Effectiveness of Noncontingent Attention to Decrease Attention-Maintained Disruptive Behaviors in the General Education Classroom

This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of noncontingent attention (NCA) on disruptive talking-out behavior in a student diagnosed with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in the general education classroom. Functional analysis indicated that the talking-out behavior was maintained by teacher attention. We used an ABAB design in which the teacher implemented NCA. Results indicated that the strategy decreased the participant's talking-out behavior. Furthermore, social validity data indicated that the participant was able to spend more time on-task. Results and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Suicidality,Self‐Harm,and Body Dissatisfaction in Transgender Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Gender Dysphoria

Prevalence of suicide attempts, self‐injurious behaviors, and associated psychosocial factors were examined in a clinical sample of transgender (TG) adolescents and emerging adults (n = 96). Twenty‐seven (30.3%) TG youth reported a history of at least one suicide attempt and 40 (41.8%) reported a history of self‐injurious behaviors. There was a higher frequency of suicide attempts in TG youth with a desire for weight change, and more female‐to‐male youth reported a history of suicide attempts and self‐harm behaviors than male‐to‐female youth. Findings indicate that this population is at a high risk for psychiatric comorbidities and life‐threatening behaviors.     

Changing the Direction of Suicide Prevention in the United States

It is axiomatic that the goal of suicide prevention is the prevention of suicide. Yet in spite of significant efforts to this end since the middle of the last century, and most notably in the last decade, the rate of suicide in the U.S. has not declined; rather, it has increased. To address this issue, Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) brought together leading prevention specialists from other public health problems where successes have been achieved, representatives from countries where suicide rates have declined, and U.S. based suicide prevention researchers and program directors, to “think outside the box” and propose innovative, scalable approaches that might better drive success in achieving desired results from U.S. suicide prevention efforts. The recommendations should challenge our preconceptions and force us outside our own mental constraints to broaden our perspectives and suggest catalysts for real change in suicide prevention.     

Treating the Capability for Suicide: A Vital and Understudied Frontier in Suicide Prevention

Current efforts at suicide prevention center largely on reducing suicidal desire among individuals hospitalized for suicidality or being treated for related psychopathology. Such efforts have yielded evidence‐based treatments, and yet the national suicide rate has continued to climb. We propose that this disconnect is heavily influenced by an unmet need to consider population‐level interventions aimed at reducing the capability for suicide. Drawing on lessons learned from other public health phenomena that have seen drastic declines in frequency in recent decades (HIV, lung cancer, motor vehicle accidents), we propose that current suicidality treatment efforts trail current suicidality theories in their lack of focus on the extent to which individuals thinking about suicide are capable of transitioning from ideation to attempt. We summarize extant evidence for specific capability‐centered approaches (e.g., means safety) and propose other options for improving our ability to address this largely overlooked variable. We also note that population‐level approaches in this regard would represent an important opportunity to decrease risk in individuals who either lack access to evidence‐based care or underreport suicidal ideation, as a reduced capability for suicide would theoretically diminish the potency of suicidal desire and, in this sense, lower the odds of a transition from ideation to attempt.     

Suicide Exposure in the Population: Perceptions of Impact and Closeness

Recent studies of people exposed to suicide point to a continuum of effects moderated by a perception of closeness to the deceased. We investigated the importance of perception of impact of the death on mental health outcomes of those exposed to suicide. Female sex, younger age, and multiple exposures to suicide were associated with greater risk for poorer outcomes. Suicide exposed with high impact was more likely to have depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, prolonged grief, and suicide ideation. Findings can help focus postvention resources for suicide‐exposed individuals.     

Visual Illusions of Motion During Train Travel

Army Air Forces. Aviation Psychology Program Research Reports. Washington, D. C.: Goaernrnent Printing Ofice, 1947. Reviewed by H. J. Eysenck.     

Finding Treasures: Is the Community of Philosophical Inquiry a Methodology?

Studies in Philosophy and Education - In the world of Philosophy for Children (P4C), the word “method” is found frequently in its literature and in its practitioner’s handbooks....     

Contrastive mental causation

Any theory of mind needs to explain mental causation. Kim’s (upward) exclusion argument concludes that non-reductive physicalism cannot meet this challenge. One classic reply is that mental properties capture the causally relevant level of generality, because they are insensitive to physical realization. However, this reply suggests downward exclusion (if mental properties are causally efficacious, their physical realizers are causally impotent), contrary to physicalism’s assumption of closure. This paper shows how non-reductive physicalists can solve this problem by introducing a contrastive account of causation with non-exhaustive contrasts. That view has independent justification, because it is also needed to solve other puzzles. On this theory, both a mental property and its physical realizer can cause the same physical effect without lapsing into any problematic overdetermination when they cause that effect in contrast with distinct foils. This contrastive solution has advantages over previous accounts of mental causation and is defended against objections.

     

A Closer Examination of Sexual Trauma During Deployment: Not all Sexual Traumas are Associated with Suicidal Ideation

Military personnel can be exposed to a wide range of sexual trauma while deployed, including sexual harassment and sexual assault. We examined whether different types of sexual trauma during deployment associated with recent suicidal ideation among previously deployed OEF/OIF/OND veterans admitted to trauma‐focused treatment (n = 199). More severe forms of sexual trauma (e.g., sexual assault) were significantly and positively associated with suicidal ideation. In contrast, sexual trauma involving verbal remarks (e.g., sexual harassment) was not associated with suicidal ideation. Our findings suggest that sexual harassment and sexual assault during deployment may be differentially associated with suicidal ideation.     

International and Domestic Students,Perceived Burdensomeness,Belongingness, and Suicidal Ideation

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for traditional‐age college students, and the interpersonal theory of suicide (ITS; Joiner, 2005) provides a cogent framework for predicting which students may be at highest risk. However, little is known about how constructs of ITS operate in cross‐cultural contexts. Findings, based on a sample of international and domestic undergraduate students (N = 254), indicated that the ITS construct of perceived burdensomeness was positively associated with suicidal ideation (SI) for both groups. However, campus belongingness emerged as connected with SI for international students, whereas family belongingness emerged as connected with SI for domestic students.