The discipline gap and African Americans: Defiance or cooperation in the high school classroom

African Americans are over-represented in school suspensions, yet little is known about the underlying contributing dynamics. Study 1 reviewed a high school's annual discipline data and 442 students referred for defiance. African Americans were over-represented in referrals for defiance and most students received referrals from one or several teachers. This suggests that defiance referrals are specific to the classroom situation. Examining the situational specificity of referrals, Study 2 used repeated measures and multilevel modeling with a sub-sample of 30 African American students. Attendance, grades, and teacher reports showed that students behaved more defiantly and less cooperatively with teachers perceived as having untrustworthy authority. Predictors of African American student trust in teacher authority included teacher caring and high expectations, offering implications for lowering the discipline gap.     

Can the survival recall advantage be explained by basic memory processes?

Nairne, Thompson, and Pandeirada (2007) demonstrated a striking phenomenon: Words rated for relevance to a grasslands survival scenario were remembered better than identical words encoded under other deep processing conditions. Having replicated this effect using a novel set of words (Experiment 1), we contrasted the schematic processing and evolutionary accounts of the recall advantage (Experiment 2). Inconsistent with the schematic processing account, the grasslands survival scenario produced better recall than did a city survival scenario requiring comparable schematic processing. Recall in the grasslands scenario was unaffected by a self-reference manipulation. The findings are consistent with an evolutionary account that attributes the recall advantage to adaptive memory biases.     

Healthy Eating Index-C is compromised among adolescents with body weight concerns, weight loss dieting, and meal skipping

The objective was to describe weight concerns, dieting, and meal skipping of adolescents and to determine associations with the Healthy Eating Index-C (HEI-C). Data, that were collected using the Food Behaviour Questionnaire, revealed that participants (male=810, female=1016) in grades 9/10 reported weight concerns (n=518), dieting (n=364), and skipping breakfast (n=498), lunch (n=252), and/or dinner (n=129). Of those dieting or weight concerned (n=602), 61% were healthy weight and of those not dieting or weight concerned (n=1224), 13% were overweight/obese. The ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that HEI-C was likely to be rated lower among those weight concerned and dieting (p<.001), and among those that skipped the breakfast meal (p<.001). The current study identified inappropriate weight concerns and dieting that compromised diet quality and has implications for future intervention and policy development.     

Psychometric Validation of the Temptation and Restraint Inventory in Two Samples of College Drinkers1

Drinking restraint, commonly measured by the Temptation and Restraint Inventory (TRI; Collins & Lapp, 1992), refers to a cycle of temptation to drink alcohol and attempts to control alcohol use that results in excessive consumption. Recent research has examined college drinkers using the TRI, however, it has been validated only in adult samples. This study validated the TRI in two samples of college drinkers, designated as “hazardous” (n = 480) and “harmful” (n = 231) drinkers. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the previously reported higher order two-factor structure was identified in both samples. In addition, multiple regression analyses using derived component scores demonstrated that TRI performance was associated with degree of alcohol dependence in both samples. These data support the use of the TRI in college samples.These data were previously presented in November 2002 at the 36th annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Reno, NV     

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Clinical Correlates and Impact on Psychosocial Treatment Outcomes

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in childhood is not well documented, especially among youth with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD). The current study evaluated prevalence and correlates of NSSI, and its impact on intervention response, in a randomized trial of Child- and Family-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CFF-CBT) versus Treatment As Usual (TAU), adjunctive to pharmacotherapy. This study included 72 children ages 7–13 (58% male) with PBD. NSSI and correlates were assessed at baseline; mood and psychiatric severity were measured longitudinally. NSSI was common: 31% endorsed NSSI behaviors; 10% reported thoughts of NSSI, in the absence of behaviors. Children engaging in NSSI reported higher depression, psychosis, suicidality, and hopelessness; lower self-esteem; and reduced family help-seeking in univariate analyses. In a multivariate logistic regression, high child depression and psychosis, and low family help-seeking, remained significantly associated with baseline NSSI. In mixed-effects regression models, presence of NSSI at baseline did not influence the response of depressive symptoms to treatment. Children who endorsed NSSI experienced steeper response trajectories for psychiatric severity, regardless of treatment group. Youth who denied NSSI showed poorer response to TAU for manic symptoms; mania trajectories in CFF-CBT were similar across youth. Thus, NSSI in PBD is common and associated with impairment. As children might engage in NSSI for different reasons, the function of NSSI should be considered in treatment. Since children without NSSI fared worse in TAU, it may be important to ensure that youth with PBD receive structured, intensive interventions. CFF-CBT was efficacious regardless of NSSI, and thus shows promise for high-risk children with PBD.     

What do the hands externalize in simple arithmetic?

In 4 experiments, the authors examined the use of the hands in simple arithmetic tasks. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that pointing increases both accuracy and speed in counting arrays of items, whether those items are identical or distinctive. Experiment 3 demonstrated that individuals tend to nod their heads when not allowed to point and that nodding is associated with greater accuracy, suggesting that pointing is functional for reasons other than simply providing additional visual information. Experiment 4 examined changes in speech when adding arrays of digits, depending on whether participants were allowed to use their hands to manipulate the tokens on which the digits were presented. Taken together, the results of these experiments are consistent with recent research suggesting that gesture can serve cognitive functions and that the hands can support the binding of representational elements to their functional roles by providing phase markers for cyclic cognitive processes.     

Report from the UK and Eire Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors (AGNC) Supervision Working Group on Genetic Counselling Supervision

The Association of Genetic Nurses and Counsellors (AGNC) is the professional organisation which represents genetic counsellors and genetic nurses in the United Kingdom (UK) and Eire. The AGNC recognises that genetic counselling supervision is instrumental to the practice, training and registration of genetic counsellors in the UK. The AGNC formed a Supervision Working Group, whose terms of reference were to collate information on supervision and create a list of ‘best practice’ recommendations for its genetic counsellor members. This report delivers the findings from the Supervision Working Group and has been peer reviewed by the AGNC membership in the UK and Eire and ratified by the AGNC Committee. It offers a working definition of genetic counselling supervision, gives an overview of some of the literature on supervision and concludes with practice recommendations. Group Authorship: AGNC Supervision Working Group Membership of the AGNC Supervision Working Group