Less exploring by mouth occurs in newborns of depressed mothers

Twenty‐four newborns (M age = 12 days) of depressed and nondepressed mothers were assessed for oral perception of a nubby and smooth texture. Both groups of newborns discriminated between these textures and showed a sucking preference for the smooth texture. However, the newborns of depressed mothers spent 50% less time orally exploring the stimuli, one‐third less time exploring the more novel nubby texture, and 59% less time mouthing the smooth texture. Newborns of depressed mothers may have biological differences that affect their emotional arousal and emotional regulation (e.g., capacity for self‐soothing). © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

The long-term effects of coping strategy use in victims of bullying

The ways in which children appraise and cope with school bullying are likely to influence the long-term outcomes experienced. To examine this possibility, 219 Spanish undergraduate students (73 male, 146 female) aged between 18 and 40, completed an adapted version of the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire (RBQ; Sch?fer et al., 2004) and a distress scale (Rivers, 1999). Results indicated that neither coping strategies reported by victims of bullying nor the match between control appraisal and coping strategy influenced levels of distress experienced as adults. Control, threat and challenge appraisals did, however, influence long-term distress. Explanations for these effects are discussed, and include the possibility that appraisals may directly influence levels of distress and the quality of emotions experienced by victims during the actual bullying episode. Active strategies were perceived by students to be effective in dealing with bullying, whereas those centered on avoiding the conflict, or which involved aggression, were considered ineffective.     

Psychological Reactions to the Drunk Driver: Associations With Intervention and Their Success1

Research on psychological factors in helping behavior has been undertaken primarily in laboratory settings. Although this work has been instrumental in identifying psychological factors that influence helping, their role in naturally occurring helping behavior, such as informal drunk-driving intervention, is largely unknown. College students (N= 192) completed a questionnaire that assessed 11 possible reactions to the drunk driving situation, types of interventions, and their success. Over half of the students (55%, N= 10) reported having intervened to prevent someone from driving drunk. Using structural modeling, we examined the effect of various emotions and affective and cognitive reactions on the frequency and success of different types of informal drunk-driving intervention. Different reactions to the drunk driving situation influenced the number, type, and success of interventions used.     

The personal style inventory: Preliminary validation studies of new measures of sociotropy and autonomy

We conducted five studies with depressed patients, demographically matched controls, and college students to develop and psychometrically evaluate new measures of concerns about interpersonal relationships (sociotropy) and autonomous achievement (autonomy), constructs that have been proposed to confer vulnerability to depression. The final version of the Personal Style Inventory (PSI) Sociotropy and Autonomy scales showed a good factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and test-retest stability, a low correlation with each other, and weak or no gender differences. Convergent and discriminant validity were examined with respect to depressive symptom levels, the Dependency and Self-Criticism scales of the Revised Depressive Experiences Questionnaire, and a social desirability scale and were generally acceptable. Further evaluations of the construct validity of the PSI are indicated.     

Developing community alternatives to group home placement for SED special education students in the Ventura County System of Care

Interagency planning and resource development were used to improve available services for severely emotionally disturbed special education students who were in or at-risk of being placed in residential care. Augmented local school-based and regional day treatment services were financed by a Ventura County Social Services Agency trust fund and delivered cooperatively by the County Mental Health Agency and local education agencies. Revenues generated by the new service positions were planned to restore the trust fund. Outcomes following service implementation included: (a) an average reduction of 3.5 youths in the expected number of youths in group home placement per month; (b) a total reduction of $290,011 in the expected annual cost of placement; and (c) generation of $281,238 in Medi-Cal revenue by the school-based and day treatment components of the system of care. The implications of these outcomes are discussed in terms of existing trends in numbers of identified seriously emotionally disturbed students and their service needs and the processes that were involved in planning and implementing the service augmentation.     

Temperament and behaviour problems in children: A multilevel analysis of cross-cultural differences

Early temperament attributes have been linked to emerging behaviour problems and significant long-term consequences; however, these relations are rarely examined cross-culturally. The present study addresses this gap, employing multilevel modelling to explain within- and between-culture variances with respect to temperament predicting a spectrum of behaviour problems across 14 nations from the Joint Effort Toddler Temperament Consortium (JETTC). A total of 865 children between 17 and 40 months, with approximately equal age distribution across this developmental period and about equivalent representation of genders, were recruited from 14 nations. Greater negative emotionality was associated with more internalizing problems, whereas higher surgency and effortful control predicted fewer internalizing difficulties. Controlling for age and gender, temperament explained significant within- and between-culture variances in internalizing and externalizing problems (at the broad-band and fine-grained levels), as well as sleep problems. For internalizing difficulties, temperament accounted for more between-culture variance. In contrast, for externalizing difficulties, temperament accounted more for how individuals within the same culture differed from their same-culture counterparts. The within-culture findings suggest universal patterns of temperament-problem relations, informing cultural adaptation of interventions; between-culture findings enhance understanding of the implications of the cultural niche for normative behaviour and adjustment.     

Structural and experiential factors in newborns’ preference for speech sounds

It is well established that newborns prefer some sounds over others. It is widely believed that these preferences reflect past experience, either prenatally or in the immediate postnatal environment. However, it is also possible that structural factors are involved. The frequency of occurrence of different sounds in the languages of the world may provide evidence of such structural factors. If structural factors are important, and if frequency of occurrence of sounds in the world’s languages reflects structural factors, then we might expect newborn preference for sounds to reflect their frequency across languages. In this study, newborns were presented with two cv pairs consisting of a trilled /r/ and a bunched /r/ followed by the vowel //. The newborns were either of English‐speaking or Spanish‐speaking origin. The bunched /r/ occurs in American English and is not frequent in the languages of the world. It does not occur in Spanish. The trilled /r/ occurs in Spanish and is a frequent consonant in the languages of the world. It does not occur in American English. Results showed that newborns of both linguistic backgrounds preferred to listen to the trilled /r/. It is hypothesized that the frequency of occurrence of a sound in the languages of the world may reflect structurally based ease of production and ease of perception, the latter leading to the newborn preference.     

Applying a Theory of Change Approach to Interagency Planning in Child Mental Health

This paper describes the use of a theory of change approach to community-based cross-agency service planning for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families. Public agency planners in Contra Costa County, California used the theory of change approach to organize service planning for a population of youth who had been arrested and involved with juvenile probation. The theory of change process described in this paper links community outcomes with planned activities with the assumptions or principles that underlie the community planning efforts. When complete, a theory of change logic model can serve as a guide for implementation, ensuring that community plans for service delivery remain true to their intent. The theory of change development process includes twelve stages and is based on a step-by-step approach. Theory of change logic models establish a context for articulating a community's shared beliefs and prompt local stakeholders to establish logical connections between the population to be served, expected results, and strategies intended to achieve those results.     

Response perseveration in psychopaths: Interpersonal/affective or social deviance traits?

In order to clarify the role of the two broad components of psychopathy (interpersonal/affective and social deviance; R. D. Hare, 2003) in explaining maladaptive response perseveration in psychopaths, as well as the role of reflection after punished responses in this deficit, the authors administered a card perseveration task to 47 Spanish male inmates assessed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). Hierarchical regressions showed that psychopaths' maladaptive perseveration (more cards played and less money earned) was uniquely predicted by the social deviance features of psychopathy (PCL-R Factor 2)--particularly by its impulsive and irresponsible lifestyle facet (PCL-R Facet 3)--and not by its interpersonal/affective features (PCL-R Factor 1). Moreover, perseveration was related to a lack of reflection both after punishment and after reward feedback. The authors' results, in conjunction with previous evidence indicating perseverative deficits in several impulse control disorders, suggest that response perseveration may not be specific to psychopathy but rather is associated more generally with the externalizing dimension of psychopathology.