Relationships between adolescents' attachment styles and family functioning

This study examined the relationship between university students' perceptions of their familial attachment and the manner in which their families cope with life's difficulties. It was hypothesized that individuals with high levels of secure attachment would perceive their families as using more active coping strategies (e.g., mobilizing the family to deal with a problem and making efforts to acquire social support). The results supported this hypothesis. Further, individuals with high levels of anxious/ambivalent attachment perceived their families as using a passive appraisal coping strategy, possibly because of a desire to avoid confrontation for fear of disturbing family accord. The findings are discussed in terms of individuals' dispositional coping styles formed as a function of type of familial attachment, as well as situational factors that might serve to mitigate the use of their basic coping strategies.     

Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Community-Based Participatory Research to Enhance Mental Health Services

Historically, consumers of mental health services have not been given meaningful roles in research and change efforts related to the services they use. This is quickly changing as scholars and a growing number of funding bodies now call for greater consumer involvement in mental health services research and improvement. Amidst these calls, community‐based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged as an approach which holds unique promise for capitalizing on consumer involvement in mental health services research and change. Yet, there have been few discussions of the value added by this approach above and beyond that of traditional means of inquiry and enhancement in adult mental health services. The purpose of this paper is to add to this discussion an understanding of potential multilevel and multifaceted benefits associated with consumer‐involved CBPR. This is accomplished through presenting the first‐person accounts of four stakeholder groups who were part of a consumer‐involved CBPR project purposed to improve the services of a local community mental health center. We present these accounts with the hope that by illustrating the unique outcomes associated with CBPR, there will be invigorated interest in CBPR as a vehicle for consumer involvement in adult mental health services research and enhancement.     

A Multi-Method Investigation of Parental Responses to Youth Emotion: Prospective Effects on Emotion Dysregulation and Reactive Aggression in Daily Life

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Parental responses to negative emotion, one key component of emotion socialization, may function to increase (or decrease) reactive aggression...     

A Validation of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in a Community Sample of Young Adult Males

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been shown to delineate a subgroup of individuals at high risk for exhibiting severe and persistent criminal behavior. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU; Frick 2004) was recently developed as a comprehensive rating scale designed to measure multiple facets of CU traits. However, validation of this measure has been limited to youth in adolescence and emerging adulthood (age range?=12–20), leaving questions about the utility of this measure in early adulthood unanswered. The current study evaluated the factor structure of the ICU within a racially diverse and well characterized community sample of adult males (n?=?425) using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). While results found the best fitting model to be the three-bifactor structure that has been previously reported in adolescent samples, the fit indices were only marginally acceptable and suggest the need for scale refinement. Total and subscales scores demonstrated significant and distinct associations with relevant external criteria (e.g., delinquency, psychopathy, psychopathology, psychosocial functioning). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Interactive Effects of Chronic Health Conditions And Financial Hardship On Episodic Memory Among Older Blacks: Findings From The Health And Retirement Study

Previous research links chronic health conditions and financial hardship to cognitive outcomes among older Blacks. However, few studies have explored the moderating effect of financial hardship on chronic disease burden and specific cognitive domains. This study examined whether financial hardship (as measured by difficulty paying monthly bills) modifies the impact of self-reported chronic health conditions (e.g., diabetes, stroke) on episodic memory among 871 older Blacks (50+ years) in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study . Financial hardship modified the association between chronic disease burden and episodic memory performance such that individuals who reported very little difficulty paying their monthly bills had significantly lower memory scores at high levels of disease burden compared to those reporting high financial difficulty after controlling for age, gender and education (F 2, 49 = 5.03, p = .010). This cross-sectional study suggests that both financial and physical wellbeing may have joint effects on cognitive health in older Blacks.     

The Impact of an Early Reading Intervention with English Language Learners and Native-English-Speaking Children

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of a supplemental reading program that emphasizes phoneme awareness and phonics with small groups composed of both at-risk native English-speakers and at-risk English language learners (ELLs) whose first language is not Spanish. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was utilized to investigate the effects of the intervention. Findings indicate that individual students placed in small reading groups comprised of ELLs and native English-speakers benefited from the code-oriented intervention, reinforcing the use of evidence-based instruction and more inclusive grouping practices for instruction. When disaggregated by language status, both ELLs and native English-speakers benefited from the supplemental reading instruction. Educational implications and areas for future research are discussed.