The Relationship Between Male-Perpetrated Interparental Aggression,Paternal Characteristics,and Child Psychosocial Functioning

It is well established that children in homes where interparental violence is present are at increased risk for psychosocial (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and attention) difficulties. However, previous studies have provided a limited view on the variety of factors that commonly co-occur in these environments (e.g., other characteristics of the parents and family) and how they may collectively impact children. Knowing this information could have implications for parental interventions aimed at preventing the continuation or initiation of psychosocial problems in children. Thus, the present study simultaneously examined the association between father-perpetrated interparental aggression, father characteristics, and child psychosocial functioning in a sample of 145 men arrested for domestic violence. Results showed that of all the variables examined, paternal antisocial personality traits and interpersonal hostility were uniquely associated with overall child psychosocial impairment, externalizing problems, and attention problems. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.     

Affective forecasting and self-rated symptoms of depression,anxiety, and hypomania: Evidence for a dysphoric forecasting bias

Emerging research has examined individual differences in affective forecasting; however, we are aware of no published study to date linking psychopathology symptoms to affective forecasting problems. Pitting cognitive theory against depressive realism theory, we examined whether dysphoria was associated with negatively biased affective forecasts or greater accuracy. Participants (n=325) supplied predicted and actual emotional reactions for three days surrounding an emotionally evocative relational event, Valentine's Day. Predictions were made a month prior to the holiday. Consistent with cognitive theory, we found evidence for a dysphoric forecasting bias—the tendency of individuals in dysphoric states to overpredict negative emotional reactions to future events. The dysphoric forecasting bias was robust across ratings of positive and negative affect, forecasts for pleasant and unpleasant scenarios, continuous and categorical operationalisations of dysphoria, and three time points of observation. Similar biases were not observed in analyses examining the independent effects of anxiety and hypomania. Findings provide empirical evidence for the long-assumed influence of depressive symptoms on future expectations. The present investigation has implications for affective forecasting studies examining information-processing constructs, decision making, and broader domains of psychopathology.     

Reasons for the attribution of intent in 7- and 9-year-old children

Seven- and 9-year-old children were presented with drawings which depicted two ambiguous action-outcome sequences and asked to make judgements about the intention of an actor towards another, and then to provide an explanation for the judgement. The design incorporated two levels of actor valence (nice, bad) with two types of outcome quality (good, bad). Judgements were influenced by both valence and outcome factors, but no age effect emerged. Content analysis of the explanations did reveal an age difference in reasoning about social judgements which was associated with the bad outcome. Nine-year-olds used more inference-based explanations which reflected a more objective appraisal of the incident. The explanations of the younger children tended to be dominated by the immediacy of the situation. The findings further highlighted the importance of consistency between actor valence and outcome information relative to the direction of the child's judgement. Inconsistency arising in the context of a bad outcome situation elicited more rigorous explanations from the 9-year-olds.     

Offender-Victim Relationships in Criminal Homicide Followed by Offender's Suicide,North Carolina, 1972–1977

ABSTRACT: An analysis of 90 cases of criminal homicide followed by suicide in North Carolina, 1972 to 1977. Homicidal victim-offender relationships were investigated in regard to age, sex, race and whether victim and offender were member of the same family, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. These results were compared with victim-offender relationships in 994 criminal homicide cases in North Carolina in which offenders did not commit suicide. Married white males over 30 years were much more involved in homicide-suicide than they were in homicide alone. In these homicide-suicide cases, the victim was usually the spouse. Except for marital status, characteristics of homicide offenders who killed themselves resembled those of suicide-only individuals much more than those of homicide-only offenders. In the homicide-suicide cases, the killing of someone in close relationship to the offender, often a wife, appeared to be part of the evolving process of suicide. This clearly has implications for intervention into marital strife and also for immediate treatment of homicide offenders who kill spouses and other family members.