Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Predictors of Stress Generation in Early Adolescence: Pathway to Depressive Symptoms

Although individuals with depression have been found to experience a higher rate of stress in their lives, it remains unclear to what extent other personal characteristics may contribute to stress generation. The current study extended past research by examining the effects of two theoretically and empirically supported cognitive vulnerabilities to depression (negative cognitive style and rumination) as predictors of dependent interpersonal and achievement events, independent events, and relational peer victimization. In a diverse sample of 301 early adolescents (56 % female; M_age?=?12.82 years), we found that negative cognitive style prospectively predicted the experience of dependent interpersonal stress and relational victimization, and that rumination did not predict stress in any of the domains. Furthermore, the occurrence of intervening stress mediated the associations between negative cognitive style and subsequent depressive symptoms. Additionally, whereas negative cognitive style predicted relational victimization among both boys and girls, girls were particularly vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms following the occurrence of relational victimization. Thus, a negative cognitive style may contribute to the occurrence of stressful events, which in turn increases depressive symptoms. Girls may be particularly reactive to relational victimization, representing one pathway through which sex differences in depression may emerge.     

Interpretations of voices in patients with hallucinations and non-patient controls: a comparison and predictors of distress in patients

BACKGROUND: This study tested the hypotheses that interpretations of voices will be associated with distress linked to auditory hallucinations, and that patients experiencing hallucinations will exhibit higher levels of negative interpretations in comparison with non-patients. METHOD: The Interpretation of Voices Inventory (British Journal of Clinical Psychology 41 (2002) 259) was administered to patients who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia spectrum disorders with auditory hallucinations and non-patients. Patients were also assessed using a semi-structured interview to asses clinical dimensions of their voices. RESULTS: The results showed that people with psychosis who experience auditory hallucinations did exhibit higher levels of positive and negative interpretations of voices, in comparison to non-patients. Correlational analyses revealed that interpretations of voices were significantly associated with emotional, physical and cognitive characteristics of voices. Regression analyses demonstrated that physical characteristics of voices and metaphysical beliefs were significant predictors of emotional characteristics of voices. CONCLUSIONS: The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Occurrence of imagery and its link with early memories in agoraphobia

Recent cognitive models suggest that mental imagery can help us understand the maintenance of anxiety disorders (e.g., de Silva, 1986; Hackmann, Surawy, & Clark, 1998). However, imagery is relatively unexplored within agoraphobia. Such images are also thought to be useful in uncovering memories that occurred around the onset of a disorder (Hackmann, Clark, & McManus, 2000). A total of 20 patients with agoraphobia and 20 matched controls took part in this investigation. Participants described any recurrent images they experienced in agoraphobic situations, and also any associated memories. All patients with agoraphobia (but no control participants) reported having distinct recurrent images in "agoraphobic situations". Most images involved several sensory modalities and in the majority of cases appeared to be linked with unpleasant memories of events experienced many years previously. While these exploratory findings require replication, potential treatment implications are discussed.     

A multisystems analysis of adolescent suicide attempters

The present study tested an ecologically based model, which predicted that hopelessness (individual level) mediates the effects of family dysfunction (interpersonal level) and socioeconomic status (sociocultural level) on both suicidal intent and suicidal ideation, within a sample of attempters. Subjects included adolescent males and females presenting at a general hospital emergency room following suicide attempts. Baron and Kenny's (1986) criteria for testing mediation models through multiple-regression analyses were employed. Little evidence of mediation was found. Hopelessness proved to be the best predictor of suicidal intent and ideation within a sample of attempters.     

Perceived past, present, and future control and adjustment to stressful life events

Perceived control is a central construct in psychology and is key to understanding individual differences in poststress outcomes (Frazier, Berman, & Steward, 2001). The goals of the current studies (using 4 samples of undergraduate students, total N = 1,421) were to examine the relations between different aspects of perceived control and poststress outcomes and to differentiate perceived control over specific events from related constructs (i.e., general control beliefs, coping strategies). To accomplish these goals, we first developed a new measure of perceived past, present, and future control over stressful life events. The data supported the content validity, factor structure, internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the new measure. Consistent with the temporal model of control (Frazier et al., 2001), these 3 forms of control had very different relations with adjustment. Present control was consistently related to lower distress levels in cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prospective analyses. Present control also predicted outcomes beyond the effects of general control beliefs and coping strategies. Past and future control had nonsignificant or positive relations with distress, although future control was associated with better outcomes (i.e., course grades) when the stressor was controllable. Thus, our measure can be used to assess the relations between perceived past, present, and future control and outcomes across a range of stressors. Because the relations between these 3 forms of control and outcomes differ markedly, measures that combine these aspects of control hinder the understanding of the important role of perceived control in adjustment to stress.     

Sexual orientation and shifts in preferences for a partner's body attributes in short-term versus long-term mating contexts

This study assessed the effects of short- and long-term mating contexts on preferences for body characteristics of potential relationship partners in lesbians and heterosexual women. Lesbians (n = 41) rated figure drawings and computer-generated images of women that varied in body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and breast size; heterosexual women (n = 95) rated computer-generated images of men that varied in muscularity and body fat. Both lesbians and heterosexual women showed a shift in preferences toward more physically attractive partners for shortterm relationships. All body aspects were affected, except that heterosexual women did not show a preference shift for male body fat. The results were interpreted in terms of a mating trade-off strategy in which mate preferences are the consequence of cost/benefit analyses and suggest that preferences for physical attributes of sexual partners may be shared by members of the same sex regardless of sexual orientation.     

Orthography influences the perception and production of speech

One intriguing question in language research concerns the extent to which orthographic information impacts on spoken word processing. Previous research has faced a number of methodological difficulties and has not reached a definitive conclusion. Our research addresses these difficulties by capitalizing on recent developments in the area of word learning. Participants were trained to criterion on a set of associations between novel pictures and novel spoken words. Spelling-sound consistent or spelling-sound inconsistent spellings were introduced on the 2nd day, and the influence of these spellings on speech processing was assessed on the 3rd day. Results showed significant orthographic effects on speech perception and speech production in a situation in which spelling-sound consistency was manipulated with perfect experimental control. Results are discussed in terms of a highly interactive language system in which there is a rapid and automatic flow of activation in both directions between orthographic and phonological representations.     

The effects of ageing and divided attention on the self-reference effect in emotional memory: Spontaneous or effortful mnemonic benefits?

The self-reference effect (SRE) is a powerful memory advantage associated with encoding in reference to the self (e.g., Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977). To explore whether this mnemonic benefit occurs spontaneously, the current study assessed how ageing and divided attention affect the magnitude of the SRE in emotional memory (i.e., memory for emotional stimuli). The sample included a young Full Attention group (young-FA), a young Divided Attention group (young-DA), and an older adult group. The division of attention was manipulated at encoding where participants incidentally studied positive, negative, and neutral trait adjectives in either a self-reference (i.e., rating how well each word describes themselves) or an other-reference condition (i.e., rating how well each word describes another person). Memory for these words was assessed with both recall and recognition tasks. The results from both tasks demonstrated equivalent SRE for all three groups across emotional valence categories of stimuli, suggesting that the SRE is a spontaneous, effortless, and robust effect in memory.     

Multiple Representations in Number Line Estimation: A Developmental Shift or Classes of Representations?

Children's estimation patterns on a number line estimation task may provide information about the mental representation of the magnitude of numbers. Siegler and his colleagues concluded that children's mental representations shift from a logarithmic-ruler representation to a linear-ruler representation. However, there are important methodological issues with respect to their number-line studies that threaten the validity of the conclusions. We discuss these methodological issues and propose an alternative method to analyze estimation data. One hundred nineteen children from kindergarten, first, and second grade performed a number-line estimation task in which they had to estimate the position of 30 numbers on a 0-to-100 number line. The results supported the hypothesis that children show various kinds of estimation patterns. Five classes of children were distinguished, which were characterized by different estimation patterns. A remarkable result was that the logarithmic-ruler representation was not found. Although young children were more likely to show overestimation of small numbers than older children, this developmental trend was small and not significant.