Evaluation of Peer Training for Teaching Abduction Prevention Skills

Child abduction is a serious problem, with approximately 100 children killed each year by nonfamily abductors. Training programs to teach children the correct skills to use if they ever come into contact with a stranger can be effective when they incorporate behavioral skills training (BST) and in-situ training (IST) into their protocol. However, these methods can be rather time and energy consuming. The current study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of a peer tutoring approach to teaching abduction prevention skills. Peer trainers implemented BST sessions and IST sessions with their younger peers. Children successfully acquired the target safety behaviors taught by the peer trainers, and use of the skills generalized to their natural environment.     

Ethnicity and the stigma of disabilities

Abstract

Recent studies reveal significant differences in the attitudes held by people of various ethnic groups toward people with disabilities. We surveyed university students and community members on a scale of desired social distance from people with disabilities. Study 1 revealed that Asian-American participants were more likely to stigmatize and less likely to differentiate between individuals with physical and mental illness than were their African-American, Latin-American or European-American counterparts. Study 2 compared U.S. born with Asian born Asian-Americans and found that nativity was a useful predictor of attitudes toward people with disabilities. Asian born participants were more likely to stigmatize disabilities overall (except mental illness and old age) than U.S. born participants presumably because of the level of assimilation. These cultural differences may have health care and psychosocial implications for those who are disabled and for health care providers.     

Using Generalizability Theory to Disattenuate Correlation Coefficients for Multiple Sources of Measurement Error

Over the years, research in the social sciences has been dominated by reporting of reliability coefficients that fail to account for key sources of measurement error. Use of these coefficients, in turn, to correct for measurement error can hinder scientific progress by misrepresenting true relationships among the underlying constructs being investigated. In the research reported here, we addressed these issues using generalizability theory (G-theory) in both traditional and new ways to account for the three key sources of measurement error (random-response, specific-factor, and transient) that affect scores from objectively scored measures. Results from 20 widely used measures of personality, self-concept, and socially desirable responding showed that conventional indices consistently misrepresented reliability and relationships among psychological constructs by failing to account for key sources of measurement error and correlated transient errors within occasions. The results further revealed that G-theory served as an effective framework for remedying these problems. We discuss possible extensions in future research and provide code from the computer package R in an online supplement to enable readers to apply the procedures we demonstrate to their own research.     

Multilevel Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling of Daily Diary Coping Data: Modeling Trait and State Variation

This study used multilevel modeling of daily diary data to model within-person (state) and between-person (trait) components of coping variables. This application included the introduction of multilevel factor analysis (MFA) and a comparison of the predictive ability of these trait/state factors. Daily diary data were collected on a large (n = 366) multiethnic sample over the course of 5 days. Intraclass correlation coefficient for the derived factors suggested approximately equal amounts of variability in coping usage at the state and trait levels. MFAs showed that Problem-Focused Coping and Social Support emerged as stable factors at both the within-person and between-person levels. Other factors (Minimization, Emotional Rumination, Avoidance, Distraction) were specific to the within-person or between-person levels but not both. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) showed that the prediction of daily positive and negative affect differed as a function of outcome and level of coping factor. The Discussion section focuses primarily on a conceptual and methodological understanding of modeling state and trait coping using daily diary data with MFA and MSEM to examine covariation among coping variables and predicting outcomes of interest.     

Healing in the Midst of Chaos: Nah We Yone's African Women's Wellness Group

This article discusses the creative use of the group treatment modality to provide psychosocial support to African women refugees and asylum seekers with a history of refugee trauma, war, and human rights abuses who have fled to the United States. In particular, this article describes the African Women's Wellness Group developed by Nah We Yone, Inc., a small grassroots organization in the New York City area. This women's group draws on the tenets of traditional Western group psychotherapy while using African cultural awareness to provide healing. The rationale for this type of treatment, group design, specific techniques used to provide healing, along with various group-related themes and challenges are described. This type of treatment provides an example of the usefulness of group therapy technique with traumatized displaced women struggling to survive in a new cultural setting.     

Parental Attachment,Family Communalism,and Racial Identity Among African American College Students

Parental attachment and familial communalism were examined as contributors to the racial identity of 165 African American college students. Students with secure attachments and high reports of communalism were in the later stage of their racial identity development, whereas students with insecure attachments and lacking communalism were in the earlier stages of their racial identity development. El apego parental y el comunalismo familiar se examinaron como contribuyentes a la identidad racial de 165 estudiantes universitarios afroamericanos. Los estudiantes con apegos seguros y alto índice de comunalismo se encontraban en la etapa avanzada del desarrollo de su identidad racial, mientras que los estudiantes con apegos inseguros y falta de comunalismo se encontraban en las etapas tempranas del desarrollo de su identidad racial.     

Effects of Comt Genotype on Behavioral Symptomatology in the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (DiGeorge/velocardiofacial syndrome) is associated with elevated rates of psychosis, and is also characterized by severe attentional difficulties and executive dysfunction. Behavioral manifestations of this syndrome could result from haploinsufficiency of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, located within the 22q11 region. The goal of the present study was to examine COMT genotype in relation to behavioral symptomatology in this syndrome. Val^158/108Met was genotyped in 38 patients (16 Met/-, 22 Val/-) with confirmed 22q11.2 deletions who had received the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Results indicated that the Val genotype was associated with significantly greater internalizing and externalizing behavioral symptomatology in children with 22q11.2 deletions. Val allele status was associated with a greater-than-four-fold increase in risk for clinically significant behavior problems in children with this syndrome. These data are consistent with previous findings of increased psychopathology associated with the Val genotype in normal individuals and suggest that a functional genetic polymorphism in the 22q11 region may influence behavior in individuals with COMT haploinsufficiency.     

Comparison Of Narratives Of Loss Experiences Of World War Ii and Vietnam Combat Veterans

Abstract

While their continuing grief now is receiving periodic media attention, for years and even decades, American soldiers who fought in World War II (WWII) and who fought in Vietnam have suffered their life-altering experiences of loss in silence. Many of the WWII generation now have died and cannot share their grief with us. We as scholars of loss and trauma have a special obligation to reach out to the living survivors of WWII for information about their experiences. As has been often noted (e.g., Kuenning, 1990), for years after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, the stories of loss and grief of Vietnam veterans were not welcomed. The purpose of this chapter is to report some comparative narrative evidence from veterans of these two wars. Our major question was whether strong differences between groups in perceived long-term impact of combat experience would be reported.     

The influences of course effort,mastery and performance goals,grade expectancies,and earned course grades on student ratings of course satisfaction

Background. The positive relation between course grades and student ratings of course satisfaction is well established but controversy continues concerning the magnitude, interpretation, and implications of this association. Aims. This study examined the within course relations of a set of variables often implicated as potential contributors to the grade‐student rating relation. Sample. Two‐hundred and twenty students enrolled in an internet‐based university course. Method. Measures of course mastery and performance goals, expected grades, course effort, cumulative GPA, and final course grade were prospectively collected. The dependent variable was a global measure of course satisfaction obtained at the end of the semester. Results. A path model fit the data very well and all study variables directly or indirectly predicted course satisfaction. Grades had a moderately strong effect, half of which was independent of other model variables. Adjusting for all model variables, students high on mastery course goals evaluated the course more positively whereas students high on performance goals provided less favourable evaluations. Conclusions. Students can assess the same course and instructor in different ways depending upon such factors as their degree of success, their motivations for taking the course, and the amount of effort invested. Course satisfaction, then, can be substantially influenced by factors loosely or unrelated to course or teacher effectiveness.