Video Game Therapy: Application of the Couple and Family Technology Framework

The couple and family technology framework outlines how technology affects couple and family relationships. This framework has been applied to understanding the impact of technology on infidelity, contributed to our understanding of online gaming issues in couple relationships, and sexting. The purpose of this paper is to outline how to implement video gaming as a disciplinary tool for youth congruent with the couple and family technology framework. Specifically, we identify the elements of video games that can be applied as an intervention in family treatment with youth in a token economy. This proposed technique focuses on utilizing technology (and specifically video games) as a strategy to improve youth’s behavior. Consistent with the couple and family technology framework, this paper outlines how accessibility, affordability, accommodation, and approximation can be used to improve behavior as well as improve parent–child relationships. Implications are included.     

Root versus roof: automatic activation of location information during word processing

In four experiments, participants were presented with nouns referring to entities that are associated with an up or down location (e.g., roof, root). The required response either was compatible with the referent location or was not (e.g., upward vs. downward movement after reading roof). Across experiments, we manipulated whether the experimental task required word reading or not, as well as whether the response involved a movement or was stationary. In all experiments, participants’ responses were significantly faster in the compatible than in the incompatible condition. This strongly suggests that location information is automatically activated when nouns are being processed.     

Predicting parenting stress: children's behavioural problems and parents' coping

This study examined the effects of child characteristics and parent coping practices on parenting stress, based on a sample of parents of 64 boys with behavioural problems and a comparison group with parents of 128 boys. All parents completed questionnaires about stress, length of education, child characteristics, social support, sense of coherence and coping practices, in addition to interviews in their home about daily activities and relations with the child. A hierarchical regression model for predicting parenting stress was tested, and the results showed that having a child with behavioural problems predicted 57% of the variance in parenting stress. Social support and parental resources and strategies added to the prediction of parenting stress after controlling for family demographics and child characteristics. The parents in the clinical group (with boys referred to psychiatric units) were more often single parents with lower education, more often unemployed, less content with social support, and had lower scores on comprehensibility. These parents were significantly more stressed than parents in the comparison group. All these risk factors might be barriers against establishing a protective frame around a child. These parents, with a difficult child‐rearing situation, who perceived less support and had fewer material benefits, seemed to be more vulnerable. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tracking 10-year competitive winning performance of judo athletes across age groups

Little information is available concerning early specialization and competitive success in judo across the early training years. Thus, the present objective was to verify the stability of individual competitive performance of a state-level championship for judo athletes who had been previously successful. For this, 406 athletes from six age groups (9 to 20+ years old) of each sex were followed for 10 years. Using recorded data from the S?o Paulo State Judo Federation beginning in 1999, the scores and standings for these judo players were analyzed. The proportion of medal winners during this period was not constant, differing from the grand mean in all groups of both 204 males and 202 females. At the end of this period, only 7% of the male and 5% of the female athletes had maintained their competitive levels. Successful competitive performance in early judo competition was not associated with success later in adulthood.     

Awareness of the Tuskegee syphilis study: impact on offenders' decisions to decline research participation

Ethnic and racial minorities are often under-represented in research. There is considerable speculation that Blacks, in particular, are discouraged from research participation because of researcher improprieties in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (aka the Tuskegee Syphilis Study [TSS]), a 40-year (1932–1972) study in which investigators withheld medical treatment from African-American men infected with syphilis. We debriefed 281 offenders who declined participation in a research study to assess the extent to which knowledge of the TSS impacted their decisions not to enroll. Relatively few (44/281; 15.6%) reported awareness of the TSS. Half (n = 22) of these “aware” individuals could cite factually accurate information about the TSS, and only four individuals indicated that awareness of TSS had “somewhat” influenced their decision to not participate. Findings suggest that the legacy of the TSS played a relatively minor role in these offenders' decisions to decline research participation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eye movements of older and younger readers when reading disappearing text

Older and younger readers read sentences in which target words were masked 40 to 60 ms after fixation onset. Masking only the target word caused more disruption than did masking each word in the sentence, and this effect was stronger for the younger readers than for the older readers. Although older readers had longer eye fixations than did younger readers, the results indicated that the masking effect was comparable for the 2 groups. However, for both groups, how long the eyes remained in place was strongly influenced by the frequency of the fixated word (even though it had been rapidly replaced by the mask and was no longer there when the eyes did move). This is compelling evidence that for both older and younger readers, cognitive/lexical processing has a very strong influence on when the eyes move in reading.     

External Validation of Bifactor Model of ADHD: Explaining Heterogeneity in Psychiatric Comorbidity,Cognitive Control,and Personality Trait Profiles Within DSM-IV ADHD

The current paper provides external validation of the bifactor model of ADHD by examining associations between ADHD latent factor/profile scores and external validation indices. 548 children (321 boys; 302 with ADHD), 6 to 18 years old, recruited from the community participated in a comprehensive diagnostic procedure. Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist, Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire, and California Q-Sort. Children completed the Stop and Trail-Making Task. Specific inattention was associated with depression/withdrawal, slower cognitive task performance, introversion, agreeableness, and high reactive control; specific hyperactivity-impulsivity was associated with rule-breaking/aggressive behavior, social problems, errors during set-shifting, extraversion, disagreeableness, and low reactive control. It is concluded that the bifactor model provides better explanation of heterogeneity within ADHD than DSM-IV ADHD symptom counts or subtypes.     

A change will do us good: threats diminish typical preferences for male leaders

The current research explores role congruity processes from a new vantage point by investigating how the need for change might shift gender-based leadership preferences. According to role congruity theory, favorability toward leaders results from alignment between what is desired in a leadership role and the characteristics stereotypically ascribed to the leader. Generally speaking, these processes lead to baseline preferences for male over female leaders. In this research, the authors propose that a shift in gender-based leadership preferences will emerge under conditions of threat. Because the psychological experience of threat signals a need for change, individuals will favor candidates who represent new directions in leadership rather than consistency with past directions in leadership. Specifically, they find that threat evokes an implicit preference for change over stability (Experiment 1) and gender stereotypes align women with change but men with stability (Experiments 2a and 2b). Consequently, the typical preference for male leaders is diminished, or even reversed, under threat (Experiments 3 and 4). Moreover, the shift away from typical gender-based leadership preferences occurs especially among individuals who highly legitimize the sociopolitical system (Experiment 4), suggesting that these preference shifts might serve to protect the underlying system.     

Exploring and Promoting the College Attendance and Success of Racial/Ethnic Minority Students

Using consensual qualitative research methodology and being mindful of both challenges and successes, the authors explored diverse students’ experiences with higher education. The authors used semistructured interviews with 7 students with racial/ethnic minority backgrounds to investigate the circumstances under which these students decided to attend college and experienced success. Multiple factors that were reported to contribute to students’ college attendance and success emerged, including individual factors, psychological factors, social factors, and cultural/environmental factors. Utilizando una metodología de investigación cualitativa consensuada y teniendo en cuenta tanto los desafíos como los éxitos, los autores exploraron las experiencias de estudiantes diversos en la educación superior. Los autores usaron entrevistas semiestructuradas con 7 estudiantes de minorías raciales/étnicas para investigar las circunstancias en las que estos estudiantes decidieron cursar estudios universitarios y tuvieron éxito. Surgieron múltiples factores reportados que contribuyeron a la asistencia y al éxito de los estudiantes en la universidad, incluyendo factores individuales, factores psicológicos, factores sociales y factores culturales/del entorno.