Early Pubertal Timing as a Vulnerability to Depression Symptoms: Differential Effects of Race and Sex

Robust evidence supports that girls and boys who experience early pubertal timing, maturing earlier than one’s peers, are vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression. However, it has yet to be clarified whether early pubertal timing confers vulnerability to African American as well as to Caucasian adolescents and whether this vulnerability is specific to depressive symptoms or can be generalized to symptoms of social anxiety. In previous studies, one race or one sex was examined in isolation or sample sizes were too small to examine racial differences. Our longitudinal study consisted of a sample of 223 adolescents (M_age?=?12.42, 54.3 % female, 50.2 % African American, and 49.8 % Caucasian). At baseline, depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and pubertal timing were assessed by self-report. Nine months later, we assessed depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, body esteem, and stressful life events that occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that early pubertal timing interacted with stressful life events to predict increased symptoms of depression, but only for Caucasian girls and African American boys. Results were found to be specific to depressive symptoms and did not generalize to symptoms of social anxiety. Additionally, there was a significant positive indirect effect of pubertal timing on symptoms of depression through body esteem for Caucasian females.     

Errors of Omission and Commission during Alternative Reinforcement of Compliance: The Effects of Varying Levels of Treatment Integrity

We conducted two experiments to evaluate the effects of errors of omission and commission during alternative reinforcement of compliance in young children. In Experiment 1, we evaluated errors of omission by examining two levels of integrity during alternative reinforcement (20 and 60 %) for child compliance following no treatment (baseline) versus treatment at full (i.e., 100 %) integrity. Results indicated that compliance varied according to the level of integrity in place. In addition, compliance in the 60 % integrity condition was high and stable when it followed baseline, but was substantially lower for one participant and slightly lower for a second participant when it followed the full integrity condition. In Experiment 2, we evaluated errors of commission. For three participants, we compared treatment at full integrity to a condition in which errors of commission were made on every trial (i.e., 0 % integrity). For one of these three participants, we also compared treatment at full integrity to baseline and to a condition in which errors of commission were made on 50 % of trials. Results of all four evaluations again indicate that compliance varied according to the level of integrity in place: compliance was low in both the 0 and 50 % integrity conditions, regardless of the preceding condition. These results suggest that during alternative reinforcement of compliance, the effect of occasional errors of omission may depend on the immediately preceding context but that errors of commission are more detrimental.     

Developing a Model of Advanced Training to Promote Career Advancement for Certified Genetic Counselors: An Investigation of Expanded Skills,Advanced Training Paths,and Professional Opportunities

There are currently multiple paths through which genetic counselors can acquire advanced knowledge and skills. However, outside of continuing education opportunities, there are few formal training programs designed specifically for the advanced training of genetic counselors. In the genetic counseling profession, there is currently considerable debate about the paths that should be available to attain advanced skills, as well as the skills that might be needed for practice in the future. The Association of Genetic Counseling Program Directors (AGCPD) convened a national committee, the Committee on Advanced Training for Certified Genetic Counselors (CATCGC), to investigate varied paths to post-master’s training and career development. The committee began its work by developing three related grids that view career advancement from the viewpoints of the skills needed to advance (skills), ways to obtain these skills (paths), and existing genetic counselor positions that offer career change or advancement (positions). Here we describe previous work related to genetic counselor career advancement, the charge of the CATCGC, our preliminary work in developing a model through which to view genetic counselor advanced training and career advancement opportunities, and our next steps in further developing and disseminating the model.     

Using Self‐Regulated Learning Strategies to Develop Students’ Multicultural Counseling Competency

This study examines the effect of self‐regulated learning strategies on students’ multicultural competency development. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 26 students who took a semester‐long multicultural counseling course. Results show statistically significant improvement in students’ multicultural awareness and knowledge and statistical insignificance in multicultural skill development compared to their level of competence before the training. Implications of using this approach to teach multicultural counseling courses and future research are discussed. Este estudio examina el efecto de las estrategias de aprendizaje autorregulado en el desarrollo de la competencia multicultural de los estudiantes. Se recopilaron datos cuantitativos y cualitativos de 26 estudiantes que atendieron un curso de consejería multicultural de un semestre. Los resultados muestran una mejora estadísticamente significativa en la conciencia y conocimentos multiculturales de los estudiantes y una insignificancia estadística en el desarrollo de las habilidades multiculturales comparadas con su nivel de competencia antes de la capacitación. Se discuten las implicaciones de usar este enfoque didáctico en cursos de consejería multicultural y para investigaciones futuras.     

Effects of daily maladaptive coping on nightly sleep in mothers

Objective: We examined effects of daily rumination and suppression in response to stressors on objective and subjective sleep among mothers.

Design: Participants were 183 mothers, including chronically stressed mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (M-ASD; n = 92) and age-matched mothers of neurotypical children (M-NT; n = 91). In an intensive longitudinal design, participants provided reports of daily rumination and suppression, nightly objective actigraphy-defined sleep and nightly subjective sleep quality for seven consecutive days at baseline, 9 months and 18 months.

Main Outcome Measures: Total sleep time, sleep fragmentation, sleep onset latency, and subjective sleep quality.

Results: Among M-NT with above average depressive symptoms, higher daily rumination was associated with shorter total sleep time. Rumination was associated with more sleep fragmentation among M-NT at the trend level. Rumination was not associated with sleep onset latency among M-NT, or with any sleep outcomes among M-ASD. Suppression was not associated with any sleep outcomes.

Conclusion: We provide novel evidence of the effect of rumination on objectively measured sleep duration among M-NT. Coping was not related to sleep among M-ASD. Given the prevalence of poor sleep among mothers, future work should examine modifiable factors perpetuating sleep disturbance.     

Physical Activity Among Urban Children with Asthma: Does Sleep Matter?

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - The present study examined associations between sleep and physical activity among a diverse sample of 97 urban children (ages 7–9) with...     

Construal level mind-sets moderate self- and social stereotyping

Construal level theory suggests that events and objects can be represented at either a higher, more abstract level involving consideration of superordinate goals, desirability, global processing, and broad categorizations or a lower, more concrete level involving consideration of subordinate goals, feasibility, local processing, and narrow categorizations. Analogously, social targets (including the self) can be represented more broadly, as members of a group, or more narrowly, as individuals. Because abstract construals induce a similarity focus, they were predicted to increase the perceived fit between social targets and a salient social category. Accordingly, placing individuals into a more abstract construal mind-set via an unrelated task increased the activation and use of stereotypes of salient social groups, stereotype-consistent trait ratings of the self, group identification, and stereotype-consistent performance relative to more concrete construal mind-sets. Thus, nonsocial contextual influences (construal level mind-sets) affect stereotyping of self and others.     

Reflections on religious belief and prosociality: Comment on Galen (2012)

Luke Galen (2012) offers a timely analysis of associations between religiosity and prosocial and antisocial attitudes and behaviors. After identifying 10 points of agreement, I raise 8 questions for further reflection and research: (1) Is ingroup giving and volunteerism not prosocial? (2) Are religion-related prosocial norms part of the religious factor? (3) Is social support also appropriately considered part of the religious factor? (4) Are self-report data from more and less religious people invalid? (5) How should we disentangle gender and religiosity? (6) How might we resolve "the religious engagement paradox"? (7) Does religion serve an adaptive, evolutionary function? And (8) Might research further explore religiosity, in its varieties, and prosociality? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Forgive and Forget? Forgiveness,Personality, and Wellness Among Counselors‐in‐Training

Forgiveness as a method of addressing “wounds” has been linked to enduring aspects of personality and improved physical and mental health outcomes. The aim of this study was to understand the effects of forgiveness on counseling students’ overall wellness. Counseling students (N= 115) from 5 universities completed self‐report measures of forgiveness, wellness, and personality. Results indicate that, when personality factors are controlled, forgiveness contributes a significant proportion (10%) of the variance in wellness for counseling students. Implications for counselor training and counseling are discussed.