Future Directions for Advancing Issues in Children’s Mental Health: A Delphic Poll

The current study utilized a Delphic poll to identify significant problems regarding children and families in which psychologists can assist. The Delphic poll methodology combines both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to obtain information and predictions about the future from a panel of knowledgeable experts. Thirty-one professionals participated in the first round of the survey, and 26 participants (83.9 % of the round 1 participants) chose to complete the second-round survey. Several themes emerged consistently across questions as important issues to be addressed in the future of childhood mental health. For example, participants frequently identified access, advocacy, research and research dissemination, prevention/early intervention, and integration of services as important issues. Implications and recommendations are drawn for organizations and individual psychologists as advocates for improving children’s mental health in the United States.     

What drives sleep-dependent memory consolidation: Greater gain or less loss?

When memory is tested after a delay, performance is typically better if the retention interval includes sleep. However, it is unclear what accounts for this well-established effect. It is possible that sleep enhances the retrieval of information, but it is also possible that sleep protects against memory loss that normally occurs during waking activity. We developed a new research approach to investigate these possibilities. Participants learned a list of paired-associate items and were tested on the items after a 12-h interval that included waking or sleep. We analyzed the number of items gained versus the number of items lost across time. The sleep condition showed more items gained and fewer items lost than did the wake condition. Furthermore, the difference between the conditions (favoring sleep) in lost items was greater than the difference in gain, suggesting that loss prevention may primarily account for the effect of sleep on declarative memory consolidation. This finding may serve as an empirical constraint on theories of memory consolidation.     

“Troubles Talk”: Effects of Gender and Gender-Typing

Effects of gender and gender-typing on communication styles were examined in 62 male and 110 female college students. Participants were asked to rate the likelihood of giving certain responses to a friend's problems as well as the likelihood of feeling certain emotions when a friend gives them advice or sympathy for their own problems. Men and masculine people were expected to be more likely to respond to a friend in a way that reduces interpersonal intimacy; women and feminine people were expected to respond in a way that enhances interpersonal intimacy. Although a few gender differences were found, participants' level of expressive/nurturing traits (femininity) was related to more responses than was gender. The importance of examining gender-linked traits and not just gender when studying communication patterns is emphasized.     

A new perspective on human reward research: How consciously and unconsciously perceived reward information influences performance

The question of how human performance can be improved through rewards is a recurrent topic of interest in psychology and neuroscience. Traditional, cognitive approaches to this topic have focused solely on consciously communicated rewards. Recently, a largely neuroscience-inspired perspective has emerged to examine the potential role of conscious awareness of reward information in effective reward pursuit. The present article reviews research employing a newly developed monetary-reward-priming paradigm that allows for a systematic investigation of this perspective. We analyze this research to identify similarities and differences in how consciously and unconsciously perceived rewards impact three distinct aspects relevant to performance: decision making, task preparation, and task execution. We further discuss whether conscious awareness, in modulating the effects of reward information, plays a role similar to its role in modulating the effects of other affective information. Implications of these insights for understanding the role of consciousness in modulating goal-directed behavior more generally are discussed.     

Social psychophysics: Using psychophysics to answer “social” questions with PsychoPro

Complex social stimuli (like faces) can be studied using a methodology typically reserved for studying lights, tones, and colors: psychophysics. Given that psychophysics examines how humans detect and respond to stimuli in their environment, we can extend that to the study of how humans detect social stimuli in the environment. Using psychophysical methodology to answer “social” questions provides another dimension of experimental manipulation and control to the diverse array of methodologies already used by social psychologists. In this article, we review psychophysical methodology, provide a rationale for social psychophysics, describe an easy-touse software program called PsychoPro, for collecting psychophysical data, and present data collected using this program to examine racial thresholds that provide evidence for a cognitive gating mechanism for racial information that impacts face processing (MacLin & MacLin, 2007, in press; MacLin, MacLin, & Peterson, 2008).     

Group status, perceptions of threat, and support for social inequality

Members of high-status groups have been shown to favor social inequality, but little research has investigated the boundary conditions of this phenomenon. In the present article we suggest that perceived intergroup threat moderates the relationship between group status and support for social inequality (i.e., social dominance orientation), especially among highly identified group members. In Study 1, Democrats and Republicans rated their party’s relative status and were later exposed to a leading US. Presidential candidate from the opposing party (high threat) or their own party (low threat). In Study 2, university students were made to believe that their school had high or low status and were then presented with threatening or non-threatening information about a rival institution. The results of both studies supported the prediction that status only increases preferences for group-based inequality under conditions of high threat and high ingroup identification.     

Outcomes of children with emotional disturbance in residential treatment for educational purposes

A study was conducted of the outcomes of all children and adolescents (N=114) with serious emotional disturbance who had been placed by school districts in residential treatment facilities for educational purposes over a three-year period. Both cost and outcome analyses were conducted. Cost analyses indicated a total annual expenditure in excess of $5 million, or $80,000 per youth per length of stay. Outcome analyses, consisting of ratings of outcomes and outcome interviews with special education directors, revealed that 63% of the youth had either made no or minimal progress, had been discharged with a negative outcome, or had run away. Positive outcomes were achieved in only 25% of the cases, measured by the students' return to school or placement into a vocational training program. Another 11% of the youth were making substantial progress. Analyses of the relationships between outcomes and cost revealed no relationship. However, positive outcomes were associated with shorter lengths of stay. Further, students in the positive outcome categories had more severe functioning deficits at intake than students in the negative outcome categories. The availability of community-based services for the student and family was the single most likely reason reported by special education directors for positive discharge status.     

Expectations Among Aboriginal Peoples in Canada Regarding the Potential Impacts of a Government Apology

After continued pressure, the Canadian government offered an apology to Aboriginal peoples for its role in the Indian Residential School (IRS) system, where children were removed from their families in an effort to assimilate the Aboriginal population. Although the apology was sought after, it was unclear what Aboriginal peoples expected it to accomplish in relation to their treatment and quality of life within Canada. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that, although Aboriginal adults (N = 164) felt the apology could potentially be a first step towards improved relations with the government and non‐Aboriginal Canadians, expectations that such changes would actually come to fruition were generally pessimistic. In exploring predictors of such expectations, path analysis indicated that those who had been intimately impacted by IRSs reported greater perceived discrimination that, in turn, was associated with lowered intergroup trust and forgiveness. Those who perceived high levels of discrimination were less likely to expect changes following the apology, which was mediated by the low levels of intergroup trust and forgiveness towards the government, but not towards non‐Aboriginal Canadians. Essentially, an apology was not enough to elicit hope for improved intergroup relations, especially when perceptions of continued discrimination impeded the restoration of intergroup trust and forgiveness.     

Pediatric Do-Not-Attempt-Resuscitation Orders and Public Schools: A National Assessment of Policies and Laws

Some children living with life-shortening medical conditions may wish to attend school without the threat of having resuscitation attempted in the event of cardiopulmonary arrest on the school premises. Despite recent attention to in-school do-not-attempt-resuscitation (DNAR) orders, no assessment of state laws or school policies has yet been made. We therefore sought to survey a national sample of prominent school districts and situate their policies in the context of relevant state laws. Most (80%) school districts sampled did not have policies, regulations, or protocols for dealing with student DNARs. A similar majority (76%) either would not honor student DNARs or were uncertain about whether they could. Frequent contradictions between school policies and state laws also exist. Consequently, children living with life-shortening conditions who have DNARs may not have these orders honored if cardiopulmonary arrest were to occur on school premises. Coordinated efforts are needed to harmonize school district, state, and federal approaches in order to support children and families' right to have important medical decisions honored.