Bidirectional‐Compounding Effects of Rumination and Negative Emotion in Predicting Impulsive Behavior: Implications for Emotional Cascades

Influenced by chaos theory, the emotional cascade model proposes that rumination and negative emotion may promote each other in a self‐amplifying cycle that increases over time. Accordingly, exponential‐compounding effects may better describe the relationship between rumination and negative emotion when they occur in impulsive persons, and predict impulsive behavior. Forty‐seven community and undergraduate participants who reported frequent engagement in impulsive behaviors monitored their ruminative thoughts and negative emotion multiple times daily for two weeks using digital recording devices. Hypotheses were tested using cross‐lagged mixed model analyses. Findings indicated that rumination predicted subsequent elevations in rumination that lasted over extended periods of time. Rumination and negative emotion predicted increased levels of each other at subsequent assessments, and exponential functions for these associations were supported. Results also supported a synergistic effect between rumination and negative emotion, predicting larger elevations in subsequent rumination and negative emotion than when one variable alone was elevated. Finally, there were synergistic effects of rumination and negative emotion in predicting number of impulsive behaviors subsequently reported. These findings are consistent with the emotional cascade model in suggesting that momentary rumination and negative emotion progressively propagate and magnify each other over time in impulsive people, promoting impulsive behavior.     

Do close supportive relationships moderate the effect of depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation?

Depressive symptoms, a lack of close supportive relationships and suicidal ideation are important risk factors for suicidal acts. Previous studies have primarily focused on the additive effects of close relationships and depressive symptoms on suicide risk. Here we explored whether, in addition, close relationships moderated the impact of depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation. An analysis of pre-existing data from 319 attendees at a student counselling service using moderated regression models indicated that when the student has close supportive relationships, the association between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation is weaker than when he/she feels an absence of close relationships. This confirms the need to include enquiries about the presence of close relationships and depression as part of any suicide risk assessment.     

The Role of Temporal and Spatial Information Cues in Locating Missing Persons

Prospective person memory refers to the search for a missing or wanted person. Performance on prospective person memory tasks has been found to be poor in field‐based experiments. Prior research suggests that the size of the search space may influence success on prospective person memory tasks. In the present research, we gave participants randomly assigned temporal and spatial cues about a mock missing person's whereabouts. Participants were offered a monetary reward for accurately reporting seeing the missing person. Participants who were told the missing person would appear in the building, where they were, had higher expectations of encountering the missing person and made more sightings than participants told the missing person would appear on the university campus. Expectations of encounter predicted participants' intent to look for the missing person, which predicted actual looking behavior, which ultimately predicted accurate sightings.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parent Involvement in Secondary Special Education and Transition: An Exploratory Psychometric Study

An increased level of parent involvement in education has been identified as a predictor of positive postschool outcomes for students with disabilities who have traditionally experienced lower rates of employment and postsecondary education than their peers without disabilities. The purpose of this study was to explore the factor structure of scales adapted from the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler Model of Parent Involvement that might be used to predict parent involvement in secondary special education. An iterative adaption process included adding and revising scale items to reflect parent beliefs and involvement activities related to transition planning and secondary education for parents of high school students with disabilities. Participants were 149 parents of students with disabilities, ages 16–21. Two exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the scales. Results of the EFA for involvement activities suggested a three-factor solution including: Future Planning; Home-based Involvement; and Agency/School-based Involvement. Results of the EFA for Motivators for Involvement suggested a seven-factor solution including: Parent Expectations for the Future; General School Invitations; Role Construction; Perceptions of Time and Energy; Knowledge, Skills, and Self-efficacy; Specific Child Invitations, and Specific Teacher Invitations. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

The role of context expectations and cost of reporting on prospective person memory performance

Prospective person memory refers to the task of being on the lookout for a missing or wanted person. In both laboratory and field‐based tasks, prospective person memory performance has been poor. In the current study, we examined two factors that could be manipulated in the real world to increase successful recovery of missing or wanted persons: expectations of encounter and the cost of reporting wanted persons. Participants completed a computer task that simulated normal day‐to‐day tasks (i.e.., grocery shopping) while looking for four “wanted” persons. Participants who were given accurate context expectations made more accurate sightings and more inaccurate sightings than participants who were given inaccurate context expectations. The cost of reporting a sighting did not affect sighting rates. These findings indicate that people are more likely to notice a wanted person in their environment when they expect to encounter the wanted person in that environment.     

Re-Storying the Trauma Narrative: Fostering Posttraumatic Growth in Cambodian Refugee Women

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to provide clinical recommendations in fostering positive well-being among Cambodian refugee women living in the United States. We first present a brief overview of Cambodian refugee women’s history and cultural background to highlight their experiences of shared and gender-based trauma, as well as their process of recovery. Next, as informed by the posttraumatic growth model and evidence-based practices, we provide clinical recommendations with an emphasis on trauma-informed components and interventions influenced by feminist and narrative perspectives in facilitating the process of surviving trauma and thriving post-migration. Finally, we present a composite case illustration, highlighting cultural considerations to aid mental health providers in fostering posttraumatic growth in Cambodian refugee women.     

Asset-Based,Sustainable Local Economic Development: Using Community Participation to Improve Quality of Life Across Rural,Small-Town,and Urban Communities

Applied Research in Quality of Life - We analyze survey data from 5,487 residents of 85 Texas communities, including rural communities, small towns, medium-sized cities, and the five largest urban...     

Factors Associated with Perceived Cognitive Problems in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease

The objective of the present study was to assess demographic and disease-specific factors associated with perceived cognitive problems in children and adolescents with heart disease. 246 children with congenital heart disease ages 8–18 years and their parents completed the Cognitive Problems Scale of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cardiac Module. The 5-item Cognitive Problems Scale assesses school-related cognitive problems including attention and memory from the perspective of the child and parent. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with demographic variables and disease-specific factors entered as independent variables and perceived cognitive problems as the dependent variable. Socioeconomic status (SES) and cardiac disease severity were significantly associated with parent proxy-reported cognitive problems (p < .05). None of the demographic or disease-specific variables were significantly associated with child self-reported cognitive problems. In conclusion, our data suggest that assessment of perceived cognitive problems in children and adolescents with greater disease severity and from lower SES homes may facilitate early identification of children who need formal evaluation and interventions to address cognitive impairments.     

Parental religiosity,abuse history and maintenance of beliefs taught in the family

Both anecdotal and empirical investigations have indicated that childhood sexual abuse may negatively impact one's religiosity as an adult. However, few studies have examined the impact of other forms of abuse on the development of religiosity. In the present study, 167 participants recruited from a Pacific Northwest university completed questionnaires measuring parental religiosity, as well as both physical and emotional abuse history, to assess the impact of these factors on the participants’ maintenance of beliefs taught in the family. Results demonstrated that report of abuse was negatively associated with belief maintenance. Alternatively, parental religiosity was positively associated with belief maintenance, and negatively associated with report of abuse. These findings are discussed in terms of social learning theory and the lifestyle behaviours of religious individuals.