The development of a culturally informed, family-focused treatment for schizophrenia

With the changing demographics in the United States, there is an increasing need for psychotherapy interventions that have been tailored for and empirically evaluated with culturally diverse groups. This article discusses the development and evaluation of a family-focused, culturally informed therapy for schizophrenia (CIT-S) that is currently being pilot tested at the University of Miami. Case examples of CIT-S with participating families are provided, along with a discussion of interesting and challenging cultural issues that we have encountered during the pilot phase of this treatment study.     

Will you be there for me when things go right? Supportive responses to positive event disclosures

Close relationship partners often share successes and triumphs with one another, but this experience is rarely the focus of empirical study. In this study, 79 dating couples completed measures of relationship well-being and then participated in videotaped interactions in which they took turns discussing recent positive and negative events. Disclosers rated how understood, validated, and cared for they felt in each discussion, and outside observers coded responders' behavior. Both self-report data and observational codes showed that 2 months later, responses to positive event discussions were more closely related to relationship well-being and break-up than were responses to negative event discussions. The results are discussed in terms of the recurrent, but often overlooked, role that positive emotional exchanges play in building relationship resources.     

Viewpoint and orientation influence picture recognition in the blind

In the first three experiments, subjects felt solid geometrical forms and matched raised-line pictures to the objects. Performance was best in experiment 1 for top views, with shorter response latencies than for side views, front views, or 3-D views with foreshortening. In a second experiment with blind participants, matching accuracy was not significantly affected by prior visual experience, but speed advantages were found for top views, with 3-D views also yielding better matching accuracy than side views. There were no performance advantages for pictures of objects with a constant cross section in the vertical axis. The early-blind participants had lower performance for side and frontal views. The objects were rotated to oblique orientations in experiment 3. Early-blind subjects performed worse than the other subjects given object rotation. Visual experience with pictures of objects at many angles could facilitate identification at oblique orientations. In experiment 5 with blindfolded sighted subjects, tangible pictures were used as targets and as choices. The results yielded superior overall performance for 3-D views (mean, M = 74% correct) and much lower matching accuracy for top views as targets (M = 58% correct). Performance was highest when the target and matching viewpoint were identical, but 3-D views (M = 96% correct) were still far better than top views. The accuracy advantage of the top views also disappeared when more complex objects were tested in experiment 6. Alternative theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

What you want (and do not want) affects what you see (and do not see): avoidance social goals and social events

Two studies examined the influence of approach and avoidance social goals on memory for and evaluation of ambiguous social information. Study 1 found that individual differences in avoidance social goals were associated with greater memory of negative information, negatively biased interpretation of ambiguous social cues, and a more pessimistic evaluation of social actors. Study 2 experimentally manipulated social goals and found that individuals high in avoidance social motivation remembered more negative information and expressed more dislike for a stranger in the avoidance condition than in the approach condition. Results suggest that avoidance social goals are associated with emphasizing potential threats when making sense of the social environment.     

Why walkers slip: shine is not a reliable cue for slippery ground

In a series of four studies, we investigated the visual cues that walkers use to predict slippery ground surfaces and tested whether visual information is reliable for specifying low-friction conditions. In Study 1, 91% of participants surveyed responded that they would use shine to identify upcoming slippery ground. Studies 2-4 confirmed participants' reliance on shine to predict slip. Participants viewed ground surfaces varying in gloss, paint color, and viewing distance under indoor and outdoor lighting conditions. Shine and slip ratings and functional walking judgments were related to surface gloss level and to surface coefficient of friction (COF). However, judgments were strongly affected by surface color, viewing distance, and lighting conditions--extraneous factors that do not change the surface COF. Results suggest that, although walkers rely on shine to predict slippery ground, shine is not a reliable visual cue for friction. Poor visual information for friction may underlie the high prevalence of friction-related slips and falls.     

Ontogeny of the adrenal response to (+)-methamphetamine in neonatal rats: the effect of prior drug exposure

We examined the ontogeny of the corticosterone response to (+)-methamphetamine in neonatal rats. In experiment-1, animals were injected with 10 mg/kg of (+)-methamphetamine or saline and plasma corticosterone levels were examined in separate groups 30 or 105 min later on postnatal day (P) 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, or 19. The adrenal response to methamphetamine was best described by a U-shaped function with the nadir of corticosterone release occurring between P7 and P13. Experiment-2 was similar except that the effect of four consecutive days of exposure to (+)-methamphetamine (four times daily at 2 h intervals with 10 mg/kg) was assessed with a single final dose early on the fifth day (i.e. P1-5, 3-7, 5-9, 7-11, 9-13, 11-15, 13-17, 15-19). The 30 min corticosterone response after multiple methamphetamine doses was augmented compared to single exposures, with the exception of the two earliest dosing intervals ending on P5 and P7, where the responses were lower. In addition, at 105 min, the levels of corticosterone were attenuated relative to a single drug administration. With the exception of animals receiving methamphetamine from P15 to P19, thymus weights were unaffected. The data demonstrate that (+)-methamphetamine is a robust activator of corticosterone release in developing animals and this release is extensively modified by age and previous drug exposure.     

True or false: do 5-year-olds understand belief?

In 3 studies (N = 188) we tested the hypothesis that children use a perceptual access approach to reason about mental states before they understand beliefs. The perceptual access hypothesis predicts a U-shaped developmental pattern of performance in true belief tasks, in which 3-year-olds who reason about reality should succeed, 4- to 5-year-olds who use perceptual access reasoning should fail, and older children who use belief reasoning should succeed. The results of Study 1 revealed the predicted pattern in 2 different true belief tasks. The results of Study 2 disconfirmed several alternate explanations based on possible pragmatic and inhibitory demands of the true belief tasks. In Study 3, we compared 2 methods of classifying individuals according to which 1 of the 3 reasoning strategies (reality reasoning, perceptual access reasoning, belief reasoning) they used. The 2 methods gave converging results. Both methods indicated that the majority of children used the same approach across tasks and that it was not until after 6 years of age that most children reasoned about beliefs. We conclude that because most prior studies have failed to detect young children's use of perceptual access reasoning, they have overestimated their understanding of false beliefs. We outline several theoretical implications that follow from the perceptual access hypothesis.     

That's a boy's toy: gender-typed knowledge in toddlers as a function of mother's marital status

A child who is highly gender schematic readily uses gender when processing new information. In the current study, we examined whether and how family structure predicts a child's level of gender-typed knowledge (as assessed by a gender-stereotype sorting task) once the category of gender is in place (as assessed by a gender-labeling task). It was predicted that children from more "traditional" family structures (married mothers) would have more gender-typed knowledge compared to children from less traditional families (unmarried mothers). Moreover, we explored if this relationship would be related to, at least in part, the greater frequency of androgynous behaviors (i.e., both masculine and feminine household activities) an unmarried mother performs. Twenty-eight children (age 2 to 3) were tested at local childcare centers. The mother of each child reported her marital status as well as how often she engaged in stereotypically masculine and feminine behaviors. As expected, mothers' marital status was associated with children's level of gender-typed knowledge, such that children with unmarried mothers had less gender-typed knowledge, in part due to the unmarried mother's greater frequency of androgynous behaviors. Implications for children's acquisition of gender-related stereotypes and the possible benefit of having mothers model both masculine and feminine behaviors are discussed.     

Investing in Success: Key Strategies for Building Quality in After-School Programs

This paper examines the relation between the implementation quality of after-school literacy activities and student reading gains. The data are from an evaluation of a multi-site after-school program in California in which continuous program quality improvement strategies were implemented to improve the delivery of a new balanced literacy program. Strategies included: (1) targeted staff training throughout the year, (2) regular observations and coaching of staff, and (3) the use of data to measure progress. Programs struggled to successfully implement these strategies early in the initiative, but gradually improved the quality and consistency of their use. Program quality, as measured through observations, also increased. Results suggested that the size of student reading gains were positively correlated with the quality of literacy programming provided by each instructor.     

Developing and Improving After-School Programs to Enhance Youth’s Personal Growth and Adjustment: A Special Issue of AJCP

Participating in after-school programs (ASPs) has become a common experience for children. This special issue provides a perspective on the current status of research on ASPs. This introductory article overviews the historical and current context of ASPs and then describes a developmental ecological model to guide research in this area. The model offers a framework from which to organize and synthesize the research presented in this issue. Key principles include a holistic view of development that recognizes interrelations between multiple domains of youth adjustment, attention to multiple, relevant factors within and outside of youth that affect development, examining the dynamic interplay between persons, program features, and other contexts over time, and understanding the active role of youth in affecting their own development. These principles are examined in relation to five main areas: youth characteristics, social ecologies, program features, participation, and short- and long-term outcomes. Recommendations for future research are discussed.