Adaptation of parent-child interaction therapy for Puerto Rican families: a preliminary study

This study examines how parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) was adapted for Puerto Rican parents of children aged 4-6 with hyperactivity and other significant behavior problems. Four steps were followed: (1) translation and preliminary adaptation of the treatment manual, (2) application of the treatment to 9 families as part of an exploratory study using repeated measures, (3) treatment revision and refinement, and (4) in-depth interviews with parents (n=15) and clinical psychologists (n=5) from Puerto Rico who provided feedback on treatment process and components. Throughout this process, cultural elements and modifications were recommended to be incorporated into the treatment protocol. Both quantitative and qualitative results suggest that PCIT seems to be an acceptable intervention for this population, with some minor changes. Parents reported a high level of satisfaction, a significant reduction in children's externalizing behavior problems, and reduction of parenting stress and improvement in their parenting practices. Psychologists also evaluated positively the treatment protocol and recommended its use. Results from this study may inform clinicians and researchers who work with Latino families about relevant issues to be considered to promote their participation in behavioral family interventions and to enhance their acceptability and effectiveness.     

An Interactional Approach for Pharmacopsychologists and Psychologists: Gender Concerns

A knowledge base of culturally sensitive psychotropic pharmacotherapy is encouraged to help patients receive accurate diagnoses and beneficial treatment. Research is best informed if the complexity of individuals is directly addressed beyond main effects in research designs. The interactions of age, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and cultural practices, as well as medication effects, need to be studied. Reporting data with distinctive characteristics exhibited by different ethnic-gender subgroups provides rich information with which psychologists can treat patients more effectively as well as ethically. Conceptual models of prescribing need to include perspectives of the whole person. An interactional model is one model that would address physiological, psychological, and sociocultural dimensions.     

Psychological resilience and dysfunction among hospitalized survivors of the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong: a latent class approach

OBJECTIVE: To examine trajectories of psychological functioning using latent class analysis on a sample of hospitalized survivors of the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Hong Kong. DESIGN: A longitudinal study of 997 survivors, recruited from among 1,331 individuals hospitalized for SARS, were interviewed at 6, 12, and 18 months after hospitalization. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychological and physical functioning at each time point was measured using the 12-item Medical Outcome Study Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). RESULTS: Four latent classes were identified--chronic dysfunction, delayed dysfunction, recovery, and resilience. All groups had better physical health than the chronic group. Resilient and recovered individuals had greater social support and less SARS-related worry, and resilient individuals were more likely to be male. The resilient group also had greater social support than the delayed group and better physical functioning than the recovered group. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that longitudinal outcome trajectories following a major health-threat event in an Asian sample bear close resemblance to prototypical trajectories observed in trauma studies using Western samples. Unique predictors of the trajectories included factors observed in previous studies, such as social support, as well as factors of particular relevance to a major disease outbreak, such as SARS-related worry.     

How Latino American and European American adolescents discuss conflicts, sexuality, and AIDS with their mothers

The authors examined how the structure of mother-adolescent conversations differs by ethnic group, age, and dyadic and individual factors. Mother-adolescent dyads of European or Latino descent participated in conversations and reported on their relationship and AIDS knowledge. Latina American mothers dominated conversations more than European American mothers, independent of socioeconomic status. Mothers dominated conversations about sexuality and AIDS more than conversations about conflicts. Mothers of older adolescents reacted more negatively, and older adolescents reported less satisfaction, less openness, and more sexual discussions with persons other than their mothers. Latino American adolescents whose mothers dominated conversations more reported fewer sexual discussions. Latina American mothers who dominated conversations more reported more openness and satisfaction. When mothers dominated conversations more, adolescents had lower AIDS knowledge.     

Effects of token variability on our ability to distinguish between vowels

Even when the speaker, context, and speaking style are held fixed, the physical properties of naturally spoken utterances of the same speech sound vary considerably. This variability imposes limits on our ability to distinguish between different speech sounds. We present a conceptual framework for relating the ability to distinguish between speech sounds in single-token experiments (in which each speech sound is represented by a single wave form) to resolution in multiple-token experiments. Experimental results indicate that this ability is substantially reduced by an increase in the number of tokens from 1 to 4, but that there is little further reduction when the number of tokens increases to 16. Furthermore, although there is little relation between the ability to distinguish between a given pair of tokens in the multiple- and the 1-token experiments, there is a modest correlation between the ability to distinguish specific vowel tokens in the 4- and 16-token experiments. These results suggest that while listeners use a multiplicity of cues to distinguish between single tokens of a pair of vowel sounds, so that performance is highly variable both across tokens and listeners, they use a smaller set when distinguishing between populations of naturally produced vowel tokens, so that variability is reduced. The effectiveness of the cues used in the latter case is limited more by internal noise than by the variability of the cues themselves.     

Comparative analysis of the occupational stress profiles of male versus female administrators

This study sought: (1) to compare the occupational stress profiles of male versus female educational administrators to deternine whether there were significant differences in their profiles, and (2) to examine whether males and females were equally good candidates for administrative jobs, which positions are often associated with a high degree of job-related stress. A 35-item questionnaire, known as the Administrative Stress Index (ASI) was sent to all members of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (n = 1855). The 1156 usable questionnaires were returned. Approximatley 9.3% (or 108) of the respondents were female. One-way analyses of variance showed that female administrators experienced substantially lower levels of self-perceived occupational stress than their male counterparts. Findings were disucssed primarily in terms of implications for recruitment of women into administrative positions.     

Self-Perceived Effective and Ineffective Problem Solvers' Differential Views of Their Partners' Problem-Solving Styles

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate if self-perceived ineffective problem solvers (SPIPS; high scorers on the Problem Solving Inventory [PSI; Heppner, 1988]) as compared with self-perceived effective problem solvers (SPEPS; low scorers on the PSI) would view their significant others' problem-solving style and level of problem solving more negatively. Participants included 101 SPIPS and SPEPS and their 101 respective partners. Results indicate that SPIPS as compared with SPEPS perceived their partners' problem-solving style more negatively. Likewise, the former compared with the latter and men compared with women rated their partners' level of problem solving as less effective. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Acculturative stress, social support, and coping: relations to psychological adjustment among Mexican American college students

This study examined the relations between acculturative stress and psychological functioning, as well as the protective role of social support and coping style, in a sample of 148 Mexican American college students (67% female, 33% male; mean age = 23.05 years, SD = 3.33). In bivariate analyses, acculturative stress was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Moreover, active coping was associated with better adjustment (lower depression), whereas avoidant coping predicted poorer adjustment (higher levels of depression and anxiety). Tests of interaction effects indicated that parental support and active coping buffered the effects of high acculturative stress on anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. In addition, peer support moderated the relation between acculturative stress and anxiety symptoms. Implications for reducing the effects of acculturative stress among Mexican American college students are discussed.     

Multidimensional normative ratings for the International Affective Picture System

The purpose of the present investigation was to replicate and extend the International Affective Picture System norms (Ito, Cacioppo, & Lang, 1998; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1999). These norms were developed to provide researchers with photographic slides that varied in emotional evocation, especially arousal and valence. In addition to collecting rating data on the dimensions of arousal and valence, we collected data on the dimensions of consequentiality, meaningfulness, familiarity, distinctiveness, and memorability. Furthermore, we collected ratings on the primary emotions of happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear. A total of 1,302 participants were tested in small groups. The participants in each group rated a subset of 18 slides on 14 dimensions. Ratings were obtained on 703 slides. The means and standard deviations for all of the ratings are provided. We found our valence ratings to be similar to the previous norms. In contrast, our participants were more likely to rate the slides as less arousing than in the previous norms. The mean ratings on the remaining 12 dimensions were all below the midpoint of the 9-point Likert scale. However, sufficient variability in ratings across the slides indicates that selecting slides on the basis of these variables is feasible. Overall, the present ratings should allow investigators to use these norms for research purposes, especially in research dealing with the interrelationships among emotion and cognition. The means and standard deviations for emotions may be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet from www.psychonomic.org/archive.