The role of maternal responsiveness in predicting infant affect during the still face paradigm with infants born very low birth weight

There is limited empirical literature addressing infants' response to a standardized stressor with infants born very low birth weight (VLBW). The purpose of this study was to assess the relative strength of maternal responsiveness in predicting infant affect in response to the Still Face (SF) paradigm in a cross‐sectional cohort of ethnically diverse infants born VLBW and their mothers (N = 50; infants 6–8 months old). Infant affect and maternal responsiveness were coded in 1‐s intervals while dyads participated in the SF. In addition, perinatal medical status, developmental status, and infant temperament were assessed. Findings revealed that positive infant affect during and after the SF stressor were strongly associated with baseline infant positive affect and maternal responsiveness at the reunion episode, respectively. In contrast, when predicting negative infant affect during and after the SF stressor, prior infant negative affect was strongly and uniquely significant. Infant positive affect, negative affect, and maternal responsiveness were not significantly associated with gender, infant perinatal medical history, developmental status, or temperament. Future research is warranted to determine how these findings relate to infants' stress reactions in naturalistic settings and if relationship‐focused interventions may reverse infant negative emotionality, enhance positive emotionality, and thereby improve self‐regulation and longer term social and cognitive developmental outcomes in medically at‐risk infants.     

Community-delivered infant–parent psychotherapy improves maternal sensitive caregiving: Evaluation of the Michigan model of infant mental health home visiting

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a home-based psychotherapeutic Infant Mental Health Home Visiting (IMH-HV) intervention for enhancing parenting sensitivity; a secondary aim was to evaluate whether the use of video feedback was associated with greater treatment response. Participants were N = 78 mothers and their children (age at entry ranged from prebirth to 24-month old (M = 9.8, SD = 8.4), who were initiating IMH-HV services with community mental health-based therapists (N = 51). Dyads were assessed during extended home visits via standardized interviews and observational and questionnaire methods within the first month of treatment (baseline), and again 6 and 12 months thereafter. Following each of these extended home visits, study evaluators completed a standard Q-sort to capture observations of maternal sensitivity during the visit. Therapists completed fidelity checklists used to derive the total number of IMH-HV sessions received (i.e., dosage) and frequency with which therapists provided video feedback. Results indicated a dose–response relationship between number of sessions and maternal sensitivity, and that video review with parents independently contributed to improved maternal sensitivity. Discussion focuses on the effectiveness of this community-based psychotherapeutic home visiting model for enhancing parenting, as well as the value of video feedback as a specific therapeutic strategy.     

Social information processing and job characteristics.

This study simultaneously tested 2 theories that attempt to explain differences in job satisfaction: job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) and social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). The theories were tested using data collected from the civilian employees of the public works division at a U.S. military base. The results indicated that individuals' social environments had significant effects upon their attitudes. Multiple social networks were used to operationalize individuals' social environments. The results also suggested that job characteristics had an independent main effect upon job satisfaction, in addition to the effects of the social environment. Based on prior research, employees' past experience and self‐monitoring were tested as moderators of the effects of the social environment, and growth need strength was tested as a moderator of the effects of job characteristics upon job satisfaction. Only self‐monitoring was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between information from the social environment and job satisfaction, and growth need strength had no significant moderating effect.     

Potential for crime and knowledge of legal sanctions

The importance of knowledge of legal sanctions for deterrence is debatable, but the debate can be resolved only through exploratory research on the subject Using survey data, this research compares individuals in terms of the degree to which they accurately perceive statutory maximum prison sentences for 19 types of crimes. Contrary to expectations, evidence that high‐potential offenders perceived statutory maximums significantly more accurately than low‐potential offenders is rather limited, with most respondents unaware of maximum prison sentences. The empirical results also show that respondents apparently derive their perceptual estimates of the maximums from shared beliefs about what ought to be done to criminal offenders, not knowledge of what actually can be done to them, as indicated by the significant relationships between individual perceptions of maximum prison sentences and individual preferences for those sentences. The implications of those findings for developing and testing a theory of deterrence are discussed.     

Teacher-Coaches’ Perceptions of Life Skills Transfer from High School Sport to the Classroom

Positive youth development is one of the primary goals of high school sport participation, yet the process of how youth transfer life skills from sport to other life domains is in need of greater examination. To offer a unique perspective, the purpose of the study explored teacher-coaches’ perceptions of the process of life skills transfer for student-athletes from high school sport to the classroom. Using a constructivist approach, 12 teacher-coaches (9 male, 3 female) with an average of 13?years (SD?=?5.7) experience as a teacher-coach completed in-person, semistructured interviews. Using model for life skills transfer as a guiding framework, the theoretical thematic analysis revealed specific student-athlete characteristics (e.g., internal assets, external assets), high school sport factors (e.g., inherent demands, coaching characteristics), and high school classroom factors (e.g., classroom contextual factors, student-athlete psychological processes) that helped or hindered the process of life skills transfer. The critical influences of individual awareness and agency and of congruence between contexts highlighted the value of understanding life skills transfer through a developmental systems lens. Results are discussed with specific recommendations for researchers and practitioners related to understanding life skills transfer.

Lay Summary: Positive youth development is a primary goal of high school sport participation, yet researchers can do more to understand the developmental outcomes from high school sport. In this study, teacher-coaches identified specific factors that can help and hinder student-athletes’ ability and likelihood of transferring life skills from high school sport to the classroom.