Editorial

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

A longitudinal evaluation of prevalent negative beliefs about residential placement for troubled adolescents

To investigate the validity of five prevalent negative beliefs about residential placement, we followed adolescents from a residential program and a comparison group at 3-month intervals for 4 to 8 years. This residential program in the Midwest uses the Teaching-Family Model in which six to eight adolescents live in a family-style environment. The interviews included five scales reflecting youths' views about important aspects of their lives in placement: (1) Delivery of Helpful Treatment, (2) Satisfaction with Supervising Adults, (3) Isolation from Family, (4) Isolation from Friends, and (5) Sense of Personal Control. Hierarchical linear modeling allowed us to estimate group differences while controlling for developmental trends, demographic factors, and prior differences between groups. The two groups were equivalent on all scales before the study. During the following placement, however, the treatment group's ratings were significantly more positive than the comparison group on four of the five scales and approached significance on the fifth. These findings suggest that negative beliefs about life in residential placement for adolescents may not apply to all programs.The authors acknowledge Gaylon Oswalt, Beth Chmelka, and Brian Noss for their assistance on this study and Richard Dangel, Thomas Dows, Robert Hawkins, Kathleen Lenerz, Kevin Moore, James Whittaker, and Montrose Wolf for helpful comments on this paper.     

Heuristic filtering and reliable calibration methods for video-based pupil-tracking systems

Methods for enhancing the accuracy of fixation and saccade detection and the reliability of calibration in video gaze-tracking systems are discussed. The unique aspects of the present approach include effective low-delay noise reduction prior to the detection of fixation changes, monitoring of gaze position in real time by the operator, identification of saccades as small as 0.5° while eliminating false fixations, and a quick, high-precision, semiautomated calibration procedure.     

Trying to remodel the children and youth service system: Observations about barriers and opportunities

From their perspective as participant observers, the authors discuss the initial phase of an attempt to remodel the child/family mental health service delivery system. Conceptualizing families as being at varying levels of risk for dismemberment is seen as: (a) providing a politically viable terminology, (b) permitting each agency to develop a continuum of services tailored to its mandate and clientele, and (c) facilitating legislative efforts to analyze simultaneously the budgets of all those state agencies with major responsibilities for children's services. A planning team endorsed cooperative planning between a state-level coordinating council and individual locales. Cultural communities were invited to participate in a manner paralleling the planning role of local communities. A model for a free standing case management entity is proposed. The concept of empowerment is discussed as a criterion for multi-level outcome evaluation.     

Exploring Traumas in the Development of Talent: What Are They,What Do They Do,and What Do They Require?

It has recently been argued that performers benefit from trauma (i.e., memorable challenges) during development. To deepen knowledge in this area, we explored perceived traumas in the development of 20 senior-international performers with a multimethods, temporal-based design. Results showed that perceived traumas were primarily sports based, recognized from onset of investment, associated with immediately negative but ultimately positive impact, and negotiated through skills that were brought to, rather than generated by, these experiences. The findings provide an interesting contrast to messages in other early trauma-focused research and promote focus on the process and mechanisms of responding to and recovering from traumatic experiences.     

Psychometric Evaluation and Standardization of the Self and Other Scale

This article evaluates and extends the psychometric properties of the Self and Other Scale (SOS). The scale is designed to measure two types of threat to self construction, namely, an insecurity threat (fear of exclusion) and an engulfment threat (fear of intrusion). Previous analysis of the SOS has been based on nonclinical student populations with a narrow age range. The present study addresses this limitation by examining the psychometric properties of the scale with an adult nonclinical population (N = 150) covering the life span and with varied socioeconomic status. Results are compared with those of the previous study. Statistical analysis supports the construct validity and the reliability of the scale. Clinical implications of the scale are explored.     

Conflict frequency with mothers and fathers from middle childhood to late adolescence: within- and between-families comparisons

The authors examined siblings' dyadic and differential conflict frequency with mothers and fathers from 7 to 19 years of age. Participants were first- and second-borns from 201 families who reported their conflict with each parent in 4 home interviews spaced over 5 years. Multilevel models examining trajectories of conflict frequency across age and year of study revealed that (a) consistent with a spillover hypothesis, elevation in parent-offspring conflict frequency was timed to firstborns' transition to adolescence for both siblings; and (b) consistent with a learning-from-experience hypothesis, there was no increase in conflict frequency at second-borns' transition to adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of studying the development of parent-offspring conflict within the larger family system.