Early Pubertal Timing as a Vulnerability to Depression Symptoms: Differential Effects of Race and Sex

Robust evidence supports that girls and boys who experience early pubertal timing, maturing earlier than one’s peers, are vulnerable to developing symptoms of depression. However, it has yet to be clarified whether early pubertal timing confers vulnerability to African American as well as to Caucasian adolescents and whether this vulnerability is specific to depressive symptoms or can be generalized to symptoms of social anxiety. In previous studies, one race or one sex was examined in isolation or sample sizes were too small to examine racial differences. Our longitudinal study consisted of a sample of 223 adolescents (M_age?=?12.42, 54.3 % female, 50.2 % African American, and 49.8 % Caucasian). At baseline, depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and pubertal timing were assessed by self-report. Nine months later, we assessed depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, body esteem, and stressful life events that occurred between baseline and follow-up. Analyses indicated that early pubertal timing interacted with stressful life events to predict increased symptoms of depression, but only for Caucasian girls and African American boys. Results were found to be specific to depressive symptoms and did not generalize to symptoms of social anxiety. Additionally, there was a significant positive indirect effect of pubertal timing on symptoms of depression through body esteem for Caucasian females.     

Teacher beliefs,teacher characteristics,and school contextual factors: What are the relationships?

Background. There is a plethora of research around student beliefs and their contribution to student outcomes. However, there is less research in relation to teacher beliefs. Teacher factors are important to consider since beliefs mould thoughts and resultant instructional behaviours that, in turn, can contribute to student outcomes. Aims. The purpose of this research was to explore relationships between the teacher characteristics of gender and teaching experience, school contextual variables (socio‐economic level of school and class level), and three teacher socio‐psychological variables: class level teacher expectations, teacher efficacy, and teacher goal orientation. Sample. The participants were 68 male and female teachers with varying experience, from schools in a variety of socio‐economic areas and from rural and urban locations within New Zealand. Method. Teachers completed a questionnaire containing items related to teacher efficacy and goal orientation in reading. They also completed a teacher expectation survey. Reading achievement data were collected on students. Interrelationships were explored between teacher socio‐psychological beliefs and the teacher and school factors included in the study. Results. Mastery‐oriented beliefs predicted teacher efficacy for student engagement and classroom management. The socio‐economic level of the school and teacher gender predicted teacher efficacy for engagement, classroom management, instructional strategies, and a mastery goal orientation. Being male predicted a performance goal orientation. Conclusions. Teacher beliefs, teacher characteristics, and school contextual variables can result in differences in teacher instructional practices and differing classroom climates. Further investigation of these variables is important since differences in teachers contribute to differences in student outcomes.     

The role of cluster B and C personality disturbance in the course of depression: a prospective study

The association between personality disturbance and depression has been noted consistently. Prospective tests of personality's impact on the course of depression, however, are lacking. In a sample of 159 undergraduates who experienced at least one prospective depressive episode, dimensional scores for clusters B and C personality disturbance were examined as prospective predictors of four indicators of the course of depression: severity, episode duration, symptomatic chronicity and number of episodes. Cluster C personality disturbance, characterized by anxious and fearful features, predicted depression chronicity. Cluster B, characterized by dramatic, emotional and/or erratic features, predicted severity and duration of depression. The findings are discussed in terms of the possible mechanisms underlying the effects of clusters B and C, as well as implications for future research.     

Prospective memory and pediatric traumatic brain injury: effects of cognitive demand.

This study investigated the effects of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) on prospective memory. Fourteen children and 14 adolescents with TBI were compared with 25 and 23 noninjured children and adolescents, respectively. Based on a prefrontal model, the cognitive demand on the ongoing component of a prospective-memory task was manipulated. Overall, those with TBI had poorer prospective-memory performance than their noninjured peers. Performance was worse in a high cognitive-demand condition than a low, and younger children performed worse than adolescents. Decreases in performance from the low- to high-demand conditions were not significantly different between the two children's groups but were between the two adolescents' groups. Furthermore, the age and injury effects were reflected in the performances on executive function tests: the Self-ordered Pointing Task (SOPT), and the Stroop Color Word Interference Test. The Tower of London (TOL), which did not produce age or injury effects, was nevertheless found to be an important predictor of performance on the high-demand task in those with TBI. Although previous research has demonstrated impaired prospective memory performance in children with TBI, this study attempted to explain why this might occur, specifically that the prefrontal regions might be implicated.     

Relationships Among Self,Others, and Persecutors in Individuals With Persecutory Delusions: A Repertory Grid Analysis

The purpose of the current study was to examine the way individuals with persecutory delusions construe the self, others, and their main persecutor with reference to the constructs of malevolence and omnipotence, and examine the extent to which these interpersonal beliefs link to distress, self-esteem, and delusion conviction. Repertory grid methodology was used to explore interpersonal beliefs about malevolence and omnipotence in a sample (N = 30) of individuals with current persecutory delusions (mean age 36.4 years; 62% male and 53% White). Participants also completed measures of emotional distress (depression and anxiety) and self-esteem. The findings suggested that persecutors were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than both the self and others; others in turn were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than the self. Beliefs about self as powerful were associated with lower anxiety, depression, and higher self-esteem, and beliefs about persecutors’ omnipotence predicted delusion conviction. As with voices, the concepts of power/omnipotence and malevolence/benevolence appear to be important constructs when seeking to understand the relationship between individuals and their perceived persecutors. These findings support working therapeutically with negative schematic beliefs about self, others, and persecutors, which is consistent with a person-based cognitive therapy model of distressing psychosis.     

Laboratory-induced learned helplessness attenuates approach motivation as indexed by posterior versus frontal theta activity

Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity (PFTA) may reflect a novel neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Elevated PFTA has been associated with approach-related tendencies both at rest and during laboratory tasks designed to enhance approach motivation. PFTA is sensitive to changes in dopamine signaling within the fronto-striatal neural circuit, which is centrally involved in approach motivation, reward processing, and goal-directed behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined PFTA during a laboratory task designed to reduce approach motivation or goal-directed behavior. Considerable animal and human research supports the hypothesis put forth by the learned helplessness theory that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli decreases approach motivation by inducing a state of perceived uncontrollability. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of perceived uncontrollability (i.e., learned helplessness) on PFTA. EEG data were collected from 74 participants (mean age = 19.21 years; 40 females) exposed to either Controllable (n = 26) or Uncontrollable (n = 25) aversive noise bursts, or a No-Noise Condition (n = 23). In line with prediction, individuals exposed to uncontrollable aversive noise bursts displayed a significant decrease in PFTA, reflecting reduced approach motivation, relative to both individuals exposed to controllable noise bursts or the No-Noise Condition. There was no relationship between perceived uncontrollability and frontal EEG alpha asymmetry, another commonly used neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Results have implications for understanding the neurophysiology of approach motivation and establishing PFTA as a neurophysiological index of approach-related tendencies.     

A Note on the Voice Mismatch Asymmetry in Ellipsis

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Theories of ellipsis differ in the identity condition claimed to hold between an antecedent and an elided constituent. A syntactic identity condition leads to...     

Translating the Human Right to Water and Sanitation into Public Policy Reform

The development of a human right to water and sanitation under international law has created an imperative to implement human rights in water and sanitation policy. Through forty-three interviews with informants in international institutions, national governments, and non-governmental organizations, this research examines interpretations of this new human right in global governance, national policy, and local practice. Exploring obstacles to the implementation of rights-based water and sanitation policy, the authors analyze the limitations of translating international human rights into local water and sanitation practice, concluding that system operators, utilities, and management boards remain largely unaffected by the changing public policy landscape for human rights realization. To understand the relevance of human rights standards to water and sanitation practitioners, this article frames a research agenda to ensure that human rights aspirations lead to public policy reforms and public health outcomes.