Preliminary evidence for a fronto‐parietal dysfunction in able‐bodied participants with a desire for limb amputation

Background. Reports of able‐bodied participants with the persisting desire for limb amputation raise legal and ethical questions that are partly due to insufficient empirical knowledge about the condition. Here, we searched for potential neurological mechanisms in participants with desire for limb amputation in order to help develop adequate nosological classifications, diagnosis, and treatment. Methods. Semi‐structured interviews were carried out with 20 participants who self‐identified themselves as able‐bodied individuals desiring amputation of a limb. Results. The results suggest that amputation desire is not unspecific, but in most cases specific for a circumscribed part of the body. Most frequently affected was the leg, mostly on the left, non‐dominant side. Left‐sidedness and limb specificity was associated with elementary and complex somatosensory disturbances of the affected limb akin to those reported by neurological patients. The most frequent neurological co‐morbidity was migraine headache. Conclusions. These results document the existence of an unusual condition in able‐bodied participants characterized by a person's desire for the amputation of one or more particular limbs. Left‐sidedness, limb specificity and somatosensory disturbances of the affected limb are suggestive of abnormal brain mechanisms in right fronto‐parietal cortex. Based on this association we suggest that desire for limb amputation may be conceptualized as asomatognosia due to disturbed integration of multi‐sensory information of the affected body parts into a coherent cerebral representation of the own body. This suggestion has to be regarded with caution as we did not perform any neurological examination.     

A multi‐level perspective on the synergies between work and family

In this paper we lay the conceptual foundation for work‐family facilitation. Work‐family facilitation is a process representing the synergies between the domains of work and family. We formally define facilitation as the extent to which an individual's engagement in one social system, such as work or family, contributes to growth in another social system. We develop the process through which facilitation occurs, provide a model and case studies of this process, and delineate additional theoretical and empirical research necessary to understand work‐family facilitation so that it can be managed and cultivated within organizations.     

Proportion of third‐level variation in multi‐level studies: A note on an interval estimation procedure

An interval estimation procedure is outlined that can be used for evaluating the proportion of observed variance in a response variable, which is due to the third level of nesting in a hierarchical design. The approach is also useful when it is of concern to address the necessity of including a third level in analyses of data from a multi‐level study, relative to an alternative of proceeding with two‐level modelling. The proposed method is illustrated with an empirical example.     

Memory for targets in a multilevel simulated environment: Evidence for vertical asymmetry in spatial memory

In two experiments, adult participants explored a symmetrical three-tiered computer-simulated building that contained six distinctive objects, two on each floor. Following exploration, the objects were removed, and the participants were asked to make direction judgments from each floor, indicating the former positions of the objects on that floor and on higher and lower floors. Relative tilt error scores indicated a bias, in that targets that were higher than the test location were judged as consistently lower than their actual positions and targets that were lower than the test location were judged as consistently higher than their actual positions. Absolute tilt errors revealed an asymmetry, with more accurate and less variable tilt errors for judgments directed to lower floors than for judgments directed to higher floors. Experiment 3 ruled out an account of the findings that does not relate them to spatial memory. The results suggest that the superiority of downward over upward spatial judgments, previously reported in two-dimensional visual-spatial tasks, extends to navigational spatial memory.     

Organizational justice and mental health: A multi‐level test of justice interactions

We examine main and interaction effects of organizational justice at the individual and the organizational levels on general health in a Kenyan sample. We theoretically differentiate between two different interaction patterns of justice effects: buffering mechanisms based on trust versus intensifying explanations of justice interactions that involve psychological contract violations. Using a two‐level hierarchical linear model with responses from 427 employees in 29 organizations, only interpersonal justice at level 1 demonstrated a significant main effect. Interactions between distributive and interpersonal justice at both the individual and the collective levels were found. The intensifying hypothesis was supported: the relationship between distributive justice and mental health problems was strongest when interpersonal justice was high. This contrasts with buffering patterns described in Western samples. We argue that justice interaction patterns shift depending on the economic conditions and sociocultural characteristics of employees studied.     

A multi‐level mediation model of the relationships between team autonomy,individual task design and psychological well‐being

The past decade and a half witnessed a global trend towards the use of participatory team‐based interventions. In the present contribution, we address the widespread idea that the resulting increase in team autonomy fosters employee psychological well‐being. Specifically, we address the common but mostly implicit rationale for this widespread idea that the well‐being effect occurs because the increase in team autonomy is reflected in individual task design. We collected survey data from 733 members of 76 healthcare teams. The results of multi‐level mediation analyses were supportive of our theoretical framework. The higher the team autonomy, the more active learning behaviour and the less emotional exhaustion team members reported. These relationships were mediated by the individual job characteristics of autonomy, variety and demands. These results draw attention to individual task design in a team context.     

Parent training for children with pervasive developmental disorders: a multi‐site feasibility trial

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a structured, manual‐based parent training (PT) program designed to reduce noncompliant behavior and enhance adaptive behavior in children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) who were taking medication for irritability, tantrums, aggression, and self‐injury. Children (N = 17, mean age 7.7 ± 2.6 years) with PDD were enrolled in a 24‐week structured PT protocol. Parental attendance to sessions (93%), satisfaction with the program (92%), and adherence to PT assignments (80%) were excellent. The program was adequately implemented with a mean treatment integrity rate of 94%. Parent‐reported rates of noncompliance were reduced by 39%; irritability was reduced by 34%; and daily living skills were enhanced by 19%. Parenting stress was also reduced by 14%. However, these results must be interpreted with caution because the study did not include a control group. The study supports feasibility of the PT program, which will be used in an randomized clinical trials (RCT). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bootstrap confidence intervals in multi‐level simultaneous component analysis

Multi‐level simultaneous component analysis (MLSCA) was designed for the exploratory analysis of hierarchically ordered data. MLSCA specifies a component model for each level in the data, where appropriate constraints express possible similarities between groups of objects at a certain level, yielding four MLSCA variants. The present paper discusses different bootstrap strategies for estimating confidence intervals (CIs) on the individual parameters. In selecting a proper strategy, the main issues to address are the resampling scheme and the non‐uniqueness of the parameters. The resampling scheme depends on which level(s) in the hierarchy are considered random, and which fixed. The degree of non‐uniqueness depends on the MLSCA variant, and, in two variants, the extent to which the user exploits the transformational freedom. A comparative simulation study examines the quality of bootstrap CIs of different MLSCA parameters. Generally, the quality of bootstrap CIs appears to be good, provided the sample sizes are sufficient at each level that is considered to be random. The latter implies that if more than a single level is considered random, the total number of observations necessary to obtain reliable inferential information increases dramatically. An empirical example illustrates the use of bootstrap CIs in MLSCA.     

Emotion regulation and psychopathological symptoms of Chinese school‐age children: A person‐centred and multi‐informant approach

Emotion regulation (ER) is a critical component of children's development. Many previous studies have utilised a single‐assessment method to reflect child ER, which might result in losing important information regarding the unique contribution of each informant. With a person‐centred approach and multi‐informant reports (mother, teacher and child), the current study examined 196 children's (age M = 9.21, SD = 1.10, range = 7–11 years; 51% girls) ER patterns and their associations with psychopathological symptoms in a Chinese sample. A model‐based clustering procedure resulted in 3 ER groups: the poor family ER group (n = 36), poor school ER group (n = 120), and overall good ER group (n = 40). Significant differences were found among ER clusters on teacher‐reported child psychopathological symptoms compared on the levels of withdrawn depression, somatic complain, thought problems and attention problems. No significant differences were found on the mother‐reported psychopathological symptoms. Compared with children in the poor school or poor family ER clusters, children in the overall good ER group demonstrated fewer psychopathological symptoms at school. Our results confirmed the advantage of adopting multi‐informant assessments to fully capture children's emotional profiles and linked these profiles with children's emotional and behavioural functioning at school.     

The community substance use environment: The development and predictive ability of a multi‐method and multiple‐reporter measure

This study tested the feasibility and utility of developing a multiple‐method and multiple‐reporter measure that describes the community substance use environment. Data on community‐level norms and availability of substances were reported by 5261 students and 181 prevention‐focused community leaders (CL) involved in the 28 promoting school–university–community partnerships to enhance resilience (PROSPER) Project communities between 2002 and 2005. Additionally, locations of alcohol and tobacco outlets were geocoded. Initially, these four subscales were aggregated to measure the community substance use environment. Analyses demonstrated this measure was associated with community rates of adolescent reported cigarette use, but it was not associated with community rates of adolescent reported alcohol use. Further analyses tested the relative strength of the four different subscales in predicting rates of student use. Implications of these results for the field of community‐based prevention are discussed, as well as limitations and future directions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining time‐invariance in reliability in multi‐wave,multi‐indicator models: A covariance structure analysis approach accounting for indicator specificity

A covariance structure analysis method for testing time‐invariance in reliability in multiwave, multiple‐indicator models in outlined. The approach accounts for observed variable specificity and permits, in addition, estimation of reliability in terms of ‘pure’ measurement error variance. The proposed procedure is developed within a confirmatory factor analysis framework and illustrated with data from a cognitive intervention study.     

Psychological distress and subjective well‐being in partners of somatically ill or physically disabled: The Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study

Borren, I., Tambs, K., Idstad, M., Ask, H. & Sundet, J. M. (2012). Psychological distress and subjective well‐being in partners of somatically ill or physically disabled: The Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 475–482. This study investigated the cross‐sectional associations between various somatic conditions in one partner and the level of distress and well‐being in the spouse. The study is based on survey data from the Norwegian Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study, HUNT II (1995–1997). A sample of 9,797 married or cohabiting couples with valid data on subjective well‐being (SWB), psychological distress (Hopkins Symptom Check List (SCL)‐10) and somatic illness were identified. Regression analyses stratified by sex were conducted with SCL‐10 and SWB scores as dependent variables and a joint somatic score as predictor, including; stroke, cancer, angina, myocardial infarction and physical disability (PD). The contribution of each somatic condition was also explored. Spouses of persons previously diagnosed with at least one somatic condition scored significantly lower on SWB and significantly higher on SCL‐10 than spouses of healthy persons, though effect sizes were small. The effect seems to be at least partly mediated by the ill partner’s psychological distress. Of the specific conditions, PD had the most significant contribution for both genders, though an association between male angina and spousal distress/SWB was also demonstrated.     

Cross‐linguistic interactions influence reading development in bilinguals: a comparison between early balanced French‐Basque and Spanish‐Basque bilingual children

This study investigates whether orthographic consistency and transparency of languages have an impact on the development of reading strategies and reading sub‐skills (i.e. phonemic awareness and visual attention span) in bilingual children. We evaluated 21 French (opaque)‐Basque (transparent) bilingual children and 21 Spanish (transparent)‐Basque (transparent) bilingual children at Grade 2, and 16 additional children of each group at Grade 5. All of them were assessed in their common language (i.e. Basque) on tasks measuring word and pseudoword reading, phonemic awareness and visual attention span skills. The Spanish speaking groups showed better Basque pseudoword reading and better phonemic awareness abilities than their French speaking peers, but only in the most difficult conditions of the tasks. However, on the visual attention span task, the French‐Basque bilinguals showed the most efficient visual processing strategies to perform the task. Therefore, learning to read in an additional language affected differently Basque literacy skills, depending on whether this additional orthography was opaque (e.g. French) or transparent (e.g. Spanish). Moreover, we showed that the most noteworthy effects of Spanish and French orthographic transparency on Basque performance were related to the size of the phonological and visual grain used to perform the tasks.     

A component analysis of a parent‐conducted multi‐component treatment for food selectivity

Treatment packages including differential reinforcement of alternative (DRA) behavior and escape prevention in the form of a non‐removal of the spoon procedure have been shown to successfully increase food consumption. However, when these treatment components are introduced simultaneously, the treatment component(s) responsible for behavior change cannot be determined. The purpose of this study was to conduct a sequential component analysis of the following treatment components: Bite fading, manipulation of reinforcer magnitude, and escape prevention. For two participants, food consumption did not increase until after escape prevention was introduced. For one participant, increased food consumption was observed after the magnitude of reinforcement was increased; therefore, escape prevention was not necessary. Results were maintained at a 12‐week follow‐up for all participants. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memory for own‐ and other‐race faces: a dual‐process approach

The current studies assessed the phenomenological basis of the cross‐race effect by examining predictions of various social‐cognitive mechanisms within a dual‐process framework for both the perception (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) of own‐ and other‐race faces. Taken together, the current studies demonstrated that differential performance on own‐race faces was largely due to qualitative differences in the encoding of facial information represented by a recollection process. Furthermore, false recollections with high ratings of confidence occurred more often when participants encoded and responded to unfamiliar other‐race faces. The theoretical implications of these findings for the phenomenology of skilled perceptual‐memory are discussed, and the applied consequences of the cross‐race effect as an encoding‐based phenomenon are considered. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Counting knowledge and skill in cognitive addition: a comparison of normal and mathematically disabled children.

The relationship between counting knowledge and computational skills (i.e., skill at counting to solve addition problems) was assessed for groups of first-grade normal and mathematically disabled (MD) children. Twenty-four normal and 13 MD children were administered a series of counting tasks and solved 40 computer-administered addition problems. For the addition task, problem-solving strategies were recorded on a trial-by-trial basis. Performance on the counting tasks suggested that the MD children were developmentally delayed in the understanding of essential and unessential features of counting and were relatively unskilled in the detection of certain forms of counting error. On the addition task, the MD children committed many more computational errors and tended to use developmentally immature counting procedures. The immature counting knowledge of the MD children, combined with their relatively poor skills at detecting counting errors, appeared to underlie their poor computational skills on the addition task. Suggestions for future research are presented.     

Memory for names and faces: a fair comparison

Comparison between recognition memory for materials drawn from different stimulus classes has been hazardous because of unavoidable variation in the similarity of director sets involved. The present study attempts to make a more equitable comparison between memory for names and faces by employing both distractor-free and conventional recognition tests. University undergraduates viewed slides of names or faces and subsequently attempted to identify those they had seen earlier. The interaction between stimulus class and type of recognition test was significant. It is suggested that the frequently reported superiority of memory for faces as compared with names may be an artifact of the distractors used in these tests.     

Disgust regulation strategies for children: A comparison between reappraisal and expression

The ability to effectively control feelings of disgust is an adaptive skill in childhood that would appear to be associated with the prevention of disgust-related mental disorders. A total of 162 children (71 boys, 91 girls) aged between 10 and 13 participated in a disgust regulation experiment, during which they were presented with disgust-evoking and neutral images. The children were assigned to one of two regulation groups. They were asked to either reinterpret the meaning of the disgust stimuli (reappraisal) or to show typical facial and vocal disgust expressions (expression/venting). Reappraisal was an effective method to reduce self-reported disgust for boys and girls. The personality trait disgust sensitivity (the tendency to experience one's own feelings of disgust as aversive and uncontrollable) negatively correlated with regulation success during reappraisal. This effect, however, was only found in female subjects. The expression of disgust did not change disgust ratings in either of the two gender groupings. The findings demonstrate that reappraisal was a helpful regulation strategy for most children with the exception of disgust-sensitive females. Future studies should focus on this group to see if adapted reappraisal methods or alternative regulation strategies are more effective.