Children and aging: attitudes, differentiation ability, and quantity and quality of contact

The attitudes and age differentiation ability of forty-seven 3- to 5-year-old children toward pictures of older and younger people were assessed. In addition, cognitive performance on a seriation task as well as the quantity and quality of each child's contact with adults over 60 years of age were measured. Chi squares were performed by sex and age of stimulus photograph on the attitudinal questions. One of the chi squares reached significance on the age comparison and two on the sex comparison. In addition, sign tests were used to assess the direction of the trends on the questions, and both age and sex trends were significant at the .05 level with children being more likely to choose pictures of younger rather than older models and female rather than male models. Ability to correctly order pictures by age was significantly related (r = .53, p less than .001) to the seriation ordering task. Four of the 18 correlations between contact and attitudinal variables were significant and negative.     

Measuring flicker thresholds in the budgerigar

Pigeons were trained to discriminate apparent movement and real movement in visual displays showing horizontal movement. Generalization testing on the dimension of directional movement yielded gradients that sloped as movement changed from horizontal to vertical. Evidence of generalization between apparent movement and real movement was found in equivalent response rates to training displays of either type. Extremely low response rates to training displays pulsating but showing no movement eliminated flicker as the basis of the discrimination.     

Numerosity estimation as a function of stimulus organization.

It was proposed that stimulus organization of a set of homogeneous items can best be measured by using the mean distance to nearest neighbours. Patterns of dots were generated that fell on four different positions along the cluster continuum, from highly regular, through random, to clustered. When thirty subjects were asked to judge numerosity, their estimates decreased significantly as cluster measures increased. Four possible interpretations of the effect of organization on numerosity perception are discussed.     

Maternal Control Behavior and Locus of Control: Examining Mechanisms in the Relation Between Maternal Anxiety Disorders and Anxiety Symptomatology in Children

This study tested components of a proposed model of child anxiety and examined the mediational roles of (1) maternal control behavior, (2) maternal external locus of control, and (3) child external locus of control in the association between maternal and child anxiety. Thirty-eight clinically anxious mothers and 37 nonanxious mothers participated along with one of their children aged 6 to 14 (52.0% female; 78.7% Caucasian). Path analysis indicated that the overall model fit the data very well. Analyses also indicated that child external locus of control mediated the associations between (1) maternal and child anxiety and (2) maternal control behavior and child anxiety. Maternal anxiety was not related to maternal control behavior and maternal external locus of control was not associated with child anxiety. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical models (e.g., Chorpita and Barlow 1998) regarding the transmission of maternal anxiety to their children and the specific roles of maternal behavior and child locus of control.     

Sigmund Freud's Racial Vocabulary and Related Fragments from the Analyses of Clarence P. Oberndorf and Smiley Blanton

Psychoanalysis is the product of a highly original and independent thinker from an historically marginalized minority with a perspective dedicated to plumbing the depths of our self-deceptions. Although the European anti-Semitism faced by Sigmund Freud was particularly relevant to his personal and professional identities, he was not unmindful of conflictual ''race, creed and color'' paradigms peculiar to the ''New World''. Fragments from the analyses of two American psychiatrists (whose formative years were centered in the post-Civil War South) reveal the confluence of such cross-currents in their autobiographical accounts of his inter- relationships with each of them.     

Long-Term Outcomes of Youth Treated for an Anxiety Disorder: A Critical Review

Pediatric anxiety disorders are common, disabling, and chronic conditions. Efforts over the past two decades have focused on developing and testing effective treatments. Short-term efficacy of both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors has been established. Data are emerging on the long-term (i.e., 2 years or longer) effectiveness of these treatments, but this literature has yet to be adequately synthesized. This study presents a systematic and critical qualitative review of published long-term follow-up (LTFU) studies of youth treated for an anxiety disorder. A comprehensive search of several databases identified 21 published reports (representing 15 LTFU cohorts of treated youth) meeting specified inclusion criteria. LTFU assessments occurred a mean of 5.85 years after initial treatment (range 2–19 years). Diagnostic rates at LTFU and predictors (e.g., demographic, baseline child clinical variables, treatment type) of outcomes at LTFU were also examined. A discussion of the limitations of this literature is provided to qualify interpretations of findings and to inform future studies. Findings can aid clinicians and families in making treatment decisions and setting reasonable expectations for the long-term prognosis after treatment for anxiety.