Links between behavioral regulation and preschoolers' literacy, vocabulary, and math skills

This study investigated predictive relations between preschoolers' (N=310) behavioral regulation and emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure called the Head-to-Toes Task, which taps inhibitory control, attention, and working memory, and requires children to perform the opposite of what is instructed verbally. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized because children were nested in 54 classrooms at 2 geographical sites. Results revealed that behavioral regulation significantly and positively predicted fall and spring emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement (all ps<.05). Moreover, growth in behavioral regulation predicted growth in emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills over the prekindergarten year (all ps<.05), after controlling for site, child gender, and other background variables. Discussion focuses on the role of behavioral regulation in early academic achievement and preparedness for kindergarten.     

Attenuation of attention bias in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Cognitive theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suggest that the disorder is characterized by an attention bias towards personally relevant threatening material. However, existing research on attention bias in OCD has yielded conflicting findings. One possibility that might account for the null findings is that attention bias may diminish over the course of the experiment. The present study tested this hypothesis using a visual dot-probe task with idiographic word selection. Results from our study confirmed that individuals with OC symptoms show an attention bias towards idiographically selected, threatening information in the first block of trials, and that the degree of this bias is correlated with the severity of OC symptoms. The temporal pattern of attention bias over the course of the experiment was consistent with our hypothesis. A comparison of early and late blocks of trials revealed an attenuation of attention bias in individuals with OC symptoms, potentially reflecting habituation to threatening information over the course of the experiment.     

Symbolic threat and social dominance among liberals and conservatives: SDO reflects conformity to political values

Three studies tested the effects of symbolic threat to group values and strength of ingroup (political party) identification on social dominance orientation (SDO), a measure of tolerance for social hierarchies. In Studies 1 and 3, conservative participants were made to feel as though their group's values were either threatened or not threatened by liberals prior to completing the SDO measure. In Studies 2 and 3, liberal participants were made to feel as though their group's values were either threatened or not threatened by conservatives prior to completing the SDO measure. Results demonstrated that high ingroup (political party) identification was associated with high SDO scores for threatened conservatives, and with low SDO for threatened liberals. These findings suggest that in response to symbolic threat, SDO can shift in directions consistent with protecting the ingroup's identity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The use of multitreatment modalities in early intervention: A quantitative case study

A quantitative single case study is presented to illustrate how an early intervention program used two therapeutic modalities to treat a depressed mother and her 2-month-old son. Drawing upon an ecological, transactional model of development, the case study utilized a multimethod, longitudinal approach to assess the infant's developmental competence and attachment status, the mother's history and current psychosocial functioning, patterns of mother-infant interaction, and components of the family's social ecology. Measures were administered during a baseline period to assess pre-intervention functioning and were systematically repeated throughout the 2-year period of intervention. The treatment modalities included psychodynamically oriented individual therapy and Parent-Infant Relationship Treatment (PIRT) in which the dyad was also seen by a second therapist to foster more adaptive mother-infant transactional patterns. The findings indicated increased infant developmental competence and a shift from an insecure to a secure attachment classification, improved maternal psychosocial functioning, and a decline in the dyadic interactional pattern of maternal intrusiveness and infant withdrawal. The advantages of using two treatment modalities and a single case approach to evaluation are discussed.     

Changes in the dynamics of tremor during goal-directed pointing.

For successful performance of activities requiring a fine level of manipulative control and dexterity, precise control over the intrinsic oscillations (tremor) in each segment is essential. However, the question of how individuals control (minimize) their tremor during precise postural movements remains unresolved. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes observed in limb tremor during goal-directed postural pointing tasks. Seven subjects attempted to minimize limb tremor during a pointing task whereby progressively greater levels of accuracy were required. Subjects held a small lightweight laser pointer in their extended hand during all tasks, the goal being to maintain the laser emission within a specified target area. Frequency analysis showed that the tremor profile for the hand and index finger was characterized by two prominent frequency peaks, located between 2-4 and 8-12 Hz. When the accuracy requirement of the task increased, there was a significant increase in the amplitude of the 8-12 Hz peak for all segments. Analysis of the time series component of tremor revealed a similar trend with the root mean square (RMS) and approximate entropy (ApEn) of the finger tremor increasing as the accuracy requirement increased. This same pattern was not seen for hand tremor where a small but systematic decrease in both the tremor RMS and ApEn was observed. Overall, it would appear that subjects attempted to reduce tremor at the finger by exerting greater control over the hand (as evidenced by decreased tremor output and increased regularity in the tremor signal). Unfortunately, the consequence of this strategy was that the tremor in the distal effector actually increased. Changes in the tremor output observed as a result of defining an explicit external goal probably resulted from the enhanced visual information provided by the laser emission. However, it would appear that subjects were not able to utilize this feedback effectively to reduce their tremor during the targeting tasks.     

HIV/STD Risk Factors for Women with Violent Male Partners

This study compared 167 women, categorized as nonabused, emotionally abused, or physically abused in their primary relationships, on sexual risk factors. Physically abused women differed in several ways: greater STD risk, psychosocial distress, and substance use; more traditional gender role beliefs; lower self-esteem; more likely to have been raped and to engage in sex for pay; and less likely to attend the project's STD/HIV risk reduction groups. Within primary relationships, they differed in amount of decision-making power about safer sex, likelihood of nonmonogamy, use of substances before sex, and self-efficacy about initiating condom use. African American women reported higher rates of emotional abuse than White women, a finding related mainly to their lower socioeconomic status in this sample.