The Emotional Development Scale: Assessing the Emotional Capacity of 4–12 Year Olds

The practice of assessing children’s emotional development based on a theoretical foundation of attachment theory, developmental psychology, and brain research is fast developing within the field of clinical psychology and family social work. The Emotional Development Scale (EDS) has been developed to assess the current emotional functioning level of 4–12 year olds within the theoretical framework of neuroaffective developmental psychology. Included in the pilot study were eight family treatment centers in Denmark, with 36 families participating. The psychometric investigation included analyses of interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency, while construct validity was analyzed by correlating EDS results between referred and nonreferred groups. The analysis between nonreferred and referred groups was based on the data from the empirical study and a preliminary ad hoc sample from Hogrefe Ltd. (n = 213). We concluded the EDS appears to be a reliable and partially valid tool that could aid in assessing the emotional development of 4–12 year olds. Further research on psychometric properties and clinical application of EDS is needed.     

Meta-Analyses of the Associations Between Disinhibited Social Engagement Behaviors and Child Attachment Insecurity or Disorganization

Children with disinhibited social engagement disorder show reduced reticence with strangers, do not check back with their caregiver after venturing away, and may willingly leave with an unfamiliar adult. The recent DSM-5 has moved away from an attachment framework to understand disinhibited social engagement behavior (DSEB) due to studies indicating its presence in previously institutionalized children even after these children are adopted and show a selective, more secure attachment with their substitute caregiver (e.g. Chisholm et al., 1998). This meta-analysis aims to clarify the size of the associations between DSEB and attachment insecurity or disorganization. It also examines whether studies effect sizes differ according to various moderators (e.g., child age, type of attachment and DSEB measures). The results (k?=?24) showed that the associations between DSEB and attachment insecurity (d?=?0.48) or attachment disorganization (d?=?0.47) were of small magnitude. There were no publication biases. As for moderator analyses on both attachment insecurity and disorganization, the effect sizes in studies using DSEB observational measures (respectively d?=?0.63 and 0.57) were of moderate magnitude and stronger than those in studies not using an observational component (respectively d?=?0.28 and 0.32). Given these small-to-moderate associations, attachment can be considered a relationship process associated with DSEB, and attachment-informed interventions could be potential tools to reduce DSEB in children. Nevertheless, given the sizable unshared portion of variance between DSEB and child attachment, future studies should examine other variables related to caregiving and noncaregiving contexts to further understand DSEB.

     

A comparison of token and tandem schedules of reinforcement on response patterns for adolescents with autism

Token schedules of reinforcement are ubiquitous in clinical settings, yet little research has thoroughly evaluated the effects of token schedules on responding in clinical settings. Basic research has shown token schedules of reinforcement produce lower response rates and larger pre‐ratio pauses compared to tandem schedules. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the same effects are produced with adolescents with autism or related disorders. We examined response patterns under otherwise identical FR token and FR tandem schedules. Tokens suppressed responding for one participant only under high schedule values and for a second participant under common clinical schedule values; no difference in responding occurred between token and tandem schedules for two participants. These results support the systematic evaluation of token schedules of reinforcement in clinical settings. Additional applied research is needed on token schedules to further our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the overall effectiveness of token economies.     

Memorability functions as an indicator of qualitative age differences in text recall

An analysis in which the probability of text unit recall for older adults [p(Re/O)] is plotted as a function of this probability for the young [p(Re/Y)] is considered as one way to assess whether there are qualitative differences in text recall for young and old. The application of this relative memorability analysis to previously reported data dealing with the immediate recall of spoken sentences (Stine, Wingfield, & Poon, 1986) revealed that although older adults show qualitative recall similar to younger adults when informational density is low, they show less discrimination among text elements when informational density is increased.     

Comparing means from nonnormal distributions: The bisquare-weighted analysis of variance

A new procedure analogous to the analysis of variance (ANOVA), called the bisquare-weighted ANOVA (bANOVA), is described. When a traditional ANOVA is calculated, using samples from a distribution with heavy tails, the Type I error rates remain in check, but the Type II error rates increase, relative to those across samples from a normal distribution. The bANOVA is robust with respect to deviations from a normal distribution, maintaining high power with normal and heavy-tailed distributions alike. The more popular rank ANOVA (rANOVA) is also described briefly. However, the rANOVA is not as robust to large deviations from normality as is the bANOVA, and it generates high Type I error rates when applied to three-way designs.     

Experiences of Patients in Cognitive Behavioural Group Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Eating Disorders

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was a difference in skin conductance response between 2 groups of military personnel when exposed to emotionally neutral and charged stimuli. The 2 groups were a combat experience group (n?=?10) with prior experience of emotionally charged war situations and a comparison group (n?=?10) with no such experience. Results showed that the comparison group reacted more strongly to exposure to both charged and neutral pictures than did the combat experience group, regardless of exposure time. The results are discussed in terms of emotional numbing and differences in anxiety state between the 2 groups.     

INCREASING OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

We evaluated the effects of monitoring responses on the acquisition of sight words with 3 children with autism. In the training condition, we taught participants a vocal imitation and matching response related to a peer's reading response. In another condition, participants were exposed only to a peer's reading responses. Participants read the words more accurately during test sessions when the monitoring response was required. Results and discussion highlight the importance of identifying component responses of observational learning and the need for additional research in this area.