Biography becomes autobiography: distorting the subjective past

This work addresses whether creating a biographical sketch for a fictional adolescent can increase confidence that one personally experienced these details in adolescence (memory distortion) and whether susceptibility to such distortion (depends on whether adolescence is considered part of one's subjective past or subjective present. We divided the subjective past and present using the point at which a person experienced the last life event that changed his or her personality significantly. We operationalized the subjective past as events associated with the period before the last life-changing event and the subjective present as events associated with the period after that event. Participants' confidence in their own autobiographical memory increased after they wrote a brief story about a fictional character. This increase occurred only for those who considered adolescence to be part of their subjective past. These results indicate that subjective time (in addition to objective time) may be a valuable factor in determining who is susceptible to memory distortion. We discuss these findings in terms of familiarity attribution and source monitoring.     

Attention and size in a global/local task

Two-letter stimuli, consisting of one small letter inside a much larger one (in Experiments 1A, 1B, and 2) or inside a "blob" (in Experiment 3), were used to examine the role of size difference in global/local tasks. The small letter was placed at locations that avoided contour interactions. The results showed no identity interference, in that the specific identity of the large letter did not differentially affect identification of the small one. However, there was evidence of global advantage, in that the presence of a large letter hindered identification of the small one. The magnitude of the global advantage effect, as measured by the difference in performance between the small-single and small-embedded conditions, was largest (about 200 ms reaction time (RT) difference) when the large letters were the same as the small ones, lower (a 63 ms difference in Experiment IB, and 89 ms in Experiment 2) when the large letters were unrelated to the small ones, and lowest (a 25 ms difference) when the large stimuli were blobs. It is proposed that the amount of interference depends on the overlap between the features of the large stimuli, as a set, and those of the small ones, also as a set.     

When Home Is Where the Harm Is: Family Betrayal and Posttraumatic Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Research on institutional betrayal has found that institutional wrongdoing that fails to prevent or respond supportively to victims of abuse adds to the burden of trauma. In this two-study investigation with young adult university students, we demonstrated parallels between institutional betrayal and ways that families can fail to prevent or respond supportively to child abuse perpetrated by a trusted other, a phenomenon we call family betrayal (FB). In Study 1, psychometric analysis of a new FB questionnaire provided evidence of its internal consistency, unidimensionality, and convergent and discriminant validity. The majority (approximately 72%) of young adults abused in childhood reported a history of FB, with an average of 4.26 FB events (SD = 4.45, range 0–14). Consistent with betrayal trauma theory, Study 2 revealed that FB was 4× more likely to occur in relation to childhood abuse by someone very close to the victim (vs. non-interpersonal victimization), with a particularly strong effect for female participants. FB history predicted significant delay to disclosure of a self-identified worst traumatic event (η_p² = .017) and significant increases in dissociation (?R² = .05) and posttraumatic stress (?R² = .07) symptoms in young adulthood. Moreover, with FB in the regression models, only FB—not child abuse nor recent interpersonal victimization—predicted dissociation and clinically significant elevations in posttraumatic stress. Findings suggest that FB is a prevalent phenomenon among young adults abused as children and that it explains unique, clinically significant variance in posttraumatic distress, warranting increased attention from trauma researchers and clinicians.     

Impaired Health-Related Quality of Life in Children and Families Affected by Methylmalonic Acidemia

An understanding of health related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and families affected by methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) is important in planning counseling and therapeutic intervention. Liver transplantation (LT) is used as a treatment for MMA; however, its risks and benefits continue to be investigated. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to measure HRQoL in children and families affected by MMA using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL?) parent version, and (2) to assess the impact of LT on HRQoL by comparing LT and non-LT patient scores and free responses. Parents/caregivers reported lower scores on the majority of the PedsQL? scales as compared to samples of healthy children, children with solid organ transplants for indications other than MMA, and families affected by chronic conditions. Scores for children with MMA were lowest in school and social functioning and scores for families were lowest in worry and activity impairment. There were no significant differences in LT and non-LT patient scores on the PedsQL? scales. Our results document the negative impact of MMA on HRQoL.     

Economic Impact of the Statewide Implementation of an Evidence-Based Treatment: Multisystemic Therapy in New Mexico

Several states have made considerable investments into large-scale implementation of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), yet little is known about key success indicators for these implementation efforts such as cost and sustainability. To that end, the present study examined the economic impact of statewide implementation of multisystemic therapy (MST; Henggeler, Schoenwald, Borduin, Rowland, & Cuningham, 2009), a family- and community-based behavioral EBT for serious juvenile offenders in New Mexico. Participants were 1,869 youth who received MST across 23 teams during the study period. We conducted a cost-benefit analysis using metrics from state data sources that compared the cost of MST to its benefits (i.e., avoided expenses from pre- to posttreatment) in two domains: (a) behavioral health services (i.e., Medicaid claims) and (b) juvenile crime (i.e., taxpayer expenses, tangible and intangible expenses to crime victims). MST costs were based on Medicaid claims, which were reimbursed at an enhanced billing rate that was intended to cover expenses for both clinical and implementation (e.g., training, quality assurance) activities. Results suggest that implementation of MST in New Mexico over the 7-year study period may have produced net benefits, through 2 years posttreatment, of more than $4,643 per youth in avoided behavioral health claims and $15,019 per youth through reductions in juvenile crime. Stated differently, every dollar that New Mexico spent on MST appeared to have returned $3.34 for a total benefit of $64.2 million over the course of the study. We discuss implications of these findings for policymakers, administrators, and researchers who are interested in increasing the sustainability of complex EBTs in community settings.     

Intrinsic Value

Philosophical Studies -     

Taxometric and factor analytic models of anxiety sensitivity: integrating approaches to latent structural research

This study represents an effort to better understand the latent structure of anxiety sensitivity (AS), as indexed by the 16-item Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, M. Gursky, & R. J. McNally, 1986), by using taxometric and factor-analytic approaches in an integrative manner. Taxometric analyses indicated that AS has a taxonic latent class structure (i.e., a dichotomous latent class structure) in a large sample of North American adults (N=2,515). As predicted, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a multidimensional 3-factor model of AS provided a good fit for the AS complement class (normative or low-risk form) but not the AS taxon class (high-risk form). Exploratory factor analytic results suggested that the AS taxon may demonstrate a unique, unidimensional factor solution, though there are alternative indications that it may be characterized by a 2-factor solution. Findings suggest that the latent structural nature of AS can be conceptualized as a taxonic latent class structure composed of 2 types or forms of AS, each of these forms characterized by its own unique latent continuity and dimensional structure.