Emotional Expression During Autobiographical Narratives as a Function of Aging: Support for the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

People communicate personal stories in very different ways. These variations in communication patterns may be affected by many variables, particularly age. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) predicts young adults are focused on information gathering to function in society, whereas older adults become increasingly motivated to regulate emotions and pursue emotionally salient yet stable goals and activities. What is not understood is whether communication patterns reflect this developmental transition. Younger and older adults (n = 120) completed negative and positive autobiographical narratives that were analyzed with a Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count Program. Results indicated that younger adults utilized more affective words in general, including more positive, negative, and anxious words during autobiographical narratives. In the positive autobiographical task, older adults used a higher percentage of “family” words, whereas in the negative autobiographical task, younger adults more frequently utilized “friend” words. In terms of pronoun use, there was evidence for increased second and third person pronouns among older adults. Results related to affective, social, and pronoun word use are largely supportive of SST. However, other important findings that were not predicted were noteworthy, including the finding that results varied as a function of narrative valence.     

An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapy for Individuals With Generalized Anxiety Disorder

In response to clinical observations and research findings that individuals with generalized anxiety disorder are reactive to their internal experiences, avoid and suppress painful emotions, thoughts, and sensations, and limit their involvement in meaningful activities, an Acceptance Based Behavioral Therapy (ABBT) was developed to specifically target these responses. ABBT incorporates acceptance and mindfulness strategies with more traditional behavior therapy techniques. Specifically, ABBT uses mindfulness and acceptance approaches as an alternate response to the rigid, avoidant responses characteristic of GAD. Likewise, therapy focuses on identifying and enacting behaviors that are congruent with what is personally meaningful to the client rather than engaging in actions that are motivated by avoidance of anxiety. This article provides a case conceptualization from an ABBT perspective for “William,” the composite client presented in Robichaud (2013a--this issue). The article goes on to demonstrate how an ABBT approach to treatment may unfold session-by-session for “William.”     

Psychological Treatment Improves Hemoglobin A1c Outcomes in Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Adolescents diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus often exhibit reduced adherence to their medical regimen and poor glycemic control. A retrospective study examined longitudinal hemoglobin A1c (HgbA1c) outcomes for adolescent patients referred to the psychology service embedded within an endocrinology clinic. Three patient groups were examined: (1) Treatment: 59 adolescents referred who engaged in psychotherapy; (2) No Treatment: 40 adolescents referred yet failed to initiate psychotherapy; (3) Control: 58 adolescents not referred for treatment and matched on demographics to the two treatment groups. Over 1 year, the Treatment group had a sustained decrease in HgbA1c while the No Treatment and Control groups had an overall increase in HgbA1c. At study end, the Treatment group had HgbA1c values that were not significantly different from patients who were not considered in need of psychological treatment (Control). Adolescents that utilized the pediatric psychology service saw decreased HgbA1c values over time.     

Classroom Changes in ADHD Symptoms Following Clinic-Based Behavior Therapy

This study examined classroom behavioral outcomes for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) following their participation in a manualized, 10-week intervention called Family Skills Training for ADHD-Related Symptoms (Family STARS). Family STARS combined behavioral parent training (BPT) and child-focused behavioral activation therapy (CBAT). Participants were children ages 7–10 diagnosed with ADHD-Combined Type. Pre- and post-treatment teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms were compared using a single group, within-subjects research design. Intervention effectiveness was analyzed using paired-samples t-tests. Results indicated statistically significant classroom improvements for externalizing behaviors and attention problems with medium and large main effects (respectively) for the intervention. Possible implications for combining CBAT with BPT for the treatment of ADHD are discussed as well as the relevance of these results for improving the effectiveness and portability of empirically supported interventions.     

Parental Coping in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Fifty-six mothers of premature infants who participated in a study to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) completed the Brief COPE, a self-report inventory of coping mechanisms, the Stanford Acute Stress Reaction Questionnaire to assess acute stress disorder (ASD) and the Davidson Trauma Scale to assess PTSD. 18 % of mothers had baseline ASD while 30 % of mothers met the criteria for PTSD at the 1-month follow-up. Dysfunctional coping as measured by the Brief COPE was positively associated with elevated risk of PTSD in these mothers (RR = 1.09, 95 % CI 1.02–1.15; p = .008). Maternal education was positively associated with PTSD; each year increase in education was associated with a 17 % increase in the relative risk of PTSD at 1 month follow-up (RR = 1.17, 95 % CI 1.02–1.35; p = .03). Results suggest that dysfunctional coping is an important issue to consider in the development of PTSD in parents of premature infants.     

Sexual Harassment and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Asian and White Women

Sexual harassment is a prevalent problem that has been associated with negative psychological and physical health outcomes. Although sexual harassment has been linked to posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, little is known about how PTS symptoms that arose from sexual harassment experiences might be associated with psychological and physical health. This study examined the associations among sexual harassment, PTS symptoms, and psychological and physical well-being in a sample of Asian and White women. In addition, given the lack of research on sexual harassment among Asian women, we investigated the moderating role of ethnicity. Results indicated that greater sexual harassment frequency and PTS symptom severity predicted more depression, overall psychological distress, and physical symptoms. PTS symptom severity and ethnicity moderated the relationship between sexual harassment frequency and physical symptoms. We discuss the implications of these findings and directions for further research.     

Exploring Gender Differences in the Association Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Thyroid Disorders

This study used a regional subsample (n = 13,070) from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey to explore the independent contribution of childhood physical abuse to thyroid conditions in adulthood. Gender-specific logistic regression analyses controlled for age and race, in addition to 5 clusters of variables: childhood stressors, health behaviors, general stress levels, mental health, and socioeconomic status. No significant relationship between childhood abuse and thyroid conditions was found in men; however, childhood physical abuse was associated with higher odds of thyroid conditions among women, independent of a wide range of factors. In a fully adjusted model, abused women had 40% higher odds of thyroid conditions compared to their non abused peers, 95% CI [1.05, 1.87]. Future research on gender differences in the abuse–thyroid relationship is warranted.     

Predicting Prosocial Behavior Toward Sex-Trafficked Persons: The Roles of Empathy,Belief in a Just World,and Attitudes Toward Prostitution

Human trafficking has been identified as a global human rights violation. This study aimed to investigate the predictors of prosocial behaviors toward sex-trafficked persons. Participants were 223 undergraduates randomly assigned to read a vignette and answer follow-up questions along with measures of empathy, just world belief, attitudes toward prostitution, and proactive behavior. Empathy was highest for trafficked women, regardless of citizenship status. Trafficked foreign women received the highest empathy, and U.S. prostitutes received the least. Path analysis results indicate just world belief, beliefs about prostitutes, and family values relating to prostitution had direct effects on empathic concern; in turn, empathic concern had a direct effect on proactive behavior. Explanations for the results are discussed, along with educational and clinical implications.     

Sexual Harassment: Prevalence,Outcomes, and Gender Differences Assessed by Three Different Estimation Methods

This study investigates gender differences in prevalence and effects of sexual harassment using three different estimation methods. In a representative sample of 2,349 Norwegian employees, 1.1% self-labeled as targets of sexual harassment, whereas 18.4% reported exposure to sexually harassing behaviors during the last six months. When employing latent class cluster analysis as a method for estimating prevalence of sexual harassment, 2.2% could be classified as targets of frequent harassment and 19.1% could be classified as targets of unwanted sexual attention. Although more women than men self-labeled as targets of sexual harassment, men reported the same number of sexually harassing behaviors as women. Sexual harassment was found to be significantly related to mental health problems and low job satisfaction among men and women.     

The role of object motion in forging long-term representations of objects

It has been suggested that objects are represented as collections of two dimensional images. Although possible in theory, such a representation must first be built, which presupposes a mechanism for collating these images. This is not trivial. Any such mechanism would have to be able to group images which differ considerably in appearance. One possible solution to this problem is to associate those images whose appearance is closely temporally correlated, on the assumption that multiple views of an object are frequently experienced in close temporal succession. This paper describes evidence for the influence of just such a mechanism in human observers, and its effect on long-term representations of initially novel faces. Discrimination performance for previously viewed faces is shown to depend on whether views of the two faces being discriminated, had previously been seen in close temporal succession or not. Irrespective of the preferred theory of how humans represent objects, these results reveal strong evidence for a novel, time-based learning mechanism that strongly influences within-category discrimination.