Correlates of Parenting on a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Maternal Characteristics and Family Resources

The association of maternal characteristics, family resources, and receipt of prenatal care with parenting behaviors observed in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU; n = 383) was assessed. The parenting behavior of mothers not receiving prenatal care (n = 128) was compared to that of mothers of the preceding and subsequent admissions (n = 256) by retrospective chart review. Parenting variables included frequency of visits to the NICU and evaluative ratings of parents' involvement with their infant. Parenting of the no-prenatal-care group was significantly less favorable than the control on all comparisons. Factor analysis supported a priori grouping of parenting variables. A stepwise multiple regression of maternal and family characteristics to the factor-derived variable, parenting, showed significant contributions for prenatal drug use and father involvement. Pediatric interventions assessing maternal social and behavioral characteristics are proposed.     

Containment in theory and practice

Abstract

This article selects the term ‘containment’ as a vehicle for an exploration of multi-professional work and communication in the general practice setting. The term was selected because of its widespread use by and relevance to the different professionals who work in general practice. It is sufficiently elastic to be applied to one-to-one work between patients and GPs, counsellors, nurses or complementary therapists, and to a multi-professional teamwork process.

The exploration of the concept in use at Marylebone Health Centre is complicated by the multi-professional nature of the team and then-wide range of belief systems and language groups. In the process of exploring the term, members of the team had to cope with their discovery that it was being used in contradictory ways. They decided that a new and more grounded definition in shared and ordinary (nonprofessional) language was needed, if the term were to become a vehicle for inter-professional collaboration and if unhelpful, anti-task social defences were to be minimised.     

Unraveling the daily stress crossover between unemployed individuals and their employed spouses

This study examined the dynamic relationship of distress levels between spouses when one is unemployed (and looking for a job) while the other is engaged in full-time employment. Using the diary survey method, we sampled 100 couples in China for 10 days and tested a model comprising three stress crossover mechanisms: the direct crossover, the mediating crossover, and the common stressor mechanisms. Results supported the direct crossover and common stressor mechanisms. Other stressors (e.g., work–family conflict and negative job search experience) were also related to distress of the unemployed individuals and their employed spouses. Additionally, we found a three-way interaction involving gender, marital satisfaction, and distress levels of employed spouses. We discuss how the study contributes to the unemployment and stress crossover literatures.     

Working memory and mental arithmetic: A case for dual central executive resources

The current study was designed to examine the possible existence of two limited-capacity pools of central executive resources: one each for verbal and visuospatial processing. Ninety-one college students (M age = 19.0, SD = 2.2) were administered a verbal working memory task that involved updating numbers in 2-, 3-, and 4-load conditions. The task was administered in both single task (no-interference condition) and dual-task (verbal interference and visuospatial interference conditions) formats. Findings indicated main effects for both memory load and type of interference, as well as, a load × interference interaction. Verbal interference led to a steeper increase in errors on the primary verbal working memory task; whereas, there was a smaller increase in errors across load in both the non-verbal and no-interference conditions. The effect of verbal interference and the lack of a spatial interference effect on a primary task that utilized verbal working memory resources, suggests that the processing of verbal and spatial stimuli in a dual-task paradigm requires separate central executive resources.     

Acquiring Non-Object Terms: The Case for Time Words

We address the issue of children's understanding of abstract words with two studies on preschoolers' knowledge of the time-duration words minutes, hours, days, and years. The first study examines 4- and 5-year-olds' ability to answer questions about durations of common phenomena with duration terms. The second study examines 4- to 6-year-olds' comprehension of duration terms with a forced-choice pointing task. Both show that preschoolers' knowledge of such words is incomplete, but that it adheres to the pattern proposed in previous work with toddlers for abstract words. More specifically, children form lexical domains for such words even before they know their individual meanings, thereby allowing the children to often respond appropriately but not usually correctly to questions about abstract dimensions like time.     

Human Nonmonotonic Reasoning: the Importance of Seeing the Logical Strength of Arguments

Three studies of human nonmonotonic reasoning are described. The results show that people find such reasoning quite difficult, although being given problems with known subclass-superclass relationships is helpful. The results also show that recognizing differences in the logical strengths of arguments is important for the nonmonotonic problems studied. For some of these problems, specificity – which is traditionally considered paramount in drawing appropriate conclusions – was irrelevant and so should have lead to a “can’t tell” response; however, people could give rational conclusions based on differences in the logical consequences of arguments. The same strategy also works for problems where specificity is relevant, suggesting that in fact specificity is not paramount. Finally, results showed that subjects’ success at responding appropriately to nonmonotonic problems involving conflict relies heavily on the ability to appreciate differences in the logical strength of simple, non-conflicting, statements.     

Development of Counseling Trainees' Multicultural Awareness Through Mentoring English as a Second Language Students

This study reports the development of trainee multicultural awareness through a content analysis of reflections on mentoring English as a second language students. Identified themes show relationships with the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (G. R. Sodowsky, 1996) and White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (J. E. Helms, 1990). Results suggest that guided experiential components of multicultural training can be effective. Este estudio informa el desarrollo de conocimiento multicultural por reflejos de aprendizes quién son mentores de estudiante de segunda lengua por un análisis del contenido. Los temas identificados muestran las relaciones con el Multicultural Counseling Inventory (G. R. Sodowsky, 1996) y el White Racial Identity Scale (J. E. Helms, 1996). Los resultados surguiren que los componentes de experiencia de los aprendizes multiculturales pueden ser efectivos.     

The efficacy of mnemonic components of the cognitive interview: towards a shortened variant for time‐critical investigations

The cognitive interview utilizes mnemonic instructions and social facilitative techniques to increase correct recall from eyewitnesses without concomitant increases in errors. Recent studies however have suggested that police may neglect this technique in time‐critical situations. The present study investigated mnemonic components to determine whether a shorter, but still effective, technique was possible. Forty‐five participants viewed a film of a simulated crime and were interviewed with one of three techniques: the cognitive interview; a modified version that replaced the change order and change perspectives techniques with additional free recall attempts; or a structured interview. It was hypothesized that the modified technique would be as effective as the cognitive interview, while both would be superior to the structured interview. Results supported these hypotheses. Further analysis suggested that a shortened version, with the two mnemonics removed, may substantially reduce interviewing time while still offering an effective interview strategy in time‐critical situations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.