Cognitive behaviour therapy of acute stress disorder: a four-year follow-up

The aim of this study was to index the long-term benefits of early provision of cognitive behavior therapy to trauma survivors with acute stress disorder. Civilian trauma survivors (n = 80) with acute stress disorder were randomly allocated to either cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or supportive counseling (SC) - 69 completed treatment, and 41 were assessed four years post-treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale. Two CBT patients (8%) and four SC patients (25%) met PTSD criteria at four-year follow-up. Patients who received CBT reported less intense PTSD symptoms, and particularly less frequent and less avoidance symptoms, than patients who received SC. These findings suggest that early provision of CBT in the initial month after trauma has long-term benefits for people who are at risk of developing PTSD.     

Learning about life and death in early childhood

have argued that young children initially understand biological phenomena in terms of vitalism, a mode of construal in which "life" or "life-force" is the central causal-explanatory concept. This study investigated the development of vitalistic reasoning in young children's concepts of life, the human body and death. Sixty preschool children between the ages of 3 years, 7 months and 5 years, 11 months participated. All children were initially given structured interviews to assess their knowledge of (1) human body function and (2) death. From this sample 40 children in the Training group were taught about the human body and how it functions to maintain life. The Control group (n=20) received no training. All 60 children were subsequently reassessed on their knowledge of human body function and death. Results from the initial interviews indicated that young children who spontaneously appealed to vitalistic concepts in reasoning about human body functioning were also more sophisticated in their understanding of death. Results from the posttraining interviews showed that children readily learned to adopt a vitalistic approach to human body functioning, and that this learning coincided with significant development in their understanding of human body function, and of death. The overall pattern of results supports the claim that the acquisition of a vitalistic causal-explanatory framework serves to structure children's concepts and facilitates learning in the domain of biology.     

Functional analysis and treatment of self-injurious behavior in young children a summary of 30 cases

The assessment and treatment of self-injurious behavior (SIB) has received much attention in the literature; however, few studies have focused on early intervention for this behavior. In the current study, functional analyses with developmentally appropriate modifications were conducted in an outpatient clinic with 30 children (aged 10 months to 4 years 11 months) to assess SIB and problem behavior in its early stages. The reported mean age of SIB onset was 17 months, and head banging was the most prevalent topography. Functional analyses identified sources of reinforcement for SIB in 62.1% of cases; with the inclusion of all forms of problem behavior, sources of reinforcement were identified for 87.5% of cases. Function-based treatments were developed for 24 cases, with functional communication training prescribed most often (70.8% of cases). Implications of these findings for the development of early intervention programs for SIB are discussed.     

African American college women's suicide buffers

African American women have lower suicide rates than other women and men in the United States They may possess suicide buffers including social support, religiosity, negative attitudes regarding suicide acceptability, and African American culture. To examine the relationships buffers may have with suicide ideation, 300 African American female college students completed measures of suicide ideation and buffers. Three variables accounted for a significant and unique portion of the variance in suicide ideation: family support, a view that suicide is unacceptable, and a collaborative religious problem-solving style. The identification of these factors may help in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of suicide for African American women and other women and men.     

Emergence of a cue strategy preference on the water maze task in aged C57B6 x SJL F1 hybrid mice

The effects of age on cue learning, spatial reference memory, and strategy preference were assessed in B6 × SJL F1 mice by using the Morris water maze. This mouse strain is of particular interest because it is the background strain for a common transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease, the Tg2576 mouse, which develops plaques and other neurobiological markers of pathology beginning at 8 mo and increasing in severity with advanced age. In the current study, 12- and 23-mo-old C57B6 × SJL F1 mice were serially trained in cue and place versions of the Morris water maze task. At the completion of training, mice received a strategy probe test in which place (hidden) and cue (visible) strategies were in competition. Cue and spatial learning ability was maintained between 12 and 23 mo of age; however, on the strategy preference probe test, the 23-mo-old mice exhibited a significant bias toward the selection of a cue strategy. There was no relationship between strategy preference in the probe test and spatial learning ability, but the 23-mo-old mice did exhibit a strong trend toward shorter latencies during visible platform training, possibly reflecting the enhanced function of striatal-based neural systems in aging. These data demonstrate that 23-mo-old C57B6 × SJL F1 mice are capable of effective place learning, but if a place strategy is pitted against the use of a cue strategy, the use of a cue strategy predominates in the aged mice. The strategy preference observed here may reflect an emergence of differential processing in underlying brain circuitry with age in the B6 × SJL F1 mouse strain.     

Measuring Qualitative Aspects of Preschool Boys' Noncompliance: The Response Style Questionnaire (RSQ)

Child noncompliance is a core maladjustment factor in current clinical models of aggression and antisocial development. However, little is known about the relations among qualitative aspects of child noncompliance and aggressive maladjustment. The authors developed the Response Style Questionnaire, an instrument designed to measure the multidimensional qualities of child noncompliance, and tested its validity and reliability. Tests of internal validity provided a five-factor solution, featuring distinctions in noncompliance quality between and among skilled noncompliance (verbally skilled and emotionally regulated) and unskilled noncompliance (overt/confrontational, covert/sneaky, and emotionally labile). Theory-driven tests of external validity using peer-adjustment variables as criteria provided discriminant prediction (a) among qualitatively distinct aspects of noncompliance and (b) between noncompliance qualities and rate. Discussion focuses on a modified view of the nature and role of noncompliance in aggressive and antisocial development.     

How events are reviewed matters: effects of varied focus on eyewitness suggestibility

Witnesses to a crime or an accident perceive that event only once, but they are likely to think or talk about it multiple times. The way in which they review the event may affect their later memory. In particular, some types of review may increase suggestibility if the witness has been exposed to postevent misleading information. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a videotaped crime and then received false suggestions about the event. We found that participants who were then asked to focus on specific details when reviewing the event were more suggestible on a later source memory test than participants asked to review the main points. The findings of Experiment 2 suggest that this effect was not due to a criterion shift at test. These findings indicate that the type of rehearsal engaged in after witnessing an event can have important consequences for memory and, in particular, suggestibility.     

Construct-oriented Biodata Development for Selection to a Differentiated Performance Domain

This study describes the development of a multidimensional biodata form which used explicit constructs to guide item generation and rational scale development, construct validation, criterion measurement and empirical keying. These constructs were goal-orientation, teamwork, customer service, resourcefulness, learning ability and leadership. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in both applicant and incumbent samples were used to identify and test the model which included the thirteen, more differentiated rational scales relating to these six, broader constructs. Empirical keying of the rationally developed scales was conducted against criterion construct scales conceptually related to each predictor construct. Empirical keying at the item level was found to result in higher validities and cross-validities than either empirical keying at the scale level, or rational keying. The item keyed instrument also demonstrated incremental validity over a test of cognitive ability for specific work performance domains as well as overall work performance.     

Self as verb and the metaphor of dance: An explanation of the self discovery experience within a constructivist framework

The concept of self discovery within a constructivist framework is difficult to explain given the central assumption of constructivism that self is a created construct rather than an entity to be discovered. Two problems are identified as impediments to constructivist accounts of the self discovery experience: first, their failure to adequately account for the embodied experience of self, and second, the difficulties inherent in using self as a noun to express a process.
It is proposed that if self is considered as a verb, as the action of a body-subject, the verbal contortionism of referring to self as a process in a language that places self as an entity may be overcome. The notion of self as verb places the individual firmly in the role of active embodied participant in the experience of self. The metaphor of "self'" as "dance" is explored to emphasize the materiality of the human animal that is argued to be central to the experience of self discovery.