Age-associated memory impairment—pathological memory decline or normal aging?

The aim of the study was to determine whether the memory capacity of individuals with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) over a period of approximately 3½ years declines more, if at all, than the memory capacity of persons without AAMI. Four computerized and three non-computerized memory tests, a naming test, and a test of visuo-motor speed were administered twice. Two estimates of intellectual capacity were made, one at the first examination and the other 3½ years later. One person in the AAMI group (n=44) developed vascular dementia. The group of AAMI subjects did less well on two of the seven memory tests after 3½ years than they did initially; the control group (n=18) had lower scores on one memory test at follow-up than they had previously. The data suggest that the memory capacity of subjects with AAMI is not pathologically impaired. The general intellectual level significantly influences whether an individual with memory complaints will be classified AAMI or not. People with high intelligence are less likely than people with lower intellectual capacity to fulfill the AAMI criteria. This suggests that AAMI lacks in construct validity.     

How Couple- and Parenting-Focused Programs Affect Child Behavioral Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The significance of enhancing parenting skills to reduce child maladjustment is well-established and supports the important role of evidence-based parenting programs. However, the notion that parenting should be the exclusive focus for enhancing child behavior is necessarily limiting. Evidence is growing that relationship-oriented treatments may be another powerful approach to improve child adjustment, albeit the underlying effects in couple- versus parenting-focused programs have been subject to limited study. The aim of this RCT was to compare the treatment effects of (1) a couple-focused program (the Couples Coping Enhancement Training) to (2) a parenting training (Triple P) and (3) a control group on children’s behavioral problems in 150 couples. The parents’ perceptions of relationship quality, parenting behavior, and child’s behavioral problems were assessed by means of questionnaires completed prior to and 2 weeks after the end of the treatment. Multi-group path analyses revealed that in mothers’ perception the couple-focused program reduced child behavioral problems by enhancing the relationship quality whereas improved parenting mediated the benefits in the parenting training. In fathers’ evaluations the couple-focused program reduced dysfunctional parenting which largely accounted for the benefits in child adjustment. The dearth of research on child outcomes in couple-focused intervention studies is a striking gap that should be overcome. It is a promising field because of its evident potential to foster the health of many children.     

Relationship Between Time in Residential Treatment and Youth Outcomes: Results from a Cross-Site 5-Year Analysis

There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of residential treatment centers (RTCs) due to scrutiny around use of this service that is viewed as costly, restrictive, and has resulted in mixed outcome results for youth. Discrepancies exist in residential literature regarding the amount of time in treatment that is optimal for having a positive effect on youth outcomes. This study used archival data to examine the relationship between time in treatment and youth’s improvement in functioning and restrictiveness of living environment in a cross-site evaluation of a large sample of youth (N = 716) who discharged from RTCs over a 5 year time period. Researchers aimed to identify an ideal time in treatment that is beneficial for youth and to add to the practice-based evidence for the effectiveness of RTCs. Results of segmented regression analyses indicate a non-linear relationship that showed a longer time in treatment predicts improvement in overall functioning and restrictiveness of living environment during the first 6 months of treatment. However there is no relationship between time in treatment and outcome variables between 6 and 10 months, and a negative relationship exists between longer time in treatment and outcome variables after 10 months in treatment. Practical implications of results can be used to inform advocacy efforts, discharge planning, and return on investment calculations.     

Parenting Behaviors of Mothers and Fathers of Preschool Age Children with Internalizing Disorders

This study investigated parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers of clinically anxious preschool children (with or without depressive comorbidity) and healthy comparison children. Studies assessing children from early school age onwards have found that parental control, rejection, and inconsistent discipline are associated with the presence of children’s internalizing symptoms/disorders. Despite the scarcity of studies investigating these associations at preschool age, we assumed that findings with older children would also apply to children in this age group. In a cross-sectional study we assessed N = 176 children of preschool age (M = 5; 2 years) and both of their parents. A diagnostic interview (Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment) was conducted to determine children’s psychiatric diagnoses, yielding the following results: a group of n = 67 children with pure anxiety disorders (AD group), a group of n = 38 children with anxiety disorders with depressive comorbidity (AD/DC group), and a comparison group of n = 71 children without psychiatric disorders. Both parents completed the German extended version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. We evaluated maternal depressive symptoms and children’s temperament as further correlates. All variables that differed significantly between groups were entered into multinomial logistic regression analyses to test which variables predict group membership. When comparing each of the two anxiety groups with the comparison group we obtained the following results: (1) Inconsistent paternal discipline and maternal depressive symptoms increased and children’s positive affectivity decreased the probability of children of being in the AD group rather than in the comparison group. (2) Maternal overinvolvement, maternal depressive symptoms and children’s negative affectivity increased and children’s positive affectivity decreased the probability of children of belonging to the AD/DC group rather than to the comparison group. When comparing the two anxiety groups with each other, we found that inconsistent paternal discipline increased and children’s negative affectivity decreased the probability of children of being in the AD group rather than in the AD/DC group. The results suggest that paternal parenting behaviors show different associations with internalizing disorders at preschool age than maternal parenting behaviors. This underlines the importance of including fathers in the prevention and treatment of internalizing disorders at preschool age.     

Borderland-Jugendliche

The process of identity formation as a central task of adolescence is difficult and fragile but even more so in adolescents with a migration background. Confronted with adverse experiences, cultural peculiarities of the country of origin can aggravate the second individuation phase of the adolescent, superimposed by a third phase caused by migration (Blos, Ahktar). With three case reports of mentally disturbed adolescents from different migration backgrounds, some specific dangers of such borderland adolescents are presented. All three cases have something in common: the importance of the glorified militant ideologies of the country of origin influencing the mental disorder of the adolescent in a special way such as a suitable target of narcissistic self-aggrandizement. The dangers of diagnostic colonization of alien symptoms and reactivation of elements of the Nazi past into the present with offender-victim constellations triggered by alienation are pointed out and discussed. The inability to draw borderlines between reality and fantasy and transmissive and deposed conflicts are described.     

A Leader-Led Supervision Group as a Model for Practicing Genetic Counselors

With the stage set by the overview of supervision models in the previous paper, thispaper now presents the development and evolution of a currently ongoing leader-ledsupervision group for experienced genetic counselors. I discuss the procedures forgetting started; the creation and maintenance of the contract; typical issues and themesconsidered; the format for case presentation; and the overall growth of the group and itsmembers.     

Deviations in the emergence of representations: a neuroconstructivist framework for analysing developmental disorders

A common way of studying developmental disorders is to adopt a static neuropsychological deficit approach, in which the brain is characterized in terms of a normal brain with some parts or ‘modules’ impaired. In this paper we outline a neuroconstructivist approach in which developmental disorders are viewed as alternative developmental trajectories in the emergence of representations within neural networks. As a concrete instantiation of the assumptions underlying this general approach, we present a number of simulations in an artificial neural network model. The representations that emerge under different architectural, input and developmental timing conditions are then analysed within a multi‐dimensional state space. We explore alternative developmental trajectories in these simulations, demonstrating how initial differences in the same parameter can lead to very different outcomes, and conversely how different starting states can sometimes result in similar end states (phenotypes). We conclude that the assumptions of the neuroconstructivist approach are likely to be more appropriate for analysing developmental deviations in complex dynamic neural networks, such as the human brain.     

Specialization of the motor system in infancy: from broad tuning to selectively specialized purposeful actions

In executing purposeful actions, adults select sufficient and necessary limbs. But infants often move goal‐irrelevant limbs, suggesting a developmental process of motor specialization. Two experiments with 9‐ and 12‐month‐olds revealed gradual decreases in extraneous movements in non‐acting limbs during unimanual actions. In Experiment 1, 9‐month‐olds produced more extraneous movements in the non‐acting hand/arm and feet/legs than 12‐month‐olds. In Experiment 2, analysis of the spatiotemporal dynamics of infants’ movements revealed developmental declines in the spatiotemporal coupling of movements between acting and non‐acting arms. We also showed that the degree of specialization in infants’ unimanual actions is associated with individual differences in motor experience and visual attention, indicating the experience‐dependent and broad functional nature of these developmental changes. Our study provides important new insights into motor development: as in cognitive domains, motor behaviours are initially broadly tuned to their goal, becoming progressively specialized during the first year of life.     

The Experience in Personal Social Systems Questionnaire (EXIS.pers): Development and Psychometric Properties

This study presents the theoretical background, development, and psychometric properties of the German and English versions of the Experience in Personal Social Systems Questionnaire (EXIS.pers). It assesses how the members of a personal social system experience their situation within that system. It is designed as a research tool for interventions in which only one member of the system participates (e.g., Family Constellation Seminars). The EXIS.pers was created to measure change on the individual level relating to one's own important personal social system. In Study 1, we used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for latent variable identification of the original German EXIS.pers (n = 179). In Studies 2 and 3, we used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the dimensionality of the German (n = 634) and English (n = 310) EXIS.pers. Internal consistencies and cross‐cultural structural equivalence were assessed. EFA indicated that a four‐factor model provided best fit for the German EXIS.pers. For both the German and English EXIS.pers, CFA provided the best fit for a five‐factor bi‐level model that included a general factor (Experience In Personal Social Systems) and four dimensions (Belonging, Autonomy, Accord, Confidence). Good internal consistencies, external associations, and cross‐cultural structural equivalence were demonstrated. This study provides first evidence for the German and English EXIS.pers as an economical and reliable measure of an individual's experience within his or her personal social systems.     

Gender Specificity of Children’s Narrative Representations in Predicting Depressive Symptoms at Early School Age

Our longitudinal study contributes to the body of literature on depression in childhood by examining potential protective factors. We investigated the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on child depressive symptoms at early school age and its gender-specific moderation by children’s narrative representations of the maternal figure, over and above children’s own depressive symptoms at preschool age. Children’s narrative representations were assessed using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery in 170 preschool children (92 girls; 54.1?%) oversampled for internalizing symptoms. Children’s depressive symptoms were assessed at preschool age (Time 1; 4–6 years) and at early school age (Time 2; 6–8 years) by maternal report; mothers’ depressive symptoms were assessed at Time 1. The results showed that for boys, only their own depressive symptoms at Time 1 predicted their depressive symptoms at Time 2. For girls, maternal depressive symptoms were a significant risk factor for their own depressive symptoms at Time 2. Regarding this association, we also found a moderation effect: girls with more positive narrative representations of the maternal figure showed a reduced negative impact of maternal depressive symptoms on their own depressive symptoms at Time 2. This implies that clinical practice should screen a child for early depressive symptoms, especially if the mother displays depressive symptoms. Clinicians might also assess children’s inner working models, which can serve as a protective factor.