The State of Dyadic Methodology: An Analysis of the Literature on Interventions for Military Couples

ABSTRACT

Military members and their spouses experience unique stressors compared with civilian couples, making them distinctively vulnerable to a number of marital and mental health concerns. However, the amount and quality of intervention research to guide treatment for military couples are unknown. Therefore, a systematic literature search of interventions for military couples was completed resulting in 10 articles that met the study's inclusion and exclusion criteria. Further, a rubric to assess dyadic methodology was created and utilized to determine the dyadic quality of the methodology of the sampled articles. The results of the systematic literature review revealed that (a) there are few evidence-based interventions for military couples in which both members of the dyad are included and (b) the methodology by which treatments are evaluated largely do not employ systemic or dyadic measures. Recommendations for future research with military couples includes the need for couple-focused interventions using experimental methodology, systemic theories to guide intervention and research, and appropriate dyadic assessment and analysis tools to determine the effectiveness of couple's interventions for military, reserve, and veteran populations.     

Reaping the Rewards of Diversity: The Role of Identity Integration

How does diversity affect individuals and the groups in which they are embedded? This article examines this question using recent theory and research on Identity Integration (II). II refers to an individual's perceptions about whether two distinct social identities, or social groups to which individuals belong, are viewed as compatible (high II) or not (low II). A review of extant research suggests that individuals with high II are better at simultaneously accessing multiple identities and identity‐related knowledge and have improved well‐being and social outcomes. Expanding on this work, we argue that individuals who have higher II, and social collectives that foster II within their members, are more likely to reap the benefits of diversity.     

Taking a closer look: On the operation of nonconscious impression formation

In this article, we analyzed the information processing that underlies nonconscious impression formation. In the first experiment, the nonconscious activation of the impression formation goal led to a faster analysis of the trait implications of behaviors, compared with a control group. In Experiment 2, participants who were nonconsciously primed with an impression formation goal were more likely than those in a control condition to form associations in memory between behaviors and implied traits. In Experiment 3, nonconsciously primed participants were more sensitive than those in a control condition to whether inconsistent trait information was relevant or irrelevant to the actor’s disposition. Moreover, in Experiments 2 and 3, those with a nonconscious goal showed just as much evidence of impression formation as those who were consciously and intentionally trying to form an impression. Implications for nonconscious goal-pursuit and impression formation are discussed.     

Implicit learning for probable changes in a visual change detection task

Previous research demonstrates that implicitly learned probability information can guide visual attention. We examined whether the probability of an object changing can be implicitly learned and then used to improve change detection performance. In a series of six experiments, participants completed 120–130 training change detection trials. In four of the experiments the object that changed color was the same shape (trained shape) on every trial. Participants were not explicitly aware of this change probability manipulation and change detection performance was not improved for the trained shape versus untrained shapes. In two of the experiments, the object that changed color was always in the same general location (trained location). Although participants were not explicitly aware of the change probability, implicit knowledge of it did improve change detection performance in the trained location. These results indicate that improved change detection performance through implicitly learned change probability occurs for location but not shape.     

Economic Disadvantage in Complex Family Systems: Expansion of Family Stress Models

Economic disadvantage is associated with multiple risks to early socioemotional development. This article reviews research regarding family stress frameworks to model the pathways from economic disadvantage to negative child outcomes via family processes. Future research in this area should expand definitions of family and household to incorporate diversity and instability. This expansion would be particularly relevant for research among low-income ethnic minority families and families with young children. This line of research would highlight specific pathways to target to prevent the onset of early parental and child dysfunction.     

Arousal, processing, and risk taking: consequences of intergroup anger

Intergroup emotions theory (IET) posits that when social categorization is salient, individuals feel the same emotions as others who share their group membership. Extensive research supporting this proposition has relied heavily on self-reports of group-based emotions. In three experiments, the authors provide converging evidence that group-based anger has subtle and less explicitly controlled consequences for information processing, using measures that do not rely on self-reported emotional experience. Specifically, the authors show that intergroup anger involves arousal (Experiment 1), reduces systematic processing of persuasive messages (Experiment 2), is moderated by group identification (Experiment 2, posttest), and compared to intergroup fear, increases risk taking (Experiment 3). These findings provide converging evidence that consistent with IET, emotions triggered by social categorization have psychologically consequential effects and are not evident solely in self-reports.     

Left-right differences on timed motor examination in children.

Age-related change in the difference between left- and right-side speed on motor examination may be an important indicator of maturation. Cortical maturation and myelination of the corpus callosum are considered to be related to increased bilateral skill and speed on timed motor tasks. We compared left minus right foot, hand, and finger speed differences using the Revised Physical and Neurological Assessment for Subtle Signs (PANESS; Denckla, 1985); examining 130 typically developing right-handed children (65 boys, 65 girls) ages 7-14. Timed tasks included right and left sets of 20 toe taps, 10 toe-heel alternation sequences, 20 hand pats, 10 hand pronate-supinate sets, 20 finger taps, and 5 sequences of each finger-to-thumb apposition. For each individual, six difference scores between left- and right-sided speeded performances of timed motor tasks were analyzed. Left-right differences decreased significantly with age on toe tapping, heel-toe alternations, hand pronation-supination, finger repetition, and finger sequencing. There were significant gender effects for heel-toe sequences (boys showing a greater left-right difference than girls), and a significant interaction between age and gender for hand pronation-supination, such that the magnitude of the left-right difference was similar for younger, compared with older girls, while the difference was significantly larger for younger, compared to older boys. Speed of performing right and left timed motor tasks equalizes with development; for some tasks, the equalization occurs earlier in girls than in boys.     

Fitting in and feeling fine: conformity and coping motives as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking.

The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students.     

What we talked about at the pediatrician's office: Exploring differences between healthy steps and traditional pediatric primary care visits

Healthy Steps for Young Children (HS) is a program designed to enhance pediatric primary care experiences for children birth to 3 years and their families by pairing a developmental specialist with a pediatric provider during well‐child visits. This study examined the impact of HS on content discussed during well‐child visits by providers, HS Specialists, and families. The impact of HS on pediatric outcomes, including timeliness of well‐child visits and immunizations, also was examined. Using retrospective medical review, records of 40 children enrolled in HS were compared with records of 36 demographically matched controls. A developmental topics checklist was used to analyze content of well‐child visits. Attendance at well‐child visits, receipt of immunizations, and healthcare utilization also was evaluated. Important developmental topics were discussed more often during well‐child visits of children enrolled in HS than for children who were not enrolled. Children enrolled in HS received timelier well‐child visits and immunizations. No differences between groups were found in the number of sick or emergency room visits. Integrating HS Specialists into pediatric primary care well‐child visits allows for discussion of important developmental topics while also impacting pediatric health outcomes.     

Social Dominance Orientation and John Henryism at the Intersection of Race and Class

Three studies were conducted to explore the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and John Henryism (JH). Each study was framed using an intersectionality perspective which predicted that specific combinations of social identities would impact endorsement of SDO and JH in unique ways. We hypothesized that upper‐class non‐Whites would be higher in SDO and lower in JH than any other class/race identity combination. As predicted, a Class × Race interaction emerged for both SDO and JH in Study 1 (N = 387), with upper‐class non‐Whites displaying the highest levels of SDO and the lowest levels of JH. Study 2 (N = 340) replicated these findings and also explored the impact of context‐level class on SDO and JH. Using a qualitative method, in Study 3 (N = 23) we found that upper‐class non‐Whites described their social class positions in ways highly consistent with SDO, whereas middle/working‐class non‐Whites described their experiences in ways consistent with JH.