Psychometric Validation of the Preschool Outcome Questionnaire: A Preschool Treatment Outcome Instrument

Developing normed treatment outcome measures is important to research addressing treatment effectiveness and to improved clinical care. The Preschool Outcome Questionnaire (POQ) is a new measure designed for use with preschool children aged two to six. Designed in collaboration with parents and clinicians, the POQ is brief, easy to administer, score and interpret. This study reports on the instrument’s psychometric evaluation, contains preliminary normative data, and provides a clinical cut-off and a reliable change index to facilitate clinical use of the instrument. Results show that the POQ has acceptable test–retest and internal reliability, concurrent validity and criterion validity. Importantly, results also show that the instrument is sensitive to clinically relevant change. Clinical implications are discussed as well as suggestions for further research.     

Exposure to Bullying and General Psychopathology: A Prospective,Longitudinal Study

Although there is mounting evidence that the experience of being bullied associates with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, it is not known yet whether the identified associations are specific to these symptoms, or shared between them. The primary focus of this study is to assess the prospective associations of bullying exposure with both general and specific (i.e., internalizing, externalizing) factors of psychopathology. This study included data from 6,210 children participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Child bullying was measured by self-report at ages 8 and 10 years. Child psychopathology symptoms were assessed by parent-interview, using the Development and Well-being Assessment (DAWBA) at ages 7 and 13 years. Bullying exposure significantly associated with the general psychopathology factor in early adolescence. In particular, chronically victimized youth exposed to multiple forms of bullying (i.e., both overt and relational) showed higher levels of general psychopathology. Bullying exposure also associated with both internalizing and externalizing factors from the correlated-factors model. However, the effect estimates for these factors decreased considerably in size and dropped to insignificant for the internalizing factor after extracting the shared variance that belongs to the general factor of psychopathology. Using an integrative longitudinal model, we found that higher levels of general psychopathology at age 7 also associated with bullying exposure at age 8 which, in turn, associated with general psychopathology at age 13 through its two-year continuity. Findings suggest that exposure to bullying is a risk factor for a more general vulnerability to psychopathology.

     

Debunking arguments and metaphysical laws

Philosophical Studies - I argue that one’s views about which “metaphysical laws” obtain—including laws about what is identical with what, about what is reducible to what,...     

Addressing Cultural Variables in Parent Training Programs With Latino Families

There has recently been increased attention given to understanding how cultural variables may have an impact on the efficacy of treatments with Latino families seeking psychological services. Within parent training programs, understanding the extent to which culture can affect parenting practices is vital to providing quality care. The focus of this article is to discuss how different cultural variables such as respeto, personalismo, machismo, marianismo, and acculturation can impact the efficacy of parent training programs for Latino families. Recommendations for addressing these cultural variables in parent training programs are provided.     

Copernicus,the orbs,and the equant

I argue that Copernicus accepted the reality of celestial spheres on the grounds that the equant problem is unintelligible except as a problem about real spheres. The same considerations point to a number of generally unnoticed liabilities of Copernican astronomy, especially gaps between the spheres, and the failure of some spheres to obey the principle that their natural motion is to rotate. These difficulties may be additional reasons for Copernicus's reluctance to publish, and also stand in the way of strict realism as applied to De Revolutionibus, although a realistic astronomy may be envisioned as a goal for Copernicus's research program.