Use it or lose it: examining preschoolers' difficulty in maintaining and executing a goal

Individuals with low working memory capacity (e.g. preschoolers) are more prone to goal neglect, or a failure to execute a goal even though it is understood. We examined the role of goal neglect in performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sort by including 'redundant' cards that could be sorted without attending to the rules, as well as the traditional 'conflict' cards that encouraged awareness of the rules. In Experiment 1, 4- and 5-year-old children were administered two card sorts that differed on the proportion of redundant cards presented (20% vs. 80%). Children neglected the goal more often when faced with a preponderance of redundant cards, suggesting that consistent attention to the rules leads to goal maintenance. In Experiment 2, results were replicated even when the post-switch rules were repeated on every trial. Implications for the development of working memory are discussed.     

Investigation of a social-interactional model of depression with mildly depressed males and females

Recent research has explored social-interactional factors in the etiology and maintenance of depression. The current investigation further explored the social-interactional model using face-to-face interactions between depressed and nondepressed individuals, as well as the applicability of this model to observed differences in male and female depression. Forty depressed and 40 nondepressed subjects interacted with same or opposite-sex partners. The 20-minute interactions were videotaped and scored with a behavioral coding system. Subjects completed questionnaires concerning perceptions of their partners and the interaction. Results indicated that depressed and non-depressed subjects behaved similarly during the interactions. However, depression was associated with a number of socially unskilled behaviors. Depression in males was related to additional skills deficits not observed for females. While male and female self-report of depression did not differ, males consistently reported greater negative affect. Partner impressions differed based upon sex of partner, and not his or her level of depression. The robustness of the social-interactional model and methodological considerations for future research with this model are discussed.This article is based on the first author's master's thesis conducted under the supervision of the second author who is now at Catholic University. Portions of this research were presented at the 32nd annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.The authors wish to thank George A. Clum and Thomas H. Ollendick for serving as committee members; Teresa K. Meade for her invaluable help in data collection; and Katie Bechtel, Ruth Townsley, and Mike Cobler for their assistance in scoring and coding data. Thanks also to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

The role of intent and harm in judgments of prejudice and discrimination

Four experiments examined how an actor's intent and the harm experienced by a target influence judgments of prejudice and discrimination. The presence of intent increased the likelihood that participants judged an actor as prejudiced and the actor's behavior as discriminatory. When intent was uncertain, harm influenced judgments of the behavior, which in turn influenced judgments of the actor, and participants were more cautious in their judgments about an actor than an actor's behavior. Harm also played a stronger role in targets' than observers' judgments. Understanding the role of intent and harm on perceptions of prejudice can help explain variations in targets' versus observers', and possibly targets' versus actors', judgments of discrimination and prejudice.     

Children Exposed to the Arrest of a Family Member: Associations with Mental Health

The arrest of a parent or other family member can be detrimental to children’s health. To study the impact of exposure to the arrest of a family member on children’s mental health and how said association may change across developmental periods, we examined baseline data for children (birth through 11 years) entering family-based systems of care (SOC). Children exposed to the arrest of a family member had experienced significantly more 5.38 (SD = 2.59) different types of potentially traumatic events (PTE) than children not exposed to arrest 2.84 (SD = 2.56). Multiple regression model results showed that arrest exposure was significantly associated with greater behavioral and emotional challenges after controlling for children’s age, gender, race/ethnicity, household income, caregiver’s education, parenting factors, and other PTE exposure. Further analyses revealed differences in internalizing and externalizing behaviors associated with arrest exposure across developmental levels. This study highlights some of the mental health challenges for children exposed to the arrest of a family member, while adding to our knowledge of how such an event affects children across different developmental periods. More trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate systems need to be in place at all levels to assist children and families experiencing arrest.     

Reflections on group psychotherapy with eating-disordered patients

This paper addresses some of the dynamics, resistances, and transference and countertransference considerations in group psychotherapy with eating disordered patients. Several resistances are delineated, including guilt over being helped, the recreation of early problems around control and forced feeding, and withdrawal as a defensive operation. A brief vignette is presented which highlights the demand on the part of the therapist as well as the patient to contain and manage feelings rather than acting on them. Lastly, the author argues that group participation helps the patient to identify, articulate, and accept feelings and to promote assertiveness.This paper is based on a presentation given at the Training Institute for Mental Health on May 11, 1991.     

Multiculturalism as a dimension of school climate: the impact on the academic achievement of Asian American and Hispanic youth

Multiculturalism constitutes an important element of school climate, but the relation between perceived multiculturalism and academic achievement has not been widely studied. This study examined the influence of students' perceptions of school support for multiculturalism on academic achievement among 280 Asian American and Hispanic youth, including ethnic identity and ethnocultural empathy as potential mediators. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that perceived multiculturalism was significantly positively related to ethnocultural empathy for Asian Americans and Hispanics, and that ethnocultural empathy, in turn, was predictive of academic achievement for Hispanics only. Results of bootstrapping to test for mediation effects revealed ethnocultural empathy to be a salient mediator for Hispanic youth. Although ethnic identity did not mediate the link between multiculturalism and academic achievement, ethnic identity was significantly predictive of achievement for Hispanics. On the whole, these findings suggest that fostering a school climate supportive of multiculturalism may improve empathy toward ethnic out-groups. Furthermore, schools that promote compassion and tolerance for diverse ethnic groups may achieve better academic outcomes among Hispanic youth.     

Early Menarche: Confluence of Biological and Contextual Factors

An important factor in a girl’s feelings about menstruation as well as psychological outcomes is the timing of menarche. Reaching menarche early compared to one’s peers has been implicated as a risk factor for multiple negative outcomes including depression, delinquency, body dissatisfaction, and substance abuse. Early menarche also involves a convergence of biological and contextual factors that interact to influence psychological outcomes. In this paper we first review the biology of menarche. Drawing from studies conducted in the U.S. as well as European nations and New Zealand, we synthesize the research on environmental factors that contribute to early menarche, as well as evidence that early menarche changes a girl’s social environment. Then we review the hormonal influence hypothesis, the maturation disparity hypothesis, the contextual amplification hypothesis, and the accentuation hypothesis as models that may explain the mechanisms by which early menarche contributes to negative psychological outcomes. Finally, we describe how both mediation and moderation models can be used to understand the processes that link early menarche to adverse outcomes.