First‐time mothers in home visitation services utilizing child development specialists

Professionals in the field of child development were employed to provide home visitation services to 156 mothers and infants prenatally through the infants' first birthdays. Compared to a control group of mothers (n = 107), the intervention mothers utilized more community resources, had safer homes, had more appropriate developmental expectations, had better understanding of noncorporal punishment, and had behaviors that were more accepting and respectful to their infants. The home visitors were well educated, with experience in home visitation, and supervised. Program implementation procedures were documented and supervised. Program fidelity and the efficacy of using child development specialists as home visitors are discussed in regards to the positive findings. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

What Motivates People to Participate More in Community‐based Coalitions?

The purpose of this study was to identify potential opportunities for improving member participation in community-based coalitions. We hypothesized that opportunities for influence and process competence would each foster higher levels of individual member participation. We tested these hypotheses in a sample of 818 members within 79 youth-oriented coalitions. Opportunities for influence were measured as members' perceptions of an inclusive board leadership style and members' reported committee roles. Coalition process competence was measured through member perceptions of strategic board directedness and meeting effectiveness. Members reported three types of participation within meetings as well as how much time they devoted to coalition business beyond meetings. Generalized linear models accommodated clustering of individuals within coalitions. Opportunities for influence were associated with individuals' participation both within and beyond meetings. Coalition process competence was not associated with participation. These results suggest that leadership inclusivity rather than process competence may best facilitate member participation.     

Time course of selective attention in clinically depressed young adults: an eye tracking study

Depressed individuals display biased attention for emotional information when stimuli are presented for relatively “long” (e.g., 1 s) durations. The current study examined whether attentional biases are sustained over a much longer period. Specifically, clinically depressed and never depressed young adults simultaneously viewed images from four emotion categories (sad, threat, positive, neutral) for 30 s while line of visual gaze was assessed. Depressed individuals spent significantly more time viewing dysphoric images and less time viewing positive images than their never depressed counterparts. Time course analyses indicated that these biases were maintained over the course of the trial. Results suggest that depressed participants' attentional biases for dysphoric information are sustained for relatively long periods even when other emotional stimuli are present. Mood congruent information-processing biases appear to be a robust feature of depression and may have an important role in the maintenance of the disorder.     

Color preferences in gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Color plays an important biological role in the lives of many animals, with some species exhibiting preferences for certain colors over others. This study explored the color preferences of two species of ape, which, like humans, possess trichromatic color vision. Six western lowland gorillas, and six chimpanzees, housed in Belfast Zoological Gardens, were exposed to three stimuli (cloths, boxes, sheets of acetate) in red, blue, and green. Six stimuli of the same nature, in each of the three colors, were provided to both species for 5 days per stimulus. The amount of interest that the animals showed toward each stimulus of each color was recorded for 1 hr. Results showed that the apes, both when analyzed as two separate groups, and when assessed collectively, showed significant color preferences, paying significantly less attention to the red-, than to the blue- or green-colored stimuli. The animals' interest in the blue- and green-colored stimuli did not differ significantly. Overall, the findings suggest that gorillas and chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, may harbor color preferences comparable to those of humans and other species.     

Cognitive and Behavioural Effects of Genetic Testing for Thrombophilia

Very few studies have examined the impact of genetic testing for thrombophilia on health behaviours, perceptions of control over risk factors for venous thromboembolism, or health services utilization. Through a postal questionnaire we compared first degree relatives with thrombophilia (carriers) most of whom had received counseling, to those without (non-carriers) with respect to: (a) perceived causes of venous thromboembolism; (b) perceived control; (c) health behaviour changes; and (d) use of health care services. 44/51 for carriers and 26/47 for non-carriers completed questionnaires. Carriers were more likely to believe their risk of venous thromboembolism 'is a little higher' or 'much higher' than average (p < 0.001) but some continued to believe their risk 'is the same as' or 'lower than' average. 16%-32% of carriers did not recognize major risk factors. Stress, worry, or depression, negative attitude, and over-exertion were over-interpreted as risks. 37.2% did not appreciate that thrombophilia increases risk. Behaviour changes were uncommon. There is a need for research on education and strategies to improve knowledge in thrombophilia carriers.     

Can eyewitnesses correct for external influences on their lineup identifications? The actual/counterfactual assessment paradigm

Real-world eyewitnesses are often asked whether their lineup responses were affected by various external influences, but it is unknown whether they can accurately answer these types of questions. The witness-report-of-influence mental-correction model is proposed to explain witnesses' reports of influence. Two experiments used a new paradigm (the actual/counterfactual paradigm) to examine eyewitnesses' abilities to report accurately on the influence of lineup manipulations. Eyewitnesses were administered either confirming feedback or no feedback (Experiment 1, n = 103), or a cautionary instruction or no cautionary instruction (Experiment 2, n = 114). Eyewitnesses then gave actual responses (retrospective confidence, view, and attention measures in Experiment 1; identification decision in Experiment 2) as well as counterfactual responses stating how they would have responded in the alternative condition. Results across both studies showed an asymmetric estimation of influence pattern: Eyewitnesses who received an influencing manipulation estimated significantly less of a change in their responses than eyewitnesses who did not receive an influencing manipulation. A 48-hr delay between actual and counterfactual responses did not moderate any effects. Results are explained by witnesses' implicit theories of influence.     

New and updated tests of print exposure and reading abilities in college students

The relationship between print exposure and measures of reading skill was examined in college students (N = 99, 58 female; mean age = 20.3 years). Print exposure was measured with several new self-reports of reading and writing habits, as well as updated versions of the Author Recognition Test and the Magazine Recognition Test (Stanovich & West, 1989). Participants completed a sentence comprehension task with syntactically complex sentences, and reading times and comprehension accuracy were measured. An additional measure of reading skill was provided by participants' scores on the verbal portions of the ACT, a standardized achievement test. Higher levels of print exposure were associated with higher sentence processing abilities and superior verbal ACT performance. The relative merits of different print exposure assessments are discussed.     

The relevancy of holland's theory to a nonprofessional occupation

The authors examined job satisfaction and workers' perceptions of a nonprofessional occupation using the Position Classification Inventory (PCI; G. D. Gottfredson & J. L. Holland, 1991). Results revealed high job satisfaction scores and suggest that the PCI shows promise as a method of classifying working‐class occupations according to J. L. Holland's (1985, 1997) theory.     

Metacognitive beliefs across the continuum of psychosis: comparisons between patients with psychotic disorders, patients at ultra-high risk and non-patients

BACKGROUND: Recent models of emotional disorders and psychosis implicate metacognitive beliefs in the development and maintenance of psychological distress. We predicted that patients with established psychotic disorders and those meeting at risk mental state (ARMS) criteria (and, thus, at increased risk of developing psychosis) would show higher levels of metacognitive beliefs than non-patient controls. Furthermore, we predicted that patients with psychosis would show higher levels of such beliefs than the at risk group. METHOD: The Metacognitions Questionnaire was administered to 73 patients with psychotic disorders, 43 ARMS patients and 188 non-patients. RESULTS: As predicted, patients with psychotic diagnoses and those at risk scored higher on metacognitive belief dimensions than non-patients. Patients with psychosis showed higher positive metacognitive beliefs than the at risk patients, indicating a greater range of unhelpful metacognitions overall, when compared to non-patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with metacognitive conceptualisations of psychological disorders. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.