Spontaneous analogical transfer in 4-year-olds: a microgenetic study

The purpose of the current microgenetic study was to examine children's spontaneous application of analogical problem solving from story problems to physical tasks. Thirty-six 4-year-olds (M=54.7 months), randomly assigned to an experimental or a control condition, participated. The results indicate that 4-year-old children did, with varying success, spontaneously apply analogical solutions to physical problems across sessions. A positive effect over time on children's spontaneous analogical problem solving was found. Additionally, a few children even gave an analogical strategy-related explanation for their own physical behavior. There was much inter- and intra-individual variability, which may indicate that 4 years of age is a period of change in the development of analogical reasoning.     

“My Life is Too Chaotic to Practice What I Preach”: Perceived Benefits and Challenges of Being an Academic Women in Family Therapy and Family Studies Programs

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of female faculty in family therapy and family studies graduate programs. Specifically, we were interested in how female faculty members in these programs experienced their roles as academics, partners, and/or parents. We conducted a discovery-oriented study qualitative study of 62 female academics in family studies and family therapy disciplines to identify the greatest concerns and benefits experienced by women in a family-studies-oriented academic field. Using a content analysis, we found that women in family studies/family therapy academic programs experience both high rewards and high demands and struggle with choosing among competing values. Additionally, the participants perceived support from colleagues, professional institutions, and family members as crucial to a female academic’s ability to perform up to expectations. We also offer suggestions for further research.     

Parents,Peers, and Places: Young Urban Adolescents’ Microsystems and Substance Use Involvement

Limited research is available that explains complex contextual and interactive effects of microsystems such as family relationships, peer networks, and place-based influences have on urban adolescent substance use. We contend that research into these complex processes is improved by integrating psychological, social, and geographic data to better understand urban adolescent substance use involvement. Accordingly, we tested a longitudinal, 3-way moderation model to determine if the direct effect of teen–parent relationships on substance use involvement is moderated by peer network characteristics, which in turn is moderated by the risk and protective attributes within urban adolescents’ activity spaces, among a sample of 248 adolescents. Results revealed that peer networks moderate the effects of relations with parents on substance use involvement for those adolescents with higher levels of risk attributes within their activity space, but not for those who spend time in locations with less risk. Thus, the teen–parent relationship interacts with peer network characteristics, for those urban adolescents whose activity space is constituted within high-risk environments. We conclude that peer networks have important interactive effects with family relationships that influence substance use, and that this is particularly salient for young adolescents who are exposed to risky environments. This finding underscores the importance of continued study into the interrelations among microsystems of urban adolescents, and provides further support that substance use is a social practice that is constituted within the unique geography of young adolescents’ lives.     

Reading comprehension in aging: the role of working memory and metacomprehension

This study examines age-related differences in reading comprehension analyzing the role of working memory and metacomprehension components in a sample of young (18-30 years), young-old (65-74 years), and old-old (75-85 years) participants. Text comprehension abilities were measured by a standardized test, including two texts: a narrative and an expository text. The elderly's reading comprehension performance, when compared to the norm, emerged to be adequate. More specifically, the young-old showed an equivalent level of comprehension as the young adults for the narrative text. However, a clear age-related decline was found in the case of the expository text. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that working memory capacity, as well as different metacomprehension components but not age, are the key aspects in explaining the different patterns of changes in the comprehension of narrative and expository texts.     

Evidence of Differential Meta-Accuracy: People Understand the Different Impressions They Make

ABSTRACT— This article reexamines the prevailing conclusion that people are unaware of the different impressions they make, or that their differential meta-accuracy is poor. This conclusion emerged from research employing contextually undifferentiated designs that may have constrained differences in actual impressions, thereby limiting participants' ability to demonstrate differential meta-accuracy. We argue that an alternative, contextually differentiated approach may reveal evidence for differential meta-accuracy because (a) people tend to behave differently in different social contexts, (b) interaction partners from different social contexts witness differing behaviors and form differing impressions of a target person, and (c) contextual information used to infer the impression one makes on others is relatively differentiated across contexts, resulting in differentiated metaperceptions. We assessed differential meta-accuracy across social contexts (i.e., parents, hometown friends, and college friends) and found that, in contrast to researchers' prevailing conclusion, people can indeed detect the relative impressions they make on others.     

Stellenwert der Psychotherapie in der Allgemeinmedizin

Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit dem interdisziplin?ren Einsatz von Psychotherapie in der allgemeinmedizinischen Betreuung von Patienten mit psychischen Problemen oder Krisen. Bekanntlich ist es nur einem kleinen Teil der Patienten von Allgemeinmedizinern m?glich, psychotherapeutische Hilfe in Anspruch zu nehmen. Eine zus?tzliche psychotherapeutische Ausbildung des Hausarztes kann die Qualit?t der Patientenbetreuung signifikant verbessern. Zudem k?nnen nicht nur die Patienten davon profitieren; psychotherapeutische Ausbildung und Kommunikationstraining stellen eine wertvolle Bereicherung des Arztberufes und eine ernstzunehmende Burn-out-Prophylaxe dar.     

Die postpartale Bindungsstörung: Eine Risikokonstellation für den Infantizid ?

Background

The effectiveness of preventive approaches in the field of child protection depends, amongst other things, upon identifying typical risk constellations of infanticide. Postpartum bonding disorder, a disorder affecting a mother’s emotional relationship with her child, is one of those risk constellations alongside other negative consequences to child development. It frequently accompanies postpartum depression, which is determined by other emotional qualities. The therapeutic response is a determinant factor for the success of preventive measures.

Method

42 mothers with postpartum disorders (25 depressive, 17 schizophrenic) undergoing treatment at a mother-baby-unit were examined for bonding disorders and the therapeutic response, primarily regarding the mother-child relationship. Perception of bonding, maternal self-efficacy and objectively measured parameters of mother-child interaction were the most important parameters assessed. Results. Nearly 60% of the mothers suffered from a bonding disorder. Overall, the results indicated a clear improvement in psychiatric disorder as well as in the assessed parameters for the mother-child relationship and the experience of motherhood.

Conclusions.

Maternal bonding disorders are strongly associated with postpartum depression and low maternal self-efficacy, which can lead to a risk constellation for infanticide. The data confirm the therapeutic response, thus demonstrating that early diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression can represent a timely and effective preventive approach in the field of child protection.