Attachment,social rank,and affect regulation: speculations on an ethological approach to family interaction

The attachment and social rank systems are biological-evolutionary systems that can serve as models for conceptualizing family interaction. By exploring both their unique and interrelated impact on affect regulation, we can differentiate between processes that foster healthy growth and those leading to individual psychopathology. This perspective facilitates the integration of biological and psychological models, and has therapeutic implications. It also integrates well with other family therapy models.     

Psychoanalytic goals,therapeutic action,and the analyst's tension

The author draws a distinction between the goals of psychoanalysis and its therapeutic action. Goals are consciously (or at least preconsciously) held by the analyst, and can be clearly articulated. Ideas about the mechanism of therapeutic action, in contrast, are hypothetical constructs, and cannot be completely spelled out. This is bound to leave analysts in a state of tension; we are certain about what we are trying to do, but what we are actually accomplishing is elusive. This tension may be optimal for the analyst, because attention must be paid simultaneously to the idiosyncratic relationship in the dyad and to the broader purposes of the analytic engagement.     

Equality in hiring permanent resident foreign nationals in the United States: when loyalty is the question, but not the issue

Permanent resident foreign nationals, who have been legally admitted to the United States, have the right to work. However, when deciding the constitutionality of a state statute that requires citizenship for a public domain job, the rights of permanent residents to seek gainful employment are balanced against the rights of state governments to ensure that important sovereign functions are entrusted only to their citizens. Several important Supreme Court decisions have been 5/4 split decisions because of this tension and dissenting judges have countered that the majority rulings were based on presumptions, and not facts, that citizens are more loyal than permanent residents. The judges have also disagreed about the level, within a civil service hierarchy, below which a citizenship requirement is unconstitutional. This article reviews United States court decisions for relevant issues and solutions, and shows how empirical studies in the area of human resource management can help resolve the issues that have caused the dissent. The analysis will be useful to legal and human resource professionals in the U.S. and other countries affected by surging global migration.     

The relationship between out-of-school activities and positive youth development: an investigation of the influences of communities and family

There is growing evidence that participation in constructive leisure activities facilitates positive youth development. Empirical evidence also supports the influence of families and communities on positive developmental outcomes for adolescents. This study examined the relationship among attitudes toward family and community, participation in structured out-of-school activities, and pro-social behavior. As predicted, community aspects such as opportunities available and the attitudes the youth held toward the community, as well as their attitude toward family were predictive of activity involvement. Activity involvement, in turn, was predictive of pro-social behavior. Attitude toward family was also predictive of attitude toward the community. Attitude toward community was a direct predictor of the positive developmental outcome of pro-social behavior, although contrary to the original hypothesis, family influences did not have a direct effect on pro-social behavior. Implications for continued practice and change for a variety of sectors in the positive youth development field such as educators and educational institutions, youth-serving organizations, families, and policy makers are discussed, along with recommendations for continued research in this field.     

A meta-analytic review of stopping performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: deficient inhibitory motor control?

This review discusses whether deficient inhibitory motor control is the core deficit of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Inhibitory motor control is commonly assessed using the stop-signal paradigm. Since the last meta-analysis that was performed, 33 new studies have appeared. The current meta-analysis revealed a significant difference between ADHD patients and matched controls in stop latency (stop-signal reaction time) in both children and adults. Basic reaction time was significantly longer in children with ADHD, but not in adults, and there was a significant interaction between the elongation of the latency to stop and to respond in adults, but not in children. Deficient inhibitory motor control may be less crucial in children than in adults with ADHD.     

Hierarchical number estimation

We investigated number estimation using dot patterns grouped by proximity into larger clusters. Participants estimated the number of dots and clusters in separate trials. Estimation was most accurate when the numbers of elements on both scales were the same. When the number of elements on the unattended scale was higher, overestimation occurred. Conversely, when the number of elements on the unattended scale was lower, underestimation occurred. In Experiment 2, response cues were blocked to reduce any tendency toward attending the irrelevant level. The results were essentially unchanged, indicating response confusion alone cannot account for the effect. The data support the existence of an opposite scale effect in which the number of elements at the unattended level influence the processing of number.The preliminary results of the two experiments were presented at the Annual Meeting of The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, April 29–May 4, 2001, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA