Counseling Outcomes From 1990 to 2008 for School‐Age Youth With Depression: A Meta‐Analysis

Clinical trials exploring the effectiveness of counseling and psychotherapy in treatment of depression in school‐age youth composed this meta‐analysis. Results were synthesized using a random effects model for mean difference and mean gain effect size estimates. No effects of moderating variables were evident. Counseling and psychotherapy are effective for treatment of depression in school‐age youth both at termination and follow‐up, and in school and nonschool settings.     

Personality assessment in DSM-5: empirical support for rating severity, style, and traits

Despite a general consensus that dimensional models are superior to the categorical representations of personality disorders in DSM-IV, proposals for how to depict personality pathology dimensions vary substantially. One important question involves how to separate clinical severity from the style of expression through which personality pathology manifests. This study empirically distinguished stylistic elements of personality pathology symptoms from the overall severity of personality disorder in a large, longitudinally assessed clinical sample (N = 605). Data suggest that generalized severity is the most important single predictor of current and prospective dysfunction, but that stylistic elements also indicate specific areas of difficulty. Normative personality traits tend to relate to the general propensity for personality pathology, but not stylistic elements of personality disorders. Overall, findings support a three-stage diagnostic strategy involving a global rating of personality disorder severity, ratings of parsimonious and discriminant valid stylistic elements of personality disorder, and ratings of normative personality traits.     

Trait Goal Orientation, Self-Regulation, and Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to meta-analytically examine trait goal orientation constructs and their relationships with the self-regulation variables of self-monitoring, self-evaluations, self-reactions, and self-efficacy as well as task performance across a range of contexts.

Design, Methodology, Approach

Data were gathered from published and unpublished research examining the goal orientation construct and self-regulation and/or task performance. Effect sizes from 102 research reports involving over 16,000 participants were included.

Findings

In general the mastery-approach goal orientation construct was positively related to the self-regulation and performance variables. Conversely, negative relationships were found between the performance-avoid goal orientation and those variables. Relationships between goal orientation and self-regulation tended to be higher compared to those found for goal orientation and performance. Overall, the findings support the discriminant validity of the three factors of goal orientation (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoid).

Practical Implications

Practitioners and researchers will benefit from learning that mastery-approach goal orientation consistently relates to self-regulation and task performance. The findings indicate that a mastery-approach goal orientation could serve as a meaningful predictor in selection processes or as an explanatory variable of motivation.

Originality/Value

The present study updates and expands upon past research by focusing on relationships of trait goal orientation across a variety of contexts. The results extend meta-analytic results to a wider range of self-regulatory variables.     

Direct and indirect transmission of relationship functioning across generations

Relationship functioning is assumed to propagate across subsequent generations, but most studies have lacked appropriate methodologies to test this assumption prospectively. In a randomly selected sample of youth (N = 821) followed prospectively for over 25 years across multiple generations, we examined the association of romantic engagement (i.e., emotional involvement and closeness) between parents with offspring romantic relationship quality. We tested two developmental pathways linking parents' romantic engagement with offspring adult romantic relationship quality, the first operating via parenting practices, and the second operating via adolescent depression. Parents' romantic engagement predicted offspring romantic relationship quality a mean of 17 years later, net age and socioeconomic status. Results supported a developmental pathway from parents' romantic engagement at offspring mean age 14, to parenting at offspring mean age 16, to offspring socioemotional functioning at mean age 22, and offspring romantic relationship quality at mean age 33. However, the influence of parents' romantic engagement on offsprings' adult romantic relationship quality does not appear to operate via a pathway of adolescent depression. Implications for prevention are discussed.     

SenseCam, imagery and bias in memory for wellbeing

Identifying and modifying the negative interpretation bias that characterises depression is central to successful treatment. While accumulating evidence indicates that mental imagery is particularly effective in the modification of emotional bias, this research typically incorporates static and unrelated ambiguous stimuli. SenseCam technology, and the resulting video-like footage, offers an opportunity to produce training stimuli that are dynamic and self-relevant. Here participants experienced several ambiguous tasks and subsequently viewed SenseCam footage of the same tasks, paired with negative or positive captions. Participants were trained to use mental imagery to inter-relate SenseCam footage and captions. Participants reported increased levels of happy mood, reduced levels of sad mood, and increased task enjoyment following SenseCam review with positive versus negative captions. This shift in emotional bias was also evident at 24-hour follow-up, as participants recollected greater task enjoyment for those tasks previously paired with positive captions. Mental imagery appears to play an important role in this process. These preliminary results indicate that in healthy volunteers, SenseCam can be used within a bias modification paradigm to shift mood and memory for wellbeing associated with performing everyday activities. Further refinements are necessary before similar methods can be applied to individuals suffering from subclinical and clinical depression.     

An evaluation of interdependent and independent group contingencies during the good behavior game

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) uses an interdependent group contingency to improve classroom behavior. Despite the wealth of research on the effectiveness of the GBG, some teachers may have concerns about their students’ abilities to work in teams, particularly if they have a history of poor social skills. We used an alternating treatments design to compare the relative effectiveness of the GBG with interdependent and independent group contingencies in a classroom for children with emotional and behavioral disorders. Our results showed that both versions of the GBG reduced verbal disruptions, inappropriate sitting, and off‐task behaviors for all children. However, the majority of children preferred the interdependent arrangement. We discuss how these results may promote more widespread use of the GBG with children with substantial behavioral challenges.     

Clinical Decision-Making Following Disasters: Efficient Identification of PTSD Risk in Adolescents

The present study aimed to utilize a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) approach in order to improve clinical decision-making for adolescents at risk for the development of psychopathology in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Specifically we assessed theoretically-driven individual, interpersonal, and event-related vulnerability factors to determine which indices were most accurate in forecasting PTSD. Furthermore, we aimed to translate these etiological findings by identifying clinical cut-off recommendations for relevant vulnerability factors. Our study consisted of structured phone-based clinical interviews with 2000 adolescent-parent dyads living within a 5-mile radius of tornados that devastated Joplin, MO, and northern Alabama in Spring 2011. Demographics, tornado incident characteristics, prior trauma, mental health, and family support and conflict were assessed. A subset of youth completed two behavioral assessment tasks online to assess distress tolerance and risk-taking behavior. ROC analyses indicated four variables that significantly improved PTSD diagnostic efficiency: Lifetime depression (AUC = .90), trauma history (AUC = .76), social support (AUC = .70), and family conflict (AUC = .72). Youth were 2–3 times more likely to have PTSD if they had elevated scores on any of these variables. Of note, event-related characteristics (e.g., property damage) were not related to PTSD diagnostic status. The present study adds to the literature by making specific recommendations for empirically-based, efficient disaster-related PTSD assessment for adolescents following a natural disaster. Implications for practice and future trauma-related developmental psychopathology research are discussed.     

Ensuring Community Participation During Program Planning: Lessons Learned During the Development of a HIV/STI Program for Young Sexual and Gender Minorities

HIV/STI incidence has shifted to a younger demographic, comprised disproportionately of gay and bisexual men, transgender women, and people of color. Recognizing the importance of community organizing and participatory engagement during the intervention planning process, we describe the steps taken to engage diverse constituents (e.g., youth and practitioners) during the development of a structural‐level HIV/STI prevention and care initiative for young sexual and gender minorities in Southeast Michigan. Our multi‐sector coalition (MFierce; Michigan Forward in Enhancing Research and Community Equity) utilized a series of community dialogues to identify, refine, and select programmatic strategies with the greatest potential. Evaluation data (N = 173) from the community dialogues highlighted constituents’ overall satisfaction with our elicitation process. Using a case study format, we describe our community dialogue approach, illustrate how these dialogues strengthened our program development, and provide recommendations that may be used in future community‐based program planning efforts.