School Entry After a Community-Wide Trauma: Challenges and Lessons Learned from September 11th, 2001

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of a school-based trauma-specific mental health program in New York City following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. This program aimed to serve children most at risk for developing mental health problems as a result of physical proximity (e.g., evacuation from schools surrounding the World Trade Center) to the trauma. As we present the components of the program, we will review the literature that guided our decision making. The ongoing struggle between searching for answers from established science and immediate needs in a crisis is highlighted. Lastly, a discussion of the lessons learned and recommended next steps is presented.     

Recovery of the US representation over time during extinction

Four experiments used a conditioned suppression procedure in rats to explore changes in the US representation over time during the course of extinction. They employed two previously reported effects: reinstatement of responding to an extinguished CS by separate US presentation, and the erasure of that effect by interposed nonreinforcement of a second excitatory CS. These effects have been interpreted as enhancing and depressing the US representation, respectively. Experiment 1 found the erasing effect to decrease but still to remain substantial after over a 4-day period, suggesting a partial recovery with time of a deliberately depressed US representation. Experiment 2 implicated this change as a contributor to the phenomenon of spontaneous recovery by showing that recovery to be sensitive to erasure effects. Experiments 3 and 4 found evidence for an interaction between the state of the US representation and the amount of associative change which results from nonreinforcement of an excitatory CS. When the US representation was strong, either because of reinstatement or the passage of time, nonreinforcement of a CS was especially effective in producing associative change. When the US representation had been depressed by erasure, those nonreinforcements produced relatively less associative loss. Moreover, these effects upon associations were reasonably stable in the sense that they left asymptotic differences in the strength of associations after extinction. Together with previous findings, these results point to an important role for the US representation in the performance and learning which occurs during extinction.     

Social cognition and real-life functioning in patient samples with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome with or without psychosis,compared to a large sample of patients with schizophrenia only and healthy controls

Patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) show an increased risk of developing a psychotic illness lifetime. 22q11.2DS may represent a reliable model for studying the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia. The study of social inference abilities in a genetic condition at high risk for psychosis, like 22q11.2DS, may shed light on the relationships between neurocognitive processes and patients' daily general functioning. The study sample consisted of 1736 participants, divided into four groups: 22q11.2DS patients with diagnosis of psychotic disorder (DEL SCZ, N = 20); 22q11.2DS subjects with no diagnosis of psychosis (DEL, N = 43); patients diagnosed with schizophrenia without 22q11.2DS (SCZ, N = 893); and healthy controls (HC, N = 780). Social cognition was assessed through The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and general functioning through the Specific Levels of Functioning (SLoF) scale. We analysed data through regression analysis. The SCZ and DEL groups had similar levels of global functioning; they both had significantly lower SLoF Total scores than HC (p < .001); the DEL SCZ group showed significantly lower scores compared to the other groups (SCZ, p = .004; DEL, p = .003; HC, p < .001). A significant deficit in social cognition was observed in the three clinical groups. In the DEL SCZ and SCZ groups, TASIT scores significantly predicted global functioning (p < .05). Our findings of social cognition deficit in psychosis-prone patients point to the possible future adoption of rehabilitation programmes, like Social Skills Training and Cognitive Remediation, during premorbid stages of psychosis.     

音乐训练对4~5岁幼儿普通话声调范畴感知能力的影响

已有研究表明, 音乐训练能提高成人对普通话声调范畴感知的能力, 此种训练能否增强幼儿对声调范畴感知的能力?训练效果是否受到训练时间长短的影响?本研究对幼儿园4~5岁幼儿进行音乐训练, 共40人, 分成音乐组和控制组, 每组各20人, 追踪考察音乐训练和训练时间长短对幼儿声调范畴感知能力提升的影响。实验采用前测-中测-后测设计, 对音乐组开展每周3次, 每次30分钟, 以小钟琴演奏为主的音乐训练; 控制组不进行任何有组织的训练活动。结果发现, 12个月音乐训练提升了幼儿对声调范畴感知的程度, 表现为音乐组幼儿范畴边界宽度显著小于控制组, 而训练6个月时, 该优势并不显著。此外, 12个月音乐训练还加强了幼儿区分范畴内刺激声学差异的敏感性, 而对范畴间刺激的区分能力无显著提高。本研究结果支持了音乐学习的歌剧理论(OPERA), 音乐训练具有跨域迁移作用, 可提升4~5岁幼儿对普通话声调范畴感知的能力, 但只有长期持续的训练才可能真正提高幼儿的音高精细化加工水平。     

Neurocognitive performance of 5- and 6-year-old children who met criteria for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder at 18 months follow-up: results from a prospective population study

The aim of this prospective study was to examine whether neurocognitive performance of children aged 5–6 years distinguished children who were later diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or borderline ADHD from children without ADHD after adjustment for behavioral measures and to examine the influence of comorbid psychopathology. Out of a general population of 1,317 children, 366 children were selected on the basis of their scores on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Eighteen months later, the parents were interviewed using a standardized child psychiatric interview: 33 children were classified as ADHD and 75 children as borderline ADHD, and there were 258 children without ADHD. Children with rated ADHD were significantly impaired on measures of visuomotor ability and working memory compared to children without ADHD after adjustment for CBCL results. The performance of borderline ADHD children was in between that of children with and without ADHD. In addition, 4 groups of children were analyzed: 9 ADHD, 24 ADHD with comorbid oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD), 59 ODD/CD, and 274 controls. Children with rated comorbid ADHD and ODD/CD performed significantly worse on these tasks compared to children with rated ODD/CD and control children while they did not differ from ADHD children. Our results imply that neurocognitive measures can contribute to the early identification of ADHD with and without comorbid ODD/CD.     

New York City young adults’ psychological reactions to 9/11: findings from the Reach for Health longitudinal study

This research examines psychological distress among 955 economically disadvantaged New York City residents surveyed during high school and again after the September 11th terrorist attacks (9/11), when they were young adults. As part of the longitudinal Reach for Health study, young adult surveys were conducted from 6–19 months post-9/11 (average 8 months), providing opportunity to assess types of exposures and psychological distress, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, hopelessness, and anger. Regressions of psychological distress on 9/11 exposure were performed, controlling for high school distress, prior exposure to violence victimization, and socio-demographic characteristics. Exposure to 9/11 was positively associated with anger, hopelessness, and PTSD symptoms and a measure of global distress. The relationship was greater among women for PTSD symptoms. Although those who reported high school distress also reported more distress in young adulthood, prior psychological distress did not moderate the relationship between exposure and psychological outcomes. Greater exposure is related to distress among those who, during high school, reported lower distress, as well as among those who reported prior greater distress.     

Changes in ego development in the wake of September 11

In a longitudinal study using the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), we examined changes in ego development in response to the events of September 11, 2001. A sample of 24 individuals responded to the WUSCT in both the summer and fall of 2001, before and after the events of September 11. A significant decrease in mean ego level was found following September 11, as well as more equivocal support for an increase in variability in responses to the WUSCT.     

Transmission of Cultural Values among Mexican‐Origin Parents and Their Adolescent and Emerging Adult Offspring

The integration of the U.S. and Mexican culture is an important process associated with Mexican‐origin youths' adjustment and family dynamics. The current study examined the reciprocal associations in parents' and two offspring's cultural values (i.e., familism and respect) in 246 Mexican‐origin families. Overall, mothers' values were associated with increases in youths' values 5 years later. In contrast, youths' familism values were associated with increases in fathers' familism values 5 years later. In addition, developmental differences emerged where parent‐to‐offspring effects were more consistent for youth transitioning from early to late adolescence than for youth transitioning from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Finally, moderation by immigrant status revealed a youth‐to‐parent effect for mother–youth immigrant dyads, but not for dyads where youth were U.S.‐raised. Our findings highlight the reciprocal nature of parent–youth value socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of these processes through the consideration of familism and respect values. As Mexican‐origin youth represent a large and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, research that advances our understanding of how these youth develop values that foster family cohesion and support is crucial.     

Associations between Positive Parenting Practices and Child Externalizing Behavior in Underserved Latino Immigrant Families

This study examined whether five specific parenting practices (i.e., monitoring, discipline, skill encouragement, problem solving, and positive involvement) were associated with reduced child externalizing behaviors among a sample of Latino immigrant families. It utilized baseline data from 83 Latino couples with children participating in a larger randomized controlled trial of a culturally adapted parenting intervention. Results reveal that monitoring, discipline, skill encouragement, and problem solving each made independent contributions to the prediction of child externalizing behavior, although not all in the expected direction. Further analyses examining mothers and fathers separately suggest that mother‐reported monitoring and father‐reported discipline practices uniquely contributed to these findings. These results may have important implications for prevention and clinical intervention efforts with Latino immigrant families, including the cultural adaptation and implementation of parenting interventions with this underserved population.