Building Links Between Early Socioeconomic Status,Cognitive Ability,and Math and Science Achievement

The present study examined whether and how socioeconomic status (SES) predicts school achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using structural equation modeling and data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Child Care and Youth Development. The present inquiry addresses gaps in previous research linking SES and STEM achievement in high school. Results indicate that maternal education predicts the child’s early environment, which itself predicts the development of executive function (EF) and language, and thereby, STEM achievement. Moreover, children’s language ability and EF development influenced higher-order cognitive skills, such as relational reasoning, planning, and basic calculation skills. However, only relational reasoning strongly predicted high school math and science achievement, suggesting that relational reasoning, but not planning and calculation skills, was central to STEM thinking and learning.     

Optimism,perceived control over stress,and coping

To examine the ability of the expectancy-based personality dimensions dispositional optimism and perceived control over stress to predict the ways in which people characteristically attempt to cope with stress, 420 undergraduate students completed the Life Orientation Test (LOT; Scheier and Carver, 1985), a measure of perceived control over stress, and the dispositional version of the COPE Inventory (Carver, Scheier and Weintraub, 1989). The results revealed a modest but reliable positive correlation between optimism and the perceived control measure. Principal-components analysis of the COPE revealed a factor structure which was generally in accord with prior research. Optimism was positively correlated with active coping and positive reinterpretation, and negatively correlated with focusing on and venting of emotion. Perceived control over stress was negatively correlated with behavioural disengagement. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Fitting a square peg in a square hole: Using metaphor in narrative therapy

This paper examines the assumptions of the narrative mode of therapy and the assumptions of therapeutic metaphors. The premise is that the use of metaphor fits the assumptions of narrative therapy and can enhance and expand narrative therapy. This paper examines the structure and types of metaphor, explores their fit within the narrative model, and gives three case examples which illustrate the use of metaphor in narrative therapy.Kevin Lyness, MS, is a doctoral candidate, MFT Program, 1269 Fowler House, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1268, and a doctoral candidate in the MFT Program, Purdue University. Volker Thomas, PhD, is assistant professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, 1269 Fowler House, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1269. Reprint requests should be sent to the first author.     

The effects of hemispheric differences on feature perturbations

Summary Hemispheric differences for feature perturbations were investigated in two experiments. Stimulus displays consisting of five small squares arranged in a single row were presented tachistoscopically, with the subject instructed to state in which square a horizontal tick mark was located. Ticks could occur in any of the three middle squares, with half of the ticks presented on the inside and half presented on the outside of the square in relation to the fovea. Experiment 1 presented each array of five squares to the right or left of fixation at one of three distances from the fovea. Experiment 2 manipulated the distance between the squares and kept foveal distance constant. In each experiment, fewer errors were made when stimuli were presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere than when they were presented to the right visual field/left hemisphere, when ticks migrated toward the fovea. Experiment 1 found that increasing the distance from the fovea increased the error rate, but did not change the hemispheric differences. Experiment 2 found that increasing the distance between the squares did not change hemispheric effects reliably. The data imply that hemispheric differences for perceptual processing begin very early during sensory analysis.     

Internalized transphobia and mental health among transgender adults: A nationwide cross-sectional survey in South Korea

Abstract

Introduction: Transgender people are stigmatized in South Korea (hereafter Korea), where cultural expectations of a biologically-based, binary sex and gender system present fundamental challenges to those whose gender identity does not align with their birth-assigned sex. A growing international body of literature implicates gender minority stress as a key contributor to transgender mental health disparities, but little research has been conducted on this topic in Korea. As in other cultural settings, depression and suicidality are urgent public health concerns for transgender people in Korea, primarily for those who have not initiated gender affirming medical treatment (GAMT), such as cross-sex hormone therapy. In the current study, an international and interdisciplinary team of authors apply the lens of gender minority stress to elucidate the relationships between a key facet of gender minority stress, internalized transphobia (ITP), and outcomes of depressive symptoms and suicidality.

Methods: Based on a cross-sectional survey of 207 Korean transgender adults, the current study evaluates the relationships between ITP and depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. ITP was measured with an eight-item, Korean-language questionnaire adapted from the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure through a translation and back-translation process.

Results: Korean trans women and trans men mean (mean age?=?26.4) were included in the analysis, most of whom had at least one experience of any GAMT. The findings of this study show that Korean transgender adults face similar public health concerns such as high prevalence of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. As predicted, ITP was significantly related to depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts.

Conclusion: The authors suggest potential clinical, policy, and research applications, including institutional interventions, to address structural and cultural barriers to optimal mental health and GAMT as well as mental health interventions to reduce Korean transgender people’s internalized negative beliefs about their gender identity.     

Temporal experience in anxiety: embodiment,selfhood, and the collapse of meaning

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - This essay explores the unique temporal experience in anxiety. Drawing on first-person accounts as well as examples from literature, I attempt to show how...     

Leverpress escape/avoidance training increases neurotrophin levels in rat brain

In addition to their well-known role in neural development, the neurotrophins BDNF and NGF help mediate the plasticity that occurs in the brain to promote learning. Exposure to learning procedures often leads to increases in neurotrophins, while exposure to stress often results in decreases. It is unclear how the neurotrophins would respond to an aversive learning task. Therefore, BDNF and NGF content in the dorsal striatum, hippocampus, and basal forebrain was measured following discrete trial lever-press escape/avoidance conditioning. Conditioning significantly increased levels of both neurotrophins in hippocampus and basal forebrain, relative to home cage controls (HCC). Contrary to expectations, the dorsal striatum did not show any significant changes. However, significant correlations were observed between dorsal striatal neurotrophins and aspects of avoidance performance. This may indicate that the dorsal striatum is involved in the performance aspects of the task. Results are discussed in terms of the role of neurotrophins in the acquisition of new information, and the neural structures involved in different types of memory.     

Individual differences in trait rumination and the neural systems supporting cognitive reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal can alter emotional responses by changing one’s interpretation of a situation’s meaning. Functional neuroimaging has revealed that using cognitive reappraisal to increase or decrease affective responses involves left prefrontal activation and goal-appropriate increases or decreases in amygdala activation (Ochsner, Bunge, Gross, & Gabrieli, 2002; Ochsner, Ray, et al., 2004). The present study was designed to examine whether patterns of brain activation during reappraisal vary in relation to individual differences in trait rumination, which is the tendency to focus on negative aspects of one’s self or negative interpretations of one’s life. Individual differences in rumination correlated with increases in amygdala response when participants were increasing negative affect and with greater decreases in prefrontal regions implicated in self-focused thought when participants were decreasing negative affect. Thus, the propensity to ruminate may reflect altered recruitment of mechanisms that potentiate negative affect. These findings clarify relations between rumination and emotion regulation processes and may have important implications for mood and anxiety disorders.     

Assessment of performance validity in the Stroop Color and Word Test in mild traumatic brain injury patients: A criterion‐groups validation design

The current study assessed performance validity on the Stroop Color and Word Test (Stroop) in mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) using criterion‐groups validation. The sample consisted of 77 patients with a reported history of mild TBI. Data from 42 moderate–severe TBI and 75 non‐head‐injured patients with other clinical diagnoses were also examined. TBI patients were categorized on the basis of Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) criteria for malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MND). Classification accuracy is reported for three indicators (Word, Color, and Color–Word residual raw scores) from the Stroop across a range of injury severities. With false‐positive rates set at approximately 5%, sensitivity was as high as 29%. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.