Fifteen Years of the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development: A Content Analysis

The authors present the results of a content analysis of articles that were published in the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development (JMCD) during the last 15 years. The analysis identified the leading contributors (i.e., authors, institutions) to JMCD, evaluated the content of the articles, examined the type of articles, and highlighted the particular cultural groups that were studied most frequently. Los autores presentan los resultados de un análisis de el contenido de la Revista de Consejeria y Desarrollo Multicultural (JMCD), durante los ultimos 15 años. El análisis identificó los contribuyentes más destacados (en otras palabras, los autores, las instituciones) a JMCD; examinó el tipo del articulos y subrayó los grupos culturales que se estudiaron más frecuentemente.     

Visuospatial attention and redundancy gain

Two experiments investigated the effect of visuospatial attention on redundancy gain in simple reaction time tasks. In each trial participants were given a central arrow cue indicating where a stimulus would most likely be presented (i.e., upper or lower half of the display in Experiment 1; left or right half of the display in Experiment 2). Then, a single stimulus or two redundant stimuli could be presented in either expected or unexpected locations. Replicating previous findings, responses were faster when stimuli appeared in expected rather than unexpected locations, and they were also faster when two redundant stimuli were presented than when only one was. Critically, redundancy gain was statistically equivalent for stimuli in expected and unexpected locations, suggesting that the effect of redundancy gain arises after the perceptual processes influenced by the allocation of visuospatial attention.

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CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE, CULTURE, AND COPING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF LATINAS

The purpose of this study was to articulate a model of how Latinas cope with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and the ways in which personal and cultural variables influence their coping strategies. Nine women who identified as Latina and as survivors of CSA participated in an in-depth interview. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory methodology. Results suggested that participants' coping efforts were influenced by a variety of cultural factors and that they engaged in a wide range of coping behaviors, all of which served two main functions: (1) seeking relief from negative emotions and (2) protecting one's self from further abuse.     

Sit Down and Play: A Preventive Primary Care-Based Program to Enhance Parenting Practices

The primary care office offers an ideal setting to encourage parenting behaviors that promote early childhood development. We conducted a pilot study to establish feasibility and acceptability of Sit Down and Play (SDP), a brief primary care-based program to facilitate positive parenting behaviors through take-home play activities. A prospective 1-month study was conducted in an urban primary care clinic. SDP was administered to 30 caregivers of 6–12 month-old children while they waited for their well-child appointment. Caregivers completed baseline and 4-week follow-up surveys. Open-ended interview questions regarding acceptability and usefulness of SDP were administered and analyzed using content analysis. Parenting practices related to child development were measured with standardized measures and changes analyzed using paired t-test and linear mixed effects models. Most caregivers were mothers (90?%) and non-white (97?%); the majority of children received Medicaid (87?%). There were significant increases in parental reports of practices related to child development (p?<?0.001), including families who reported low incomes (i.e. <$25,000) and received a high-school education or less (p?=?0.001). Four main themes emerged from the open-ended interview data: (1) importance of play, (2) noticing a change in their child, (3) reinforcing existing positive parenting behaviors, and (4) satisfaction with the program. This preliminary study suggests that SDP is a feasible and potentially beneficial program that can be delivered during pediatric well-child visits. Further studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of SDP on parenting behaviors and developmental outcomes.     

Keeping up day-specific effects of transformational leadership: the role of followers’ emotion regulation

This diary study examines the role of day-specific transformational leadership for followers’ personal initiative. Building on Affective Events Theory, we proposed a direct effect of day-specific transformational leadership on followers’ personal initiative on the same day. Furthermore, we took a closer look at lagged effects of day-specific transformational leadership. More specifically, we hypothesized that positive effects of one day’s transformational leadership can endure until the next day for followers who apply beneficial emotion regulation strategies. We conducted a diary study over five consecutive working days among 97 employees. Two-level hierarchical linear modelling supported our hypotheses. As expected, day-specific transformational leadership positively predicted followers’ personal initiative on the same day. Furthermore, concerning the association between day-specific transformational leadership and followers’ personal initiative on the following day, there was a positive relation for followers applying beneficial emotion regulation strategies in terms of high cognitive reappraisal and low expressive suppression, respectively.     

Motor Improvement Using Motion Sensing Game Devices for Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation

The authors aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention based on interactive game set with the movement sensor Kinect on children with cerebral palsy (CP). Twenty-eight participants were recruited. Their age was between 3 and 12 years old, and rated as level I, II, or III on the Gross Motor Function Classification System. They played two games from the Xbox 360 Kinect system and were evaluated using the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) after a period of 8 weeks. The intervention led to significant motor function improvement as increase of the global scores on the GMFM (p < .001). Rehabilitation interventions using the Xbox 360 Kinect interactive games may represent useful tools for children with CP.     

The emergence of the ability to track a character's mental perspective in narrative

In comprehending stories, adults create mental models from which they follow the actions of the characters from the characters' different mental vantage points. Using a novel methodology, this study is the first to examine when children attain the narrative ability to track the mental perspective of characters. That is, when do children follow the actions of a story to different locations that a character is thinking about? The results of Study 1 demonstrate that this ability is nascent in 3-year-olds but adult-like by age 5. Study 2 demonstrates that 3-year-olds' difficulty is the result of the mention of the character's mental state per se rather than task complexity. Together, these studies shed new light on the development of narrative cognition in humans.     

Beliefs in Equality for Women and Men as Related to Economic Factors in Central and Eastern Europe and the United States

Do economic indicators predict the general level of support for gender equality? This question was investigated in a sample of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has been undergoing rapid economic changes since the early 1990s. In this overall sample of male and female college students from ten countries, including the United States as a comparison, the predicted association between stronger beliefs in gender role egalitarianism and positive economic factors was generally supported. Also, consistent with other research, women were more in support of gender equality than men were. There was no support for a predicted trend in less support for gender equality over the time period of the present study.     

Affective interactions using virtual reality: the link between presence and emotions.

Many studies showed the ability of movies and imagery techniques to elicit emotions. Nevertheless, it is less clear how to manipulate the content of interactive media to induce specific emotional responses. In particular, this is true for the emerging medium virtual reality (VR), whose main feature is the ability to induce a feeling of "presence" in the computer-generated world experienced by the user. The main goal of this study was to analyze the possible use of VR as an affective medium. Within this general goal, the study also analyzed the relationship between presence and emotions. The results confirmed the efficacy of VR as affective medium: the interaction with "anxious" and "relaxing" virtual environments produced anxiety and relaxation. The data also showed a circular interaction between presence and emotions: on one side, the feeling of presence was greater in the "emotional" environments; on the other side, the emotional state was influenced by the level of presence. The significance of these results for the assessment of affective interaction is discussed.