EEG coherence,joint attention and language development in the second year

Recent research has raised the hypothesis that brain maturation processes may play an important role in the linkage between infant joint attention and language development. This hypothesis was examined using EEG, joint attention and parent report language measures in a longitudinal study of 29 infants assessed at 14, 18 and 24 months of age. The results indicated that both measures of joint attention and EEG coherence at 14 months were related to language development at 24 months. Furthermore, both EEG coherence measures and joint attention measures made contributions to multiple regression equations predicting individual differences in language development. Finally, coherence data from this study were consistent with Thatcher's (1994 ) theory of different patterns of neural integration and differentiation in the early maturation of the left and right hemispheres. The implications of these results for understanding the nature of the relations between joint attention and language development, as well as the utility of EEG coherence measures in developmental neuroscience are discussed.     

Parenting young children with challenging behaviour

Previous research has established the link between harsh parenting and poor outcomes in children, although little attention has been paid to the concurrent protective factors which may exist. The relationship between parenting behaviours and childhood externalizing behaviours was investigated in a sample of 60 parents of young children (ages 2–5 years). Thirty families were selected for participation based on teacher‐reported externalizing behaviour in their young child which exceeded normal limits and matched with a sample of 30 parents of children without externalizing behaviour problems. Results found that parents of young children with externalizing behaviours tended to use more frequent verbal and corporal punishment with their young children, and reported more behaviour problems with their young children when compared with a control group. However, no significant differences were found between groups with respect to positive, nurturing behaviours, or utilizing appropriate developmental expectations. Implications for prevention are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived group variability and dispositional need for closure

Based on the closure motivation theory proposed by Kruglanski and Webster (1996), it was hypothesized that the extent of perceived variability of target group members would be related to dispositional need for closure. Israeli teachers (n = 160) judged their professors by means of two methods and answered the need for cognitive closure questionnaire (NFCS, Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). The findings show that need for closure is related to social judgment. The perception of participants high in need for closure was less differentiated and more extreme, in comparison to participants low in need for closure. Findings also yielded that measures of variability are method dependent.     

Effects of advance organizers,mental models and abilities on task and recall performance using a mobile phone network

Mobile phone usage is now at saturation point in most Western countries. The current research investigated the usability of services provided by a mobile phone network, specifically whether two different forms (text, graphic) of an advance organizer (AO) assisted novice users in applying information supplied in a manual. It was hypothesized that a graphic AO would facilitate the development of coherent mental models of the network to enhance task performance, and that lower ability groups in particular would benefit from AOs. Contrary to prediction, the text AO group outperformed both the graphic AO and control groups. Lower ability groups also benefited more from a text AO than a graphic AO. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Theistic Spirituality in Adolescent Girls' Body Esteem: A Pilot Outcome Study

A pilot outcome study explored associations between psychospiritual variables and body esteem in adolescent girls at a Roman Catholic high school by examining the influence of The Imago Dei Experience (TIDE), an intervention program the first author designed. Perception of God's loving acceptance accounted for significant variance in weight and appearance body esteem; religious crisis accounted for significant variance in weight body esteem. Lack of significant changes in body esteem from pretest to 18‐month follow‐up suggested the TIDE program may have buffered the typical increase in body dissatisfaction over that period of time for adolescent girls. The authors recommend counselors explore qualities of God image and religious crisis with adolescent girls.     

Targeting adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms for early intervention

Infants of mothers with depressive symptoms show developmental delays if symptoms persist over the first 6 months of the infant's life, thus highlighting the importance of identifying those mothers for early intervention. In Study 1, mothers with depressive symptoms (n = 160) and mothers without depressive symptoms (n = 100) and their infants were monitored to identify variables from the first 3 months that predict which mothers would still be symptomatic at 6 months. A "dysregulation" profile was noted for the infants of depressed mothers, including lower Brazelton scores, more indeterminate sleep, and elevated norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine levels at the neonatal period, and greater right frontal EEG activation, lower vagal tone, and negative interactions at the 3- and 6-month periods. A group of maternal variables from the neonatal and 3-month assessments accounted for 51% of the variance in the mothers' continuing depressive symptoms. These variables included greater right frontal EEG activation, lower vagal tone, and less positive interactions at 3 months, and elevated norepinephrine, serotonin, and cortisol levels at the neonatal stage. In Study 2, a similar sample of mothers with depressive symptoms (n = 160) and without depressive symptoms (n = 100) was recruited and followed to 3 months. Those symptomatic mothers who had values above (or below) the median (depending on the negative direction) on the predictor variables identified in Study 1 (taken from the first 3 months) were then randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group at 3 months. These groups were then compared with each other, as well as with the group without depressive symptoms, at 6 and 12 months. The intervention, conducted from 3 to 6 months, consisted of free day care for the infants and a rehab program (social, educational, and vocational) plus several mood induction interventions for the mothers, including relaxation therapy, music mood induction, massage therapy, and mother-infant interaction coaching. Although the mothers who received the intervention continued to have more depressive symptoms than did the nondepressed mothers, their interactions significantly improved and their biochemical values and vagal tone normalized. Their infants also showed more positive interations, better growth, fewer pediatric complications, and normalized biochemical values, and by 12 months their mental and motor scores were better than those of the infants in the control group.