College Students’ Affective Distress: The Role of Expectation Discrepancies and Communication

The discrepancy between college students’ performance and parents’ expectations may be related to college students’ affective distress. Further, the role that parent–college student communication reciprocity may play in the context of these discrepancies has not been examined. As a result, this study examined parent–college student expectation discrepancies and communication reciprocity as predictors of college students’ affective distress (i.e., anger, depression, and anxiety). Results of this study suggest that college student–parent expectation discrepancies, communication reciprocity, and college students’ affective distress (i.e., anger, depression, and anxiety) are interrelated significantly. Further, results from the hierarchical regressions conducted for this study suggest that college students’ perception of their communication reciprocity with their parents may be a more important predictor of college students’ depression and anxiety in the context of the expectation discrepancies examined in this study. These findings underscore the importance of teaching communication skills to college students and their parents as a means of diminishing the deleterious effects of perceiving one another inaccurately.     

Legal consequences of dating violence: A critical review and directions for improved behavioral contingencies

As researchers and clinicians seek to better understand, prevent, and address violence in dating relationships among adolescents and young adults, there is also a need to better explore the possible legal consequences for perpetrators of aggression. The purpose of this paper is to review legal involvement in violent intimate relationships, with a specific focus on dating relationships, as these sanctions represent possible punishing consequences for violent perpetration. Punishing consequences of aggression, including legal interventions, could serve to lessen or eliminate violence in the current relationship and also circumvent possible aggression in future relationships. Implications of this review for clinicians, law enforcement, judiciary officials, and prevention programmers addressing dating violence are provided, along with directions for future research.     

Patterns of Response and Remission Following a One-Session Treatment for Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia in Youth

Blood-Injection-Injury (BII) Phobia is a severe and impairing disorder that has been understudied in youth. The present study aimed to define patterns of response and remission following a modified One-Session Treatment (OST) including an e-therapy maintenance program for children and adolescents with BII Phobia. Moreover, characteristics of different responder groups were examined in order to determine correlates of a poorer response. Youth (n?=?20; 8–18 years) were categorized into four responder groups (e.g., immediate remitter, delayed remitter, partial responder, and nonresponder) based upon defined criteria for remission. Immediate remitters to treatment were more likely to have a primary diagnosis of injection phobia, rather than a combined blood and injection phobia. Nonresponders reported significantly greater disgust sensitivity at pretreatment and were more likely to have a comorbid diagnosis of Social Phobia. In regards to within session change, youth who achieved the exposure goal of having a blood test during treatment had a significantly stronger treatment response. These preliminary findings may assist clinicians in the planning and delivering of intensive Cognitive Behavioral Treatment (CBT) approaches for BII Phobia in youth.     

Staff Practices and Social Skill Outcomes in a Sport-Based Youth Program

Staff are key contributors to quality sport-based youth programming. Specific practices leading to positive youth outcomes warrant further investigation. This study examined social skill outcomes resulting from participation in a sport-based youth program, LiFEsports. In addition, relationships among emotional and autonomy supportive staff practices and outcomes were examined. Results pointed to the value of sport-based youth programs for promoting self-control among youth from vulnerable backgrounds and indicated that youth-perceived emotional and autonomy supportive staff practices predicted improvements in perceived self-control but not perceived externalizing behaviors.     

A Brief Social Skills Intervention to Reduce Challenging Classroom Behavior

Social skills instruction has been recommended as a way of improving behavioral and social outcomes for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). A brief social skills intervention (Stop and Think (Knoff in The stop & think social skills program, Sopris West, Longmont, CO, 2001) was used to extend the current literature base for students with EBD. A multiple-baseline across classrooms design was used to examine negative social behavior of five participants attending a self-contained school setting for students with challenging behavior. The primary intervention components included: (a) teach, (b) model, (c) role play, and (d) performance feedback. Specific social skills addressed in intervention were listening, using nice talk, accepting consequences, ignoring others, and following directions. Participants were taught to use a 5-step process for each social skill: (1) stop and think, (2) identify good and bad choices, (3) identify steps to performing the good choice, (4) implement steps, and (5) reflect on the good choice you made. Results indicated students benefitted from 12 sessions of explicit social skills instruction as evidenced by decreases in negative social behavior. Social behavior improvements maintained during 2-week follow-up observations. Decreasing negative social behaviors is important in improving general social and behavioral outcomes as well as demonstrating growth toward being prepared to transition back to less restrictive environments. Limitations, recommendations for future research, and practice implications are discussed.     

Insightful problem solving and emulation in brown capuchin monkeys

We investigated problem solving abilities of capuchin monkeys via the “floating object problem,” a task in which the subject must use creative problem solving to retrieve a favored food item from the bottom of a clear tube. Some great apes have solved this problem by adding water to raise the object to a level at which it can be easily grabbed. We presented seven capuchins with the task over eight trials (four “dry” and four “wet”). None of the subjects solved the task, indicating that no capuchin demonstrated insightful problem solving under these experimental conditions. We then investigated whether capuchins would emulate a solution to the task. Seven subjects observed a human model solve the problem by pouring water from a cup into the tube, which brought the object to the top of the tube, allowing the subject to retrieve it. Subjects were then allowed to interact freely with an unfilled tube containing the object in the presence of water and objects that could be used to solve the task. While most subjects were unable to solve the task after viewing a demonstrator solve it, one subject did so, but in a unique way. Our results are consistent with some previous results in great ape species and indicate that capuchins do not spontaneously solve the floating object problem via insight.     

Cognitive Performance in Adults’ Daily Lives: Is There a Lab-Life Gap?

This article addresses the “lab-life gap” in cognitive aging research as an important issue of ecological validity in developmental research. Older adults often function competently in complex everyday situations despite age-related deficits on laboratory-based cognitive tasks. Therefore, to what extent do lab-based cognitive tasks predict real-life outcomes in older adults? Our review shows that although they are similar, measures of everyday cognitive competence predict relevant outcomes beyond basic measures. We provide our perspective on critical questions concerning the relevance of everyday cognitive tests in our ever-changing world, new methods of everyday cognitive assessment, and whether everyday cognition can be improved.     

A review of cognitive biases in youth depression: attention,interpretation and memory

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems in childhood and adolescence. Although data consistently show it is associated with self-reported negative cognitive styles, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Cognitive biases in attention, interpretation and memory represent plausible mechanisms and are known to characterise adult depression. We provide the first structured review of studies investigating the nature and causal role of cognitive biases in youth depression. Key questions are (i) do cognitive biases characterise youth depression? (ii) are cognitive biases a vulnerability factor for youth depression? and (iii) do cognitive biases play a causal role in youth depression? We find consistent evidence for positive associations between attention and interpretation biases and youth depression. Stronger biases in youth with an elevated risk of depression support cognitive-vulnerability models. Preliminary evidence from cognitive bias modification paradigms supports a causal role of attention and interpretation biases in youth depression but these paradigms require testing in clinical samples before they can be considered treatment tools. Studies of memory biases in youth samples have produced mixed findings and none have investigated the causal role of memory bias. We identify numerous areas for future research in this emerging field.     

The four P’s of purpose among College Bound students: People,propensity, passion,prosocial benefits

Abstract

College preparation programs, such as College Bound, aim to increase low-income students’ preparation for achieving future goals. Yet, little research has examined the nature of these students’ future goals and purposes from their own perspectives. In this study, in-depth interviews with 10 adolescents (six males and four females) participating in College Bound were analyzed using a qualitative approach informed by grounded theory. Four interrelated themes related to the development of youth purpose emerged: (a) people; (b) propensity; (c) passion; and (d) prosocial benefits. These themes were further categorized across two major dimensions: influences (i.e. capability and motivation) and sources of such influences (i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic). Moreover, ways in which students’ unique social contexts contributed to their experiences of purpose are discussed. Findings inform an understanding of the development of purpose in underrepresented youth, as well as provide insights for programs designed to promote their positive development and post-secondary school success.