Parent,teacher, and peer ratings of physically abused and nonmaltreated Children's behavior

Behavior ratings by parents, teachers, and classmates of physically abused fourth to sixth graders, identified from the New York City Maltreatment Register, and case-matched classroom controls, showed substantial concurrence among informants: Parents and teachers both rated significantly more behavioral disturbance in the abused children, and peers' ratings were significantly correlated with adults' ratings, especially those by teachers. Children's exposure to spouse or partner physical abuse, which had a substantial prevalence among both child-abusing and control families, reduced the difference in disturbance ratings between children who were themselves physically abused and those who were not. Overall, we conclude that physically abused children show pervasive behavioral disturbance, in that parents, teachers, and classmates all see higher levels of behavior problems and lower levels of socially desirable behavior in them compared to their nonmaltreated peers.This research was supported in part by research grant R01MH38814 and Clinical Research Center grant MH30906 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors thank the New York City Child Welfare Administration, especially Terry Weiss, for facilitating access to the Maltreatment Register; the NYC Board of Education for access to schools; and the many participating superintendents, principals, and teachers. Some preliminary data were presented as a poster at the Meetings of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, New York, 1989.     

Priming aggressive thoughts: The effect of the anticipation of a violent movie upon the aggressive behaviour of the spectators

In order to examine the effects of filmed violence expectancy, male subjects were induced to think that they would watch an aggressive or neutral movie. The behavioural measures of aggression of the potential viewers were collected via an interaction aggressometer that allowed subjects to manipulate the level of aversiveness of electric shocks supposedly delivered to others. Main results indicated that the mere anticipation of viewing an aggressive movie was already effective in producing the usual instigation effect of filmed violence. Evidence was also provided indicating that degree of physical provocation influenced subjects' aggressive responses. The results are discussed in terms of Berkowitz' (1984) cognitive-neoassociation analysis; anticipating a violent movie may prime aggressive behaviour.     

Sleep problems of parents of typically developing children and parents of children with autism

Few researchers have investigated the relation of children's sleep problems to their parents' sleep problems. Children with autism have been reported to evidence greater sleep problems than do typically developing children (C. D. Hoffman, D. P. Sweeney, J. E. Gilliam, & M. C. Lopez-Wagner, 2006; P. G. William, L. L. Sears, & A. Allard, 2004). In the present study, parents (N = 106) of children independently diagnosed with autism (4-16 years of age; M= 8.20 years, SD = 2.69 years) reported greater sleep problems for themselves than did parents (N = 168) of typically developing children (4-15 years of age; M = 8.62 years, SD = 3.28 years). Children's sleep problems were related to parents' sleep problems for both groups; in the autism group, children's level of symptomatology was not related to their parents' sleep. The authors suggest areas for further research on the sleep problems of children and their parents, the potential interaction of these problems with children's symptomatic behavior, and the relations of these factors to child, parent, and family functioning.     

OSP parameters and the cognitive component of reaction time to a missing stimulus: Linking brain and behavior

This within-subjects experiment tested the relationship between the premotor (cognitive) component of reaction time (RT) to a missing stimulus and parameters of the omitted stimulus potential (OSP) brain wave. Healthy young men (N = 28) completed trials with an auditory stimulus that recurred at 2 s intervals and ceased unpredictably. Premotor RT and Motor RT were measured on active trials that required an immediate response to a missing stimulus. Passive trials required no response in order to measure the complete set of OSP parameters (i.e., onset, rate of rise, amplitude and peak latency). The results showed that faster Premotor RT was strongly associated with a faster rate of rise in the OSP wave. Motor RT was unrelated the OSP parameters. This new evidence is consistent with the occurrence of some common cognitive processes generating behavioral and brain reactions to a missing stimulus.     

Longitudinal transmission of conflict resolution styles from marital relationships to adolescent-parent relationships.

This study longitudinally investigated transmission: Can the way adolescents resolve conflicts with their parents be explained by the way parents resolve conflicts with each other? Questionnaires about conflict resolution styles were completed by 282 young adolescents (mean age = 13.2) and their parents. Path analyses with cross-lagged effects indicated that transmission of conflict resolution styles from marital relationships to adolescent-parent relationships occurs: Conflict engagement and positive problem solving in marital relationships were significantly related to, respectively, conflict engagement and positive problem solving in adolescent-parent relationships 2 years later. No significant longitudinal effects emerged with regard to withdrawal. Thus, the study shows that the way marital conflicts are handled affects how adolescents deal with conflicts.     

Retrieval or nonretrieval strategies in mental arithmetic? An operand recognition paradigm

According to LeFevre, Sadesky, and Bisanz, averaging solution latencies in order to study individuals' arithmetic strategies can result in misleading conclusions. Therefore, in addition to classical chronometric data, they collected verbal reports and challenged the assumption that adults rely systematically on retrieval of arithmetic facts from memory to solve simple addition problems. However, Kirk and Ashcraft questioned the validity of such a methodology and concluded that a more appropriate method has to be found. Thus, we developed an operand recognition paradigm that does not rely on verbal reports or on solution latencies. In accordance with LeFevre et al., we show in a first experiment that adults resort to nonretrieval strategies to solve addition problems involving medium numbers. However, in a second experiment, we show that high-skilled individuals can solve the same problems using a retrieval strategy. The benefits of our paradigm to the study of arithmetic strategies are discussed.     

Hierarchical Position, Gender, Accident Severity, and Causal Attribution

The two studies reported here confirmed the role of the attributor's hierarchical level in causal attributions about accidents in different types of organizations. In both studies, supervisors vs. subordinates had to analyze a minor work accident vs. a serious one. The first study used male vs. female subjects, whereas the second compared the target's position in the same (in-group) vs. different (out-group) hierarchical level as the attributor. In all cases, more internal attributions than external ones were given to explain the accident. These results demonstrate a tendency toward defensive attribution, whereby people tend to protect themselves or their group from blame or prejudice (Shaver, 1970a). This self-protective attribution bias was found to increase with accident severity, particularly in Study 2. The conclusion offers some suggestions for accident analysis and prevention.     

First- and third-person approaches in implicit learning research

How do we find out whether someone is conscious of some information or not? A simple answer is “We just ask them”! However, things are not so simple. Here, we review recent developments in the use of subjective and objective methods in implicit learning research and discuss the highly complex methodological problems that their use raises in the domain.     

Interaction of reinforcement schedules, a behavioral prosthesis, and work-related behavior in adults with mental retardation

The effects of variable-interval (VI) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement for work-related behavior and an organizer for the work materials (behavioral prosthesis) were evaluated with 3 adults with severe or profound mental retardation. The participants had been recommended for study because of high rates of off-task and aberrant behavior in their daily vocational training programs. For 2 participants, VI and FR schedules resulted in the same outcome: more aberrant behavior than on-task and off-task behavior combined. The FR schedule nearly eliminated emission of aberrant and off-task behavior by the 3rd participant. Combining the behavioral prosthesis with FR reinforcement (FR+O) increased the proportion of time spent in on-task behavior by all participants under certain FR schedule parameters. Second-by-second analyses of the observation records revealed that FR schedules reduced off-task and aberrant behavior during work sequences (i.e., ratio runs), and FR+O led to a further reduction of these behaviors during postreinforcement pauses. Overall, the results show how organizer and schedule parameters can be adjusted to produce an optimized balance between productivity and reinforcement while undesirable behavior is minimized.