Treatment of vocal tics in children with Tourette syndrome: investigating the efficacy of habit reversal

Habit reversal was used to treat vocal tics in 5 children with Tourette syndrome. Vocal tics were reduced in 4 of the 5 children, the untreated motor tics did not increase, and treatment was acceptable to the children's parents.     

Ramsay-curve item response theory (RC-IRT) to detect and correct for nonnormal latent variables

Popular methods for fitting unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models to data assume that the latent variable is normally distributed in the population of respondents, but this can be unreasonable for some variables. Ramsay-curve IRT (RC-IRT) was developed to detect and correct for this nonnormality. The primary aims of this article are to introduce RC-IRT less technically than it has been described elsewhere; to evaluate RC-IRT for ordinal data via simulation, including new approaches for model selection; and to illustrate RC-IRT with empirical examples. The empirical examples demonstrate the utility of RC-IRT for real data, and the simulation study indicates that when the latent distribution is skewed, RC-IRT results can be more accurate than those based on the normal model. Along with a plot of candidate curves, the Hannan-Quinn criterion is recommended for model selection.     

A comparison of thought suppression to an acceptance-based technique in the management of personal intrusive thoughts: a controlled evaluation

Research suggests that suppressing unwanted thoughts is not possible, leads to a subsequent increase in frequency of the suppressed thoughts, and results in higher levels of distress. Because thought suppression may have negative effects, an alternative, acceptance-based approach has been proposed. The current paper reports the outcomes of two studies. Study I examined the relationships between two naturally occurring strategies of thought management (thought suppression and acceptance), symptoms of psychopathology, and experiences with personally relevant intrusive thoughts. Results showed that those who naturally suppress personally relevant intrusive thoughts have more, are more distressed by, and have a greater "urge to do something" about the thoughts, while those who are naturally more accepting of their intrusive thoughts are less obsessional, have lower levels of depression, and are less anxious. Study II compared three groups (thought suppression, acceptance, and monitor-only groups) on the frequency and distress associated with experiencing personally relevant intrusive thoughts. Results revealed that those instructed to suppress their personal intrusive thoughts were unable to do so and experienced an increased level of distress after suppression, whereas those instructed to use an acceptance-based strategy experienced a decrease in discomfort level (but not thought frequency) after having used such a strategy. These data offer initial evidence that acceptance may be a useful alternative to the suppression of personally relevant intrusive thoughts.     

Unique and Joint Effects of Sexual and Racial Harassment on College Students' Well-Being

An analysis is presented of issues involved in the differences noted between female and male leaders of mixed-sex groups. After surveying some of the different types of reactions of followers of both sexes to female or male leaders, this paper calls attention to such contributing factors as the nature of the group task, attitudes of leader and followers toward appropriate sex roles, and the criterion measures used. Implications for future research are derived and discussed.     

Voidites in pure type IaB diamonds

Abstract

Electron microscopy of five pure type IaB diamonds (showing no trace whatever of a B′ infrared absorption peak due to {001} platelets) reveals voidite distributions unlike any reported before. In three of the crystals the voidites are distributed at random, and are not associated with degraded platelets, which themselves are not present in these specimens. These observations show that voidite formation and platelet degradation are distinct independent phenomena. The other two speamens showed only arrays of dislocations that patently resulted from plastic deformation: no voidites were seen. The non-formation of platelets in diamonds showing such an advanced stage of nitrogen aggregation is unexpected, and places these diamonds in a category distinct from that called ‘irregular’, in which platelets have indeed formed, but then experienced, to some degree, a process of transformation to perfect dislocation loops.     

The infrared absorption spectra of diamonds expected to contain voidites

Abstract

The infrared spectra of several type Ia diamond crystals expected to contain voidites have been examined in the wavenumber range 4000–2700 cm^?1. The absence of any absorption which could possibly be attributable to the stretching of N─H bonds makes unlikely recent suggestions that the voidites may contain a solid phase of NH₃.     

Behavior Therapy for Stereotypic Movement Disorder in Typically Developing Children: A Clinical Case Series

Stereotypic movement disorder (SMD) is characterized by repetitive, rhythmic, episodic movement and is associated with distress and functional impairment. A range of behavioral strategies have been implemented for the treatment of stereotypies, but research on the effectiveness of behavior therapy in typically developing children is limited. The following case series describes the implementation of behavior therapy for 3 typically developing children (ages 12 to 14) with SMD. Results showed significant reductions in the frequency and intensity of the stereotypies. Future refinement and testing of a behavior therapy protocol is recommended.     

Monte Carlo Evaluation of Two-Level Logistic Regression for Assessing Person Fit

Person fit is the degree to which an item response model fits for individual examinees. Reise (2000) Reise, S. P. 2000. Using multilevel logistic regression to evaluate person-fit in IRT models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 35: 543–568. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] described how two-level logistic regression can be used to detect heterogeneity in person fit, evaluate potential predictors of person fit heterogeneity, and identify potentially aberrant individuals. The method has apparently never been applied to empirical data or evaluated in a simulation study. The present research applies Reise's method to empirical data obtained from university undergraduates measured on the Fear of Negative Evaluation scale. Additionally, Reise's method is evaluated under conditions varying according to the type of aberrancy, level of test reliability, and scale length. Statistical power to detect aberrancy was highly dependent on manipulated variables, and some results were affected by bias in model parameters that was due to the aberrant responders. Nevertheless, Reise's method generally performed well and detected aberrant individuals either as well as, or better than, the well-established l _z person-fit statistic.     

The Conflicting Demands of Work,Family, and School Among Students at an Urban University

The effects of perceived effectiveness of university support services and general satisfaction with the educational experience on conflicting demands of work, family, and school were investigated in a study of 375 undergraduate and graduate students at an urban university. Results demonstrated a negative relationship between perceived effectiveness of support services and the degree of work-school role conflict experienced by participants. Furthermore, satisfaction with educational experience was negatively related to work-school conflict. No other significant effects were found.     

Temporal shifts in eye gaze and facial expressions independently contribute to the perceived attractiveness of unfamiliar faces

ABSTRACT

We investigated whether attractiveness ratings of expressive faces would be affected by gaze shifts towards or away from the observer. In all experiments, effects of facial expression were found, with higher attractiveness ratings to positive over negative expressions, irrespective of effects of gaze-shifts. In the first experiment faces with gaze shifts away from the observer were preferred. However, when the dynamics of the gaze shift was disrupted, by adding an intermediate delay, the effect of direction of gaze shift disappeared. By manipulating the relative duration of each gaze direction during a gaze shift we found higher attractiveness ratings to faces with a longer duration of direct gaze, particularly in the initial exposure to a face. Our findings suggest that although the temporal dynamics of eye gaze and facial expressions influence the aesthetic evaluation of faces, these cues appear to act independently rather than in an integrated manner for social perception.