Deficits of motor intention following parietal lesions

Patients with lesions to the right parietal lobe were tested on their ability to reach to targets, or to respond verbally to targets. The targets occurred at the same two spatial locations--to the left and right of the patient--with the task being cued by the color of the target. Patients were able to perform both tasks separately rapidly and without error. However, when the two tasks were interleaved, they had difficulty making a response in the left (contralesional) field when this was different to a response that they had just made. These results suggest that lesions to the parietal cortex may cause a deficit in the coding for motor intention, as well as attention in the contralesional field.     

Context-specificity of relapse: effects of therapist and environmental context on return of fear.

Context-specificity of fear extinction was tested among 65 participants who were fearful of spiders by manipulating the contexts used for exposure treatment and two-week follow-up assessment. Context was defined by both meaningful (presence of a particular therapist) and incidental (room location and furnishings) environmental cues. Distinct phobic stimuli were used to examine interactions of context with stimulus. Physiological, behavioral and verbal indices of fear were measured. Results provided modest support for context-specific return of fear. With one stimulus, participants assessed in a non-treatment context at follow-up exhibited greater returns in heart rate levels. In addition, three of four participants who could not touch the stimulus at follow-up had been tested in a non-treatment context. Future investigations may benefit from greater distinctions between contexts or manipulation of contextual features more directly relevant to fear. Finally, post hoc analyses identified high trait anxiety, slow treatment response, recovery of phobic cognitions and long duration/high intensity phobic encounters post-treatment as significant predictors of increased return of fear.     

Adolescent Substance Use: Preliminary Examinations of School and Neighborhood Context

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.     

Anxiety Symptomatology in Mexican-American Adolescents

Mexican-American adults and adolescents in general have been reported to have high levels of anxiety symptomatology. In our study of a tri-ethnic sample of 2528 junior and senior high school students, the Youth Self Report (YSR) version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and a sociodemographic questionnaire was used to assess the anxiety symptoms of Hispanic youth. We compared the ratings on anxiety symptoms, using Achenbach's anxiety subscale on the YSR, between two populations. The anxiety levels of youth in coastal southeast Texas (Galveston County) were compared to the anxiety levels of youth in the lower Rio Grande Valley. We found that Mexican-Americans of the Lower Rio Grande Valley scored higher on anxiety symptoms than the tri-ethnic population of Galveston County. Other factors associated with higher anxiety scores for Mexican-American youths included being born outside the US, linguistic fluency, father absent from the home, mother's education, and household size. Multiple regression analyses showed that socio-economic status (SES), family composition, and linguistic fluency had a greater relative impact on anxiety symptomatology than all other factors, both for the total sample as well as for the Mexican-American sample. These results parallel previous findings, with Mexican-American adults, which suggest either higher risk for anxiety symptomatology or a culturally related bias in the reporting of such symptoms.     

Self as the Target and the Perceiver: A Componential Approach to Self-Enhancement

In this paper, we review the recent literature on the debate over the value of self-enhancement. Past studies fall into two distinct sets, each in the context of a different research tradition. The componential approach to self-enhancement integrates these two divergent perspectives and takes seriously the interplay of self-perception and interpersonal perception. Instead of global indices, the componential approach identifies specific components of person perception. By partitioning the components in self-perception, the componential approach allows for better understanding of the dynamic interactive effects of self-enhancement bias and other components in self-perception on adjustment. We conclude the paper by discussing the emerging attempts to advance a componential approach to examine self-perception in terms of components and outcomes.     

Effect of Parenting Interventions on Perinatal Depression and Implications for Infant Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Considering the significant impact of perinatal depression on both maternal wellbeing and infant development, it is important to examine the...     

The Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS): an Indonesian Validation Study

Understanding parenting risk and protective factors can help clinicians and researchers to develop effective family interventions. To have knowledge of these risk and protective factors, validated assessment tools are required. Validation studies for parenting measures with Indonesian parents are lacking, despite the need for access to parenting interventions among Indonesian families. This study aimed to validate the Parenting and Family Adjustment Scales (PAFAS), a brief parenting and family adjustment measure developed in Australia that has been validated with Panamanian and Chinese parents. A sample of 210 Indonesian parents with children aged 2–12 years old completed the Indonesian version of the PAFAS and Child Adjustment and Parent Efficacy Scale (CAPES). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were used for analyses. CFA resulted a four-factor PAFAS Parenting scale (15 items) and three-factor PAFAS Family adjustment scale (8 items). SEM analyses with PAFAS and CAPES revealed a good fit of the model of relationships between parent, family and child constructs to the data. The internal consistencies of PAFAS were good or acceptable, with the exception of Parental consistency. Overall, PAFAS had satisfactory psychometric properties. It is a promising measure that can potentially be used to study parenting risk and protective factors among Indonesian families. Item improvement and further validation with more diverse samples are suggested.