Examining Children’s Problem Behaviors and Mothers’ Dating for Mothers’ Depressive Symptoms Following Divorce

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Although divorce is typically stressful for mothers, the formation of post-divorce dating relationships can help to ease this stress. Unfortunately, research...     

Measuring the combined risk to young children's cognitive development: An alternative to cumulative indices

In studies of child development, the combined effect of multiple risks acting in unison has been represented in a variety of ways. This investigation builds upon this preceding work and presents a new procedure for capturing the combined effect of multiple risks. A representative sample of 2,899 British children had their cognitive development measured at 36 and 58 months of age along with 10 potential risks during this period of development. Comparing a cumulative index of these risks against the previously undocumented alternative of confirmatory factor analysis using formative measurement, this study found differences favouring the factor analysis. The factor analysis procedure demonstrated greater predictive power of children's cognitive development while it systematically tested two of the assumptions implicit in cumulative risk indices.     

Passivity as a sequel to combat trauma

The author has noted a pattern of posttraumatic passivity in some combat veterans. The regression to an ego-passive stance in those men who are unable to develop an integration of nonaggressive activity and intimacy is discussed. Vietnam combat was particularly difficult for the development of a mature superego. The loss of the ego-ideal in combat, combined with insufficient societal supports blocked the mastery of the posttraumatic repetition compulsion.     

Pre-Pandemic Peer Relations Predict Adolescents’ Internalizing Response to Covid-19

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - The goal of the current longitudinal study was to investigate the role of adolescents’ peer victimization and aggression prior to COVID-19...     

Cost Analysis of Integrated Behavioral Health in a Large Primary Care Practice

A residency-based Family Medicine outpatient clinic chose to implement an integrated behavioral health care program in a large primary care clinic in the Southeast to improve patient access to behavioral health care. We hypothesized that embedding a BHP in a primary care setting would be a cost neutral intervention. We implemented a prospective cohort design and included expenses from both inpatient and outpatient visits. We implemented a mixed effects linear regression model to evaluate pre- and post-BHP exposure costs. A total of 1256 patients were identified in the post-BHP exposure period that had more than one-year post-exposure. After applying exclusion criteria, there were 926 patients included in analysis. These patient had an average total cost during the one-year pre-BHP exposure period of $5113 (SD = 7712) and one-year post-BHP exposure period of $5462 (SD = 7813). Our analysis shows a relatively cost neutral impact following the introduction of BHPs in a primary care setting. The results of this study provide a gauge for future planning of services.

     

Contemporary Visions of Psychotherapy Supervision: Sharing Perspective,Identifying Need,and Charting Possibility

Psychotherapy supervision has now celebrated its first centennial, is poised to move boldly forward into its second century of contribution to psychotherapy education, and seems perfectly positioned to further advance our knowledge about and practice of how to effectively facilitate, influence, and mentor our supervisees. Professional interest in and recognition of psychotherapy supervision appears to be at an all time high, and its value as a potentially alchemical educational event seems increasingly incontrovertible. But if supervision is to maintain and even enhance its substance and significance in 21st century psychotherapy education, what are the matters to which we as supervision practitioners, researchers, and theorists must vigilantly attend and vigorously address? In this special supervision issue of the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, we would like to examine some of those matters. The topics that are addressed include: competencies, evidence-based practice, and supervising psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, humanistic/existential, and integrative/eclectic psychotherapies. The binding theme of “pressing needs and impressing possibilities” will be evident throughout this journal issue. In this introductory paper, I briefly define psychotherapy supervision, consider its beginnings, provide a rationale for this special issue, and identify the specific questions that give focus and frame to each of the succeeding contributions.     

When nasty breeds nice: Threats of violence amplify agreeableness at national, individual, and situational levels

Humans have perennially faced threats of violence from other humans and have developed functional strategies for surviving those threats. Five studies examined the relation between threats of violence and agreeableness at the level of nations, individuals, and situations. People living in countries with higher military spending (Study 1) and those who chronically perceive threats from others (Study 2) were more agreeable. However, this threat-linked agreeableness was selective (Studies 3-5). Participants primed with threat were more agreeable and willing to help familiar others but were less agreeable and willing to help unfamiliar others. Additionally, people from large families, for whom affiliation may be a salient response to threat, were more likely than people from small families to shift in agreeableness. Returning to the national level, military spending was associated with increased trust in ingroup members but decreased trust in outgroups. Together, these findings demonstrate that agreeableness is selectively modulated by threats of violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Risk dishabituation: in repeated gambling, risk is reduced following low-probability "surprising" events (wins or losses)

In path-dependent risk taking, like playing a slot machine, the wager on one trial may be affected by the outcome of the preceding trial. Previous studies have shown that a person's risk-taking preferences may change as a result of the preceding trial (win or loss). For example, the "house money effect" suggests that risk taking may increase after a win, whereas the "break even effect" posits that risk taking increases after a loss. Independent of those findings, a person's emotional state has been found to influence risk taking. For example, the "mood maintenance hypothesis" supports the notion that positive affect decreases risk taking, and related research finds that increased negative affect increases risk taking. Because winning and losing may influence one's emotional state, we sought to investigate how both previous outcomes, as well as a person's emotional responses to those outcomes, independently influence subsequent risk taking. To do this, data were collected using three simplified slot machines where the chance of winning each trial was set to 13%, 50%, and 87%, respectively. Evidence for the break even and house money effects were found on the 13% and 87% games, respectively. Likewise, emotional valence was found to predict risk taking on these two tasks, with emotional valence fully explaining the break even effect observed on the 13% game. In addition to these results, the present research revealed that risk taking is reduced following low-probability ("surprising") events (i.e., a win in the 13% condition or loss in the 87% condition). Dubbed "risk dishabituation," this phenomenon is discussed, along with its likely corresponding emotional experience--surprise.     

The Performance of the AUDIT-C and the Examination of Risks Associated With Postdeployment Alcohol Misuse in Air Force Medical Service Personnel

This study assessed the performance of the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) in diagnosing a postdeployment alcohol disorder in a cohort of Air Force Medical Services personnel (N = 13,353). The prevalence of alcohol disorders in this population of previously deployed military healthcare personnel was 1.26% based on medical record data. Assessing the AUDIT-C as a screening tool, the following characteristics were found: sensitivity was 23.81%, specificity was 91.48%, positive predictive value was 3.44%, and negative predictive value was 98.95%. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 2.80 and 0.83, respectively. Classification accuracy of the AUDIT-C was improved by accounting for officer status and female gender. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.69 for the multivariable model, indicating poor to fair classification accuracy. However, this model was significantly improved over the univariate model. Thus, taking rank and gender into account when conducting screening may improve the utility of the AUDIT-C.