The Influence of Prior Relationship, Gender, and Fear on the Consequences of Stalking Victimization

While the findings concerning whether victim gender is associated with greater stalking consequences are equivocal, the literature is consistent that a prior victim-stalker relationship increases the severity of stalking victimization. The current study hypothesised that 1) this relationship would predict the psychological, physical, social, and economic consequences to victims, and that 2) fear may serve as a mediator of the impact of victim gender and prior relationship on the consequences of stalking. An international survey of 1,214 valid self-defined stalking victims reveals victim gender contributed to the psychological and physical consequences of stalking beyond the contribution of victim-perpetrator relationship. A more important predictor of these consequences and of social and economic consequences was fear, with women reporting greater levels than men.     

Examining predictors of physical activity among inactive middle-aged women: an application of the health action process approach

This study tested several relationships predicted by the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) in a sample of 175 generally healthy, inactive, middle-aged women (40-65 yrs old) over a 12 week period. Participants' physical activity, risk perceptions, outcome expectancies, action self-efficacy and intention were measured at baseline. Planning and maintenance self-efficacy were measured 4 weeks later. Physical activity behaviour was measured 12 weeks after baseline. The HAPA relationships were examined using a structural equation model. The data fit the model well and revealed several significant relationships. Action self-efficacy was the best predictor of intention. Maintenance self-efficacy was the best predictor of planning and behaviour. Contrary to the tenets of HAPA and to past research, planning did not predict behaviour. Overall, HAPA provides a useful framework for identifying determinants of physical activity intentions and behaviour within a group of inactive, middle-aged women.     

The impact of perceived self-efficacy on memory for aversive experiences

Self-efficacy is a key construct underlying healthy functioning and emotional well-being. Perceptions of uncontrollability, unpredictability, and low self-efficacy are consistently associated with negative mental health outcomes, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To test the causal relation between perceived coping self-efficacy and stress responses we employed a trauma film paradigm in which college students (N=33) viewed a graphic film of the aftermath of a motor vehicle accident following a high (HSE) or low self-efficacy (LSE) induction. Participants were tested for intrusions, distress, and memory recall for the film over the following 24 hours. LSE participants recalled more central details than HSE participants. Further, HSE participants reported fewer negative intrusions immediately following the film and at 24 hours. These findings suggest that strategies that increase perceived coping self-efficacy may reduce intrusive recollections of an aversive event, and also reduce the attentional bias associated with remembering aversive stimuli.     

Suicidal Risk in Adolescent Residential Treatment: Being Female Is More Important Than a Depression Diagnosis

We investigated the relationship between gender and clinician diagnosis of a depressive disorder at intake on variables reflecting depression among adolescents in residential treatment. It was hypothesized that females diagnosed with a depressive disorder would have the highest scores on measures of suicide risk, the number of symptoms of a major depressive episode, suicidal behavior, and suicidal ideation. Results indicated partial support for the predicted comparisons. Females diagnosed with a depressive disorder scored significantly higher on measures of depressive symptom count and suicidal ideation. Surprisingly, females without a diagnosis of a depressive disorder had higher suicide risk scores than the remaining groups. The results of this study highlight the importance of assessment and treatment of internalizing disorders in youth entering residential programs, particularly female adolescents.     

Description of a Fidelity Implementation System: An Example from a Community-Based Children’s Mental Health Program

Public policy initiatives to deliver evidence-based practices in community settings have increased the need to develop implementation feedback systems to assist program administrators adopting the practices as well as researchers who wish to continue the line of research. This paper contributes to the efforts to reduce the implementation gap in the children’s mental health services field by exploring the concept of fidelity and highlights its importance to the adoption of evidence-based practices. Fidelity, or the degree to which interventions are implemented as originally designed, is generally conceptualized as a system of five unique and interrelated components including adherence, dosage, participant responsiveness, quality of delivery, and program differentiation. Definitions and a critical analysis of each of the component’s strengths and weaknesses are offered while discussing the integrated nature of each component. An example of the development and use of the five components of fidelity within a community-based evidence-based program is described.     

Examining the Impact of Dons Providing Peer Instruction for Academic Integrity: Dons’ and Students’ Perspectives

A peer instruction model was used whereby 78 residence dons (36 males, 42 females) provided instruction regarding academic integrity for 324 students (125 males, 196 females) under their supervision. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to assess survey responses from both the dons and students regarding presentation content, quality, and learning. Overall, dons consistently identified information-based slides about academic integrity as the most important material for the presentations, indicating that fundamental information was needed. Although student ratings of the usefulness of the presentations were middling, students did indicate knowledge gains. Both interest and personal value for academic integrity were highly predictive of positive evaluations of the presentations. Dons and students provided suggestions for improvement and identified more global concerns.     

Measuring the Time Teens Spend with Media: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

This article considers the challenges researchers face in attempting to measure the amount of time teenagers spend with media. After reviewing the methods and measures that have been used in research incorporating “time spent with media” as a critical variable, it concludes that there is a lack of information about the reliability and validity of these measures and highlights the challenges that face researchers in this domain. In particular, there has been little comparison of the different self-report measures commonly used to capture media time. Moreover, little effort has been made to explore differences in media time use measures across the variety of media available today. Finally, we argue that teens are a unique audience for media and that their media use patterns may be distinct. To address these and other issues, data from 2 exploratory studies are presented. Study 1, a self-administered questionnaire with 191 youth ages 12 to 19, examines the correlation of an ordinal-level Frequency measure with a continuous Minutes per Week measure and finds important differences within and across the media used by teens. Study 2, a survey of 86 youth ages 12 to 18 conducted in a focus-group format, examines the correlation of responses to a cued-recall measure (a TV grid) and a media time use log (a diary in 30-min time blocks). Respondents’ reports of time spent with television from the TV grid were significantly greater than those from the time-use log. The article concludes with suggestions for future research needed to better understand teenagers’ time with media in the new media environment.     

Pseudo-dyadic “interaction” on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

Psychological researchers have begun to utilize Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) marketplace as a participant pool. Although past work has established that MTurk is well suited to examining individual behavior, pseudo-dyadic interactions, in which participants falsely believe they are interacting with a partner, are a key element of social and cognitive psychology. The ability to conduct such interdependent research on MTurk would increase the utility of this online population for a broad range of psychologists. The present research therefore attempts to qualitatively replicate well-established pseudo-dyadic tasks on MTurk in order to establish the utility of this platform as a tool for researchers. We find that participants do behave as if a partner is real, even when doing so incurs a financial cost, and that they are sensitive to subtle information about the partner in a minimal-groups paradigm, supporting the use of MTurk for pseudo-dyadic research.     

Of Innocence and Experience: Commentary on Paper by Stuart A. Pizer

In providing the background to a pivotal session, Stuart Pizer reveals his clinical work as an unsupervised neophyte, prior to his own analysis and analytic training. These early therapeutic efforts were flawed, leaving Pizer at times “grimacing with mortification 26 years after the fact.” But they were also extraordinarily helpful to the patient. Schaffer discusses the challenge of supervising similarly talented beginners: how does one teach psychoanalysis without desiccating a treatment? How does one teach a relational approach, with no “basic model” and few rules, to a beginning analyst infused with an unformulated, yet often passionate, sense of what is “curative”? Pizer recognizes that were he to meet the same patient today, he would not conduct the same treatment. Now trained and analyzed, not to mention more cautious and “worldweary,” Pizer would not do what he did then. But what if he were the supervisor then? Schaffer concludes her discussion by asking Pizer how he, now a seasoned analyst, would supervise his early therapist self.