Promoting Resilience in At-Risk Children

Intervening effectively with youths at risk from early deprivation, family dysfunction, poverty, abuse, and other factors is a major concern for educational and social service policymakers. Current research suggests that a majority of at-risk youths do not experience drastic outcomes, but many exhibit protective factors that buffer them from negative consequences. Longitudinal studies from Hawaii, the continental United States, and Great Britain have identified several personality, familial, and environmental variables that promote resiliency in youths at risk. This article discusses these variables and provides counselors with an assessment technique and strategies to promote a salutogenesis perspective.     

Group climate in an open-ended cancer support group

A number of well-described, controlled studies assessing cancer support group intervention support their effectiveness. All of these experimental groups have been close-ended and typically involve six to eight weekly sessions. Because many cancer patients are unable or unwilling to participate in closed, extended-session groups, there is particular need for analysis of the effectiveness of short-term, open-ended groups. Additionally, objective measures are needed to delineate the factors contributing to a successful outcome in cancer support groups. We used the Short Form of the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ-S) to characterize 23 sessions in an open-ended, short-term, Veterans Hospital based cancer support group. The cancer group scored significantly lower on the Avoiding and Conflict dimensions (p<.001) compared to a normative psychotherapy group sample. There was no difference on the Engaged dimension. This pilot study suggests that a cancer support group in this setting can create an environment where members are cohesive and take responsibility for their own change process, while keeping interpersonal conflict to a minimum. Based on these preliminary findings, we encourage controlled clinical trials examining the efficacy of open-ended cancer support groups.At the time of this study, Dr. Daroff was a resident in Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.     

Interpersonal conflict in group therapy: An object relations perspective

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how object relations theory can be used to understand and regulate interpersonal conflict in group psychotherapy. Such concepts as projective identification, intersubjectivity and the analytic third are used to describe how conflict emerges in group psychotherapy and how it can be worked through. Case material is also provided to illustrate concepts and techniques in promoting a group's transition from a paranoid/schizoid to a depressive position. Positive aspects of the concept of projective identification are discussed including its use as a form of communication, a method of reducing anxiety and reintegrating previously dangerous and threatening aspects of the self.The paper was funded by Evan F. Lilly Memorial Trust Grant PV 13,067.     

PET Studies of Phonological Processing: A Critical Reply to Poeppel

Poeppel (1996) raises a number of criticisms about the methods and reported results for eight studies of phonological processing from six different neuroimaging laboratories. We would freely admit that valid criticisms of PET methodology can be made and that, like any method, it has limitations; in fact, we and others have engaged in such critical commentary (Steinmetz & Seitz, 1991; Sergent et al., 1992; Démonet, 1995; Fiez et al., 1996a; Zatorre et al., 1996). Poeppel's analysis, though, falls far short of providing new insights into the limitations of PET methodology or the means by which future functional imaging studies could be improved. Many of Poeppel's criticisms derive from a failure to understand some of the fundamental issues which motivate functional imaging studies, including those he reviews. However, we are grateful to our critic inasmuch as he offers us the challenge to clarify our positions on important aspects of our experimental design, analysis, and interpretation. In our discussion of these issues, we begin with a general commentary, followed by specific comments from individual authors.     

An examination of various aspects of auditory processing in clutterers

This study examined auditory processing ability in three school-aged male clutterers who presented concomitant diagnoses of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and three age- and sex-matched normal-speaking control subjects. Subjects underwent a brief central auditory processing (CAP) and auditory event-related potential (AEP) battery. All three clutterers performed below normal test-established performance criteria on at least two of the four CAP measures and exhibited abnormal AEP waveform morphology. All control subjects performed within normal test-established performance criteria on all measures.     

A classical IQ model of the stages of cognitive development

Based on the construct of classical IQ (mental age/chronological age), a model of the proportions of the population at various stages of cognitive development as a function of age is proposed. The model, which accounts well for empirical data for the age range 13 through 17 years, is shown to compare favorably with other theoretical models. The success of the model provides further evidence of the salience of the construct of general cognitive capacity in differential psychology.     

Retest stability of DSM-III-R diagnoses among adolescents using the diagnostic interview schedule for children (DISC-2.1C)

Retest stability of DSM-III-R diagnoses was assessed using the DISC-2.1C with a sample of Anglo, African, and Hispanic American adolescent patients 12 to 17 years of age. Based on the kappa statistic, retest stability was fair for any disorder ( =.50), for any anxiety disorder ( =.44), for any affective disorder ( =.53), for any disruptive behavior disorder ( =.58), and for substance use disorders ( =.46). Although there was a trend for reliability to be somewhat higher for African Americans ( =.58) than for Anglos ( =.42) or Hispanics ( =.49), these differences were not statistically significant. In general, 15- to 17-year-olds had somewhat better reliability ( =.58) than did 12- to 14-year-olds ( =.44). Males had somewhat higher reliability ( =.63) than females ( =.43). These findings are congruent with those reported recently using the DISC-R (Schwab-Stone et al., 1993) and suggest that the DISC appears to be at least as reliable as other available child diagnostic instruments. In view of the fair-to-moderate levels of reliability of these instruments in general, future research should focus on the joint effects of instrument, subject, interviewer, and nomenclature on operating characteristics of diagnostic interview schedules, focusing in particular on factors affecting accurate recall and reporting of symptoms and episodes. This research was supported in part by grants MH44214 and MH44773 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. The authors wish to acknowledge the participation and collaboration of A. J. Pumariega, J. W. Swanson, and C. E. Holzer III and staff of the Center for Cross-Cultural Research, directed by F. M. Treviño.     

Careers guidance in the knowledge society

In modern society individuals are becoming responsible for their own work allocation. They have to acquire so-called 'actor competences'. They have to learn to form their own identity, to determine a direction and to plan a career. However, the individual's shortage of actor competences confronts him or her with many problems; several institutions risk becoming overburdened by allocation or career problems. As a result, the role of the career counsellor must change from that of a ferryman to that of a pathfinder.     

The Assessment of Limb Apraxia: An Investigation of Task Effects and Their Cause

To test the effects of variations in the structure of tasks used to assess limb apraxia, eight tasks—differing in their modes of elicitation (tactile, verbal, visual, imitation) and/or types of movement elicited (transitive, intransitive, meaningless)—were administered to 25 carefully selected subjects with idiomotor limb apraxia. When standardized scores (based on the performance of 10 nonneurologically impaired control subjects) were used to measure the differences between tasks, no clinically significant task effects were found. Additional investigation was made of two causal hypotheses regarding the processes underlying limb apractic performance. The results of factor analyses and a search for double dissociations among individual subjects were consistent with the (severity) hypothesis that differences in task performances (raw scores) reflect degrees of task difficulty; and they failed to support the (disconnection) hypothesis that posits separate and independent neural/mental processes underlying task performances.