Belongingness and Burdensomeness in Adolescents: Slovene Translation and Validation of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire

The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) for assessing thwarted belongingness (TB) and perceived burdensomeness (PB) has not been validated with community adolescents. We translated and administered the INQ to 307 Slovenian adolescents twice over 2–3 months and found that the 15‐item version (INQ‐15) did not fit without modification. TB and PB scales correlated with concurrent and later suicide ideation and lifetime suicide attempt history. The latent PB factor was associated with concurrent and later ideation controlling for TB, age, gender, depressive symptoms, binge drinking, and peer victimization. Suicide ideation and binge drinking were independently related to attempt history. Assessing and intervening on PB and binge drinking may be promising approaches to suicide prevention with community adolescents.     

The natural course of anxiety symptoms in early adolescence: factors related to persistence

Background and objectives: Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problems during childhood and adolescence. This study examined the course of anxiety symptoms in early adolescents from the general population over three phases.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: Two hundred and forty-two participants (mean-age of 13.52) from a baseline sample of 1514 (mean-age of 10.23) were followed up three times. Of the 1514 children, those with emotional risk and controls without risk constituted the second-phase sample (n?=?562; mean-age of 11.25). The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-SCARED was administered in all three phases.

Results: Fifty-six percent and 32% of respondents showed total scores above the SCARED cutoff point at one and three years follow-up, respectively. Eight percent showed fluctuating symptoms. Fifty-five percent of respondents showed high scores for any subtype of anxiety over three years. Social phobia and generalized anxiety symptoms were the most prevalent and persistent. Participants with persistent separation anxiety showed the highest co-occurrence with symptoms of other psychopathological disorders. Participants with persistent anxiety showed lower academic performance. Being male was a protective factor against persistence.

Conclusions: The data support anxiety maintenance during early adolescence. Early adolescence is a critical period which may involve other serious academic, social, and family problems.     

Alexithymia and Early Maladaptive Schemas in chronic pain patients

Psychological factors have an impact on subjective pain experience. The aim of this study was to explore the occurrence of alexithymia and Early Maladaptive Schemas in a sample of 271 first visit chronic pain patients of six pain clinics. The patients completed the study questionnaire consisting of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale‐20, the Finnish version of the Young Schema Questionnaire short form‐extended, the Beck Depression Inventory‐II, and pain variables. Alexithymic patients scored higher on Early Maladaptive Schemas and had more pain intensity, pain disability and depression than nonalexithymic patients. Both alexithymia and depression correlated significantly with most Early Maladaptive Schemas. The co‐occurrence of alexithymia, Early Maladaptive Schemas and depression seems to worsen the pain experience. Screening of alexithymia, depression and Early Maladaptive Schemas may help to plan psychological treatment interventions for chronic pain patients.     

Glucocorticoid administration into the dorsal striatum [corrected] facilitates memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance training but not of the context or footshock components

It is well established that glucocorticoid administration into a variety of brain regions facilitates memory consolidation of fear-conditioning tasks, including inhibitory avoidance. The present findings indicate that the natural glucocorticoid corticosterone administered into the dorsal striatum (i.e., caudate nucleus) of male Wistar rats produced dose- and time-dependent enhancement of inhibitory avoidance memory consolidation. However, as assessed with a modified inhibitory avoidance procedure that took place on two sequential days to separate context training from footshock training, corticosterone administration into the dorsal striatum did not enhance memory of either the contextual or aversively motivational aspects of the task.     

Memory,past and self

The purpose of this essay is to determine how we should construe the content of memories. First, I distinguish two features of memory that a construal of mnemic content should respect. These are the ‘attribution of pastness’ feature (a subject is inclined to believe of those events that she remembers that they happened in the past) and the ‘attribution of existence’ feature (a subject is inclined to believe that she existed at the time that those events that she remembers took place). Next, I distinguish two kinds of theories of memory, which I call ‘perceptual’ and ‘self-based’ theories. I argue that those theories that belong to the first kind but not the second one have trouble accommodating the attribution of existence. And theories that belong to the second kind but not the first one leave the attribution of pastness unexplained. I then discuss two different theories that are both perceptual and self-based, which I eventually reject. Finally, I propose a perceptual, self-based theory that can account for both the attribution of pastness and the attribution of past existence.     

Effects of the iodine deficiency on intellectual variables among children

An association between severe iodine deficiency and poor mental development has been found in many studies. We examined the relationship between moderate or mild iodine deficiency and intellectual capacity in order to determine whether problems common to severe iodine deficiency (including mental retardation) also emerge in a more subtle form. We also wished to know whether the classic methodology (comparing iodine-deficient zones with nondeficient zones) is the most adequate, and propose to combine this grouping by zones with urinary iodine presented by individuals in each zone. We measured IQ, manipulative and verbal capacity, attention, visual motor ability and disruptive behaviour, variables that have barely been studied in this kind of investigations. The sample comprised 760 schoolchildren from the province of Jaén (southern Spain). Our results show that children with low levels of iodine intake and with urinary iodine concentration lower than 100 microg/litre had a lower IQ and displayed more disruptive behaviour than children with high levels of the criteria. The other variables were not associated with iodine deficiency.     

The Relationship Between the Fear-Avoidance Model of Pain and Personality Traits in Fibromyalgia Patients

This study examined the relationship between several cognitive-affective factors of the fear-avoidance model of pain, the big five model of personality, and functional impairment in fibromyalgia (FM). Seventy-four FM patients completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20, the Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire, and the Impairment and Functioning Inventory. Results indicated that the cognitive-affective factors of pain are differentially associated with personality traits. Neuroticism and conscientiousness were significant predictors of pain catastrophizing, and neuroticism, openness, and agreeableness were significant predictors of pain anxiety. Personality traits did not contribute significantly to vigilance to pain. The effect of neuroticism upon pain anxiety was mediated by pain catastrophizing, and neuroticism showed a trend to moderate the relationship between impairment and pain anxiety. Results support the fear-avoidance model of pain. Implications of the findings for the understanding and management of FM are discussed.     

Conditioned taste aversion modifies persistently the subsequent induction of neocortical long-term potentiation in vivo

The ability of neurons to modify their synaptic strength in an activity-dependent manner has a crucial role in learning and memory processes. It has been proposed that homeostatic forms of plasticity might provide the global regulation necessary to maintain synaptic strength and plasticity within a functional dynamic range. Similarly, it is considered that the capacity of synapses to express plastic changes is itself subject to variation dependent on previous experience. In particular, training in several behavioral tasks modifies the possibility to induce long-term potentiation (LTP). Our previous studies in the insular cortex (IC) have shown that induction of LTP in the basolateral amygdaloid nucleus (Bla)-IC projection previous to conditioned taste aversion (CTA) training enhances the retention of this task. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether CTA training modifies the ability to induce subsequent LTP in the Bla-IC projection in vivo. Thus, CTA trained rats received high frequency stimulation in the Bla-IC projection in order to induce LTP 48, 72, 96 and 120 h after the aversion test. Our results show that CTA training prevents the subsequent induction of LTP in the Bla-IC projection, for at least 120 h after CTA training. We also showed that pharmacological inhibition of CTA consolidation with anisomycin (1 μl/side; 100 μg/μl) prevents the CTA effect on IC-LTP. These findings reveal that CTA training produces a persistent change in the ability to induce subsequent LTP in the Bla-IC projection in a protein-synthesis dependent manner, suggesting that changes in the ability to induce subsequent synaptic plasticity contribute to the formation and persistence of aversive memories.     

Reducing latency of a child's responding to instructions by means of a token system

The response latency of following directions by an 8-yr-old boy from a class for emotionally disturbed children was modified by the contingent application of a token system. To demonstrate reinforcer effectiveness, a multiple baseline approach was used. Measures were obtained for the time elapsed between the presentation of verbal directions and five performances: (1) entering the experimental room, (2) putting toys away, (3) beginning academic work, (4) putting toys away again, and (5) returning to the classroom and completing preparations for leaving school. These five measures were placed on the token system at three different times. The results demonstrated that four of the five performances were clearly affected by the token system as their response latency for following directions decreased substantially.