Adult attachment style and stress as risk factors for early maternal sensitivity and negativity

The current study examined the individual and joint effects of self‐reported adult attachment style, psychological distress, and parenting stress on maternal caregiving behaviors at 6 and 12 months of child age. We proposed a diathesis‐stress model to examine the potential deleterious effects of stress for mothers with insecure adult attachment styles. Data from 137 mothers were gathered by the longitudinal Durham Child Health and Development Study. Mothers provided self‐reports using C. Hazan and P. Shaver's ( 1987 ) Adult Attachment Style measure, the Brief Symptom Inventory (L.R. Derogatis & P.M. Spencer, 1982 ), and the Parent Stress Inventory (R.R. Abidin, 1995 ); observations of parenting data were made from 10‐min free‐play interactions. Consistently avoidant mothers were less sensitive with their infants than were consistently secure mothers; however, this effect was limited to avoidant mothers who experienced elevated levels of psychological distress. Results suggest that the association between insecure adult attachment style and insensitive parenting behavior is moderated by concurrent psychosocial stress. Clinical implications for these findings are discussed.     

Father contributions to cortisol responses in infancy and toddlerhood

The current study is one of the first prospective examinations of longitudinal associations between observed father caregiving behaviors and child cortisol reactivity and regulation in response to emotional arousal. Observations of father and mother caregiving behaviors and child cortisol levels in response to challenges at 7 months and 24 months of child age were collected. Analyses were based on a subsample of children from the Family Life Project who lived with both their biological mothers and fathers and for whom there was at least partial cortisol data (7 months: n = 717; 24 months: n = 579). At the challenge conducted at 7 months of child age, 49.0% of the sample were girls; racial composition of the sample was 25.8% African American and 74.2% European American. At the challenge conducted at 24 months of child age 49.9% of the sample were girls; racial composition was 24.7% African American and 75.3% European American. We conducted analyses across assessment points simultaneously using mixed linear modeling for repeated measures data to test for differential effects of fathering across infancy and toddlerhood. Concurrent measures of father negativity were positively associated with greater increases in child cortisol levels in response to emotion challenge at 7 months (p = .01) and with higher overall levels of cortisol at 24 months (p < .001). However, there was no evidence that father caregiving during infancy independently predicted later cortisol activity during toddlerhood.     

Role of fault attributions and desire, effort, and outcome expectations in children's anticipated responses to hypothetical peers with various undesirable characteristics

A total of 137 third- through eighth-grade students were asked to respond to a series of statements concerning 6 male peers described as having various undesirable characteristics (i.e., poor student, poor athlete, extremely overweight, extremely aggressive, extremely shy, or having the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). The aggressive peer and the overweight peer consistently elicited the least favorable reactions from the children. For all 6 peers included in the study, the more strongly the children agreed that a peer was at fault for his undesirable characteristic, the less favorably they anticipated responding to that peer. In contrast, the children's expectations concerning a peer's desire to change, effort to change, and success in changing an undesirable characteristic were generally unrelated to their anticipated responses to that peer. The children demonstrated the general belief that desire backed by effort leads to success in overcoming an undesirable characteristic, but lack of effort leads to failure regardless of the peer's desire or lack of desire to change the characteristic.     

Methods Used to Document Procedural Fidelity in School-Based Intervention Research

There has been a paucity of guidance on the methodological details needed for measuring and sampling the independent variable or actual intervention occurrences in research and practice. Furthermore, the planning and support necessary to document the independent variable in both circumstances may be considerable. The current study extends prior research by reviewing the methods used to document procedural fidelity in school-based intervention research with student participants published between 2005 and 2012 in journals known for publishing school-related intervention studies. Two hundred sixty-six articles met the inclusion criteria and the majority (70 %) used fidelity data in the analysis of intervention effectiveness. By systematically examining contributions of school-based intervention researchers across targeted variables as well as qualities of interventions and settings, suggestions can be made for (a) planning measurement of fidelity across phases of the intervention, (b) sampling fidelity occurrences, (c) preventing intervention failure by providing needed supports, and (d) responding to patterns of fidelity required for intervention and outcome measurement in both research and practice.     

Individual Differences Associated with Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Ambiguous Social Situations in which Rejection Might be Inferred

This study sought to examine the extent to which undergraduates' experiences with and attitudes relevant to rejection may be associated with their emotional and behavioral responses to ambiguous social situations in which rejection might be inferred. Undergraduate students completed questionnaires that assessed their experiences with and attitudes relevant to being rejected. Next, each participant read six hypothetical scenarios that described various situations that could be interpreted as interpersonal rejection. Following each scenario, participants completed questionnaires that assessed their emotional and behavioral responses to the hypothetical situation. Analyses revealed that the participants' experiences with rejection (and, to a lesser extent, their rejection-relevant attitudes) were associated with a negative emotional response and some negative behavioral responses. In sum, when another individual's interpersonal behavior has an uncertain intent, undergraduates' prior experiences with rejection may be especially important in determining the extent to which they feel and act as if they have been rejected.     

“Doc,There's Something I Have To Tell You”: Patient Disclosure to Their Psychotherapist of Unprosecuted Murder and Other Violence

The current investigation examines the incidence of clients telling their psychotherapists of committing violent crimes for which they have not been prosecuted. Thirteen percent of the psychologists surveyed indicated that on at least one occasion a client self-disclosed to them during a psychotherapy session that he/she had murdered someone, not including the killing of another person in the line of duty in the military or as a public peace officer. One third of the psychologists had clients self-disclose an unprosecuted incident of a sexual assault, and more than two thirds had clients self-disclose an unprosecuted incident of a physical assault during a psychotherapy session. Data are reported on psychotherapists' views of the impact of such disclosures on the psychotherapy relationship, adequacy of being informed regarding legal obligations after hearing such reports of violence, and adequacy of graduate preparation to deal with these clinical situations.     

Integrating Spirituality and Religion Into Psychotherapy: Persistent Dilemmas,Ethical Issues,and a Proposed Decision-Making Process

Religion and spirituality are important aspects of the lives of most psychotherapy clients. Unfortunately, many psychotherapists lack the training to effectively and ethically address these issues with their clients. At times, religious or spiritual concerns may be relevant to the reasons clients seek treatment, either as areas of conflict or distress for clients or as sources of strength and support that the psychotherapist may access to enhance the benefit of psychotherapy. This article reviews persistent ethical issues and dilemmas relevant to providing psychotherapy to clients for whom issues of religion and spirituality are clinically relevant. Ethical considerations include assessment, advertising and public statements, informed consent, competence, boundary issues and multiple relationships, cooperation with other professionals, and how to effectively integrate religious and spiritual interventions into ongoing psychotherapy. A decision-making process is presented to guide psychotherapists in their clinical work with clients for whom religious and spiritual issues are salient or clearly linked to their presenting problems.     

The displacement field of a triangular dislocation loop–a correction with commentary

A correction is made to a previous coordinate-free formulation of the displacement field of a triangular dislocation loop by Barnett [Phil. Mag. A 51 383 (1985)]. Then, taking account of the correction, it is shown that the formulation reduces to that given by Hirth and Lothe [Theory of Dislocations, 2nd edn (Wiley, New York, 1982) p. 146.], which is restricted to a specially chosen coordinate system.     

Using Kindergarten Language,Dialect Variation,and Child Behavior to Predict Second Grade Reading Ability in African American Children

Previous research has demonstrated mixed findings pertaining to the risk conferred by variation from Mainstream American English (MAE) for African American children in our education system. Based on the research on language, behavior, and reading, the present study sought to examine the relative and combined contributions of culturally appropriate measures of risk status for disordered language and density of dialect use and classroom behavior (both competencies and problems) in predicting reading ability in a sample of typically developing African American elementary school students. 53 African American Kindergartner's (27 boys, 26 girls) were followed up with two years later in 2nd grade. In Kindergarten, children were screened for density of dialect use and risk of language impairment; teachers rated each child on behavior, social/emotional adjustment, and academic performance. Reading achievement was assessed in 2nd grade. Risk for disordered language development was the best predictor of 2nd grade reading, outperforming density of dialect use. Positive classroom behaviors were more predictive of reading than negative behaviors. This research supports the notion that language, classroom behavior, and reading achievement are intertwined in a complex manner and that when designing interventions for one, the entire system must be considered.     

When mitigation evidence makes a difference: effects of psychological mitigating evidence on sentencing decisions in capital trials

Little empirical research has addressed the effects of psychological or psychosocial evidence on sentencing decisions. The present study found that death-qualified mock jurors were more likely to sentence a defendant to death without mitigating evidence than in a case with mitigating evidence present. Mock jurors were less likely to assign a death sentence in cases that contained one of the following types of mitigating evidence: The defendant was (i) diagnosed with schizophrenia, not medicated, and suffered from severe delusions and hallucinations, (ii) drug addicted and high at the time of the murder, (iii) diagnosed as borderline mentally retarded during childhood, or (iv) severely physically and verbally abused by his parents during childhood.