Hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study

Hoarding behavior occurs frequently in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Results from previous studies suggest that individuals with OCD who have hoarding symptoms are clinically different than non-hoarders and may represent a distinct clinical group. In the present study, we compared 235 hoarding to 389 non-hoarding participants, all of whom had OCD, collected in the course of the OCD Collaborative Genetics Study. We found that, compared to non-hoarding individuals, hoarders were more likely to have symmetry obsessions and repeating, counting, and ordering compulsions; poorer insight; more severe illness; difficulty initiating or completing tasks; and indecision. Hoarders had a greater prevalence of social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Hoarders also had a greater prevalence of obsessive-compulsive and dependent personality disorders. Five personality traits were independently associated with hoarding: miserliness, preoccupation with details, difficulty making decisions, odd behavior or appearance, and magical thinking. Hoarding and indecision were more prevalent in the relatives of hoarding than of non-hoarding probands. Hoarding in relatives was associated with indecision in probands, independently of proband hoarding status. The findings suggest that hoarding behavior may help differentiate a distinct clinical subgroup of people with OCD and may aggregate in some OCD families. Indecision may be a risk factor for hoarding in these families.     

School-Based Supports and Interventions to Improve Social and Behavioral Outcomes with Racially and Ethnically Minoritized Youth: A Review of Recent Quantitative Research

School discipline disproportionality has long been documented in educational research, primarily impacting Black/African American and non-White Hispanic/Latinx students. In response, federal policymakers have encouraged educators to change their disciplinary practice, emphasizing that more proactive support is critical to promoting students’ social and behavioral outcomes in school. Results from a literature review conducted nearly a decade ago indicated that there was, at that point, a paucity of empirical research related to considering students’ culture (e.g., race, ethnicity) and supporting school behavior. The purpose of this study is to replicate and expand the previous review to summarize the characteristics of the most recent school-based quantitative research addressing interventions to promote social and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized youth. We screened 1687 articles for inclusion in the review. Upon coding 32 eligible research studies, we found that intervention and implementer characteristics within these studies varied, but noted strong intervention effects in studies that included established evidence-based practices, adapted interventions, as well as new practices piloted with student participants. Results inform recommendations to continue to study interventions that promote positive social and behavioral outcomes for racially and ethnically minoritized students to disrupt a long history of subjection to exclusionary discipline disproportionately.

     

Managerial motivational profiles: Composition,antecedents, and consequences

Using a person-centered approach, we identified managers' (N = 321) motivational profiles and tested a model of the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. The profiles were based on four motivational types delineated by self-determination theory (i.e., external, introjected, identified, intrinsic). Latent profile analysis revealed six distinct motivational profiles. One of these was a self-determined profile (high identified and intrinsic motivation, moderately low introjected motivation, and low external motivation). Four other profiles combined average levels of external motivation with either very low, low, moderately low, or high internal (i.e., introjected, identified, and intrinsic) motivation. The final profile involved moderately high levels of all four motives. The antecedents of profile membership examined were perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational politics. The career-related outcomes of profile membership were work attitudes and promotability. The self-determined and high internal motivation profiles were associated with the most favorable work attitudes, followed by the moderately high motivation profile. The low internal motivation profiles were associated with the least favorable attitudes. Promotability did not differ across the profiles. With respect to the antecedents, low levels of supervisor support and high levels of politics increased the odds that a manager would exhibit profiles that were less desirable than the self-determined profile. Our findings provide initial information about managers' motivational profiles, as well as the antecedents and consequences of these profiles. Further, these results demonstrate the promise of a person-centered approach for advancing motivation research and management development.     

Status Frustration among College Students: The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Undergraduate Performance

Cohen’s status frustration theory explains that even though everyone is encouraged to achieve a high status in society, lower-class people have very small chances of successfully doing so. Students from a private college and a public community college were given questionnaires about socioeconomic statuses, college majors, career plans, grades, and participation in delinquent activities. Findings support specific components of Cohen’s theory. Minority and lower-class students participated in more deviant behaviors. Results also revealed significant differences in prestige of career goals between students of different social classes. Finally, there was a significant relationship between perceived opportunities and grade point averages.     

On interpreting stereotype threat as accounting for African American-White differences on cognitive tests

C. M. Steele and J. Aronson (1995) showed that making race salient when taking a difficult test affected the performance of high-ability African American students, a phenomenon they termed stereotype threat. The authors document that this research is widely misinterpreted in both popular and scholarly publications as showing that eliminating stereotype threat eliminates the African American-White difference in test performance. In fact, scores were statistically adjusted for differences in students' prior SAT performance, and thus, Steele and Aronson's findings actually showed that absent stereotype threat, the two groups differ to the degree that would be expected based on differences in prior SAT scores. The authors caution against interpreting the Steele and Aronson experiment as evidence that stereotype threat is the primary cause of African American-White differences in test performance.     

Using SAT-grade and ability-job performance relationships to test predictions derived from stereotype threat theory

To examine the generalizability of stereotype threat theory findings from laboratory to applied settings, the authors developed models of the pattern of relationships between cognitive test scores and outcome criteria that would be expected if the test scores of women and minority group members were affected by stereotype threat. Two large data sets were used to test these models, one in an education setting examining SAT-grade relationships by race and gender and the other in a military job setting examining Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery-job performance relationships by race. Findings were not supportive of the predictions arising from stereotype threat theory, suggesting caution in positing threat as a key determinant of subgroup mean test score differences in applied settings.     

The application of a behavioural regime to disturbed young offenders

A 6-month behavioral project was carried out at HM Borstal Feltham, Middlesex, a custodial institution for young male offenders aged 16–21 serving an indeterminate sentence of between 6 months and 2 years. Twelve trainees with a variety of clinical histories were involved in the project. Operant techniques including a points incentive scheme and individual contracting were structured in an attempt to improve behaviours relevant to discharge as well as borstal adjustment. Results indicate several improvements in terms of borstal offending, and the acquisition of new skills. The effects of applying behavioural techniques systematically to a small unit were consistently favourable. A number of learning points arose related to the problems of staff training, relationships between different grades and the need to work within one clear theoretical model exclusively.     

The effects of varied acoustic parameters on performance in dichotic speech perception tasks

Five dichotic speech experiments were conducted with normal adult listeners in which the signal to one or both ears was degraded by manipulation of intensity, signal-to-noise ratio, or bandwidth parameters. Results suggest that: (1) performance of the ear (or ears) receiving the degraded signal can be predicted from the monaural identifiability of the stimuli, and (2) dichotic performance, at least in stop consonant-vowel tests, reflects an additive central process which combines speech information from the two ears.