Health-promoting physical activity of adults with mental retardation

This literature review describes the physical activity behavior of adults with mental retardation consistent with the U.S. Surgeon General's recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on 5 or more days per week. The proportion of participants achieving this criterion ranges from 17.5 to 33%. These data are likely to be generous estimates of activity as individuals included in physical activity studies to date have been relatively young and healthy volunteers with mild to moderate limitations. Major sources of physical activity were walking and cycling for transport, chores and work, dancing, and Special Olympics. There is a pressing need to conduct studies using appropriately powered representative samples and to validate measures that assess physical activity less directly; including methodologies in which proxy respondents are used. Accurate information about existing patterns of behavior will enhance the development of effective strategies to promote physical activity among persons with mental retardation.     

When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer

Despite a century's worth of research, arguments surrounding the question of whether far transfer occurs have made little progress toward resolution. The authors argue the reason for this confusion is a failure to specify various dimensions along which transfer can occur, resulting in comparisons of "apples and oranges." They provide a framework that describes 9 relevant dimensions and show that the literature can productively be classified along these dimensions, with each study situated at the intersection of various dimensions. Estimation of a single effect size for far transfer is misguided in view of this complexity. The past 100 years of research shows that evidence for transfer under some conditions is substantial, but critical conditions for many key questions are untested.     

Evidence of Poor Planning in Children with Attention Deficits

This study examined the planning performance of children with attention deficits, and also investigated the possible interactions between inattention and anxiety in the performance of executive function tasks. A group of 98 children (grades 4 and 6), derived from an initial group of 550, were assigned to an attention difficulties group (AD) and a control group (n = 49 each) based on their scores on a variety of cognitive attention measures and teacher scales of attention and hyperactivity. The two groups were matched on age, gender, parental education, non-verbal and verbal ability. They were compared on Crack-the-Code (C-t-C) action-planning task, embedded and ambiguous figures and Theory of Mind tasks. Analyses indicated that the failure of AD children on cognitive performance measures is linked to planning impairments. The co-occurrence of anxiety, in turn, did not interact with inattention to affect planning performance differentially. Implications of these findings for the current discussion about the cognitive and emotional processes underlying impaired performance among children with attention deficits on executive control tasks are discussed.     

The self-assessment of resilience and anxiety: psychometric properties

This report describes the psychometric properties of the Self-Assessment of Resilience and Anxiety (SARA) scale within the context of a study of kava for generalized anxiety. This eight-item, patient-rated scale includes questions designed to measure calmness, mental clarity, confidence, physical well being, sociability, and resilience. The SARA scale was administered during a clinical trial of kava versus placebo in 38 subjects diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Validation of the SARA scale was assessed against the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Sheehan Disability Scale, Arizona Sexual Experience scale, and Clinical Global Impression of Illness Improvement scale. Good test-retest reliability, internal consistency, convergent validity, and sensitivity to treatment were identified, and factor analyses revealed a three-factor internal structure. The SARA scale was responsive to symptom change over time and correlated with comparable GAD symptom measures. The SARA scale demonstrates solid psychometric properties and may serve as a reliable and valid measure in the use of kava or related medicinal herbs.     

The relational context of social support: Relationship satisfaction moderates the relations between enacted support and distress

In two studies of kidney transplant patients and their significant others, the authors examined whether the relations between enacted social support and patient distress were moderated by patients' satisfaction with their relationship with the support provider (i.e., their significant other). In Study 1 (n = 121 couples), unsupportive spousal behaviors were associated with more distress only among patients who were less satisfied with their marital relationship. In Study 2 (n = 112 couples), the relations between unsupportive behaviors and distress again varied as a function of the patient's relationship satisfaction, although the particular pattern of the interaction depended on the specific unsupportive behaviors offered to the patient. In both studies, relationship dissatisfaction was associated with higher levels of patient distress. Supportive behaviors were not related to distress and did not interact with relationship satisfaction. Implications for future research on social support in marriage are discussed.     

Schizophrenic deficit in span of apprehension

We investigated two hypotheses about the span of apprehension task in schizophrenia: (a) schizophrenics show performance deficit on the forced-choice (FC) version but not on the full-report (FR) version, and (b) schizophrenic impairment on the FC version is greater when the display subtends a wide visual angle than when it subtends a narrow one. Schizophrenic (n = 21) and normal (n = 22) groups were tested on 3 versions of the task. A narrow-angle FC version was matched psychometrically with a wide-angle one by use of a greater number of noise letters in the narrow version. Schizophrenics reported fewer correct letters than normals on the FR version but did not differ on either the wide or the narrow FC versions. The results imply that schizophrenic deficit is not specific to the FC version and that on the FC version, visual angle is not more important than number of noise letters for demonstrating schizophrenic deficit.     

Perceived social support mediates between prior attachment and subsequent adjustment: a study of urban African American children.

The processes whereby attachment and other social and cognitive factors contribute to social and emotional adjustment were examined. Participants were 56 African American children from low-income urban families. Attachment and sociability were assessed in the strange situation when children were 4.5 years old. Two years later, children were interviewed regarding their perceptions of social support and their attributions about others' intentions. Also assessed at Time 2 were child verbal intelligence, defensive response style, children's self-reports, and parent reports of child adjustment. As expected, attachment uniquely predicted perceived social support. Insecure attachment predicted self-reports of behavior problems and parental report of internalizing problems. Perceived social support was associated positively and significantly with viewing ambiguously depicted actions as prosocial rather than aggressive. Perceived social support was found to mediate the relation between attachment and adjustment. Results suggest that behaviorally mediated strategies for relating to caregivers in early childhood predict generalized social perception, thought, and emotion at later ages.