Family Functioning and Anxiety Symptoms in Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Anxiety disorders are one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders among adolescents and can be associated with long-term adverse outcomes if untreated. Our...     

Would you Value a few More Hours of work? Underemployment and Subjective Well-Being Across Chilean Workers

Underemployment has gained attention in recent years because of its effects on health and well-being (life satisfaction), it is a widespread phenomenon in the labor force that affects not only workers, but also households, companies and governments. This paper explores the relationship between underemployment and subjective well-being for a representative sample of Chilean workers using an ordered probit model. Also, by using different underemployment definitions and a latent class ordered probit model we analyze the observed and unobserved heterogeneity in this relationship. Finally, we assess the monetary valuation of well-being costs by estimating the amount of money that a worker is willing to accept in order to bear the potential negative effects of underemployment on well-being. Our results find a negative relationship between underemployment and subjective well-being, as the average worker is willing to accept an increase of CLP$64,009 (roughly 30.5% of the minimum wage) in her/his monthly wage for being underemployed. If we take into account the observed and unobserved heterogeneity, our results identify a group that is not sensitive to underemployment, while others are willing to accept an increase of CLP$146,622 in her/his monthly wage for being underemployed. Our work highlights the importance of well-being in the workplace and has implications for labor flexibility legislation and the empowerment of workers. Heterogeneous responses to underemployment imply that one-size-fits-all policies to regulate working hours might not suffice.

     

Escaping Heaven

In response to the problem of Hell, Buckareff and Plug (Relig Stud 41:39–54, 2005; Relig Stud 45:63–72, 2009) have recently proposed and defended an ‘escapist’ conception of Hell. In short, they propose that the problem of Hell does not arise because God places an open-door policy on Hell. In this paper, I expose a fundamental problem with this conception of Hell—namely, that if there’s an open door policy on Hell, then there should be one on Heaven too. I argue that a coherent conception of Heaven cannot have such a policy. Hence, escapism is not an adequate response to the problem of Hell.     

Evolutionary debunking arguments and the reliability of moral cognition

Recent debate in metaethics over evolutionary debunking arguments against morality has shown a tendency to abstract away from relevant empirical detail. Here, I engage the debate about Darwinian debunking of morality with relevant empirical issues. I present four conditions that must be met in order for it to be reasonable to expect an evolved cognitive faculty to be reliable: the environment, information, error, and tracking conditions. I then argue that these conditions are not met in the case of our evolved faculty for moral judgement.     

Does a Booster Intervention Augment the Preventive Effects of an Abbreviated Version of the Coping Power Program for Aggressive Children?

Booster interventions have been presumed to be important methods for maintaining the effects of evidence-based programs for children with behavioral problems, but there has been remarkably little empirical attention to this assumption. The present study examines the effect of a child-oriented booster preventive intervention with children who had previously received an abbreviated version (24 child sessions, 10 parent sessions) of the Coping Power targeted prevention program. Two hundred and forty-one children (152 boys, 89 girls) were screened as having moderate to high levels of aggressive behavior in 4th grade, then half were randomly assigned to receive the abbreviated Coping Power program in 5th grade, and half of the preventive intervention children were then randomly assigned to a Booster condition in 6th grade. The Booster sessions consisted of brief monthly individual contacts, and were primarily with the children. Five assessments across 4 years were collected from teachers, providing a three-year follow-up for all children who participated in the project. Results indicated that the abbreviated Coping Power program (one-third shorter than the full intervention) had long-term effects in reducing children’s externalizing problem behaviors, proactive and reactive aggression, impulsivity traits and callous-unemotional traits. The Booster intervention did not augment these prevention effects. These findings indicate that a briefer and more readily disseminated form of an evidence-based targeted preventive intervention was effective. The findings have potential implications for policy and guidelines about possible intervention length and booster interventions.     

The Diagnostic Utility of Separation Anxiety Disorder Symptoms: An Item Response Theory Analysis

At present, it is not clear whether the current definition of separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is the optimal classification of developmentally inappropriate, severe, and interfering separation anxiety in youth. Much remains to be learned about the relative contributions of individual SAD symptoms for informing diagnosis. Two-parameter logistic Item Response Theory analyses were conducted on the eight core SAD symptoms in an outpatient anxiety sample of treatment-seeking children (N?=?359, 59.3 % female, M _Age?=?11.2) and their parents to determine the diagnostic utility of each of these symptoms. Analyses considered values of item threshold, which characterize the SAD severity level at which each symptom has a 50 % chance of being endorsed, and item discrimination, which characterize how well each symptom distinguishes individuals with higher and lower levels of SAD. Distress related to separation and fear of being alone without major attachment figures showed the strongest discrimination properties and the lowest thresholds for being endorsed. In contrast, worry about harm befalling attachment figures showed the poorest discrimination properties, and nightmares about separation showed the highest threshold for being endorsed. Distress related to separation demonstrated crossing differential item functioning associated with age—at lower separation anxiety levels excessive fear at separation was more likely to be endorsed for children ≥9 years, whereas at higher levels this symptom was more likely to be endorsed by children <9 years. Implications are discussed for optimizing the taxonomy of SAD in youth.     

Stepping Into a Map: Initial Heading Direction Influences Spatial Memory Flexibility

Learning a novel environment involves integrating first‐person perceptual and motoric experiences with developing knowledge about the overall structure of the surroundings. The present experiments provide insights into the parallel development of these egocentric and allocentric memories by intentionally conflicting body‐ and world‐centered frames of reference during learning, and measuring outcomes via online and offline measures. Results of two experiments demonstrate faster learning and increased memory flexibility following route perspective reading (Experiment 1) and virtual navigation (Experiment 2) when participants begin exploring the environment on a northward (vs. any other direction) allocentric heading. We suggest that learning advantages due to aligning body‐centered (left/right/forward/back) with world‐centered (NSEW) reference frames are indicative of three features of spatial memory development and representation. First, memories for egocentric and allocentric information develop in parallel during novel environment learning. Second, cognitive maps have a preferred orientation relative to world‐centered coordinates. Finally, this preferred orientation corresponds to traditional orientation of physical maps (i.e., north is upward), suggesting strong associations between daily perceptual and motor experiences and the manner in which we preferentially represent spatial knowledge.     

Differential Item Functioning of the Symptoms of Major Depression by Race and Ethnicity: An Item Response Theory Analysis

This study examines the psychometric properties, and particularly differential item functioning (DIF) due to racial and ethnic group, of the criteria for a major depressive episode using a large sample (N?=?1,063) of outpatients seeking treatment for mood and anxiety disorders. DIF was evaluated using multiple group confirmatory factor analysis. Item thresholds fell along a continuum with the core features of depressed mood and anhedonia, along with fatigue, being endorsed at lower levels of depression, and change in appetite and suicidal ideation endorsed at more severe levels of depression. Item discriminations, reflecting an item’s ability to discriminate between lower and higher levels of depression, were highest for depressed mood and anhedonia, and lowest for change in appetite and suicidal ideation. When examining model fit among the racial groups we did not find differences in symptom functioning, providing support for the use of these symptoms across diverse groups. This is of particular importance given the paucity of studies examining this question using a semi-structured clinician administered instrument to a clinical sample.