Adolescent Carrier Testing in Practice: The Impact of Legal Rulings and Problems with “Gillick Competence”

Testing for carrier status for various genetic conditions often takes place during adolescence or young adulthood. This paper aims to add to the discussion of when is the best time to test through an examination of how the law on medical treatment of children appears to be used in practice and how a careful examination of legal rulings might shed light upon best practice in this area. Our focus is on the Gillick ruling (Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority 1986), which dealt with consent and confidentiality with respect to the provision of contraceptive advice to under 16-year-olds, but which has become a general benchmark for consent to medical treatment within UK law. In addition, we draw upon data from a qualitative research study which indicates potential problems with certain practices in respect of the influence of the Gillick ruling on carrier testing procedures. We present evidence that in at least some instances, adolescents have reduced capacity to grasp fully the implications of carrier test results. In the light of our findings we make recommendations for practice concerning the testing of children and young persons.     

Does Acquisitive Self‐Presentation in Personality Self‐Ratings Enhance Validity? Evidence from two experimental field studies

The aim of the present research was to demonstrate that acquisitive self‐presentation in personality scales is not a barrier to their criterion‐related validities in human resource contexts, but rather a means to improve them. A pilot study (Study 1) with 96 job incumbents provided preliminary positive evidence. In Study 2, in the experimental group (n=99), the instructions asked job incumbents to work on a Big‐Five personality inventory (BFI‐K) as if they took part in a personnel selection procedure for a personally very attractive position. In the control group (n=93) of Study 2, job incumbents were asked to answer the inventory items honestly. As expected, the correlation between the self‐ratings of the motive to get along (i.e., which comprises emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) and contextual performance assessments was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group in Study 2. Additionally, the correlation between the self‐ratings of the motive to get ahead (i.e., which comprises extraversion and openness to experience) and task performance and leadership assessments was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group in Study 2. It is proposed that responding to a personality inventory in a human resource decision situation should be conceptualized as a workplace simulation.     

Effects of repetitive stress during the acute phase of Trypanosoma cruzi infection on chronic Chagas' disease in rats

The effect of repetitive stress during acute infection with Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) on the chronic phase of ensuing Chagas' disease was the focus of this investigation. The aim of this study was to evaluate in Wistar rats the influence of repetitive stress during the acute phase of infection (7 days) with the Y strain of T. cruzi on the chronic phase of the infection (at 180 days). Exposure to ether vapor for 1 min twice a day was used as a stressor. Repetitive stress enhanced the number of circulating parasites and cardiac tissue disorganization, from a moderate to a severe diffuse mononuclear inflammatory process and the presence of amastigote burden in the cardiac fibers. Immunological parameters revealed that repetitive stress triggered a reduced concanavalin A induced splenocyte proliferation in vitro with major effects on the late chronic phase. Serum interleukin-12 concentration decreased in both stressed and infected rats in the early phase of infection although it was higher on 180 days post-infection. These results suggest that repetitive stress can markedly impair the host's immune system and enhance the pathological process during the chronic phase of Chagas' disease.     

Individual differences in stress and fatigue in two field studies of driving

This paper reports the findings of two field studies of Australian drivers in which individual differences in stress and fatigue were investigated. In the first study, 58 professional drivers completed measures of mood, fatigue and other subjective stress state measures, before and after performing a prolonged driving trip. The results indicated that the scales were sensitive to increased fatigue following the driving trip, and correlated appropriately with Fatigue Proneness, a driver stress trait. In the second study, 104 non-professional drivers completed identical subjective stress state measures as the professional drivers, before and after performing a driving trip. Drivers completed a measure of driving-related stress traits, the Driver Stress Inventory (DSI), and a measure of coping, the Driving Coping Questionnaire (DCQ). Both measures were predictive of state response to driving, and the association between Fatigue Proneness and post-drive fatigue found in the first study was replicated. Findings from these studies suggest that fatigue and stress reactions to driving are psychometrically distinct, but may have some common antecedents, such as use of emotion-focused coping. The studies confirm the importance of fatigue and stress as potential safety problems, but also highlight the role of individual differences in response to the demands of driving.     

Children's beliefs about substance use: an examination of age differences in implicit and explicit cognitive precursors of substance use initiation.

Cognitive models conceptualize attitudes and beliefs about substance use (SU) as proximal mediators of a variety of risk and protective factors for SU. Researchers have distinguished implicit and explicit cognition, but limited research has examined this distinction in the early stages of SU. The authors' goal was to examine age differences in implicit and explicit SU cognitions to clarify proximal cognitive processes that may be involved in early SU. Alcohol- and cigarette-naive children (N=76; 69.7% male; M age=11.8 years) completed the laboratory-based experiment. Likelihood ratings of costs and benefits of use assessed explicit cognitions, and a priming task assessed implicit cognitions. Regardless of age, children perceived costs of drinking alcohol and smoking as more likely than benefits. This discrepancy was smaller for older children, although this age difference was weaker for costs and benefits of cigarette use. Strong positive implicit alcohol use cognitions were apparent regardless of age. However, age differences were found for implicit cigarette use cognition. Older children were more positive about cigarette use. Findings suggest the importance of distinguishing explicit and implicit cognition for etiological models of early SU.     

Evaluating the efficacy of a program to enhance college students' self-regulation learning processes and learning strategies

The present study examines the efficacy of a program designed to enhance college students'learning processes and study strategies. The program was organised around a number of letters written by a freshman, Gervásio (Rosário, Nú?ez, & González-Pienda, 2006), telling about his new experiences, troubles, and successes in the university. This intervention program is intended to promote a series of strategies (cognitive, meta-cognitive, and supportive) which allow students to manage their learning processes in a more proficient, successful, and autonomous way. The collected data suggest that students who had the opportunity to follow the program significantly improved their declarative knowledge about learning strategies, reduced their use of surface approaches to study, and extended the newly acquired skills to new and different tasks and assignments.     

Power comparison of new tests to analyze repeated measures data

This work compares the sensitivity of five modern analytical techniques for detecting the effects of a design with measures which are partially repeated when the assumptions of the traditional ANOVA approach are not met, namely: the approach of the mixed model adjusted by means of the SAS Proc Mixed module, the Bootstrap-F approach, the Brown-Forsythe multivariate approach, the Welch-James multivariate approach and Welch-James multivariate approach with robust estimators. Previously, Livacic-Rojas, Vallejo and Fernández found out that these methods are comparable in terms of their Type I error rates. The results obtained suggest that the mixed model approach, as well as the Brown-Forsythe and Welch-James approaches, satisfactorily controlled the Type II error rates corresponding to the main effects of the measurement occasions under most of the conditions assessed.     

Influence of mild cognitive impairment on visual word recognition

The present study examined the effects of normal aging and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) on visual word recognition. Madden et al. (1999) reported evidence of general slowing of cognitive processes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients relative to younger adults and healthy older adults using a lexical decision task. It was of interest to determine whether similar effects would be observed in MCI patients relative to healthy younger and older adults. We extended the lexical decision task paradigm developed by Allen et al. (2004b) on younger adults to an examination of the effect(s) of MCI on visual word recognition. Results from the present study showed that healthy older adults and MCI patients performed similarly. That is, both groups took longer than younger adults to process words presented in mixed-case than in consistent-case letters. Mild cognitive impairment patients, however, responded significantly more slowly than healthy older adults across all lexical decision task conditions and showed a trend toward larger case-mixing effects than healthy older adults, which suggests that MCI may result in poorer analytic processing ability. Based on the current findings, evidence of a generalized slowing of cognitive processes using a standard lexical decision task can be expanded to include not only AD patients, but also the preclinical stages of the disease as well.     

The Influence of Family and Experimental Context on Cognition in Anxious Children

Examined the influence of family on anxious children's cognition. Research by Barrett, Rapee, Dadds, and Ryan (1996) found anxious children reported increased avoidance after interacting with their parents. They labelled this finding the FEAR effect—Family Enhancement of Avoidant Responses. Whilst some subsequent studies have found similar results, others have not. These contradictory findings question whether the direction of parental influence on anxious children is determined by the perceived demands of the experimental context. Anxious children (N = 101) and their parents were asked to interpret seven ambiguous situations and to discuss what their child would do if the scenario actually occurred. Study 1 found that children in the anxious group and an externalizing control group were more likely to interpret ambiguous situations as threatening than nonclinic children were. Study 2 sought to examine changes in the children's responses from pre- to postfamily discussion, and to identify variables associated with the FEAR effect in anxious families. Interestingly, anxious children whose families completed the discussion task after they (children) had been offered treatment were more likely to show a FEAR effect than anxious families who completed the task as part of assessment. Study 3 examined predictors of enhanced avoidance in anxious families. Treatment context and maternal distress were correlated with the child's increased avoidance following family discussion. Limitations of these studies and directions for future research are discussed.     

Package Graphics and Consumer Product Beliefs

In recent years, marketers' tactics to increase product sales through health claims have been scrutinized by public policy makers. The culmination of this process was the passage of the National Labeling Education Act, which highly restricts the type, amount, and format of nutritional information conveyed on the package. In this investigation, we examine an under-explored aspect of the package—its colors and pictures—to determine what, if any, impact these aspects have on consumer beliefs regarding important product characteristics. We find that even when very concrete verbal information is used, graphical representations have a significant and long-term effect on product beliefs and purchase intentions.