Pain Intensity,Psychological Inflexibility,and Acceptance of Pain as Predictors of Functioning in Adolescents with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Preliminary Investigation

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is a chronic rheumatic disease associated with pain and maladjustment. This study investigated whether pain, acceptance of pain, and psychological inflexibility uniquely predicted functional disability, anxiety, general quality of life (QOL), and health-related quality of life (HQOL) among adolescents with JIA. Twenty-three adolescents with JIA and pain were recruited from a pediatric rheumatology clinic. Participants completed self-report measures pertaining to the key study variables. A series of multiple regression analyses demonstrated that higher pain uniquely predicted higher functional disability. Greater psychological inflexibility uniquely predicted higher anxiety, lower general QOL, and lower HQOL. Increases in acceptance of pain were found to be uniquely related to increases in general QOL. These data confirm prior findings that pain impacts functioning, and provide preliminary findings that psychological inflexibility and acceptance may be important targets of psychological intervention for youth with JIA and pain to improve functioning and QOL.     

Piecing together numerical language: children's use of default units in early counting and quantification

When asked to ‘find three forks’, adult speakers of English use the noun ‘fork’ to identify units for counting. However, when number words (e.g. three) and quantifiers (e.g. more, every) are used with unfamiliar words (‘Give me three blickets’) noun‐specific conceptual criteria are unavailable for picking out units. This poses a problem for young children learning language, who begin to use quantifiers and number words by age 2, despite knowing a relatively small number of nouns. Without knowing how individual nouns pick out units of quantification – e.g. what counts as a blicket– how could children decide whether there are three blickets or four? Three experiments suggest that children might solve this problem by assigning ‘default units’ of quantification to number words, quantifiers, and number morphology. When shown objects that are broken into arbitrary pieces, 4‐year‐olds in Experiment 1 treated pieces as units when counting, interpreting quantifiers, and when using singular–plural morphology. Experiment 2 found that although children treat object‐hood as sufficient for quantification, it is not necessary. Also sufficient for individuation are the criteria provided by known nouns. When two nameable things were glued together (e.g. two cups), children counted the glued things as two. However, when two arbitrary pieces of an object were put together (e.g. two parts of a ball), children counted them as one, even if they had previously counted the pieces as two. Experiment 3 found that when the pieces of broken things were nameable (e.g. wheels of a bicycle), 4‐year‐olds did not include them in counts of whole objects (e.g. bicycles). We discuss the role of default units in early language acquisition, their origin in acquisition, and how children eventually acquire an adult semantics identifying units of quantification.     

Do materialism,intrinsic aspirations,and meaning in life predict students’ meanings of education?

Though there is a deep literature on factors that predict college attendance and on the effects of college attendance on students’ development, there has been little research on what education actually means to students themselves. This study was conducted to examine whether materialism, intrinsic aspirations, and the search for meaning in life predicted a set of ten meanings that students are known to associate with their education. Multiple regression analyses indicated that students who were high on materialism viewed their education as an opportunity to gain independence, a chance to establish relationships, and a source of stress. Individuals high on intrinsic aspirations were more likely to see education as a time for career preparation, gaining independence, exploring future life directions, learning, engaging in personal growth, establishing social relationships, and learning skills to make a difference in the world, but they were less likely to view education as an escape from future responsibilities. As expected, the findings also revealed that individuals who sought meaning in life viewed education as a way to gain independence, explore life directions, engage in personal growth, establish relationships, learn skills that will help change the world, and escape future responsibilities.     

Cultural ruptures in short‐term therapy: Working alliance as a mediator between clients' perceptions of microaggressions and therapy outcomes

Aim: To determine whether or not clients' perceptions of microaggressions varied based on their own and the therapist's race/ethnicity and whether or not they would be negatively related to the effectiveness of therapy and if the working alliance would mediate this effect. Method: The study utilised a cross‐sectional, retrospective, methodology. Clients were recruited from a large university counselling centre in the United States (N=232 clients and 29 therapists). Results: Neither clients' race/ethnicity, therapists’ race/ethnicity, nor client‐therapist ethnic matching predicted perceptions of microaggressions. Clients' ratings of microaggressions were negatively associated with their psychological wellbeing; however, this effect was mediated by clients' ratings of the working alliance. Implications: Therapists should take into account the cultural messages they may be conveying to both white and racial/ethnic minority clients. Therapists should develop strategies that are consistent with a general therapeutic approach that promotes discussions about culture with their clients and, most importantly, should attend to the therapeutic relationship.     

Cultural intersections: a qualitative inquiry into the experience of Asian Indian-White interracial couples

The purpose of this study was to examine the "lived experience" of Asian Indian (AI)-White couples in interracial marriages. Ten highly educated AI-White professional couples were individually interviewed about their subjective experience of being in an interracial marriage, the challenges and strengths of this marriage, and the potential role of culture in their marriages. Data were analyzed using the Consensual Qualitative Research methodology. Results indicated that the couples' marital experiences were influenced by a complex intersection of ecosystemic factors with significant psychological impacts. These findings highlight shortcomings in drawing simplistic conclusions regarding the success or failure of an interracial marriage and have important implications for theory, research, and clinical practice.     

Recollection is impaired by the modification of interpretation bias

The interpretation paradigm of cognitive-bias modification (CBM-I) was modified with instructions used in process-dissociation procedures for the purpose of investigating processes contributing to performance on the transfer task. In Experiment 1, nonanxious students were trained to interpret ambiguous situations in either a negative or benign way (or they read nonambiguous scenarios). They were then asked to respond to new ambiguous situations, in the same way as contextually similar analogues during training, or to respond differently. Benign training proactively impaired memory for negative outcomes. This effect was replicated by anxious students in Experiment 2 and discussed with respect to the assumptions underlying process-dissociation procedures and directions for future research.     

The accidental transgressor: morally-relevant theory of mind

To test young children’s false belief theory of mind in a morally relevant context, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, children (N = 162) at 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 years of age were administered three tasks: prototypic moral transgression task, false belief theory of mind task (ToM), and an “accidental transgressor” task, which measured a morally-relevant false belief theory of mind (MoToM). Children who did not pass false belief ToM were more likely to attribute negative intentions to an accidental transgressor than children who passed false belief ToM, and to use moral reasons when blaming the accidental transgressor. In Experiment 2, children (N = 46) who did not pass false belief ToM viewed it as more acceptable to punish the accidental transgressor than did participants who passed false belief ToM. Findings are discussed in light of research on the emergence of moral judgment and theory of mind.     

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: parenting during adolescence, attachment styles, and romantic narratives in emerging adulthood

In this longitudinal study, a quantitative and qualitative examination of the associations among parent-child relations, adult attachment styles, and relationship quality and theme in romantic narratives was conducted. Parenting and adult attachment style were assessed through questionnaires, whereas overall quality of romantic relationships (regard and importance), intimacy, and romantic story theme were examined with a life story approach (McAdams, 1993). At ages 17 and 26 years, 100 participants completed a series of questionnaires and also, at age 26, told a story about a "relationship-defining moment" with a romantic partner. Parent-child relations when participants were 17 years old were related predictably to all three attachment styles. About 70% of the sample told romantic stories with a "true love" type of theme. Associations between parent-child relations when the child was 17 and this type of theme in the story told when the participant was 26 were mediated by a more secure (and a less avoidant) attachment style when the participant was 26, as predicted. The implications of these findings for links between attachment models and the life story are discussed.     

Inhibition and exuberance in preschool classrooms: associations with peer social experiences and changes in cortisol across the preschool year

Associations between behavioral inhibition and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, a stress-sensitive neuroendocrine system indexed by salivary cortisol, have varied widely across studies. In the current study, we examined the role of peer social experiences in moderating patterns of association between inhibition/risk-aversion and cortisol reactivity. As expected based on previous research, preschool children (N = 165, 78 boys, 87 girls, 3.0-5.0 years) had significantly different social experiences in their preschool classrooms depending on temperament. Highly inhibited/risk-averse children were less socially integrated, less dominant, and less involved in aggressive encounters than both average and highly exuberant/risk-seeking children, but they were no more likely to be peer rejected. Highly exuberant children were more dominant, exhibited anger more often, and had friendships characterized by higher conflict. Cortisol levels fell from fall to spring for average and highly exuberant children but not for highly inhibited children. Unexpectedly, for highly inhibited children, having friends and being more dominant and popular than other highly inhibited children was associated with increasing cortisol levels over the school year. In contrast, highly exuberant children who were less socially integrated than other highly exuberant children maintained higher cortisol levels. Results indicate that the types of social experiences that affect stress-responsive biological systems may differ markedly for highly inhibited and highly exuberant children.     

Behavioral intervention to treat selective mutism across multiple social situations and community settings

We evaluated a behavioral intervention for a 9-year-old girl with selective mutism. The intervention consisted of role play and video self-modeling. The frequency of spoken initiations, responses to questions, and communication breakdowns was measured during three social situations (i.e., ordering in a restaurant, meeting new adults, and playing with new children) and in three community settings. Results demonstrated increases in spoken initiations and responses and decreases in communication breakdowns across all situations and settings.