Adolescent family experiences and educational attainment during early adulthood

In this study, the authors investigated the degree to which a family investment model would help account for the association between family of origin socioeconomic characteristics and the later educational attainment of 451 young adults (age 26) from 2-parent families. Parents' educational level, occupational prestige, and family income in 1989 each had a statistically significant direct relationship with youths' educational attainment in 2002. Consistent with the theoretical model guiding the study, parents' educational level and family income also demonstrated statistically significant indirect effects on later educational attainment through their associations with growth trajectories for supportive parenting, sibling relations, and adolescent academic engagement. Supportive parenting and sibling relations were linked to later educational attainment through their association with adolescent academic engagement. Academic engagement during adolescence was associated with educational attainment in young adulthood. These basic processes operated similarly regardless of youths' gender, target youths' age relative to a near-age sibling, gender composition of the sibling dyad, or gender of parent.     

The level-of-focal-attention hypothesis in oral reading: influence of strategies on the context specificity of lexical repetition effects.

Two experiments examined the influence of level of focal attention--text or lexical--on benefits from lexical repetition in speeded oral reading of coherent texts and random word lists. Experiment 1 showed that with coherent targets, direction of attention to the text level resulted in benefit only from a previous reading of the same coherent paragraph. However, when attention was directed to the lexical level, equal benefit resulted from a previous reading of either the same coherent paragraph or a scrambled version of the paragraph. Experiment 2 showed that level of focal attention did not influence benefit with scrambled targets. Thus, the linguistic structure of the target is important to repetition benefits and their modulation by attentional strategies.     

Spirituality,spiritual sensibility and human growth

While notions of spirituality, spiritual experience and spiritual development seem much neglected in the literature of modern analytical philosophy, such terminology continues to be current in both common usage and religious contexts. This author has previously taken issue with some recent attempts to develop (educational and other professional) conceptions of spirituality and spiritual experience as substantially independent of religious attachment. Notwithstanding this, the present paper considers whether such a ‘religiously-untethered’ notion of spirituality, spiritual experience or sensibility might yet be sustainable in terms of two key criteria: (1) as a capacity for non-instrumental perspectives on, or interpretations of, the world of ordinary experience; and (2) as a corresponding capacity to identify goals and values that transcend or are not reducible to the meeting of immediate natural or material—either individual or social—needs.     

Metacognition of agency

The feeling that we are agents, intentionally making things happen by our own actions, is foundational to our understanding of ourselves as humans. People's metacognitions of agency were investigated in 4 experiments. Participants played a game in which they tried to touch downward scrolling Xs and avoid touching Os. Variables that affected accuracy included speed of the scroll, density of the targets, and feedback. Of central interest were variables directed not only at accuracy but also at people's control: the turbulence of the cursor and how close the cursor had to come to the target for a hit (i.e., "magic"). After each trial, people made judgments of agency or judgments of performance. People were selectively sensitive to the variables to which they should be responsive in agency monitoring--whether the cursor moved in close synchrony to their movements and whether targets disappeared by magic. People knew, separably from their objective or judged performance, when they were in control and when they were not. These results indicate that people can sensitively monitor their own agency.     

Rumination-focused cognitive behaviour therapy for residual depression: a case series

The treatment of chronic and recurrent depression is a priority for the development of new interventions. The maintenance of residual symptoms following acute treatment for depression is a risk factor for both chronic depression and further relapse/recurrence. This open case series provides the first data on a cognitive-behavioural treatment for residual depression that explicitly targets depressive rumination. Rumination has been identified as a key factor in the onset and maintenance of depression, which is found to remain elevated following remission from depression. Fourteen consecutively recruited participants meeting criteria for medication--refractory residual depression [Paykel, E.S., Scott, J., Teasdale, J.D., Johnson, A.L., Garland, A., Moore, R. et al., 1999. Prevention of relapse in residual depression by cognitive therapy--a controlled trial. Archives of General Psychiatry 56, 829-835] were treated individually for up to 12 weekly 60-min sessions. Treatment specifically focused on switching patients from less helpful to more helpful styles of thinking through the use of functional analysis, experiential/imagery exercises and behavioural experiments. Treatment produced significant improvements in depressive symptoms, rumination and co-morbid disorders: 71% responded (50% reduction on Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) and 50% achieved full remission. Treating depressive rumination appears to yield generalised improvement in depression and co-morbidity. This study provides preliminary evidence that rumination-focused CBT may be an efficacious treatment for medication--refractory residual depression.     

Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science: an experimental test of a utility-value intervention

The pipeline toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) begins to leak in high school, when some students choose not to take advanced mathematics and science courses. We conducted a field experiment testing whether a theory-based intervention that was designed to help parents convey the importance of mathematics and science courses to their high school-aged children would lead them to take more mathematics and science courses in high school. The three-part intervention consisted of two brochures mailed to parents and a Web site, all highlighting the usefulness of STEM courses. This relatively simple intervention led students whose parents were in the experimental group to take, on average, nearly one semester more of science and mathematics in the last 2 years of high school, compared with the control group. Parents are an untapped resource for increasing STEM motivation in adolescents, and the results demonstrate that motivational theory can be applied to this important pipeline problem.     

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for adults who stutter: Psychosocial adjustment and speech fluency

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group intervention program for adults who stutter (N = 20). The program consisted of 2-h therapeutic sessions conducted weekly for eight consecutive weeks. It was an integrated program designed to improve: (a) psychosocial functioning, (b) readiness for therapy and change, (c) utilisation of mindfulness skills and psychological flexibility, and (d) frequency of stuttering. The findings provide innovative evidence for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as an effective intervention with statistically significant improvements in psychosocial functioning, preparation for change and therapy, utilisation of mindfulness skills, and overall speech fluency. Follow-up data collected at three months post-treatment revealed that therapeutic gains were successfully maintained over time. These findings enhance the understanding of the impact of stuttering on psychological wellbeing and offer a new perspective on what might constitute successful stuttering treatment. Further, clinical research support is provided for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy delivered in a group format as a promising and novel intervention for adults who stutter.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) appreciate the potential for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for adults who stutter; (b) identify the improvements participants experienced in psychosocial functioning and frequency of stuttered speech; (c) appreciate the six core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; and (d) appreciate the differences between an ACT model of intervention for adults who stutter compared to a CBT approach.     

Positive Traits Linked to Less Pain through Lower Pain Catastrophizing

The present study examined the association between positive traits, pain catastrophizing, and pain perceptions. We hypothesized that pain catastrophizing would mediate the relationship between positive traits and pain. First, participants (n = 114) completed the Trait Hope Scale, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the Pain Catastrophizing Scale. Participants then completed the experimental pain stimulus, a cold pressor task, by submerging their hand in a circulating water bath (0 °C) for as long as tolerable. Immediately following the task, participants completed the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ-SF). Pearson correlation found associations between hope and pain catastrophizing (r = −.41, p < .01) and MPQ-SF scores (r = −.20, p < .05). Optimism was significantly associated with pain catastrophizing (r = −.44, p < .01) and MPQ-SF scores (r = −.19, p < .05). Bootstrapping, a non-parametric resampling procedure, tested for mediation and supported our hypothesis that pain catastrophizing mediated the relationship between positive traits and MPQ-SF pain report. To our knowledge, this investigation is the first to establish that the protective link between positive traits and experimental pain operates through lower pain catastrophizing.