Academic adjustment across middle school: the role of public regard and parenting

In the current longitudinal study, we examined associations between Black and Latino youths' perceptions of the public's opinion of their racial/ethnic group (i.e., public regard) and changes in academic adjustment outcomes across middle school. We also tested combinations of racial/ethnic socialization and parent involvement in academic activities as moderators of this association. We used a 2nd-order latent trajectory model to test changes in academic adjustment outcomes in a sample of 345 Black and Latino urban youth across 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (51% female). Results revealed a significant average linear decline in academic adjustment from 6th to 8th grade, as well as significant variation around this decline. We found that parenting moderated the association between public regard and the latent trajectory of academic adjustment. Specifically, for youth who reported high racial/ethnic socialization and low parent academic involvement, lower public regard predicted lower academic adjustment in 6th grade. For youth who reported both low racial/ethnic socialization and low parent academic involvement, lower public regard predicted a steeper decline in academic adjustment over time. Finally, among youth who reported high racial/ethnic socialization and high parent academic involvement, public regard was not associated with either the intercept or the slope of academic adjustment. Thus, the combination of high racial/ethnic socialization and parent academic involvement may protect youths' academic motivation and performance from the negative effects of believing the public has low opinions of one's racial/ethnic group. Implications for protecting Black and Latino youths' academic outcomes from decline during middle school are discussed.     

Couple Relationship Education at the Transition to Parenthood: A Window of Opportunity to Reach High‐Risk Couples

This study evaluated if the transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to provide couple relationship education (CRE) to new parents at high risk for future relationship problems. Fifty‐three percent of eligible couples approached agreed to participate in CRE and of these 80% had not previously accessed CRE. Couples were a broad representative of Australian couples having their first child, but minority couples were underrepresented. A third of couples had three or more risk factors for future relationship distress (e.g., cohabiting, interpartner violence, elevated psychological distress, unplanned pregnancy). Low education was the only risk factor that predicted drop out. The transition to parenthood is a window of opportunity to recruit certain types of high‐risk couples to CRE.     

When a new group identity does harm on the spot: Stereotype threat in newly created groups

The detrimental consequences of negative stereotypes on performance have been demonstrated in a variety of social groups with various stereotypes. The present studies investigate the minimal conditions for stereotype threat using newly created groups. Results of three experiments (total N = 184) demonstrate that in the negative stereotype condition, the more participants identified with their novel group, the stronger was their decrease in performance. In the control condition, identification was either not related to performance, or it had by trend a positive effect. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed with regard to stereotype threat and social identity theory. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family of Origin Coaching for Clinicians in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

The role of the therapist as a person rather than only as a technician has become increasingly important in family therapy since the post-modern turn. Despite this there is a paucity of research exploring supervision models that focus on self-reflection, as opposed to clinical competence. This study documents the experience of a Family of Origin Coaching group, conducted with six clinicians and one supervisor working in a child and adolescent mental health service. A participatory action framework was used, with data analysed using grounded theory. A variety of benefits were reported, including personal development, an enhanced empathy towards clients and an ability to better cope with stressful team dynamics. Family of Origin coaching has the potential to yield benefits for clinicians as a compliment to traditional supervision. Issues of confidentiality and safety need to be addressed carefully, especially during times of organisational change or stress.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of REBOOT Combat Recovery: A faith-based combat trauma resiliency program

Evidence-based intervention programs attuned to the spiritual needs of service members, Veterans, and their families are needed to help them deal with the potentially debilitating consequences of combat trauma. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a faith-based, peer-led combat trauma resiliency program called REBOOT Combat Recovery. Participants were 254 adults who reported on 8 aspects of physical, mental, and social well-being during the 3rd week and the 12th week of the program. Findings indicated improvement for pain interference, fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and social participation. Improvement was uniform except that Veterans benefited more than currently serving military personnel with respect to anxiety symptoms. These results suggest the program may be effective for coping with the aftermath of combat trauma.     

Running away from unwanted feelings: Culture matters

Findings from past research have suggested a link between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression. However, there is emerging evidence showing that the suppression of emotional expression may have different meanings depending on the specific cultural context. Taking a cultural perspective, the present study aimed to examine whether the link between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression is comparable or divergent between two cultural groups [i.e., European Americans (EAs) and Chinese (CH)] with different cultural norms surrounding emotional expression. We hypothesised that the positive association between experiential avoidance and expressive suppression typically found among EAs would be attenuated among CH. Furthermore, the observed cultural group difference in the experiential avoidance–suppression link was hypothesised to be mediated by beliefs in emotional self-control. Data from 224 EA college students and 190 CH college students provided a clear pattern of support for our hypotheses. Implications for current theories on experiential avoidance are discussed.     

Career trajectories of older women: implications for career guidance

As work and employment transitions become more frequent and difficult, the demand for formal career guidance increases. Women are likely to experience structural labour market disadvantage and may benefit from formal support that is sympathetic to their particular needs. Yet the traditional psychological paradigms that dominate career guidance practice have assumed homogeneity. To contribute both to broader debates about careers services for adults and the development of more relevant theoretical frameworks for career practice for women, results are presented from an international, comparative qualitative investigation of the career trajectories of older women (aged 45 to 65) in Australia, England and South Africa. These results confirm a need for career guidance that is nuanced and differentiated for women.     

The face of fear: Effects of eye gaze and emotion on visual attention

We investigated whether a fearful expression enhances the effect of another's gaze in directing the attention of an observer. Participants viewed photographs of faces whose gaze was directed ahead, to the left or to the right. Target letters then appeared unpredictably to the left or right. As expected, targets in the location indicated by gaze were detected more rapidly. In nonanxious volunteers the effects of fearful gaze did not differ from neutral gaze, but fearful expression had a more powerful influence in a selected high anxious group. Attention is thus more likely to be guided by the direction of fearful than neutral gaze, but only in anxiety-prone individuals.     

Acquisition and Automatization of a Complex Task: An Examination of Three-Ball Cascade Juggling

The learning patterns of 3-ball cascade juggling from acquisition until automaticity were examined in 10 participants. On the basis of outcome measures derived from 26 practice sessions and 4 periodic probe sessions, the authors differentiated participants into 3 distinct learning types: a proficient group, an emerging group, and a single late learner. The proficient group was distinguished by how rapidly they learned and automatized performance. Most interesting, an inverse response cost (i.e., performance boost) on the secondary task was found in the majority of proficient group members during the dual-task condition. The present results are discussed in relation to the P. L. Ackerman model (1987, 1988) of complex skill acquisition as is the significance of the inverse response cost finding.     

Association of social-environmental factors with cognitive function in children with sickle cell disease

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between cognitive function in pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) patients and mothers’ reports of social-environmental stress, depressive symptoms, and parenting. A total of 65 children with SCD completed comprehensive neuropsychological testing to assess several domains of cognitive functioning, including general intellectual ability, academic achievement, and executive function. Mothers reported on demographics, social-environmental stress, depressive symptoms, and parenting. As predicted, children with SCD significantly underperformed relative to normative data on measures of cognitive function. Associations between maternal social-environmental stress, maternal depressive symptoms, and parenting were mixed. The results show partial support for the hypothesis that greater stress and depressive symptoms and less positive parenting are associated with poorer cognitive function in children with SCD. Linear regression analyses showed that maternal financial stress was the strongest predictor across all domains of cognitive function. The findings replicate and extend past research, reaffirming that children with SCD are at risk for cognitive impairment across multiple domains. Additionally, social-environmental stress, particularly financial strain, is linked to mothers’ depressive symptoms and parenting behaviors as well as children’s cognitive function. Future studies using direct observations of parenting behaviors are needed. These findings, along with recent research on parenting interventions, may inform the development of concrete, teachable parenting and coping skills to improve cognitive functioning in children with SCD.