Effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents with emotional disturbance: A meta-analysis

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents at-risk for and with emotional disturbance. Published outcome studies (k = 29) from December, 1988, to March, 2006, including 1405 children and adolescents were reviewed. Each investigation was coded on several variables describing the child, parent, and teacher samples, as well as reported outcome results. The overall mean weighted effect size was 1.00 at post-test and 1.35 at follow-up. Mean weighted ESs were 0.42 for between-subjects design studies, 0.87 for within-subjects design studies, and 1.87 for single-subject design studies. Prevention programs yielded a mean weighted ES of 0.54 and intervention programs produced a mean weighted ES of 1.35. Findings for specific outcome foci are presented and implications are discussed.     

Violent phenotype in SAL mice is inflexible and fixed in adulthood

Violence was shown to be qualitatively different from functional hyper‐aggression in mice selected for high aggression namely Short Attack Latency (SAL), Turku Aggressive (TA) and North Carolina (NC900) strains. This study aimed at investigating whether this adulthood violent phenotype as seen previously in the SAL mice is fixed and hence behaviorally inflexible right from day 1 of the experiment or consequential, i.e., subject to gradual change from functional aggression to violence. The functionally hyper‐aggressive strains namely TA and NC900 strains served as controls for the study. Methodologically, behavioral (in)flexibility was studied using the overall sequential structure of agonistic behavior. In particular, intra‐individual variations in the overall agonistic behavior as well as offensive, pre‐ and post‐offensive behavior transitions, directly related to the resident–intruder interactions were investigated. The SAL mice showed the least intra‐individual variation in their overall sequential agonistic structure as well as a fixed offense‐oriented agonistic behavior of highest magnitude when compared with the other strains. Additionally, the pre‐ and post‐ offensive transitions were most salient in the functionally hyper‐aggressive TA and NC900 strains, whereas virtually absent in the SAL mice. Thus, the violent behavior of the adult SAL mice is behaviorally inflexible or fixed, whereas the functionally hyper‐aggressive behavior of the adult TA and NC900 mice is behaviorally flexible and constantly adaptive to the opponent behavior, over 3 days of repeated resident–intruder interaction. Aggr. Behav. 35:430–436, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Teachers’ reactions to experiences of violence: an attributional analysis

Violence perpetrated against teachers is prevalent and has the potential to adversely affect teachers’ well-being, efficacy, and longevity in the profession. In this study, we examined teachers’ reactions after having experienced violence, specifically examining the roles of attributional processes. In collaboration with the American Psychological Association, National Education Association, and American Federation of Teachers, data were collected via a survey instrument from teachers across the United States. We examined responses from 2505 participants who described the most upsetting incident of violence that had been perpetrated against them in their roles as teachers. We examined predictors of (1) communicating with others after the incident and (2) implementing intervention strategies with the perpetrators of violence. Emotions were tested as mediators of the relations between attributions and outcomes. Results indicated that characterological and behavioral self-blame were predictive of negative affect, which in turn predicted the majority of outcomes. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form in National Guard soldiers screening positive for posttraumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2 RF) was administered to 251 National Guard soldiers who had recently returned from deployment to Iraq. Soldiers were also administered questionnaires to identify posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). On the basis of responses to the screening instruments, the National Guard soldiers who produced a valid MMPI-2 RF were classified into four groups: 21 soldiers who screened positive for PTSD only, 33 soldiers who screened positive for mTBI only, 9 soldiers who screened positive for both conditions, and 166 soldiers who did not screen positive for either condition. Results showed that the MMPI-2 RF was able to differentiate across the groups with the MMPI-2 RF specific problem scale Anxiety adding incrementally to MMPI-2 Restructured Clinical scales in predicting PTSD. Both MMPI-2 RC1 (Somatic Complaints) and MMPI-2 RF head pain complaints predicted mTBI screen but did not add incrementally to each other. Of note, all of the MMPI-2 RF validity scales associated with overreporting, including Symptom Validity-Revised (FBS-r), were not significantly elevated in the mTBI group. These findings support the use of the MMPI-2 RF in assessing PTSD in non-treatment-seeking veterans. This further suggests that a positive screen for mTBI alone is not associated with significant emotional disturbance.     

False recognition of abstract versus common objects in older and younger adults: testing the semantic categorization account

Older adults often demonstrate higher levels of false recognition than do younger adults. However, in experiments using novel shapes without preexisting semantic representations, this age-related elevation in false recognition was found to be greatly attenuated. Two experiments tested a semantic categorization account of these findings, examining whether older adults show especially heightened false recognition if the stimuli have preexisting semantic representations, such that semantic category information attenuates or truncates the encoding or retrieval of item-specific perceptual information. In Experiment 1, ambiguous shapes were presented with or without disambiguating semantic labels. Older adults showed higher false recognition when labels were present but not when labels were never presented. In Experiment 2, older adults showed higher false recognition for concrete but not abstract objects. The semantic categorization account was supported.     

Integrating research and practice in federal law enforcement: Secret Service applications of behavioral science expertise to protect the President

This paper discusses specific behavioral research needs by law enforcement and justice systems to guide forensic decision-making in areas of targeted violence. Continuing incidents of stalking, workplace violence, and threats to public figures underscore the importance of developing empirically based risk assessment and intervention strategies. Reviewing briefly the relevant literatures in these areas, this paper describes deficits in these literatures and the absence of a model for integrating research and practice in applied settings. The U.S. Secret Service Behavioral Research Program is explored as one example of how behavioral science expertise may be integrated with law enforcement responsibilities. Considerations associated with building behavioral research capacities in applied settings are examined in the context of differences in professional orientation, values, and access to information. Specific research directions to improve understanding of targeted violence are recommended along with suggestions for ways in which the psychology-law field may facilitate integration of research into practice. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perspectives of Indian Traditional and Allopathic Professionals on Religion/Spirituality and its Role in Medicine: Basis for Developing an Integrative Medicine Program

Allopathic medical professionals in developed nations have started to collaborate with traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) to enquire on the role of religion/spirituality (r/s) in patient care. There is scant evidence of such movement in the Indian medical community. We aim to understand the perspectives of Indian TCAM and allopathic professionals on the influence of r/s in health. Using RSMPP (Religion, Spirituality and Medicine, Physician Perspectives) questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey was conducted at seven (five TCAM and two allopathic) pre-selected tertiary care medical institutes in India. Findings of TCAM and allopathic groups were compared. Majority in both groups (75 % of TCAM and 84.6 % of allopathic practitioners) believed that patients’ spiritual focus increases with illness. Up to 58 % of TCAM and allopathic respondents report patients receiving support from their religious communities; 87 % of TCAM and 73 % of allopaths believed spiritual healing to be beneficial and complementary to allopathic medical care. Only 11 % of allopaths, as against 40 % of TCAM, had reportedly received ‘formal’ training in r/s. Both TCAM (81.8 %) and allopathic (63.7 %) professionals agree that spirituality as an academic subject merits inclusion in health education programs (p = 0.0003). Inclusion of spirituality in the health care system is a need for Indian medical professionals as well as their patients, and it could form the basis for integrating TCAM and allopathic medical systems in India.     

Relation of Individualism–Collectivism and Ethnic Identity to Spiritual Transcendence Among European Americans,Asian Indian Americans,and Chinese Americans

The hypothesis that spirituality is influenced by individualism–collectivism and ethnic identity is investigated among European Americans (EAs), Asian Indian Americans (AIAs), and Chinese Americans (CAs) who completed measures of individualism–collectivism, ethnic identity, personality, and spiritual transcendence (ST). Data analyses indicated that EAs scored higher than both AIAs and CAs on the ST. Separate regression analyses on ST with demographics and personality as covariates and individualism–collectivism and ethnic identity as independent variables indicated that collectivism significantly predicted ST for EAs and AIAs, and resolution of ethnic identity significantly predicted ST for Chinese Americans.     

No evidence for contagious yawning in lemurs

Among some haplorhine primates, including humans, relaxed yawns spread contagiously. Such contagious yawning has been linked to social bonds and empathy in some species. However, no studies have investigated contagious yawning in strepsirhines. We conducted an experimental study of contagious yawning in strepsirhines, testing ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs (n = 24) in a paradigm similar to one that has induced contagious yawning in haplorhines. First, in a control experiment, we investigated whether lemurs responded to projected video content in general (experiment 1). We showed them two videos to which we expected differential responses: one featured a terrestrial predator and the other a caretaker holding food. Next, to test for yawn contagion, we showed individual lemurs life-size video projections of groupmates and conspecific strangers yawning, and control footage of the same individuals at rest (experiment 2). Then, to examine whether a group context might enhance or allow for contagion, we exposed subjects to the same videos in a group setting (experiment 3). Lemurs produced alarm vocalizations and moved upward while viewing the predator, but not the caretaker, demonstrating that they do perceive video content meaningfully. However, lemurs did not yawn in response to yawning stimuli when tested alone, or with their groupmates. This study provides preliminary evidence that lemurs do not respond to yawning stimuli similarly to haplorhines, and suggests that this behavior may have evolved or become more exaggerated in haplorhines after the two major primate lineages split.