Family and childhood adjustment in cystic fibrosis

Family adaptation has been commonly associated with the psychological adjustment of chronically ill children. However, few studies have attempted to systematically evaluate this association and its relationship to illness severity. We studied 44 children ages 7 to 15 and their families at a large cystic fibrosis center and obtained measures of 1) impact of illness on the family; 2) family functioning; 3) behavioral adjustment; 4) social competence; 5) ratings of anxiety, depressive, and eating disorder symptoms; and 6) ratings of illness severity and duration. Impact of illness on the family and overall family dysfunction were significantly correlated with illness severity, but not duration. However, impact of illness on the family was significantly correlated with internalizing behavioral symptoms, while family dysfunction was correlated with depressive symptomatology. These findings suggest that illness-related stress is primarily reflected in general emotional and behavioral symptoms, with familial adaptation either ameliorating or exacerbating their development into depressive symptomatology.     

Individual Differences, Situational Constraints, and Police Shooting Incidents

Differences in the personal nature of police officers as well as differences among the situational constraints due to assignments are considered in an examination of the occurrences of police involvement in shooting incidents. The Poisson and negative binomial models used in accident research are considered for representing the occurrence of shooting incidents. Data were gathered from incidents in a large metropolitan police department over a 34-month period and used to test the two models. Various analyses indicate a good Poisson fit. Implications of the data are discussed.     

Effects of Trauma of the Gulf War on Kuwaiti Children

We investigated the effects of the Gulf War on two groups of Kuwaiti children and youth. Those children experiencing war-related traumatic events and those who did not experience or witness a war-related traumatic event participated. Data were obtained from the mother of each child. Each mother completed a structured interview which included Child Traumatic Reaction Index, developed according to the DSM-IV (1994) criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The data indicated a significant interaction effect observed by mothers according to the child's gender, experience of war traumatic events, and PTSD. The results are discussed in terms of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, the necessity of early identification, and the difficulty associated with the diagnosing PTSD in children.     

Living There,Leaving There: Identity,Sociospatial Mobility,and Exclusion in “Stigmatized Neighborhoods”

As mobility is increasingly reshaping social relations, understanding how it affects new forms of social exclusion is an important challenge in today's polarized societies. From a political-psychological perspective, this challenge requires recognition of how identity processes linked to exclusion are significantly shaped by sociospatial mobility practices. Identity, mobility, and exclusion are at the core of the psychological experience of people living in segregated areas from where they are impelled to leave. Building on this argument, we present a qualitative case study based on ethnographic and narrative methods, which aimed to understand identity processes among young people who have lived most of their lives in four “stigmatized neighborhoods” in Santiago de Chile. The analysis indicated that young people navigate a paradoxical identity project in such neighborhoods, driven by contradictory cultural mandates. This case study contributes to knowledge on how sociospatial exclusion and the politics of mobility can manifest in the form of “identity trouble,” as young people struggle between belonging and running away, while attempting to maintain a coherent sense of self.     

Profiles of Social Anxiety and Impulsivity Among College Students: A Close Examination of Profile Differences in Externalizing Behavior

Prior work indicates the presence of a subtype of Social Anxiety (SA) characterized by disinhibition or high externalizing behaviors such as substance use and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms. A sample of 375 undergraduates completed an online study including measures of SA, substance use, ADHD symptoms and impulsivity. Latent class analyses revealed three classes of individuals who evidenced: (a) low SA and low impulsivity, (b) high SA and low impulsivity, and (c) high SA and high impulsivity. Individuals high in both SA and impulsivity evidenced greater likelihoods of exhibiting externalizing behavior, relative to the two other classes. Post-hoc analyses revealed the largest and most significant differences between classes were seen with regard to ADHD. This finding extends previous work by replicating distinct profiles of SA and impulsivity, and highlighting that how these profiles relate to externalizing behaviors may depend on the externalizing domain.     

Introduction to the Special Section: Toward Implementing Physiological Measures in Clinical Assessments of Adult Mental Health

This article serves as the introduction to the Special Section called “Toward Implementing Physiological Measures in Clinical Assessments of Adult Mental Health.” As such, it provides an overview of the importance of integrating assessments of physiological and subjective processes in mental health assessments and discusses the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative. In addition, it summarizes the findings from the four empirical studies published in the Special Section. Collectively, these studies sought to illustrate how physiological assessments can be incorporated in mental health assessments conducted in applied research and clinic settings. In all, we hope that this Special Section will inspire the type of interdisciplinary research spanning basic and applied work that will be critical to advancing the RDoC initiative.     

Sequential Dynamics of Culturally Moderated Facial Expressions of Emotion

ABSTRACT— There is consensus that when emotions are aroused, the displays of those emotions are either universal or culture-specific. We investigated the idea that an individual's emotional displays in a given context can be both universal and culturally variable, as they change over time. We examined the emotional displays of Olympic athletes across time, classified their expressive styles, and tested the association between those styles and a number of characteristics associated with the countries the athletes represented. Athletes from relatively urban, individualistic cultures expressed their emotions more, whereas athletes from less urban, collectivistic cultures masked their emotions more. These culturally influenced expressions occurred within a few seconds after initial, immediate, and universal emotional displays. Thus, universal and culture-specific emotional displays can unfold across time in an individual in a single context.     

Linking Informant Discrepancies to Observed Variations in Young Children’s Disruptive Behavior

Prior work has not tested the basic theoretical notion that informant discrepancies in reports of children’s behavior exist, in part, because different informants observe children’s behavior in different settings. We examined patterns of observed preschool disruptive behavior across varying social contexts in the laboratory and whether they related to parent-teacher rating discrepancies of disruptive behavior in a sample of 327 preschoolers. Observed disruptive behavior was assessed with a lab-based developmentally sensitive diagnostic observation paradigm that assesses disruptive behavior across three interactions with the child with parent and examiner. Latent class analysis identified four patterns of disruptive behavior: (a) low across parent and examiner contexts, (b) high with parent only, (c) high with examiner only, and (d) high with parent and examiner. Observed disruptive behavior specific to the parent and examiner contexts were uniquely related to parent-identified and teacher-identified disruptive behavior, respectively. Further, observed disruptive behavior across both parent and examiner contexts was associated with disruptive behavior as identified by both informants. Links between observed behavior and informant discrepancies were not explained by child impairment or observed problematic parenting. Findings provide the first laboratory-based support for the Attribution Bias Context Model (De Los Reyes and Kazdin Psychological Bulletin 131:483–509, 2005), which posits that informant discrepancies are indicative of cross-contextual variability in children’s behavior and informants’ perspectives on this behavior. These findings have important implications for clinical assessment, treatment outcomes, and developmental psychopathology research.

The Human Species Origin: Views of Biology Teachers from Three Latin American Countries

This paper intends to investigate whether the differences in country religiosity can influence biology teachers’ views about biological evolution, especially the human origin. Since Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay have differences in religiosity, teachers from these countries were asked to answer to the question of the European questionnaire BIOHEAD-CITIZEN: “The emergence of the human species (Homo sapiens) was just as improbable as the emergence of any other species.” From their answers, it was possible to estimate how biology teachers conceive the origin of the humankind, whether they perceive it as a natural phenomenon or a special event. The four Barbour’s categories concerning the relationship between science and religion (Conflict, Independence, Dialogue and Integration) were used to analyze the results in these three countries. Results showed that, in general, teachers of Uruguay (a secular country) and Argentina (a constitutional Catholic country) had a clearer position of separation between science and religion whereas the teachers of Brazil (with a relative secularism), tended to do not make a separation between science and religion. It could be concluded that the type of the teachers’ religion rather than the secularism of state is more influencial on building teachers’ views about human origin.