Becoming who they want to be: A cross-national examination of value-behavior concordance and mindfulness in adolescence*

Aristotle, Shakespeare, and Gandhi suggested the good life involves living according to one’s values, yet little research has examined the role of value-behavior concordance (VBC) in adolescence. Mindfulness may develop during adolescence and foster VBC via heightened awareness of one’s values and behaviors. We employed data from 5877 adolescents (M _age = 17.53, SD = 3.67; 53% female) from seven countries (Australia, Canada, India, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States), and examined invariance of links involving age, mindfulness, VBC, and meaning. In all countries, older adolescents were more mindful than younger adolescents, and higher levels of mindfulness were positively linked to VBC. Further, in six countries mindfulness was linked to meaning, in part, through VBC, suggesting a generalizable process where mindful youth experience greater meaning because they live according to their values. As evidence suggests mindfulness can be cultivated through meditation, mindfulness may be a trainable skill that helps young people become who they want to be.     

Adults’ self-reported attachment influences their savoring ability

Positive affect is important for well-being, yet little is known about individual differences in the ability to up-regulate (savor) positive emotions. In a sample of 120 adults (ages 18–94; 62.5% female), this study extends correlational work by examining how attachment relates to self-reported savoring and to an experimentally-induced behavioral savoring task where participants were randomly assigned to reflect on a positive event (or complete a control task). Avoidance was related to lower trait savoring, and the effects of attachment on experimentally-induced savoring differed by the type of event participants savored. Avoidance was related to poorer affective outcomes after savoring interpersonal events but was unrelated to affective outcomes for non-interpersonal events. Anxiety was related to better outcomes after savoring non-interpersonal events but was unrelated to savoring interpersonal events. Overall, effects suggest that more insecurely attached adults may not savor as often, and may have difficulty savoring interpersonal events but not non-interpersonal events.     

Cross-task and cross-manipulation stability in shifting the decision criterion

In recognition memory experiments participants must discriminate between old and new items, a judgment influenced by response bias. Research has shown substantial individual differences in the extent to which people will strategically adjust their response bias to diagnostic cues such as the prior probability of an old item. Despite this significant between subject variability, shifts in bias have been found to be relatively predictive within individuals across memory tests. Experiment 1 sought to determine whether this predictability extends beyond memory. Results revealed that the amount a subject shifted response bias in a recognition memory task was significantly predictive of shifting in a visual perception task, suggesting that shifting can generalise outside of a specific testing domain. Experiment 2 sought to determine how predictive shifting would be across two manipulations well known to induce shifts in bias: a probability manipulation and a response payoff manipulation. A modest positive relationship between these two methods was observed, suggesting that shifting behaviour is relatively predictive across different manipulations of shifting. Overall, results from both experiments suggest that response bias shifting, like response bias setting, is a relatively stable behaviour within individuals despite changes in test domain and test manipulation.     

Adrenal Insufficiency in Young Children: a Mixed Methods Study of Parents’ Experiences

Research into adrenal insufficiency (AI) and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in children has focused largely on clinical consequences for patients; and until recently, the wider experience of the condition from the perspective of other family members has been neglected. In a mixed methods study, we captured the experiences of parents of young children affected by AI/CAH, including their views on the psychosocial impact of living with and managing the condition. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in the UK and an online survey was developed, translated and disseminated through support groups (UK and the Netherlands) and outpatient endocrinology clinics (Germany). Challenges associated with diagnosis, treatment, support and the future were identified. For UK parents, the diagnosis period was characterised by a lack of awareness amongst healthcare professionals and occurrences of adrenal crisis. Parents reported burden, anxiety and disruption associated with the intensive treatment regimen. Parents adjusted and gained confidence over time yet found delegating responsibility for medication difficult and worried about the future for their child. Access to psychological support and contact with other families was reported as highly beneficial. The findings of the study provide critical context for future studies and for informing how parents and families can be better supported. Prenatal genetic counselling for parents who already have an affected child will include an explanation of recurrence risk but should also focus on providing information and reassurance about diagnostic testing and care for their newborn.     

Genetic Counseling,Professional Values,and Habitus: An Analysis of Disability Narratives in Textbooks

This article analyzes narrative illustrations in genetic counseling textbooks as a way of understanding professional habitus--the dispositions that motivate professional behavior. In particular, this analysis shows that there are significant differences in how the textbooks' expository and narrative portions represent Down syndrome, genetic counseling practice, and patient behaviors. While the narrative portions of the text position the genetic counseling profession as working in service to the values of genetic medicine, the expository portions represent genetic counselors as neutral parties. Ultimately, this article argues that this ambiguity is harmful to the production of a professional habitus that is consistent with espoused professional values concerning respect for persons with disabilities and the promotion of psychosocial counseling.     

Evaluation of a Sesame Street Multimedia Intervention for Families Transitioning Out of the Military

Although transitioning out of the military can be stressful for everyone in the family, the children’s experience has received minimal attention in both clinical lore and research. This study is an evaluation of Sesame Workshop’s multimedia program for families who are transitioning out of the military into civilian life; the program is aimed at improving parents’ confidence and skills in assisting their children with the transition, and at improving young children’s transition-related adjustment. Via a randomized controlled trial design, we evaluated the utilization, acceptability, and impact of this free, online program with 200 military caregivers. Caregivers who received the Sesame program reported increased self-efficacy in helping their child cope with the transition (e.g., making new friends, talking with their child about leaving the military) compared to those assigned to the control condition. Further, caregivers in the intervention condition reported fewer overall child emotional and behavioral problems and a significant reduction in levels of hyperactivity/inattention in their children. Further, the primarily online modality of the Sesame program yielded high caregiver satisfaction and utilization; this approach may warrant further research as an effective means of reaching busy military families.     

Differences in brain morphology and working memory capacity across childhood

Working memory (WM) skills are closely associated with learning progress in key areas such as reading and mathematics across childhood. As yet, however, little is known about how the brain systems underpinning WM develop over this critical developmental period. The current study investigated whether and how structural brain correlates of components of the working memory system change over development. Verbal and visuospatial short‐term and working memory were assessed in 153 children between 5.58 and 15.92 years, and latent components of the working memory system were derived. Fractional anisotropy and cortical thickness maps were derived from T1‐weighted and diffusion‐weighted MRI and processed using eigenanatomy decomposition. There was a greater involvement of the corpus callosum and posterior temporal white matter in younger children for performance associated with the executive part of the working memory system. For older children, this was more closely linked with the thickness of the occipitotemporal cortex. These findings suggest that increasing specialization leads to shifts in the contribution of neural substrates over childhood, moving from an early dependence on a distributed system supported by long‐range connections to later reliance on specialized local circuitry. Our findings demonstrate that despite the component factor structure being stable across childhood, the underlying brain systems supporting working memory change. Taking the age of the child into account, and not just their overall score, is likely to be critical for understanding the nature of the limitations on their working memory capacity.     

Verbal and nonverbal predictors of executive function in early childhood

The study of executive function (EF) has become increasingly popular in multiple areas of research. A wealth of evidence has supported the value of EF in shaping notable outcomes across typical and atypical development; however, little evidence has supported the cognitive contributors to early EF development. The current study used data from a large longitudinal sample of healthy children to investigate the differential influence of verbal and nonverbal cognition on later EF. Participants were assessed at 2 years of age using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and Mullen scores were used to calculate nonverbal and verbal developmental quotients. Executive function was measured at 6 years using assessments from the Stanford-Binet, Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Results suggested that early nonverbal cognition was a better predictor of 6-year EF as measured by task-based laboratory assessments, whereas verbal cognition was a better predictor of parent-reported EF. Findings are discussed in regard to EF development and characteristics of EF measurement.