Perceptual asymmetry and youths’ responses to stress: Understanding vulnerability to depression

This research examined the hypothesis that reduced posterior right hemisphere activity interferes with the regulation of emotions and behaviour in response to stress, creating vulnerability to depression. Consistent with a diathesis–stress model, we predicted that youths with a reduced posterior right hemisphere bias in emotional processing would engage in less adaptive responses to stress, which would be associated with depressive symptoms in those who reported the recent experience of high, but not low, levels of stress. Participants were 510 4th through 8th graders who completed the Chimeric Faces Task and measures of responses to stress and depressive symptoms. Results supported the idea that responses to stress account for the association between reduced posterior right hemisphere activity and depressive symptoms in youths who report high, but not low, levels of stress. This study provides insight into one process through which reduced posterior right hemisphere activity may confer vulnerability to depressive symptoms, and implicates responses to stress as a target for intervention.     

‘I don't want to be the mother of a paedophile’: the perspectives of mothers whose adolescent sons with learning disabilities sexually offend

The subject of sexual abuse is a major focus of professional and public concern. Sexual abuse of (and by) people with learning disabilities evokes even greater disquieting emotions, and makes severe demands on the social services, and the criminal justice system. The aims of the project were: 1) to determine whether group psychotherapy produced effective outcomes for adolescent boys with learning disabilities who exhibit sexually abusive behaviour, 2) to explore the perspectives of parents and other care-givers, and 3) to document the nature and extent of service support to families. This paper focuses solely on the mothers' perspectives. This was a three-year project with six boys (under 16) receiving group psychotherapy, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Clinical measures were used to track changes throughout the course of psychotherapy. Semi-structured interviews (taped and transcribed) were held (separately) with the boys, their parents, paid care-givers and the therapists. The mothers tried hard to make sense of, and come to terms with, what was happening to their sons and to themselves, they struggled to reconcile their own confused and often conflicting emotions, and to maintain their own sense of identity. They felt almost totally unsupported by the services, both in the past and present, and could see little hope for the future. There is an urgent need for development of effective and sympathetic services for the parents of boys with learning disabilities who have been abused, and who are now showing abusive behaviour.     

Whom do children copy? Model-based biases in social learning

This review investigates the presence of young children’s model-based cultural transmission biases in social learning, arguing that such biases are adaptive and flexible. Section 1 offers five propositions regarding the presence and direction of model-based transmission biases in young children’s copying of a model. Section 2 discusses the cognitive abilities required for differing model-based biases and tracks their development in early childhood. Section 3 suggests future areas of research including considering the social aspect of model-based biases and understanding their use within a comparative perspective.     

Interpersonal Conflicts of Women in Nursing Homes: An Administrative Perspective

Older women may respond to conflicts by suppressing anger. Suppressed anger is associated with depression and hypertension. Research on the everyday conflicts of community-dwelling older women has begun to emerge. Such information is not available for women in nursing homes, and is necessary for developing interventions that can help protect women in nursing homes against anger-related illness. Nursing home administrators were surveyed to evaluate women's health promotion programming in general, and the incidence of and institutional response to conflicts of women residents. About 74% of residents were women; yet, women's health promotion programs were rare (offered in 1 out of 25 facilities, or 4%). Ninety percent of administrators identified depression as the most significant women's health problem, but tended to see it as warranting medical rather than programmatic attention. Eighty percent identified strained interpersonal relationships as a significant health problem for women, requiring programmatic attention. In particular, administrators identified the need for programming to help women residents resolve conflicts with roommates and family members. Formal mechanisms for managing conflicts of residents did not exist in sample nursing homes.     

Thoughts of Death and Suicide in Early Adolescence

The prevalence and persistence of thoughts of death and suicide during early adolescence were estimated in a community‐based cohort. A latent class approach was used to identify distinct subgroups based on endorsements to depression items administered repeatedly over 24 months. Two classes emerged, with 75% in a low ideation class across four assessments. Less than 2% persisted in the high ideation class over three or more assessments. African American and Asian American adolescents were more likely than European Americans to belong to the high ideation class. No members of the low ideation class endorsed “thought about killing myself,” while “thoughts of death and dying” was endorsed by members of both classes. Implications for interpreting meanings of death and suicide ideation in early adolescence are discussed.     

Boosting the Potency of Resistance: Combining the Motivational Forces of Inoculation and Psychological Reactance

The efficacy of inoculation theory has been confirmed by decades of empirical research, yet optimizing its effectiveness remains a vibrant line of investigation. The present research turns to psychological reactance theory for a means of enhancing the core mechanisms of inoculation—threat and refutational preemption. Findings from a multisite study indicate reactance enhances key resistance outcomes, including: threat, anger at attack message source, negative cognitions, negative affect, anticipated threat to freedom, anticipated attack message source derogation, perceived threat to freedom, perceived attack message source derogation, and counterarguing. Most importantly, reactance‐enhanced inoculations result in lesser attitude change—the ultimate measure of resistance.     

Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies in a Sample of Older Women

Suppressed anger resulting from poorly resolved interpersonal conflicts can increase morbidity. The current generation of older women may be particularly susceptible to morbidity caused by anger inhibition due to socialization to be submissive in interpersonal conflicts. For purposes of disease prevention, we asked 35 older women to describe an interpersonal conflict experienced recently, and how they responded to it. Data coding was based on Selman's model of interpersonal negotiation strategies, which has been used to assess the conflicts of children, adolescents, and young adults, but not older adults. We found that many participants used strategies in which they expressed their point of view in order to persuade the other person. Of those who were expressive, however, many ended up submitting to the other person's demands nonetheless. Thus, overall, most participants used submissive strategies. Conflicts with strangers and acquaintances were frequently reported, and reports included comments about feeling vulnerable. Stereotypic beliefs about age and health also emerged in reports, and seemed related to submissive responses. Our findings suggest that older women would benefit from training in constructive strategies for resolving interpersonal conflicts. Training efforts should reflect the ways in which stereotypic beliefs about age, health, and vulnerability may interfere with constructive strategy choice, and should emphasize the health benefits of constructively dealing with conflict.     

Visual attention and academic performance in children with developmental disabilities and behavioural attention deficits

Despite well‐documented attention deficits in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), distinctions across types of attention problems and their association with academic attainment has not been fully explored. This study examines visual attention capacities and inattentive/hyperactive behaviours in 77 children aged 4 to 11 years with IDD and elevated behavioural attention difficulties. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 23), Down syndrome (DS; n = 22), and non‐specific intellectual disability (NSID; n = 32) completed computerized visual search and vigilance paradigms. In addition, parents and teachers completed rating scales of inattention and hyperactivity. Concurrent associations between attention abilities and early literacy and numeracy skills were also examined. Children completed measures of receptive vocabulary, phonological abilities and cardinality skills. As expected, the results indicated that all groups had relatively comparable levels of inattentive/hyperactive behaviours as rated by parents and teachers. However, the extent of visual attention deficits varied as a result of group; namely children with DS had poorer visual search and vigilance abilities than children with ASD and NSID. Further, significant associations between visual attention difficulties and poorer literacy and numeracy skills were observed, regardless of group. Collectively the findings demonstrate that in children with IDD who present with homogenous behavioural attention difficulties, at the cognitive level, subtle profiles of attentional problems can be delineated.     

Chimpanzees’ use of conspecific cues in matching-to-sample tasks: public information use in a fully automated testing environment

Social animals have much to gain from observing and responding appropriately to the actions of their conspecific group members. This can in turn lead to the learning of novel behavior patterns (social learning) or to foraging, ranging, or social behavioral choices copied from fellow group members, which do not necessarily result in long-term learning, but at the time represent adaptive responses to environmental cues (public information use). In the current study, we developed a novel system for the study of public information use under fully automated conditions. We modified a classic single-subject laboratory paradigm—matching-to-sample (MTS)—and examined chimpanzees’ ability to interpret and utilize cues provided by the behavior of a conspecific to solve the task. In Experiment 1, two subjects took turns on an identity MTS task, with one subject (the model) performing the first half of the trial and the other subject (the observer) completing the trial using the model’s actions as discriminative cues. Both subjects performed above chance from the first session onwards. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tested on a symbolic version of the same MTS task, with one subject showing spontaneous transfer. Our study establishes a novel method for examining public information use within a highly controlled and automated setting.     

The Contribution of Deficits in Emotional Clarity to Stress Responses and Depression

This research investigated the contribution of deficits in emotional clarity to children's socioemotional adjustment. Specifically, this study examined the proposal that deficits in emotional clarity are associated with maladaptive interpersonal stress responses, and that maladaptive interpersonal stress responses act as a mechanism linking deficits in emotional clarity to childhood depressive symptoms. Participants included 345 3(rd) graders (M age = 8.89, SD = .34) assessed at two waves, approximately one year apart; youth completed self-report measures of emotional clarity, responses to interpersonal stress, and depressive symptoms. Results supported the hypothesized process model linking deficits in emotional clarity, maladaptive interpersonal stress responses, and depressive symptoms, adjusting for prior depressive symptoms. Findings have implications for theories of emotional competence and for depression-intervention efforts aimed at fostering emotional understanding and adaptive interpersonal stress responses.