Depression in child psychiatric inpatients: Cognitive and attributional patterns

Cognitive and learned helplessness models of depression view maladaptive cognitive and attributional patterns as core features of depressive disorders. This study examined cognitive and attributional patterns in depressed children, nondepressed children, and a subgroup of remitting depressives who had histories of depression but were not reporting depressive symptoms when evaluated during the first 2 weeks of hospitalization. When compared with nondepressed controls, depressed children reported significantly more hopelessness, more negative self-perceptions, and negative self-perceptions across a wider variety of domains, and they displayed more dysfunctional attributional styles. While 55% of depressed children displayed pervasive maladaptive cognitive patterns, the other 45% of depressed children scored more similarly to nondepressed children, suggesting that childhood depressive disorders may be heterogeneous with respect to cognitive patterns. Contrary to the notion of traitlike depressive cognitive and attributional patterns that persist after the remission of depressive episodes, children with remitting depressions scored similarly to nondepressed children.Partial support for this project was provided by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of their Network on Risk and Protective Factors in the Major Mental Disorders. I wish to thank Donald Guthrie for providing statistical consultation, Gwen Gordon for her computer assistance, and Niels Mueller and Jean Keller for their help with data collection.     

Gender and lexical access in Italian

Two new procedures were employed to investigate the effects of semantic and grammatical gender on lexical access in Italian and to investigate the interaction of gender with other factors that are known to influence lexical access in other languages. The gender-monitoring task requires a conscious decision about the gender of each noun, whereas the word repetition task does not require explicit attention to gender. In both tasks, single words are presented out of context, under speeded conditions. Both procedures proved to be sensitive indices of word recognition, with reaction times that are closely tied to the point at which words can be uniquely identified (although some processing before and after the uniqueness point was seen). In both tasks, reaction times were strongly affected by phonological factors (e.g., length, number of syllables, and presence of frication on the initial consonant). Phonological transparency of gender marking had a reliable effect on gender monitoring but had no effect on word repetition, suggesting that explicit attention to gender may be a factor affecting utilization of this phonological cue. Semantic factors (including semantic gender) had no effect on performance. Frequency and age of acquisition had very small effects when other factors were controlled. Implications for current models of lexical access are discussed, with special reference to the role of gender.     

Effect of Grammatical Gender and Semantic Context on Lexical Access in Italian

The interacting effects of sentence context and grammatical gender on lexical access were investigated in Italian using a timed picture-naming paradigm. Results snowed large interacting effects of both sentence context and the gender of the article, with facilitation relative to two different control conditions. Repeat testing yielded an overall decrease in RT, but did not change the pattern of results. Results are interpreted in support of interactive activation models in which different sources of information are combined on-line to predict, anticipate or preactivate lexical targets.     

Measurement of Impulsivity: Construct Coherence, Longitudinal Stability, and Relationship with Externalizing Problems in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

This study focused on the assessment of impulsivity in nonreferred school-aged children. Children had been participants since infancy in the Bloomington Longitudinal Study. Individual differences in impulsivity were assessed in the laboratory when children were 6 (44 boys, 36 girls) and 8 (50 boys, 39 girls) years of age. Impulsivity constructs derived from these assessments were related to parent and teacher ratings of externalizing problems across the school-age period (ages 7–10) and to parent and self-ratings of these outcomes across adolescence (ages 14–17). Consistent with prior research, individual measures of impulsivity factor-analyzed into subdimensions reflecting children's executive control capabilities, delay of gratification, and ability or willingness to sustain attention and compliance during work tasks. Children's performance on the main interactive task index, inhibitory control, showed a signficant level of stability between ages 6 and 8. During the school-age years, children who performed impulsively on the laboratory measures were perceived by mothers and by teachers as more impulsive, inattentive, and overactive than others, affirming the external validity of the impulsivity constructs. Finally, impulsive behavior in the laboratory at ages 6 and 8 predicted maternal and self-ratings of externalizing problem behavior across adolescence, supporting the longterm predictive value of the laboratory-derived impulsivity measures.     

DIVERGENT PROBLEM SOLVING

On compare les performances d'adolescents hindous (N = 70) et américains (N = 94) habitant des bourgs agricoles, dans deux épreuves de créativité (divergent thinking). Les résultats montrent que les sujets américains donnent plus de réponses nouvelles aux problèmes, tandis que les Hindous répondent de façon routinière, ce qui ne convient pas aux tâches proposées. On peut interpréter ces différences de deux manières: ou bien c'est l'environnement pris globalement qui entraîne une capacité différentielle à penser de façon créatrice; ou bien il s'agit d'une influence spécifique de la maison et de l'école. Une réplique partielle de la première étude a été réalisée à New Delhi (Inde): le milieu urbain présente des ressemblances avec l'environnement global des adolescents américains, tout en conservant les traditions hindoues en matière d'habitat et d'école. Les résultats sont en faveur de l'hypothèse selon laquelle ce sont les différences dans l'environnement global qui influent sur la créativité.     

Themes in Group Counseling with Adolescents

A group of counselors met in seminar over a period of a year, critiquing tapes of their group counseling sessions. It was found through analysis of these recordings that certain themes could be identified which occurred and reoccurred in the content of group counseling with adolescents. These themes were entitled: “My Vices,” “Outwitting the Adults,” “Problem Parents,” “My Brother, the Brat,” “My Public Image,” “Nobody Loves Me,” and “Let's Change the Rules.” Illustrative material is presented that was transcribed from the recordings, after all identifying data were removed.     

Counsellors' focus on competitive employment for people with severe mental illness: an application of the theory of planned behaviour in vocational rehabilitation programmes

Although the evidence-based Individual Placement and Support programme highlights the importance of the vocational rehabilitation (VR) counsellors' focus on competitive employment during career counselling, studies have shown that counsellors do not always target such jobs. This study examines which determinants affect the counsellors' intentions using an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Cross-sectional data of 263 VR counsellors of three public employment services were analysed using structural equation modelling. A path model comprising attitudes, prior behaviour, and subjective and moral norms explained 69% of the variance in intentions. The findings indicate that counsellors focus more on competitive employment when they (1) view the placement in a competitive job as positive, (2) experience support and (3) have prior relevant experiences.     

What about the Male Victims? Exploring the Impact of Gender Stereotyping on Implicit Attitudes and Behavioural Intentions Associated with Intimate Partner Violence

Sex Roles - Past research has indicated that women who work in male-dominated fields, such as politics, face discrimination due to a stereotypically perceived poor fit between their gender and...     

The Impact of Gendered Stereotypes on Perceptions of Violence: A Commentary

Sex Roles - The present commentary explores the impact of gender role stereotypes on perceptions of both intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence. Two papers published in this issue of...