Shifting probation culture and advancing juvenile probation reform through a community‐based,participatory action research‐informed training

Many jurisdictions are currently transforming their juvenile probation systems to reflect research‐informed, developmentally based case management approaches. Training, developed through a community‐based, participatory action research (CBPAR) framework and guided by a community–academic partnership, may promote probation staff's readiness for such change. This paper examined whether such training could serve as an effective method to impact organizational culture by exploring shifts in probation staff's knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about graduated response – a structured juvenile probation case management system that aligns with research on adolescent development and youth behavior change. Data came from 559 juvenile probation staff trained in graduated response theory and practice between 2016 and 2019. Results demonstrated that at the end of a 1‐day, CBPAR‐grounded training program, participating staff reported significantly more buy‐in to graduated response, greater knowledge of this new system, and attitudes more strongly in favor of graduated response and intended behaviors. Study findings revealed important shifts indicative of readiness for change within juvenile probation departments. Additional implementation strategies are needed to extend training gains and overcome organizational‐ and system‐level barriers to change.     

The stressors of being young and Black: Cardiovascular health and Black young adults

Objective: To examine the impact of stressors relevant to the lives of Black young adults including racial, financial, occupational, and general stress and psychological distress on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between multiple psychosocial stressors and two CVD risk indicators (i.e. obesity and blood pressure).

Design: This study used a quantitative design which included surveys, the collection of anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) measures. Participants were 124 Black college students aged 18 to 27 years old. Main Outcome Measures: Participants completed measures to assess psychological distress, general, occupational, financial and racial stress. Measures of body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and BP were collected to assess CVD risk.

Results: Findings indicated a significant effect of internalised racism on BMI and a significant effect of individual racial stress on diastolic BP. Also, depression was significantly associated with systolic BP. There were no significant results for WHR.

Conclusion: Findings suggested that the relationship among racial stress, psychological distress and CVD be further explored.     

The effects of thematic relations on picture naming abilities across the lifespan

A picture–word interference paradigm tracked patterns of activation during picture naming in 87 individuals (age range 17–80 years old). Distractor words were presented at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of ?200, ?100, and 0 ms bearing a has a-, location, or no relationship to the picture. Analyses of group naming reaction times revealed significant facilitation effects for both semantic relation types for all age groups. Analyses of temporal patterns of activation revealed significant effects primarily at SOAs of ?200 and ?100 ms. These findings provide evidence that both thematic relations are particularly salient in how semantic knowledge is organized, and that the patterns of effects from these semantic relations remain the same as one ages.     

Traditional and psychological factors associated with academic success: investigating best predictors of college retention

We compared factors that colleges have traditionally used to predict students’ academic success (ACT score and high school GPA) to non-traditional factors (perceived stress and grit, defined as having perseverance and passion for long-term goals) to determine best predictors of academic success, measured using college GPA and retention. We obtained data from 165 undergraduate students. Participants completed the Short Grit Scale and Perceived Stress Scale. We obtained participants’ college GPA, high school GPA, and ACT scores. We assessed longitudinally, 1.5 years later, whether participants were retained. ACT score and high school GPA were excellent predictors of college students’ GPA, but poor predictors of retention. Conversely, perceived stress and grit were poor predictors of college students’ GPA, but were statistically significant predictors of retention. Traditional factors, often used for college admissions, are less important than non-traditional, psychological factors, in predicting who will complete college. We discuss potential strategies for improving college retention.     

Can Item Format (Multiple Choice vs. Open-Ended) Account for Gender Differences in Mathematics Achievement?

The purpose of this study was to investigate differential performance of boys and girls on open-ended (OE) and multiple-choice (MC) items on the 1988 and 1991 International Assessment of Educational Progress (IAEP) mathematics test. In the 1988 mathematics assessment, a representative sample of approximately 1,000 13-year-olds in each of the six participating countries was assessed. In the 1991 mathematics assessment, a representative sample of 9- and 13-year-olds (approximately 1,650 from each age group) in some 20 participating countries was assessed. Analyses of both assessments yielded results that indicated that boys generally performed better than girls in mathematics. In the 1988 assessment, gender effects were larger on MC items than on OE items, corresponding to results of earlier studies. However, the 1991 IAEP assessment produced contrary results: gender effects tended to be larger for OE items than for MC items. These inconsistent results challenge the assertion that girls perform relatively better on OE test items, and suggest that item format alone cannot account for gender differences in mathematics performance. Further investigation of the data revealed that the inconsistent patterns of gender effects with regard to item format were related to the difficulty level of the items, regardless of item format. Correlations between item difficulty and item gender effect size were computed for age 13 in the 1988 assessment and for ages 9 and 13 in the 1991 assessment. The correlations obtained were 0.26, 0.47, and 0.53, respectively, suggesting that the more difficult the items, the better boys perform relative to girls.     

Images of engineering and liberal arts majors

In an attempt to gain insight into social-psychological barriers that inhibit women from entering engineering, 110 male and 84 female undergraduate students completed a variant of the Semantic Differential questionnaire. Subjects evaluated either male or female liberal arts and engineering majors. While female engineering majors were judged similar to male engineers on work-related traits, they were evaluated as less attractive than their female liberal arts counterparts. In particular, the data revealed reciprocal negative social images held by male engineering students for female engineers and by female engineering students for male engineers.     

Indirect majority and minority influence: An exploratory study

In a 2 × 2 design, 85 subjects were asked to estimate the size of angles (direct influence) that were either 90 or 85°, after being confronted with incorrect judgements of a majority (88 per cent) or a minority (12 per cent) of people estimating the angles at 50°. Additionally, pre- and post-test measures were used to establish indirect influence on subjects' judgements pertaining to acute angles (i.e. on the estimation of the length of lines constituting the angles, and on the imaginary weight of figures represented by these angles). Overall, little direct influence is observed. This may partly be due to the introduction of a denial of the credibility of the source in all conditions. In fact, some evidence of direct influence is only found in the majority–85° angles condition. An instance of indirect influence (on the estimation of length of lines) appeared as the result of a majority stance when the angles in the experimental phase were 90°. When these angles were 85°, indirect minority influence (on the estimation of weight of figures) was observed. These effects had been predicted on the basis of the hypothesis stating that indirect majority influence would be possible when subjects expected consensus on the correct response (in the 90° angles condition), without being able to reach consensus at the manifest level (because of the denial and the restriction imposed by the clear shape of 90° angles). Indirect minority influence was hypothesized to be stronger in a situation that allows for diverse responses (i.e. for 85° angles).     

Keeping connected: Family therapists' experiences of working online during the COVID-19 pandemic

For this qualitative study, eight family therapists were interviewed about their experiences of practising online during the pandemic. Findings are organised using a framework of problems, possibilities, resources and restraints (PPRR, Neden & Burnham, 2007). Despite variation in therapist confidence in online practice, all participants found new possibilities in this way of working, including connecting family members across distance, increased co-construction within therapeutic relationships and engaging clients who would not usually attend appointments. Therapeutic alliance was generally possible to establish online, though felt more challenging with whole families than individuals. Problems and restraints included therapist fatigue, risk and safety management, and attuning to nuanced expression of emotion. Implications for practice and future research are proposed. It is suggested that systemic practice has unique qualities to offer the field of online psychotherapy.     

Infant communication and the mother–infant relationship: The importance of level of risk and construct measurement

Infants' emerging communication skills are understood to be associated with the maternal relationship, particularly for children experiencing high levels of social risk. This study attempts to determine the extent to which this association is influenced by (a) the mental health risk of the dyad and (b) different operational definitions and measurement of both the dyadic relationship and the construct of “communication.” Ninety‐six infants (10–30 months) and their mothers were recruited: A total of 46 were at‐risk dyads referred to a mental health clinic for relationship‐based emotional and/or behavioral difficulties, and 50 were nonrisk dyads not seeking mental health services and served as a normative reference or comparison group. Several factors were assessed: (a) developmental competence, (b) maternal psychopathology, (c) quality of mother–infant interaction during play, (d) attachment security classification, (e) prelinguistic and social‐affective communication, and (f) linguistic communication. In all infants studied, the quality of mother–infant interaction during play, rather than the attachment security classification, was associated with infants' prelinguistic and social‐affective communication abilities, but not with linguistic communication. Different aspects of mother–infant interaction predicted prelinguistic communication for clinic and comparison infants whereas only infant age predicted linguistic communication. All infants displayed communication abilities in the normal range, but the statistically poorer performance demonstrated by clinic‐referred infants could become clinically meaningful in later childhood. Best practices should include communication screening of infants presenting with attachment problems and screening for relational difficulties in infants presenting with communication delays. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.