Further development of measures of early math performance for preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to examine the progress monitoring and screening accuracy for a set of curriculum-based measures (CBM) of early mathematics skills. Measures included counting objects, selecting numbers, naming numbers, counting, and visual discrimination. Measures were designed to be administered with preschoolers in a short period of time using a developmentally appropriate format, and to constitute minimal disruption to the classroom routine. Previous research indicated that each of these measures produced scores with acceptable consistency across alternate forms on consecutive days. Scores yielded on the experimental probes correlated moderately, in most cases, with two commonly used standardized measures (i.e., the Brigance Screens and TEMA-2). Performance on the probes also correlated with teacher rankings and ratings of child performance. In the present study, data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, a cohort of children were administered the early math measures in spring of preschool and were followed into winter of kindergarten where they were administered kindergarten CBM probes to examine the degree to which performance in preschool (as measured by the early math probes) could predict performance on similar tasks in kindergarten. Second, risk criteria were examined and compared to identification by the Brigance Screens. These analyses provided data about the potential accuracy of the probes for screening. In the second phase, sensitivity of the probes to performance differences was examined by comparing mean performance on the probes of preschoolers and kindergartners. The lowest-performing children were provided with seven intervention sessions to examine the degree to which probes could detect growth resulting from intervention. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.     

When appearance concerns make women look bad: Solo status and body image concerns diminish women’s academic performance

Women entering male-dominated fields often find themselves the only women present, i.e., they experience solo status. Solo status diminishes women’s performance when women are negatively stereotyped in the testing domain (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000) or when the performance is public (Sekaquaptewa & Thompson, 2002). Because women experience greater body image concerns than men and underperform when these concerns are high (Fredrickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge, 1998), body image concerns may also cause diminished performance in solo women. Women were given a stigmatized (i.e., heavy) or neutral appearance (via a manipulated photograph), then tested as either solos or non-solos. Results showed that women performed more poorly when given a stigmatized appearance and placed under solo status compared to when only one of these factors were present. Social identity threat concerns (Steele, Spencer, & Aronson, 2002) mediated the solo status effect on performance for women given a stigmatized appearance.     

Vicarious traumatization and secondary traumatic stress: A research synthesis∗

Vicarious traumatization (VT) refers to harmful changes that occur in professionals’ views of themselves, others, and the world, as a result of exposure to the graphic and/or traumatic material of their clients. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) refers to a set of psychological symptoms that mimic post-traumatic stress disorder, but is acquired through exposure to persons suffering the effects of trauma. Numerous studies have sought to identify correlates of both VT and STS, yet there still exists a lack of conceptual clarity in the literature about VT, STS, and the related constructs of burnout and compassion fatigue. This has made it difficult to use the literature to inform practice and training. This study clarifies the definitions of VT and STS and uses levels of evidence analysis to synthesize the research findings to date. Originally planned as a meta-analysis, the study was re-designed as methodological issues in the literature became apparent that would call into question the validity of a meta-analysis. The current method of analysis documents the degree of evidence for the most commonly researched factors that have been researched as possible contributors to the development of both VT and STS, synthesizing the findings of published research and dissertations written in the English language from 1994–2003. Findings indicate that persuasive evidence exists for personal trauma history, reasonable evidence for perceived coping style, and some evidence for supervision experiences, as important predictors of VT. Persuasive evidence for amount of exposure to trauma material and reasonable evidence for personal trauma history are indicated as important in the development of STS. Limitations of the current study and directions for further research are discussed.     

Investigating the interaction between schizotypy, divergent thinking and cannabis use

Cannabis acutely increases schizotypy and chronic use is associated with elevated rates of psychosis. Creative individuals have higher levels of schizotypy, however links between cannabis use, schizotypy and creativity have not been investigated. We investigated the effects of cannabis smoked naturalistically on schizotypy and divergent thinking, a measure of creativity. One hundred and sixty cannabis users were tested on 1 day when sober and another day when intoxicated with cannabis. State and trait measures of both schizotypy and creativity were administered. Quartile splits compared those lowest (n=47) and highest (n=43) in trait creativity. Cannabis increased verbal fluency in low creatives to the same level as that of high creatives. Cannabis increased state psychosis-like symptoms in both groups and the high creativity group were significantly higher in trait schizotypy, but this does not appear to be linked to the verbal fluency change. Acute cannabis use increases divergent thinking as indexed by verbal fluency in low creatives.     

Self‐Efficacy Among Adults in Substance Abuse Treatment: The Role of Religious Coping

In substance abuse treatment, general self‐efficacy and religiousness are factors that may support positive outcomes. The authors surveyed clients receiving substance abuse treatment (N = 121) and found that religious coping predicted general self‐efficacy scores. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Minimising misinformation effects in young children with cognitive interview mnemonics

This research evaluated the effect of several variations of a Cognitive interview on 4–5‐year‐old children's correct recall and subsequent reporting of misinformation. Children viewed an event followed by misinformation that was read or self‐generated before a Cognitive interview. Children were then given recognition tests under inclusion and exclusion instructions. Developmentally modified Cognitive interviews elicited significantly more correct details than control interviews. A Cognitive interview given after misinformation reduced children's reporting of misinformation at interview and reduced reporting of self‐generated misinformation on memory tests. Moreover, this research shows that the report all and context reinstatement Cognitive interview mnemonics in combination can offer some protection against the negative effect of misinformation when given after such misinformation. Process dissociation analyses revealed that both recollection and familiarity contributed to children's reporting of misinformation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-capacity spatial contextual memory

Humans show implicit memory for complex spatial layouts, which aids in subsequent processing of these layouts. Research efforts in the past 5 years have focused primarily on a single session of training involving a dozen repeated displays. Yet every day, people encounter many more visual layouts than were presented in such experiments. In this study, we trained subjects to learn 60 repeated displays, randomly intermixed within 1,800 nonrepeated displays, spread over 5 consecutive days. On each day, the subjects conducted visual search on 360 new displays and a new set of 12 repeated displays, each repeated 30 times. Contextual memory was observed daily. One week after the fifth session, the subjects still searched faster on the repeated displays learned previously. We conclude that the visual system has a high capacity for learning and retaining repeated spatial context, an ability that may compensate for our severe limitations in visual attention and working memory.     

Multiple hypnotizabilities: differentiating the building blocks of hypnotic response

Although hypnotizability can be conceptualized as involving component subskills, standard measures do not differentiate them from a more general unitary trait, partly because the measures include limited sets of dichotomous items. To overcome this, the authors applied full-information factor analysis, a sophisticated analytic approach for dichotomous items, to a large data set from 2 hypnotizability scales. This analysis yielded 4 subscales (Direct Motor, Motor Challenge, Perceptual-Cognitive, Posthypnotic Amnesia) that point to the building blocks of hypnotic response. The authors then used the subscales as simultaneous predictors of hypnotic responses in 4 experiments to distinguish the contribution of each component from general hypnotizability. This analysis raises interesting questions about how best to conceptualize and advance measurement of the ability to experience hypnosis.     

Negotiating the Double Bind: Interpersonal and Instrumental Evaluations of Dominance

The double bind of dominance—that it can help to attain status but might jeopardize social relationships—was investigated by examining evaluations based on interpersonal skill (e.g., getting along well with others) and instrumental skill (e.g., accomplishing a task). Role congruity theory (Eagly and Diekman 2005; Eagly and Karau 2002) posits that behavior will be evaluated more positively when it is congruent with valued social roles. Two experiments were conducted to explore the importance of context in evaluations of dominance. In both experiments, dominance was more devalued in contexts related to interpersonal skill than in those related to instrumental skill. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the penalty for dominant behavior decreased when the target also displayed warmth, thereby affirming diffuse prosocial roles. Experiment 2 demonstrated that dominant behavior incurred greater penalties in communal versus agentic occupations. The results support a contextual, role-based explanation of evaluative processes.     

The "cost of caring" in youths' friendships: considering associations among social perspective taking, co-rumination, and empathetic distress

The current research considered the costs of caring in youths' friendships. The development of a new construct, empathetic distress, allowed for a direct test of the commonly held belief that females suffer greater vicarious distress in response to close others' stressors and problems than do males. Empathetic distress refers to one's strongly sharing a relationship partner's distress over problems to the point of taking on the partner's distress and experiencing it as one's own. This new construct was examined in an ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents who responded to a series of questionnaires in their classrooms. Results indicated that girls did experience greater empathetic distress in friendships than did boys. In addition, the current research revealed that social perspective taking in friendships (i.e., the social-cognitive ability to infer and understand the friend's perspective) had adjustment trade-offs in that it predicted greater positive friendship quality but also greater empathetic distress in the friendship. Interestingly, the associations of social perspective taking with both positive friendship quality and empathetic distress were partially mediated by co-rumination or excessive discussion of problems. Applied implications of the findings that girls' greater social perspective taking and associated co-rumination contributed both to their greater positive friendship quality but also to greater costs of caring in the form of empathetic distress are discussed.