Adolescent separation-individuation and family transitions

This paper discusses the relationship between family structure and the achievement of the adolescent developmental task of separation-individuation. Adolescent separation-individuation is viewed as a continuum. At the right end of the continuum, adolescents reach successful therapeutic separation-individuation--a sense of self--while remaining connected to the family as a functional member. At the other end of the continuum is nontherapeutic dysfunctional separation-individuation. These adolescents are characterized by disruptive behaviors, rejection of societal and family norms, and potential suicide. Successful accomplishment of separation-individuation appears to be affected by a number of factors (e.g., conflict, parental relationship, accomplishment of previous developmental tasks). Adolescents from nontraditional families may have more barriers to overcome in order to therapeutically complete this task. Interventions to promote therapeutic separation-individuation need to incorporate all members of the family and support from the community. Through anticipatory guidance, dissemination of information, affiliating behaviors, and support groups, practitioners can help equip families with the skills needed for successful accomplishment of this task.     

The assessment of the social cognition and object relations scale on TAT and interview data

This study examines the reliability and convergent validity of 2 versions of the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (SCORS), one for use with Thematic Apperception Test narratives (SCORS-TAT; Westen, 1990) and one for use with clinical interview data (SCORS-CDI; Westen, Barends, Leigh, Mendel, & Silbert, 1990 ). Four SCORS dimensions were evaluated. Data were collected in a psychiatric sample (N = 74). Results show that although interrater reliability was good for all dimensions, internal consistency was low, especially for the affective dimensions. Structural equation modeling, in which a model with 2 factors (i.e., SCORS-TAT and SCORS-CDI) and 4 dimensions each was tested, indicated low convergence between corresponding dimensions of SCORS-TAT and SCORS-CDI. Correlational analyses suggested that this was due to a strong method factor. Regression analyses, however, revealed that the presence of a personality disorder operated as a moderator for convergence between corresponding cognitive-structural dimensions.     

Direct and pairwise area estimation of physical shapes through vision and touch

On a perceptual task in which a participant estimated areas of five physical rigid shapes, participants could view and touch the shapes, using one of two estimation methods, direct or pairwise. For the direct method, participants held one shape at a time and estimated the area based on a unit square (equal to 1/10 of the actual area). Mean error by participants was 14.4%. In the pairwise method, when participants were simultaneously handed two shapes, their error was 0.3%. Both direct and pairwise errors for vision plus touch of physical stimuli were considerably lower than previous errors made when viewing with an overhead projector screen.     

Conceptualizing Sex Offender Denial From a Multifaceted Framework: Investigating the Psychometric Qualities of a New Instrument

The authors examined the psychometric properties of a clinician‐rated measure of sex offender denial. Convergent and discriminant validity for the measure was supported, and given its relationship to treatment attitudes, the measure demonstrated utility for assessing treatment change and readiness.     

Spaced training enhances equine learning performance

Animal Cognition - This field experiment examined whether the well-documented benefit of spaced over massed training for humans and other animals generalizes to horses. Twenty-nine randomly...