Predicting Protest

We develop and test a model of participation in protest activities. Data were collected from 182 students in the week preceding and the week following a provincial day of protest against escalating tuition rates. Militancy predicted intent to participate, as did the perceived instrumentality of participation. Intent predicted actual participation and mediated the effects of instrumentality and militancy on participation. As hypothesized, participation in the protest predicted postprotest loyalty and militancy. Implications for further research on social protest and labor union strikes are discussed.     

Possible contributors to the gender differences in alcohol use and problems

Research on alcohol use and problems has demonstrated a much higher rate of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) among men compared with women. The authors review the most frequently researched biological and psychosocial factors that may play a role in the gender differences in alcohol use and problems. Among the biological factors, women might carry a lower genetic risk for AUDs and tend to suffer more negative biological consequences from drinking as compared with men. Regarding psychosocial factors, men appear to be more likely than women to manifest certain risk factors for alcohol use and problems (e.g., fewer perceived social sanctions for drinking, positive expectancies for alcohol use, personality traits such as impulsivity) and have fewer protective factors. Although these findings have helped to explain some of the gender differences in alcohol use and problems, there are inconsistencies in the literature. Additionally, many studie may not have enough statistical power to detect gender differences. The authors suggest that the biological and social consequences of alcohol abuse for women may be especially potent protective factors against AUDs and discuss the possibility of public health campaigns developed on the basis of this idea.     

Premature termination: A risk in eating disorder groups

This study examines the influence of combined vs. conjoint psychotherapy on the phenomenon of premature termination in eating disorder groups. Thirty-eight women with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa or bulimia enrolled in group psychotherapy were designated as group completers or premature terminators using individually defined treatment objectives. Those eating disorder patients in combined group and individual psychotherapy showed a lower frequency of premature termination than patients in conjoint group and individual psychotherapy.     

A COMPARISON OF THREE STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING OBJECT NAMES

Researchers in applied behavior analysis have been charged to provide large-scale demonstrations of the outcomes of evaluations. In this research, three experiments were conducted to examine the relative efficacy of three methods of presenting stimuli in object naming tasks. Stimuli were introduced successively, simultaneously, or using a combination of the two procedures. College adults, mentally retarded children and adolescents, and preschool children were taught to produce the names of five Hebrew letters, English words, or American coins, respectively. Presentation method was a between-subjects treatment in a factorial design. Results from the series of systematic replications were consistent in showing better posttest performance for subjects in the Simultaneous and Combined conditions. Further, follow-up data in Experiment III showed that retention was also superior for subjects trained by the Simultaneous or Combined methods. Although the acquisition criterion was met in fewer trials by subjects in the Successive condition, only several minutes more training time was required by the Simultaneous and Combined conditions. From a cost-effectiveness point of view, either of the latter two techniques should be favored over the Successive procedure for teaching verbal naming skills.     

Latent Profiles of Comorbid Depression as Predictors of PTSD Treatment Outcome

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occurs with major depressive disorder, and empirically supported PTSD treatments consistently improve depression. However, both diagnoses are heterogeneous and specific patterns of symptom overlap may be related to worse treatment outcome. Two hundred individuals with chronic PTSD participated in a doubly randomized preference trial comparing prolonged exposure and sertraline. Latent Profile Analysis was used to identify classes based on PTSD and depression symptoms prior to starting treatment. A three-class model best fit the data, with a high depression and PTSD severity class (distressed), a moderate depression and low PTSD avoidance class (depressive), and a low depression and high PTSD avoidance class (avoidant). The avoidant class showed the lowest rates of major depressive disorder diagnosis and transdiagnostic vulnerabilities to depression. Patients in the distressed class experienced more robust PTSD treatment response, with no differences between prolonged exposure and sertraline. These findings highlight the role of avoidance in nondepressed PTSD presentations while also demonstrating that co-occurring depression is not contraindicated in evidence-based PTSD treatment.     

New age-linked asymmetries: aging and the processing of familiar versus novel language on the input versus output side

This research demonstrates 3 new age-linked asymmetries between identifying versus retrieving phonological information. Young and older adults read aloud familiar isolated words (e.g., mind) and novel pseudowords (e.g., mond) in a production task and identified lexical status for identical stimuli in a comprehension task. Young adults made fewer errors than older adults in production but not comprehension (an age-related input-output asymmetry), and they produced pseudowords but not words with fewer errors than older adults (a lexical-status asymmetry). The lexical-status asymmetry also occurred for response onset times but not for output durations (an onset-output asymmetry). All 3 asymmetries were predicted under the transmission deficit hypothesis (D. G. MacKay & D. M. Burke, 1990) but contradict theories such as general slowing that cannot explain why aging affects some types of information processing more than others.     

Community-referenced leisure skill clusters for adolescents with multiple disabilities

We evaluated the effectiveness of a training package used to teach student-selected community-referenced leisure skill clusters — ordering a pizza-to-go and renting a video from a local vendor — to two adolescents with multiple disabilities. The adolescents were taught the leisure skills (e.g., ordering the pizza) as well as related behaviors necessary to perform those leisure skills (e.g., using a phone, interacting with the delivery person, cutting and serving pizza, cleaning up). The students were taught functional skill clusters, problem-solving skills, and assistance-seeking skills. Training consisted of didactic instruction, feedback, a least intrusive prompting procedure for incorrect responses, and verbal praise and natural consequences for correct responses. Simulation training was conducted at school and in vivotraining was conducted in the local community. A multiple baseline design demonstrated the controlling effects of treatment. Also, follow-up probes conducted up to five months after treatment showed these students maintained treatment gains. Applied issues related to the efficiency of the training package, general and specific skills training, and factors influencing skill maintenance are discussed.