Exposure to intimate partner violence and children's psychological adjustment,cognitive functioning,and social competence: A review

Research over the past 30 years has established that exposure to intimate partner violence poses significant risks to children's adjustment and functioning. It is also clear, however, that there is considerable variability in children's outcomes, and research in the past decade has increasingly focused on understanding this variability. This paper provides a review of recent research that examines relations between children's exposure to intimate partner violence and their psychological adjustment, cognitive functioning, and social competence. Emphasis is placed on studies that examine risk and protective factors for children's functioning in the context of exposure to intimate partner violence. In addition to highlighting strengths of recent studies, limitations of existing research and future directions are considered.     

A Method for Quantifying Human Relations,Hostility, and Anxiety Applied to TAT Productions

Fifteen well-adjusted couples and 15 poorly-adjusted couples produced joint stories in response to four TAT cards. The tape-recorded protocols were transcribed and content analyzed for three variables using the Gottschalk-Gleser Anxiety, Hostility Directed Outwards, and Human Relations Scales. As predicted, the average score on Human Relations for the well-adjusted group of couples was significantly higher than the average score on this scale for the poorly-adjusted group. The prediction of higher hostility on the part of the poorly-adjusted couples was likewise confirmed. No significant differences in anxiety between the two groups were found. Differences in the “pull” of the cards for the dimension of hostility and anxiety were reported.     

Pilot Testing of an Online Training for Criminal Justice Professionals on Medication‐Assisted Treatment

There is widespread misunderstanding about medication‐assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction. Although most MAT trainings target providers, criminal justice program staff and treatment referrers often determine offender placement. This article supports the efficacy of an online MAT training for criminal justice stakeholders.     

Explaining Public Attitudes towards the Integration of Muslims in British Society: The ‘Solidarity of the Religious’?

There has been growing concern in recent years about the integration of Muslims and the emergence of ‘Islamophobia’ in Britain. But there has been a lack of research into the sources of public opinion towards Muslims in British society. This article contributes to emerging research in this area by using a nationally representative survey to examine public opinion towards Muslims’ efforts to integrate into British society. It examines the relative impact of social, religious, and attitudinal variables. Religious affiliation has no impact, while greater religious salience and pro-religion attitudes on religious–secular policy issues are related to positive views of Muslims’ efforts to integrate. Women and the university-educated are more positive in their assessments. A traditionalist view of Christianity, socially authoritarian beliefs, and anti-immigrant bias are related to negative views of Muslims’ efforts to integrate. Overall, the findings lend support to the ‘solidarity of the religious’ perspective and should encourage further investigation into attitudes towards religious groups in Britain.     

Diagnostic accuracy and factor structure of the AAS and APS scales of the MMPI-2

Receiver operating characteristics analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS; Weed, Butcher, McKenna, & Ben-Porath, 1992) and Addiction Potential Scale (APS; Weed et al., 1992) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) to that of the MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised (Butcher et al, 1989), the CAGE (Mayfield, McLeod, & Hall, 1974), and Svanum's scale (Svanum & McGrew, 1995) in a sample of 338 university students. The AAS was the most accurate of these 5 scales at identifying current alcohol dependence (as measured by a structured diagnostic interview) and appears to offer considerable promise as an alcohol screening instrument. In contrast, the APS performed the most poorly of the 5 scales being evaluated, yielding results that would be of minimal clinical utility. Factor analysis yielded a 2-factor solution for the AAS (Acknowledgement of Alcohol/Drug Problems; Positive Alcohol Expectancies) and a 4-factor solution for the APS (Satisfaction with Self; Cynicism/Pessimism; Impulsivity; Risk-Taking).     

Early adolescent peer orientation and adjustment during high school

The long-term consequences of early adolescents' orientation toward peers for their adjustment during high school were assessed. Approximately 1,200 adolescents completed questionnaires in the 7th grade and in the 10th or 12th grades; course grades were also obtained from the students' school records. Early adolescents who were willing to sacrifice their talents, school performance, and parents' rules engaged in greater problem behavior and evidenced lower academic achievement than did other adolescents during high school. The poorer adjustment of adolescents with this extreme orientation toward peers was mediated by their reported involvement in deviant peer groups. In contrast, a tendency to seek advice from peers more than from parents during early adolescence had little implication for later adjustment. Discussion focuses on the need to consider the role of peer dependence along with the effects of supportive friendships during adolescence.     

Aggression,Psychopathology, and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: Does Gender Matter?

The majority of intimate partner violence (IPV) research explores partner violence without considering the influence of contextual and psychosocial factors, such as trait aggression, psychopathology, gender, and provocation. Disparities in the general aggression literature further underscore the need to develop a better understanding of contextual and psychosocial factors. The present study sampled 720 (male = 365, female = 355) college students who completed measures of IPV perpetration and victimization, trait aggression, and psychopathology. Participants then completed a learning task, during which half were randomly selected to be provoked. The interactive effects of condition, gender, and perpetrator status on mood and aggressive responding were explored. Results indicated that perpetrators of both genders had similar emotional responses to provocation, but behavioral responses to provocation varied. Results were discussed in terms of their implication for future research and batterer intervention.     

ACQUISITION OF MANDS AND TACTS WITH CONCURRENT ECHOIC TRAINING

Previous studies have identified a number of effective teaching procedures to increase verbal behavior in individuals with developmental disabilities. However, few studies have evaluated modifications of treatment procedures when children fail to acquire communication skills. In the present investigation, a 4‐year‐old boy with autism failed to acquire unprompted mands and tacts during mand‐only and tact‐only training. Results indicated that combining echoic training with mand or tact training increased unprompted manding and tacting.     

Promoting the Transition from Implicit to Explicit Understanding: A Training Study of False Belief

Ninety‐one children aged between 2;10 and 5;0 participated in a training study of false belief. Children were assigned to either an explanation condition, a practice condition or a control condition where children heard two stories unrelated to false belief. Children’s eye movements in anticipation of the protagonist reappearing were monitored at pre‐test. Only the explanation condition led to improvements in judgement and justification of a protagonist’s future action based on false belief. Children who looked in anticipation to where the protagonist thought the object was at pre‐test were more likely to give a correct judgement at post‐test than those who did not. Those children in the explanation group who gave a correct judgement at pre‐test were more likely to give an appropriate justification at post‐test than those who did not. Three main conclusions are drawn: (1) providing explanation about the underlying principles of a task is more likely to lead to improvements in performance than merely informing children of whether their response is correct; (2) the nature of improvements in performance will depend on the level of knowledge of the child at pre‐test; (3) training will only be beneficial for those children who demonstrate evidence of implicit understanding.