"Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function": Correction to Gruber et al. (2011)

Reports an error in "Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function" by Staci A. Gruber, Kelly A. Sagar, Mary Kathryn Dahlgren, Megan Racine and Scott E. Lukas (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Advanced Online Publication, Nov 21, 2011, np). Figure 1 should have been presented in color. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-27123-001.) 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).     

Structure of the Personality Beliefs Questionnaire-Short-Form: Smallest Space Analysis

Butler et al. (Cognitive Therapy and Research 31:357?C370, 2007) developed the Personality Beliefs Questionnaire-Short Form (PBQ-SF), from an earlier longer version (Beck and Beck 1991), to assess the types of schemata associated with different personality disorders. This study explored the structure of PBQ-SF using Guttman??s Smallest Space Analysis. Participants were 228 students who volunteered for the study. The two facets (each with two subsets) suggested by the analysis to characterize the structure of the personality disorder subscales were Ego Concerns (self-enhancement versus self-protection) and Control Concerns (feelings lack of control versus need for control). Clinical implications of the findings include targeting major dysfunctional thinking, as suggested by the aforementioned two facets and their subsets, in the treatment of personality disorders.     

How and to What Extent Do Two Cover, Copy, and Compare Spelling Interventions Contribute to Spelling, Word Recognition, and Vocabulary Development?

We used an adapted alternating treatments design to evaluate and compare the effects of 2 spelling interventions on spelling acquisition and maintenance, word reading, and vocabulary in three first-grade students. The first intervention, Cover, Copy, and Compare (CCC), involved having participants look at a word, cover it, write it, then compare the written response with the original stimulus. For the second intervention, Cover, Copy, and Compare + Sentence Definition (CCC + SD), CCC was supplemented with the experimenter reading a sentence containing the word and a brief definition of the word. Results showed that both interventions increased participants’ spelling at an equivalent rate, which was greater than a control condition. All participants showed greater gains in word reading in the 2 interventions than the control condition, and only 1 participant was better able to define words learned in the CCC + SD condition relative to the CCC condition.     

Amygdala response to mother

In altricial species, like the human, the caregiver, very often the mother, is one of the most potent stimuli during development. The distinction between mothers and other adults is learned early in life and results in numerous behaviors in the child, most notably mother-approach and stranger wariness. The current study examined the influence of the maternal stimulus on amygdala activity and related circuitry in 25 developing children (n = 13) and adolescents (n = 12), and how this circuitry was associated with attachment-related behaviors. Results indicated that maternal stimuli were especially effective in recruiting activity in the left dorsal amygdala, and activity in this amygdala region showed increased functional connectivity with evaluative and motor regions during viewing of maternal stimuli. Increases in this left dorsal amygdala activity and related amygdala-cortical functional connectivity were associated with increased mother-approach behaviors as measured by in-scanner behavioral responding and out-of-scanner child-report. Moreover, age-related changes in amygdala activity to strangers statistically mediated the developmentally typical decline in stranger wariness seen across this period. These results suggest that mother-induced behaviors are enacted by maternal influence on amygdala-cortical circuitry during childhood and adolescence.     

Modeling Lifelong Learning: Collaborative Teaching across Disciplinary Lines

Most courses in colleges and universities are taught by only one instructor. This is often necessitated by the financial exigencies of educational institutions, but is also due to an academic tradition in which the ideal is a single expert teaching in a single discipline. The rapidly changing realities of both the higher education and job markets, however, have called the traditional ideal into question. Interdisciplinary collaborative teaching is one way to adapt to the needs of twenty‐first‐century students, by modeling lifelong learning for students and inviting instructors to be more deliberately reflective about disciplinary assumptions, learning styles, and pedagogies.     

Reclaiming the Person: Intersectionality and Dynamic Social Categories Through a Psychological Lens

Psychology’s conventionally treatment of individuals’ engagement with and resistance to the societal processes in which they are embedded has come under scrutiny amid the rise of postmodernist and critical feminist perspectives (among many others) in the social sciences. A sample of social psychology’s responses to these critiques is presented in the recently published book, Social Categories in Everyday Experience edited by Shaun Wiley et al. (2011). In this essay, the challenges of seriously addressing the critiques of psychology’s conventional treatment of social categories, which implicate fundamental assumptions of the discipline, are discussed. Further, it is argued that in order to effectively construct psychological accounts of political activism and social change amid theories that are increasingly cognizant of the complexities and contingencies of social embeddiness, the person must be reclaimed and revisioned. Notions of agency that complement an intersectional and systemic vision of the social world are discussed.     

Examining the Validity of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) for Predicting Probation Outcomes Among Adjudicated Juvenile Offenders

The current study examined the ability of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk for Youth (SAVRY), a standardized risk assessment instrument, to predict probation outcomes among a sample of 158 adjudicated juvenile offenders placed on probation. Traditionally, the SAVRY has been used to measure violence risk among adolescents after release from custody. More recently, a delinquency risk measure based on SAVRY responses was developed, which could be useful for other types of outcome. This study examined the predictive validity of both summary risk ratings (SRR) for probation outcomes, including the reason for terminating probation and length of time on probation. A number of bivariate analyses and Cox regression models provided preliminary support for the ability of the nonviolent delinquency SRR, and modest support for the violence SRR, to predict probation outcomes. The implications for use of the SAVRY SRRs during juvenile justice system decision‐making and recommendations for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sex differences in responding to rectal cancer symptoms

Many people who develop cancer symptoms wait inordinate amounts of time before seeking medical attention. Studies have found that symptom appraisal time–the time that passes before the individual concludes that their symptoms could be serious–accounts for most of the total delay time across subjects. It is thus important to understand the individual characteristics associated with slow recognition of dangerous symptoms. In this study, 62 patients (38 males) recently diagnosed with rectal cancer answered questions regarding the development of symptoms as well as their decisions and behaviors prior to seeking help. One subgroup of patients–males with the lowest scores on a measure of trait anxiety–took significantly longer to recognize the seriousness of their symptoms as compared to all other patients. This finding is discussed in the context of recent studies where the interaction of sex and negative affect is related to symptom reporting and other health-related behaviors.     

Hostility,oral contraceptive use,and cardiovascular reactivity in women

Abstract

Hostility, task instructions, social desirability and cardiovascular reactivity were investigated in a exploratory study of 70 female college students and employees. Women were administered the Videotaped Clinical Interview (VC1), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC), the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (CM), the Buss-Durkee Hostility Index (BD) and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) before undergoing a stressful discussion. Oral contraceptive users had significantly higher DBP at baseline. Based on PAQ scores, women were given instructions for the discussion task consistent or inconsistent with their gender-relevant styles. Instruction type predicted heart rate changes, and interacted with hostility to predict DBP reactivity. Interview-based hostility (VCI-H) was associated with increased DBP during the discussion task, as was being high hostile (low MC/high VCI-H). The CM and the BD had less association with heart rate and blood pressure changes. Oral contraceptive (OC) use was associated with higher SBP reactivity under stress, with highest SBP increases in the OC users concerned with social desirability. The complex interaction between trait dimensions like hostility, social desirability, and oral contraceptive use requires further investigation.     

A Review of: “Pamela J. Burry's Living with “The Gloria Films”: A daughter's memory.”

Abstract

This article examines alternatives for using language and discourse in clinical practice. The goal is to deconstruct deficit language and move toward a competency based psychological service. Deficit and pathology, the native tongue of psychotherapy, tend to initiate permanent stigmatizing patterns of social interaction which further marginalizes clients. This article deconstructs the taken‐for‐granted assumptions and discourses that underpin deficit‐based practice. Through the process of rediscoursing and re‐inventing therapeutic languages, therapists can reverse the self‐sustaining feedback loop initiated by deficit focus. These changes transport possibilities and personal agency into postmodern practice.