Functional communication training: From efficacy to effectiveness

Functional communication training (FCT; Carr & Durand, 1985) is a common function‐based treatment in which an alternative form of communication is taught to reduce problem behavior. FCT has been shown to result in substantial reductions of a variety of topographically and functionally different types of problem behavior in children and adults (efficacy). The extent to which these reductions maintain in relevant contexts and result in meaningful changes in the lives of those impacted (effectiveness) is the focus of this paper. This review evaluates the degree to which FCT has been established as an evidence‐based practice in psychology (EBPP) according to the definition set out by the American Psychological Association's 2005 Presidential Task Force on Evidence‐Based Practice. Our review finds overwhelming evidence in support of FCT as an efficacious treatment but highlights significant limitations in support of its effectiveness. In order to also be recognized as an EBPP, future research on FCT will need to focus more closely on issues related to home, school, and community application, feasibility, consumer satisfaction, and more general and global changes for the individual.     

Bio-inspired intent communication for automated vehicles

Various external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs) have been proposed that communicate the intent of automated vehicles (AVs) to vulnerable road users. However, there is no consensus on which eHMI concept is most suitable for intent communication. In nature, animals have evolved the ability to communicate intent via visual signals. Inspired by intent communication in nature, this paper investigated three novel and potentially intuitive eHMI designs that rely on posture, gesture, and colouration, respectively. In an online crowdsourcing study, 1141 participants viewed videos featuring a yielding or non-yielding AV with one of the three bio-inspired eHMIs, as well as a green/red lightbar eHMI, a walk/don’t walk text-based eHMI, and a baseline condition (i.e., no eHMI). Participants were asked to press and hold a key when they felt safe to cross and to answer rating questions. Together, these measures were used to determine the intuitiveness of the tested eHMIs. Results showed that the lightbar eHMI and text-based eHMI were more intuitive than the three bio-inspired eHMIs, which, in turn, were more intuitive than the baseline condition. An exception was the bio-inspired colouration eHMI, which produced a performance score that was equivalent to the text-based eHMI when communicating ‘non-yielding’. Further research is necessary to examine whether these observations hold in more complex traffic situations. Additionally, we recommend combining features from different eHMIs, such as the full-body communication of the bio-inspired colouration eHMI with the colours of the lightbar eHMI.     

Key factors associated with Australian parents’ willingness to use an automated vehicle to transport their unaccompanied children

This study aimed to identify the key factors associated with Australian parents' willingness to use an automated vehicle to transport their unaccompanied child(ren). Seven hundred and seventy-five participants completed the online survey (M = 40.7 years, SD = 8.9 years, Range = 18.0–65.0 years; Female: 56.4%). Most participants reported that they would 'never' use an automated vehicle to transport their unaccompanied child(ren) (43.5%). The results of a logistic regression model showed that participants' age, gender, level of education, propensity for technology adoption, aberrant driving behaviours, awareness of advanced driver assistance safety (ADAS) technologies, perceived knowledge regarding automated vehicles, as well their requirements for assurance-related vehicle features were significantly associated with their willingness to use an automated vehicle to transport their unaccompanied child(ren), χ2(12) = 137.41, p < 0.001). Overall, the findings suggest that Australian parents are mostly unwilling to use an automated vehicle to transport their unaccompanied child(ren) unless various reassurance features and technologies (i.e., microphones, camera, ability to summon assistance if the vehicle breaks down) are embedded in the vehicle. Therefore, automated vehicle manufacturers are encouraged to consider these requirements when prototyping their designs so that all user groups, including child occupants, can benefit from the impending arrival of automated technologies.     

从个体到集体：心理学视角下的集体记忆

基于拓展思维的社会互动主义视角, 采用流行病学研究思路, 记忆的形成与维护构成了集体记忆心理学研究的核心问题。相关研究一方面以“对话”为研究语境, 系统阐释了集体记忆形成中的社会传染、检索诱发遗忘、共享现实和网络聚合等心理机制; 另一方面, 聚焦于既存的记忆, 阐释了集体记忆有效性的心理原则, 同时, 记忆的身份关联性得到了确证。集体记忆心理学研究仍需拓展视野, 加强对文化记忆的有效性研究, 密切关注媒介技术变革引发的记忆变化, 积极推进本土化研究。     

Conversation Orientation Moderates the Relationship between Information Sharing of Medically Assisted Reproduction and Child Adjustment

Parents who experienced infertility have increasingly used medically assisted reproduction (MAR) to add children to their families over the past few decades. These parents will need to decide if they will tell their children about being conceived using MAR. Although MAR information sharing operates within family contexts, little is known about the role of conversation orientation—one family contextual factor—in child outcomes associated with MAR information sharing in middle childhood. Derived from the Family Communication Patterns Theory, this study proposes that conversation orientation moderates the associations between MAR information sharing and children's psychosocial adjustment. This proposal was tested using a sample of 81 6- to 12-year-old MAR-conceived children from 55 families and a structured observational measure of conversation orientation. Multiple regression analyses showed that MAR information sharing interacted with conversation orientation to influence children's behavioral and attention problems but not emotional problems. In families with high conversation orientation, MAR information sharing was not significantly associated with children's behavioral and attention problems. In families with low conversation orientation, MAR information sharing was significantly associated with an increase in children's behavioral and attention problems. Results of this exploratory study demonstrate the potential significance of general communication orientation in understanding child outcomes of MAR information sharing and highlight the needed family context nuances in MAR research.     

The Role of Children's Neurophysiological Functioning in the Links Between Emotion-Parenting Behaviors and Child Anxiety Symptoms: A Biological Sensitivity to Context Framework

A plethora of data supports links between parenting behaviors and child anxiety, but few studies have examined factors that can contribute to variability in these relations. Adopting a biological sensitivity to context framework, this study explored the role of children's physiological stress reactivity in the links between emotion-parenting and child anxiety symptoms in a group of Chinese families. Sixty-one parent–child dyads (child M_age = 8.21 years, SD = 1.40, range = 6–12 years) participated in an acute stress protocol, from which children's physiological (cortisol and respiratory sinus arrhythmia) responses to a social speech task were recorded. Participants then completed questionnaires assessing parents’ emotion-parenting behaviors and children's anxiety symptoms. Results showed that the relation between supportive emotion-parenting and child anxiety was stronger in the context of greater child RSA suppression to acute stress, such that children higher in RSA suppression exhibited lower anxiety symptoms when supportive emotion-parenting was higher than when it was lower. Thus, these findings supported the biological sensitivity to context model. No significant moderation effect was detected for cortisol reactivity or recovery. Instead, exploratory mediation analyses showed that supportive emotion-parenting was negatively related to child anxiety via greater cortisol recovery. There was also a significant indirect path where unsupportive emotion-parenting was related to blunted cortisol recovery, which in turn was associated with higher child anxiety. The results highlight the importance of coaching parents to respond in supportive ways to children's emotional expressions, particularly in the context of greater child reactivity, to help buffer against childhood anxiety symptoms.     

Relationships Among Emerging Adult Psychological Problems,Maltreatment, and Parental Psychopathology: Moderation by Parent–Child Relationship Quality

Current research supports clear relationships between parental psychopathology, parental maltreatment, and emerging adult child psychopathology. Less research has examined how the role of the parent–child relationship influences these existing associations. The current study tested two models that examined the moderating effect of parent–child relationship quality on parental psychopathology and emerging adult mental health as well as the effect on parental maltreatment and emerging adult mental health. It was expected that high parent–child relationship quality would buffer against the negative effects of parental psychopathology and maltreatment while enhancing the effects of functional parenting characteristics. Participants included 1,452 emerging adults, predominantly Caucasian (73.3%) college students who completed surveys on their mental health, recent experienced maltreatment, and their parents’ mental health problems. Results suggested lowest rates of mental health problems for emerging adults were associated with higher parent–child relationship quality and lower parental psychological problems, whereas negative outcomes were associated with higher parental psychopathology, regardless of parent–child relationship quality. Additionally, physical maltreatment was associated with lower rates of mental health concerns in the context of higher mother-daughter relationship quality. Results emphasize the continuing impact of the parent–child relationship, particularly the mother-daughter relationship, on emerging adults’ mental health. Moreover, the current study demonstrates the continuing influence of parents on their emerging adult children.     

Parents’ Experiences of Their Child’s Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse

A child’s disclosure of sexual victimization is a difficult experience for parents and has been associated with traumatization, disbelief, denial, self-blame, and clinical difficulties. To date, most studies on parents’ responses have been quantitative assessments of the psychological impact of disclosure on parents. A paucity of research has qualitatively explored mothers’ experiences of their child’s disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) and fathers’ experiences have been even further neglected. The current study seeks to characterize parents’ experiences of their child’s disclosure of CSA and to uncover the process-oriented nature of parental responses. This qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach to analysis, involved interviews with 10 mothers and four fathers whose children (3–18 years) had experienced sexual abuse. Three themes emerged from the analysis. The first theme—making sense of the abuse in retrospect—captured the process through which parents sought to make sense of their child’s disclosure, focusing on why their child had not disclosed the abuse to them earlier, and how they had noticed something was wrong but misattributed their child’s behavior to other factors. The second theme—negotiating parental identity as protector—reflected how parents’ identity as a protector was challenged, their perception of their world had been forever altered, and they now experienced themselves as hypervigilant and overprotective. The final theme—navigating the services—pertained to parents’ struggle in navigating child protection and police services, and feelings of being isolated and alone. These findings highlight the need for empathy and parental support following child disclosure of sexual victimization.     

Challenging anxious cognitions or accepting them? Exploring the efficacy of the cognitive elements of cognitive behaviour therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in the reduction of children's fear of the dark

Anxiety is highly prevalent in pre-adolescent children. Distorted cognitions are characteristic for dysfunctional levels of anxiety. However, applying cognitive elements in pre-adolescent children cannot be fully ascertained, as it is not until adolescence before children can apply logical and abstract reasoning in a sophisticated manner. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) both target distorted cognitions. Whereas CBT encourages children to change the content of negative cognitions by applying cognitive restructuring, ACT stimulates youth to have a more accepting attitude towards these thoughts by applying cognitive defusion. The current study examined the efficacy of applying cognitive elements and compared the cognitive elements of CBT and ACT in pre-adolescent children. We included no behavioural elements to specifically study the developmental appropriateness of the cognitive elements in this age group. Highly anxious children, aged 8–12 years were randomised to a 30-minute cognitive restructuring (n = 21) or cognitive defusion intervention (n = 22). Subjective fear of the dark levels, behavioural darkness toleration, and comprehension and fun associated with the interventions were assessed. Both interventions had a significantly positive impact on children's fear of the dark. Cognitive restructuring led to more favourable results on subjective fear than cognitive defusion, no differences were found for darkness toleration.