The Development of Behavioral Difficulties in Hard-of-Hearing and Deaf Youth

Abstract

This article critically reviews the existing literature examining the presence of behavioral difficulties in relation to language and parenting behaviors among hard-of-hearing youth. A collection of studies has researched the prevalence and development of externalizing behaviors in hard-of-hearing children that impact the well-being of the child and family. Previous literature has found that behavioral difficulties in hard-of-hearing youth contributed to increased parental stress and mental health concerns. Although the relationship between language and behavioral difficulties has been examined, minimal research evaluates the effects of parenting behaviors and parental stress on behavioral difficulties among hard-of-hearing youth. Further exploration within this population is necessary to inform treatment and prevention strategies.     

Exploring the Development and Dismantling of Equivalence Classes Involving Terrorist Stimuli

The Psychological Record - The present paper describes 2 studies that present a conceptual interpretation and experimental findings involving the developing and dismantling of equivalence...     

Modification of slot-machine preferences through the use of a conditional discrimination paradigm

The present experiment investigated the impact of contextually trained discriminations on gambling behavior. Nine recreational slot-machine players were initially exposed to concurrently available computerized slot machines that were each programmed on random-ratio schedules of reinforcement and differed only in color. All participants distributed responding equally across the two slot machines. A conditional discrimination procedure was then used to teach the contextual cues representing the arbitrary relations of "greater than" and "less than." Following contextual cue training, participants were reexposed to the concurrent slot-machine task. After training of the contextual cues, a higher proportion of responses were made to the slot machine that shared formal properties (i.e., color) with the contextual cue representing "greater than."     

Health-Related Quality of Life in College Undergraduates with Learning Disabilities: The Mediational Roles of Anxiety and Sadness

Little research has examined health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults with learning disabilities in post-secondary settings and the potential relationship between a learning disability and anxiety or sadness. This study examined HRQoL in 68 undergraduate students: 34 students who reported having been diagnosed with a “learning disability” were compared to 34 students who indicated they had not been diagnosed with a learning disability. Participants completed an online survey of anxiety, sadness, and HRQoL, including the SF-36. ANCOVAs on the Emotional Well-Being and Role Limitations Due to Emotional Problems scales from the SF-36 revealed that students reporting a diagnosis of a learning disability were significantly more impaired in Emotional Well-Being. Regression analyses suggested that impairment in Emotional Well-Being was mediated by separate ratings of both anxiety and sadness. Results indicated that those undergraduates reporting learning disabilities suffered from an impaired sense of well-being associated with anxious and sad feelings. A portion of these data were presented at the 2005 annual meetings of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT).     

Stress and worry: examining intolerance of uncertainty's moderating effect

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), or the way an individual perceives, interprets, and reacts to uncertainty in life, has been frequently investigated in relation to anxiety and worry. While a substantial body of research suggests that individual differences in IU foster stress and anxiety, IU's involvement as a potential moderator in the relation between stressful events and worry has only recently been investigated. Therefore, the present study examined the moderating effect of IU on the relation between daily hassles and worry as well as major life events and worry in a sample of 1092 young adults. Results revealed that IU showed a significant moderation effect in the relation between daily stress and worry. More specifically, when the two factors were examined individually only inhibitory IU served as a moderator between daily stress and worry. While major life events significantly predicted worry, no moderation effect was found for this relation. These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms through which IU impacts worry and contributes to anxiety.     

Exploring the utility of functional analysis methodology to assess and treat problematic verbal behavior in persons with acquired brain injury

Functional analyses were conducted on four adults with acquired brain injuries who regularly displayed instances of inappropriate verbal behavior including depressive, aggressive, suicidal, profane, and sexually inappropriate utterances. After the functional analysis yielded a maintaining variable for each participant, a function‐based intervention consisting of differential reinforcement of alternative verbal behavior was implemented. Results of the behavioral interventions show that instances of vocal behavior can be assessed and subsequently treated using the functional analysis methodology often reserved for nonverbal forms of behavior. The utility of functional analysis for assessing complex human behavior is discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.