The operational validity of a video-based situational judgment test for medical college admissions: illustrating the importance of matching predictor and criterion construct domains

This study is part of a trend of examining noncognitive predictors, for example, a situational judgment test (SJT), as supplements to cognitive predictors for making college admission decisions. The authors examined criterion data over multiple academic years and universities. The criterion domain was broadly conceptualized, including both cognitive and interpersonal domains. The sample consisted of 7,197 candidates of the Medical and Dental Studies Admission Exam in Belgium. Results confirmed the importance of cognitive predictors. A video-based SJT was differentially valid for predicting overall grade point average for different curricula. The SJT showed incremental validity over cognitively oriented measures for curricula that included interpersonal courses, but not for other curricula. The SJT became more valid through the years. This demonstrates the importance of carefully specifying predictor- criterion linkages and of differentiating both predictor and criterion constructs.     

Maternal distress in the context of their child’s type 1 diabetes: exploring the role of adaptive maternal emotion regulation on child outcomes

Parents of children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) experience high levels of distress, which may negatively impact child functioning. However, little is known about mechanisms that may buffer the adverse impact of parental distress. The current study explored the possible buffering role of maternal adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (CER) for the relationship between maternal distress and child psychological functioning. Forty-three children with T1D (8–15 years) completed measures assessing trait anxiety and depressive symptoms. Their mothers reported on general distress, illness-related parenting stress, and adaptive CER. Maternal illness-related parenting stress (but not general distress) was significantly associated with child psychological functioning. No buffering role for maternal adaptive CER was observed. As the current study is rather preliminary, future research using other methods to examine maternal adaptive CER, and examining other parental variables that may buffer against the negative impact of parental distress is warranted.     

Smoking among New Yorican adolescents: time 1 predictors of time 2 tobacco use

The authors identified longitudinal relationships between early risk and protective factors from the domains of family, personality, and peer influences and later tobacco use in Puerto Rican adolescents living in New York. Aspects of the ethnic minority experience as moderators of familial risk and protective factors were investigated. Participants were 282 female and 276 male Puerto Rican adolescents interviewed twice, 5 years apart. The authors used hierarchical regression analyses to identify a model with direct and indirect paths. Family, personality, peer, and early smoking domains were directly related to later adolescent smoking. Partial mediation occurred. The authors identified risk-protective and protective-protective interactions between variables from the ethnic minority experience and family domains. Interventions to reduce smoking among Puerto Rican adolescents should focus on multiple contexts, including aspects of the ethnic minority experience.     

Who Reports What? A Comparison of Child and Caregivers´ Reports of Child Trauma Exposure and Associations to Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Functional Impairment in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinics

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Identifying trauma-related symptoms is important for treatment planning at child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and routine trauma...     

A biopsychosocial formulation of pain communication

We present a detailed framework for understanding the numerous and complicated interactions among psychological and social determinants of pain through examination of the process of pain communication. The focus is on an improved understanding of immediate dyadic transactions during painful events in the context of broader social phenomena. Fine-grain consideration of social transactions during pain leads to an appreciation of sociobehavioral events affecting both suffering persons as well as caregivers. Our examination considers knowledge from a variety of perspectives, including clinical health psychology, social and developmental processes, evolutionary psychology, communication studies, and behavioral neuroscience.