A Lifespan Model of Interference Resolution and Inhibitory Control: Risk for Depression and Changes with Illness Progression

Neuropsychology Review - The cognitive processes involved in inhibitory control accuracy (IC) and interference resolution speed (IR) or broadly – inhibition – are discussed in this...     

Profiles of adversity and resilience resources: A latent class analysis of two samples

Adversities refer to events that are characterized by perceived or actual threat to human functioning. Often considered deleterious for health and well-being, recent work supports an alternative picture of the effects of adversity on human functioning, such that a moderate amount of adversity – when compared with none or high levels – can be beneficial. We extend this body of work in the current study by considering the breadth or type of adversities experienced simultaneously (referred to as polyadversity), with a focus on individual profiles of lifetime adversities. Latent class analysis was employed to explore different configurations of lifetime adversity experiences in two independent samples and examine how these latent classes differed with regard to resilience resources (i.e., optimism, hope, self-efficacy, and bounce-back ability). University students (N = 348) and members from the broader community (N = 1,506) completed measures of lifetime adversity exposure and resilience resources. Three polyadversity classes were revealed in each sample, with both producing a high and a low polyadversity class. The third class differed between samples; in the student sample, this class represented experiences of vicarious adversity, whereas in the community sample, it represented moderate levels of exposure to adversity. Support for the adaptive nature of a moderate amount of adversity exposure was found in the community sample but not in the student sample. This study produces initial evidence of how lifetime adversity experiences group together and how class membership is related to resilience resources.     

Meeting the Needs of Evidence-based Practice in Family Therapy: Developing the Scientist-practitioner Model

Effective models of clinical training have been and continue to be a primary topic of discussion in the field of family therapy, particularly given the needs of evidence-based practice. This article outlines the major historical and contemporary struggles of one such model of clinical training and practice: the scientist-practitioner model. Throughout the article, the principles of the scientist-practitioner model and evidence-based practices are compared and contrasted. Suggestions for overcoming the contemporary challenges faced by the scientist-practitioner in a family therapy practice or in an educational environment are discussed.     

The cost‐effectiveness of family therapy: a summary and progress report

This paper provides a summary of the cost‐effectiveness research for family therapy. Data were available from four different sources in the United States: (1) a health maintenance organization with 180,000 subscribers; (2) the Medicaid system of the State of Kansas; (3) CIGNA Behavioral Health, a division of a health insurance company with nine million subscribers; and (4) a family therapy training clinic. Results suggest that family therapy reduces the number of healthcare visits, especially for high utilizers. The studies suggest that including family therapy as a treatment option does not significantly increase healthcare costs.     

Establishing Criterion Scores for the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale

This study demonstrates the usefulness of the KMSS and RDAS in distinguishing between the maritally distressed and nondistressed. For conceptual and statistical clarity, many marital interaction and marital therapy research measures, use a single cutoff score. It was determined that the cutoff score is 17 for the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) and 48 for the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) for husbands, wives, and couples. An equivalency table of mathematical formulas is also presented, allowing the conversion of individual and couple scores from one measure of marital quality to another. It is now possible to convert a score from any one of a number of instruments (KMSS, RDAS, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Marital Adjustment Test, Revised Marital Adjustment Test) to an equivalent score as measured by another instrument.     

Self-report schedules for use in assessing the marital adjustment of abusive and nonabusive parents

Abstract

Abusive parents and nonabusive parents were compared on three self-report behavioral marital questionnaires. The questionnaires—the Marital Status Inventory, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, and the Areas of Change Questionnaire—have been used in pre-post evaluations of treatment and in the discrimination of distressed from nondistressed marriages. The results indicated that both groups reported having only mildly distressed marital relationships. The report presents initial normative data on the questionnaires for abusive parents and nonabusive parents who were seeking help with child management problems.     

Military police investigator perspectives of a new self-reflective approach to strengthening resilience: A qualitative study

In this study, we explored participants’ experiences of a unique form of resilience training. The aims of this study were to obtain rich information about the participants’ experience of the resilience intervention based on adaptive self-reflection, their ability to report the private stress experience and coping efforts when faced with a stressor, their perceptions of training applicability to other contexts, and whether the training was able to encourage the reappraisal of stressors as growth opportunities. A qualitative design was employed with a sample of 21 investigator trainees from the Australian Defence Force School of Policing. Following implementation of the program, trainees provided written responses to seven open ended questions and participated in one focus group designed to embellish understanding of the survey answers. The analysis identified both strengths and limitations in the way respondents were able to recall and report on their private stress experience and coping efforts and several domains where the resilience training seemed to have its effects. Moreover, the respondents reported increased confidence in their ability to manage stressors in the future, recognition of stress in others and the potential to assist them, and a changed view of stress as an opportunity for personal development. Based on these findings, potential improvements in the training materials are recommended. Moreover, the findings suggest coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection may encourage the application of useful strategies and reinforce personal resilient capacities and coping self-efficacy.     

Specific and general autobiographical knowledge in adults with autism spectrum disorders: The role of personal goals

Autobiographical knowledge is stored hierarchically, at both specific and general levels of representation. It has also been proposed that the self is the structure around which autobiographical memories are organised. The current series of studies assessed whether the autobiographical memory difficulties observed in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) could be due to problems in using the self as an effective memory cue. A series of cueing paradigms were used to assess the accessibility of both specific and general autobiographical knowledge relating to (i) currently pursued goals (either high or low in self–concordance) and (ii) goals that participants were not currently pursuing. Results demonstrated that while event-specific knowledge was impaired in the ASD group, general event knowledge appeared relatively intact. Moreover, while both event-specific and general event knowledge were organised around goals of the self in control participants, a corresponding relationship was only observed for general event knowledge in the ASD group.