The effects of affect and input source on flashbulb memories

Flashbulb memories of shocking news (Challenger Explosion, death of Princess Diana, Pearl Harbour and Iraq bombings) were employed to test two hypotheses: encoding emotion enhances memory and how one gets the shocking news will help determine the nature of what is recalled. Different groups of subjects (Total = 2405) remembered their discoveries at delays ranging from 2 weeks to 50 years on three memory measures: a free and probed recall test of their flashbulb discovery, and a probed recall of the facts concerning the events themselves. Subjects were grouped according to the source of their discovery (Media vs. Person), affect at encoding (calm vs. upset) and recounts (few vs. many). The results indicated that how one learns of shocking news determined the type and extent of the resultant memory. ‘Media’ subjects remembered more facts whereas ‘person’ subjects recalled more of their personal discoveries regardless of the initial flashbulb inspiring event. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotional Triggers and Psychopathology Associated with Suicidal Ideation in Urban Children with Elevated Aggressive-Disruptive Behavior

8.6% suicidal ideation (SI) was found among 349 urban 6–9 year olds in the top tercile of aggressive-disruptive behavior. SI was associated with more self-reported depression, ODD, conduct problems, and ADHD symptoms (ES 0.70–0.97) and 3.5–5 times more clinically significant symptoms. Parents rated more symptoms in older children associated with SI compared to parents of similar age children without SI, including greater somatic and behavior problems in 8–9 year olds with SI. Parent ratings did not differentiate SI and non-SI in 6–7 year olds. SI frequently co-occurred with thoughts about death. Children described anger, dysphoria and interpersonal conflict as motivators/triggers for SI and worries about safety/health as motivator/triggers for thoughts about death, suggesting that problems managing emotionally challenging situations are a specific factor in initiating SI. Universal and indicated interventions for children to strengthen emotional self-regulation and behavioral control are recommended to complement the current emphasis on suicide prevention among adolescents.     

Clinical and Mental Health Issues in Counseling the Gifted Individual

Research over the past several decades has identified several unique characteristics and experiences of gifted individuals that have implications for counselors. This article describes internal and external factors that contribute to gifted individuals' nonnormal lived experience and that may require counselors' specific attention to work effectively with gifted clients on clinical and mental health issues. These factors are applied to 4 issues: unhealthy perfectionism, anxiety, depression, and suicidality.     

School-Based Intervention for Social Skills in Children from Divorced Families

Divorce is an increasingly prevalent occurrence in society that has the potential to result in many adverse short- and long-term consequences for children and their parents. Social skills, such as those with peers, are one of the problems that may emerge for children of divorce. Despite this growing problem, there is a paucity of research available to effectively address the social skills needed to build and maintain positive peer interactions and subsequent relationships in students whose parents are no longer married. It was hypothesized that a social skills training program would be effective in remediating social skill deficits related to building relationships with peers in students from divorced families. The purpose of this study was to employ COPE, a school-based social skills program, to examine the effect on social skills in elementary students whose parents are divorced. Results of the social skills intervention indicated that the treatment was effective for most participants, but generalization of the COPE program had mixed results.