Psychometric properties of parents and children as informants in child psychiatry epidemiology with the Spanish diagnostic interview schedule for children (DISC.2)

Parent and child reports were examined to study how epidemiological researchers can best use the information provided to describe childhood psychopathology. As part of a multisite methodologic study of mental disorders in children, a probability sample (N=248) of children aged 9 to 17 years from the San Juan metropolitan area was selected. This sample was enriched with 74 clinic cases. Both parents and children were administered the DISC.2. Results showed that prevalence estimates were influenced by the informant. The clinicians' diagnosis is more concordant with children's reports of depression and with parents' reports of disruptive disorders. Parents and children provided unique information when interviewed with a structured psychiatric interview about child psychopathology. Their unique perspectives contributed to the observed discordance that emerged when DISC parent and DISC child results are compared. Combining the two perspectives with a simple OR rule at the symptom level did not seem to capture the unique perspectives.We acknowledge the research group of the Behavioral Sciences Research Institute for their valuable contributions to this work. We also recognize José V. Martínez, Vivian E. Febo, and Zenaida González for the data analyses, and Elizabeth Pastrana and Felícita Laboy for the secretarial work.This research was supported by grants (MH46732) from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) as part of a collaborative methodologic epidemiologic study of children and adolescents (MECA) between the Universities of Columbia, Emory, Puerto Rico, Yale, and the NIMH.     

Manifest values of eminent psychologists: A content analysis of their obituaries

Obituaries published in theAmerican Psychologist (from January 1979 to December 1990,N=161) were content analyzed to create a modal demographic profile of the deceased and a ranking of the most frequently occurring value themes. Virtually all of the eminent psychologists were highly productive academicians and researchers. Typically, they were also actively involved in other professional arenas (e.g., administration, service). The majority were male (87%), white (99%), and born in the United States (86%). Ninety-seven percent had obtained Ph.D.’s, most frequently from Columbia University (16%), Harvard (11%), and Chicago (6%). Median age at death was 76. The most frequently occurring value themes written about the deceased were that they were independent-minded (67%), a good friend (61%), hard-working (53%), a good teacher/mentor (51%), and a beloved family member (35%). The implications of these data are discussed.     

Play therapy as a family restructuring technique: A case illustration

This paper presents a general treatment approach which uses play to integrate individual and family psychotherapy when working with young children as identified patients. Play therapy techniques are explored with regard to their potential impact upon a family system. Perspectives on concurrent and conjoint family oriented treatment using play are discussed with a focus upon achieving both individual and family system growth.     

The impact of family and peer differentiation levels on adolescent psychosocial development and problematic behaviors

This study examined the impact of family differentiation and peer differentiation levels on adolescent problematic behaviors and psychosocial maturity. Differentiation levels were assessed dyadically in both the family and peer systems. Results revealed family differentiation to be the sole predictor of adolescent problematic behavior. Additional regression analysis indicated that peer differentiation was a significant predictor of psychosocial maturity, along with the significant impact of adolescent gender and age. Family X Peer interaction terms were not significant predictors of either adolescent personal adjustment variable. Results, whichdisplay both consistencies and variations with the findings of previous research, are discussed in terms of their clinical implications.Salary and support provided in part by grants from The Kettering Fund (OSURF #727033) and by The Ohio State University (OSURF #221424 and OSURF #241501).     

Classification and perceived similarity of compound gratings that differ in relative spatial phase

Discrimination studies suggest that two, and only two, channels encode relative spatial phase shifts in compound gratings (Bennett & Banks, 1991 ; Field & Nachmias, 1984). The more sensitive channel consists of even-symmetric filters and responds best to cosine phase shifts (e.g., 0°–180°); the other consists of odd-symmetric filters and responds best to sine phase shifts (e.g., 90°–270°). The present experiments investigated whether the two-channel model generalizes to suprathreshold perceptual tasks. Experiment 1 examined classification learning of compound gratings, consisting of a fundamental (f) and second harmonic (2f), that differed in 2f contrast and relative phase. Experiments 2 and 3 measured the perceived similarity off+2f gratings. The results of Experiment 1 were broadly consistent with the predictions of the two-channel model. Specifically, the classification data were best explained by assuming that classification was based on the responses of differentially sensitive even- and odd-symmetric filters. In Experiments 2 and 3, two-dimensional multidimensional scaling solutions provided a good account for the similarity judgments. In Experiment 2, Dimension 1 was strongly correlated with cosine phase, and Dimension 2 was moderately correlated with sine phase. In Experiment 3, cosine phase was again strongly rebated to Dimension 1, whereas the absolute value of sine phase was strongly related to Dimension 2. Overall, these results suggest that the two-channel model of phase discrimination provides a useful framework for interpreting classification and similarityjudgments of compound gratings.     

Cluster differences scaling with a within-clusters loss component and a fuzzy successive approximation strategy to avoid local minima

Cluster differences scaling is a method for partitioning a set of objects into classes and simultaneously finding a low-dimensional spatial representation ofK cluster points, to model a given square table of dissimilarities amongn stimuli or objects. The least squares loss function of cluster differences scaling, originally defined only on the residuals of pairs of objects that are allocated to different clusters, is extended with a loss component for pairs that are allocated to the same cluster. It is shown that this extension makes the method equivalent to multidimensional scaling with cluster constraints on the coordinates. A decomposition of the sum of squared dissimilarities into contributions from several sources of variation is described, including the appropriate degrees of freedom for each source. After developing a convergent algorithm for fitting the cluster differences model, it is argued that the individual objects and the cluster locations can be jointly displayed in a configuration obtained as a by-product of the optimization. Finally, the paper introduces a fuzzy version of the loss function, which can be used in a successive approximation strategy for avoiding local minima. A simulation study demonstrates that this strategy significantly outperforms two other well-known initialization strategies, and that it has a success rate of 92 out of 100 in attaining the global minimum.     

EFFECTS OF FEEDBACK AND SELF-MONITORING ON HEAD TRAUMA YOUTHS' CONVERSATION SKILLS

The effects of feedback and self-recording on the small group conversational behaviors of two head trauma youths were evaluated. Feedback involved providing clients a light signal corresponding to positive or negative social interactions. The self-monitoring procedure required that the clients flip a switch corresponding with their positive or negative interactions. An A₁-B₁-C₁-A₂-C₂-B₂ design in which the feedback phase (B) and self-monitoring phase (C) were alternated to control for order effects demonstrated the efficacy of both interventions. Performance gains were also shown to generalize to less structured situations, bringing the clients' level of positive responses into a range established with a social comparison group.     

What creates the dilemma in ethical dilemmas? Examples from psychological practice

Twenty psychologists were interviewed about an ethical dilemma that they had found to be particularly difficult to resolve. In just under half of the cases the dilemma involved a perceived conflict of ethical principles (e.g., the welfare of the consumer vs. the right to privacy). In the other cases, the psychologists were prevented from following an ethically prescribed course of action by some nonethical consideration such as contractual obligation, legal requirement, or the demands of an employer. We discuss the implications of these two sorts of dilemmas for psychological practice and make some suggestions for proactive approaches to ethical problem solving.