Factors in the assessment of suicidality in youth

Suicide remains a leading cause of death among youth, and suicide ideation and behavior are relatively common in both normal and clinical populations. Clinicians working with young people must assess for the presence of suicidal ideation, suicidal behavior, and other risk factors, in order to determine the level of risk. This paper provides the clinician with a summary of risk factors for youth suicide, as well as providing standardized terminology to enhance assessment of suicidal ideation and behavior.     

Violent offenses associated with co‐occurring substance use and mental health problems: Evidence from CJDATS

The present study examines the relationship between substance use, mental health problems, and violence in a sample of offenders released from prison and referred to substance abuse treatment programs. Data from 34 sites (n = 1,349) in a federally funded cooperative, the Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Treatment Studies (CJDATS), were analyzed. Among parolees referred to substance abuse treatment, self‐reports for the six‐month period before the arrest resulting in their incarceration revealed frequent problems with both substance use and mental health. For most offenders with substance use problems, the quantity of alcohol consumed and the frequency of drug use were associated with a greater probability of self‐reported violence. Mental health problems were not indicative of increases in violent behavior, with the exception of antisocial personality problems, which were associated with violence. The paper emphasizes the importance of providing substance abuse treatment in relation to violent behavior among offenders with mental health problems being discharged to the community. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recruiters’ Inferences of Applicant Personality Based on Resume Screening: Do Paper People have a Personality?

Research shows recruiters infer dispositional characteristics from job applicants’ resumes and use these inferences in evaluating applicants’ employability. However, the reliability and validity of these inferences have not been empirically tested. Using data collected from 244 recruiters, we found low levels of estimated interrater reliability when they reviewed entry-level applicants’ resumes and made inferences regarding applicants’ personality traits. Moreover, when recruiters’ inferences of applicant personality were correlated with applicants’ actual Big Five personality scores, results indicated that recruiters’ inferences lacked validity, with the possible exceptions of extraversion and openness to experience. Finally, despite being largely unreliable and invalid, recruiters’ inferences of applicants’ extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness predicted the recruiters’ subsequent employability assessments of the applicants.     

The River Model: A Metaphor and Tool for Training New Psychotherapists

A conceptual frame of reference called The River is presented for training of beginning psychotherapists. Using metaphors, trainees are taught specific tools (Equipment) and to identify salient features of the therapy process (Topography) by means of a series of metaphors for the process elements of timing and of level of intervention. Student therapist feedback indicated that this model facilitated learning of how much or little to do at given points in the therapeutic process, and that these metaphors appeared to transcend specific theoretical orientations.     

Assessing the Role of Body Image Coping Strategies as Mediators or Moderators of the Links Between Self-Objectification, Body Shame, and Well-Being

We examined self-objectification in relation to well-being, and the potential moderating versus mediating role of body image coping strategies (appearance fixing, avoidance, positive rational acceptance). Undergraduate women from southern Ontario, Canada (Sample 1, n?=?104; Sample 2, n?=?314) completed measures of depression, disordered eating attitudes, subjective well-being, and body-image coping. Self-objectification was related to greater depression, disordered eating attitudes, and lower subjective well-being. A two-stage mediation model was supported: Body shame and body image coping strategies (appearance fixing and avoidance) partially mediated the associations between self-objectification and outcomes; appearance fixing and avoidance partially mediated the associations between body shame and outcomes. Body image coping strategies did not moderate any of the relations between body shame and outcomes.     

Effects of agency on movement interference during observation of a moving dot stimulus

Human movement performance is subject to interference if the performer simultaneously observes an incongruent action. It has been proposed that this phenomenon is due to motor contagion during simultaneous movement performance-observation, with coactivation of shared action performance and action observation circuitry in the premotor cortex. The present experiments compared the interference effect during observation of a moving person with observation of moving dot stimuli: The dot display followed either a biologically plausible or implausible velocity profile. Interference effects due to dot observation were present for both biological and nonbiological velocity profiles when the participants were informed that they were observing prerecorded human movement and were absent when the dot motion was described as computer generated. These results suggest that the observer's belief regarding the origin of the dot motion (human-computer generated) modulates the processing of the dot movement stimuli on their later integration within the motor system, such that the belief regarding their biological origin is a more important determinant of interference effects than the stimulus kinematics.     

DENTIST-IMPLEMENTED CONTINGENT ESCAPE FOR MANAGEMENT OF DISRUPTIVE CHILD BEHAVIOR

We evaluated the effectiveness of a dentist-implemented intervention in which brief escape from dental treatment was provided to manage disruptive child behavior during restorative dental treatment. Within a multiple baseline design across subjects, 4 children, aged 3 to 7 years, were provided temporary escape from dental treatment contingent upon brief periods of cooperative behavior. Disruptive behavior decreased when the appropriate escape contingency was used at least 80% of the time. The escape contingency required no more time than traditional management procedures (e.g., tell-show-do, reprimands and loud commands, restraint) to bring disruptive behavior under control. Independent ratings by two dentists provided social validation of the efficacy of the escape contingency.