Longitudinal Profiles of Girls’ Irritable,Defiant and Antagonistic Oppositional Symptoms: Evidence for Group Based Differences in Symptom Severity

Three subdimensions of ODD symptoms have been proposed –angry/irritable (IR), argumentative/defiant (DF) and antagonism (AN). This study tested whether longitudinal symptom trajectories could be identified by these subdimensions. Group-based trajectory analysis was used to identify developmental trajectories of IR, DF and AN symptoms. Multi-group trajectory analysis was then used to identify how subdimension trajectories were linked together over time. Data were drawn from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS; N = 2450), an urban community sample of girls between the ages of five--eight at baseline. We included five waves of annual data across ages five-13 to model trajectories. Three trajectories were identified for each ODD subdimension: DF and AN were characterized by high, medium and low severity groups; IR was characterized by low, medium stable, and high increasing groups. Multi-trajectory analysis confirmed these subdimensions were best linked together based on symptom severity. We did not identify girls’ trajectory groups that were characterized predominantly by a particular subdimension of ODD symptoms. Membership in more severe symptom groups was significantly associated with worse outcomes five years later. In childhood and early adolescence girls with high levels of ODD symptoms can be identified, and these youth are characterized by a persistently elevated profile of IR, DF and AN symptoms. Further studies in clinical samples are required to examine the ICD-10 proposal that ODD with irritability is a distinct or more severe form of ODD.     

Between Luxury and Need: The Idea of Distance in Philosophical Anthropology

Abstract

This paper offers a critical analysis of the use of the idea of distance in philosophical anthropology. Distance is generally presented in works of philosophical anthropology as the ideal coping strategy, which rests in turn on the thesis of the instinct deficiency of the human species. Some of the features of species life, such as its sophisticated use of symbolic forms, come to be seen as necessary parts of this general coping strategy, rather than a merely expressive outlet, incidental to the ultimate goal of life preservation. The paper analyses the arguments used in support of the thesis of instinct deficiency in Hans Blumenberg and considers their implications for the status of symbolic expression in species life. It contrasts the approach this thesis involves with one that proceeds by presenting and arguing from biological evolutionary evidence. The contrast is used to examine the questions: in what sense instinct deficiency is specifically anthropological, and in what precise sense philosophical anthropology is ‘philosophical’.     

Examining task difficulty and the time course of inhibition of return: detecting perceptually degraded targets.

The ability to efficiently direct visual attention to salient features in the environment is a critical function of the visual system. The finding that people are slower to detect a target that appears at a previously cued location is thought to reflect a mechanism known as inhibition of return (IOR). Past research has shown that difficult target discriminations result in a greater amount of time needed to inhibit previously attended locations (i.e., a delayed onset of inhibition), suggesting that task difficulty plays a critical role in the allocation of attention. In this study, IOR was measured at a wide range of SOAs while participants detected either a perceptually degraded target or a standard, high luminance target. When responses were made to a perceptually degraded target, the time course of IOR was delayed by approximately 250 ms (relative to the control group), suggesting that the difficulty in detecting targets also influences the allocation of attention. The results are consistent with the notion that IOR is not simply a reflexive subcortical mechanism but rather involves top-down attentional control settings.     

Translating Genetics Leaflets into Languages Other Than English: Lessons from an Assessment of Urdu Materials

Genetic counselors frequently counsel clients whose first language is not English, relying on interpreters and on supplementary translated written material. This paper highlights factors that counselors need to consider before using or commissioning translated leaflets. It is based on an assessment of leaflets translated into Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, which are available through U.K. genetics clinics for use with Pakistani-origin clients. The 2 authors, who know Urdu as their 2nd and 1st languages respectively, independently read each leaflet, checking for accuracy of information, ease of reading and understanding, cultural sensitivity, and contact details for Urdu-speaking professionals. There were factual errors and confusing or very difficult text in all leaflets; some leaflets also contained culturally insensitive messages that could alienate users of genetics services. The paper discusses the reasons for these pitfalls and makes recommendations to guide the future production of translated genetics leaflets.     

The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies

This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation, and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Non-verbal number acuity correlates with symbolic mathematics achievement: but only in children

The process by which adults develop competence in symbolic mathematics tasks is poorly understood. Nonhuman animals, human infants, and human adults all form nonverbal representations of the approximate numerosity of arrays of dots and are capable of using these representations to perform basic mathematical operations. Several researchers have speculated that individual differences in the acuity of such nonverbal number representations provide the basis for individual differences in symbolic mathematical competence. Specifically, prior research has found that 14-year-old children’s ability to rapidly compare the numerosities of two sets of colored dots is correlated with their mathematics achievements at ages 5–11. In the present study, we demonstrated that although when measured concurrently the same relationship holds in children, it does not hold in adults. We conclude that the association between nonverbal number acuity and mathematics achievement changes with age and that nonverbal number representations do not hold the key to explaining the wide variety of mathematical performance levels in adults.     

A STIMULUS CONTROL PROCEDURE TO DECREASE MOTOR AND VOCAL STEREOTYPY

A changing criterion design was used to examine the effects of two stimuli (a green card and a red card), conditioned via discrimination training, on reducing motor and vocal stereotypy in a youngster with autism while he looked at books. During discrimination training, motor and vocal stereotypy was not interrupted in the presence of a green stimulus, but was interrupted in the presence of a red stimulus using manual guidance and appropriate behavior was reinforced. After the participant demonstrated successful discrimination of the stimuli (i.e., the absence of stereotypy in the presence of a red stimulus and the engagement in stereotypy in the presence of a green stimulus), intervention began. During intervention, upon meeting criterion for latency to engage in motor and vocal stereotypy in the presence of the red stimulus for a target duration, the participant was provided access to the green stimulus, which signaled that motor and vocal stereotypy would not be interrupted. The criterion latency to engage in stereotypy in the presence of the red stimulus was systematically increased. Simultaneously, the duration of access to the green stimulus was systematically decreased. The red and green stimuli were faded from poster boards to colored 10 × 10 cm cards, and stimulus control was generalized to the participant's classroom and to a community setting (i.e., public library). Results are discussed in terms of discrimination training as a useful intervention for reducing motor and vocal stereotypy. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How do High School Youths’ Educational Experiences Relate to Well-Being? Towards a Trans-Disciplinary Conceptualization

Educational research and practice could benefit from and contribute to multi-disciplinary study of well-being. In particular, research on the well-being of youth within and beyond school may benefit students, educators, administrators, and the community. This review provides a conceptual framework that (a) integrates research on well-being from economics, sociology, psychology and the health sciences, (b) organises this literature within seven domains of inquiry: Having, Being, Relating, Thinking, Feeling, Functioning, and Striving, and (c) highlights research pertinent to senior high school level educational experiences. This framework provides an important foundation from which further research on well-being can be developed.     

The vocational well-being of workers with childhood onset of disability: Life satisfaction and perceived workplace discrimination

Workers with disabilities are understudied, and workers with childhood onset of disability have been excluded from many of the studies on disability and work that do exist. This research compares the effects of childhood and adult onset of disability in a nationally representative sample of workers with disabilities. Educational disruptions due to disability status in childhood are negatively associated with life satisfaction and positively associated with perceived discrimination. Although age is associated with increased life satisfaction and decreased perceptions of discrimination for workers with adult disability onset, age is unrelated to these outcomes for workers with childhood disability onset. Receiving workplace accommodations is positively associated with satisfaction and negatively associated with discrimination for both groups, however, these relationships are stronger in magnitude for the childhood disability onset group. Organizational environments, both in education and in the workplace, play a critical role in the vocational well-being of workers with childhood disability onset.