Treatment manuals: use in the treatment of bulimia nervosa

As psychology has moved toward emphasizing evidence-based practice, use of treatment manuals has extended from research trials into clinical practice. Minimal research has directly evaluated use of manuals in clinical practice. This survey of international eating disorder professionals examined use of manuals with 259 clinicians’ most recent client with bulimia nervosa. Although evidence-based manuals for bulimia nervosa exist, only 35.9% of clinicians reported using a manual. Clinicians were more likely to use a manual if they were younger; were treating an adult client; were clinical psychologists; were involved in research related to eating disorders; and endorsed a cognitive-behavioral orientation. Clinicians were less likely to use a manual if they provided eclectic psychotherapy that incorporated multiple psychotherapeutic approaches. We conclude that psychotherapy provided in clinical practice often does not align with the specific form validated in research trials, and “eclecticism” is at odds with efforts to disseminate manuals into clinical practice.     

Intelligence,social class of origin,childhood behavior disturbance and education as predictors of status attainment in midlife in men: The Aberdeen Children of the 1950s study

In a birth cohort of 6281 men from Aberdeen, Scotland, social class of origin, childhood intelligence, childhood behavior disturbance and education were examined as predictors of status attainment in midlife (46 to 51 years). Social class of origin, intelligence and behavior disturbance were conceptualized as correlated predictors, whose effects were hypothesized to be partially mediated by educational qualifications. A structural equation model using Full Information Maximum Likelihood estimation confirmed that education had the strongest direct effect on status attainment at midlife. Furthermore, education partially mediated the effects of social class of origin and childhood intelligence, and fully mediated the effects of behavior disturbance on status attainment. Social class of origin, childhood intelligence and behavior disturbance were strongly inter-correlated. After controlling for these associations, educational and social status attainments were influenced to a considerably greater extent by childhood intelligence than by social class of origin.     

A Validation Study of the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ)

In this study, the validity of the recently developed 28-item Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) was examined. Survey data from a representative sample of 6,723 Norwegian senior high school students between 18 and 20 years of age were used for this purpose. Validity and reliability were investigated by means of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, correlations with other relevant variables, and internal consistency measures. The results supported the construct and convergent validity of the five factors of a modified 23-item version of the scale, which also yielded acceptable psychometric properties. The paper concludes that the modified READ is a valid measure assessing relevant resilience factors with relatively few items, thereby serving as a valuable tool in resilience and risk-factor research.     

Emotional competence in children with autism: Diagnostic criteria and empirical evidence

The diagnostic criteria of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include emotional impairments. However, scientific evidence for these impairments is varied and subtle. In this contribution, recent empirical studies that examined the emotional competence in children and adolescents with ASD are reviewed. Four aspects of emotional competence that are important to children’s daily social functioning (expression, perception, responding, and understanding) are discussed, differentiating between mentally retarded and normally intelligent children and adolescents with and without ASD in natural and structured contexts. On various accounts, the emotional impairments of children with ASD that are found in scientific studies provide a more differentiated view on the impairments suggested by the diagnostic literature. Consistent empirical findings and gaps in the field are discussed. Theoretical and clinical recommendations for assessment procedures are suggested.     

The effect of spatial frequency content on parameters of eye movements

Two experiments were conducted to examine the influence of the spatial frequency content of natural images on saccadic size and fixation duration. In the first experiment 10 pictures of natural textures were low-pass filtered (0.04-0.76 cycles/deg) and high-pass filtered (1.91-19.56 cycles/deg) and presented with the unfiltered originals in random order, each for 10 s, to 18 participants, with the instruction to inspect them in order to find a suitable name. The participants' eye movements were recorded. It was found that low-pass filtered images resulted in larger saccadic amplitudes compared with high-pass filtered images. A second experiment was conducted with natural stimuli selected for different power spectra which supported the results outlined above. In general, low-spatial frequencies elicit larger saccades associated with shorter fixation durations whereas high-spatial frequencies elicit smaller saccades with longer fixation durations.     

Automatic processing of pain: the change of implicit pain associations after psychotherapy

This study explores the utility of a pain IAT for the assessment of dysfunctional cognitive beliefs in chronic pain patients before and after a cognitive behaviour therapy. A patient group suffering from chronic pain (N=25) treated with a 4-week cognitive behavioural psychotherapy is compared with an untreated healthy control group (N=27) at two points in time. In addition, both groups completed a self-esteem questionnaire (Rosenberg-scale) and a self-esteem IAT. In the clinical group a questionnaire assessing self-reported pain cognitions was administered. The pain IAT was able to differentiate between chronic pain patients and healthy controls before the treatment. Most important, pain-related implicit associations could be shown to change over the course of treatment in the clinical group of chronic pain patients. Results provide first evidence for an application of the IAT in chronic pain research.     

Development and validation of the childhood narcissism scale

In this article, we describe the development and validation of a short (10 item) but comprehensive self-report measure of childhood narcissism. The Childhood Narcissism Scale (CNS) is a 1-dimensional measure of stable individual differences in childhood narcissism with strong internal consistency reliability (Studies 1-4). The CNS is virtually unrelated to conventional measures of self-esteem but is positively related to self-appraised superiority, social evaluative concern and self-esteem contingency, agentic interpersonal goals, and emotional extremity (Study 5). Furthermore, the CNS is negatively related to empathic concern and positively related to aggression following ego threat (Study 6). These results suggest that childhood narcissism has similar psychological and interpersonal correlates as adult narcissism. The CNS provides researchers a convenient tool for measuring narcissism in children and young adolescents with strong preliminary psychometric characteristics.     

Social environment and reproduction in female European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus): benefits of the presence of litter sisters

The authors investigated in an observational study the consequences of the presence of litter sisters on the social interactions and on reproductive performance of young female European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from a population living under seminatural conditions. In early winter, when all young females were settled in a social group, they were characterized by the presence or absence of litter sisters in their groups. Females with litter sisters in their groups displayed significantly more positive social interaction with females of their social group compared to females without sisters, whereas this difference was mainly due to the high frequency of positive social interactions among the respective sisters. Such differences between the females of both categories were already apparent during the animals' juvenile phase, before the females integrated into a particular group: females which later had litter sisters in their group showed more positive social behavior than females which later no longer had litter sisters. During their first breeding season, females with litter sisters present generally started to breed earlier by an average of 14 days. A more favorable social environment might have possibly facilitated the earlier onset of breeding in females with present litter sisters by attenuating the negative consequences of stress.     

Aging and social satisfaction: offsetting positive and negative effects

Social satisfaction in late adulthood originates from competing sources. Older adults tend to be more positive and less negative than younger adults, but social contact and working memory often decrease with age, both of which might limit older adults' social functioning. In the current study of younger and older adults, these socially facilitative vs. socially debilitative changes were found to underlie stasis in social satisfaction. These findings show that the lack of an overall effect for age can mask competing changes in social functioning in late adulthood, as the sources of social satisfaction might change even if the outcome does not.     

Adapted motivational interviewing for women with binge eating disorder: a randomized controlled trial

In this randomized controlled trial, 108 women with binge-eating disorder (BED) recruited from the community were assigned to either an adapted motivational interviewing (AMI) group (1 individual AMI session + self-help handbook) or control group (handbook only). They were phoned 4, 8, and 16 weeks following the initial session to assess binge eating and associated symptoms (depression, self-esteem, quality of life). Postintervention, the AMI group participants were more confident than those in the control group in their ability to change binge eating. Although both groups reported improved binge eating, mood, self-esteem, and general quality of life 16 weeks following the intervention, the AMI group improved to a greater extent. A greater proportion of women in the AMI group abstained from binge eating (27.8% vs. 11.1%) and no longer met the binge frequency criterion of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) for BED (87.0% vs. 57.4%). AMI may constitute a brief, effective intervention for BED and associated symptoms.