Explaining White Opposition to Black Political Leadership: The Role of Fear of Racial Favoritism

Despite the election of America's first Black president, most non‐Hispanic Whites continue to oppose Black political leadership. The conventional explanation for White opposition is sheer racial prejudice, yet the available empirical evidence for this theory is inconsistent. I test an alternative theory that Whites perceive Black political leaders as a threat to their group's interests. Using a new survey measure and nationally representative panel data covering the 2008, 2010, and 2012 U.S. elections, I find that a majority of Whites perceive Black elected officials as likely to favor Blacks over Whites. Moreover, fear of racial favoritism predicts support for Barack Obama in both cross‐sectional models and fixed‐effects models of within‐person change, controlling for negative racial stereotypes. I replicate these findings using a separate cross‐sectional survey fielded after the 2014 election that controls for racial resentment. Collectively, these results suggest that perceptions of conflicting group interests—and not just prejudice—drive White opposition to Black political leadership.     

Correlates of self-worth and body size dissatisfaction among obese Latino youth

The current study examined self-worth and body size dissatisfaction, and their association with maternal acculturation among obese Latino youth enrolled in a community-based obesity intervention program. Upon entry to the program, a sample of 113 participants reported global self-worth comparable to general population norms, but lower athletic competence and perception of physical appearance. Interestingly, body size dissatisfaction was more prevalent among younger respondents. Youth body size dissatisfaction was associated with less acculturated mothers and higher maternal dissatisfaction with their child's body size. By contrast, although global self-worth was significantly related to body dissatisfaction, it was not influenced by mothers' acculturation or dissatisfaction with their own or their child's body size. Obesity intervention programs targeted to Latino youth need to address self-worth concerns among the youth as well as addressing maternal dissatisfaction with their children's body size.     

Sleep deprivation in adolescents and adults: changes in affect

The present study investigated the impact of sleep deprivation on several aspects of affective functioning in healthy participants selected from three different developmental periods: early adolescence (ages 10-13), midadolescence (ages 13-16), and adulthood (ages 30-60). Participants completed an affective functioning battery under conditions of sleep deprivation (a maximum of 6.5 hours total sleep time on the first night followed by a maximum of 2 hours total sleep time on the second night) and rest (approximately 7-8 hours total sleep time each night for two consecutive nights). Less positive affect was observed in the sleep-deprived, compared to rested, condition. This effect held for 9 of the 12 positive affect items on the PANAS-C. Participants also reported a greater increase in anxiety during a catastrophizing task and rated the likelihood of potential catastrophes as higher when sleep deprived, relative to when rested. Early adolescents appraised their main worry as more threatening when sleep deprived, relative to when rested. These results support and extend previous research underscoring the adverse affective consequences of sleep deprivation.     

The prevalence of perceived discrimination among African American and Caribbean Black youth

The present study examined ethnic, gender, and age differences in perceived discrimination and the association between perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents. Data are from the National Survey of African Life (NSAL), which includes 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth. Results indicate that the majority of Black youth perceived at least 1 discriminatory incident in the previous year. Adolescents at later stages of development perceived more discrimination than those at earlier stages, and African American and Caribbean Black males perceived more discrimination than their female counterparts. Perceptions of discrimination were positively linked to depressive symptoms and were negatively linked to self-esteem and life satisfaction, regardless of ethnicity. However, Caribbean Black youth appear to be more vulnerable when they perceive high levels of discrimination.     

Why study group therapy?

Group therapy training is highly valuable for the overall professional practice of psychotherapy. Learning to be a group therapist means learning about shame, resistance, fears of engulfment and abandonment, maintaining a self in relation to others, promoting empathic connection, strong affects in the moment, multiple experiences of the same interaction or event, and group dynamics. These concepts are highly relevant to all clinical work and other aspects of professional life. Training in group therapy should place greater emphasis on its broader applicability.     

Methylphenidate amplifies long-term plasticity in the hippocampus via noradrenergic mechanisms

Methylphenidate treatment is used for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and can improve learning and memory. Previously, improvements were considered a by-product of increased attention; however, we hypothesize that methylphenidate directly alters mechanisms underlying learning and memory, and therefore examined its effects on hippocampal long-term potentiation and long-term depression. Methylphenidate enhanced both mechanisms in the absence of presynaptic changes and in a noradrenalin beta-receptor-dependent manner. These findings can explain both the improved learning and memory and decreased learning selectivity found with methylphenidate treatment and constitute the first demonstration of direct actions of methylphenidate on mechanisms implicated in cognition.     

Caregiver involvement in applied behavior-analytic research: A scoping review and discussion

We conducted a scoping review to characterize the role of caregiver involvement in behavior-analytic research. We reviewed eight behavioral-learning journals from 2011–2022 for works that included children or caregivers as participants and characterized caregiver involvement as passive (implications for caregivers, input, social validity) and active (implementation, caregiver behavior, training, caregiver-collected data). The review identified 228 studies, and almost all (96.1%; n = 219) involved caregivers in some capacity; 94.3% (n = 215) had passive involvement (26.8% had only passive involvement; n = 61), 69.3% (n = 158) had active involvement (1.8% had only active involvement; n = 4), and 3.9% (n = 9) had neither passive nor active involvement. Involvement generally increased over publication years. The most common types of involvement were implications for caregivers, implementation, and input; caregiver-collected data were rare. We propose considerations when engaging caregivers in research and suggest new avenues of inquiry related to caregivers' treatment objectives and social validity, treatment implementers, and caregiver-collected data.