Internal Validity of the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Symptoms: Implications from Parent Ratings for a Dimensional Approach to Symptom Validity

A dimensional approach was used to evaluate the internal validity of the DSM-III-R ADHD-inattention, ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms (i.e., whether a symptom has a stronger correlation with its own dimension than the other three). Parents rated 4,019 children between the ages of 2 and 19 on these symptoms. The results showed that 5 of the 6 inattention symptoms, 3 of the 4 hyperactivity symptoms, 1 of the 4 impulsivity symptoms, 6 of the 9 oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, and 8 of the 11 CD symptoms had significant internal validity. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) found support for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant, and conduct disorder dimensions. Multiple-group CFA also found support for factor pattern and loading invariance across gender. The implications of these results as well as the merits of the dimensional approach to symptom validity are discussed in the context of the DSM-IV changes in ADHD, ODD, and CD.     

Seeing the baby: The impact of ultrasound technology

This paper reports results of a study of prenatal diagnosis patients who underwent ultrasound examinations and lost their pregnancies through miscarriage or elective terminations. The majority of the women felt that viewing the ultrasound image influenced their relationship to the fetus and their coping with the pregnancy loss. The women commented on the power of ultrasound to make their pregnancies more real as well as the painful yet sometimes beneficial consequences of seeing the fetus. Clinical implications are considered for health professionals who provide prenatal diagnostic services or counseling after pregnancy loss.     

Visual discovery in mind and on paper

The effectiveness of mental imagery with and without drawing support (perceptual assistance) in the visual synthesis of novel patterns was studied in three experiments. When the task was to create one recognizable pattern from three simple shapes in a 2-min assembly period, subjects were as likely to produce a recognizable or creative pattern per trial whether mental imagery was augmented by external drawing support or not. When the task was to create as many patterns as possible in a 3-min assembly period, more patterns were produced per trial with external drawing support than without; however, neither the recognizability nor the creativity of the patterns differed. Differences in performance in the visual synthesis task with and without external drawing support are interpreted in terms of limited cognitive resources.     

USING TIME DELAY TO PROMOTE SPONTANEOUS SPEECH IN AN AUTISTIC CHILD

One of the frequently observed deficits in autistic children is their lack of spontaneous speech. We used a multiple baseline across behaviors to investigate the effectiveness of a time delay procedure for inducing spontaneous speech in a 10-year-old male autistic child during play. We first taught the child to imitate the experimenter's verbal prompts that described the child's motor response. Once the child reached criteria on imitation, we implemented baseline wherein an immediate verbal prompt for speech was provided after each of the child's motor responses. Intervention consisted of a gradual delay in the presentation of the verbal prompts. The time delay effectively increased the child's spontaneous speech on trained items; some generalization to untrained items also occurred, but only within the same behavioral class of car play. Generalization was also observed across settings. Spontaneous speech remained at high levels during the 4-month maintenance for the behavior of car play but decreased for a second behavior. Decreases in the child's response latencies suggest that spontaneous speech may be an anticipatory verbal response.     

Comparison of behaviors of suspected sexually abused and nonsexually abused preschool children using anatomical dolls

Using anatomical dolls, the play behaviors of nine sexually abused preschool children (five males, four females), ranging in age from 3 to 5 years, were compared with nine preschool children for whom there was no suspicion of sexual abuse and who were matched on the basis of age, gender, race, family status, and socioeconomic status. There was no significant difference between the two groups on explicit sexual behavior (vaginal, oral, and anal intercourse with thrusting motions between the dolls or between the child and the dolls and masturbation by the child). The groups were significantly [t(8)=2.19, p <.05; Wilcoxon W=6, p <.05) different when behaviors with suspicious sexual implication were combined with explicit sexual behaviors. There were no differences between the groups on measures of nonsexual behavior. The occurrence of the suspicious sexual behaviors is discussed and reviews of previous doll research and physical evidence of child sexual abuse are provided.This project was supported in part by a grant from The Graduate College of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.     

PERCEPTIONS OF WIFE ABUSE

The effects of 157 university students'gender, attitudes toward women (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973), and just-world beliefs (Lerner, 1980) on their perceptions and attributions regarding the perpetrator and victim of an instance of wife abuse were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed two patterns of results, each differentially associated with participants'gender. Consistent with Heider's (1958) balance theory, males blamed and derogated the wife/victim more as their attitudes toward women became less favorable. Among females, in contrast, those with positive attitudes toward women blamed, but did not derogate, the wife/victim more as their just-world beliefs became stronger. The latter finding is interpreted in view of research which suggests that women may blame a victim of violence toward women in an effort to gain perceived control over the possibility of their own potential victimization. The implications of these findings for understanding and changing people's perceptions of the victims of wife abuse are discussed.     

Sex role egalitarianism and marital violence

This study explores the link between sex role egalitarianism and marital violence using a sample of men enrolled in either substance abuse treatment programs (N=71) or in anger management programs (N=44). It was found that men in both treatment programs had very similar levels of egalitarianism and violence in their relationships. Using the combined sample, it was found that having attitudes approving of marital violence and using “severe” violence accounted for a significant portion of the variance in sex role egalitarianism, whereas use of “minor” violence did not account for significant variance in egalitarianism. These results suggest that sex role egalitarianism may be a meaningful indicator for spouse abuse.     

Harmonic structure as a determinant of melodic organization

Musicians and nonmusicians indicated whether a two-note probe following a tonally structured melody occurred in the melody. The critical probes were taken from one of three locations in the melody: the two notes (1) ending the first phrase, (2) straddling the phrase boundary, and (3) beginning the second phrase. As predicted, the probe that straddled the phrase boundary was more difficult to recognize than either of the within-phrase probes. These findings suggest that knowledge of harmonic structure influences perceptual organization of melodies in ways analogous to the influence of clause relations on the perceptual organization of sentences. They also provide evidence that training plays an important role in refining listeners’ sensitivity to harmonic variables.     

An investigation of repetition and language processing in a case of conduction aphasia

A study is reported of a single case of conduction aphasia. A battery of tasks designed to investigate the parameters of the patient's severe repetition deficit is supplemented by tests of several language functions. The results provide extensive information on a wide range of the patient's language abilities and are used to evaluate the adequacy of four models that have been offered to account for conduction aphasia. An argument is made in support of the suggestion that the syndrome of conduction aphasia should be divided into two subgroups based on patients' ability to select and realize phonemes in speech output. It is concluded that the best explanation for the disorder of patients with repetition deficit but without significant speech output problems is the hypothesis that repetition ability is compromised by a pathological limitation of auditory-verbal short-term memory. This hypothesis is extended to account for the pattern of results obtained in the language tasks.