A company-based lottery to reduce the personal driving of employees

A company-based lottery was used to reduce the number of nonessential miles employees drove their personal cars each day and thereby save gasoline. Employees were divided into an experimental and a contrast group. The experimental design involved two conditions: (a) a baseline in which no consequences were attached to driving behavior, and (b) a month-long lottery in which the experimentals were rewarded for decreasing their percentage of average miles driven per day relative to their initial baseline average. The experimentals received an ABA order of conditions while the contrast group remained in baseline. The lottery condition consisted of four weekly lotteries and one grand drawing held at the end of the month. During the lottery condition, the experimentals reduced their average daily mileage by 11.6% relative to their initial baseline (7.85 miles per employee per day) while the contrast employees increased their average mileage by 21.2%. Both groups exceeded their initial baseline averages in the return to baseline. The study was almost cost-effective because the experimentals' gas savings ($75) was within $4 of the cost of motivating them to reduce their mileage ($79).     

Should subjects be forewarned of the possible psychological consequences of filling out a PTSD questionnaire?

In 1993 Albach investigated the long-term consequences of sexual abuse on psychological health. A group of abused women a a control group of nonabused women were asked to fill in a questionnaire assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For ethical reasons, the abused women were warned that filling in the questionnaire might be emotionally stressful. The control group did not receive this warning. The abused women scored higher on the questionnaire than the nonabused women. The warning they received may have influenced their reports. Our experiment investigated this. 101 psychology students were divided into two groups, one who received a warning and a control group who did not. The hypothesis was that people who had been previously warned would score higher on a PTSD questionaire than people who had not. There were, however, no significant differences in mean PTSD scores and no known initial differences between groups.     

Social identities and intergroup bias in immigrant and nonimmigrant children

Ethnic and American identity, as well as positivity and negativity toward multiple social groups, were assessed in 392 children attending 2nd or 4th grade in various New York City neighborhoods. Children from 5 ethnic groups were recruited, including White and Black Americans, as well as recent immigrants from China, the Dominican Republic, and the former Soviet Union. For ethnic minority children, greater positivity bias (evaluating one's ingroup more positively than outgroups) was predicted by immigrant status and ethnic identity, whereas negativity bias (evaluating outgroups more negatively than one's ingroup) was associated with increased age, immigrant status, and (among 4th graders only) ethnic identity. In addition, a more central American identity was associated with less intergroup bias among ethnic minority children.     

Future Expectations Among Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

Future expectations have been important predictors of adolescent development and behavior. Its measurement, however, has largely focused on single dimensions and misses potentially important components. This analysis investigates whether an empirically-driven, multidimensional approach to conceptualizing future expectations can substantively contribute to our understanding of adolescent risk behavior. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to derive subpopulations of adolescents based on their future expectations with latent class analysis. Multinomial regression then determines which covariates from Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory are associated with class membership. After modeling these covariates, we examine whether future expectations is associated with delinquency, substance use, and sexual experience. Our analysis suggests the emergence of four distinct classes labeled the Student Expectations, Student/Drinking Expectations, Victim Expectations, and Drinking/Arrest Expectations classes according to their indicator profiles. These classes differ with respect to covariates associated with membership; furthermore, they are all statistically and differentially associated with at least one adolescent risk behavior. This analysis demonstrates the additional benefit derived from using this multidimensional approach for studying future expectations. Further research is needed to investigate its stability and role in predicting adolescent risk behavior over time.     

Client perspectives: The therapeutic challenge of domestic violence counselling – a pilot study

Aims: This qualitative pilot study explored the perceptions of four female domestic violence clients regarding counselling they had concluded in order to identify a preliminary client‐preferred domestic violence counselling approach. Method: Semi‐structured interviews asking about significant events during counselling were held. An adapted grounded theory and narrative methodology was used. Results from the analysis were reviewed with two of the participants. Participants were offered additional counselling support if required after the research interview. Results/Findings: Domestic violence clients found starting counselling particularly difficult after years of keeping the abuse to themselves. Participants actively withheld and managed information for several sessions and needed to know they had time to explore their experiences. The counsellor being consistent and non‐judgemental, and understanding domestic violence and its effects was helpful. Having a clear ending was appreciated by the participants. Discussion: The initial development of the therapeutic relationship benefited from active discussion of how domestic violence could affect behaviour and emotions. Good early therapeutic relationships showed elements of the three main psychological schools. Participants benefited from a pro‐active discussion of endings. A key limitation of this research is the small sample size. Implications for practice: The research suggests that counsellors would benefit from knowledge and skills from different psychological schools and specific training in domestic violence. Allowing flexibility on the number of sessions available to clients may be helpful. Conclusions: Further work is required to explore these preliminary findings. However, early indications suggest that domestic abuse clients may benefit from non‐time‐limited specialist counselling services.     

How do generic statements impact performance? Evidence for entity beliefs

Generic statements about the abilities of children's social groups (e.g. ‘Girls/Boys are good at this game’) negatively impact children's performance – even if the statements are favorable towards children's own social groups. We explored the mechanism by which generic language impairs children's performance. Across three studies, our findings suggest that generic statements influence children's performance by creating an entity belief (i.e. a belief that a fixed ability determines performance). Children who were exposed to a generic statement about their social group's ability performed worse than children in control conditions. This effect hurt children's performance even when the person who made the generic statement was no longer present and a new person not privy to the statement replaced them. However, when children heard a generic statement paired with an effort explanation (i.e. ‘Girls/Boys are good at this game because they try really hard when they draw’) they performed better than children who heard the generic statement with no explanation (i.e. just ‘Girls/Boys are good at this game’) and children who heard the generic statement paired with a trait explanation (i.e. ‘Girls/Boys are good at this game because they are smart and really good at drawing’). This work uncovers when and how generic statements that refer to the ability of one's social group hinder performance, informing the development of practices to improve student motivation and learning.     

Effects of group prenatal care on psychosocial risk in pregnancy: results from a randomised controlled trial

Few interventions have succeeded in reducing psychosocial risk among pregnant women. The objective of this study was to determine whether an integrated group prenatal care intervention already shown to improve perinatal and sexual risk outcomes can also improve psychosocial outcomes compared to standard individual care. This randomised controlled trial included pregnant women ages 14-25 from two public hospitals (N = 1047) who were randomly assigned to standard individual care, group prenatal care or integrated group prenatal care intervention (CenteringPregnancy Plus, CP+). Timing and content of visits followed obstetrical guidelines, from 18-week gestation through birth. Each 2-h group prenatal care session included physical assessment, education/skills building and support via facilitated discussion. Using intention-to-treat models, there were no significant differences in psychosocial function; yet, women in the top tertile of psychosocial stress at study entry did benefit from integrated group care. High-stress women randomly assigned to CP+ reported significantly increased self-esteem, decreased stress and social conflict in the third trimester of pregnancy; social conflict and depression were significantly lower 1-year postpartum (all p-values < 0.02). CP+ improved psychosocial outcomes for high-stress women. This 'bundled' intervention has promise for improving psychosocial outcomes, especially for young pregnant women who are traditionally more vulnerable and underserved.