Intention stability assessed using residual change scores moderates the intention-behaviour association: a prospective cohort study

Intention stability is considered to be one of the key pre-requisites for a strong association between intention and behaviour. It has been claimed, however, that studies examining the moderating impact of intention stability may be invalid, as they have relied on statistically inferior methods. Residual change scores have been suggested as a more appropriate method of measuring change (or lack thereof) in constructs. The aim of the current study, therefore, is to test whether intention stability, calculated using residual change scores, moderates the intention-physical activity behaviour association. A total of 163 participants (124 women, 39 men) completed questionnaires online at three time points separated by 14 day intervals. The moderating impact of intention stability was assessed using multiple linear regression followed up using simple slope analyses to identify the direction of any effect. The interaction of intention and intention stability was found to significantly improve the overall model fit. Intentions had a stronger positive association with behaviour when intentions were more stable than when they were more unstable. However, sensitivity analyses revealed that the association was not robust and reduced to non-significant with the removal of potential multivariate outliers. Future research should use residual change scores as the preferred method of assessing intention stability.     

Counselors' Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence in Same‐Sex Versus Opposite‐Sex Relationships

Domestic violence is often perceived to occur only in heterosexual relationships. However, domestic violence is also prevalent in same‐sex relationships. The majority of the research indicates that counselors perceive same‐sex domestic violence differently than heterosexual domestic violence. This literature review synthesizes the research investigating attitudes toward same‐sex domestic violence. La violencia doméstica se suele percibir como un evento que ocurre solamente en las relaciones heterosexuales. Sin embargo, la violencia doméstica también es prevalente en relaciones del mismo sexo. La mayor parte de las investigaciones indican que los consejeros perciben la violencia doméstica entre personas del mismo sexo de forma diferente a como perciben la violencia doméstica heterosexual. Esta reseña de la literatura sintetiza las investigaciones que tratan sobre las actitudes hacia la violencia doméstica entre personas del mismo sexo.     

It’s All About the Relationship: The Role of Attachment in Child-Parent Psychotherapy

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology -     

Steroid hormones and some evolutionary-relevant social interactions

The steroid hormones, testosterone and cortisol, have some common characteristics, but they are related to generally antagonic processes at both the physiological and psychological levels. In addition, they are the product of the activation of two axes, the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA), which are very sensitive to a wide range of stressors. Our review focuses on the role of testosterone and cortisol in some social situations, such as competition and others related to the challenge hypothesis, that are evolutionary-relevant and have a component of social stress. Research findings are presented on these points, especially emphasizing the relevance of how the individual interprets social stimuli and attributes of the other participant in the interaction, producing consequences in the response pattern to the social situation. This paper presents empirical support for the role of the interaction between the reproductive HPG and stress HPA axes in several social behaviors with important adaptive significance.     

Canaries in the coalmine: On the measurement and correlates of organizational threat recognition

This research expands the job performance domain by introducing organizational threat recognition as a meaningful criterion construct. Threat recognition is conceptualized as consisting of two separate aspects of behaviour—detecting and expressing workplace or organizational threats. To assess these dimensions, we developed two, six-item measures and had 244 workers respond to these items and to a series of individual difference measures. Psychometric results, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, supported the a priori factor structure of these measures and indicated that these dimensions are distinguishable from each other and from task performance. Furthermore, correlations involving the individual difference variables revealed that several of these variables including positive affectivity, job tenure, and affective commitment were more strongly related to the threat dimensions than to task performance.     

Who Ministers to Whom: Matthew 25:31–46 and Prison Ministry

This essay sees Matthew 25:31–46 as Jesus’ offer of both gift and challenge: disciples will simultaneously minister to and be ministered to by Jesus in jail and prison. Following a consideration of two different dominant ways of interpreting the passage in the literature—what are sometimes called the missionary and the social justice interpretations—and Luther's reading of the passage as falling under the Fifth Commandment, the essay invites the reader to engage the transformative consequences of  “seeing” Jesus imprisoned in the U.S. criminal “justice” system.     

Use of peer-mediated intervention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

The present experiment extended and replicated the use of functional analysis and a peer-mediated intervention to decrease disruptive behavior displayed by children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in an afterschool program. After determining that the participants displayed off-task behavior maintained by peer attention via a functional analysis, peer-implemented differential reinforcement of other behavior with extinction was effective in reducing participants' off-task behaviors. The use of peers as behavior-change agents is discussed, as are avenues for future research.     

Syndromes or symptoms in the assessment of aphasic patients?

The procedure generally used to diagnose aphasic patients consists of classifying them in one of the classic syndromes on the basis of the analysis of their symptoms. However, this taxonomy has several important problems, the main one being that it does not take into account the variability of aphasic patients, as there are many more disorder profiles than those included in the syndromes. In order to test the homogeneity of a sample of patients diagnosed with the classic taxonomy, 15 aphasic patients (5 Broca, 5 Wernicke and 5 Conduction) and 5 healthy controls were tested with nine comprehension and production tasks. Participants were aged 38 to 81 years old. The results indicate the existence of great variability in patients labeled with the same diagnosis, as revealed by the differences in within-group scores in each task, and a limited adjustment to the expected profile, with some patients showing symptoms allegedly corresponding to other syndromes. Our results call attention to the need to study each patient individually and interpret their disorders regardless of the syndromes.     

Commentary on “Life as a Pregnant Genetic Counselor”

The genetic counseling role is complex. There are frequently challenges raised for the genetic counselor both personally with the client and through factors external to the genetic counselor such as the clinical setting. The pregnant genetic counselor working in a prenantal diagnosis center may be confronted by her own countertransference towards the client or by the client’s tranference. The processes of transference and countrtransference need to be clearly understood, identified and dealt with in a sensitive self aware manner to facilitate the role of communicating empathically and giving genetic information to facilitate informed client decision making. Regular professional supervision and debriefing for the genetic counselor are essential to develop professional boundaries and to develop self awareness.     

A Comparison of Sexual Aggression Risk Factors Between the United States and the Philippines

Sexual violence against women is a global problem, prompting the need to investigate the risk factors among males in non-Western, non-industrialized countries. Using the expanded Confluence Model, this study examined and compared risk factors of sexual aggression between male college students in the Philippines and the United States. Using path analysis and multiple group analysis, results indicated that the expanded Confluence Model was generally invariant between countries. Direct paths from hostile attitudes toward women and impersonal sex to sexual aggression were non-significant, but indirect effects from hostile attitudes toward women, alcohol consumption, and impersonal sex to sexual aggression via the frequency of misperceiving a woman’s sexual intent were observed. Additional risk analysis indicated that the number of elevated risk factors were associated with higher self-reports of sexual aggression.