A Model‐Based Cluster Analysis of Maternal Emotion Regulation and Relations to Parenting Behavior

In a diverse community sample of mothers (N = 108) and their preschool‐aged children (M_age = 3.50 years), this study conducted person‐oriented analyses of maternal emotion regulation (ER) based on a multimethod assessment incorporating physiological, observational, and self‐report indicators. A model‐based cluster analysis was applied to five indicators of maternal ER: maternal self‐report, observed negative affect in a parent–child interaction, baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and RSA suppression across two laboratory tasks. Model‐based cluster analyses revealed four maternal ER profiles, including a group of mothers with average ER functioning, characterized by socioeconomic advantage and more positive parenting behavior. A dysregulated cluster demonstrated the greatest challenges with parenting and dyadic interactions. Two clusters of intermediate dysregulation were also identified. Implications for assessment and applications to parenting interventions are discussed.     

Ayodhya and the Hindu resurgence

It is usually accepted that although cosmological references in the early Pali Buddhist texts refer metaphorically to meditative states of mind, they should at the same time be understood as referring in literal terms to an externally existent cosmos. Because the ontological status of the cosmos appears to be tangential to what the Buddha taught, however, it is not clear that this literal interpretation is appropriate. From a study of the early textual material, this paper suggests that an alternative understanding of the cosmos is more compatible with the Buddha's teachings.     

Embodied cognition and skilled health behaviour

The present research examines health persuasion from an embodied cognition perspective by proposing that engaging the motor system during presentation of a health message will lead individuals to become more skilled at performing the prescribed behaviour. Participants watched a video on the importance of flossing while either imaging themselves flossing or imaging themselves flossing while minimally engaging the motor system (i.e. touching a piece of floss). Females (but not males) who touched an individual floss while watching the video demonstrated better flossing skills 1 week later. Over time, participants (both males and females) who engaged the motor system also developed more accessible attitudes and had a stronger relationship between their perceived flossing efficacy and actual flossing skill. Implications for the theories of embodied cognition and health interventions are discussed.     

Perceptions of treatment control moderate the daily association between negative affect and diabetes problems among adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Perceived control over diabetes may serve to buffer the relationship between adolescents’ experience of daily negative affect and daily problems with diabetes. In a daily diary study including 209 adolescents (ages 10.5–15.5) with type 1 diabetes, we examined how daily affect related to daily fluctuations in experience of diabetes problems, and whether perceptions of control moderated these daily associations. Using hierarchical linear modelling, we found that day-to-day experiences of negative affect were associated with more frequent daily diabetes problems. Perceptions of treatment control moderated associations between negative affect and number of problems; negative affect was more strongly associated with number of problems among teens perceiving lower versus higher treatment control over their illness. The same pattern of association was not apparent for personal control. Results suggest that perceived treatment control may help to buffer detrimental associations between negative affect and adolescents’ ability to successfully manage their diabetes.     

Randomized,placebo-controlled trial of cognitive-behavioral therapy alone or combined with sertraline in the treatment of pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder

Background

To examine the efficacy of sequential sertraline and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment relative to CBT with pill placebo over 18 weeks in children and adolescents with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).

Methods

Forty-seven children and adolescents with OCD (Range = 7–17 years) were randomized to 18-weeks of treatment in one of three arms: 1) sertraline at standard dosing + CBT (RegSert + CBT); 2) sertraline titrated slowly but achieving at least 8 weeks on the maximally tolerated daily dose + CBT (SloSert + CBT); or 3) pill placebo + CBT (PBO + CBT). Assessments were conducted at screening, baseline, weeks 1–9, 13, and 17, and post-treatment. Raters and clinicians were blinded to sertraline (but not CBT) randomization status. Primary outcomes included the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale, and response and remission status. Secondary outcomes included the Child Obsessive Compulsive Impact Scale–Parent/Child, Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, and Clinical-Global Impressions-Severity.

Results

All groups exhibited large within-group effects across outcomes. There was no group by time interaction across all outcomes suggesting that group changes over time were comparable.

Conclusions

Among youth with OCD, there was no evidence that sequentially provided sertraline with CBT differed from those receiving placebo with CBT.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier

NCT00382291.     

Family emotion expressivity,emotion regulation,and the link to psychopathology: Examination across race

Research has established links between parental emotion socialization behaviours and youth emotional and psychological outcomes; however, no study has simultaneously compared these relations for White, Black, and Asian individuals. In this study, emerging adults identifying as White (n= 61), Black (n= 51), or Asian (n= 56) retrospectively reported on parents’ emotion socialization behaviours during childhood, existing emotion regulation (ER) skills, and current psychopathology symptoms. Asian participants reported fewer positive displays of emotions in their families during childhood than White and Black participants. Despite this difference, low expression of positive emotions in families during childhood did not relate to negative outcomes for Asian participants but was linked for White and Black participants. Overall, Asian participants reported more difficulties with ER than Black or White participants, and relations between ER difficulties and psychopathology varied by racial group. The findings emphasize the need to consider race when conducting research on emotion functioning with families and highlight emotion dysregulation as a potential treatment target for White, Black, and Asian individuals.     

Integrating Impairments in Reaction Time and Executive Function Using a Diffusion Model Framework

Using Ratcliff’s diffusion model and ex-Gaussian decomposition, we directly evaluate the role individual differences in reaction time (RT) distribution components play in the prediction of inhibitory control and working memory (WM) capacity in children with and without ADHD. Children with (n?=?91, $ \overline{\mathrm{x}} $ age?=?10.2 years, 67 % male) and without ADHD (n?=?62, $ \overline{\mathrm{x}} $ age?=?10.6 years, 46 % male) completed four tasks of WM and a stop signal reaction time (SSRT) task. Children with ADHD had smaller WM capacities and less efficient inhibitory control. Diffusion model analyses revealed that children with ADHD had slower drift rates (v) and faster non-decision times (Ter), but there were no group differences in boundary separations (a). Similarly, using an ex-Gaussian approach, children with ADHD had larger τ values than non-ADHD controls, but did not differ in μ or σ distribution components. Drift rate mediated the association between ADHD status and performance on both inhibitory control and WM capacity. τ also mediated the ADHD-executive function impairment associations; however, models were a poorer fit to the data. Impaired performance on RT and executive functioning tasks has long been associated with childhood ADHD. Both are believed to be important cognitive mechanisms to the disorder. We demonstrate here that drift rate, or the speed at which information accumulates towards a decision, is able to explain both.     

Early effects of neighborhood density and phonotactic probability of spoken words on event-related potentials

All current models of spoken word recognition propose that sound-based representations of spoken words compete with, or inhibit, one another during recognition. In addition, certain models propose that higher probability sublexical units facilitate recognition under certain circumstances. Two experiments were conducted examining ERPs to spoken words and nonwords simultaneously varying in phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. Results showed that the amplitude of the P2 potential was greater for high probability-density words and nonwords, suggesting an early inhibitory effect of neighborhood density. In order to closely examine the role of phonotactic probability, effects of initial phoneme frequency were also examined. The latency of the P2 potential was shorter for words with high initial-consonant probability, suggesting a facilitative effect of phonotactic probability. The current results are consistent with findings from previous studies using reaction time and eye-tracking paradigms and provide new insights into the time-course of lexical and sublexical activation and competition.     

Laboratory Simulated Gambling: Risk Varies Across Participant-Stake Procedure

ABSTRACT. This study investigated whether risk taking on a laboratory gambling task differed depending on whether participants gambled with earned or experimenter-provided game credits. Participants made repeated choices between two options, one to wager game credits on a game that produced probabilistic gains and losses, and one to gain game credits with certainty. Choice was investigated across stake and no-stake conditions and condition order was counterbalanced across conditions. Risk taking was higher under stake than no-stake conditions, but only when stake conditions were experienced first. There was no effect on risk taking of the amount of the certain gain. Results are consistent with previous research showing that participant-stake procedures promote greater risk taking than procedures that allow participants to gamble with their own earnings, and also show that experience gambling with earned credits has an enduring effect on risk taking.