Measuring drivers’ visual information needs during braking: A simulator study using a screen-occlusion method

It is commonly accepted that vision plays an important role in car braking, but it is unknown how people brake in the absence of visual information. In this simulator study, we measured drivers’ braking behaviour while they had to stop their car at designated positions on the road. The access to visual information was manipulated by occluding the screen at the start of half of the braking trials, while the temporal demand was manipulated by varying the time-to-arrival (TTA). Results showed that for the longer TTA values (⩾6 s), participants in the occlusion condition stopped too early and at variable positions on the road as compared to the control condition. In the occlusion condition, participants were likely to apply an intermediate brake pedal depression, whereas in the control condition participants more often applied low or high pedal depressions. The results are interpreted in light of a distance estimation test, in which we found that participants underestimated the actual distance by 70%.     

Group Narrative Therapy for Women With Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Women with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often struggle with the developmental challenges of adulthood and ADHD‐related problems. The authors provide specific clinical interventions from a narrative‐based group approach to help women with ADHD understand their symptoms, create strength‐based narratives, and apply these narratives to the developmental tasks of early adulthood.     

Trauma‐related rumination mediates the effect of naturally occurring depressive symptoms but not momentary low mood on trauma intrusions

Comorbid depression is known to contribute to the maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) including distressing intrusive trauma memories. It is theorised that depression is a risk factor for persistent PTSD through preventing optimal habituation of distress provoked by trauma memories and reminders, but the underlying cognitive mechanisms responsible are uncertain. The present study investigated trauma‐related rumination as a possible mediator for the effect of depression on trauma intrusions. Participants received a low mood induction or control procedure. Following viewing an analogue trauma film, frequency of film‐related intrusions and associated distress levels were measured and at 1‐week follow‐up. Between the two occasions, participants rated their levels of rumination about the film. Existing depression symptoms but not induced momentary sad mood predicted frequency of film intrusions and associated distress at 1‐week follow‐up. Some evidence was found that ruminative trauma processing mediated the relationship between baseline depressive symptoms and later intrusion frequency and associated distress. Future research is warranted to better understand the role of rumination in the depression–intrusion relationship, which may shed light on the clinical applicability of rumination‐targeted intervention for PTSD and comorbid depression.     

The Sporting Body: Body Image and Eating Disorder Symptomatology Among Female Athletes from Leanness Focused and Nonleanness Focused Sports

Female athletes experience pressure to conform to social and sporting norms concerning body weight. This study compared general and sporting body dissatisfaction and disordered eating symptomatology among 320 elite, recreational, and noncompetitive female athletes aged 17 to 30 years competing in leanness focused sports and nonleanness focused sports. Participants completed an online questionnaire including demographic questions, the Eating Attitudes Test, and the Figure Rating Scale. Athletes from leanness focused sports reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction and greater disordered eating symptomatology regardless of participation level. Elite athletes reported higher levels of body dissatisfaction and greater disordered eating symptomatology regardless of sport type, and differences between recreational and noncompetitive athletes were not found. More than 60% of elite athletes from leanness focused and nonleanness focused sports reported pressure from coaches concerning body shape. The findings have important implications for identifying risk factors for eating disorders among female athletes, where athletes who compete at elite level and those who compete in leanness focused sports at any level may be at higher risk for developing eating disorders.     

Thoughts about the internalised speaking object: psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children of delayed verbal development

This paper discusses the meaningful effects of intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy on language development in children with verbal delay or disorder. Three clinical cases of children aged five to seven are presented; two of these display significant verbal delay and one exhibits unusually high verbal abilities. Following Meltzer, the author explores the concept of the ‘internalised speaking object’ – a good object speaking to the child, which has been internalised. This internal model is essential for the child’s development of language and speech. At times, these children experience this internal object as a persecutory object which must be warded off and avoided. Even more so, when the external object addresses the children verbally, language itself becomes a persecutor and they experience a fear of disintegration. During such times, the therapist must find new and creative ways for communication. The author describes his therapeutic efforts in dealing with these difficulties which stem both from the lack of a reciprocal verbal communication and from the therapist becoming a persecutory object to the child, and demonstrates the manner in which he facilitated gradual shifts in the patient, from an anxious and defensive position into a more relaxed one. These efforts set in motion a process of internalisation of a speaking object by the child and the development of internal language, that is, thinking along with expressive verbal language. The article furnishes some evidence to support the idea that verbal development relies significantly on establishing good, strong and healthy early object relations.     

Regulation of exercise behaviour and motives for physical activities: The Italian validation of BREQ and MPAM-R questionnaires

Based on self-determination theory, the purpose of the present study was to provide the first Italian validation of two different instrument to assess the exercise behaviour: the Mullan et al.’s (1997) BREQ, which measures external, introjected, identified and intrinsic forms of regulation and Ryan et al.’s (1997) MPAM-R, which assesses five distinct motives for physical activity (appearance, health and fitness, social, competence, and enjoyment). Confirmatory factor analysis conducted on data collected from 1995 students attending three different secondary schools empirically supported respectively the four-factor structure of behavioural regulation and the five-factor structure of motives for physical activity, supporting convergent and discriminant validity of both scales. Furthermore, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed the invariance of the factor structures, structural parameters and correlations of the two scales across gender. Criterion-related validity of the scales also received partial empirical support. Finally, the factor structure of behavioural regulation and motives for physical activity was empirically supported when both constructs were included in a single measurement model.