Toward establishing a qualifying autoclitic repertoire in children with autism spectrum disorder

Autoclitics are secondary verbal operants that are controlled by a feature of the conditions that occasion or evoke a primary verbal operant such as a tact or mand. Qualifying autoclitics extend, negate, or assert a speaker's primary verbal response and modify the intensity or direction of the listener's behavior. Howard and Rice (1988) established autoclitics that indicated weak stimulus control (e.g., “like a [primary tact]”) with four neurotypical preschool children. However, generalization to newly acquired tacts was limited. In Experiment 1, we addressed similar behavior as in Howard and Rice but with autistic children while using simultaneous teaching procedures, and we observed generalization across sets and with newly acquired tacts. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the effects of multiple-exemplar training on generalization of autoclitics across sets of naturalistic stimuli. Across participants, gradual increases in the frequency of autoclitics occurred with untaught stimuli after teaching with one or more sets.     

Examining Gender-Specific Modeling in the Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting Style and Physical Child Abuse Risk

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Although research demonstrates intergenerational transmission of parenting attitudes and child abuse risk, greater clarity on the potential mechanisms in this...     

The Development and Evaluation of a Parent Empowerment Program for Family Peer Advocates

Family-to-family services are emerging as an important adjunctive service to traditional mental health care and a vehicle for improving parent engagement and service use in children’s mental health services. In New York State, a growing workforce of Family Peer Advocates (FPA) is delivering family-to-family services. We describe the development and evaluation of a professional program to enhance Family Peer Advocate professional skills, called the Parent Engagement and Empowerment Program (PEP). We detail the history and content of PEP and provide data from a pre/post and 6-month follow up evaluation of 58 FPA who participated in the first Statewide regional training effort. Self-efficacy, empowerment, and skills development were assessed at 3 time points: baseline, post-training, and 6-month follow-up. The largest changes were in self-efficacy and empowerment. Regional differences suggest differences in Family Peer Advocate workforce across areas of the state. This evaluation also provides the first systematic documentation of Family Peer Advocate activities over a six-month period. Consistent with peer specialists within the adult health care field, FPA in the children’s mental health field primarily focused on providing emotional support and service access issues. Implications for expanding family-to-family services and integrating it more broadly into provider organizations are described.     

Quality of Life Assessment for Physical Activity and Health Promotion

Despite the clear relationship of physical activity and quality of life (QoL), QoL measures are seldom targeted for physical activity and health promotion. The current research attempted to address that gap by developing a QoL measure based on a conceptual model that reflects positive health and is relevant for physical activity and health promotion programs. In the project, which extended over three phases, an initial 70-item QoL survey was administered to university students and community program participants (total n = 512) along with measures of satisfaction with life and physical activity. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed clear social, emotional, cognitive, physical, spiritual and functional (ADL) QoL factors as well as integrated QoL. The resulting 32-item QoL Survey fits the conceptual model, demonstrates logical relationships with physical activity and has sufficient psychometric properties for use in related research and health promotion programs.     

The Cost of Caring? Emotional Labour,Wellbeing and the Clergy

Although members of the clergy experience working conditions that have been associated with “emotional labour”, little is known about the impact of this aspect of the job role on wellbeing. This study examined relationships between emotional labour and psychological distress and intrinsic job satisfaction in 188 UK-based clergy. Also investigated were the potential moderating effects of social support and training in counselling skills. Findings revealed significant associations between emotional labour and both psychological distress and job satisfaction. Evidence was found that counselling training and a wider social network may protect clergy from the negative impact of emotional labour, but social network size may also be a risk factor for wellbeing. Further research should examine the impact of emotional labour on clergy, and the factors that might help them manage this more effectively.     

Functional analysis and treatment of arranging and ordering by individuals with an autism spectrum disorder

Of the diagnostic features of autism, relatively little research has been devoted to restricted and repetitive behavior, particularly topographically complex forms of restricted and repetitive behavior such as rigidity in routines or compulsive-like behavior (e.g., arranging objects in patterns or rows). Like vocal or motor stereotypy, topographically complex forms of restricted and repetitive behavior may be associated with negative outcomes such as interference with skill acquisition, negative social consequences, and severe problem behavior associated with interruption of restricted and repetitive behavior. In the present study, we extended functional analysis methodology to the assessment and treatment of arranging and ordering for 3 individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. For all 3 participants, arranging and ordering was found to be maintained by automatic reinforcement, and treatments based on function reduced arranging and ordering.     

The Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey (HABLAS): Acculturation, Birthplace and Alcohol-Related Social Problems Across Hispanic National Groups

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between acculturation, birthplace, and alcohol-related social problems across Hispanic national groups. METHOD: 5,224 Hispanic adults (18+ years) were interviewed using a multistage cluster sample design in Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Houston, and Los Angeles. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis shows no association between acculturation and problems among men or women. Birthplace is a risk factor for social problems among both genders. Among men, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and South/Central Americans are more likely to report social problems than Cuban Americans. Other risk factors for men are unemployment, a higher volume of drinking, and a higher frequency of binge drinking. Among women, Mexican American origin and binge drinking are also risk factors for reporting problems. CONCLUSIONS: U.S.-born Hispanics may experience stress and other detrimental effects to health because of their minority status, which may increase the likelihood of more drinking and the development of alcohol-related problems.     

Cultural and Cognitive Predictors of Academic Motivation Among Mexican American Adolescents: Caution Against Discounting the Impact of Cultural Processes

This study examined the role of cognitive (i.e., grit, hope, and academic skepticism) and cultural variables (i.e., generational status, familismo, ethnic identity, and bicultural stress) on academic motivation among 181 Mexican American adolescents. Results indicated that hope, grit, and familismo positively predicted academic motivation. Conversely, academic skepticism and bicultural stress negatively predicted academic motivation. This study demonstrates that culture is important to consider above and beyond cognitive variables. Implications for practice and research are discussed. Este estudio examinó la influencia que ejercen las variables cognitivas (determinación, esperanza y escepticismo académico) y culturales (estatus generacional, familismo, identidad étnica y estrés bicultural) sobre la motivación académica en 181 adolescentes mexicano‐americanos. Los resultados indicaron que la esperanza, la determinación y el familismo pronosticaron positivamente la motivación académica. Y a la inversa, el escepticismo académico y el estrés bicultural pronosticaron negativamente la motivación académica. Este estudio demuestra que es importante considerar la cultura además de las variables cognitivas. Se discuten las implicaciones para la práctica y la investigación.