A Sociological Perspective on Contextualism

Traditional organismic age-stage theories of development have recently fallen into disrepute because of their failure to adequately explain research understandings of human development. Currently, new contextualist approaches are being advanced to rectify this problem. This article reviews the key assumptions of 2 new contextualist theories (constructivism and interactionism), examines the claims of these new contextualisms, and offers suggestions as to how a sociological analysis of human development can remedy some of the major theoretical failings while building on the basic strengths. The article concludes with a discussion of how a critical contextualism might inform the practice of counselors.     

Effects of consent form information on self-disclosure

When researchers encounter preexisting psychological distress in participants, ethical codes provide little guidance on how to balance issues of beneficence and autonomy. Although researchers may inform participants what will occur given responses indicating distress, this information may lead to biased self-reports. This important issue was addressed in this study by manipulating consent form information regarding the type of psychopathology to be assessed and various levels of possible follow-up. In comparing responses on self-report measures of anxiety, depression, and general psychological distress, men who believed depression was the focus of the study reported fewer symptoms of depression and less trait anxiety as intrusiveness of experimenter follow-up increased. These results are discussed within the framework of socialization theory. Given that half of the sample did not correctly answer questions regarding information contained in the consent form, guidelines to improve consent form comprehension are offered.     

The relations among cry characteristics, demographic variables, and developmental test scores in infants prenatally exposed to methadone

This study examined the relations among developmental test scores, infants' demographic characteristics, and cry features. Cry features were strongly related to developmental test scores at all ages, suggesting that use of the infants' cry characteristics can help to identify those infants at greatest risk for later developmental problems.     

Self-regulation of stimulation for ADD-H children during reading and vigilance task performance

The present study examines the hypothesis that motor responses added into rote tasks would modulate the sensation-seeking activity and impulsive errors of hyperactive (ADD-H) children. To this purpose 22 ADD-H and 25 comparison children were administered two repetitive tasks (word decoding and an auditory vigilance task) under both an active response and a passive response condition. Findings were that the impulsive errors, talking/noise-making, and activity of ADD-H children was normalized (i.e., did not differ from comparison children) only in the high stimulation active response conditions. Behavioral improvements for ADD-H children were documented in both tasks in the active condition, but performance gains were found only in the vigilance task. The findings supported predictions derived from the optimal stimulation theory that the excessive activity and attraction to novel stimuli of ADD-H children can be channeled into appropriate instrumental motor and attention responses.We thank Anne Dwyer for her help with data collection, and Phyllis Kikendall, Sylvia Kottler, Joe Boggs, and Cheryl Wieczorek for their assistance at various stages of this project. We are also most grateful to Martha Eger and to the teachers, Sally Schnieder and Denise Oliver, of West Central Joint Special Services, to Pat Welch of the Catholic Social Services, and to the teachers of St. Ann's School and St. Philip Neri School for their cooperation with this research.     

Retrospective assessment of childhood sexual and physical abuse: a comparison of scaled and behaviorally specific approaches

This study compared retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse as assessed by two measures: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which uses a Likert-type scaling approach, and the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI), which employs a behaviorally specific means of assessment. Participants included 1,195 undergraduate students recruited from three geographically diverse universities. Agreement was high across the two measures in the classification of victim status (92% and 80% for sexual and physical abuse, respectively). However, the CTQ classified more participants as sexually abused than did the CAMI, whereas the opposite trend was found for physical abuse. For child physical abuse, many participants reporting abusive acts on the CAMI scored below the cut-point for physical abuse on the CTQ. Classification differences for both types of abuse were largely unrelated to demographic factors, socially desirable responding, or self-reported withholding of information. The implications of these results are discussed in light of future research using retrospective methods of assessing childhood abuse.     

Escalating schedules of incentives increase physical activity with no differences between deposit and no-deposit groups: A systematic replication

Physical inactivity has increasingly affected public health in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic as it is associated with chronic diseases such as arthritis, cancer, and heart disease. Contingency management has been shown to increase physical activity. Therefore, the present study sought to evaluate the effects of an escalating schedule of monetary reinforcement with a reset contingency on physical activity, as compared between 2 counterbalanced groups in which a monetary deposit of $25 was either required (deposit group) or not (no-deposit group). Twenty-five adults wore Fitbit accelerometers to monitor step counts. An ABA reversal design was used; in the 2 baseline phases, no programmed contingencies were in place for step counts. During intervention, step goals were set using a modified 70^th percentile schedule with a 7-day window: Reaching the first goal would result in $0.25, and incentives increased by $0.25 for each subsequent day in which the goal was met. Failure to reach a goal resulted in a reset of the monetary incentive value to $0.25. Ten out of 12 participants from the deposit group were determined to be responders to intervention, whereas 8 out of 13 participants from the no-deposit group were determined to be responders to intervention. Overall, there were no significant differences between the groups' step counts. However, the deposit group's intervention was cheaper to implement, which suggests that deposit contracts are a viable modification for physical activity interventions.     

Support networks of adolescent mothers: Effects on parenting experience and behavior

The relation between social support and lower-income African-American adolescent mothers' parenting experience, parenting behavior, and psychological symptoms was studied. Larger support networks were associated with better maternal adjustment unless individuals providing support were also providers of conflict. The young women's own mothers were their most prominent providers of support, and the number of different types of support the grandmother provided was related positively to quality of the adolescent's parenting behavior, but negatively to her experience of parenting. Having more friends in the network was related to better parenting behavior, but having more siblings in the network was related to poorer parenting behavior as well as more psychological symptoms. Although most of the young women relied on male partners for support, no variables related to provision of support by male partners were correlated with maternal adjustment.     

The Effects of a Learning Station on the Completion and Accuracy of Math Homework for Middle School Students

We studied the effects of a Learning Station on the completion and accuracy of math homework of middle school students who had chronic homework problems. The Learning Station was a three sided free-standing panel with theoretically and empirically-based components involving (a) stimulation (color, music, activity breaks, and choice) and (b) self-attention (mirror and self-monitoring). Two students who used the Station tripled their accuracy and the amount of homework completed as assessed in a multiple baseline across participants design. One student with high academic abilities elected not to use the intervention, because he worked quickly (albeit carelessly) at school to complete his homework during baseline and during intervention. The practical and research implications of the findings are discussed.