The Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule: Predictive Value and Clinical Usefulness

This study reports on the predictive value and clinical usefulness of the Dutch parental version of the Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS). Parents of 718 children (4–12 years) completed this CFSS-DS version before or during the child's visit. The dentist rated the child's dental fear during treatment on a 5-point Likert-type Scale from 1 (not afraid at all) to 5 (very afraid). Reliability analysis was performed, and correlation coefficients between the two measures were calculated. The reliability of the scale proved to be high (Cronbach's = .93) and significant correlation coefficients were found (r = .58 and r = .68, p < .01). The negative predictive value of the CFSS-DS was high (.96), whereas its positive predictive value was relatively low (0.41). It was concluded that the CFSS-DS might be of clinical value as a screening device of dental fear, whereas its predictive value of fearful behavior should not be overestimated.     

Predictors of Self-Reported Anxiety and Panic Symptoms: An Evaluation of Anxiety Sensitivity, Suffocation Fear, Heart-Focused Anxiety, and Breath-Holding Duration

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which anxiety-related individual difference variables predict anxious responding when individuals experience aversive bodily sensations. Thus, we explore several psychological and behavioral predictors of response to a single 25-sec inhalation of 20% carbon dioxide-enriched air in 70 nonclinical participants. Predictor variables included anxiety sensitivity, suffocation fear, heart-focused anxiety, and breath-holding duration. Multiple regression analyses indicated that only anxiety sensitivity significantly predicted postchallenge panic symptoms, whereas both anxiety sensitivity and suffocation fear predicted postchallenge anxiety. These data are in accord with current models of panic disorder that emphasize the role of fear of fear in producing heightened anxiety and panic symptoms and help clarify specific predictors of anxiety-related responding to biological challenge.     

The role of posttraumatic fear and social support in the relationship between trauma severity and posttraumatic growth among adolescent survivors of the Yaan earthquake

Middle school students in Lushan county (N = 315) were assessed 6 months after the Yaan earthquake using a trauma severity questionnaire, a posttraumatic fear questionnaire, a social support questionnaire and a posttraumatic growth inventory to examine the effects of posttraumatic fear and social support in the relationship between trauma severity and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The results showed that posttraumatic fear mediated the relationship between trauma severity and PTG, and social support moderated the relationship between posttraumatic fear and PTG. These findings suggested that trauma severity could be positively associated with PTG in a direct way or in an indirect way through posttraumatic fear. Moreover, posttraumatic fear had a positive relation to PTG under the condition of high social support level, whereas the relation was non‐significant when the level of social support was low. These results were discussed in terms of their implications for adolescents after trauma.     

Assessment of Disgust Sensitivity in Children With an Age-Downward Version of the Disgust Emotion Scale

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Disgust Emotion Scale for Children (DES-C). Principal components analysis of the DES-C data revealed five factors reflecting disgust toward (a) rotting foods, (b) injection and blood, (c) odors, (d) mutilation and death, and (e) animals, which were largely in keeping with the intended subscales. The DES-C showed good reliability, excellent convergent validity (as established by correlations with an alternative self-report index of disgust), fairly good predictive validity (as assessed by correlations with measures of fear/anxiety and a behavioral index of disgust), and acceptable parent–child agreement (in particular with the mothers). Importantly, the DES-C proved to perform better on some psychometric indicators than an age-downward version of the Disgust Scale. These findings indicate that the DES-C should be regarded as the preferred scale for measuring disgust sensitivity and its role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety problems in children.     

惊反射在创伤后应激障碍研究中的应用:高唤醒与恐惧抑制

创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)是唯一在诊断标准中包含惊反射改变的精神疾病.相比自我报告法,对惊反射的实验室测量与总体症状关联更紧密,并已积累了较多神经机制研究成果,可作为连接前临床与临床研究的桥梁.在惊反射应用于PTSD研究的初期,它主要作为PTSD患者高唤醒症状的客观指标,但是尚未发现惊反射强度的变化与总体症状的明确关系.近年来,惊反射与情境性焦虑、恐惧抑制等新范式结合,发现特定情境下惊反射改变是PTSD患者特有的表现.惊反射在创伤应激障碍研究中所取得的新进展对PTSD病理机制的探索和临床诊断都有所启发和推进.     

Working with Older Adults: Predictors of Attitudes Towards Ageing in Psychology and Social Work Students,Faculty, and Practitioners

The Australian population is experiencing a rapid ageing of the population, and as such, an increased need for gerontological practitioners in the helping professions will continue to grow. Terror management theory (TMT), which was used to frame this study, posits that because of the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality, they are compelled to avoid the anxiety associated with it. Personal ageing and interaction with older adults may be reminders of the unavoidable decline and death that faces us all. The purpose of this study is to examine comfort in spending time with older adults amongst students, academic teaching staff, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and social work. We sought to determine if TMT helped predict fear of being with older adults. Ageism, contact with older adults, and known demographic factors associated with attitudes towards older adults were also examined. Hierarchical multiple regression explained nearly 46% of the variance in comfort with older adults and indicated that fear of ageing, positive ageism, negative ageism, contact with older adults, and sex were significant predictors. Educational efforts aimed at addressing beliefs about ageing and older adults may contribute to further comfort in working with older adults.     

Theory and teen dating violence victimization: Considering adolescent development

Teen dating violence is an important public health problem, with implications for the future health and well-being of adolescents. However, most work on teen dating violence has developed separately from literature on normative adolescent romantic relationships and development; understanding teen dating violence within the framework of adolescent psychosocial development may provide new areas for research. Thus, the present paper summarizes five theories of adolescent development that are relevant to the study of teen dating violence victimization, as well as empirical literature that demonstrates support for key theoretical tenets in research examining adolescent romantic relationships. We also present questions for future dating violence study that arise from these key theoretical tenets and past empirical research. Researchers interested in dating violence victimization can use the presented theories to guide new directions in research inquiry, so that findings are situated within the broader field of adolescent development.     

A Single-Subject Evaluation of the Treatment of Morphing Fear

We present a single-subject prospective outcome study of a man with severe morphing fear and long history of OCD who was not helped by previous interventions, and who received an adapted form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) as part of this study. Treatment consisted of a cognitively focused approach tailored to address his fear of morphing and included developing a stronger sense of self-stability. We describe the details of the case, the treatment protocol, and the therapeutic outcomes as assessed over 36 weeks by questionnaires, rating scales, and semistructured interviews. The intervention was effective in eradicating the patient’s morphing fears and reducing other symptoms of OCD, anxiety, and depression. The presented case illustrates the need to appropriately conceptualize, assess, and address the specific nature of morphing fear symptoms in treatment.     

When expressing forgiveness backfires in the workplace: victim power moderates the effect of expressing forgiveness on transgressor compliance

Expressing (vs. withholding) forgiveness is often promoted as a beneficial response for victims. In the present research, we argue that withholding (vs. expressing) forgiveness can also be beneficial to victims by stimulating subsequent transgressor compliance – a response that is valuable in restoring the victim’s needs for control. Based on deterrence theory, we argue that a victim’s withheld (vs. expressed) forgiveness promotes transgressor compliance when the victim has low power, relative to the transgressor. This is because withheld (vs. expressed) forgiveness from a low-power victim elicits transgressor fear. On the other hand, because people are fearful of high-power actors, high-power victims can expect high levels of compliance from a transgressor, regardless of whether they express forgiveness or not. A critical incidents survey (Study 1) and an autobiographic recall study (Study 2) among employees, as well as a laboratory experiment among business students (Study 3), support these predictions. These studies are among the first to reveal that withholding forgiveness can be beneficial for low-power victims in a hierarchical context – ironically, a context in which offering forgiveness is often expected.     

Safety Behavior After Extinction Triggers a Return of Threat Expectancy

Safety behavior is involved in the maintenance of anxiety disorders, presumably because it prevents the violation of negative expectancies. Recent research showed that safety behavior is resistant to fear extinction. This fear conditioning study investigated whether safety behavior after fear extinction triggers a return of fear in healthy participants. Participants learned that two stimuli (A and C) were followed by an aversive loud noise (“threat”), and one stimulus (B) was not. Participants then learned to use safety behavior that prevented the loud noise. Next, A and C were no longer followed by the loud noise, which typically led to extinction of threat expectancy. Safety behavior then became available again for C, but not for A and B. All participants used safety behavior on these C trials. In a final test phase, A, B, and C were presented once without the availability to use safety behavior. At each stimulus presentation, participants rated threat expectancy by indicating to what extent they expected that the loud noise would follow. Compared with the last extinction trial, threat expectancy increased for C in the test phase, whereas it did not increase for A and B. Hence, safety behavior after the extinction of classically conditioned fear caused a partial return of fear. The findings suggest that safety behavior may be involved in relapse after exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders.