An experiment promoting interdisciplinary applied human development: The University of Pittsburgh model

The University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development is an unusual university facilitative and administrative unit that promotes, funds, plans, implements, manages, and conducts interdisciplinary applied education, research, service demonstration, program evaluation, and policy projects pertaining to children, youth, and families. In the 9+ years of its existence, its soft-money budget has grown more than 34 times, its number of employees has increased 27-fold, and it has played a major role $75 million worth of collaborative projects. This article describes the Office's rationale, structure, purposes, principles of operation, projects, evaluation, and positive and negative factors in its development so that others may benefit from this case-study experiment in interdisciplinary applied human development programming.     

CAREGIVER SENSITIVITY AND CONSISTENCY AND CHILDREN'S PRIOR FAMILY EXPERIENCE AS CONTEXTS FOR EARLY DEVELOPMENT WITHIN INSTITUTIONS

The current study addressed whether two institution‐wide interventions in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, that increased caregiver sensitivity (Training Only: TO) or both caregiver sensitivity and consistency (Training plus Structural Changes: T+SC) promoted better socioemotional and cognitive development than did a No Intervention (NoI) institution during the first year of life for children who were placed soon after birth. It also assessed whether having spent less than 9 versus 9 to 36 months with a family prior to institutionalization was related to children's subsequent socioemotional and cognitive development within these three institutions. The Battelle Developmental Inventory (J. Newborg, J.R. Stock, L. Wnek, J. Guidubaldi, & J. Svinicki, 1988) was used to assess the socioemotional and cognitive functioning of children in NoI (n = 95), TO (n = 104), and T+SC (n = 86) at two to three time points during their first 6 to 12 months of residency. Results suggest that improving caregiver sensitivity can improve the cognitive development of infants in the first year of institutionalization whereas improving caregiver consistency in addition to sensitivity is more beneficial for socioemotional development than is sensitivity alone. Similarly, for children in T+SC, longer time with a family prior to institutionalization (consistent caregiver, unknown sensitivity) was associated with better socioemotional, but not cognitive, baseline scores and more rapid cognitive than socioemotional development during institutionalization. These results suggest caregiver sensitivity is more highly related to cognitive development whereas caregiver consistency is more related to socioemotional development in the first years of life.     

Improvements in early care in Russian orphanages and their relationship to observed behaviors

This article describes a unique study that attempts to promote positive social‐emotional relationships and attachment between caregivers and children in orphanages in St. Petersburg, Russia. The children who reside in these orphanages are typically between birth and 48 months of age; approximately 50% are diagnosed with disabilities, and approximately 60% leave through foreign adoption. Initially, their orphanage caregivers showed a high level of current anxiety and depression and were detached from and communicated little with the children. Likewise, during baseline observations, the children demonstrated poor attachment behaviors such as indiscriminant friendliness, lack of eye contact with adults, aggression, and impulsive behavior. Two interventions were used in a quasiexperimental design: (a) training of caregivers to promote warm, responsive caregiving and (b) staffing and structural alterations to support relationship building, especially increasing the consistency of caregivers. The methodology required that both the training and staffing interventions be provided to one orphanage, only the training to a second, and neither to a third. (At any one time, ns = 80–120 in each condition.) Initial informal observations reveal positive behaviors for both the caregivers and the children, such as increased two‐way conversations, animated and enthusiastic emotional responses, and positive social and language interactions. Early data analyses show an increase in the consistency and stability of caregivers and increased scores for caregivers on every subscale of the HOME Scales. Children showed improvements in physical growth, cognition, language, motor, personal‐social, and affect, with children having severe disabilities improving the most. The implications of these findings suggest that training staff with modest educational backgrounds and structural changes are effective, can increase socially responsive caregiving behaviors, and improves social interactions of children, at least temporarily. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Systematic review of the psychometric properties of transphobia scales

Introduction: Prejudice and discrimination against transgender individuals (i.e., transphobia) is pervasive and has been shown to have pernicious effects on the physical (e.g., substance abuse and other self-harm behaviors) and psychological (e.g., depression and suicidal ideation) well-being of those targeted.

Aims: To date, a review of the psychometric properties of scales assessing transphobia has not been conducted; this gap compromises researchers' ability to make informed measurement decisions.

Methods: In the current study, 61 articles that contained 83 scales were identified, and their adherence to best practices in psychometric testing was evaluated.

Results: Most of the transphobia scales included in the current review did not provide sufficient information about item generation and refinement, scale dimensionality, scale score reliability, or validity. Each scale was entered into a table and was ranked on the basis of its total score. A score of 1 was issued for each psychometric feature that adhered to best practice guidelines, with total scores ranging from 0 to 5 (i.e., higher scores denote greater psychometric soundness).

Discussion: Properties of the reviewed scales are summarized and recommendations are made for future transphobia scale development and validation. The measures that emerged as possessing the highest scores and, subsequently, the greatest utility are identified.     

Early Caregiver–Child Interaction and Children’s Development: Lessons from the St. Petersburg-USA Orphanage Intervention Research Project

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - We review a series of interrelated studies on the development of children residing in institutions (i.e., orphanages) in the Russian Federation or...     

Affective responses to non-sexual imagery depicting gay men and lesbian women

ABSTRACT

When examining negative attitudes and behaviors directed toward gay men and lesbian women (i.e., homonegativity), researchers tend to use measures that require participants to respond to belief statements. This methodology is problematic for two reasons: 1) it focuses on the social categories “gay men” and “lesbian women” and ignores the practices of relational intimacy engaged in by gay and lesbian persons (practices that, arguably, are at the crux of homonegativity); and 2) it overlooks the affective responses that sexual minorities evoke in heterosexual people. These issues were tackled in the current study. Specifically, heterosexual participants (N = 241) were asked to report their affective state using six basic emotions while viewing photos depicting male-male, female-female, and heterosexual couples. Findings demonstrated that participants, regardless of gender, reacted most negatively to images of female-female couples engaging in everyday intimacies. Theoretical explanations for these findings are explored.