What I Think and Feel: A Revised Measure of Children's Manifest Anxiety

The 1956 adaptation for children of Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, was revised to meet current psychometric standards. A 73-item revision draft was administered to 329 school children from grades 1 to 12. Based on item-analysis criteria for r _bis .4 and .30 p .70, 28 anxiety items were retained along with 9 of the original 11 Lie scale items. A cross-validation sample of 167 children from grades 2, 5, 9, 10, and 11 produced a KR₂₀ reliability estimate of .85. Anxiety scores did not differ across grade or race. Females scored significantly higher than males. For the Lie scale, significant differences appeared by grade and race. No sex differences were obtained on the Lie scale. The resulting scale appears useful for children in grades 1 to 12 and may aid in future studies of anxiety as well as assisting the clinician in the understanding of individual children.     

The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope

Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed determination) and (b) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated.     

What i think and feel: A revised measure of children's manifest anxiety

The 1956 adaptation for children of Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, was revised to meet current psychometric standards. A 73-item revision draft was administered to 329 school children from grades 1 to 12. Based on item-analysis criteria for r_bis.4 and .30p.70, 28 anxiety items were retained along with 9 of the original 11 Lie scale items. A cross-validation sample of 167 children from grades 2, 5, 9, 10, and 11 produced a KR₂₀ reliability estimate of .85. Anxiety scores did not differ across grade or race. Females scored significantly higher than males. For the Lie scale, significant differences appeared by grade and race. No sex differences were obtained on the Lie scale. The resulting scale appears useful for children in grades 1 to 12 and may aid in future studies of anxiety as well as assisting the clinician in the understanding of individual children.     

Factor structure of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test at five grade levels between grades one and 12

The Peabody Individual Achievement Test was factor analyzed at five grade levels. The two-factor solution was retained at each grade. Subtests composing each factor changed from the lower to upper grade levels, but the abilities measured by each factor appear constant. A close similarity between the two factors and Cattell's concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence was noted. Subtests' specificities were computed at each grade level investigated and implications for use and interpretation of the PIAT discussed.     

Exposure to Bullying and General Psychopathology: A Prospective,Longitudinal Study

Although there is mounting evidence that the experience of being bullied associates with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, it is not known yet whether the identified associations are specific to these symptoms, or shared between them. The primary focus of this study is to assess the prospective associations of bullying exposure with both general and specific (i.e., internalizing, externalizing) factors of psychopathology. This study included data from 6,210 children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Child bullying was measured by self-report at ages 8 and 10 years. Child psychopathology symptoms were assessed by parent-interview, using the Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA) at ages 7 and 13 years. Bullying exposure significantly associated with the general psychopathology factor in early adolescence. In particular, chronically victimized youth exposed to multiple forms of bullying (i.e., both overt and relational) showed higher levels of general psychopathology. Bullying exposure also associated with both internalizing and externalizing factors from the correlated-factors model. However, the effect estimates for these factors decreased considerably in size and dropped to insignificant for the internalizing factor after extracting the shared variance that belongs to the general factor of psychopathology. Using an integrative longitudinal model, we found that higher levels of general psychopathology at age 7 also associated with bullying exposure at age 8 which, in turn, associated with general psychopathology at age 13 through its two-year continuity. Findings suggest that exposure to bullying is a risk factor for a more general vulnerability to psychopathology.

     

Influence of maternal depression on children's brooding rumination: Moderation by CRHR1 TAT haplotype

There is growing evidence that brooding rumination plays a key role in the intergenerational transmission of major depressive disorder (MDD) and may be an endophenotype for depression risk. However, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this role. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine levels of brooding in children of mothers with a history of MDD (n = 129) compared to children of never depressed mothers (n = 126) and to determine whether the variation in a gene known to influence hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning—corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) —would moderate the link between maternal MDD and children's levels of brooding. We predicted children of mothers with a history of MDD would exhibit higher levels of brooding than children of mothers with no lifetime depression history but that this link would be stronger among children carrying no copies of the protective CRHR1 TAT haplotype. Our results supported these hypotheses and suggest that the development of brooding among children of depressed mothers, particularly children without the protective CRHR1 haplotype, may serve as an important mechanism of risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression.     

Intentions to Use the Female Condom Among African American Adults1

The present study tested whether the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and self‐efficacy for female condom use predicted intentions to use the female condom among African American adults. Participants were 137 men and women, 18 to 35 years of age, who were recruited from a community‐based organization. Results indicate that: (a) the TRA model has predictive utility for women's but not for men's intentions to use the female condom with both main and casual sex partners, and (b) the TRA model was a better predictor of intentions to use the female condom with main than with casual partners. Implications for female condom‐use promotion are discussed.     

Social anxiety and interpretation biases for facial displays of emotion: emotion detection and ratings of social cost

The current study assessed the processing of facial displays of emotion (Happy, Disgust, and Neutral) of varying emotional intensities in participants with high vs. low social anxiety. Use of facial expressions of varying intensities allowed for strong external validity and a fine-grained analysis of interpretation biases. Sensitivity to perceiving negative evaluation in faces (i.e., emotion detection) was assessed at both long (unlimited) and brief (60 ms) stimulus durations. In addition, ratings of perceived social cost were made indicating what participants judged it would be like to have a social interaction with a person exhibiting the stimulus emotion. Results suggest that high social anxiety participants did not demonstrate biases in their sensitivity to perceiving negative evaluation (i.e. disgust) in facial expressions. However, high social anxiety participants did estimate the perceived cost of interacting with someone showing disgust to be significantly greater than low social anxiety participants, regardless of the intensity of the disgust expression. These results are consistent with a specific type of interpretation bias in which participants with social anxiety have elevated ratings of the social cost of interacting with individuals displaying negative evaluation.