Differential impact of parenting sick infants

Parenting a newborn infant has been identified as a significant stressor, and parenting a sick infant evokes an even greater stress. This study evaluated the differential impact of parenting infants with interrupted infantile apnea vs. extremely low birth weight infants. These infants were compared to normal infants on the Bayley Scales of Infant Assessment and the Parenting Stress Index when the infants were 6 months old. Significant effects on the mental index revealed that the low birthweight infants performed more poorly than did the other groups. A stepwise multiple discriminant analysis on the Parenting Stress Index suggested that child adaptability, maternal restrictions, isolation, and health were significant stressors. Mothers of apneic infants were affected most severely by their child's illness. The lower educational level of these mothers may have influenced these findings.     

The First-Order Theories of Dedekind Algebras

A Dedekind Algebra is an ordered pair (B,h) where B is a non-empty set and h is an injective unary function on B. Each Dedekind algebra can be decomposed into a family of disjoint, countable subalgebras called configurations of the Dedekind algebra. There are N₀ isomorphism types of configurations. Each Dedekind algebra is associated with a cardinal-valued function on omega called its configuration signature. The configuration signature of a Dedekind algebra counts the number of configurations in the decomposition of the algebra in each isomorphism type.The configuration signature of a Dedekind algebra encodes the structure of that algebra in the sense that two Dedekind algebras are isomorphic iff their configuration signatures are identical. Configuration signatures are used to establish various results in the first-order model theory of Dedekind algebras. These include categoricity results for the first-order theories of Dedekind algebras and existence and uniqueness results for homogeneous, universal and saturated Dedekind algebras. Fundamental to these results is a condition on configuration signatures that is necessary and sufficient for elementary equivalence.     

Neuroticism and depressive symptoms among spouse caregivers: do health behaviors mediate this relationship?

This study examined the mediating role of health behaviors in the relationship between neuroticism and depressive symptoms among spouse caregivers. Path analysis was used to test a model of the caregiver stress process among 233 caregivers of people with dementia. Results indicate that neuroticism has a significant direct effect on depressive symptoms and also indirectly influences depressive symptoms through health behaviors and perceived stress. When individual health behaviors were examined in the path model, only physical activity served a significant mediating role. These findings suggest that neuroticism may lead to depressive symptoms among caregivers partly through declines in physical activity.     

Attitudes About Internet Support Groups Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 and their Parents

Youth with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have multiple, complex symptoms associated with physical, social-emotional, and cognitive difficulties. In addition, caring for a child with NF1 can be extremely challenging for parents. Since research with other chronic illness populations suggests that social support, including internet support groups (ISGs), can be beneficial, this survey study aimed to determine the attitudes and preferences of adolescents and young adults with NF1 and parents of a child with NF1 regarding ISGs. Thirty patients and 30 caregivers completed a 24-item survey about ISGs. Many patients and parents are not aware of any ISGs for NF1, but are interested in using one in the future for a variety of reasons, including to get answers to their questions about NF1, to find out about research studies, and to discuss problems and concerns about NF1. Specific concerns of interest include physical, social-emotional, and cognitive aspects of NF1. ISGs have potential as a social support intervention within the NF1 community. ISGs for the NF1 population should include patients with NF1 (or parents of children with NF1) as well as a health professional, and both chat rooms and discussion boards likely would be well-received.     

Media Influence on Drive for Thinness and Drive for Muscularity

The present study investigated relationships between media influence (exposure, self-comparison to media ideals and internalization of media messages, societal pressure to have the perfect body, using media as a source of information about how to achieve a certain body ideal) and drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in 311 male and female undergraduates at a university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. We hypothesized that drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in both women and men would relate to body comparison/internalization, societal pressure, use of media for information, magazine consumption and television viewing. We also expected television and magazines would have different influences on men and women’s drive for muscularity and drive for thinness. Finally, we hypothesized that societal pressure and using media as a source of information would mediate the relation between media exposure (number of magazines read, hours of television watched) and drive for thinness and drive for muscularity in women and men. Students completed surveys on-line. Results revealed using media as a source of information on how to attain the ideal body mediates the relationship between drive for thinness and media exposure in women. Overall, it seems that media and the internalization of general/non-athletic body ideals may have an impact on drive for thinness in both men and women. Similarly, internalization of athletic body ideals may relate to drive for muscularity in both collegiate men and women in the U.S. Implications for counselors were discussed.     

Informative cues can slow search: The cost of matching a specific template

During visual search, observers hold in mind a search template, which they match against the stimulus. To characterize the content of this template, we trained observers to discriminate a set of artificial objects at an individual level and at a category level. The observers then searched for the objects on backgrounds that camouflaged the features that defined either the object’s identity or the object’s category. Each search stimulus was preceded by the target’s individual name, its category name, or an uninformative cue. The observers’ task was to locate the target, which was always present and always the only figure in the stimulus. The results showed that name cues slowed search when the features associated with the name were camouflaged. Apparently, the observers required a match between their mental representation of the target and the stimulus, even though this was unnecessary for the task. Moreover, this match involved all distinctive features of the target, not just the features necessary for a definitive identification. We conclude that visual search for a specific target involves a verification process that is performed automatically on all of the target’s distinctive features.     

Three intensive community-based programs for children and youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families

Systems of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families have generally lacked intensive community-based programs. We describe three types of newly established community-based programs in New York State and present a general evaluation plan for determining which programs work for various children and their families. The three community-based programs are Intensive Case Management, Family-Based Treatment, and Family-Centered Intensive Case Management. Process and outcome evaluations are being conducted for each of these programs. These evaluations make use of common intake and termination instruments, based on a minimum data set, standardized assessment instruments, and a common logic model, thus facilitating the comparison of findings across evaluations.