Beyond the heritability of life satisfaction – The roles of personality and twin-specific influences

In a behavior genetic design, we investigated individual differences in life satisfaction and its relation to personality with respect to both internal and external influences. We questioned the absence of shared environment and examined the specific contribution of additive and non-additive genetic influences. We also tested for twin-specific environmental influences in a total sample of 1308 dyads including identical and fraternal twins, siblings, mother–child and grandparent–child pairs. The results showed substantial shared environmental influences on life satisfaction that varied between twins and non-twins, supporting twin-specific environmental influences. Additive and non-additive genetic influences on life satisfaction were completely shared with personality. The remaining variance could be explained by unique non-shared environmental influences for life satisfaction independent of personality.     

Development of the Weight- and Body-Related Shame and Guilt Scale (WEB–SG) in a Nonclinical Sample of Obese Individuals

In this article, we present the evaluation of the psychometric properties of a new self-report measure of Weight- and Body-Related Shame and Guilt (WEB–SG). The main purpose of the study was to measure shame and guilt feelings separately in obese individuals and investigate differing behavioral and emotional correlates of these emotions. Altogether, 331 obese participants completed the WEB–SG and other established self-report measures. A subset of the participants completed a 6-month follow-up. The WEB–SG proved to be internally consistent and temporally stable over a 6-month period. Regarding the factorial structure, a two-factor conceptualization was supported. The construct validity of the WEB–SG subscales was evidenced by a substantial overlap of common variance with related measures. The subscales Shame and Guilt showed differential correlation patterns to other scales. The WEB–SG is a brief, psychometrically sound measure for assessing body shame and guilt concerning weight control in obese individuals.     

Development of Control-of-Outcome Scales and Self-Efficacy Scales for Women in Four Life Roles

Scales to measure control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies based on social comparisons were developed for adult females in the four life roles of occupation, parenting, marriage, and economic management. Internal consistency and construct validity of the scales were examined in two studies. Internal consistency estimates of six of the eight scales exceeded .70. A factor analysis within each role supported the distinction between control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies. Construct validity was supported by finding the hypothesized relations between the developed scales and standard measures of self-esteem, depression, and locus of control. As hypothesized, the developed scales accounted for unique portions of the variance in role-specific coping orientation and role stress. Specifically, control-of-outcome expectancies predicted active or passive coping orientation in the impersonal roles of occupation and economic management, whereas self-efficacy expectancies predicted active or passive coping orientation in the personal roles of parenting and marriage. It was concluded that the developed scales might have utility for understanding coping and experienced stress in various life roles.     

Examining the Relation Between the Therapeutic Alliance, Treatment Adherence, and Outcome of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children With Anxiety Disorders

Little is known about the contribution of technical and relational factors to child outcomes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety disorders. This study investigated the association between treatment adherence, the child-therapist alliance, and child clinical outcomes in manual-guided individual- and group-based CBT for youths diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Trained observers rated tapes of therapy sessions for treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in a sample of 52 children (aged 8 to 12) with anxiety disorders. Self-reported child anxiety was assessed at pre-, mid-, and posttreatment; parent-reported child internalizing symptoms was assessed at pre- and posttreatment. The results showed high levels of treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in both CBT programs. Neither treatment adherence nor child-therapist alliance predicted traditional measurements of child outcomes in the present study, but a relation between alliance and outcome was found using a more precise estimation of the true pre-post differences. Implications of these findings for expanding our understanding of how treatment processes relate to child outcome in CBT for children with anxiety disorders are discussed.     

Phenomenology,psychopathology, and short‐term therapeutic outcome of 102 infants aged 0 to 12 months consecutively referred to a community‐based 0 to 3 mental health clinic

Infants ages 0 to 1 year consecutively referred for psychiatric treatment during the year 2005 were followed, and variables associated with diagnosis and short‐term outcome were assessed. Infants were evaluated using the Psychiatric Infant Navigator Chart and Evaluation that includes nosological diagnoses [Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, (DC 0–3), Zero to Three, 1994] as well as risk and protective factors, treatment procedure, and outcomes. Seventy‐six percent of the infants had an Axis I diagnosis, with anxiety disorders and a mixed disorder of emotional expressiveness being the most frequent. Twenty‐five percent had an Axis II diagnosis. Multiple correspondence analyses showed that two dimensions corresponding grossly to DC 0–3 Axes I and II emerged. They emphasized three clinical profiles characterized by (a) good infant functioning, parent's awareness of their own difficulties, and a good outcome; (b) moderate child symptoms, overinvolved relating, and a good/intermediate outcome; (c) severe child symptoms, underinvolved relating, and a less favorable short‐term outcome, signaling the risk for developmental disorders. Among the associated risk factors were cumulative parental stress, maternal psychopathology, and family dysfunction. Clinical implications of these findings indicated that infants under the age of 1 year who are referred for mental health evaluation and intervention are a heterogeneous group in terms of both severity and prognosis. Clinicians should differentiate subgroups of young children to detect those infants at risk for persistent psychopathology.     

Better working memory for non-social targets in infant siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

We compared working memory (WM) for the location of social versus non-social targets in infant siblings of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (sibs-ASD, n  =   25) and of typically developing children (sibs-TD, n  =   30) at 6.5 and 9 months of age. There was a significant interaction of risk group and target type on WM, in which the sibs-ASD had better WM for non-social targets as compared with controls. There was no group by stimulus interaction on two non-memory measures. The results suggest that the increased competency of sibs-ASD in WM (creating, updating and using transient representations) for non-social stimuli distinguishes them from sibs-TD by 9 months of age. This early emerging strength is discussed as a developmental pathway that may have implications for social attention and learning in children at risk for ASD.     

The Moderating Effect of Within‐Group Similarity on Change in a Strengths‐Based Programme for Incarcerated Young Men

Many youth who are incarcerated within juvenile correctional facilities experience mental health disorders, histories of victimization and suicide ideation. Strengths‐based intervention programmes are intended to enhance participants' resilience against such challenges. However, little is known about how the composition of intervention groups contributes to programmes' efficacy. This study addresses the impact of within‐group similarity on the success of a strengths‐based intervention for incarcerated young men (n = 141). Similarity was assessed in terms of self‐reported demographics and behaviours and belief systems. Youths' masculine ideology, caring and cooperative behaviours, ethnic pride and respect for differences, self‐efficacy regarding education and non‐violence, and attitudes about criminal behaviour were measured before and after intervention. Results indicate that participants' caring and cooperative behaviour increased during the intervention. However, their education‐related self‐efficacy was reduced, and the perceived benefits of criminal activity increased. These changes were moderated by group composition: less similarity between participants and their group members was associated with less negative change. In the context of juvenile corrections facilities, where staying the same may be a relatively positive outcome, perhaps the more relevant question is not which processes and characteristics of others better enable youth to change but which experiences help them retain positive aspects of themselves. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coping With Unemployment: The Impact of Unemployment Duration and Personality on Trajectories of Life Satisfaction

Unemployment is a major life event that causes an enormous drop in people's life satisfaction. However, there is substantial variability in people's ability (or inability) to cope with the experience of unemployment. In the present study, we examined the causes of individual differences in trajectories of life satisfaction when people were faced with unemployment by taking into account the persistence of unemployment, pre‐event personality and age. Analyses were based on data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel. Using latent growth curve modelling, life satisfaction was investigated from 3 years before to 3 years after a person became unemployed in a total sample of 908 individuals. As expected, unemployment caused a substantial drop in life satisfaction that persisted for at least 3 years after the event. On average, individuals did not completely return to their previous satisfaction level. This pattern existed even for participants who re‐entered the labour market. Moreover, our results showed that variability in coping with unemployment can be explained in part by personality traits. For people with short periods of unemployment, Conscientiousness reinforced the negative effect of unemployment, whereas Extraversion softened the effect. In sum, our analyses showed that (a) the negative effect of unemployment on life satisfaction differs according to the length of the unemployment period and (b) personality partially moderates responses to unemployment over time. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Eye movements during scene inspection: A test of the saliency map hypothesis

Both attentional difficulties and rapid processing deficits have recently been linked with dyslexia. We report two studies comparing the performance of dyslexic and control teenagers on attentional tasks. The two studies were based on two different conceptions of attention. Study 1 employed a design that allowed three key components of attention--focusing, switching, and sustaining--to be investigated separately. One hypothesis under investigation was that rapid processing problems--in particular impaired ability to switch attention rapidly--might be associated with dyslexia. However, although dyslexic participants were significantly less accurate than their controls in a condition where they had to switch attention between two target types, the nature of the deficit suggested that the problem was not in switching attention per se. Thus, in Study 2, we explored an alternative interpretation of the Study 1 results in terms of the classic capacity-limited models of "central" attention. We contrasted two hypotheses: (1) that dyslexic teenagers have reduced cognitive resources versus (2) that they suffer from a general impairment in the ability to automatise basic skills. To investigate the automaticity of the shape recognition component of the task a similar attention paradigm to that used in Study 1 was employed, but using degraded, as well as intact, stimuli. It was found that stimulus degradation led to relatively less impairment for dyslexic than for matched control groups. The results support the hypothesis that dyslexic people suffer from a general impairment in the ability to automatise skills--in this case the skill of automatic shape recognition.     

The role of prior exposure in the capture of attention by items in working memory

The Biased Competition Model (BCM) suggests both top-down and bottom-up biases operate on selective attention (e.g., Desimone & Duncan, 1995). It has been suggested that top-down control signals may arise from working memory. In support, Downing (2000) found faster responses to probes presented in the location of stimuli held vs. not held in working memory. Soto, Heinke, Humphreys, and Blanco (2005) showed the involuntary nature of this effect and that shared features between stimuli were sufficient to attract attention. Here we show that stimuli held in working memory had an influence on the deployment of attentional resources even when: (1) It was detrimental to the task, (2) there was equal prior exposure, and (3) there was no bottom-up priming. These results provide further support for involuntary top-down guidance of attention from working memory and the basic tenets of the BCM, but further discredit the notion that bottom-up priming is necessary for the effect to occur.