Pilot Implementation of School-Based Behavioral Parent Training: Outcomes and Acceptability

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Many children demonstrate challenging behaviors, which can pose a risk for future behavior problems and negatively impact caregivers and teachers. Behavioral...     

Disentangling the Concept of Well-Being in Very Old Age Using Rodgers’ Evolutionary Concept Analysis

Journal of Happiness Studies - Well-being has received increasing attention from researchers and policymakers, and its promotion could be considered pivotal to handle the challenges of aging...     

Development and validation of the Minnesota borderline personality disorder scale

Although large epidemiological data sets can inform research on the etiology and development of borderline personality disorder (BPD), they rarely include BPD measures. In some cases, however, proxy measures can be constructed using instruments already in these data sets. In this study, the authors developed and validated a self-report measure of BPD from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Items for the new instrument-the Minnesota BPD scale (MBPD) -were identified and refined using three large samples: undergraduates, community adolescent twins, and urban substance users. The authors determined the construct validity of the MBPD scale by examining its association with (a) diagnosed BPD, (b) questionnaire-reported BPD symptoms, and (c) clinical variables associated with BPD: suicidality, trauma, disinhibition, internalizing distress, and substance use. The authors also tested the MBPD scale in two prison inmate samples. Across samples, the MBPD scores correlated with BPD indices and external criteria and showed incremental validity above measures of negative affect, thus supporting its construct validity as a measure of BPD.     

Consonants and vowels: different roles in early language acquisition

Language acquisition involves both acquiring a set of words (i.e. the lexicon) and learning the rules that combine them to form sentences (i.e. syntax). Here, we show that consonants are mainly involved in word processing, whereas vowels are favored for extracting and generalizing structural relations. We demonstrate that such a division of labor between consonants and vowels plays a role in language acquisition. In two very similar experimental paradigms, we show that 12-month-old infants rely more on the consonantal tier when identifying words (Experiment 1), but are better at extracting and generalizing repetition-based srtuctures over the vocalic tier (Experiment 2). These results indicate that infants are able to exploit the functional differences between consonants and vowels at an age when they start acquiring the lexicon, and suggest that basic speech categories are assigned to different learning mechanisms that sustain early language acquisition.     

Recombinative reading derived from pseudoword instruction in a miniature linguistic system

A miniature linguistic system was used to study acquisition of recombinative symbolic behavior. Three studies evaluated the teaching conditions of conditional discriminations with printed and spoken pseudowords that could potentially generate recombinative reading. Fifty-four college students across all studies learned to match 12 printed pseudowords to 12 spoken pseudowords. Some also matched pictures to the same spoken words. Each two-syllable pseudoword was formed by symbols from an arbitrarily created alphabet composed of four vowels and four consonants. Letters had univocal correspondence with phonemes. Recombinative receptive reading, comprehensive reading, and textual responding to pseudowords were periodically assessed. Experiment 1 (n = 20) showed that recombinative reading increased as the number of trained words composed of the same symbols increased. Experiment 2 (n = 14) showed that overtraining the same two words did not produce recombinative reading for most participants. Experiment 3 (n = 20), in which training with pictures was omitted, showed that elemental control by within-syllable units can develop even when the trained pseudowords are meaningless (not related to pictures). The present results support the utility of the miniature linguistic system methodology for identifying and controlling environmental determinants of rudimentary reading skills.     

Restoration process of the need for autonomy: the early alarm stage

Autonomy is described by self-determination theory as a basic psychological need, essential for individuals' well-being. While basic needs are generally thought to induce a restorative response when thwarted, evidence for such a process is lacking for autonomy. To date, most evidence indicates that autonomy deprivation leads to disaffection of this need in favor of other motives. A temporal model based on the general adaptation syndrome was adapted to reconcile this seeming contradiction. Specifically, it is hypothesized that an early alarm response aimed at restoring the satisfaction of the need for autonomy should precede the later relinquishment and compensation of this need that would result from a prolonged deprivation. Three studies provide support for this model by showing the existence of the immediate autonomy restorative response. Using a controlling situation to manipulate autonomy deprivation, the authors demonstrate in Experiments 1 and 2 that a controlling context leads to enhanced accessibility and an approach bias for autonomy-related stimuli. Experiment 3 indicates that the urge to restore autonomy can also affect personal judgment, leading individuals to make more independent judgments, exercising a nonreactive form of autonomy. Integration of this model within self-determination theory is discussed.     

A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults

Recent evidence suggests that blindness enables visual circuits to contribute to language processing. We examined whether this dramatic functional plasticity has a sensitive period. BOLD fMRI signal was measured in congenitally blind, late blind (blindness onset 9-years-old or later) and sighted participants while they performed a sentence comprehension task. In a control condition, participants listened to backwards speech and made match/non-match to sample judgments. In both congenitally and late blind participants BOLD signal increased in bilateral foveal-pericalcarine cortex during response preparation, irrespective of whether the stimulus was a sentence or backwards speech. However, left occipital areas (pericalcarine, extrastriate, fusiform and lateral) responded more to sentences than backwards speech only in congenitally blind people. We conclude that age of blindness onset constrains the non-visual functions of occipital cortex: while plasticity is present in both congenitally and late blind individuals, recruitment of visual circuits for language depends on blindness during childhood.     

What lies behind postnatal depression: is it only a mood disorder?

Postnatal depression (PND) is a common condition that has been extensively researched specifically because of its negative impact on the mother-infant relationship. Psychiatric research has looked at comorbidity of major depressive disorder and found it to be strongly associated with Axis II disorders. This study's principal aim was to investigate whether there is a greater incidence of personality disorder (PD) among a PND population than among a non-PND population at 3 months postpartum. A secondary aim was to define the different types of PD. Depression was assessed with the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and PD was assessed with the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV) in 109 women with their 12-week-old infants. Twice as many depressed mothers had PD. The PND group presented a greater number of severe clinical symptoms than the nondepressed group (p < .002). Further research is necessary to reexamine the heterogeneity of PND and reassess its impact on infant development.     

Perceived stress correlates with disturbed sleep: a link connecting stress and cardiovascular disease

The association between stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is becoming established. A mechanistic link clarifying the intermediate steps between the experience of stress and the development of CVD would support this association. We sought to examine the role of perceived stress as a factor associated with disturbed sleep with the goal of providing an explanation for the stress-CVD connection. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data recorded by subjects at entry to our CVD prevention program. Data collection included questionnaire surveys, anthropometrics, and a CVD-relevant laboratory panel. Of 350 consecutively enrolled subjects (mean age 54.4 ± 12.4 [SD] years, 138 men, 39%), 165 (47%) scored above the mean for stress measures. These high-stress subjects displayed an increased cardiovascular risk profile including elevated body mass index (mean ± SD 31.1 ± 5.9 vs. 29.0 ± 5.9, r(s) = 0.175), increased waist circumference (102 ± 17 cm vs. 98 ± 14, r(s) = 0.135), and elevated high-sensitivity serum C-reactive protein (0.384 mg/dl vs. 0.356, r(s) = 0.109). High-stress subjects also demonstrated greater daytime sleepiness (Epworth Sleepiness Scale: 10.4 ± 5.0 vs. 7.8 ± 4.8, r(s) < 0.316), greater fatigue (fatigue scale: 5.4 ± 2.2 vs. 3.4 ± 2.4, r(s) = 0.484), poorer sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: 8.5 ± 4.4 vs. 5.9 ± 4.0, r(s) = 0.416), and shorter sleep duration (20 min less/24 h, r(s) = negative 0.177) with a higher risk for sleep apnea (60% at high risk vs. 40%, p = 0.003) than low-stress subjects. High stress was associated with significant disturbances in sleep duration and sleep quality. Stress levels also correlated with daytime consequences of disturbed sleep. The stress-sleep connection may be an important mechanistic mediator of the association between stress and CVD.