Teacher report and direct assessment of preferences for identifying reinforcers for young children

Teachers were asked to identify and rank 10 preferred stimuli for 9 toddlers, and a hierarchy of preference for these items was determined via a direct preference assessment. The reinforcing efficacy of the most highly preferred items identified by each method was evaluated concurrently in a reinforcer assessment. The reinforcer assessment showed that all stimuli identified as highly preferred via the direct preference assessment and teacher rankings functioned as reinforcers. The highest ranked stimuli in the direct assessment were more reinforcing than the teachers' top-ranked stimuli for 5 of 9 participants, whereas the teachers' top-ranked stimulus was more reinforcing than the highest ranked stimulus of the direct assessment for only 1 child. A strong positive correlation between rankings generated through the two assessments was identified for only 1 of the 9 participants. Despite poor correspondence between rankings generated through the teacher interview and direct preference assessment, results of the reinforcer assessment suggest that both methods are effective in identifying reinforcers for toddlers.     

Skills for Social and Academic Success: A School-Based Intervention for Social Anxiety Disorder in Adolescents

This paper describes Skills for Academic and Social Success (SASS), a cognitive–behavioral, school-based intervention for adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Clinic-based treatment studies for socially anxious youth are reviewed, and a strong rationale for transporting empirically-based interventions into schools, such as SASS, is provided. The SASS program consists of 12, 40-min group sessions that emphasize social skills and in-vivo exposure. In addition to group sessions, students are seen individually at least twice and participate in 4 weekend social events with prosocial peers from their high schools. Meetings with teachers provide information about social anxiety and facilitate classroom exposures for socially anxious participants. Parents attend 2 psychoeducational meetings about social anxiety, its treatment, and approaches for managing their childs anxiety. Initial findings regarding the programs effectiveness are presented. We conclude by discussing the challenges involved in implementing treatment protocols in schools and provide suggestions to address these issues.     

School-Based Intervention for Adolescents with Social Anxiety Disorder: Results of a Controlled Study

Social anxiety disorder, whose onset peaks in adolescence, is associated with significant impairment. Despite the availability of effective treatments, few affected youth receive services. Transporting interventions into schools may circumvent barriers to treatment. The efficacy of a school-based intervention for social anxiety disorder was examined in a randomized wait-list control trial of 35 adolescents (26 females). Independent evaluators, blind to treatment condition, evaluated participants at preintervention, postintervention, and 9 months later. Adolescents in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater reductions than controls in social anxiety and avoidance, as well as significantly improved overall functioning. In addition, 67% of treated subjects, compared to 6% of wait-list participants, no longer met criteria for social phobia following treatment. Findings support the possible efficacy of school-based intervention for facilitating access to treatment for socially anxious adolescents.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Achievement Goal Orientations Shift with Age

Students engage in learning activities with different achievement goal orientations. Some students pursue learning for learning sake (i.e. mastery goal orientation), some are driven by gaining favourable judgement of their performance (i.e. performance approach goal orientation), and others focus on avoiding negative judgement (i.e. performance avoidance goal orientation). These goal orientations are linked with academic achievement, and troublingly, students report decreasing levels of goal orientations across the school years. However, little is known concerning the mechanisms that drive this decline. In a large (N = 891 twin pairs) cross‐sectional genetically informative sample (age = 8 to 22 years), we found that older students reported lower goal orientations. Then, we identified shifts in the magnitude of genetic and environmental variance in each goal orientation. For example, variance in mastery goal orientation was primarily associated with environmental factors during the elementary school years. As students entered high school, genetic influences increased, replacing shared environmental influences. Finally, we situated these findings in the larger nomological network by testing associations with psychological constructs (e.g. personality and cognitive ability) and contextual variables (e.g. parents, schools, and peers). The development of academic motivation is complex with many interconnecting factors that appear to shift with age © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Deployment trauma and seeking treatment for PTSD in US soldiers

Many service members in need of mental health treatment do not seek such treatment. This study investigated the frequency of Army soldiers’ exposure to specific types of deployment stressors and whether different event-types were associated with willingness to seek and actual receipt of treatment. Male soldiers who were married (n = 600) completed online surveys that assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), willingness to seek treatment for PTSD, actual receipt of PTSD treatment, and the frequency of exposure to 4 types of potentially traumatizing warzone experiences: committing a moral injury, observing a moral injury, threats to life, and traumatic loss. Soldiers who reported greater exposure to moral injury experiences (committed or observed) were less likely to be willing to seek treatment, regardless of PTSD symptom severity. Although exposure to moral injury did not differentiate actual treatment receipt, soldiers who endorsed loss were more likely to have received treatment, regardless of PTSD symptom severity. These results suggest that the types of trauma experienced during deployment may be a factor in postdeployment treatment-seeking attitudes and behaviors.     

Prospective memory in youth with perinatally-acquired HIV infection

Youth with perinatal HIV infection (PHIV) are at increased risk for neurocognitive impairment (NCI). Prospective memory (PM) is a complex neurocognitive function that has been shown to be impaired in adults with HIV disease and independently associated with poorer daily living skills, including medication nonadherence. The current study sought to determine the presence and extent of PM deficits in youth with PHIV. Participants included 173 youth with PHIV and 85 youth perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected (PHEU), mean age 14.1 years, 75% black, 18% Hispanic. Among youth with PHIV, 26% had a past AIDS-defining condition (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Class C), 74% did not (non-C). Adjusted generalized estimating equation models were used to compare groups (PHIV/C, PHIV/non-C, and PHEU) on the Naturalistic Event-Based Prospective Memory Test (NEPT) and the Prospective Memory Assessment for Children & Youth (PROMACY). Secondarily, subgroups defined by HIV serostatus and global NCI were compared (PHIV/NCI, PHIV/non-NCI, PHEU). PHIV/C had significantly lower NEPT scores than PHEU, with decreases of 40% in mean scores, but did not differ from PHIV/non-C. PHIV/NCI had 11–32% lower PROMACY scores and 33% lower NEPT scores compared to PHIV/non-NCI (all p < .05); significantly, lower scores for PHIV/NCI versus PHEU also were observed for PROMACY and NEPT indices. Findings suggest a subset of youth with PHIV (those with a prior AIDS-defining diagnosis) is vulnerable to PM deficits. The extent to which PM deficits interfere with development and maintenance of independent living and health-related behaviors during transition to adulthood requires further study.     

Assessing Psychiatric Symptoms in Youth Affected by HIV: Comparing a Brief Self-Administered Rating Scale with a Structured Diagnostic Interview

Brief psychiatric assessment tools are needed for evaluating children affected by HIV for emotional and behavioral problems. We compared a self-administered symptom rating scale (CASI-4R) to a semi-structured diagnostic interview (DICA-P) in 136 U.S. children affected by HIV. Agreement and performance measures for the two instruments were computed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, and disruptive behavior. Correlations and regression analyses were conducted to compare the two instruments, and to evaluate their associations with social, academic, and global function. Higher CASI-4R symptom severity scores were associated with DICA diagnoses (p?<?0.02 for all disorders). Agreement (κ) between DICA diagnoses and CASI-4R Clinical Cutoffs (which incorporated symptoms and impairment) was low to moderate (0.19–0.40 for all disorders). Thirty-two percent of cases with a DICA diagnosis were identified by the CASI-4R Clinical Cutoff (sensitivity), yet over 90% of DICA-negative cases were negative by the CASI-4R (specificity). Sensitivity was higher using CASI-4R Severity Score thresholds based on median scores compared to the DICA diagnoses. The presence and severity of psychiatric symptoms and impairment were associated with poorer academic, social, and global function. The CASI-4R symptom checklist can be used to inexpensively screen youth affected by HIV for emotional and behavioral problems, although it is important that there be appropriate mental health evaluation follow-up.     

Metacomprehension and Negation: Assessing Readers’ Awareness of the Difficulty of Negated Text

The present research explored the awareness that readers have of the difficulty of negative text and the impact that awareness has on their comprehension of that text. Participants read narrative and expository paragraphs, rated their comprehension, and answered a comprehension question. The present research established detrimental effects of negation, as well as demonstrated the readers’ awareness of the difficulty of expository, negative text. However, there were no consistencies in the relationship between readers’ metacomprehension judgments and their actual comprehension performance, suggesting that readers may be unable to use their metacomprehension effectively to adjust their reading strategies when processing negation during reading.