Testing a Gender Additive Model: The Role of Body Image in Adolescent Depression

Despite consistent evidence that adolescent girls are at greater risk of developing depression than adolescent boys, risk factor models that account for this difference have been elusive. The objective of this research was to examine risk factors proposed by the gender additive model of depression that attempts to partially explain the increased prevalence of depression in adolescent girls. The theory suggests that body image and eating related variables predict depression for girls, but not for boys, above and beyond the variance accounted for by other well-known risk factors, some of which were examined in the current study. The sample was 247 adolescent girls and 181 adolescent boys studied over a 24-month duration. Results suggest that body dissatisfaction is a potent predictor of depression for girls, but not for boys, above and beyond the predictive effects of other established risk factors. Results provide insight into the etiology of adolescent depression and the disparate rate of depression among adolescent girls and provide direction for identifying high-risk individuals and developing effective prevention programs.     

Temperament and Parenting during the First Year of Life Predict Future Child Conduct Problems

Predictive associations between parenting and temperament during the first year of life and child conduct problems were assessed longitudinally in 1,863 offspring of a representative sample of women. Maternal ratings of infant fussiness, activity level, predictability, and positive affect each independently predicted maternal ratings of conduct problems during ages 4–13 years. Furthermore, a significant interaction indicated that infants who were both low in fussiness and high in predictability were at very low risk for future conduct problems. Fussiness was a stronger predictor of conduct problems in boys whereas fearfulness was a stronger predictor in girls. Conduct problems also were robustly predicted by low levels of early mother-report cognitive stimulation when infant temperament was controlled. Interviewer-rated maternal responsiveness was a robust predictor of conduct problems, but only among infants low in fearfulness. Spanking during infancy predicted slightly more severe conduct problems, but the prediction was moderated by infant fussiness and positive affect. Thus, individual differences in risk for mother-rated conduct problems across childhood are already partly evident in maternal ratings of temperament during the first year of life and are predicted by early parenting and parenting-by-temperament interactions.

Psychological Factors Associated with Emotional Responses to Receiving Genetic Risk Information

This study identified levels of distress, and predictors of levels of distress, in women undergoing assessment for genetic risk of breast/ovarian cancer based on their family history. It comprised a cohort study following 154 women who completed questionnaires at entry into a cancer genetic assessment programme and following risk provision. Independent significant associates of anxiety following risk provision were age, neuroticism, feeling hopeless about developing cancer, a perceived lack of control over developing cancer, lack of a social confidant, and a coping response involving acceptance/resignation. Depression was associated with age, neuroticism, feeling hopeless about developing cancer, lack of social confidant, and a coping response involving acceptance/resignation. To avoid high levels of psychological morbidity in future cohorts undergoing cancer genetic risk assessment, information should be given that emphasises that some degree of control over health outcomes through behaviour change or increased surveillance is possible.     

Ubiquity of Whiteness in majority group national imagination: Australian = White,but New Zealander does not

This research examined cross‐national differences in the extent to which majority ethnic group members (White Europeans) in Australia and New Zealand automatically privileged members of their ingroup, relative to Indigenous targets, in cognitive representations of nationhood. As predicted, European Australian undergraduates implicitly associated their own ethnic group with the concept of “Australian”, relative to Aboriginal Australian targets (N = 50), but the implicit preferencing of Whiteness in representations of nationhood (relative to Maori targets) was absent in a comparable sample of New Zealand European undergraduates (N = 50). These results indicate that the extent to which representations of minority groups are interwoven with non‐conscious cognitive representations of nationhood and national identity are not immutably fixed. Instead, it is argued that this cross‐national difference is due to underlying systemic differences in the extent to which symbolic markers of Indigenous culture, identity, and values are consensually represented in majority group (White) national culture.     

Augmenting In Vivo Exposure With Fear Antagonistic Actions: A Preliminary Test

The current study investigated the efficacy of an exposure augmentation strategy in which the phobic individual is encouraged to enact actions that are in direct opposition to the fear action tendencies associated with acrophobia. Participants (N = 88) meeting DSM-IV criteria for specific phobia (acrophobia) were randomized to (a) exposure with oppositional actions (E + OA), (b) exposure only (EO), (c) a credible placebo consisting of pulsed audio-photic stimulation (APS), or (d) a waitlist control (WLC). Treatment consisted of six, 6-min exposure trials. Participants were assessed with questionnaire, behavioral, and physiologic measures at pre- and posttreatment, and at a 1-month follow-up session. Participants receiving E + OA showed significantly greater improvement on behavioral and questionnaire measures than those in the other 3 conditions at both posttreatment and follow-up. Further, whereas treatment improvement generalized to an untrained context for those receiving E + OA, such was not the case for EO- and APS-treated participants. Findings suggest augmenting exposure with oppositional actions may enhance treatment outcome and thus warrant additional investigation with clinical samples.     

Are There Stable Factors in Preadolescent Girls’ Externalizing Behaviors?

Relatively little is known about the factor structure of disruptive behavior among preadolescent girls. The present study reports on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of disruptive girl behavior over four successive data waves as rated by parents and teachers in a large, representative community sample of girls (N = 2,451). Five factors were identified from parent ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, relational aggression, and callous-unemotional behaviors), and four factors were identified derived from teacher ratings (oppositional behavior/conduct problems/callous-unemotional behaviors, inattention, hyperactivityimpulsivity, and relational aggression). There was a high degree of consistency of items loading on equivalent factors across parent and teacher ratings. Year-to-year stability of factors between ages five and 12 was high for parent ratings (ICC = 0.70 to 0.88), and slightly lower for teacher ratings (ICC = 0.56 to 0.83). These findings are discussed in terms of possible adjustment to the criteria for children's disruptive behavior disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders.

---

The development of idiom comprehension: an investigation of semantic and contextual processing skills

Two experiments compared 7- and 8-year-olds' and 9- and 10-year-olds' ability to use semantic analysis and inference from context to understand idioms. We used a multiple-choice task and manipulated whether the idioms were transparent or opaque, familiar or novel, and presented with or without a supportive story context. Performance was compared with that of adults (Experiment 1) and 11- and 12-year-olds (Experiment 2). The results broadly support Cacciari and Levorato's global elaboration model of figurative competence with a notable exception: Even the youngest children were able to use semantic analysis to derive the meanings of transparent idioms as well as being sensitive to meaning in context. The findings show that young children process language at both the small-grain phrase level and the discourse level to establish figurative meaning, and they demonstrate that the language processing skills that aid idiom comprehension, as well as idiom knowledge itself, are still not fully developed in 11- and 12-year-olds.     

Socio-Ecological Predictor Model of Parental Intention to Participate in Triple P-Positive Parenting Program

We examined variables associated with parental intention to participate in a parenting program viewed within a socio-ecological framework. In two metropolitan areas in Japan, 222 families voluntarily completed a series of questionnaires. A series of multiple regression analyses was used to evaluate the Socio-Ecological Predictor Model that was able to account for 50% of the variance associated with parental intention to participate in a parenting program. The most significant predictor in the model was program features, which accounted for 30% of the variance. It is important to consider program features that make it more likely that parents will engage positively in a parenting program. We discuss parental intention to participate in a parenting program as well as the limitations of the study and areas for future research.