Playground Contexts for Aggression for Preschoolers with Hyperactivity

This study assessed the naturalistic conditions that set the occasion for aggressive behavior in three preschoolers with hyperactivity and aggression (H/A). Peer and teacher responses to preschoolers' aggression were also investigated. For a total of 114 aggressive instances observed, relatively low percentages of aggression in social play with at least one other child were documented. The antecedent condition that was most predictive of aggression was (a) when children were seeking to enter into an activity and were denied entry and (b) when another child interrupted an on-going activity. Aggression was about 14 times greater for seeking/interrupted activity than for ongoing social play. Finally, the percentage of negative responses from peers to aggression on the playground was almost three times the rate documented in past research for preschoolers without hyperactivity.     

Maternal aggression in rats: Changes over pregnancy and lactation in a sprague-dawley strain

Maternal aggression in a Sprague-Dawley strain of laboratory rat (Charles River CD) was explored from Day 1 after mating on Day 0 through Day 24 of lactation (L0-L24). Aggression toward unfamiliar male “intruders” during 10-min tests was low among nonpregnant, nonlactating females and during the first 10 days of gestation. Frequency of attack on intruders increased moderately but significantly by Gestation Day 16 (G16; Experiment 1) or G21 (Experiment 2), a prepartum phenomenon not previously reported in laboratory rats. Levels of aggression were highest, however, during the first 9 days of lactation, when attacks averaged more than 6 per 10-min session. Attacks declined sharply in frequency after L14 and by L24 did not exceed levels observed among nonpregnant females. Experiment 3 examined the importance of the test site (home cage with nest and pups, if any, vs unfamiliar cage without nest or pups) to agonistic behavior associated with pregnancy and lactation. Late pregnant females tested in a novel cage were not aggressive; however, females tested shortly after delivering their pups were highly aggressive, averaging over four attacks per 5-min session. In novel cage tests frequency of attack remained high through L4 but declined significantly by L7. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that maternal aggression at its onset is primarily under hormonal control, but becomes increasingly dependent upon external factors, presumably pup stimulation, during the postpartum period.     

Attachment in preterm infants and their mothers: Neonatal risk status and maternal representations

High‐risk neonatal status, indexed by an intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and maternal representations of past and present attachment relationships were examined as predictors of infant attachment in a sample of preterm infants. Participants included 50 19‐month‐old infants and their middle‐class, predominantly African American mothers. A maternal‐report questionnaire and a structured interview were used to assess past relationship history with mother and current relationship with infant, respectively. The Strange Situation Paradigm was used to assess attachment security. Multiple logistic regression analyses suggested that maternal representation of the infant—but not ICH or maternal childhood history—significantly predicted infant attachment security. ICH and maternal history of childhood rejection were predictive of disorganized infant attachment. The findings are consistent with previous data that suggest that maternal factors are more important than infant factors in determining infant attachment security. These data also suggest that neurological deficits may contribute to disorganized infant attachment. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Causal and Metaphysical Necessity

Any property has two sorts of causal features: "forward-looking" ones, having to do with what its instantiation can contribute to causing, and ldquo;backward-looking" ones, having to do with how its instantiation can be caused. Such features of a property are essential to it, and properties sharing all of their causal features are identical. Causal necessity is thus a special case of metaphysical necessity. Appeals to imaginability have no more force against this view than they do against the Kripkean view that statements like "Gold is an element" are metaphysically necessary.     

Swipe Right for… My Therapist? Ethical Considerations for Therapists Using Dating Apps

There is a lack of research on the experiences of mental health professionals using dating applications as well as the clinical and ethical implications that may follow. Previous studies have found that clinicians are utilizing dating profiles and are discovering or being discovered by their clients. Despite this current engagement, there are no specific guidelines to help clinicians ethically navigate dating applications. In response, this work explores the existing literature on dating applications, clinicians’ encounters with dating applications, and how the ethical considerations of boundaries, self-disclosure, and self-presentation may inform the use of dating applications. Throughout, the authors highlight these ethical concerns and provide suggestions for mental health professionals who are utilizing these platforms and for those who may be considering creating a dating profile.

     

Habitual Self‐Control: A Brief Measure of Persistent Goal Pursuit

Habitual self‐control is defined as a trait‐like personal resource factor that facilitates the enactment of difficult intentions. A 14‐item Habitual Self‐Control Questionnaire (HSCQ) was developed to assess this trait. Reliability, factorial validity, and criterion validity were assessed in five undergraduate student subsamples with an overall N of 2224. Internal consistency was .81 across the entire sample, and test–retest reliability was .83 over a one‐month interval. The HSCQ showed a theoretically meaningful pattern in terms of convergent and discriminant validity and criterion validity in predicting a variety of health behaviours that relate to self‐control, including exercise, dieting behaviour, binge eating and weight loss success. Further, the HSCQ contributed uniquely to the prediction of health behaviours beyond alternative self‐control scales. In a longitudinal part of the study, the HSCQ added to the prediction of action plan completion and satisfaction beyond motivation and moderated the relationship between motivation and enactment of action plans as theoretically expected. In sum, the results provided strong evidence for the reliability and validity of the HSCQ and highlighted some theoretically meaningful differences to already existing measures of self‐control. Theoretical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Production deficiencies in elicited language but not in the spontaneous verbalizations of hyperactive children

Setting and task conditions were assessed for their effects on the language of hyperactive children. Verbal data were recorded for 22 hyperactive children and 22 elementary-age controls during four storytelling tasks and transitions, and under two conditions of a nonverbal performance task in a counterbalanced order. Findings were that hyperactive children were more spontaneously talkative than their classmates during transitions and nonverbal tasks (nonelicited conditions) but were less talkative when they were asked to tell stories (elicited conditions). These findings and those attributable to the story comparisons were interpreted in line with the optimal stimulation theory, which suggests that minimal stimulus input (delays and nonelicited conditions) precipitate excessive verbal activity from hyperactive children. Production deficiencies, on the other hand, were specific to type of stimulus input to be processed. Stories requiring organization and planning without the external structure or salience of visual cues (a sequence of word cards or pictures) produced production deficiencies.I thank Margo Wilson for her expertise in the development and scoring of the language measures. I am also grateful to Mary Kemper for help with data collection, and to Joe Boggs and Connie Hobbs for their assistance with data analyses.     

Women's Career Plans and Maternal Employment

Maternal employment, perceived maternal satisfaction and goodness of mothering, and sex role conceptions were studied as they relate to future life plans of college senior women. Twenty-five women in a working mother group and 26 in a nonworking mother group were administered the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Women, the Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire, the Inventory of Feminine Values, the Maternal Satisfaction and Maternal Goodness scales, and the Life Plan Questionnaire. Daughters of working mothers scored higher on career orientation ( p <.01, Life Plan Questionnaire) than did daughters of nonworking mothers. High perceived maternal satisfaction and maternal goodness correlated with low career orientation for the nonworking sample (the averaged r across variable pairs =.48). For the working sample, perceived maternal dissatisfaction with feminine role values correlated significantly with higher career orientation (r =.42), while the other satisfaction measure showed no relation to career orientation. Daughters of working mothers displayed broader sex role conceptualizations (p <0.01).     

Behavioral comparisons of hyperactive and normally active children in natural settings

Matched pairs of hyperactive and normally active children were observed in six natural classroom settings and a number of specific behaviors continuously recorded. Both groups of children showed differences in behavior as a function of settings (selected to vary in amount of external stimulation and structure), but only certain settings differentiated hyperactive from control children. Hyperactive children displayed significantly more noise-vocalization and more disruptive and off-task behavior in the most frequently observed (low stimulation) classroom settings (e.g., seat work). Type of off-task behavior (out-of-seat or visually off-task) depended upon amount of classroom structure (i.e., teacher- vs. self-directed). Results were discussed in terms of their implications for identification and treatment of hyperactive children through the modification of the antecedent conditions of stimulation and structure.     

Sequential processes for controlling distance in multijoint movements

The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanisms underlying control of distance during multijoint movements in different directions. The findings revealed 2 sequential muscle torque impulses, which correlated with 2 events in the hand acceleration profile. These 2 events occurred prior to peak velocity, characterizing control in the initial acceleration phase of motion. The contribution of shoulder and elbow joint torque to each event varied with movement direction. However, regardless of direction, these 2 torque events appeared to be functionally distinguishable: a preplanned initiation event was responsible for the initial hand acceleration, whereas a 2nd modulation event adjusted acceleration in compensation for variations in acceleration. Thus, the findings support the idea that control of distance during multijoint movement occurs through sequential control mechanisms.