Positive and Negative Peer Influence in Residential Care

The potential for negative peer influence has been well established in research, and there is a growing interest in how positive peer influence also impacts youth. No research, however, has concurrently examined positive and negative peer influence in the context of residential care. Clinical records for 886 residential care youth were used in a Hierarchical Linear Model analysis to examine the impact of negative and positive peer influence on naturally occurring patterns of serious problem behavior over time. Negative peer influence, where the majority of youth in a home manifested above the average number of serious behavior problems, occurred 13.7% of the time. Positive peer influence, where the majority of youth manifested no serious problem behaviors for the month, occurred 47.7% of the time. Overall, youth problem behavior improved over time. There were significantly lower rates of serious problem behavior in target youth during positive peer influence months. Conversely, there were significantly higher rates of serious problem behaviors in target youth during negative peer influence months. Negative peer influence had a relatively greater impact on target peers’ serious behavior problems than did positive peer influence. Caregiver experience significantly reduced the impact of negative peer influence, but did not significantly augment positive peer influence. Months where negative peer influence was combined with inexperienced caregivers produced the highest rates of serious problem behavior. Our results support the view that residential programs for troubled youth need to create circumstances that promote positive and control for negative peer influence.     

Editorial Political Cartoons in Australia: Social Representations & and the Visual Depiction of Essentialism

Six million migrants from over 170 countries have resettled in Australia since 1945 ensuring religious diversity is now a hallmark of Australia’s population. However, not all religious groups are perceived in the same way. In this paper, we explore how representational processes differentially essentialise religious groups, in particular how some groups are ascribed an underlying nature that irrevocably defines who they are and how they will behave, whilst other groups are conveyed merely as coherent entities with similarity in goals and structure. We elucidate this through an analysis of the depiction of religious markers in Australian Editorial political cartoons. We mirror the near-exclusive focus on the Muslim and Christian religions, in the religious cartoons we sampled, to present an analysis of 6 exemplar cartoons. Drawing from visual analysis techniques (van Leeuwen 2001) and social representations theory (Moscovici 1984) we highlight how essentialist perceptions of religious groups are unwittingly fostered in everyday media communications. We discuss the implications of our analysis for the transnationalisation of religion.     

A Conceptual Toolkit for Intensive Early Behavioral Intervention Teachers

Intensive early behavioral intervention (IEBI) for children with autism requires effective team work involving professional therapists, parents, teachers and others. It is important for all team members to employ a common conceptual and procedural vocabulary so that communication among them is clear, unambiguous, and effective. This article outlines the rationale of a small and practical vocabulary or conceptual toolkit that we have found useful in working with teachers and families in designing, implementing, and analyzing the details of behavioral programs to help autistic children learn to speak and understand language. Special attention is given to a heuristic device called the language matrix. Illustrative data describing the course of generative language acquisition by a child with autism taught according to the language matrix approach are included.     

The Protective Role of the Family and Social Support Network in a Sample of HIV-Positive African American Women: Results of a Pilot Study

This study examined the role of family functioning and social support in protecting HIV-positive African American women from the adverse psychological consequences associated with deterioration in their CD4 cell count. Participants were 38 African American HIV-positive women who had recently given birth. Results demonstrated that changes in CD4 cell counts were inversely predictive of psychological distress and were moderated by family functioning and social support satisfaction. Women with good family functioning were less affected by changes in their CD4 cell counts, and women with poor family functioning were more emotionally responsive to changes in CD4 cell count. Unexpectedly, women from families where conflicts tended to be clearly laid out and discussed were also more responsive to both changes in CD4 cell counts. Interventions are recommended that increase a client's social support satisfaction, foster an adaptive level of connectedness to family, and enhance the family's range of conflict resolution styles.     

Achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: Their relation and their role in adaptive motivation

In this article, the relation between research emerging from the goals approach to motivation and research emerging from the intrinsic motivation approach is examined. A review of relevant research suggests that factors promoting learning goals (emphasizing the development of competencies) are associated with enhanced intrinsic motivation, and that factors promoting performance goals (emphasizing the evaluation of competence) are associated with diminished intrinsic motivation. It is also suggested that important aspects of the goals approach are often incorporated into conceptions and measures of intrinsic motivation. Finally, a framework is presented in which adaptive motivation is described in terms of the coordination of achievement goals and intrinsic motivation.     

Using diffusion models to understand clinical disorders

Sequential sampling models provide an alternative to traditional analyses of reaction times and accuracy in two-choice tasks. These models are reviewed with particular focus on the diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978) and how its application can aid research on clinical disorders. The advantages of a diffusion model analysis over traditional comparisons are shown through simulations and a simple lexical decision experiment. Application of the diffusion model to a clinically relevant topic is demonstrated through an analysis of data from nonclinical participants with high- and low-trait anxiety in a recognition memory task. The model showed that after committing an error, participants with high-trait anxiety responded more cautiously by increasing their boundary separation, whereas participants with low-trait anxiety did not. The article concludes with suggestions for ways to improve and broaden the application of these models to studies of clinical disorders.