Obsessive-Compulsive and Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Depressive Cognitive Styles

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) commonly co-occurs with depression, resulting in heightened severity and poorer treatment response. Research on the associations between specific obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) and depressive symptoms has utilized measures that have not fully considered the relationship across OCS dimensions. Little is known about which factors explain the overlap between OCS and depressive symptoms. OCS and depressive symptoms may be related via depressive cognitive styles, such as rumination or dampening (i.e., down-regulating positive emotions). We evaluated the associations of OCS dimensions with depressive symptoms and cognitive styles. We also examined the indirect effects of rumination and dampening in the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms. Participants (N = 250) completed questionnaires online. Greater depressive symptoms, rumination, and dampening were associated with greater levels of all OCS dimensions. Path analysis was utilized to examine a model including the direct effect of depressive symptoms on overall OCS and two indirect effects (through rumination and dampening). There was a significant indirect effect of depressive cognitive styles on the relationship between OCS and depressive symptoms, through rumination and dampening. Replication in a clinical sample and experimental manipulations may bear important implications for targeting depressive cognitive styles in treatments for OCD and depression.     

Neighborhood Deprivation during Early Childhood and Conduct Problems in Middle Childhood: Mediation by Aggressive Response Generation

The tremendous negative impact of conduct problems to the individual and society has provided the impetus for identifying risk factors, particularly in early childhood. Exposure to neighborhood deprivation in early childhood is a robust predictor of conduct problems in middle childhood. Efforts to identify and test mediating mechanisms by which neighborhood deprivation confers increased risk for behavioral problems have predominantly focused on peer relationships and community-level social processes. Less attention has been dedicated to potential cognitive mediators of this relationship, such as aggressive response generation, which refers to the tendency to generate aggressive solutions to ambiguous social stimuli with negative outcomes. In this study, we examined aggressive response generation, a salient component of social information processing, as a mediating process linking neighborhood deprivation to later conduct problems at age 10.5. Participants (N = 731; 50.5 % male) were drawn from a multisite randomized prevention trial that includes an ethnically diverse and low-income sample of male and female children and their primary caregivers followed prospectively from toddlerhood to middle childhood. Results indicated that aggressive response generation partially mediated the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and parent- and teacher-report of conduct problems, but not youth-report. Results suggest that the detrimental effects of neighborhood deprivation on youth adjustment may occur by altering the manner in which children process social information.     

Suicide Intervention Training for K–12 Schools: A Quasi‐Experimental Study on ASIST

This quasi‐experimental study investigated differences between 104 school personnel who received a standardized suicide awareness and prevention training (i.e., Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and 45 control group participants. Pre‐ and posttraining data included experimental and control group participants' (a) suicide intervention skills; (b) attitudes toward suicide; (c) knowledge of suicide; and (d) comfort, competence, and confidence in responding to individuals at risk of suicide. Results indicated a significant positive effect for training on all measures. Implications for training of school personnel and future research are discussed.     

Cognitive test batteries in animal cognition research: evaluating the past,present and future of comparative psychometrics

For the past two decades, behavioural ecologists have documented consistent individual differences in behavioural traits within species and found evidence for animal “personality”. It is only relatively recently, however, that increasing numbers of researchers have begun to investigate individual differences in cognitive ability within species. It has been suggested that cognitive test batteries may provide an ideal tool for this growing research endeavour. In fact, cognitive test batteries have now been used to examine the causes, consequences and underlying structure of cognitive performance within and between many species. In this review, we document the existing attempts to develop cognitive test batteries for non-human animals and review the claims that these studies have made in terms of the structure and evolution of cognition. We argue that our current test battery methods could be improved on multiple fronts, from the design of tasks, to the domains targeted and the species tested. Refining and optimising test battery design will provide many benefits. In future, we envisage that well-designed cognitive test batteries may provide answers to a range of exciting questions, including giving us greater insight into the evolution and structure of cognition.     

How Risk is Perceived, Constructed and Interpreted by Clients in Clinical Genetics, and the Effects on Decision Making: Systematic Review

As an individual’s understanding of their genetic risk may influence risk management decisions, it is important to understand the ways in which risk is constructed and interpreted. We systematically reviewed the literature, undertaking a narrative synthesis of 59 studies presenting data on the ways in which individuals perceive, construct and interpret their risk, and the subsequent effects. While most studies assessed perceived risk quantitatively, the combined evidence suggests individuals find risk difficult to accurately quantify, with a tendency to overestimate. Rather than being a stand-alone concept, risk is something lived and experienced and the process of constructing risk is complex and influenced by many factors. While evidence of the effects of perceived risk is limited and inconsistent, there is some evidence to suggest high risk estimations may adversely affect health and lead to inappropriate uptake of medical surveillance and preventative measures by some individuals. A more focused approach to research is needed with greater exploration of the ways in which risk is constructed, along with the development of stronger theoretical models, to facilitate effective and patient-centered counseling strategies.     

童年晚期同伴关系不利与儿童的攻击行为:自我概念与同伴信念的中介作用

采用整群抽样法选取1806名小学儿童(平均年龄11.27±0.36岁)为被试,考察同伴拒绝、侵害两种同伴关系不利与儿童攻击行为间的关系、以及儿童的自我概念与同伴信念在其中的中介作用.结果发现,(1)同伴拒绝、侵害与儿童的身体攻击、关系攻击显著正相关,与儿童的自我概念、同伴信念显著负相关,自我概念、同伴信念与两类攻击显著相关.(2)同伴拒绝、关系侵害对身体攻击和关系攻击具有正向预测作用;身体侵害仅对身体攻击具有正向预测作用,对关系攻击无显著影响.(3)儿童的身体自我概念、社交自我概念及同伴信念在同伴拒绝、同伴侵害与攻击的联系中具有中介作用.本研究结果表明,同伴拒绝对儿童的身体攻击、关系攻击主要表现为直接效应,不同类型的侵害经历与儿童攻击间的联系存在类型特定性.     

在高校跨越式发展进程中落实科学发展观

科学发展观是关于发展规律和策略方法的辩证的哲学思考.在高校跨越式发展进程中贯彻落实科学发展观,需要以辩证的哲学思维处理协调好跨越式发展与波浪式发展的关系;规模扩张与内涵建设的关系;办学资源合理利用与不断积累完善的关系;高校自身发展目标与外部环境条件的关系;继承发展传统优势与培育新增长点的关系;发展特色与全面发展的关系.     

微创理念建立:胆道外科的发展历程及启示

在现代医学发展过程中不断有新理念注入,这些新理念不仅是推动医学进步的主要力量,也是医学理性认识活动的重要组成部分,只有了解这些医学理念的思想渊源、形成发展、演变的历史及其科学意义,才能阐明医学基本理念建立时所使用的科学方法,这些科学方法又会促进新的理论突破。回顾胆道外科发展历史,可分成早期开腹治疗、腹腔镜治疗和经内镜逆行胰胆管造影治疗三个发展时期,这恰是对微创理念理性认识活动的一个典型范式,通过系统梳理这一范式,分析微创理念建立对医学带来的影响与启示,为其他新医学理念的建立提供借鉴和参考。