Externalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents: Entry points for an antisocial pathway to alcoholism

The authors examined heterogeneity in risk for externalizing symptoms in children of alcoholic parents, as it may inform the search for entry points into an antisocial pathway to alcoholism. That is, they tested whether the number of alcoholic parents in a family, the comorbid subtype of parental alcoholism, and the gender of the child predicted trajectories of externalizing symptoms over the early life course, as assessed in high-risk samples of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls. Through integrative analyses of 2 independent, longitudinal studies, they showed that children with either an antisocial alcoholic parent or 2 alcoholic parents were at greatest risk for externalizing symptoms. Moreover, children with a depressed alcoholic parent did not differ from those with an antisocial alcoholic parent in reported symptoms. These findings were generally consistent across mother, father, and adolescent reports of symptoms; child gender and child age (ages 2 through 17); and the 2 independent studies examined. Multialcoholic and comorbid-alcoholic families may thus convey a genetic susceptibility to dysregulation along with environments that both exacerbate this susceptibility and provide few supports to offset it.     

An Evaluation of a Parenting Class Curriculum for Parents of Young Children: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Parenting the Strong-Willed Child</Emphasis>

Young children with high levels of acting out behaviors present a challenge for families, caregivers, and the childcare system. The Parenting the Strong-Willed Child (PSWC) parenting class curriculum program is a 6-week, group based parent education program designed for parents of children with noncompliance problems (ages 2–8). The PSWC program was offered at no cost to parents enrolled in 8 Head Start centers, and parents were invited to participate in a program evaluation study. Seventy-one families enrolled in the study and completed at least one PSWC session. From pre- to post-test, parents reported significant improvements in both the frequency and intensity of child behavior problems. Parents also reported significant reductions in parenting stress, as well as improvements in their parenting behaviors, including a reduction in the use of lax discipline techniques and emotional reactivity in the context of discipline encounters. All improvements were sustained six months later. These preliminary results are encouraging, and point to the need for a more rigorous, controlled evaluation of the PSWC parenting class curriculum.     

Pediatric–Psychology Partnership for Abuse Prevention

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant, albeit underreported and underidentified, public health problem that requires the informed and coordinated efforts of the health care system for appropriate recognition and intervention. In addition, health disparities are seen in the incidence, prevalence, and burden of IPV among specific population groups in the United States. Pediatric–Psychology Partnership for Abuse Prevention is a graduate psychology education training project focused on developing an integrated primary health-care based workforce that is culturally sensitive and competent in the identification and remediation of IPV. In addition, this project aimed to increase the number of health service psychologists from diverse backgrounds who are culturally competent and aware of health disparities. The training included clinical psychology trainees and pediatric residents working together in an ambulatory pediatric health care setting. Project methods, outcomes, and implications for predoctoral clinical psychology training programs are described.     

Incongruent imagery interferes with action initiation

It has been suggested that representing an action through observation and imagery share neural processes with action execution. In support of this view, motor-priming research has shown that observing an action can influence action initiation. However, there is little motor-priming research showing that imagining an action can modulate action initiation. The current study examined whether action imagery could prime subsequent execution of a reach and grasp action. Across two motion analysis tracking experiments, 40 participants grasped an object following congruent or incongruent action imagery. In Experiment 1, movement initiation was faster following congruent compared to incongruent imagery, demonstrating that imagery can prime the initiation of grasping. In Experiment 2, incongruent imagery resulted in slower movement initiation compared to a no-imagery control. These data show that imagining a different action to that which is performed can interfere with action production. We propose that the most likely neural correlates of this interference effect are brain regions that code imagined and executed actions. Further, we outline a plausible mechanistic account of how priming in these brain regions through imagery could play a role in action cognition.     

Happiness as Stable Extraversion: Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire Among Undergraduate Students

The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) was developed by Hills and Argyle (2002) to provide a more accessible equivalent measure of the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI). The aim of the present study was to examine the internal consistency reliability, and construct validity of this new instrument alongside the Eysenckian dimensional model of personality. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was completed by a sample of 131 undergraduate students together with the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (alpha = .92) and good construct validity in terms of positive association with extraversion (r = .38 p < .001) and negative association with neuroticism (r = −.57 p < .001). The kind of happiness measured by the OHQ is clearly associated with stable extraversion.