Varieties of Cues to Emotion in Naturally Occurring Situations

People were asked to observe a person with whom they lived, to report when they noticed that person experiencing an emotion, and to report what cues they used to detect the emotion. In Phase 1, observers were told to "list the cues they used"; in Phase 2, they were told to "describe how they could tell" that the target person was experiencing an emotion. Results were similar in both phases. Only 5 of the 182 respondents reported using a single cue whereas 10 reported using at least a dozen cues. Two out of three respondents reported using vocal cues; over a half reported using facial, indirect verbal, and context cues; nearly a half reported using body and activity cues; about a quarter of the respondents reported using physiological, trait, and other cues; and fewer than a tenth reported using direct verbal cues. Roughly the same number of cues and the same distribution of cue categories was found regardless of the emotion being observed, the sex of the person observing, the sex of the person being observed, or the type of relationship between them.     

Women's Sexuality and Meaning Making

The purpose of the current study was to challenge depictions of traditionally oppressive female sexuality by explicitly exploring diverse women's positive experiences of sexuality and to capture the unique meanings women ascribe to their sexuality through the use of participant-generated metaphor. We interviewed 17 diverse women regarding the meaning of sexuality in their lives. Coding revealed that metaphors for sexuality provided a creative and integrative way for women to express the complexity of their sexuality. In addition, a sexual developmental trajectory emerged from the analysis, as did themes of fluidity and ideal sexuality. Implications for theory and therapy, as well as future directions for research, are offered.     

Authenticity as a Mediator of the Relation Between Child Maltreatment and Negative Outcomes for College Women

The goal of this cross-sectional study was to determine if authenticity in relationships mediated the relation between early childhood maltreatment and negative outcomes (depression, low self-esteem, and traumatic symptoms). An ethnically diverse sample of female college students (N = 257, M age = 19.74) completed self-report questionnaires related to early childhood maltreatment, negative outcomes, and authenticity in relationships. Approximately 30% of participants experienced childhood maltreatment including physical maltreatment, emotional maltreatment, or both. Results from multiple mediation analyses indicated that, when controlling for physical maltreatment, authenticity in close relationships significantly partially mediated the relation between emotional maltreatment and depression, self-esteem, and traumatic symptoms (p < .05). However, when controlling for emotional maltreatment, physical maltreatment did not significantly predict any of the outcome variables, so physical maltreatment was not significantly mediated by authenticity in relationships. These results have important clinical implications for women who experience negative mental health outcomes as a result of childhood maltreatment.     

Counter-Recognition in Decolonial Struggle

In decolonial struggle, there is an old colonial order that must be forever dismantled, with all its trimmings of unearned privilege, embedded in generations of wealth. There is a new order to be established, with new constellations of links with the global world. It is with this moment of significant social questioning, disruption, and revolution that this paper is concerned. Colonial situations, wherever they occur, affect our social and political lives deeply, and as they penetrate into our therapy rooms, with identities abraded and subjectivities set aslant with new light, it is urgent that we begin to grapple with their challenges to our skills and our theory. This paper addresses three aspects of this. First, the decolonial turn raises significant challenges for relational therapies. Second, far-reaching change to a social order evokes complex layers of trauma, and the ways in which we respond to these requires a reach beyond our own vulnerabilities, our retreat into the old familiar. Finally, the paper looks at the ways in which the writing of both Frantz Fanon and Donald Winnicott theories provide a way of making sense of this challenging clinical terrain.     

Predicting Romantic Interest at Zero Acquaintance: Evidence of Sex Differences in Trait Perception but Not in Predictors of Interest

We evaluated five competing hypotheses about what predicts romantic interest. Through a half‐block quasi‐experimental design, a large sample of young adults (i.e. responders; n = 335) viewed videos of opposite‐sex persons (i.e. targets) talking about themselves, and responders rated the targets' traits and their romantic interest in the target. We tested whether similarity, dissimilarity or overall trait levels on mate value, physical attractiveness, life history strategy and the Big Five personality factors predicted romantic interest at zero acquaintance and whether sex acted as a moderator. We tested the responders' individual perception of the targets' traits, in addition to the targets' own self‐reported trait levels and a consensus rating of the targets made by the responders. We used polynomial regression with response surface analysis within multilevel modelling to test support for each of the hypotheses. Results suggest a large sex difference in trait perception; when women rated men, they agreed in their perception more often than when men rated women. However, as a predictor of romantic interest, there were no sex differences. Only the responders' perception of the targets' physical attractiveness predicted romantic interest; specifically, responders' who rated the targets' physical attractiveness as higher than themselves reported more romantic interest. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Collectively Speaking: The Many Meanings of Naming and Sharing Group Trauma

This commentary on Kathleen McPhillips’s (this issue) “‘Unbearable Knowledge’” paper looks at implications for theory of the model she uses to analyze collective trauma. While affirming the model’s robustness, it is suggested that it has both theoretical and political ramifications that need to be further spelled out. The commentary ends with several questions regarding the leap from individual to collective trauma. These include the importance of maintaining a steady appreciation of multiplicity, which is foundational to relational psychoanalytic theory; second, the need to appreciate the complexity of dismantling a collective dissociative defense; and finally, the significance of spontaneity in healing.     

A longitudinal study of children's text messaging and literacy development

Recent studies have shown evidence of positive concurrent relationships between children's use of text message abbreviations ('textisms') and performance on standardized assessments of reading and spelling. This study aimed to determine the direction of this association. One hundred and nineteen children aged between 8 and 12 years were assessed on measures of general ability, reading, spelling, rapid phonological retrieval, and phonological awareness at the beginning and end of an academic year. The children were also asked to provide a sample of the text messages that they sent over a 2-day period. These messages were analyzed to determine the extent to which textisms were used. It was found that textism use at the beginning of the academic year was able to predict unique variance in spelling performance at the end of the academic year after controlling for age, verbal IQ, phonological awareness, and spelling ability at the beginning of the year. When the analysis was reversed, reading and spelling ability were unable to predict unique variance in textism usage. These data suggest that there is some evidence of a causal contribution of textism usage to spelling performance in children aged 8-12 years. However, when the measure of rapid phonological retrieval (rapid picture naming) was controlled in the analysis, the relationship between textism use and spelling ability just failed to reach statistical significance, suggesting that phonological access skills may mediate some of the relationship between textism use and spelling performance.     

The Role of Childhood Neglect and Childhood Poverty in Predicting Mental Health, Academic Achievement and Crime in Adulthood

This study examines the roles of childhood neglect and childhood poverty (family and neighborhood) in predicting Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), academic achievement, and crime in young adulthood. Using existing data from a prospective cohort design study, 1,005 children with documented histories of neglect (N = 507) and matched controls (N = 497) were interviewed in young adulthood (mean age 29). Official criminal histories were also used to assess outcomes. Data were analyzed using logistic and ordinary least squares regressions and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to control for neighborhood clustering. Results from HLM revealed that childhood neglect and childhood family poverty uniquely predicted PTSD and adult arrest, MDD was predicted only by childhood family poverty, and a significant interaction between childhood family poverty and childhood neighborhood poverty predicted academic achievement for the control group only. Childhood neglect, childhood family poverty, and childhood neighborhood poverty each contribute to poor outcomes later in life. While interventions should be developed for neglected children to prevent negative outcomes, the current findings suggest that it is also important to consider the ecological context in which these children are growing up.