Depressive characteristics of physically abused children

Physically abused and nonabused children were compared on child-completed measures of depression, hopelessness, self-esteem, and locus of control. Results indicated that, in comparison with nonabused controls, abused children evidenced more depressive symptoms, heightened externality, lower self-esteem, and greater hopelessness about the future. Group differences in depressive symptomatology were not accounted for on the basis of differences in age, sex, race, gender, IQ, or socioeconomic status. Results replicate the results of Kazdin, Moser, Colbus, and Bell (1985) derived from a sample of physically abused psychiatric inpatients and extend the generality of these findings to abused children of nonpatient status. Implications of the findings for clinical interventions, theoretical models of child depression, and future research are discussed.The authors wish to thank Alvin Hadley and the staff of Franklin County Children Services.Appreciation is also extended to Dr. Charles Wenar.     

Recall by expert medical practitioners and novices as a record of processing attention

Using recall of clinical protocols as a measure of expertise in medicine has yielded disappointingly small effects. Experiments using recall of clinical laboratory data are presented to provide an explanation. In one experiment, subjects either deliberately memorized or first diagnosed and then were incidentally asked for memory. With incidental instructions, experts recalled over twice as much data as did students, but with memorization instructions, student performance approximated that of experts. Experts also showed a large advantage over students in incidental recall of data that were not relevant to the problem solution. These results suggest that expert processing in this "discrete, independent inputs" domain requires effortful analysis with minimal reliance on default values, rather than relatively effortless pattern perception reported in highly visual areas of expertise. For this area, intentional memory is a misleading measure of expertise. However, incidental memory is a valuable measure of processing during diagnosis.     

Employment demographics and attitudes that predict preferences for alternative pay increase policies

A survey of 942 university staff employees shows that performance and cost of living are preferred over seniority as criteria upon which to base pay increases. Multiple regression analysis reveals that preferences for performance-based pay increases are most strongly related to perceptions that merit pay does not decrease co-worker cooperation, perceptions that performance differences exist among co-workers, employment in white collar jobs, and never having belonged to a union. Preferences for seniority-based and cost of living-based pay increases are most strongly related to the perceived need for a union, perceptions that merit pay reduces cooperation, education level, and gender. In addition, preferences for seniority-based pay increases are related to years of service.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1989 meetings of the Midwest Academy of Management.     

DISTRACTION: ITS UTILIZATION AND EFFICACY WITH CHILDREN UNDERGOING DENTAL TREATMENT

We investigated the utilization and efficacy of distraction in reducing the anxious and disruptive behavior of 4 children undergoing dental treatment. During the distraction procedure, the children were shown a poster and told a story about it during dental treatment. They earned a prize if they attended to the poster and story and could correctly answer questions about them following each intervention visit. The children's disruptive behavior was assessed via direct observation, and results were analyzed within a multiple baseline design. The children exhibited high levels of anxious and disruptive behavior across baseline visits, regardless of the length of time in treatment or number of visits. Anxious and disruptive behavior decreased upon introduction of the intervention for all children. This was accompanied by the children meeting the criterion for correct answers on the distraction quiz. However, 2 of the children demonstrated an increase in their anxious and disruptive behavior across intervention visits. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate treatment strategies that promote maintenance as well as initial changes.     

Youth suicide

The literature on youth suicide (ages 15-24) is surveyed for the period 1980-1985. Emphasis is placed on general determinants of suicide, predictors in the form of psychological tests, precipitating events (immediate causes), and signs--clues that may signify impending attempts at self-destruction. Suggestions for prevention, and limitations of research on suicide are offered.     

USE OF ESCAPE AND REWARD IN THE MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN DURING DENTAL TREATMENT

A reinforced practice procedure was used to facilitate cooperative behavior in five children, aged 3 to 6 years, during dental treatment. In a multiple baseline design across subjects, the children were rewarded with escape, inexpensive stickers, and praise for cooperative behavior in the presence of the sights, sounds, and some sensations of the dental instruments prior to actual dental treatment. Direct observations of disruptive behavior via a 15-s interval recording system indicated baseline levels as high as 90% were reduced to less than 15% by the final treatment visit. In addition, the procedure was effective in reducing overall heart rate and blood pressure reactivity to dental treatment. All children were rated by the involved dental professionals as more cooperative and relaxed following exposure to reinforced practice.     

Development of differences in response latencies to right and left visual fields

Robust lateralization developed in right-handed adults who were asked to judge letter pairs as "same" or "different" during 4608 trials. By the end of the first two blocks (768 trials) "same" responses were favored when presented in the RVF (transmitted directly to the left hemisphere) and "different" responses were favored when presented in the LVF (transmitted direction to the right hemisphere). This gradually reversed over sessions with "same" responses becoming faster for letters presented in the LVF, and "different" responses becoming faster for stimuli presented in the RVF. The laterality acquired under these conditions was cumulative and reproducible, appeared in all 16 subjects, and was preserved between sessions a week apart. The data suggest that laterality is a flexible and reversible characteristic of the human brain even when stimulus and task remain constant.     

Short-term memory for colors and color names in the absence of vocalization

In a previous experiment, Allen found no release from proactive inhibition using the Brown-Peterson procedure in a group who were shifted from recalling colors to recalling the names of colors. The lack of release suggests that colors and color names are encoded in similar ways. It was argued that the similarity of encoding might have been caused by the procedure of requiring the subjects to say out loud the names of the colors at the time of stimulus presentation and recall. In the present experiment, a procedure was devised that eliminated the need for verbalization of the colors. The same pattern of results was obtained, namely, release from proactive inhibition in the group shifted from recalling color names to colors but not in the group shifted in the opposite direction. It was concluded that if subjects encode colors as a verbal label, then this encoding strategy is not caused by the procedure of requiring the subjects to verbalize the colors.