The Relation Between Anxiety Sensitivity and Attachment Style in Adolescence and Early Adulthood

Given the accumulating evidence for a role of anxiety sensitivity in the etiology of panic, it is important to understand the developmental origins of anxiety sensitivity. To this end, this study examined the relation between attachment beliefs and anxiety sensitivity in a sample of high school students (n = 203; mean age 15.7 years) and university students (n = 324; mean age 21.7 years). The Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR; K. Brennan, C. Clark, &; P. Shaver, 1998) was used to assess attachment beliefs and to classify participants into attachment groups. The Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI; R. A. Peterson &; S. Reiss, 1987) was used to assess participants' levels of anxiety sensitivity. Results supported the hypothesis that individuals with insecure attachment, specifically those classified as preoccupied and fearful (i.e., those with a negative model of self), had significantly higher anxiety sensitivity scores than securely attached individuals in both the high school and college samples.     

Comparing self‐directed methods for training staff to create graphs using Graphpad Prism

An important skill for behavior analysts is creating graphs that clearly convey outcomes and conform to publication conventions. GraphPad Prism is software designed for creating scientific graphs, but no prior research has empirically evaluated training graphing skills using Prism. Two effective training methods are enhanced written instructions (EWI) and video modeling with voiceover instructions (VMVO), but no single‐subject studies have compared the effects of these methods. In this study, we compared the efficacy and social validity of EWI and VMVO for training staff to create graphs using Prism. A single‐subject design was employed to compare the effects of the methods on the individual performance of 11 graduate students. EWI and VMVO were both found to be effective, and more participants chose to use EWI.     

Erotic Authenticity: Comparing Intimate Relationships between High-End Bar and Low-End Bar in China’s Global Sex Industry

Research on the sex industry generally focuses heavily on the economic relationship between sex workers and their clients but typically fails to consider the role and significance of intimacy within these interactions. By drawing upon over 36 months’ ethnographic work conducted in high-end and low-end bars in Dongguan from 2008 to 2009 and 2011 to 2017, the article argues that sex workers and their clients are not only involved in pecuniary transactions but also may exchange intimate and non-remunerative feelings. In order to understand the factors that both facilitate and limit experiences of intimacy in sex work, relevant socioeconomic circumstances must be deconstructed. The dynamics that characterize contemporary Dongguan must be considered within the unique subcultures that characterize the high-end and low-end sex markets. In order to extrapolate from the aforementioned factors, this article examines the interactions of concepts such as economic and cultural capitals, emotional labor, and bounded authenticity to provide insights into how intimacy occurs in China’s global sex industry. The article will also draw from these insights and explore how Chinese and foreign clients overcome social and cultural barriers to develop intimate relationships with sex workers.     

Utility of a CPT in diagnosing ADHD among a representative sample of high-risk children: a cautionary study.

Continuous performance tests (CPTs) are widely used in the assessment and study of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although CPTs have reliably found differences between children with ADHD and normal controls, discriminating between children with ADHD and children with subclinical levels of behavioral or cognitive problems is a more clinically relevant and difficult endeavor. Additionally, most studies use convenience samples from clinical care settings that may not represent the ADHD population as a whole. The current study assessed the utility of a clinically used CPT, the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), in distinguishing between children with ADHD and children with subclinical levels of attention/behavior problems. Participants constituted a representative sample of elementary school students at high risk for ADHD, including 116 children with ADHD and 51 subclinical controls. Results found no significant differences between the ADHD and subclinical group on CPT variables, and CPT performance did not reliably predict group membership. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Theological reflections on violence and abuse

This article examines the contemporary problem of intimate violence and sexual assault within a larger theoretical and theological context. It does so by tracing two trajectories in theological thinking: first, that suffering is sent from God and requires obedience; and, second, that the roles of men and women are not only specific and hierarchical but must remain so lest society risk moral chaos. It argues that many messages from traditional Christian theology continue to haunt abused women in such a way as to at times facilitate domestic violence. It offers suggestions for transforming common theological interpretations in ways that are empowering for battered women. These recommendations include attempts to emphasize resources within a tradition that may help transform unjust power relations like those in abusive relationships.     

Tone of postcards in increasing survey response rates

This study assessed differences in response rates to a series of three-wave mail surveys when amiable or insistently worded postcards were the third wave of the mailing. Three studies were conducted; one with a sample of 600 health commissioners, one with a sample of 680 vascular nurses, and one with 600 elementary school secretaries. The combined response rates for the first and second wave mailings were 65.8%, 67.6%, and 62.4%, respectively. A total of 308 amiable and 308 insistent postcards were sent randomly to nonrespondents as the third wave mailing. Overall, there were 41 amiable and 52 insistent postcards returned, not significantly different by chi-square test. However, a separate chi-square test for one of the three studies, the nurses' study, did find a significant difference in favor of the insistently worded postcards.     

Construct validity of the posttraumatic stress disorder checklist in cancer survivors: analyses based on two samples

The measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critically important for the identification and treatment of this disorder. The PTSD Checklist (PCL; F. W. Weathers and J. Ford, 1996) is a self-report measure that is increasingly used. In this study, the authors investigated the factorial validity of the PCL with data from 236 cancer survivors who received a bone marrow or stem cell transplantation. The authors examined the fit of these data with the clinical model of 3 symptom clusters for PTSD, as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and alternative models tested in prior research. By using confirmatory factor analysis the authors found that a 4-first-order-factor model of PTSD provided the best fit. The relations of PTSD symptoms with sociodemographic and medical variables were also explored.     

Some determinants of changes in preference over time

Results of longitudinal studies suggest that the stability of preferences varies across individuals, although it is unclear what variables account for these differences. We extended this work by conducting periodic assessments of preference for leisure activities over 3 to 6 months with 10 adults with developmental disabilities. Although previous research has collectively shown that preferences identified via repeated assessment are highly variable, our results showed that preferences were relatively stable for the majority (80%) of participants. In an attempt to identify some environmental determinants of shifts in preference, we provided extended daily access to high-preference items (preference-weakening manipulation) and paired access to low-preference items with social and edible putative reinforcers during brief sessions (preference-strengthening manipulation). Preference assessments continued over the course of these manipulations with 2 participants. Results showed that changes in preference across time could be produced systematically and suggest that naturally occurring changes in establishing operations or conditioning histories contribute to temporal shifts in preference. Implications for preference assessments, reinforcer usage, and planned attempts to change preferences are discussed.     

The Impact of Parenting Experience on Gender Stereotyped Toy Play of Children

The purpose of this study was to examine gender role socialization as a function of parenting experience in an actual toy play situation and as a function of adults' perceptions of typically gender-stereotyped children's toys. Each of 48 children (24 boys and 24 girls) played with 3 adults: either his or her own mother or father, a matched mother or father of another child, and a matched man or woman who was not a parent. The amount of time children and adults played with gender-specific toys, adults' categorization of toys into gender categories, and adults' desirability ratings of gender-specific toys were examined. The gender-sorting task revealed that adults did not agree with traditional expert categorizations of some of the toys, which suggests a shift in the perceived function of some traditionally stereotyped toys. Regardless of how parents sorted toys into categories, when playing with boys, most time was spent with masculine toys. With girls, however, there was greater flexibility in the categories of toys with which they played. Parenting experience influenced the perceived desirability of toys; parents found toys more desirable than nonparents but these differences did not affect the actual play session with children. These results suggest a change in perceptions of traditionally stereotyped toys and differences as a function of gender in what is appropriate gender-typing behavior.