Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent NSSI: The Role of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Factors

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) occurs in approximately 10 % of adolescents. To establish effective prevention and intervention initiatives, it is important to understand onset, maintenance and cessation of NSSI. We explored whether the relationships between interpersonal factors (i.e. attachment, social support) and NSSI were mediated by intrapersonal factors (i.e. emotion regulation, self-esteem, self-efficacy). Participants were 1973 students (1414 female and 559 male) aged between 12 and 18 years (M?=?13.89, SD?=?0.97) recruited from 40 Australian high schools. Participants completed a questionnaire at two time-points with a 12-month interval. At baseline, 8.3 % of adolescents engaged in NSSI, increasing to 11.9 % at follow-up. Family support was most salient in onset, maintenance and cessation of NSSI. Attachment anxiety was related to NSSI onset. Of the intrapersonal variables, self-esteem and self-efficacy were significant in predicting onset of NSSI. Self-esteem, self-efficacy and cognitive reappraisal mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and NSSI onset. A combination of interpersonal and intrapersonal variables contributes to the onset, maintenance and cessation of NSSI in adolescence. Perceived family support appears to be an important safeguard against NSSI. Strategies targeting family functioning and teaching cognitive reappraisal techniques to adolescents may reduce the number engaging in NSSI.     

Happy babies,chatty toddlers: Infant positive affect facilitates early expressive,but not receptive language

Eighty-three mother–infant dyads participated in this study. Positive affect (PA) broadly, along with fine-grained aspects of PA, was measured at 10 months of age. Language was measured at 14 months. Infant PA predicted expressive, but not receptive, language. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Like Mike: Ability contagion through touched objects increases confidence and improves performance

Magical thinking refers to irrational peculiar beliefs, including those that conform to the laws of contagion. We propose that touching an object that was previously touched by a high performer increases confidence via magical thinking (ability contagion) and improves actual performance among individuals high in experiential processing. A series of studies provides support for this main proposition. Our results cast doubt on an alternative explanation based on priming, and are obtained controlling for participants’ level of rational processing, motivation, and affect.     

The Impact of a Digital Recorder Intervention in Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples: A Pilot Study to Assess Emotional Flooding

The present study explored the effectiveness of a unique intervention for couple therapy, the Canned Attitude Method (a technique developed by Brent Atkinson), which utilized a digital recorder in and between therapy sessions. Participant dyads were randomly assigned to the intervention group utilizing the digital recorders or the control group, in which Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples (Atkinson in J Syst Ther 17:18–35, 1998) was conducted without the use of digital recorders. Both the intervention and the control groups were composed of five couples each for a total of 20 participants. This study hypothesized that the use of the Canned Attitude Method in couple therapy would produce a significant change in marital satisfaction, emotional flooding, and positive psychological tendencies associated with intimate relationships. Findings approached significance, demonstrating decreases in the experience of emotional flooding, gains in relationship satisfaction, and a shift towards positive attributes within the couples’ relationships.     

Survivor mission: Do those who survive have a drive to thrive at work?

Are helping professionals who have experienced the same types of struggles as their clients more engaged at work? In the current investigation, we examine this question in samples of police detectives (with and without a history of violent victimization) and mental health workers (with and without a history of mental illness). Our results indicate that police detectives who have experienced violent victimization and mental health professionals who have experienced the same mental illness as their clients do indeed exhibit greater work engagement than their colleagues who lack these parallel life experiences. The link between a professional’s firsthand experience of his/her client’s hardships and work engagement appears to be partially explained by higher levels of grit among police detectives and by a greater sense of life-narrative continuity among mental health professionals.     

Solving small spaces: investigating the use of landmark cues in brown capuchins (Cebus apella)

Some researchers have recently argued that humans may be unusual among primates in preferring to use landmark information when reasoning about some kinds of spatial problems. Some have explained this phenomenon by positing that our species’ tendency to prefer landmarks stems from a human-unique trait: language. Here, we test this hypothesis—that preferring to use landmarks to solve such tasks is related to language ability—by exploring landmark use in a spatial task in one non-human primate, the brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella). We presented our subjects with the rotational displacement task, in which subjects attempt to relocate a reward hidden within an array of hiding locations which are subsequently rotated to a new position. Over several experiments, we varied the availability and the salience of a landmark cue within the array. Specifically, we varied (1) visual access to the array during rotation, (2) the type of landmark, (3) the consistency of the landmark qualities, and (4) the amount of exposure to the landmark. Across Experiments 1 through 4, capuchins did not successfully use landmarks cues, suggesting that non-linguistic primates may not spontaneously use landmarks to solve some spatial problems, as in this case of a small-scale dynamic spatial task. Importantly, we also observed that capuchins demonstrated some capacity to learn to use landmarks in Experiment 4, suggesting that non-linguistic creatures may be able to use some landmarks cues in similar spatial tasks with extensive training.     

Divergent and Convergent Group Creativity in an Asynchronous Online Environment

This study examined the influence of various group diversity dimensions on collaborative creativity related to the healthcare system. Research findings on the association between diversity and brainstorming performance has been mixed. Diversity that increases cognitive stimulation or promotes elaboration has been shown to increase group performance. Participants exchanged ideas, replied, and elaborated using an electronic discussion board in an asynchronous fashion in groups of five over a period of 4 weeks. The groups varied in diversity of ethnicity, gender, age, and political orientation, but participants were not made aware of this diversity. Age and gender diversity were related to lower levels of replying to ideas and lower idea novelty but political diversity was related to increased replies and novelty. If a topic engages people with different perspectives to actively respond to others’ ideas, this can increase the creative potential of idea sharing in groups. Political or value-based diversity has the potential for creative solutions if the other participants’ political or value-based identities are not made salient.     

Improving solitary play with a typically developing preschooler

We evaluated the effects of delivering specific instructions (e.g., “Here are some puzzles. Complete two of them while I read.”) on solitary play with a typically developing 3‐year‐old. We gradually increased the response requirements described in the specific instruction and found that specific instructions improved the number of solitary play responses and the duration of engagement. During a treatment extension, improvements in solitary play were observed with the classroom teacher and a novel toy. The father, teacher, and preschool director found the treatment to be highly effective and acceptable.