Parent Behavior Importance Questionnaire-Revised: Scale Development and Psychometric Characteristics

This paper reports the scale development and psychometric characteristics of the Parent Behavior Importance Questionnaire-Revised (PBIQ-R). To develop this measure, 502 subject matter experts (SMEs) evaluated 91 parenting behaviors in terms of parenting behavior specificity (e.g., bonding, discipline), importance level, and appropriateness for children of differing developmental stages (e.g., infant/toddler, adolescent). SME responses were used to develop the PBIQ-R and related subscales. The resulting 73 item measure provides a psychometrically strong avenue for determining respondents’ parenting behavior values. The measure and corresponding subscales are closely aligned with current parenting theory and developmental literature with respondents indicating the relative importance of a range of positive as well as negative parenting behaviors. Results suggest moderate to strong factor consistency, construct validity, and internal consistency. Findings are discussed relative to parenting theory and research as well as clinical, counseling, and school psychology practice.     

Lidocaine attenuates anisomycin-induced amnesia and release of norepinephrine in the amygdala

When administered near the time of training, protein synthesis inhibitors such as anisomycin impair later memory. A common interpretation of these findings is that memory consolidation requires new protein synthesis initiated by training. However, recent findings support an alternative interpretation that abnormally large increases in neurotransmitter release after injections of anisomycin may be responsible for producing amnesia. In the present study, a local anesthetic was administered prior to anisomycin injections in an attempt to mitigate neurotransmitter actions and thereby attenuate the resulting amnesia. Rats received lidocaine and anisomycin injections into the amygdala 130 and 120 min, respectively, prior to inhibitory avoidance training. Memory tests 48 h later revealed that lidocaine attenuated anisomycin-induced amnesia. In other rats, in vivo microdialysis was performed at the site of amygdala infusion of lidocaine and anisomycin. As seen previously, anisomycin injections produced large increases in release of norepinephrine in the amygdala. Lidocaine attenuated the anisomycin-induced increase in release of norepinephrine but did not reverse anisomycin inhibition of protein synthesis, as assessed by c-Fos immunohistochemistry. These findings are consistent with past evidence suggesting that anisomycin causes amnesia by initiating abnormal release of neurotransmitters in response to the inhibition of protein synthesis.     

The Big Picture of Individual Differences in Physical Activity Behavior Change: A Transdisciplinary Approach

The goal of this research is to utilize a transdisciplinary framework to guide the selection of putative moderators of the effectiveness of an intervention to promote physical activity behavior adoption and maintenance in the context of a randomized controlled intervention trial. Effective interventions to increase physical activity are sorely needed, and one barrier to the identification and development of such interventions is the lack of research targeted at understanding both the mechanisms of intervention efficacy and for whom particular interventions are effective. The purpose of this paper is to outline our transdisciplinary approach to understanding individual differences in the effectiveness of a previously successful exercise promotion intervention. We explain the rationale for and operationalization of our framework, characteristics of the study to which we apply the framework, and planned analyses. By embracing a transdisciplinary orientation for individual differences important in the prediction of physical activity (spanning molecular approaches, animal models, human laboratory models, and social psychological models), we hope to have a better understanding of characteristics of individuals that are important in the adoption and maintenance of physical activity.     

Adaptive and Aggressive Assertiveness Scales (AAA-S)

Diminished assertiveness has been associated with neuroticism, depression, and anxiety. Although many assertiveness instruments have been developed for research and clinical purposes, one common shortcoming is a lack of discriminant validity with regard to aggression. Further, the wording of many instruments is outdated and discriminatory. The goal of the present research was to develop a more sensitive instrument measuring two distinguishable forms of assertiveness: adaptive assertiveness and aggressive assertiveness. We present data validating such a measure, the Adaptive and Aggressive Assertiveness Scales (AAA-S). Participants included two samples of college students and a clinical sample of adults with anxiety disorders. The AAA-S demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The aggressive assertiveness scale was associated with various forms of aggression and peer reports of aggressive assertiveness. The adaptive assertiveness scale was associated with competence and peer reports of adaptive assertiveness. Importantly, there were no gender differences in adaptive assertiveness. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Test of the plausibility of adolescent substance use playing a causal role in developing adulthood antisocial behavior

DSM-IV antisocial personality disorder diagnosis requires that conduct disorder be exhibited before age 15. However, recent studies have reported on men and women without conduct disorder before age 15 but qualified for the adulthood antisocial personality criterion (AAB). This general-population, retrospective study investigated the plausibility of causal relationships between adolescent drug and alcohol misuse (ADAM) and AAB among subgroups who reported childhood-onset conduct problems (CP), adolescent-onset CP, or no more than one conduct problem. Data from the Epidemiological Catchment Area Study (N = 8,724) suggested that persons with childhood-onset CP are at much greater risk for AAB than persons with adolescent-onset CP. Nevertheless, large proportions of men and women with AAB had adolescent-onset CP or no CP. Regardless of CP history, being drunk by age 18 or having a drug use-related symptom before age 18 increased AAB risk, even after controlling for having a substance use-related disorder in adulthood. Mechanisms that potentially explain these associations are discussed.     

Evaluating Attributions for an Illness Based Upon the Name: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalopathy and Florence Nightingale Disease

In recent years, considerable discussion has occurred about stigma surrounding the name given to an illness currently known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Although patients and medical personnel have expressed varying opinions on this issue, no studies have evaluated how beliefs about the illness change based upon the type of name used for diagnostic purposes. Proposals have been put forth to rename the illness with an eponym (a famous patient's or researcher's name) or with a less trivial sounding, more medically based type of name. In this study, attributions about CFS were measured in three groups of medical trainees. All groups read the same case study of a person with classic symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, with the only difference being in the type of name given. Trainees then were asked to provide attributions about certain aspects of the illness, including its cause, severity, and prognosis. Results suggested that, across name conditions, most trainees appeared to consider the symptom complex of CFS a serious illness resulting in poor quality of life. In addition, findings indicated that the name, chronic fatigue syndrome, may be regarded less seriously than the Myalgic Encephalopathy name with respect to some important aspects of the illness. In this study, specialty of medical trainee also played a role in how the illness was perceived.     

Exploring the psychometric properties and construct validity of the MCMI-III anxiety and avoidant personality scales

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI; Millon, 1983) is a commonly used self-report instrument designed to aid in the assessment of Axis I and Axis II disorders. Concerns have been expressed regarding the procedures used in the normative research for the current version of the MCMI (MCMI-III; Millon, 1994) leading to a call for additional validity research on the MCMI-III (Retzlaff, 1996). In this study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the MCMI-III's Anxiety and Avoidant personality scales in a sample of patients diagnosed with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) anxiety disorders. Our results suggest that the MCMI-III Avoidant scale is reliable (r =.89) and it was found to demonstrate appropriate convergent and divergent validity with other self-report measures. The MCMI-III Anxiety scale also showed adequate reliability (r =.78); however, our findings raise some concerns about the discriminant validity of this scale. A scale composed of the MCMI-III core anxiety items was found to have better discriminant validity. These findings are consistent with those reported by other researchers regarding the relationship between self-report measures of anxiety, avoidance, and depression. We conclude that the MCMI-III measures of anxiety and avoidance are consistent with other measures of these constructs and may provide valuable clinical information in this regard.     

"I couldn't have seen it coming": the impact of negative self-relevant outcomes on retrospections about foreseeability

We examined a phenomenon related to hindsight bias, specifically, retrospective judgements about the foreseeability of an outcome. We predicted that negative, self-relevant outcomes would be judged as less foreseeable by the recipient of the outcome than by others, unlike either positive outcomes or outcomes that are not self-relevant. In the context of a "stock market decision-making game", the hypothetical stock selected by one of two players showed an extreme increase or decrease. As predicted, the player who received an extreme negative outcome reported that this outcome was less foreseeable than did the opponent and an observer, for whom the outcome was less self-relevant. For no other kind of outcome was there a difference between the recipient of an outcome, the opponent, and the observer. The findings have several implications, including the possibility that hindsight bias should be considered as a special case of retrospective foreseeability.     

Child Impulsiveness—Inattention, Early Peer Experiences, and the Development of Early Onset Conduct Problems

The conjoint influence of child impulsiveness-inattention (I/I) and peer relationships on growth trajectories of conduct problems was assessed in a community sample of 267 boys and girls. I/I reliably predicted teacher- and parent-reported conduct problems at kindergarten entry and growth in those problems over the next 2 years for boys and girls. The relation of boys' I/I to conduct problems was mediated, in part, by peer rejection and involvement in coercive exchanges with peers. The relation of girls' I/I to conduct problems was less clearly mediated by peer processes, but peer difficulties had additive effects. The impact of peer relationships on trajectories of conduct problems was apparent to parents as well as to teachers. Although I/I increments risk for early and persisting conduct problems in concert with poor peer relationships, it does so in complex and gender-specific ways.     

These Boots Weren’t Made for Walking: Gendered Discrepancies in Wearing Painful,Restricting, or Distracting Clothing

Sex Roles - Using the framework of objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts in Psychology of Women Quarterly 21(2): 173–206, 1997), the current studies explored how often women...