Positive and negative social ties among older adults: Measurement models and the prediction of psychological distress and well-being

The factor structure of positive and negative social ties was studied among 246 older adults who were either recently physically disabled, recently conjugally bereaved, or matched controls. Covariance structure analyses were carried out on a network measure to determine whether positive and negative social ties represent independent domains of social experience, and to assess the degree to which their structure is invariant across groups undergoing major loss transitions. Positive and negative social ties were found to be independent and there was substantial similarity in their factor structure across the three groups. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, whereas positive social ties were related to psychological well-being, negative social ties were predictive of both psychological well-being and distress. These results demonstrate the importance of assessing both positive and negative ties in explaining the psychological adjustment of older adults.     

Evidence of acoustic coding in long-term memory

Contrary to previous indications, retroactive interference in long-term paired associate learning was found to be a function of acoustic similarity. Experimental groups were exposed to the A-B, A'-C paradigm where corresponding stimuli were homophones. Their retention scores were substantially and significantly lower than control groups run with an A-B, C-D paradigm. The failure of previous studies to reveal effects of acoustic similarity in this way is attributed to the use of an insufficiently high degree of similarity.     

Healing the betrayed: Issues in psychotherapy with child victims of trauma

Over the last few years there has been a tremendous upsurge of research on child victims of trauma. However, very little has been reported on the process of psychotherapy with traumatized children. The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of countertransference and the use of a treatment parameter that has been tried in several individual cases of victimized children and found to be of value.