Coping with COVID-19: Longitudinal Impact of the Pandemic on Adjustment and Links with Coping for Adolescents with and without ADHD

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Understanding factors that foster resilience and buffer against the negative psychological impact of COVID-19 is critical to inform efforts to...     

Longitudinal Association of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo with Depression in Adolescents and the Possible Role of Peer Victimization

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - It is unknown whether sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is prospectively associated with depression in adolescence, and possible processes linking...     

Social eye gaze modulates processing of speech and co-speech gesture

In human face-to-face communication, language comprehension is a multi-modal, situated activity. However, little is known about how we combine information from different modalities during comprehension, and how perceived communicative intentions, often signaled through visual signals, influence this process. We explored this question by simulating a multi-party communication context in which a speaker alternated her gaze between two recipients. Participants viewed speech-only or speech + gesture object-related messages when being addressed (direct gaze) or unaddressed (gaze averted to other participant). They were then asked to choose which of two object images matched the speaker’s preceding message. Unaddressed recipients responded significantly more slowly than addressees for speech-only utterances. However, perceiving the same speech accompanied by gestures sped unaddressed recipients up to a level identical to that of addressees. That is, when unaddressed recipients’ speech processing suffers, gestures can enhance the comprehension of a speaker’s message. We discuss our findings with respect to two hypotheses attempting to account for how social eye gaze may modulate multi-modal language comprehension.     

Purity matters more than harm in moral judgments of suicide: Response to Gray (2014)

Many people judge suicide to be immoral. We have found evidence that these moral judgments are primarily predicted by people’s belief that suicide taints the soul and by independent concerns about purity. This finding is inconsistent with accounts that define morality as fundamentally based upon harm considerations. In this commentary, we respond to a critique of our finding, and we provide further support for our original conclusions. Even when applying new exclusion criteria to our data, an examination of effect sizes demonstrates that concerns about purity robustly and meaningfully explain variance in moral judgments of suicide. While harm concerns sometimes predict moral judgments of suicide alongside purity concerns, they reliably explain a much smaller proportion of the variance than do purity concerns. Therefore, data from six studies continue to suggest that the relevance of harm concerns for moral judgments of suicide is substantially overshadowed by the contribution of purity concerns.     

The “Rod and Fran Test”: Relationship Priming Influences Cognitive-Perceptual Performance

We theorized that interpersonal relationships can provide structures for experience. In particular, we tested whether primes of same-sex versus mixed-sex relationships could foster cognitive-perceptual processing styles known to be associated with independence versus interdependence respectively. Seventy-two participants visualized either a same-sex or other-sex relationship partner and then performed two measures of cognitive-perceptual style. On a computerized Rod and Frame Test, individuals were more field-dependent after visualizing a mixed-sex versus same-sex relationship partner. On a measure involving perceptions of group behavior, participants demonstrated more holistic/contextually based perception after being primed with a female versus male relationship partner. These findings support the hypothesis that activated cognitive structures representing interpersonal relationships can shape individuals’ cognitive-perceptual performance.     

The Association Between Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Academic Functioning in Youth with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the relation between Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) and academic functioning in a sample of 52 adolescents (40 males, 12 females) with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; M _age?=?13.75). This study builds on prior work by utilizing an empirically-based and psychometrically validated measure of SCT, collecting ratings of SCT from both parents and teachers, and examining associations with multiple domains of academic functioning from both the parent and teacher perspective as well as grade point average (GPA). Both SCT and DSM-IV symptoms of inattention were significantly correlated with domains of academic functioning. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the parent-rated SCT Slow subscale predicted overall academic functioning, organizational skills impairment, and homework problems above and beyond ADHD symptoms and child and demographic characteristics known to be associated with academics, including intelligence, academic achievement, and family income. The teacher-rated SCT Low Initiation/Persistence subscale also predicted homework problems and was the only SCT variable to predict school grades above and beyond ADHD symptoms and relevant covariates. Both the SCT Slow and Low Initiation/Persistence subscales include items related to youth seeming apathetic, unmotivated, and lacking initiative, behaviors that are strongly related to ADHD symptoms of inattention but not currently captured by the DSM-IV. Implications of these findings towards supporting the external validity of the SCT construct are discussed along with potential implications for intervention.     

The Long Arm of Mentoring: A Counterfactual Analysis of Natural Youth Mentoring and Employment Outcomes in Early Careers

Young people often develop natural mentoring relationships with nonparental adults during adolescence and young adulthood. While much has been learned about the benefits of natural mentoring for more proximate outcomes such as mental health and education, relatively little is known about the causal impact of youth mentoring relationships on career opportunities. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) survey to explore the effects of different kinds of natural mentoring relationships on employment outcomes during the early career years (when workers are in their late twenties and early thirties). Whereas traditional methods of causal conditioning show a broad range of employment benefits from being mentored, results from counterfactual analysis using propensity score matching reveal that the benefits of mentoring are confined to intrinsic job rewards. The findings imply that mentors help steer youth toward intrinsically rewarding careers.