Initial behavior outcomes for the peacebuilders universal school-based violence prevention program

PeaceBuilders is a universal, elementary-school-based violence prevention program that attempts to alter the climate of a school by teaching students and staff simple rules and activities aimed at improving child social competence and reducing aggressive behavior. Eight matched schools (N > 4,000 students in Grades K-5) were randomly assigned to either immediate postbaseline intervention (PBI) or to a delayed intervention 1 year later (PBD). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze results from assessments in the fall and spring of 2 consecutive school years. In Year 1, significant gains in teacher-rated social competence for students in Grades K-2, in childself-reported peace-building behavior in Grades K-5, and reductions in aggressive behavior in Grades 3-5 were found for PBI but not PBD schools. Differential effects in Year 1 were also observed for aggression and prosocial behavior. Most effects were maintained in Year 2 for PBI schools, including increases in child prosocial behavior in Grades K-2. Implications for early universal school-based prevention and challenges related toevaluating large-scale prevention trials are discussed.     

The natural history of problem gambling from age 18 to 29

Aggregate-level prevalences and individual-level developmental trajectories of untreated problem gambling were examined in an 11-year, 4-wave longitudinal study spanning the adolescent through young adult years. The past-year prevalences, 3-4 year incidences, and lifetime prevalences of problem gambling from adolescence through young adulthood were relatively stable at 2%-3%, 1%-2%, and 3%-5%, respectively. Despite the stability of the prevalences at the aggregate level, problem gambling appeared to be more transitory and episodic than enduring and chronic at the individual level. The present study is consistent with the limited evidence available on the natural history of problem gambling in the community in suggesting that natural recovery may be the rule rather than the exception.     

First-order and second-order spectral 'motion' mechanisms in the human auditory system

Light energy displaced along the retinal photoreceptor array leads to a perception of visual motion. In audition, displacement of mechanical energy along the cochlear hair cell array is conceptually similar but leads to a perception of 'movement' in frequency space (spectral motion)--a rising or falling pitch. In vision there are other types of stimuli that also evoke a percept of motion but do not involve a displacement of energy across the photoreceptors (second-order stimuli). In this study, we used psychophysical methods to determine if such second-order stimuli also exist in audition, and if the resulting percept would rival that of first-order spectral motion. First-order auditory stimuli consisted of a frequency sweep of sixteen non-harmonic tones between 297 and 12123 Hz. Second-order stimuli consisted of the same tones, but with a random subset turned on at the beginning of a trial. During the trial, each tone in sequence randomly changed state (ON-to-OFF, or OFF-to-ON). Thus, state transitions created a 'sweep' having no net energy displacement correlated to the sweep direction. At relatively slow sweep speeds, subjects readily identified the sweep direction for both first-order and second-order stimuli, though accuracy decreased for second-order stimuli as the sweep speed increased. This latter characteristic is also true of some second-order visual stimuli. These results suggest a stronger parallelism between auditory and visual processing than previously appreciated.     

Group Identity and Conflicting Expectations of the Future in Northern Ireland

Much of the conflict in Northern Ireland is based on investments in one of three opposing political futures possible for the region: remaining part of Britain, joining Ireland, or becoming independent. Speculative scenarios describing each of these futures were randomly assigned to equal numbers of Protestant and Catholic undergraduates in Northern Ireland, and their expectations regarding material and civic improvement for their ingroup and peace and reconciliation between the groups were assessed. Two dimensions of religious identity, measured by the Identity and Public subscales of Luhtanen and Crocker's (1992) Collective Self-Esteem Scale (CSES), moderated the differences between groups, but only for their expectations of peace and reconciliation. Stronger expectations of improvement for the ingroup were related to higher scores on the Public subscale, regardless of religion or the political future presented. Thus, group identity had a complex, context-dependent relationship to intergroup conflict.     

Anger-Related Traits and Response to Interpersonal Conflict Among New York City Traffic Agents1

This study evaluates the psychosocial correlates of anger-related traits. Participants include New York City traffic enforcement agents (TEAs), who issue summonses for vehicular and parking violations and are frequently confronted by angry motorists. This sample of TEAs is 53% African American and 57% female. Participants completed surveys at 2 points, 4 months apart, which measured attitudinal, affective, and expressive components of hostility and anger, as well as dimensions of workplace psychosocial response. Results indicate that trait anger-in was positively associated with frequency of conflict, anger intensity, and burnout in cross-sectional analyses; and positively associated with frequency of conflict in prospective analyses. Trait anger was positively associated with an increase in burnout over a 4-month period. These findings provide support for the transactional model of hostility and health and have implications for worksite interventions promoting cardiovascular health.     

Can Perceivers Identify Likelihood to Sexually Harass?

We investigated how men who differ in theirlikelihood to sexually harass (LSH) are perceived bythemselves and others. In Study 1, 36 Caucasian maleparticipants, who were paid for their participation, were videotaped being interviewed by asubordinate female. Participants rated her performanceand then responded to self-report attitudinal andpersonality scales. Higher LSH men reported moretraditional attitudes toward women's roles, a less femininepersonality, and lower competency ratings for the femaleinterviewer. Study 2 investigated whether participantscould differentiate between high and low LSH men from videoclips. Eighty-one male and 76female Caucasian participants, who were fulfilling acourse requirement, rated high LSH men (compared to lowLSH men) as (1) higher in LSH, (2) more masculine, (3) less feminine, and (4) more traditionaltoward women's roles than low LSH men. Implications ofthis ability to detect likelihood to sexually harass arediscussed.     

Social Anxiety in Children with Anxiety Disorders: Relation with Social and Emotional Functioning

Investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for children-Revised (SASC-R) as well as relations between social anxiety and children's social and emotional functioning. Participants were a clinic sample of children, ages 6–11 with anxiety disorders (N = 154) who completed the SASC-R. For a subset of these children, parent ratings of social skills, and self-ratings of perceived competence and peer interactions were also obtained. Factor analysis of the SASC-R supported the original three-factor solution and internal consistencies were in the acceptable range. Among children with simple phobia, scores on the SASC-R differentiated those with and without a comorbid social-based anxiety disorder. Social anxiety was also associated with impairments in social and emotional functioning. Specifically, highly socially anxious children reported low levels of social acceptance and global self-esteem and more negative peer interactions. Girls with high levels of social anxiety were also rated by parents as having poor social skills, particularly in the areas of assertive and responsible social behavior.     

Malpractice arising from negligent psychotherapy: ethical, legal, and clinical implications of Osheroff v. Chestnut Lodge

Traditionally, there have been few legal actions brought against psychotherapists that allege negligent psychotherapy and negligent treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, in the case of Osheroff v. Chestnut Lodge, a patient-physician (Dr. Osheroff) sued Chestnut Lodge, a private psychiatric facility, for negligence based on the staff's decision to apply a psychodynamic model of treatment (through psychotherapy) and not a biological model. The case sparked a heated debate between adherents of the psychodynamic model and those of the biological model. This article explores the implications of the Osheroff litigation for mental health professionals. It is proposed that an interactive informed consent process be used to protect psychotherapists against Osheroff-type litigation.     

The peer preference test as a measure of reward value: Item analysis,cross-validation,concurrent validation,and replication

Thirty-six preschoolers were administered and retested on a 15-item Peer Preference Test designed to measure the reward value of peers for each child. Test-retest reliability was .88, and after item analyses, 12 items were maintained in the test. The revised test was then administered to 29 other preschoolers. Test-retest reliability was. 77, and item analyses indicated that each item made a significant contribution to the overall test. Concurrent validation of the test was demonstrated using both a picture sociometric and a behavioral measure. In addition, the Evers-Pasquale and Sherman (1975) study was replicated, using 10 preschool social isolates.This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of the author. Gratitude is expressed to Dr. John Gleason for his counsel and advice. The author is also indebted to the staffs of the Irwin Methodist Nursery School and the Jewish Community Center Nursery School, both in Syracuse, New York, for their kindness and cooperation during the course of this investigation.     

The appreciation of antonymic contrasts in aphasia

To secure information on the ability of aphasic patients to comprehend antonymic relations, the kinds of confusions typically made, and the extent to which antonymic sensitivity depends upon mode of presentation and task demands, three linguistic and nonlinguistic tests were administered to aphasic patients, right hemisphere-damaged patients, and non-neurological controls. Although difficulty with antonymous relations was found among all the organic patients, the kinds of problems evidenced and the relative profile of difficulties differed across populations. Among the principal findings were the generally preserved sensitivity to antonymy found among anterior (particularly Broca's) aphasics; a surprising insensitivity to antonymy and a preference for synonyms, found among right hemisphere patients, particularly on the nonlinguistic tasks; a relative preservation of sensitivity to antonymy on nonlinguistic tasks, coupled with a loss of such sensitivity on linguistic tasks, found among posterior (particularly Wernicke's) aphasics; a proclivity toward stereotypical correct responses among the organic patients; and an absolutely worse performance by right hemisphere patients on tasks involving antonymic relations in pictures and abstract designs.