Communication of Genetic Information by Other Health Professionals: The Role of the Genetic Counsellor in Specialist Clinics

Many children with chronic genetic diseases are followed by specialty clinics that provide genetic information as part of the care. Health services restrictions in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) can make the wait for an appointment with a genetic counsellor long. We examined whether genetic information was being adequately understood when presented by medical, but non-genetics staff to long term patients, using our national metabolic service as an example. The aim was to inform health professionals about the need or role of a genetic counsellor in a specialist setting. A questionnaire was used to assess knowledge among parents and patients affected by galactosaemia and Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD). Twenty seven families with galactosemia and 10 with MSUD were interviewed in clinic. Comparative analysis showed significant differences in knowledge between parents of children with galactosemia and adult patients (p = 0.001) and between ethnicities (p > 0.05). While parents are well informed, the majority expressed a wish for more information about the condition and its transmission. Adult patients with galactosemia and parents from certain ethnic backgrounds could especially benefit from genetic counselling. This study highlights the need for a genetic counsellor in specialist clinics.     

Training children to approach or avoid novel animals: Effects on self-reported attitudes and fear beliefs and information-seeking behaviors

We examined the effects of training to approach or avoid novel animals on fear-related responses in children. Ninety-nine primary school children (9–12 years old) were instructed to repeatedly move a manikin toward or away from pictures of novel animals. The training produced more positive self-reported attitudes for the animal that was repeatedly approached and more negative attitudes for the animal that was repeatedly avoided. After the training, children reported more fear of the avoided animal than of the approached animal. Interestingly, children showed a training-congruent confirmation bias effect on an information-seeking task. That is, they displayed a tendency to seek more positive information about the approached animal, whereas they were inclined to search for more negative information about the avoided animal. No significant training effects were observed on implicit attitudes. The finding that a simple approach-avoidance training influences children’s fear-related responses and leads to biased information-seeking behaviors lends support to general theories of fear acquisition in children as well as to models that try to explain the intergenerational transmission of anxiety.     

Older and Younger Adults�� Attitudes Toward Feminism: The Influence of Religiosity, Political Orientation, Gender, Education, and Family

The present study explored attitudes toward feminism in 245 U.S. college students and their older relatives. Participants completed a scale of attitudes towards feminism, political orientation, a religiosity measure, and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that older adults were more conservative than younger adults on their attitudes towards feminism, religiosity, and political orientation measures. In the young adult sample, attitudes towards feminism were predicted by gender and political orientation, compared to older adults in which religiosity and political orientation were the best predictors. When exploring generational influence, older adults?? attitudes and demographic information were not associated with younger adults?? attitudes towards feminism and the women??s movement. In contrast, young adults?? political views were associated with older adults?? attitudes towards feminism.     

A year in the college life: Evidence for the social investment hypothesis via trait self-control and alcohol consumption

The present study examined 12-month prospective relations among trait self-control, subjective role investment, and alcohol consumption in a sample of university students (N = 129). Using neo-socioanalytic theory and the social investment hypothesis as guiding frameworks, it was expected that greater initial role investment would predict greater self-control and less alcohol consumption at follow-up. Path analyses showed higher initial levels of subjective college student role investment predicted greater subsequent self-control and lower drinking amounts, controlling for initial standing on self-control and alcohol consumption. Greater initial trait self-control also predicted subsequent lower alcohol consumption. The discussion emphasizes the importance of incorporating subjective role investment, in addition to nominal role participation, in developmental accounts of personality traits, social identity, and behavior.     

Consistent left gaze bias in processing different facial cues

While viewing faces, humans often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Previous studies have suggested that this gaze asymmetry is a part of the gaze pattern associated with face exploration, but its relation with perceptual processing of facial cues is unclear. In this study we recorded participants’ saccadic eye movements while exploring face images under different task instructions (free viewing, judging familiarity and judging facial expression). We observed a consistent left gaze bias in face viewing irrespective of task demands. The probability of the first fixation and the proportion of overall fixations directed at the left hemiface were indistinguishable across different task instructions or across different facial expressions. It seems that the left gaze bias is an automatic reflection of hemispheric lateralisation in face processing, and is not necessarily correlated with the perceptual processing of a specific type of facial information.     

Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 26(3) of Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (see record 2011-29227-001). Figure 1 should have been presented in color. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Marijuana (MJ) remains the most widely abused illicit substance in the United States, and in recent years, a decline in perceived risk of MJ use has been accompanied by a simultaneous increase in rates of use among adolescents. In this study, the authors hypothesized that chronic MJ smokers would perform cognitive tasks, specifically those that require executive function, more poorly than control subjects and that individuals who started smoking MJ regularly prior to age 16 (early onset) would have more difficulty than those who started after age 16 (late onset). Thirty-four chronic, heavy MJ smokers separated into early and late onset groups, and 28 non-MJ smoking controls completed a battery of neurocognitive measures. As hypothesized, MJ smokers performed more poorly than controls on several measures of executive function. Age of onset analyses revealed that these between-group differences were largely attributed to the early onset group, who were also shown to smoke twice as often and nearly 3 times as much MJ per week relative to the late onset smokers. Age of onset, frequency, and magnitude of MJ use were all shown to impact cognitive performance. Findings suggest that earlier MJ onset is related to poorer cognitive function and increased frequency and magnitude of MJ use relative to later MJ onset. Exposure to MJ during a period of neurodevelopmental vulnerability, such as adolescence, may result in altered brain development and enduring neuropsychological changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Does theory of mind performance differ in children with early‐onset and regressive autism?

A deficit in theory of mind (ToM), or the ability to infer the mental states of others, has been implicated as one of the major characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); however, little attention has been devoted to possible differences in ToM ability within ASD. The current study examined ToM performance in children with early-onset autism and regressive autism in comparison to typically developing children. Results indicated that children in the regressive autism group performed significantly better than the early-onset autism group on the non-verbal appearance-reality task. Additionally, Fisher's exact tests indicated a pattern of lowest scores in the early-onset group and highest scores in the typically developing group, whereas the regressive autism group tended to score in between the early-onset and typically developing groups. The apparent heterogeneity in ToM performance within ASD could account for the lack of universality in ToM ability found in previous studies.     

Rumination and body dissatisfaction interact to predict concurrent binge eating

Based upon the escape theory (Baumeister, 1991; Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991) and the emotional cascade model (Selby, Anestis, & Joiner, 2008), it was hypothesized that body dissatisfaction and rumination tendencies would interact to predict concurrent binge eating symptoms. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 780 undergraduate students. The results conformed to prediction, in that individuals with high levels of body dissatisfaction were most likely to report binge eating behavior when they also had a tendency to ruminate. This interaction had a significant association with binge eating, above and beyond variance accounted for by participant sex, depression symptoms, and body mass index. Moreover, there was evidence of specificity for the model, as the interaction did not predict concurrent problematic drinking. Our findings suggest compatibility between the escape theory and emotional cascade models, and identify two factors that, in combination, may render individuals particularly vulnerable to binge eating.     

Opposing Trends of Religious Attendance and Religiosity in Predicting Elders’ Functional Recovery after an Acute Myocardial Infarction

This study examined the role of religion and spirituality in older adults’ functional recovery following an AMI. Participants were interviewed within 2 weeks of the AMI about their religious beliefs. Functional recovery was evaluated using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) at one month and seven months. We found that those who reported attending religious services more frequently had better functional recovery. In contrast, those who considered themselves more spiritual had worse functional recovery. These findings remained after controlling for age, gender, co-morbidity (Charlson Co-Morbidity Scale), depression (CES-D), social support (MOS Social Support Survey), and grip strength in Linear Mixed Models. The implications of the findings are discussed.Dr. Levy is an Associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public health at Yale University. Her research focuses on the influence of psychosocial factors on aging health. She received the Margaret M. Baltes Early Career Award in Behavioral and Social Gerontology from the Gerontological Society of America, the Springer Award for Early Career Achievement on Adult Development and Aging from the American Psychological Association, and a Career Award from the National Institute on Aging. She was also awarded a Brookdale National Fellowship for Leadership in Aging. Kathryn Remmes Martin received her Bachelor’s Degree from the College of the Holy Cross and her Master’s Degree (MPH) in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University. She is currently a doctoral student in the Health Behavior and Health Education Department at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, School of Public Health.