediator of maternal and paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects and father–son conflict mediated paternal lifetime antisocial behavior effects. Study implications are discussed within the context of parental socialization of antisocial behavior.     

Preventing Depression Among Early Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting: A Randomized Controlled Study of the Penn Resiliency Program

This study evaluated the Penn Resiliency Program's effectiveness in preventing depression when delivered by therapists in a primary care setting. Two-hundred and seventy-one 11- and 12-year-olds, with elevated depressive symptoms, were randomized to PRP or usual care. Over the 2-year follow-up, PRP improved explanatory style for positive events. PRP's effects on depressive symptoms and explanatory style for negative events were moderated by sex, with girls benefiting more than boys. Stronger effects were seen in high-fidelity groups than low-fidelity groups. PRP did not significantly prevent depressive disorders but significantly prevented depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders (when combined) among high-symptom participants. Findings are discussed in relation to previous PRP studies and research on the dissemination of psychological interventions. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Going home: the complex effects of reunification on internalizing problems among children in foster care

When children in foster care are reunified with their families of origin they encounter changes that may influence their well-being in both positive and negative ways. We examined the effects of reunification among 218 children in foster care to test an integrative model of the effects of reunification using structural equation modeling. We hypothesized that reunification would exert indirect effects on subsequent child adjustment via changes in adverse life events, perceived social isolation, and mental health service utilization. Results indicated no direct effect of reunification on subsequent internalizing problems, but reunification was related to increased adverse life events that, in turn, were related to elevated symptoms. Second, reunification was negatively associated with mental health service use. Finally, reunification was associated with decreased child perceptions of social isolation. In summary, reunification with biological parents is associated with multiple environmental changes, with most but not all effects indicating negative consequences.     

Teaching safety skills to children to prevent gun play: an evaluation of in situ training

This study evaluated behavioral skills training with added in situ training for teaching safety skills to prevent gun play. Following baseline, each child received two sessions of behavioral skills training and one in situ training session. Additional in situ training sessions were conducted until the child exhibited the safety skills (don't touch the gun, get away, and tell an adult). All children acquired and maintained the safety skills at a 3-month follow-up. In addition, of the 7 children assessed in a dyad situation, all exhibited the correct skills in the presence of another child.     

Analyzing the role of culture in shaping American childhood: A twentieth-century case

Widespread beliefs about the nature and functions of children change over time, and affect actual treatment of children within and without the family. Significant changes in beliefs about children developed in the United States from the 1920s onward, with emphasis both on emotional value and on weakness or vulnerability. Increased consumption of expert advice played a key role in this shift, along with cultural translation of new issues concerning child labor and schooling. Key changes occurred in all industrial societies, but American culture generated some distinctive features that continue to show up in the anxieties many parents harbor about children and their effort to intervene on their children's behalf.