Coping Mechanisms for Psychosomatic Symptoms among Aging Roman Catholic German priests

To identify and investigate coping mechanisms and other factors which may impact upon the psychosomatic symptoms of aging German Roman Catholic priests. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 499 aging German Roman Catholic priests with standardized questionnaires: Brief Symptom Inventory, Coping Inventory Stressful Situations, and Religious Coping Scale. Task-Oriented Coping exhibited a significant difference between the two groups. Multiple regression analyses indicated that psychosomatic symptoms could be best predicted by means of Task-Oriented Coping mechanisms, identification with priesthood, and by a low Negative Religious Coping. The success of adaptive coping processes for older clergy may depend on how they employ strategies, strengthen their spiritual dimensions, and manage important psychosocial aspects of aging. In our sample, Depression and Somatization are explained best by Emotion-Oriented Coping. It is desirable for aging priests to be aware of protective factors like Role Identification, Task-Oriented Coping, and low Negative Religious Coping, which may be helpful in improving their psychological well-being.     

Exploring teacher popularity: associations with teacher characteristics and student outcomes in primary school

In this study, we investigated conditions and consequences of teacher popularity in primary schools. Teacher popularity is embedded in a theoretical framework that describes relationships between teacher competence, teaching quality, and student outcomes. In the empirical analyses, we used multilevel modeling to distinguish between individual students’ liking of the teacher and a teacher’s popularity as rated by the whole class (N?=?1070 students, 54 teachers). The classroom level composite of the extent to which students liked their teacher was a reliable indicator of teacher popularity. Teacher popularity was associated with teacher self-reports of self-efficacy and teaching enthusiasm and with external observers’ ratings of teaching quality. The grades students received were not related to the popularity ratings. In a longitudinal study, teacher popularity predicted students’ learning gains and interest development over and above the effects of teaching quality. These results suggest that teacher popularity can be a useful and informative indicator in research on students’ academic development and teacher effectiveness.     

The use of laboratory and performance-based measures in the assessment of children and adolescents with conduct disorders

Provides a review of laboratory and performance-based assessment techniques that have been used in research with children who have severe conduct problems. Many of these techniques have proven useful for monitoring the effects of interventions, which seems to be their most immediate clinical use. With further development, several of these techniques have the potential for assessing clinically important processes that may be involved in the development and maintenance of conduct problems in youth, especially processes that may differ across subgroups of children with conduct disorders (CDs). The assessment of such processes could contribute to the development of individualized treatment plans for children and adolescents with CDs. However, a number of theoretical, methodological, and ethical issues limit the clinical utility of these laboratory and performance-based techniques in their current stages of development, especially in their contribution to making initial diagnoses of CDs. These limitations lead to very cautious recommendations for their clinical use.     

The association of psychopathic traits with aggression and delinquency in non-referred boys and girls

The current study investigated the association of psychopathic traits with aggression and delinquency in a non-referred sample of boys (n=86) and girls (n=114) in the fifth through ninth grades at two public schools in a large urban area. Psychopathic traits were measured by both teacher- and self-report ratings, whereas aggression and delinquency were assessed through self-report ratings. Self-reported psychopathic traits were associated with both aggression and delinquency and teacher-reported psychopathic traits were associated with higher levels of aggression. There were no clear differences for the callous-unemotional, narcissism, or impulsivity dimensions in their associations with aggression and delinquency. Also, psychopathic traits predicted aggression and delinquency for both boys and girls. The one clear gender difference was in the stronger associations between psychopathic traits and relational aggression for girls.     

The 4 year stability of psychopathic traits in non-referred youth

One significant limitation in research extending the construct of psychopathy to youth has been the absence of longitudinal studies testing the stability of psychopathic traits prior to adulthood. To begin to address this limitation, the current study estimated the stability of psychopathic traits over a 4 year period in a sample of non-referred children in the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh grades at the first assessment. For parent ratings of psychopathic traits, stability estimates using intra-class correlation coefficients ranged from 0.80 to 0.88 across 2-4 years, with a stability estimate of 0.93 across all four assessments. There were also distinct trends in the patterns of stability found in the sample. Specifically, children rated as being initially high on these traits were more likely to be rated lower at later assessments than was the case for children rated initially low on these traits. Finally, the child's level of conduct problems, the socioeconomic status of the child's family, and the quality of parenting the child received were the most consistent predictors of stability of psychopathic traits.     

Reward dominance among children with disruptive behavior disorders

Investigated was a deficit in avoidance learning in situations of competing rewards and punishments in boys with behavior disorders. This learning style has been found to differentiate adults with psychopathy and controls and has been labeled reward dominance. The present study investigated the reward dominance paradigm in a group of 9- to 13-year-old boys with disruptive behavior disorders (N=21) and a normal control group (N=22). Subjects played four computer games programmed to provide the subject with a steadily decreasing ratio of rewards to punishments. Although the groups did not differ initially on the number of trials played, significant group differences emerged when measures of anxiety were included in the analysis. That is, boys with disruptive behavior disorders played more trials (reward dominance) only when the effect of anxiety was controlled. These findings are consistent with Gray's biobehavioral theory of personality and are also consistent with research indicating that anxiety is an important marker for a distinct subgroup of children with behavior problems.     

Using both an auditory and a visual short-term store to increase digit span

Can digit span be increased by storing digits nonredundantly in both an auditory short-term store and a visual short-term store (dual storage)? In Experiment 1, when four digits were presented visually and then the remaining digits were presented auditorily, digit span increased three digits over a baseline measurement, but only when the auditorily presented digits were reported first (inverted response). Normal order of response for this presentation was not as effective. Possible reasons for the advantage of inverted response are suggested, based upon dual storage. For all-auditory and all-visual presentations that controlled for parsing, digit span increased only 1 to 1.5 digits over baseline, and inverted and normal order of response did not differ. Experiment 2 demonstrated that an improvement for dual storage could occur when the type of presentation was held constant and the order of response was normal rather than inverted. The results are consistent with the idea of separate auditory and visual short-term stores.     

Symptom Properties as a Function of ADHD Type: An Argument for Continued Study of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo

Inconsistent alertness and orientation (sluggishness, drowsiness, daydreaming) were reported to accompany Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) without Hyperactivity in DSM-III. Such Sluggish Cognitive Tempo items were tested in the DSM-IV Field Trial for ADHD, but were discarded from the Inattention symptom list because of poor negative predictive power. Using 692 children referred to a pediatric subspecialty clinic for ADHD, Sluggish Tempo items were re-evaluated. When Hyperactivity–Impulsivity was absent (i.e., using only cases of Inattentive Type plus clinic controls), Sluggish Tempo items showed substantially improved utility as symptoms of Inattention. Factor analyses distinguished a Sluggish Tempo factor from an Inattention factor. When DSM-IV ADHD types were compared, Inattentive Type was uniquely elevated on Sluggish Tempo. These findings suggest that (a) Sluggish Tempo items are adequate symptoms for Inattentive Type, or (b) Sluggish Tempo may distinguish two subtypes of Inattentive Type. Either conclusion is incompatible with ADHD nosology in DSM-IV.