A Longitudinal Investigation of Posttraumatic Growth in Adult Patients Undergoing Treatment for Acute Leukemia

An acute leukemia diagnosis can be an extremely stressful experience for most patients. Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is positive psychological change experienced following a struggle with highly challenging life circumstances. The current study is the first longitudinal investigation of predictors of PTG and distress in adult acute leukemia patients undergoing induction chemotherapy. Findings suggest that these patients report PTG, and levels of PTG appear to increase over the weeks following leukemia diagnosis and induction chemotherapy. Variables associated with higher total PTG scores over time included greater number of days from baseline, younger age, and greater challenge to core beliefs. Variables associated with higher distress included greater number of days from baseline, greater perceived cancer threat, higher symptom severity, and lower spiritual well-being. Results underscore the critical role that examination of one’s core beliefs may play in the development of PTG over time.     

Associations between miscellaneous symptoms and symptom dimensions in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric condition with a heterogeneous array of obsessions and compulsions. Although factor analytic studies have identified symptom dimensions comprising the clinical presentation of OCD, many frequently reported miscellaneous symptoms are not considered in factor analytic studies because they do not fit conceptually within a particular symptom category, despite being functionally related. In the present study, we examined the associations between miscellaneous symptoms and OCD symptom dimensions in a sample of 111 adults with OCD. Overall, most miscellaneous symptoms were associated with one or more symptom dimensions in previously identified four- (14 of the 22 symptoms) and five-factor models (12 of the 22 symptoms). In both models, Contamination/Cleaning was the only dimension not related to any miscellaneous symptom. The present results provide information about which miscellaneous symptoms may be related to particular symptom dimensions, which will assist in clinical evaluations and help planning behavioral psychotherapy (e.g., hierarchy development).     

Transporting CBT for Childhood Anxiety Disorders into Inner-City School-Based Mental Health Clinics

The systematic expansion of evidence-based cognitive behavioral (CBT) protocols into the schools provides an opportunity for training front-line service providers in the early identification of anxious children and in the delivery of evidence-based treatments to children who might otherwise go without such treatment [Weist, M. D., & Evans, S. W. (2005). Expanded school mental health: Challenges and opportunities in an emerging field. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 3, 3­6]. In this article, we discuss the progress of our ongoing study aimed at transporting manualized CBT for anxious youth into inner-city school-based clinics. In this context, we outline the rationale for the study and specific adaptations and obstacles encountered to date.     

The British Sign Language (BSL) norms for age of acquisition,familiarity, and iconicity

Research on signed languages offers the opportunity to address many important questions about language that it may not be possible to address via studies of spoken languages alone. Many such studies, however, are inherently limited, because there exist hardly any norms for lexical variables that have appeared to play important roles in spoken language processing. Here, we present a set of norms for age of acquisition, familiarity, and iconicity for 300 British Sign Language (BSL) signs, as rated by deaf signers, in the hope that they may prove useful to other researchers studying BSL and other signed languages. These norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Neuropsychological and Behavioral Features

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure can cause alterations to the developing brain. The resulting neurobehavioral deficits seen following this exposure are wide-ranging and potentially devastating and, therefore, are of significant concern to individuals, families, communities, and society. These effects occur on a continuum, and qualitatively similar neuropsychological and behavioral features are seen across the spectrum of effect. The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) has been used to emphasize the continuous nature of the outcomes of prenatal alcohol exposure, with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) representing one point on the spectrum. This paper will provide a comprehensive review of the neuropsychological and behavioral effects of heavy prenatal alcohol exposure, including a discussion of the emerging neurobehavioral profile. Supporting studies of lower levels of exposure, brain-behavior associations, and animal model systems will be included when appropriate.     

The object of my protection: Shielding fundamental motives from the implicit motivational influence of others

Goal shielding theory suggests that one's focal pursuits automatically inhibit the activation of interfering goals (Shah, Friedman, & Kruglanski, 2002); however, it is not entirely clear how individuals come to identify what constitutes “interfering”. Three studies examine how this identification process may be guided by fundamental social motives that individuals possess, particularly in social situations wherein goals are primed through mere exposure to others' goal-directed behavior (“goal contagion”, Aarts, Gollwitzer, & Hassin, 2004). Participants' fundamental motives for positive self-regard (Study 1), autonomy (Study 2), and distinctiveness (Study 3) were either manipulated or measured and participants read scenarios that manipulated the goal-directed behavior of a target other. Results indicated that participants inhibited the activation of goals being primed by others when the implicit influence interfered with their fundamental motives in some way. These findings suggest that fundamental motives can guide whether individuals will catch goals from others or shield themselves from such influences.     

Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport

Nonconscious behavioral mimicry occurs when a person unwittingly imitates the behaviors of another person. This mimicry has been attributed to a direct link between perceiving a behavior and performing that same behavior. The current experiments explored whether having a goal to affiliate augments the tendency to mimic the behaviors of interaction partners. Experiment 1 demonstrated that having an affiliation goal increases nonconscious mimicry, and Experiment 2 further supported this proposition by demonstrating that people who have unsuccessfully attempted to affiliate in an interaction subsequently exhibit more mimicry than those who have not experienced such a failure. Results suggest that behavioral mimicry may be part of a person's repertoire of behaviors, used nonconsciously, when there is a desire to create rapport.     

A New Look at Service Climate: Its Relationship with Owner Service Values in Small Businesses

The present study examined the relationship between service climate and an organizational-level variable not studied to date: owner service values. Thirty-one small businesses (35 owners and 221 employees) participated in the study. Service climate and owner service values were found to be negatively correlated such that the more an owner valued service, the lower the employees rated the organization's service climate. Although this result was contrary to expectations, the false consensus effect provides a useful framework to explain the negative relationship. Other owner values (e.g., innovation, aggressiveness, and decisiveness) did not correlate with service climate.