A Multisurface Interpersonal Circumplex Assessment of Rejection Sensitivity

Individuals high in rejection sensitivity (RS) are at risk for experiencing high levels of interpersonal distress, yet little is known about the interpersonal profiles associated with RS. This investigation examined the interpersonal problems, sensitivities, and values associated with RS in 2 samples: 763 multicultural undergraduate students (Study 1) and 365 community adults (Study 2). In Study 1, high anxious RS was associated with socially avoidant interpersonal problems, whereas low anxious RS was associated with vindictive interpersonal problems. In Study 2, we assessed both anxious and angry expectations of rejection. Circumplex profile analyses showed that the high anxious RS group reported socially avoidant interpersonal problems, sensitivities to remoteness in others, and valuing connections with others, whereas the high angry RS group reported vindictive interpersonal problems, sensitivities to submissiveness in others, and valuing detached interpersonal behavior. Low anxious RS was related to domineering interpersonal problems, sensitivity to attention-seeking behavior, and valuing detached interpersonal behavior, whereas low angry RS was related to submissive interpersonal problems, sensitivity to attention-seeking behavior, and valuing receiving approval from others. Overall, results suggest that there are distinct interpersonal profiles associated with varying levels and types of RS.     

Escape from fear: a detailed behavioral analysis of two atypical responses reinforced by CS termination

Escape from fear (EFF) is a controversial paradigm according to which animals learn to actively escape a fear-eliciting conditioned stimulus (CS) if the escape response (R-sub(e)) is paired with CS termination. Some theories posit that EFF learning is responsible for instrumental avoidance conditioning. However, EFF learning has typically been weaker than avoidance learning and difficult to reproduce. The authors examined EFF learning and memory with 2 atypical R-sub(e)s: rearing and nose-poking. The data suggest that rearing, but not nose-poking, can be learned as an instrumental EFF response. Further, EFF memory was response specific, aversively motivated, and controlled by the CS. Successful EFF learning also resulted in better long-term elimination of a passive fear reaction (freezing). Factors important for EFF experiments and theoretical considerations are discussed.     

Cesarean childbirth: Psychological implications for mothers and fathers

Home observations, ratings of interaction, and interviews were carried out in families with first-born 5-month-old infants. Comparisons were made between two groups of families differing as to whether the childbirth had been a Cesarean or vaginal delivery. Fathers whose babies had been born by Cesarean delivery reported greater involvement in child care and were rated as more responsive to infant distress. Both mothers and fathers tended to show less animation in interactions with their infants following a Cesarean delivery: mothers engaged less frequently in vigorous physical stimulation and showed less reciprocal positive affect with their infants, and fathers smiled less at their infants.     

Fathering during the infancy period: Implications of the mother's employment role

This study addressed fathers' satisfaction with their wives' employment role and fathers' participation in child care and household tasks in a middle-class sample of families with first-born infants in which the mother was either employed or a homemaker. Observations of mother, father, and infant were carried out in the home on weekday evenings when the infants were 12 months old, and parent interviews were carried out after the completion of the observations. On interview measures, fathers with homemaker wives tended to report greater satisfaction with their wives' employment role than did fathers whose wives were employed. In addition, fathers with employed wives, but not those with homemaker wives, reported that they were participating more in child care and household tasks as a result of their wives' emplovment role. On home observation measures, fathers with employed wives were found to engage in somewhat less Distal Interaction with their infants, but the two groups did not differ with regard to Proximal, Complex Social, or Caregiving Interactions. The results indicate the need to give special consideration to the infancy period when one is examining both paternal endorsement of maternal employment and the father's participation with children in light of the mother's employment role.     

Family Centred Brief Solution-focused Therapy with Chronic Schizophrenia: a Pilot Study

The purpose of the study was to pilot a family centred brief solution-focused therapy model (BSFT) with families and clients diagnosed with schizophrenia. A control group of clients and their families received traditional outpatient therapy, while an experimental group of clients and their families were treated with a BSFT model. All participants were pre-tested and then post-tested with the Family Environment Scale after five therapy sessions over a ten-week period. Significant differences between the groups were found on expressiveness, active-recreational orientation, moral-religious emphasis and family incongruence. The participation of families and clients with schizophrenia in family centred brief solution-focused therapy produced encouraging results and demonstrated the need for expanded studies using BSFT with other chronically mentally ill clients and their families.     

Profiling Movement and Gait Quality Characteristics in Pre-School Children

There is a dearth of suitable metrics capable of objectively quantifying motor competence. Further, objective movement quality characteristics during free play have not been investigated in pre-school children. The aims of this study were to characterize children's free play physical activity and investigate how gait quality characteristics cluster with free play in pre-school children (3–5 years old). Sixty-one children (39 boys; 4.3 ± 0.7 years, 1.04 ± 0.05 m, 17.8 ± 3.2 kg) completed the movement assessment battery for children and took part in free play while wearing an ankle- and hip-mounted accelerometer. Characteristics of movement quality were profiled using a clustering algorithm. Spearman's rho and the Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess relationships between movement quality characteristics and motor competence classification differences in integrated acceleration and spectral purity, respectively. Significant differences were found between motor competency classifications for spectral purity and integrated acceleration (p < .001). Spectral purity was hierarchically clustered with motor competence and integrated acceleration. Significant positive correlations were found between spectral purity, integrated acceleration and motor competence (p < .001). This is the first study to report spectral purity in pre-school children and the results suggest that the underlying frequency component of movement is clustered with motor competence.     

Equivalence relations and the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions

Contextual control is a key aspect in equivalence research to support the claim that stimuli may have multiple functions or symbols may have multiple meanings. The present study investigated the contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions in two experiments. In Experiment 1, equivalence classes were formed and one stimulus set from each class was used to establish two different functions: one via positive reinforcement (key-pressing) and another via negative reinforcement (button clicking), both under contextual control of two different background colors. Later, other stimuli from the equivalence class were presented on those background colors and contextual control of multiple derived stimulus functions was assessed. Experiment 2 added a third background in which no programmed response was reinforced, that is, responses were extinguished. Transfer-of-function tests revealed contextual control of three different functions, including derived extinction. Implications for equivalence relations as a behavior-analytical model of symbolic functioning are discussed.     

内表型方法在精神疾病研究中的应用

精神疾病在很大程度上受到遗传的影响,而对疾病的遗传学研究却没有得到一致的结论,内表型正是在这一背景下提出。内表型是可以通过生化测试或显微镜检查发现的内在的表现型,即内表型不是很明显的、外在的而是微观的、内在的,内表型比疾病的外在表现更接近疾病的生物学基础,更少受到外在因素的影响,因而通过内表型来研究疾病的遗传基因有着显著的优势。现有的精神疾病诊断和分类标准都是以临床症状和行为描述为基础的,缺少生物学基础,基于内表型的分析对建立疾病的诊断和分类的生物学基础是非常重要的。内表型可以是神经生理的,生物化学的,神经解剖的,认知的,神经心理学的测量。作为内表型需要满足与疾病共同存在,可遗传,状态独立,在家庭中和疾病共分离,在病人未发病亲属中比一般人群的比率要高等标准。该文在介绍了内表型的概念,说明了内表型的原理,优点与用处,以及作为内表型需要满足的标准之后,进而以几种常见的精神疾病（多动症、精神分裂症、抑郁症）为例说明了目前认知内表型研究的进展,其中反应抑制和工作记忆可以作为多动症的内表型,注意、言语记忆和工作记忆可以作为精神分裂症和抑郁症的内表型,文章回顾了它们作为内表型所满足的标准的相关文献。最后对内表型的研究做出了展望