The Adolescent Psychotherapy Q-Set (APQ): A Validation Study

This article reports the validation of the Adolescent Psychotherapy Q-set (APQ), a newly developed instrument, adapted from the well-established Psychotherapy Q-Set (PQS) and the Child Psychotherapy Q-set (CPQ). The APQ aims to describe the psychotherapy process in the treatment of adolescents in a form suitable for quantitative comparison and analysis. The validation was conducted with the ratings of 70 audio-recorded youth psychotherapy sessions from a range of therapists, patients, and treatment stages, using two therapeutic approaches (Short-Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Data analysis included intraclass correlation coefficients, Q-factor analysis, nonparametric mean differences, and Pearson correlations. Results suggest that the APQ has good levels of interrater reliability, is able to identify differences and similarities of two therapeutic approaches, and good convergent and discriminant validity with a widely-used measure of therapist behaviors (the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale). The APQ reported good levels of validity and reliability. It is hoped that it will contribute to new ways of investigating the mechanisms of therapeutic change for those working with adolescents.     

Warning: Hegemonic Masculinity May Not Matter as Much as You Think for Confidant Patterns among Older Men

Sex Roles - Previous scholarship shows that cisgender women are more likely to have confidants than cisgender men and that the latter are more likely to have confidants outside the family and keep...     

Ecocentrism and argumentative competence: Roots of a postmodern argument theory from the brazilian deforestation debate

This essay examines the Brazilian deforestation debate to explicate the beginnings of a post-modern theory of argumentation. Modernist argumentation reflects two distinct approaches, found in the deforestation controversy. The first approach, universal minimilization, presumes that the survival of humanity is sufficient grounds upon which to base argument. The alternative, strategic manipulation, results in argument being employed as a technical device to advance one's interest. In place of the modernist approach, we offer an ecocentric theory of argumentation. This conception calls for individuals to set aside differences in values to sustain humanity but at the same time to be sensitive to differences in costs and benefits that accrue from common efforts to persons differently situated. Additionally, this view operates with a tacit working assumption that environmental questions are not discrete entities to be evaluated separately. Rather, people must act collectively on a range of interconnected issues to ensure survival.     

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

This study examines inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance. Children aged 5 to 16 performed a verbal learning test within one of three presentation modalities: pictorial, auditory, or textual. The results indicated that a beneficial effect of pictures exists over auditory and textual presentation modalities and that this effect increases with age. However, this effect is only found if the information to be learned is presented once (or at most twice) and only in children above the age of 7. The results may be explained in terms of single or dual coding of information in which the phonological loop is involved. Development of the (sub)vocal rehearsal system in the phonological loop is believed to be a gradual process that begins developing around the age of 7. The developmental trajectories are similar for boys and girls. Additionally, auditory information and textual information both seemed to be processed in a similar manner, namely without labeling or recoding, leading to single coding. In contrast, pictures are assumed to be processed by the dual coding of both the visual information and a (verbal) labeling of the pictures.     

The psychiatric inpatient treatment of children and youth in general hospitals

National attention has recently focused on the mental health needs and services of children and youth. The lack of outpatient services and their coordination has been noted, as well as the consequent press towards inpatient care. We describe the inpatient treatment of children and adolescents (ages 0-18) in short-term, non-Federal general hospitals in 1980. Nationally, 128,300 children were treated for mental disorders in general hospitals at an estimated cost of over $1.5 billion. Compared to adults, children were more likely to be treated in scatter beds (vs. specialty units); have a diagnosis of mental disorder (vs. alcohol/drug disorder); stay much longer; and pay with commercial insurance. Previous work focusing on psychiatric units of general hospitals identified less than 40% of the total episodes, a figure very similar to that for adults. The majority of psychiatric inpatient episodes for children and youth in the United States takes place in short-term general hospitals. Community psychologists need to be aware of national trends in inpatient care and be involved in the development and promulgation of alternative models of care.     

Landmark Discrimination Learning in the Dog

Allocentric spatial memory was studied in dogs of varying ages and sources using a landmark discrimination task. The primary goal of this study was to develop a protocol to test landmark discrimination learning in the dog. Using a modified version of a landmark test developed for use in monkeys, we successfully trained dogs to make a spatial discrimination on the basis of the position of a visual landmark relative to two identical discriminanda. Task performance decreased, however, as the distance between the landmark and the “discriminandum” was increased. A subgroup of these dogs was also tested on a delayed nonmatching to position spatial memory task (DNMP), which relies on egocentric spatial cues. These findings suggest that dogs can acquire both allocentric and egocentric spatial tasks. These data provide a useful tool for evaluating the ability of canines to use allocentric cues in spatial learning.     

Camera perspective bias in videotaped confessions: experimental evidence of its perceptual basis

The camera perspective from which a criminal confession is videotaped influences later assessments of its voluntariness and the suspect's guilt. Previous research has suggested that this camera perspective bias is rooted in perceptual rather than conceptual processes, but these data are strictly correlational. In 3 experiments, the authors directly manipulated perceptual processing to provide stronger evidence of its mediational role. Prior to viewing a videotape of a simulated confession, participants were shown a photograph of the confessor's apparent victim. Participants in a perceptual interference condition were instructed to visualize the image of the victim in their minds while viewing the videotape; participants in a conceptual interference condition were instructed instead to rehearse an 8-digit number. Because mental imagery and actual perception draw on the same available resources, the authors anticipated that the former, but not the latter, interference task would disrupt the camera perspective bias, if indeed it were perceptually mediated. Results supported this conclusion.     

Functional analysis of tardive dyskinesia: implications for assessment and treatment

We conducted an analogue functional analysis contrasting motor tasks with varying types of social consequences for movements associated with tardive dyskinesia (TD) in 2 men who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and TD. Our findings suggest that TD-related movements were not a function of social reinforcement contingencies. However, motor-activation tasks decreased TD-related movements, suggesting a possible novel intervention.     

Gender differences in life satisfaction and spiritual health among the junior immigrant and local Hong Kong secondary students

This article examines differences in life satisfaction and spiritual health (SH) between male and female and between immigrant and local Chinese junior secondary students in Hong Kong. Both the Multi-Dimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS) and Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM) were employed. The sample comprised 6917 junior secondary students, aged 12–15. Results indicate that gender differences exist in specific domain scores of MSLSS and SHALOM. Overall, girls reported higher levels of life satisfaction and SH than boys. Segmented and differentiated interaction effects were identified. Greater interaction effects with regard to religious affiliation were noted among SA students compared to Hong Kong Chinese and CIS. Religious Chinese immigrant boys scored higher on their personal–communal combined life satisfaction but lower on their transcendental well-being compared to their Hong Kong counterparts. Significant parental education and family income moderation effects were only observed on the SH of local Chinese girls.