Recollections of parent–child relationships,attachment insecurity,and obsessive–compulsive beliefs

To adequately understand Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), it is important to understand the developmental origins of obsessive beliefs and corresponding compulsive acts. Prior work has shown that having cold, neglectful parents in childhood and/or insecure attachment styles are both linked to emotional disturbances. In this study, we explored the potential contributions of early parent–child relationships to attachment styles and the severity of obsessive–compulsive beliefs in adulthood. A sample of 397 college students completed online, self-report measures of retrospective parent–child relationships, adult attachment styles, and ongoing obsessive–compulsive symptoms. Analyses revealed that attachment anxiety partially mediated the association between parent–child relationships and obsessive beliefs; attachment avoidance failed to operate as a mediating mechanism. Our findings provide support for interpersonal approaches to obsessive–compulsive symptoms and disorder, with implications for the continuity of relationship dysfunction from childhood into adulthood.     

Systemic Reflecting Team Training: Perceptions and Experiences of South African Educational Psychologists

Abstract

There is limited research on the application of systemic family therapy in developing countries. This qualitative study explored the perceptions and experiences of 12 educational psychologists and a family therapy trainer, who have worked within a systemic reflecting team using Tom Andersen’s method of training and supervision. The semi-structured interview findings suggested positive perceptions of systemic intervention, despite various challenges experienced in its implementation within the South African context. The educational psychologists identified their reflecting team experiences as being beneficial for both their professional development and current practices. Future research which investigates the reflecting team process in action is recommended.     

Young children's interpersonal trust consistency as a predictor of future school adjustment

Young children's interpersonal trust consistency was examined as a predictor of future school adjustment. One hundred and ninety two (95 male and 97 female, M_age = 6 years 2 months, SD_age = 6 months) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom were tested twice over one year. Children completed measures of peer trust and school adjustment and teachers completed the Short-Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Longitudinal quadratic relationships emerged between consistency of children's peer trust beliefs and peer-reported trustworthiness and school adjustment and these varied according to social group, facet of trust, and indicator of school adjustment. The findings support the conclusion that interpersonal trust consistency, especially for secret-keeping, predicts aspects of young children's school adjustment.     

Evaluating the effect of educational media exposure on aggression in early childhood

Preschool-aged children (M = 42.44 months-old, SD = 8.02) participated in a short-term longitudinal study investigating the effect of educational media exposure on social development (i.e., aggression and prosocial behavior) using multiple informants and methods. As predicted, educational media exposure significantly predicted increases in both observed and teacher reported relational aggression across time. Follow-up analyses showed that educational media exposure also significantly predicted increases in parent reported relational aggression across more than a two year period. Results replicate and extend prior research that has demonstrated links between educational media exposure and relational aggression, but not physical aggression, during early childhood.     

Emotional awareness,gender, and peculiar body-related beliefs

Research has broadly established that emotional disturbances are associated with body image disturbances. This is the first study to examine links between facets of emotional awareness and peculiar body-related beliefs (PBB), or beliefs about an imagined or slight defect in one's appearance or bodily functioning. In a sample of college students (n=216), we found that low emotional clarity (the extent to which the type and source of emotions are understood) was associated with higher PBB in both women and men, and the relation between emotional clarity and PBB was further moderated by attention to emotions (the extent to which emotions are attended to) and gender. Men with low attention to emotions and women with high attention to emotions both experienced higher levels of PBB if they also reported low levels of emotional clarity. This interactive effect was not attributable to shared variance with body mass index, neuroticism or affect intensity.     

It's Not Just a Headache,Dear

No abstract available for this article.     

Harmful Ideas,The Structure and Consequences of Anti‐Semitic Beliefs in Poland

The harmfulness of anti‐Semitic beliefs is widely discussed in current political and legal debates (e.g., Cutler v. Dorn). At the same time, empirical studies of the psychological consequences of such beliefs are scarce. The present research is an attempt to explore the structure of contemporary anti‐Semitic beliefs in Poland—and to evaluate their predictive role in discriminatory intentions and behavior targeting Jews. Another aim was to determine dispositional, situational, and identity correlates of different forms of anti‐Semitic beliefs and behavior. Study 1, performed on a nation‐wide representative sample of Polish adults (N = 979), suggests a three‐factorial structure of anti‐Semitic beliefs, consisting of: (1) belief in Jewish conspiracy, (2) traditional religious anti‐Judaic beliefs, and (3) secondary anti‐Semitic beliefs, focusing on Holocaust commemoration. Of these three beliefs, belief in Jewish conspiracy was the closest antecedent of anti‐Semitic behavioral intentions. Study 2 (N = 600 Internet users in Poland) confirmed the three‐factor structure of anti‐Semitic beliefs and proved that these beliefs explain actual behavior toward Jews in monetary donations. Both studies show that anti‐Semitic beliefs are related to authoritarian personality characteristics, victimhood‐based social identity, and relative deprivation.     

Health beliefs and breast examination behaviors: Analyses of linear structural relations

Abstract

A survey of 619 Detroit-area women was conducted in order to understand why women do or do not perform breast self-examination and obtain or not obtain professional breast examinations. The survey assessed these behaviors and women's beliefs about (a) their susceptibility to breast cancer, (b) the seventy or seriousness of breast cancer, (c) the benefits of breast examinations and (d) the costs or disadvantages of the examinations. Separate sets of questions measured seventy of breast cancer when it is treated (a) late (seventy-late) and (b) promptly (seventy-early). Predictions were derived by combining the health belief model with the theory of subjective expected utility. Path analysis supported most predictions of the combined theory. As predicted, high severity-late increased perceived benefit, high seventy-early decreased benefit, and perceived benefit mediated the effects of seventy on behavior. Implications for understanding health decisions, measuring health beliefs, and modifying health behaviors are discussed.     

Adolescent beliefs about AIDS prevention

Abstract

Four hundred and ten school children, aged between 13 and 16 years, were administered a questionnaire to investigate (a) their perceptions of AIDS and implications of the disease for the victim; (b) beliefs about how best to prevent the spread of disease; (c) sources of information and (d) AIDS relevant topics they would like to learn in school. The results suggested that there were few differences in knowledge or attitude as a function of age, but some significant differences due to sex. Boys were more likely to derogate the AIDS victim compared with girls. In terms of different strategies for prevention, boys were more in favour of “scare” approaches, and girls of information-giving. The success of any AIDS education package may be at least partly determined by individual beliefs about the disease, and preferences for different educational strategies.     

Magnitude and determinants of behavioral risk reduction: Longitudinal analysis of a cohort at risk for AIDS

The magnitude and predictors of longitudinal behavioral change are reported in a cohort of homosexual men at risk for AIDS. Self-reports of sexual behavior were obtained at two points in time separated by an interval of approximately six months. These self-reports were used to construct both dichotomous and continuous measures of changes in behavior consistent with reduction in the transmission of the AIDS virus (HIV). Although there was considerable variability in behavior. mean changes were consistently in the desired direction. Avoidance of anonymous sexual partners, monogamy, and modification of receptive anal sex to reduce exposure to semen by condom use or withdrawal prior to ejaculation appeared to be especially important in this cohort. Both multiple linear regression and multiple logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between a model of health behavior and these outcomes. Variables examined included knowledge of AIDS. perceived risk of AIDS. the perceived efficacy of behavior in reducing AIDS risk, difficulties with sexual impulse control, belief in biomedical technology to provide a prevention or cure, social norms supportive of behavioral change, and gay network affiliation. Of all these factors, only the availability of supportive peer norms was consistently, significantly and positively related to multiple measures of outcome. Differences between these analyses and longitudinal analyses reported elsewhere are discussed. These results suggest the policies regarding HIV antibody testing should be developed cautiously. taking account of the failure of a sense of risk to predict subsequent behavioral change. They also emphasize the important role of gay organizations in developing social norms supportive of behavioral risk reduction.