Prevention program for disturbed eating and body dissatisfaction in a Spanish university population: a pilot study

A pilot study was carried out in university students to evaluate the effect of a health promotion program for eating disturbances and body dissatisfaction. A subgroup of 135 medical students of both sexes in their second year was selected. There were divided in three groups, high-risk students (EDI > 40) and low-risk students (EDI < 40) who participated in the program and nonparticipants as comparison group. Program had a total of 16 workshops of 90 min. A year later the different assessment measurements were compared, body image, attitudes and eating behaviours, psychopathological levels and self-esteem. Differences by gender were found on the impact of the intervention. The program presented a statistical significant improvement in body-image satisfaction, eating attitudes only in high-risk female students in the intervention group. This pilot program for eating disorder prevention in university populations can be considered effective, mainly in female populations at risk for developing an eating disorder.     

The Relations of Temperament and Emotion Self-regulation with Suicidal Behaviors in a Clinical Sample of Depressed Children in Hungary

Although major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with suicidal behaviors, some depressed individuals are not suicidal and others evidence various forms of suicidality. We thus investigated whether aspects of temperament and self-regulation of dysphoria represent risk factors for DSM-IV suicidality (recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation, suicidal plan, and suicide attempt) in depressed youths. Using a sample of children with MDD (N = 407; ages 7-14 years), recruited from clinical sites across Hungary, we tested the hypotheses that: (a) suicidality is related to higher levels of trait negative emotionality as well as more maladaptive and fewer adaptive regulatory responses to dysphoria and (b) as the severity of suicidal behavior increases, levels of trait negative emotionality and dysfunctional emotion regulation also increase. We also explored if other aspects of temperament relate to suicidality. Children's DSM-IV diagnoses were based on semi-structured interviews and best-estimate psychiatric consensus. Parents independently provided ratings of their children's temperament, and children separately completed an inventory of emotion regulation (ER). Using multivariate models, we failed to confirm the hypothesized relations of negative trait emotionality and suicidality, but confirmed that high maladaptive and low adaptive ER response tendencies increase the odds of suicidal behaviors, above and beyond the risk posed by depressive illness severity. Unplanned interaction terms between temperament dimensions (other than negative emotionality) and ER suggested that at some high-extremes of temperament, ER has no impact on suicidality but in their absence, adaptive ER lowers the risk of suicidality. The practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Words, hemispheres, and processing mechanisms: A response to Marsolek and Deason (2007)

Ellis, Ansorge and Lavidor (2007) [Ellis, A.W., Ansorge, L., & Lavidor, M. (2007). Words, hemispheres, and dissociable subsystems: The effects of exposure duration, case alternation, priming and continuity of form on word recognition in the left and right visual fields. Brain and Language, 103, 292–303.] presented three experiments investigating the effects of exposure duration and format (normal vs mixed or alternating case) on the recognition of words presented in the left and right visual fields. The experiments were conducted within the framework of ‘dissociable neural subsystems theory’ developed by Marsolek and colleagues. Marsolek and Deason (2007) [Marsolek, C.J. & Deason, R.G. (2007). Hemispheric asymmetries in visual word-form processing: Progress, conflict, and evaluating theories. Brain and Language, 103, 304–307.] offer some reflections on our paper, including alternative interpretations of some of our findings. We respond to those reflections in this reply.     

Trajectories and predictors of indirect aggression: results from a nationally representative longitudinal study of Canadian children aged 2-10

The purposes of this study were to model the development of indirect aggression among a nationally representative sample of 1,401 Canadian children aged 4 at T2, 6 at T3, 8 at T4 and 10 at T5, and to examine predictors of trajectory group membership from T1 (age 2) child, familial, and parenting variables. Using a semi-parametric group-based modeling approach, two distinct trajectories were identified: "increasing users" comprising of 35% of the sample and "stable low users" comprising of 65% of the sample. Using logistic regression analyses to distinguish these two groups, we found that for girls, more frequent, increasing use of indirect aggression was associated with prior prosocial and physically aggressive behavior, low SES and low parental social support at age 2. For boys, increasing use of indirect aggression was associated with prior parenting issues at age 2-inconsistency and less positive parent-child interactions. Although this study provides unique information regarding the early development of indirect aggression and its predictors, more longitudinal research is needed to fully understand its development.     

Separate mechanisms recruited by exogenous and endogenous spatial cues: evidence from a spatial Stroop paradigm

The present experiments tested whether endogenous and exogenous cues produce separate effects on target processing. In Experiment 1, participants discriminated whether an arrow presented left or right of fixation pointed to the left or right. For 1 group, the arrow was preceded by a peripheral noninformative cue. For the other group, the arrow was preceded by a central, symbolic, informative cue. The 2 types of cues modulated the spatial Stroop effect in opposite ways, with endogenous cues producing larger spatial Stroop effects for valid trials and exogenous cues producing smaller spatial Stroop effects for valid trials. In Experiments 2A and 2B, the influence of peripheral noninformative and peripheral informative cues on the spatial Stroop effect was directly compared. The spatial Stroop effect was smaller for valid than for invalid trials for both types of cues. These results point to a distinction between the influence of central and peripheral attentional cues on performance and are not consistent with a unitary view of endogenous and exogenous attention.     

A psychometric evaluation of a residential treatment facility: an illustration of an interpretable research design without a control group

This paper reports on the interim results of an evaluation study which followed a group of disordered-delinquent adolescents discharged from a long-term residential treatment program. Findings from the first cohort of adolescents tested at admission and discharge with the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) indicate statistically significant improvement in all the areas of self-concept, significant decreases in all areas of psychopathology, and no systematic response set at either testing. The research design is unique in that, without a control group, competing interpretations of treatment effectiveness have been ruled out. Using design features, clinical observation, and common sense, four competing explanations of the favorable results have been eliminated. Both the instrument and research design are of interest to those undertaking evaluation research in underfunded settings where control groups are difficult to obtain due to financial or logistical problems.     

Policy controversies in the negotiatory state

In this article Schön and Rein’s views about policy controversies and their resolution are introduced and critically examined. The broader context of their argument can be found in the emergence of the “negotiatory state,” where public policy is made in coproduction between interdependent actors in shared-power settings. Policy controversies, conceived of as conflicts rooted in clashes between the action frames that actors employ when they define problems and propose solutions to public issues, constitute a challenge to this institutional logic of policy-making. Schön and Rein’s book is largely devoted to identifying ways to resolve them. This article revisits their conceptualization of controversies, reassesses their implications for the integrity of the policy-making process, and places their proposed philosophy of “design rationality” in a broader repertoire of ways to cope with frame multiplicity and frame conflict in public policy-making.     

Slow potential changes and choice reaction time as a function of interstimulus interval

Slow potential changes were recorded over the vertex (C_z) during a choice reaction task. The constant interstimulus interval (ISI) between the visual warning (S₁) and the visual imperative signal (S₂) was either 200, 400, 1000 or 2000 msec. The contingent negative variation (CNV) was not only measured between S₁ and S₂ (CNV₂), but also before S₁ (CNV₁).The main results were: (1) The CNV₂ amplitude showed significant variation as a function of ISI. It reached its maximum with an ISI of 1000 msec. (2) CNV₁ developed only before the short ISIs (200 and 400 msec). (3) When CNV₁ and CNV₂ were summed the differences in CNV amplitudes and durations between different ISIs became smaller. (4) The peak-to-peak amplitude P₁-N₁ of the potential evoked by S₁ was enhanced with short ISIs. (5) The correlations between mean CNV and median reaction time (RT) were low but significant for ISIs of 400, 1000 and 2000 msec. When, however, the effect of subjects was partialized out these correlations were drastically reduced, whereas the partialization of session and block effects had no noticeable influence on these correlations. (6) The correlations between single RT and single CNV (measured for the ISI of 1000 msec, individually for two subjects) were weak or even completely lacking.The main conclusion was that CNV coincides with preparedness to react to a stimulus in a choice RT-task, but its amplitude at the moment of onset of the imperative stimulus does not reflect, or reflects weakly, the degree of preparedness (as indicated by RTs) at that moment.     

The non-definability notion and first order logic

The theorem to the effect that the languageL introduced in [2] is mutually interpretable with the first order language is proved. This yields several model-theoretical results concerningL .