Assessing ADHD-related Family Stressors with the Disruptive Behavior Stress Inventory (DBSI): A Replication and Extension

The Disruptive Behavior Stress Inventory (DBSI) was developed to provide information related to the occurrence and severity of stressors that result from having a child with ADHD. Data provided in the initial 2002 study by Johnson and Reader (Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 9, 51–62) provided good preliminary support for the reliability of the DBSI, as well the ability of the scale scores to differentiate primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD. The present study was an attempt to replicate major findings of the 2002 study using an additional larger sample and extend it by conducting item-level analyses to determine the degree to which individual DBSI items differentiate primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD. Results provided additional support for the reliability and validity of the DBSI by replicating major findings from the 2002 study and further suggesting that a large majority of the 40 items individually differentiate between primary caregivers of children with and without a history of ADHD.     

Likelihood ratio decisions in memory: Three implied regularities

We analyze four general signal detection models for recognition memory that differ in their distributional assumptions. Our analyses show that a basic assumption of signal detection theory, the likelihood ratio decision axis, implies three regularities in recognition memory: (1) the mirror effect, (2) the variance effect, and (3) the z-ROC length effect. For each model, we present the equations that produce the three regularities and show, in computed examples, how they do so. We then show that the regularities appear in data from a range of recognition studies. The analyses and data in our study support the following generalization: Individuals make efficient recognition decisions on the basis of likelihood ratios.     

Alcoholism: etiologies proposed and therapeutic approaches tried

Alcohol, probably the most popular mood-altering drug, has frightening consequences when abused. Genetic factors and sociocultural influences contribute to alcoholic behavior. Study of endocrines, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides may reveal biological markers to help identify those at risk for alcoholism. Drinking patterns are often based on the expectation of alcohol's mood-altering quality. The focus of treatment has expanded to include not only drinking behavior but also emotional, social, and vocational adjustment. Controlled drinking has proved effective for some, so that complete abstinence is no longer the sole goal of therapy. Behavioral, martial, group and individual, outpatient and inpatient therapy, and drugs as adjuncts, all help some alcoholics, but none is a cure for all. Answers still lag behind questions but researchers have registered some advances that challenge therapists to enlarge therapeutic approaches to fit the multifaceted picture of alcoholism.     

Women's body satisfaction at midlife and lifetime body size: a prospective study.

The relationship between past body size and current body dissatisfaction among 933 middle-aged women from a prospective birth cohort study was examined. Women provided self-report data on weight esteem at age 54. Height and weight data were collected at ages 7, 11, 15, 20, 26, 36, 43, and 54. Data on reproductive variables were also collected prospectively. Hierarchical linear modeling and multiple regression analyses were used. Women who were dissatisfied at midlife were heavier at age 7 and showed a more rapid increase in body mass index with age. A late menarche, being postmenopausal, and having started hormone replacement therapy before menopause were associated with less dissatisfaction. Attention to these factors across the life span is necessary to understand body dissatisfaction in women at midlife.     

Marijuana's effects on human cognitive functions, psychomotor functions, and personality

Marijuana is complex chemically and not yet fully understood, but it is not a narcotic. Like alcohol, marijuana acts as both stimulant and depressant, but it lingers in body organs longer than alcohol. Smoking marijuana can injure mucosal tissue and may have more carcinogenic potential than tobacco. Research has indicated that marijuana intoxication definitely hinders attention, long-term memory storage, and psychomotor skills involved in driving a car or flying a plane. Expectations and past experience with marijuana have often influenced results more than pharmacological aspects have. Marijuana has triggered psychotic episodes in those more vulnerable. Psychological and some instances of physiological dependence on marijuana have been demonstrated. As a psychoactive drug, marijuana surely alters mental functioning. Although it is possible that chronic use of marijuana produces irreversible damage to mind or brain areas, this has not been determined by research.     

Assimilative hue shifts in color depend on bar width

Hue shifts were measured in isoluminant color gratings whose bar width was varied from 2′ to 20′ of visual angle. Subjects matched the hues in each grating with individual Munsell swatches. Hue shifts were largest for bar widths of 2′; however, they depended on the color combination used. Green and red shifted toward (i.e., assimilated with) whatever second grating color they were paired with. Blue, on the other hand, assimilated with red and with yellow, but remained relatively unchanged when combined with green. Yellow shifted only minimally, regardless of the second grating color. Hue shifts decreased with increasing stripe width and disappeared between 4.5′ and 7.5′. Compared with the assimilative hue shifts, color contrast effects were slight or absent. These results cannot be attributed merely to chromatic aberration, macular pigment, eye movements, or field size.     

Attentional deficits in head-injured children: An information processing analysis

Attentional problems of closed head-injured (CHI) children were examined using an information processing (IP) approach. Based on Sternberg's (1969) additive factor method (AFM), the study examined attentional processes in terms of four stages and their corresponding task variables. A visual-spatial choice reaction-time task was undertaken with two groups of CHI children (severe and mild to moderate) and corresponding matched control groups. Results indicated that for this task both the CHI and the normal children exhibited a similar mode of linear, sequential information processing. It was found that the severe group was impaired not only in terms of slowed motor execution but also in terms of response selection. This group showed no impairment on the feature extraction, stimulus identification, and motor adjustment stages of processing. No evidence of impairment on any of the stages was found for the mild group. The utility of the AFM and implications of these findings are discussed with reference to CHI children and to neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation.     

Measuring the stop point of rapid smoking

A method and an apparatus are described for measuring the point at which subjects elect to stop smoking when cigarette smoke is delivered more rapidly than in typical smoking. The device allows either the subject or the experimenter to control the volume of smoke and the interval between puffs. The device delivers reliable quantities of particulate matter from cigarette smoke. Subjects retested a week apart exhibited consistent stopping points.