A factor analytic study of structural family therapy constructs

The lack of empirical work on therapists' use of Structural Family Therapy (SFT) concepts is discussed. The important SFT dimensional models are briefly reviewed. Three groups of therapists were required to make judgements of video-taped interviews using a set of SFT concepts. The data were factor analysed and the results discussed in terms of the relationship between the therapists' produced factors and theoretical models of SFT.     

Predicting Homelessness among Emerging Adults Aging Out of Foster Care

This study examines risk and protective factors associated with experiencing homelessness in the year after “aging out” of foster care. Using a state‐level integrated administrative database, we identified 1,202 emerging adults in Washington State who exited foster care between July 2010 and June 2012. Initial bivariate analyses were conducted to assess the association between candidate predictive factors and an indicator of homelessness in a 12‐month follow‐up period. After deploying a stepwise regression process, the final logistic regression model included 15 predictive factors. Youth who were parents, who had recently experienced housing instability, or who were African American had approximately twice the odds of experiencing homelessness in the year after exiting foster care. In addition, youth who had experienced disrupted adoptions, had multiple foster care placements (especially in congregate care settings), or had been involved with the juvenile justice system were more likely to become homeless. In contrast, youth were less likely to experience homelessness if they had ever been placed with a relative while in foster care or had a high cumulative grade point average relative to their peers.     

How affiliates of an Australian FPMT centre come to accept the concepts of karma,rebirth and merit-making

The karma-rebirth doctrine is one of the core doctrines of the Buddhist worldview. Some forms of Western Buddhism emphasize doctrinal study and meditation practice over traditional Buddhist elements that have their foundation in the karma-rebirth doctrine, such as merit-making practices and other forms of ritual. Conversely, the worldwide Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhist Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) encourages its affiliates to perform traditional ritual such as chanting and pujas to make merit for oneself and others, in addition to attending teachings and developing a regular meditation practice. During their exploration of the FPMT's activities, participants undergo a process of experimental validation of the teachings and practices, in which they come to accept doctrinal notions in one of two ways: the notion's capacity to validate and give meaning to personal experience, or to lend conceptual support to the newly acquired framework of ideas. Utilizing data obtained from fieldwork undertaken between 2003 and 2006 at Vajrayana Institute (VI), an FPMT centre in Sydney, Australia, I illustrate the way in which the karma-rebirth doctrine supports those aspects of the belief-system more capable of experiential validation through their capacity to frame and give meaning to personal experience. The acceptance of notions such as karma, rebirth and merit-making involves an interpretive shift from previously held notions about cause and effect and the nature of this-worldly existence, toward a Buddhist appreciation of these concepts.     

Evidence for attentional processing in spatial localization

Using a dual-task methodology, this study examined the involvement of selective attention in spatial localization. Thirty participants located a single, briefly presented, peripheral target stimulus, appearing in one of 50 positions on either side of a central fixation point, with or without the requirement to identify a simultaneously presented central distractor stimulus. Results revealed a robust interference effect in localization performance at short target durations that depended on the number of the to-be-identified distractor items. This outcome provides convergent support for the role of the attentional system in spatial localization.     

临床决策面临的挑战

医疗实践正处于一个深刻转折之中。大多数医生能记得,在工作中,他们带着一种身份、使命和信念,就像所罗门国王一样,不停地在进行着诊疗,他们可能是在接诊病人,或在听病人的主诉,或者在确定最佳的诊治方案。同时,并不是每一位病人都能被治愈,但每个人都可能确信,无论怎样治疗都是最为恰当的。更为重要的是,每位医生总是自由地、被信赖地和自主地确定什么方案是对每位患者更为有利。所有这些现在都处于变化中。回顾起来,第一个变化似乎是,日益增多的一些次要的书写工作、“一系列”的委员会、更多的会议。这些活动势必影响着医生,使他们的工作…     

Book reviews

Gormenzano, I., & Wasserman, E.A. (Eds.) (1992). Learning and memory: The behavioral and biological substrates. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pp. vii + 413. ISBN 0-8058-0888-4. £45.95 (Hbk).

Squire, L.R., Weinberger, N.M., Lynch, G., & McGaugh, J.L. (Eds.) (1991). Memory: Organization and locus of change. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 438. ISBN 0-19-506921-8. £55.00.

Quiatt, D., & Reynolds, V. (1993). Primate behaviour: Information, social knowledge, and the evolution of culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 322. ISBN 0-521-35255-X. £42.50 (Hbk).

Dawkins, M.S. (1993). Through our eyes only? the search for animal consciousness. Oxford: W.H. Freeman/Spektrum. Pp. x + 192. ISBN 0-7167-4501-1. £14.99 (Hbk).     

Variability and standardized test profiles in typically developing children and children with Williams Syndrome

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a developmental disorder, which due to its specific cognitive profile, has been of interest to multidisciplinary research in order to study the pathways between cognition, brain, and genes. Previous studies investigating individual performance on cognitive tasks have reported large variability within the WS cognitive profile, which has encouraged the investigation of WS subgroups. The current study compared the variability in performance scores on five verbal and non‐verbal standardized tests in 33 children with WS and in 33 typically developing (TD) children of a similar chronological age (CA). In contrast to previous studies, the current study did not find significant differences in variability in performance on British Picture Vocabulary scale, Test Reception of Grammar and Digit span Forward between WS and TD groups when CA was controlled for. However, there was significantly less variability in younger WS participants for performance scores on Pattern Construction compared to the TD group. In light of these results, methodological issues and the importance of taking CA into account in analyses will be discussed.     

Transgenic inhibition of neuronal calcineurin activity in the forebrain facilitates fear conditioning, but inhibits the extinction of contextual fear memories

It is unclear whether protein phosphatases, which counteract the actions of protein kinases, play a beneficial role in the formation and extinction of previously acquired fear memories. In this study, we investigated the role of the calcium/calmodulin dependent phosphatase 2B, also known as calcineurin (CaN) in the formation of contextual fear memory and extinction of previously acquired contextual fear. We used a temporally regulated transgenic approach, that allowed us to selectively inhibit neuronal CaN activity in the forebrain either during conditioning or only during extinction training leaving the conditioning undisturbed. Reducing CaN activity through the expression of a CaN inhibitor facilitated contextual fear conditioning, while it impaired the extinction of previously formed contextual fear memory. These findings give the first genetic evidence that neuronal CaN plays an opposite role in the formation of contextual fear memories and the extinction of previously formed contextual fear memories.