Two-year-old twins refuse to eat: A multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and treatment

This round table addresses the diagnosis and treatment of feeding disorders and failure to thrive. It describes a family-centered approach by a multidisciplinary feeding disorders team, beginning with the screening evaluation by the team coordinator at intake, through the evaluations by various team members, the team meeting with the parents, the development of a treatment plan, to a 1-year follow-up after treatment. Both twins refused to eat textured food and were found to have a posttraumatic feeding disorder secondary to repeated gagging and choking on cereal and lumpy baby food. However, only one twin was engaged in a battle with the parents over eating and developed infantile anorexia associated with failure to thrive. The differential diagnosis and the specific treatment plans of these two feeding disorders characterized by food refusal are discussed.     

Predictors of perceived susceptibility of breast cancer and changes over time: a mixed modeling approach

OBJECTIVE: To examine predictors of perceived susceptibility to breast cancer and assess differences across three dependent measures. DESIGN: Annual surveys were completed by US women veterans (N = 3,758) participating in a repeat mammography intervention trial. Multivariable non-linear mixed model analyses examined individual- and group-level changes in perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. DEPENDENT MEASURES: Three single-item measures of perceived susceptibility to breast cancer (percent risk, ordinal risk, and comparative risk likelihood). Predictors included demographic, health status, health behavior, affect, knowledge, and subjective norm variables. RESULTS: Breast symptoms and greater cancer worry increased perceived susceptibility for all three measures. Other predictors varied by dependent measure. Random change, indicating individual variability, was observed for percent risk only. CONCLUSION: Despite small model effect sizes, breast symptoms and cancer worry were consistent predictors and may be good targets for messages designed to influence women's perceived susceptibility to breast cancer. Researchers may benefit from using measures of perceived susceptibility with larger response scales, but additional measurement research is needed. Combining indicators of perceived susceptibility may be undesirable when different predictors are associated with different measures.     

Assessment of Tripartite Factors of Emotion in Children and Adolescents I: Structural Validity and Normative Data of an Affect and Arousal Scale

The authors developed and evaluated a self-report measure for children designed to assess factors of the tripartite model of emotion (Clark & Watson, 1991). Factor analytic results from a large, multi-ethnic sample (n = 1,289) supported the structural validity of the scale, with the additional suggestion that negative affect appeared to contain two lower order dimensions in the item pool. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample of 300 children and adolescents suggested favorable structure. Consistent with prediction, positive and negative affect emerged as relatively orthogonal dimensions. Physiological hyperarousal was found to be positively correlated with negative affect. Normative data are presented, and tests for differences by sex, grade level, and ethnicity demonstrated nonsignificant or minimal differences between groups. The implications for the assessment of tripartite factors and their relation to psychopathology in youth are discussed.     

A national survey of U.S. statutes on juvenile transfer: implications for policy and practice

A survey of the statutes on juvenile transfer and cecertification in the U.S. federal and 50 state jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia, was performed. Relevant information was obtained on the procedures in each jurisdiction by which a juvenile can be tried in criminal court, whether there are applicable decertification (“transfer back”) procedures in jurisdictions permitting criminal court processing through automatic file or prosecutorial discretion, and the burden and allocation of proof in relevant proceedings. We also identified four criteria relevant to the mental, emotional, and developmental functioning of juveniles that are used in various jurisdictions in making transfer and decertification decisions: treatment needs and amenability, risk assessment of future criminality, the presence of mental retardation or mental illness, and certain kinds of offense characteristics. The majority of jurisdictions now allow 14-year-old juveniles to be tried in criminal court. Treatment needs/amenability and risk assessment are set forth as criteria relevant to transfer in the majority of jurisdictions as well, with the presence of mental retardation or mental illness explicitly relevant in a small number of jurisdictions. The patterns of these findings are discussed in their implications for social policy and for the forensic mental health assessment of juvenile transfer and decertification, with needed areas of research identified within each. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early family context and development of adolescent ruminative style: Moderation by temperament

We know very little about the development of rumination, the tendency to passively brood about negative feelings. Because rumination is a risk factor for many forms of psychopathology, especially depression, such knowledge could prove important for preventing negative mental health outcomes in youth. This study examined developmental origins of rumination in a longitudinal sample (N=337; 51% girls) studied in preschool (ages 3½ and 4½ years) and early adolescence (ages 13 and 15 years). Results indicated that family context and child temperament, assessed during the preschool period, were risk factors for a ruminative style in adolescence. Specifically, early family contexts characterised by over-controlling parenting and a family style of negative-submissive expressivity predicted higher levels of later rumination. These associations were moderated by children's temperamental characteristics of negative affect and effortful control. Further, the interaction of these temperament factors exerted an additional influence on later rumination. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.     

Exploring the Judgment–Action Gap: College Students and Academic Dishonesty

This study examined differences between university students who were caught and sanctioned for cheating, students admitting to cheating but who were not caught, and students reporting that they had never cheated. Our findings showed that noncheaters are older, have better grade point averages, and have more sophisticated moral and epistemological reasoning skills. Qualitative analyses revealed that denial of responsibility and injury were the most common neutralization techniques and differed between the sanctioned and self-reported cheaters. We discuss the need to examine the extent to which reasoning skills have a causal impact on cheating behaviors.