Residential mobility increases motivation to expand social network: But why?

We conducted two studies to explore psychological consequences of a mobile lifestyle. In Study 1, we found that participants who were randomly assigned to think about a mobile lifestyle used more loneliness and sadness-related words and anticipated having fewer friends in the future than those who thought about a stable lifestyle (or a typical day as a control). In Study 2, we replicated this finding with a non-college sample. In addition, we found that those in the mobility condition reported being more motivated to expand their social network. Finally, the effect of mobility on the motivation to expand social networks was mediated by anticipated loneliness and sadness.     

Systematic Review of the Clinical Presentation of Schizophrenia in Intellectual Disability

Schizophrenia and intellectual disability (ID) co-occur three times more than would be expected by chance. This has led to speculation that a particular form of schizophrenia may give rise to both the symptoms of schizophrenia and the intellectual impairment. If this was the case, one may expect the presentation of schizophrenia in an ID population to differ from that in a population with average/high IQ. A systematic review and meta-analysis was undertaken of studies comparing the clinical presentation of schizophrenia in people with mild/borderline ID to that in people with average/high IQ. Five studies were eligible for inclusion. Four reported more negative symptoms in the ID population, while two reported more positive symptoms. Meta-analysis demonstrated that the ID population experienced more negative symptoms. The available evidence supports the proposal that the clinical presentation of schizophrenia in an ID population differs from that in a population with normal IQ.     

Why do people use different forms of complementary medicine? Multivariate associations between treatment and illness beliefs and complementary medicine use

This study investigated associations between complementary medicine use and treatment and illness beliefs. Previously validated questionnaire measures of treatment beliefs, illness beliefs, and complementary medicine use were presented and advertised online. Completed questionnaires were received from 247 participants. Logistic regression analysis showed that demographic characteristics, treatment beliefs, and illness beliefs accounted for approximately 36% of the variance in complementary medicine use. Separate analyses were conducted to predict use of different types of complementary medicine. The strength of associations between beliefs and complementary medicine use was related to the type of complementary medicine used. The results suggest that people use complementary medicine because they are attracted to it rather than because they are disillusioned with orthodox medicine, and that both treatment and illness beliefs have an important role in explaining why people use complementary medicine.     

Randomised clinical trial of a family-based lifestyle intervention for childhood obesity involving parents as the exclusive agents of change

Parent-centred interventions for childhood obesity aim to improve parents' skills and confidence in managing children's dietary and activity patterns, and in promoting a healthy lifestyle in their family. However, few studies assess changes in parenting over the course of treatment. This study describes the evaluation of a lifestyle-specific parenting program (Group Lifestyle Triple P) on multiple child and parent outcomes. One-hundred-and-one families with overweight and obese 4- to 11-year-old children participated in an intervention or waitlist control condition. The 12-week intervention was associated with significant reductions in child BMI z score and weight-related problem behaviour. At the end of the intervention, parents reported increased confidence in managing children's weight-related behaviour, and less frequent use of inconsistent or coercive parenting practices. All short-term intervention effects were maintained at one-year follow-up assessment, with additional improvements in child body size. The results support the efficacy of Group Lifestyle Triple P and suggest that parenting influences treatment outcomes. Further research is needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the intervention and to elucidate the mechanisms of change.     

Heightened ruminative disposition is associated with impaired attentional disengagement from negative relative to positive information: support for the “impaired disengagement” hypothesis

Information processing accounts of rumination propose that impaired attentional disengagement from negative information may underpin heightened disposition to experience ruminative brooding in response to negative mood. The present study examined the relationship between individual differences in ruminative disposition and selective attention, using a paradigm capable of distinguishing between biases in the engagement and disengagement of attention. Results showed that higher dispositional ruminative brooding, as measured by both the brooding subscale of the RRS and an in-vivo assessment of ruminative disposition, was associated with greater relative impairment disengaging attention from negative compared to positive stimuli. These findings thus provide support for the “impaired disengagement” account of ruminative brooding.     

A politics beyond subjects: The affective choreographies and smooth spaces of schooling

In this paper we explore the significance and workings of space, subjectivity and affectivity in everyday life in schools. We bring together conceptual tools from Foucault, Butler and Deleuze and Guattari to make sense of the ways that school spaces and subjects are constituted; to consider the significance of affectivities in everyday school life; and to show how these unsettle the subjects and spaces of the education assemblage. We draw on the notion of affective choreographies to move from a focus on the individual subject and body to a concern with bodies as amalgam and an analysis that foregrounds collectivities and the event and so is anti-subjectivation. Engaging with two detailed accounts of everyday school life through affective choreographies we demonstrate the tacit collectivity of the event; the demarcation of what bodies can and cannot do; and the way that affective intensities exceed these demarcations. This approach, we suggest, enables us to interrogate the constraints of discourse and subjectivation at the same time as we think beyond the subjectivated subject and the striations of the assemblage, thereby opening up new possibilities for a politics of becoming.     

Was he happy? Cultural difference in conceptions of Jesus

In two studies, we examined whether (a) conceptions of Jesus would differ between Koreans and Americans, and whether (b) national differences in self-reported personality and well-being are mediated by the cultural norm for personality and well-being. Because there is only one Jesus, different conceptions held by Koreans and Americans are likely to reflect cultural construction processes. In Study 1, we asked Korean and American participants to engage in a free association task with Jesus as a target. Americans associated Jesus with primarily positive connotations (“awesome”) and rarely with negative connotations (“pain”), whereas Koreans associated Jesus with both positive and negative connotations. In Study 2, we asked Korean and American participants to rate Jesus and themselves using personality and well-being scales. Americans rated both Jesus and themselves as more extraverted, agreeable, conscientious, open, and happier than did Koreans. Most important, national differences in self-reported agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and happiness were partially mediated by conceptions of Jesus.     

Dominant and marginalized discourses in interracial couples' narratives: implications for family therapists

This study explores inter-racial couples' family histories, their experiences of their life together, and the dominant and subordinate discourses employed in negotiating racial and ethnic differences. Ten black-white couples were interviewed individually and conjointly. Dominant discourses that emerged from the couples' narratives included those of homogamy, hypersensitivity of persons of color, and the insignificance of familial and societal history. Interracial partners also simultaneously subverted these prevailing ideologies by voicing experience associated with life at the margins of the society. Dominant and subordinate dicourses used by therapists and interracial couples in the therapy room are examined to integrate marginalized "truths" crucial to effective work with interracial couples and persons of color.     

Exploring the Efficacy of Telehealth for Family Therapy Through Systematic,Meta-analytic,and Qualitative Evidence

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - There is a current escalating need for telehealth (TH) options in family mental health services. In the absence of replicated evidence, TH guidelines...