Diagnosing heterosexual pedophilia by means of a test for sexual interest

A modification of the penis plethysmograph test of sexual interest is described. The efficacy of this method in the differential diagnosis of heterosexual pedophilia in male adults is discussed. Results obtained from 20 suspected pedophiliacs are presented and compared with those obtained from 20 control subjects.     

Listening In: How Parent-Child Communication Relates to Social and Physical Aggression

Journal of Child and Family Studies - In this study, we investigated the relations between features of parent-child conversations (neutral talk, positive and negative in-dyad and out-dyad talk) and...     

Preliminary Outcomes of a Multi-site,School-based Modular Intervention for Adolescents Experiencing Mood Difficulties

Many evidence-based programs to address the emotional needs of youth experiencing mood difficulties are based on implementing “manualized” interventions. This approach often presents feasibility challenges in the school setting. In contrast, modular strategies, which involve implementing the most effective practices for specific emotional/behavioral problems, may be more feasible. Research, however, on the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of modular approaches in schools to address youth experiencing mood difficulties is lacking. The multi-site current study tested the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of a modular intervention approach delivered in schools for youth presenting with mood disorder symptoms. The pilot study included 20 participants (ages 12–16) and parents/caregivers for each student. Data were collected at baseline, throughout treatment, and following intervention or end of school year. The intervention, called the Student Emotional and Educational Development (SEED) project, included a modularized manual of efficacious and common practice elements for the treatment of mood disorders among adolescents. Decision making protocols guided provision of specific modules based on baseline and treatment data. Statistically significant differences were found between pretest and posttest assessments with modest to large effect sizes for youth and/or parents’ report of mood-related symptoms, including reduced symptoms of depression, anxiety and inattention. Clinically significant findings were also detected with more than 50 % of participants demonstrating reliable improvement on a global assessment of mental health symptoms. With regards to feasibility, these results were achieved with an average of nine, 45-min sessions across 2–3 months, and a subsample of participants overwhelmingly supported the acceptability of SEED. Although limited by the lack of a controlled comparison and small sample size, findings from this pilot study suggest this modular intervention focused on internalizing symptoms in students can be feasibly implemented in the school setting, is acceptable to students, and holds promise for improving their psychosocial functioning.     

Contaminated Generativity: Holocaust Survivors and Their Children in Germany

This paper addresses the trauma transfer from survivors of the Shoah to the Second Generation in Germany. What does it mean for both generations to beget children after Auschwitz? This necessarily entails perceiving non-Jewish Germans and their way of dealing with history. Survivors cannot live without their memory, nor is it possible for them to conceive of a life unencumbered by this constant “contaminant”. It is not possible to integrate the persecution experiences. On the contrary, decades after liberation, dissociated elements of traumatic memories penetrate everyday experiences, thought, affect and imagination as contaminants. Occasionally, these fragments of persecution experiences, like “encapsulated memories” hidden in crypts suddenly break open and frighten the survivors themselves and even more so the people around them.     

Aggressive behavior in a confined troop of Japanese macaques: Effects of density,season, and gender

A troop of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) confined in a 2-acre outdoor corral increased from 107 to 192 individuals during the 5-year tenure of a project that assessed the effects of density, season, and gender on the expression of adult aggressive behavior. Two statistical subgroups of 16 males and 28 females that were adults at the start of the project and that survived until its completion were studied intensively. There were significant season and sex differences in all groups: males were much more aggressive than females, and males were most aggressive during the fall and and winter mating season; females were most aggressive during the spring and summer birth season. Only the 16 adult males increased their frequency of aggressive behavior as the population density increased. This increase was due to the greater number of potential antagonists available each year.     

Persistent versus Periodic Experiences of Social Victimization: Predictors of Adjustment

This study examined self-reports of social victimization and parent reports of adjustment for a sample followed from fourth through seventh grades. Different patterns of social victimization experiences were identified; of the 153 students (79 girls) with complete data, 24% reported chronic social victimization, 23% reported transient experiences of social victimization, and 53% reported being socially victimized at no more than one time point. We examined whether students who experienced persistent and periodic social victimization were at greater risk for internalizing problems than nonvictims. Persistently victimized children demonstrated continuously elevated levels of internalizing problems. Children who were not originally victimized by social aggression but became victimized with time did not demonstrate higher levels of internalizing problems than did nonvictims. Findings were mixed for those who escaped social victimization during this period. This research was supported by NIMH grants R01 MH63076 and K02 MH073616. We are deeply grateful for the participation of children and families in this study and for the cooperation of a local school system that wishes to go unnamed. We thank Mikal Galperin for her help with recruiting and retaining the sample.     

Kant and Wittgenstein: Common Sense,Therapy, and the Critical Philosophy

Kant’s reputation for making absolutist claims about universal and necessary conditions for the possibility of experience are put here in the broader context of his goals for the Critical philosophy. It is shown that within that context, Kant’s claims can be seen as considerably more innocuous than they are traditionally regarded, underscoring his deep respect for “common sense” and sharing surprisingly similar goals with Wittgenstein in terms of what philosophy can, and at least as importantly cannot, provide.

5-HT2A: its role in frontally mediated executive function and related psychopathology

Serotonin (5-HT)2A receptors are widely distributed, with high levels in the frontal cortex, where postsynaptic activation may increase activity in pyramidal glutamatergic neurons and mediate various executive functions. More specifically, reciprocal cortical-raphe pathways may allow the ventral prefrontal cortex to inhibit stress-induced neural activity in the brainstem when stressors are perceived as controllable. However, early adversity and negative attitudes may be associated with higher frontal 5-HT2A receptor levels and greater risk for stress-induced psychopathology, and certain 5-HT2A gene variants have been associated with increased risk for impulsive behavior. Conversely, many antidepressants result in decreased levels of 5-HT2A receptor levels, and blockade of 5-HT2A receptors has proven useful in the treatment of a number of psychiatric disorders.