A behavioral route to dysfunctional representations: The effects of training approach or avoidance tendencies towards novel animals in children

We examined the effects of training to approach or avoid novel animals on fear-related responses in children. Ninety-five primary school children (9-13 years old) were instructed to repeatedly push away or pull closer pictures of novel animals. We tested whether this manipulation would lead to changes in self-reported attitudes, implicit attitudes, fear beliefs, and avoidance behaviors towards these animals.The training produced more positive self-reported attitudes towards the pulled animal and more negative attitudes towards the pushed animal. After the training, girls reported more fear and avoidance of the pushed animal than of the pulled animal, while such training effects were absent in boys. No significant training effects were observed on implicit attitudes. Interestingly, the level of anxiety disorder symptoms prior to training was related to some of the training effects: Stronger prior fear was related to stronger changes in self-reported attitudes, and in boys, also to fear beliefs.The finding that a simple approach-avoidance training influences children's fear-related responses lends support to general theories of fear acquisition in children as well as to models that try to explain the intergenerational transmission of anxiety. [184 words]     

Right frontal EEG asymmetry and behavioral inhibition in infants of depressed mothers

Recent studies have shown associations between maternal psychopathology and inhibited behaviors in infants. Moreover, physiological factors have been identified as affecting the continuity of behavioral inhibition across childhood. The purpose of the present study was to examine electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and inhibited behavior in 12-month-old infants of depressed versus non-depressed and mothers. Repeated measures MANOVAs indicated that the infants of mothers with stable psychopathology had greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry, a pattern that typically accompanies greater negative affect and greater withdrawal behaviors. Infants of affectively ill mothers also showed more proximal behaviors toward a stranger and a novel toy than infants of well mothers, but fewer non-proximal behaviors toward their mothers. These results are discussed within a framework of behavioral inhibition for infants exposed to early psychopathologies in their mothers.     

Conduct Disordered Youth in Group Care: An Examination of Negative Peer Influence

We examined the potential impact of negative peer influence within a treatment-focused residential care setting. Subjects were 712 youth consecutively admitted to a large residential treatment program (9–19 years of age). Based on Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC) scores, 247 (35%) of these youth qualified for a Conduct Disorder diagnosis at admission. The dependent measures were the number of DISC Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)/Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms and the sum of Conduct Problem behaviors observed daily for each youth. Both the Conduct Problem Behaviors and the ODD/CD symptoms for both CD and non-CD groups decreased over time. Youth with a CD diagnosis or who were female improved at a faster rate than their peers. The data analyzed in this study do not support a negative peer influence effect for antisocial youth placed in a treatment-focused residential care setting.     

'The Haemorrhage of Faith?' Opinion Polls as Sources for Religious Practices,Beliefs and Attitudes in Scotland since the 1970s

Scotland has traditionally been seen as a religious country which, according to Callum Brown, has latterly succumbed to the same secularising tendencies which have affected many Western civilisations. Brown has described the Scottish process as so severe as to be tantamount to 'the haemorrhage of faith'. Commercial opinion poll data for representative samples of the Scottish population, a source not greatly used by Brown, are reviewed here for evidence of religious practices, beliefs and attitudes in contemporary Scotland. Considering these data in isolation, and more briefly in relation to equivalent British and world poll data, it is concluded that there has undoubtedly been religious decline since the 1970s, especially during the 1990s. While Scotland is far from being a post-Christian nation, according to the polls, it is no longer-outwardly or inwardly-significantly more religious than Britain as a whole and much of Western Europe.     

Exercise is positively related to adolescents' relationships and academics.

Eighty-nine high school seniors were administered a questionnaire that gathered information on their exercise habits (ranging from rarely to daily), relationships with parents and peers, depressive tendencies, sports involvement, drug use, and academic performance. Students with a high level of exercise had better relationships with their parents (including greater intimacy and more frequent touching), were less depressed, spent more time involved in sports, used drugs less frequently, and had higher grade point averages than did students with a low level of exercise.     

Prenatal dysthymia versus major depression effects on the neonate

Depressed pregnant women were classified as dysthymic or major depression disorder based on the Structured Clinical Interview for Depression and followed to the newborn period. The newborns of dysthymic versus major depression disorder mothers had a significantly shorter gestational age, a lower birthweight, shorter birth length and less optimal obstetric complications scores. The neonates of dysthymic mothers also had lower orientation and motor scores and more depressive symptoms on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. These findings were not surprising given the elevated cortisol levels and the inferior fetal measures including lower fetal weight, fetal length, femur length and abdominal circumference noted in our earlier study on fetuses of dysthymic pregnant women.     

"It was never that bad": biased recall of grief and long-term adjustment to the death of a spouse

At 6 months following the death of their spouse, 37 participants reported their grief-related symptoms and thoughts, and then, approximately 4.5 years later, they attempted to recall how they felt at the time of the 6-month report. Although participants were far less distressed at recall than initially, they recalled their 6-month grief rather accurately. Participants did however overestimate prior grief-related intrusive ideation. Participant's current level of grief predicted what they recalled slightly better than the actual initial grief. Conversely, what they recalled predicted current levels of grief across various measures. Participants whose grief diminished relatively little over time tended to overestimate prior grief more. The retrospective reappraisal that one's past grief was not severe may indicate effective coping.     

Videotaping effects on the behaviors of low income mothers and their infants during floor-play interactions

Interaction behaviors and language measures of low income mothers and their 12-month-old infants were compared for floor-play situations in which the mother was aware and unaware of being videotaped. When the mothers were aware of being videotaped, they were more proximal to their infants, offered and demonstrated toys more frequently, engaged in more frequent interaction games, vocalized more frequently, emitted a greater number of words as well as declarative and imperative utterances, and their infants engaged in more constructive play. Combining the analysis of variance and correlational analyses results suggested that the verbal behaviors of mothers were inflated and their non-verbal behaviors were distorted when they were aware of being videotaped. The implications of these data for the use of videotaping as an assessment and intervention tool are discussed.     

Attachment and Mother-Child Communication in Adjustment to the Death of a Father Among Cambodian Adolescents

This study examined quality of attachment to the mother and child-mother communication in adolescents' adjustment to the death of a father. Forty-eight Cambodian adolescents whose father had died within the previous 3 years completed a set of measures that included attachment, communication, grief, and self-esteem. Results showed that quality of attachment to the mother and whether the adolescent communicated with the mother about the father and found this to be helpful were positively related to adaptive grief and self-esteem. Moreover, support was shown for an indirect effect of quality of attachment to the mother on adaptive grief as mediated by communication. Implications of the findings for quality of attachment in adjustment to bereavement in a non-Western cultural context are discussed.     

Potential underlying mechanisms for greater weight gain in massaged preterm infants

In this paper, potential underlying mechanisms for massage therapy effects on preterm infant weight gain are reviewed. Path analyses are presented suggesting that: (1) increased vagal activity was associated with (2) increased gastric motility, which, in turn, was related to (3) greater weight gain; and (4) increased IGF-1 was related to greater weight gain. The change in vagal activity during the massage explained 49% of the variance in the change in gastric activity. And, the change in vagal activity during the massage explained 62% of the variance in the change in insulin. That the change in gastric activity was not related to the change in insulin suggests two parallel pathways via which massage therapy leads to increased weight gain: (1) insulin release via the celiac branch of the vagus; and (2) increased gastric activity via the gastric branch of the vagus.