Therapy for couples after an affair: A randomized-controlled trial

To examine the efficacy of a couples treatment approach for promoting recovery from a recently disclosed affair, 89 couples that disclosed an affair by one of the partners in the past 6 months were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 46) or to a control group that waited about 3 months for treatment (n = 43). The couples completed self-report measures (Beck Depression Inventory, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Partnership Questionnaire) at pre- and post-treatment. Since about half of the couples dropped out for various reasons (e.g., ongoing affair, separation), we used multiple imputations to handle the missing data problem. We analyzed the dyadic data with hierarchical linear modeling in a two-level model. Significant improvements on scores of anxiety corresponded with large effect sizes for both partners. Yet significant improvements on depression scores were only found for the unfaithful partner with moderate effect size. Results suggest that the treatment can improve individual complaints, but not relationship satisfaction in a sufficient amount for both partners. Hence, future research should address how this intervention could encourage couples to maintain therapy, and how they might achieve more and sustained improvement in relationship satisfaction.     

African American, White and Latino Fathers’ Activities with their Sons and Daughters in Early Childhood

We examined the activities that low-income, ethnically diverse fathers of sons versus daughters engage in with their children in the preschool years. African American, Latino, and White fathers (N?=?426) from research sites across the United States, were interviewed about their caregiving, play, literacy, and visiting activities when their children were 2?years, 3?years, and preschool age. Fathers of boys engaged more frequently in physical play than fathers of girls, whereas fathers of girls engaged more frequently in literacy activities. Moreover, gendered patterns of father engagement were already evident at the 2-year assessment, suggesting that fathers channel their children toward gender-typed activities well before their children have a clear understanding of gender roles. Ethnic differences were also found in fathers’ activities with children, and child gender moderated ethnic patterns of behavior. For example, Black fathers of sons reported the highest levels of engagement in caregiving, play and visiting activities, and both Latino and African American fathers of sons engaged in more visiting activities compared to White fathers of sons. Fathers’ education and marital status were also associated with fathers’ activities. Married fathers and those with a high school diploma more frequently engaged in literacy activities than unmarried fathers without a diploma; moreover, although Latino fathers engaged less in caregiving activities than African American and White fathers, this difference attenuated after controlling for differences in fathers’ education. The activities children share with their fathers vary by child gender, race/ethnicity, and family circumstances and offer insight into early gendered experiences in the family.     

Children Apply Principles of Physical Ownership to Ideas

Adults apply ownership not only to objects but also to ideas. But do people come to apply principles of ownership to ideas because of being taught about intellectual property and copyrights? Here, we investigate whether children apply rules from physical property ownership to ideas. Studies 1a and 1b show that children (6–8 years old) determine ownership of both objects and ideas based on who first establishes possession of the object or idea. Study 2 shows that children use another principle of object ownership, control of permission—an ability to restrict others’ access to the entity in question—to determine idea ownership. In Study 3 , we replicate these findings with different idea types. In Study 4 , we determine that children will not apply ownership to every entity, demonstrating that they do not apply ownership to a common word. Taken together, these results suggest that, like adults, children as young as 6 years old apply rules from ownership not only to objects but to ideas as well.     

Do social networks explain 12-step sponsorship effects? A prospective lagged mediation analysis

Sponsorship is a basic and important part of the 12-step approach to recovery from substance abuse (Alcoholics Anonymous, 2005) and research has shown that having a sponsor is associated with increased involvement in 12-step programs and improved outcomes (Bond, Kaskutas, & Weisner, 2003; Tonigan & Rice, 2010). However, little is known about how sponsorship improves outcomes. Given research demonstrating bivariate associations between sponsorship and social support for abstinence (Majer, Jason, Ferrari, Venable, & Olson, 2002), we hypothesized that the association between having a sponsor and increased abstinence outcomes would be explained by increases in one's abstinence-based social network. Prospective fully lagged mediational analyses did not support this hypothesis and these results ran counter to findings of five previous studies (cf. Groh, Jason, & Keys, 2008). A review of these studies showed that researchers often used cross-sectional or partially lagged methods to test mediation and the mediational effect of the social network was small in magnitude. Results suggest that the prospective association between sponsorship and abstinence is not explained by increases in the abstinence-based social network and demonstrate the need for future studies to use rigorous and time-lagged methods to test social support for abstinence as a mediator of the effects of 12-step involvement.     

Mothers of transgender youth experience stigma-by-association

The current research investigated whether mothers of transgender youth experience stigma-by-association. Mturk participants (N = 489) were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a family in which the social identity (transgender, gay/lesbian, cisgender/heterosexual control) and gender (girl, boy) of a child was manipulated, while all other information was held constant. Results revealed stigma targeting mothers as a function of children's social identity (but not gender), such that mothers of transgender girls and boys were viewed substantially more negatively than identical mothers of cisgender/heterosexual youth. Moreover, this stigma was particularly robust among politically conservative participants. In contrast, mothers of gay/lesbian youth did not encounter systematic stigma, though they were sometimes perceived more negatively than mothers of cisgender/heterosexual youth. Results provide novel experimental evidence of stigma-by-association targeting mothers of transgender youth and raise serious concerns about the treatment of parents who seek to affirm their transgender children.     

Social class differences produce social group preferences

Some social groups are higher in socioeconomic status than others and the former tend to be favored over the latter. The present research investigated whether observing group differences in wealth alone can directly cause children to prefer wealthier groups. In Experiment 1, 4–5‐year‐old children developed a preference for a wealthy novel group over a less wealthy group. In Experiment 2, children did not develop preferences when groups differed by another kind of positive/negative attribute (i.e. living in brightly colored houses vs. drab houses), suggesting that wealth is a particularly meaningful group distinction. Lastly, in Experiment 3, the effect of favoring novel wealthy groups was moderated by group membership: Children assigned to a wealthy group showed ingroup favoritism, but those assigned to a less wealthy group did not. These experiments shed light on why children tend to be biased in favor of social groups that are higher in socioeconomic status.     

Suboptimal choice by dogs: when less is better than more

The less is more effect, an example of an affect heuristic, can be shown in humans when they give greater value to a set of six baseball cards in perfect condition, than to the same set of six perfect cards together with three additional cards each with some value but in fair condition. A similar effect has been reported in monkeys which will eat both grapes and cucumbers but prefer grapes, when they prefer a single grape over a single grape plus a slice of cucumber. In the present experiment, we tested the less is more effect with a nonprimate but social species, dogs. We used dogs that would eat a slice of carrot and a slice of cheese but preferred the cheese. When we then gave them a choice between a slice of cheese and a slice of cheese plus a slice of carrot, most dogs preferred the single slice of cheese. Thus, the less is more effect appears to occur in several species.     

The Effects of a Multiple Schedule Plus Rules on Hand Raising During Circle Time in Preschool Classrooms

Preschool and kindergarten teachers expect children to sit appropriately and attend to the teacher during group instruction. However, children may engage in high rates of inappropriate responses that distract other students from learning opportunities. In addition, children often receive intermittent teacher attention for inappropriate responses, which might result in a lack of discrimination for when attention is or is not available. The purpose of the current study was to assess the efficacy of a multiple schedule plus rules indicative of the availability of attention for hand raises during circle time in typical preschool classrooms. Results showed that the rates of hand raises increased or maintained in the reinforcement component and decreased in the extinction component of the multiple schedule in all three classrooms. Results suggest that a multiple schedule plus rules indicative of the availability of attention from a classroom teacher can be used by preschool teachers in typical classrooms to maintain hand raise responses at appropriate levels.