Psychotherapy with families of psychosomatic patients

Paradigmatic complexes in family psychotherapy have been indicating a revolutionary change and the creation of new paradigms for the past thirty years. Starting with the application of the general systems theory and the development of those concepts that have been emerging regarding psychosomatic illnesses we discuss the epistemological confusion created, the methodological problems and the dissociation between theory and practice. We suggest a double process of investigation of the family structure using a knowledge of the basic attitudes and the development of a psychotherapy programme within the family of the psychosomatic patient.     

Relation of parental support and control to adolescents' externalizing symptomatology and substance use: A longitudinal examination of curvilinear effects

Past research has generated inconsistent findings regarding the relation of parental control and support to adolescent problem behaviors. Using two waves of data collected 1 year apart, the current study examined the influence of parental control and support on adolescents' externalizing symptoms, alcohol use, and illicit substance use. A sample of adolescents and their parents (@#@ N =454) was studied, within which approximately half of the adolescents were at high risk because of parental alcoholism. Multipleregression analyses of crosssectional data showed a negative quadratic relation between parental control and adolescent externalizing symptomatology, and between parental control and adolescent illicit substance use. Parental control had a negative linear relation to adolescent alcohol use. Parental support showed a negative quadratic relation to adolescent illicit substance use, and negative linear relations to adolescent alcohol use and externalizing symptoms. Although longitudinally adjusted contemporaneous results were consistent with crosssectional findings, parental support and control were prospectively related only to adolescent alcohol use. The quadratic relations suggest that adolescents who receive either extreme of parental support or control are at risk for problem behaviors.     

Effects of parental alcoholism and life stress on hispanic and non-hispanic caucasian adelescents: A prospective study

Investigated ethnicity and parental alcoholism as factors that might influence the stress vulnerability of adolescents. It extended an initial cross-sectional study of this same sample by adding two annual assessments which allowed for additional cross-sectional analyses and longitudinal tests. Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents (N=306 at Time 1) completed measures of their own life stress, family conflict, and alcohol use. Their parents reported on adolescents' internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Cross-sectional analyses at Time 2, and prospective analyses involving Time 1 and Time 2 measures were, for the most part, consistent with the original study's results. Caucasian adolescents and children of alcoholic parents appeared to be more vulnerable to stress than Hispanic adolescents and children of nonalcoholic parents. Family conflict was a partial explanation for this increased vulnerability. This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grant DA05227 to Laurie Chassin (pricipal investigator) and Manuel Barrera, Jr. (coprincipal investigator). Susan Li was supported by an American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Award. Portions of this research were presented at the conference, “Resiliency in Families: Racial and Ethnic Minority Families in America” that was held at the University of Wisconsin, May 31–June 2, 1994.     

The advantage of first mention in Spanish

An advantage of first mention—that is, faster access to participants mentioned first in a sentence—has previously been demonstrated only in English. We report three experiments demonstrating that the advantage of first mention occurs also in Spanish sentences, regardless of whether the first-mentioned participants are syntactic subjects, and regardless, too, of whether they are proper names or inanimate objects. Because greater word-order flexibility is allowed in Spanish than in English (e.g., nonpassive object-verb-subject constructions exist in Spanish), these findings provide additional evidence that the advantage of first mention is a general cognitive phenomenon.     

A program to assess baroreceptor cardiac reflex function

This paper describes a computer program for the noninvasive evaluation in the time domain of the part of the baroreceptor reflex that relates blood pressure to interbeat interval from spontaneous hemodynamic patterns in which the reflex is operating. The program obtains the sensitivity of the baroreceptor reflex (slope of the regression line between the interbeat interval and systolic blood pressure in msec/mmHg) and an index of the baroreceptor power to regulate cardiac activity. These statistics are obtained differentially both when the systolic blood pressure is increasing and when it is decreasing. The results obtained by using this software during a mental load task were compared with those obtained through spectral analysis.     

Does nutrition cause intelligence? A reanalysis of the Cali experiment

Recent literature has suggested there is a causal link between malnutrition and impaired cognitive development. From a selective review of this literature it is concluded that owing to methodological imperfections in many of these studies the presence or absence of such a link cannot be established, even if randomized experiments were to be carried out. It is argued that compensatory experiments, even though they are not as logically compelling as experiments where proper nutrition is withheld, are ethically justifiable and more useful strategically since they may suggest ways of improving the cognitive development of currently affected children, especially if a variety of compensatory treatments is implemented. A reanalysis of such an experiment was conducted to determine whether the nutritional or educational component of the treatment was responsible for the observed gains in cognitive development. The reanalysis indicated that after four years of treatment there was no association between cognitive and nutritional status. The results were discussed in relation to previous research. Some of the social implications of the results were also discussed.     

Black Students' Reactions to Feedback Conveyed by White and Black Teachers1

The present investigation examined some processes mediating self-fulfilling prophecies among black students. Specifically, we hypothesized that feedback conveyed by black and white teachers would differentially influence black students' perceptions of how the teacher viewed their success/failure, effort, ability, luck and task difficulty. In addition, we hypothesized that negative feedback would affect perceptions of evaluations differently than positive feedback. Ninety black undergraduates participated in an experiment in which a black or white teacher (confederate) expressed one of five evaluative feedback responses to a student's score on an analogies test. The results provided partial support for the first hypothesis: black female students perceived white teachers as assessing their performance less positively: that is, they perceived them to underestimate their ability and the difficulty of the task. Negative feedback also led students to believe the teacher held an unfavorable but inaccurate impression of their ability and effort, and that the teacher underestimated the difficulty of the task. These findings suggest that black students—black females in particular—may assume that white teachers hold less favorable assessments of them than black teachers and all students may be sensitive to negative evaluations.     

Biculturalism,Locus of Control,and Leader Behavior in Ethnically Mixed Small Groups1

The study examined the interactive effects of degree of biculturalism and locus of control on leader behavior in supportive and nonsupportive ethnically mixed small groups. Subjects were 36 male Chicano college students who participated in a small group discussion composed of four members: a naive subject who invariably served as group leader, and three confederates representing distinct ethnic groups (Anglo, Black, and Chicano). Behavioral observations revealed several interesting interactions involving group support. High biculturals, in comparison to low biculturals, adopted a more active leader role in nonsupportive than in supportive groups, asking for more opinions and evaluations, and making more clarification statements. Furthermore, while low bicultural externals and high bicultural internals tended to be more interpersonally assertive and to make more clarification statements under supportive conditions, it was low bicultural internals and high bicultural externals who exhibited the most active leader roles in nonsupportive groups. Additional findings revealed that statements made by the Anglo confederate were clarified more often in the supportive condition, while statements made by either the Black or the Chicano confederate were clarified more often in the nonsupportive condition. The results are discussed in relation to previous literature and the need to develop a more responsive social psychology of interethnic dynamics.