The impact of family and peer differentiation levels on adolescent psychosocial development and problematic behaviors

This study examined the impact of family differentiation and peer differentiation levels on adolescent problematic behaviors and psychosocial maturity. Differentiation levels were assessed dyadically in both the family and peer systems. Results revealed family differentiation to be the sole predictor of adolescent problematic behavior. Additional regression analysis indicated that peer differentiation was a significant predictor of psychosocial maturity, along with the significant impact of adolescent gender and age. Family X Peer interaction terms were not significant predictors of either adolescent personal adjustment variable. Results, whichdisplay both consistencies and variations with the findings of previous research, are discussed in terms of their clinical implications.Salary and support provided in part by grants from The Kettering Fund (OSURF #727033) and by The Ohio State University (OSURF #221424 and OSURF #241501).     

Sex differences in spatial ability and spatial activities

Explanations of sex-related differences in spatial ability emphasizing the role of sex-differentiated experience have not been supported by direct measurement of spatial activities during adolescence, the period when these differences seem to increase. The present research involved development of a scale to measure the spatial experience of adolescents and adults. In Study 1, a list, as complete as possible of adolescent activities was compiled and given to undergraduate judges for ratings of involvement of spatial skills and sex-typing. Judges also indicated whether they had participated in each activity. Activities considered spatial by 75% or more of the judges were used to develop a spatial experience questionnaire. Judgments of the spatial nature of tasks were positively correlated with judged masculinity and with greater male than female participation. In Study 2, participation in spatial activities by undergraduates was correlated with spatial ability as measured by the Differential Aptitude Test. The activity questionnaire should prove useful in studying the development of spatial ability in adolescents and adults.     

Effects of presenting incidental information in consequent events on future learning

The effects of presenting future target stimuli in the consequent event following correct responses to current target stimuli were examined in two experiments teaching eight students with moderate handicaps to name photographs. In Experiment I, progressive time delay was used to teach two sets of photographs. During instruction, correct responses to one set of stimuli resulted in praise and presentation of the printed word for the person in the photograph (future condition). In the second set, a correct response was followed by praise alone (non-future condition). After establishing criterion level performance on both sets of photographs, students were taught to read the printed word from each of the two sets. Experiment II was a systematic replication of Experiment I. Four students from a different classroom also were taught to name two sets of photographs. An adapted alternating treatments design was used in each experiment. The results indicated that (a) all students learned to name the photographs; (b) presentation of future target stimuli (words) in consequent events resulted in seven of the eight students learning to read some of the words; and (c) the total number of sessions, trials, errors, and percentage of errors     

CONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT OF ABSTINENCE WITH INDIVIDUALS ABUSING COCAINE AND MARIJUANA

Two males diagnosed with cocaine dependence received a behavioral intervention comprised of contingency management and the community reinforcement approach. During the initial phase of treatment, reinforcement was delivered contingent on submitting cocaine-free urine specimens. The community reinforcement approach involved two behavior therapy sessions each week. Almost complete cocaine abstinence was achieved, but regular marijuana use continued. During a second phase, reinforcement magnitude was reduced, but remained contingent on submitting cocaine-free specimens. Behavior therapy was reduced to once per week. Cocaine abstinence and regular marijuana use continued. Next, reinforcement was delivered contingent on submitting cocaine- and marijuana-free specimens. This modified contingency resulted in an abrupt increase in marijuana abstinence and maintenance of cocaine abstinence. One- and 5-month follow-ups indicated that cocaine abstinence continued, but marijuana smoking resumed. These results indicate that the behavioral intervention was efficacious in achieving abstinence from cocaine and marijuana; maintenance, however, was achieved for cocaine only.     

Stereopsis from reversible and irreversible patterns

Eight subjects reported stereoscopic depth as a function of the magnitude and direction of disparity carried by a reversible grid or an irreversible solid surface. The former alternated between a diamond seen against a grating or a uniform rectangular grid pattern with stereoscopic depth reported only when the diamond was perceived. Depth was attenuated for the grid compared to the solid surface patterns. Disparity can be defined by perceptually extracted forms with depth present only when those forms are bounded by visible contours.     

Sequential social network data

A new method is proposed for the statistical analysis of dyadic social interaction data measured over time. The data to be studied are assumed to be realizations of a social network of a fixed set of actors interacting on a single relation. The method is based on loglinear models for the probabilities for various dyad (or actor pair) states and generalizes the statistical methods proposed by Holland and Leinhardt (1981), Fienberg, Meyer, & Wasserman (1985), and Wasserman (1987) for social network data. Two statistical models are described: the first is an associative approach that allows for the study of how the network has changed over time; the second is a predictive approach that permits the researcher to model one time point as a function of previous time points. These approaches are briefly contrasted with earlier methods for the sequential analysis of social networks and are illustrated with an example of longitudinal sociometric data.Research support provided by National Science Foundation Grant #SES84-08626 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and by a predoctoral traineeship awarded to the second author by the Quantitative Methods Program of the Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, funded by ADAHMA, National Research Service Award #MH14257. We thank the editor and three anonymous referees for helpful comments.This paper is based on research presented at the 1986 Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society, Toronto, Ontario, June, 1986.     

Hedonic contrast and condensation: Good stimuli make mediocre stimuli less good and less different

Loud sounds make soft sounds softer (contrast) and also make them less discriminable (which we callcondensation). We report on parallel phenomena in hedonics: Good stimuli reduce the pleasantness of less good stimuli, and also reduce people’s preferences among the less good stimuli. In Experiment 1, subjects rated the pleasantness of fruit juices diluted to approximate hedonic neutrality. Subjects who had just previously drunk and rated some good-tasting full-strength juices rated the diluted juices lower than did subjects who had not (hedonic contrast). In Experiment 2, subjects drank pairs of diluted juices and rated their preference for one juice over the other. Subjects who had just previously drunk and rated pairs of full-strength juices gave lower preference ratings between the diluted juices than did subjects who had not (condensation). Thus the same stimulus set produced contrast in Experiment 1 and condensation in Experiment 2, paralleling results in loudness.     

Cognitive-behaviour therapy for depersonalisation disorder: an open study

Depersonalisation (DP) and derealisation (DR) are subjective experiences of unreality in, respectively, one's sense of self and the outside world. These experiences occur on a continuum from transient episodes that are frequently reported in healthy individuals to a chronic psychiatric disorder that causes considerable distress (depersonalisation disorder: DPD). Despite the relatively high rates of reporting these symptoms, little research has been conducted into psychological treatments for this disorder. We report on an open study where 21 patients with DPD were treated individually with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The therapy involved helping the patients re-interpret their symptoms in a non-threatening way as well as reducing avoidances, safety behaviours and symptom monitoring. Significant improvements in patient-defined measures of DP/DR severity as well as standardised measures of dissociation, depression, anxiety and general functioning were found at post-treatment and six-months follow-up. Moreover, there were significant reductions in clinician ratings on the Present State Examination (Wing, Cooper & Sartorius, 1974), and 29% of participants no longer met criteria for DPD at the end of therapy. These initial results suggest that a CBT approach to DPD may be effective, but further trials with larger sample sizes and more rigorous research methodology are needed to determine the specificity of this approach.     

Infant Directed Speech in Natural Interaction—Norwegian Vowel Quantity and Quality

An interactive face-to-face setting is used to study natural infant directed speech (IDS) compared to adult directed speech (ADS). With distinctive vowel quantity and vowel quality, Norwegian IDS was used in a natural quasi-experimental design. Six Norwegian mothers were recorded over a period of 6 months alone with their infants and in an adult conversation. Vowel duration and spectral attributes of the vowels /a:/, /i:/ and /u:/, and their short counterparts /a/ /i/ and /u/ were analysed. Repeated measures analyses show that effects of vowel quantity did not differ between ADS and IDS, and for back vowel qualities, the vowel space was shifted upwards in IDS compared to ADS suggesting that fronted articulations in natural IDS may visually enhance speech to infants.     

A portable,unobtrusive device for videorecording clinical interactions

Recording and analyzing real-time interactions in clinical settings is important for basic and applied research in psychology and other disciplines. Investigators frequently have used simple audiotaping procedures to record these encounters (e.g., Roter, Geller, Bernhardt, Larson, & Doksum, 1999), but videorecording is increasingly viewed as more reliable and valid, because it captures the full range of complex and interdependent verbal and nonverbal behaviors that occur in an interaction. This article describes a system designed to videotape clinical interactions in a manner that can be moved in and out of different clinical rooms to preserve flexibility in its use. Data are presented to demonstrate that the system is unobtrusive during the interaction, yet fully compatible with institutional review board guidelines to protect human participants’ privacy and freedom to control the recording process.