Peer Difficulties in Children with Epilepsy: Association with Seizure,Neuropsychological, Academic,and Behavioral Variables

Purpose/Objective: A developmental psychopathology framework was used to examine variables associated with peer problems in children with epilepsy (CWE). Variables commonly associated with peer difficulties in typically developing children, such as inattentive behavior, anxious behavior, and academic achievement were investigated. Neuropsychological functioning, age at epilepsy onset, and seizure status were also examined.

Research Method/Design: Participants were 173 CWE, ages 8–15. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine which variables predicted peer problems in CWE and to test hypothesized interrelations among variables.

Results: The SEM revealed that anxious behavior mediated relations between neuropsychological functioning and peer difficulties and seizure status and peer difficulties. Inattentive behavior mediated the association between neuropsychological functioning and peer difficulties. Neuropsychological functioning mediated the relation between age at epilepsy onset and inattentive behavior, anxious behavior, and academic achievement.

Conclusions/Implications: As seen with typically developing children, inattentive and anxious behaviors are related to peer difficulties in CWE. Neuropsychological functioning, age at epilepsy onset, and seizure status are indirectly associated with peer difficulties; therefore, these variables are important to examine in CWE who are experiencing peer problems.     

Self-esteem, construal, and comparisons with the self, friends, and peers

Extending the better than average effect, 3 studies examined self-, friend, and peer comparisons of personal attributes. Participants rated themselves as better off than friends, who they rated as superior to generalized peers. The exception was in direct comparisons, where the self and friends were not strongly differentiated on unambiguous negative attributes. Self-esteem and construal played moderating roles, with persons with high self-esteem (HSEs) exploiting both ambiguous positive and ambiguous negative traits to favor themselves. Persons lower in self-esteem exploited ambiguous positive traits in their favor but did not exploit ambiguous negative traits. Across self-esteem level, ratings of friends versus peers were exaggerated when attributes were ambiguous. HSEs seemed to take advantage of ambiguity more consistently to present favorable self-views; people with low self-esteem used ambiguity to favor their friends but were reluctant to minimize their own faults.     

Learning, thinking, and emoting with discourse technologies

This is an unusual moment in the history of psychology because of landmark advances in digital information technologies, computational linguistics, and other fields that use the computer to analyze language, discourse, and behavior. The technologies developed from this interdisciplinary fusion are helping students learn and think in ways that are sensitive to their cognitive and emotional states. Recent projects have developed computer technologies that help us understand the nature of conversational discourse and text comprehension in addition to improving learning. AutoTutor and other systems with conversational agents (i.e., talking heads) help students learn by holding conversations in natural language. One version of AutoTutor is sensitive to the emotions of students in addition to their cognitive states. Coh-Metrix analyzes texts on multiple levels of language and discourse, such as text genre, cohesion, syntax, and word characteristics. Coh-Metrix can assist students, teachers, principals, and policymakers when they make decisions on the right text to assign to the right student at the right time. Computers are not perfect conversation partners and comprehenders of text, but the current systems are undeniably useful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).     

Phonological, semantic, and repetition priming with homophones

The current study investigated semantic, repetition, and phonological priming using heterographic homonyms (homophones) as stimuli in a lexical decision task. As in previous research, reliable semantic priming and repetition effects were found. In addition, the statistical additivity of these two effects was replicated using homophones as stimuli. Using homophones, a reliable phonological priming effect was found when 10-16 intervening trials were used. This effect was also statistically independent of semantic priming indicating the independence of the mechanisms responsible for semantic and phonological priming. The magnitude of the phonological priming effect was also significantly less than the magnitude of the repetition effect. This difference in effect magnitude was taken to indicate that the repetition of phonological information is not a primary contributor to the repetition effect.     

Living with Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia: stigma,coping with unpredictable symptoms,and self-advocacy

Abstract

Objective: Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) is a genetic condition causing frequent nose bleeds, skin lesions (telangiectasia) and arteriovenous malformations. Approximately, 50% of people experience life-threatening HHT symptoms including haemorrhages in the brain, lungs and liver. This study aimed to gain a qualitative understanding of the psychosocial impact of HHT over time. Design: Using a phenomenological framework, a rigorous narrative analysis was performed on 20 semi-structured interviews with individuals with HHT aged 20s–60s. Main outcome measures: Qualitative themes explaining life experiences prior to and following a clinical diagnosis of HHT. Results: Narratives highlighted four psychosocial themes: (i) the psychological impact of visible symptoms was significant and related to experiences of social stigma, (ii) individuals struggled to identify triggers of symptoms in order to reduce unpredictability, (iii) an illness identity was rejected by minimising HHT when talking about the present self, and by positive reframing as ‘lucky’ and (iv) self-advocacy was necessitated due to lack of expert coordinated care. Conclusion: HHT has a demanding impact on social, physical and psychological well-being. These findings have significant implications for health care, as narratives about interactions with health professionals often used the terms ‘frustrating’ and ‘not being heard’.     

现象学、解释学、生命哲学——海德格尔与胡塞尔、狄尔泰及雅斯贝尔斯遭遇

近来,海德格尔早期的一些弗赖堡讲座稿[《全集》56/57卷,《全集》58卷,《全集》61卷,《全集》63卷和"那托普论文":《对亚里士多德的现象学解释(解释学境域的显示)》]等相关手稿,以及关于时间概念的演讲稿(《时间概念》)被发表了,于是我们现在可以更好地理解海德格尔通向《存在与时间》的哲学道路(这是一条由于在《存在与时间》之前十年的沉默而长期不为我们所知的道路),从而也能更好地理解这部杰作本身了.战后期间海德格尔的另一重要早期文献,即他未发表的关于雅斯贝尔斯的详尽评论,一段时间以来就已为世人所见了(《全集》9卷1-44页).他1925年夏季学期的讲座稿(《全集》20卷)也是如此.这个文本突出地显示了在通往《存在与时间》的道路上,海德格尔与胡塞尔现象学甚为广泛而细致的遭遇.     

Facilitativeness,conflict, demand for approval,self-esteem,and satisfaction with romantic relationships

This study is an examination of the extent to which satisfaction with a main current romantic relationship is associated with negative conflict, demand for approval, self-esteem, and the 3 facilitative conditions of unconditional regard, empathy, and congruence. One or more of these conditions have been proposed as important determinants of relationship satisfaction by various relationship-enhancement approaches such as behavioral marital therapy and cognitive-behavioral marital therapy. College students (86 women and 58 men) completed S. S. Hendrick's (1988) Relationship Satisfaction Scale, a measure of negative conflict formulated by the author, R. G. Jones's (1969) Demand for Approval Scale (modified for a particular relationship), M. Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, and a shortened modified version of G. T. Barrett-Lennard's (1964) Relationship Inventory. Relationship satisfaction was most strongly related to the level of regard and empathy, which is consistent with approaches to relationships that emphasize empathy training.     

Directing wayfinders with maps: the effects of gender, age, route complexity, and familiarity with the environment

The participants were 360 Canadian undergraduates. After receiving written scenarios involving a campus visitor seeking direction to a nearby destination (simple route) or a distant destination (complex route), they drew maps to that destination. The authors varied the visitor's gender, age, and familiarity with campus. They analyzed the content of the students' maps in terms of cardial indicators (compass grid, correct north-south orientation), landmarks, labeled buildings, directional arrows, and supplemental written directions. The men tended to provide more cartographically complete maps than the women, though there were no gender differences in use of landmarks or labeled buildings. The men were significantly more inclined than the women to take visitor characteristics into account, providing more complete maps to visitors navigating complex routes, to newcomers, and to older visitors who were unfamiliar with the campus. The men had more confidence that their maps would successfully lead visitors to their destinations. Route complexity led to greater use of landmarks, labeled buildings, and cardinal indicators. The participants' self-reported familiarity with campus had little effect on their direction giving, except for a greater use of labeled buildings in maps.     

Sexuality,Intimacy, and Group Psychotherapy with Older Adults

Sexuality is an intrinsic part of life but late-life sexuality is a neglected topic in the literature. With an aging society, groups will contain more older adults. It is important for group therapists to reflect on their attitudes when working with older group members. This paper examines how both the attitudes of society in general and of therapists regarding late-life sexuality and intimacy may contribute to the neglect of these subjects being discussed in group therapy.