Social Problem-Solving Skills in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury: Long-Term Outcomes and Prediction of Social Competence

The effects of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social problem-solving were examined in 35 children with severe TBI, 40 children with moderate TBI, and 46 children with orthopedic injuries (OI). The children were recruited prospectively following injuries that occurred between 6 and 12 years of age. They were followed longitudinally, and ranged from 9 to 18 years of age at the time of the current study, which occurred on average 4 years post injury. They were administered a semi-structured interview used in previous research on social problem-solving to assess the developmental level of their responses to hypothetical dilemmas involving social conflict. Children in the severe TBI group defined the social dilemmas and generated alternative strategies to solve those dilemmas at the same developmental level as did children in the OI group. However, they articulated lower-level strategies as the best way to solve the dilemmas and used lower-level reasoning to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies. After controlling for group membership, race, socioeconomic status, IQ, and age, children's social problem-solving, and particularly the developmental level of their preferred strategies for resolving conflicts, predicted parents ratings of children's social skills, peer relationships, aggressive behavior, and academic performance. The findings indicate that children with severe TBI demonstrate selective, long-term deficits in their social problem-solving skills that may help to account for their poor social and academic outcomes.     

Fear response to dissociation challenge

Abstract

Participants (N = 101) scoring high or low on a new scale for assessing fear of dissociative sensations (Dissociation Sensitivity Index) underwent an audio/visual sensory challenge using a device called the D.A.V.I.D. Participants' report of subjective fear and level of dissociation were measured before and after completing the audio/visual sensory challenge. Consistent with prediction, participants scoring high on the DSI responded to the challenge with significantly greater increases in subjective fear and dissociative symptoms relative to those scoring low on the DSI. Contrary to prediction, the DSI performed poorer than the Anxiety Sensitivity Index in predicting participants' response to the audio/visual sensory challenge. Theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

The New Meaning of MS.: Single, But Too Old for Miss

We examined understanding of the title Ms ., in college students and individuals surveyed via the Internet. Participants were asked to define Ms. and other titles, and rate the likely marital status and age of those using the titles. While some participants indicated that Ms. was a title for women of any marital status, a common alternative definition of Ms. was a title for unmarried women. Younger participants (those under 20) were significantly more likely to use this definition. We also asked what title women preferred for themselves. Older unmarried women were more likely to prefer Ms. as their own title than were younger unmarried women, while married women overwhelmingly preferred the use of Mrs . Perhaps this is why many younger people assume that Ms. is a title for unmarried women too old to use Miss .     

Modulation of cognitive flexibility by hunger and desire

Knowing when to persevere with a plan and knowing when to ditch it and change strategy is highly adaptive and breaks down in several frontal and striatal disorders. Cognitive flexibility is also susceptible to tonic influences of neuromodulators (such as dopamine) and so may be influenced by everyday fluctuations in processes known to depend upon them (such as motivation). The current study employed an attentional shifting paradigm to examine the influence of changes in food-related motivational state in healthy volunteers. Hunger was induced through fasting (physiological manipulation) or through the presentation of appetitive food cues prior to testing (desire manipulation). The desire manipulation produced a stronger effect than fasting by inducing errors when participants were attempting to shift. The results suggest that everyday fluctuations in appetite and desire can produce a significant impact on cognition, highlighting implications for our understanding of excessive motivational control including maladaptive eating behaviour.     

The Influence of Gender and Parental Attitudes on Preschool Children's Interest in Babies: Observations in Natural Settings

This paper reports on two studies of parents'observations of their preschool children's interactions with infants. In Study 1 parents observed 69 3- and 5-year-old white children with three nonsibling infants whom the children encountered during their daily lives. In Study 2 parents observed 46 3- to 6-year-old primarily white children with three nonsibling infants and completed measures of their own gender-related child-rearing attitudes.Consistent with findings from previous laboratory research, this research in naturalistic settings found girls to show more interest in, more nurturance toward,and more interaction with babies than did boys. In Study 2, children whose parents had traditional gender-stereotyped attitudes were more likely to show this gender difference than children whose parents had more egalitarian child-rearing attitudes.