The Effects of a Mental Health Video on the Social Skills Knowledge and Attitudes of Mexican Immigrants1

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Spanish mental health video, “Cuida Su Salud Mental”, on the relationship attitudes and social skills knowledge of a Mexican immigrant sample. Subjects consisted of 72 Spanish speaking English as a second language (ESL) students recruited from the Paramount Adult School, in the county of Los Angeles. The Solomon (1949) Four Group Design was used. Half of the subjects were pretested on knowledge and attitudes about effective communication skills and relationships, respectively. All subjects view either the mental health video or a control video, and then were posttested on knowledge and attitudes. Results indicated that the mental healthy video (MHV) group exhibited more knowledge, F(1, 62) = 10.61, p= 0.002, and less risky attitudes, F(1, 62) = 4.29, p= 0.043, than the control video group. The MHV group also showed an increase in knowledge from the pretest to the posttest, F(1, 35) = 7.36, p= 0.01. Finally, both video groups reported a decrease in risky attitudes from pretest to posttest, F(1, 34) = 18.21, p= 0.001. These results support the use of “Cuida Su Salud Mental” as a productive and cost-effective mental health intervention that can be used to reach a large segment of the Spanish speaking community.     

Prevention of depressive symptoms in school children

This paper describes the development and preliminary efficacy of a program designed to prevent depressive symptoms in at-risk 10–13 year-olds, and relates the findings to the current understanding of childhood depression. The treatment targets depressive symptoms and related difficulties such as conduct problems, low academic achievement, low social competence, and poor peer relations, by proactively teaching cognitive techniques. Children were identified as ‘at-risk’ based on depressive symptoms and their reports of parental conflict. Sixty-nine children participated in treatment groups and were compared to 73 children in control groups. Depressive symptoms were significantly reduced and classroom behavior was significantly improved in the treatment group as compared to controls at post-test. Six-month follow-up showed continued reduction in depressive symptoms, as well as significantly fewer externalizing conduct problems, as compared to controls. The reduction in symptoms was most pronounced in the children who were most at risk.     

The role of exemplar distribution in infants'' differentiation of categories

Three experiments investigated how the frequency of exposure to particular exemplars influenced 10-month-old infants' differentiation of land and sea animals in an object-examining task. In Experiments 1 and 2, one category exemplar was presented more frequently than the others during familiarization (i.e., that exemplar was presented on 6 of 12 familiarization trials, and 3 other exemplars were each presented on 2 familiarization trials). For half of the infants, the frequent exemplar was similar to other category exemplars (e.g., a zebra if the familiarization category was land animals), and for half the frequent exemplar was not similar to many other category exemplars (e.g., a rabbit). Infants who frequently experienced the similar exemplar formed an exclusive category, and differentiated land and sea animals. Infants who frequently experienced a dissimilar exemplar, in contrast, formed an inclusive category, and failed to differentiate between land and sea animals. In Experiment 3, infants received frequent experience with a set of similar or dissimilar exemplars, and the same pattern was observed. Thus, 10-month-old infants are sensitive to the distribution of the exemplars to which they are exposed, and they form different category boundaries depending on that distribution.     

The Effects of Reading Racetracks on the Sight Word Acquisition and Fluency of Elementary Students

The effectiveness of using the reading racetrack drill and practice intervention on the sight word acquisition and fluency of 15 elementary students was examined in two separate experiments. A multiple baseline design across participants was used. The participants were 15 third and fourth-grade students attending a public (n =10) or parochial (n =5) elementary school. Participants included children receiving special education services in a resource room, services for learning difficulties, and those in a general classroom setting. Reading racetracks IS a novel approach which employ error correction, timing, and drill and practice procedures. This strategy also utilized drill and practice probe sheets that resemble an automotive racetrack. The results indicated that during the reading racetrack intervention all of the participants more than doubled their correct rate in oral reading. There was also a marked decrease in the number of errors made by each of the participants in this study. The implications of employing reading racetrack procedures for practitioners are outlined.     

Determinants of Relapse and the Rule Violation Effect in Predicting Safer Sex Goal Violations1

Knowledge of the determinants of lapses into unsafe sex are important parts of HIV prevention interventions. The present study examines the determinants of lapses into unsafe sex, and the role of attribution in predicting lapses into unsafe sex within an HIV prevention treatment program for homosexual men based on the relapse prevention (RP) model (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985). Self-reported negative emotional states and general urges to engage in sex were perceived to precede violations of safer sex goals. Stable and global attributions for a goal violation related to the probability of a second concurrently assessed violation. Prospective analyses indicated that future unprotected oral and anal sex was predicted by current unprotected oral and anal sex. In addition, more stable and external attributions for previous goal violations added to the prediction of future unprotected anal sex. Results are discussed in relation to the RP model, the role of attributions in safer sex goal violations, and treatments to reduce unsafe sexual behavior.     

Paradoxical Sadness

Three experiments were conducted to examine the theoretical prediction that the intensity of sadness is determined not only by the instigating event but also by factors that impede or deter the function or purpose of sadness. In the first two experiments, participants were asked to read a story designed to induce sadness, and were then given a $1, $2, or $3 gift. In both, reported sadness was higher for persons receiving a $2 gift than for those receiving either a $1 or $3 gift. However, the increase in sadness from the $1 to $2 group failed to reach an acceptable level of significance. In the second experiment, as expected, a $1 gift produced less sadness than did the story by itself, and as in the first experiment, a $2 gift resulted in more sadness than either a $1 or $3 gift. The third experiment replicated the $1 and $2 conditions and obtained a highly reliable effect; sadness was greater among those who received the $2 gift. Measures of positive affect suggested that participants experienced either sadness or positive feelings, not both.     

Proximal Impact of Two First-Grade Preventive Interventions on the Early Risk Behaviors for Later Substance Abuse, Depression, and Antisocial Behavior

We assessed the immediate effects of two universal, first-grade preventive interventions on the proximal targets of poor achievement, concentration problems, aggression, and shy behaviors, known early risk behaviors for later substance use/abuse, affective disorder, and conduct disorder. The classroom-centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce these early risk behaviors by enhancing teachers' behavior management and instructional skills, whereas the family-school partnership (FSP) intervention was aimed at improving parent-teacher communication and parental teaching and child behavior management strategies. Over the course of first and second grades, the CC intervention yielded the greatest degree of impact on its proximal targets, whereas the FSP's impact was somewhat less. The effects were influenced by gender and by preintervention levels of risk. Analyses of implementation measures demonstrated that greater fidelity to the intervention protocols was associated with greater impact on behavior ratings and on achievement scores, thus providing some evidence of specificity in the effect of the interventions.     

Effects of physical fatigue and cognitive challenges on the potential for low back injury

There is no question that the motor control system will adapt under fatiguing conditions; however, there is documented evidence showing that when fatigued or challenged, the motor control system will, on occasion, perform inappropriate muscle sequencing, increasing the risk of injury, or directly causing injury. Knowing that inappropriate muscle activations can lead to injury, the purpose of this study was to investigate motor patterns during cognitive and physical challenges. Rather than ensure change with severe challenges, milder challenges were purposefully chosen. Eight male subjects performed a low external load task performed near end ROM while in an unchallenged state, and while in three challenged states: passive tissue creep, muscle fatigue and cognitive distraction. Data were collected using EMG of the trunk muscles and angular displacement of the lumbar spine. Comparison of motor control patterns between the unchallenged state and each of the three challenged conditions showed no systematic differences. However, several random anomalies were observed. A case study of a single subject was chosen to show inappropriate motor control during one trial under the cognitive distraction conditions. The response of the motor control system is very individualized and does on occasion produce inappropriate motor patterns. This supports the notion that injury may also occur as the result of random motor control errors as well as predictable, systematic changes.     

Lending a Helping Hand: The Effects of Gender Stereotypes and Gender on Likelihood of Helping1

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and gender-role stereotypes on judgments of help-giving. As part of a 2 × 2 within-subjects design, 40 undergraduates read 4 different scenarios that described either a man or a woman needing help in either a stereotypically masculine or a stereotypically feminine situation. Although male participants felt more sympathy for men in stereotypically feminine situations and for women in stereotypically masculine situations, they were no more likely to help these individuals than they were to help those in gender-consistent situations. By contrast, women were more likely to help people in gender-inconsistent situations, despite feeling the most sympathy for people needing help in masculine situations. Implications for Weiner's (1980) attribution model of help-giving and Nadler & Fisher's (1986) threat-to-self-esteem model are discussed.