Assessment-based intervention for severe behavior problems in a natural family context.

Functional assessments and assessment-based interventions were conducted with a boy with disabilities and severe problem behavior in the context of two family routines: using the bathroom in the family home and dining in a fast-food restaurant. A multiple baseline design demonstrated the effectiveness of the intervention package as implemented by the boy's mother in the two routines. The results provide a systematic replication and extension of behavior-analytic interventions in natural family contexts.     

AN ALTERNATING TREATMENTS COMPARISON OF TWO INTENSIVE INTERVENTIONS FOR FOOD REFUSAL

We compared two treatment packages involving negative reinforcement contingencies for 3 children with chronic food refusal. One involved physically guiding the child to accept food contingent on noncompliance, whereas the other involved nonremoval of the spoon until the child accepted the presented food. Subsequent to baseline, an alternating treatments comparison was implemented in a multiple baseline design across subjects. After each child had been exposed to at least nine sessions of each treatment condition and percentage of bites accepted had increased to at least 80%, the child's caregivers selected the preferred treatment package. The results indicated that both treatments were effective in establishing food acceptance. However, physical guidance was associated with fewer corollary behaviors, shorter meal durations, and parental preference.     

VISUAL SCREENING: AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR REDUCING STEREOTYPIC BEHAVIORS

Visual screening, a mildly aversive response suppression procedure, was evaluated across two studies for its effectiveness in reducing topographically similar and dissimilar stereotypic behaviors of four developmentally disabled children. In the first study, a multiple baseline design across subjects and behaviors was used to assess the effectiveness of the procedure as a treatment for reducing the visual and auditory self-stimulatory responses of two 9-yr-old mentally retarded and behaviorally disturbed children. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used in the second study to evaluate the effectiveness of visual screening as a treatment for reducing stereotypic fabric pulling and self-mutilative ear bending, respectively, of two 13-yr-old mentally retarded, autisticlike adolescents. Long-term follow-up data for both studies were reported. The results suggested that visual screening was an easily administered, effective, and exceptionally durable treatment procedure for controlling a variety of stereotypic behaviors commonly associated with the developmentally disabled.     

Motivation beliefs,emotions, leisure time physical activity,and sedentary behavior in university students: A full longitudinal model of mediation

Discrete emotions produce predictable response tendencies, yet there is limited understanding about their potential to mediate relations between motivation beliefs and leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary behavior. The current study investigates self-reported moderate LTPA, vigorous LTPA, and sedentary behavior as measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire using control – value theory of achievement emotions (CVTAE) with a full longitudinal mediation design. A total of 586 young adults (Mage = 19.44, SD = 1.43) completed 1485 time-specific reports of LTPA, sedentary behavior, PA enjoyment, LTPA boredom, and control and value beliefs toward PA across three waves of data collection. Structural equation modeling was used to systematically disentangle direct and indirect relations over time. Neither enjoyment nor boredom mediated relations between participants’ control and value beliefs and moderate LTPA, vigorous LTPA, or sedentary behavior; however, boredom did negatively predict vigorous LTPA. There were reciprocal relations between control beliefs and moderate LTPA as well as value beliefs and PA enjoyment. The final model did not support relationships posited by CVTAE for LTPA or sedentary behavior. However, theoretically grounded CVTAE constructs explained substantive amounts of variance in moderate and vigorous LTPA but not sedentary behavior.     

黑暗三联征与攻击行为关系的元分析

利用元分析方法, 从整体上探究黑暗三联征和攻击行为的关系, 共纳入87篇定量研究, 90个独立样本, 41273名被试进行元分析。结果发现：黑暗三联征与攻击行为的关系均呈正相关(r = 0.338~0.405), 自恋与攻击行为的相关强度显著低于马基雅维利主义和精神病态的相关强度。黑暗三联征与攻击行为的关系受到文化背景、性别、攻击类型等多种因素的影响。结论显示, 自恋与其余两种黑暗人格有较大差异, 后续研究可以结合东方文化进一步探究黑暗三联征。     

Reducing optimism bias in the driver’s seat: Comparing two interventions

Optimism bias combined with sensation-seeking and risky driving have been proposed to be the main contributing factors to young drivers’ involvement in road traffic collisions. The present study aimed to evaluate how two brief interventions, one based on an unambiguous definition of “good” driving and the other on a hazard perception test, might reduce young drivers’ optimism bias. One hundred and twenty-eight university students were randomly allocated to one of three groups: standard definition, hazard perception or control. Measures evaluating optimism bias were completed before and after the intervention, and questions regarding their sensation-seeking and past risk-taking tendencies were asked at follow-up. Both brief interventions reduced optimism bias levels, but hazard perception had the strongest effect. The effectiveness of the two interventions also differed across individuals depending on their sensation-seeking and past risky driving tendencies. The results provide evidence for the effectiveness of brief interventions to reduce optimism bias.     

A Big Five approach to self-regulation: personality traits and health trajectories in the Hawaii longitudinal study of personality and health

Self-regulatory processes influencing health outcomes may have their origins in childhood personality traits. The Big Five approach to personality was used here to investigate the associations between childhood traits, trait-related regulatory processes and changes in health across middle age. Participants (N = 1176) were members of the Hawaii longitudinal study of personality and health. Teacher assessments of the participants’ traits when they were in elementary school were related to trajectories of self-rated health measured on 6 occasions over 14 years in middle age. Five trajectories of self-rated health were identified by latent class growth analysis: Stable Excellent, Stable Very Good, Good, Decreasing and Poor. Childhood Conscientiousness was the only childhood trait to predict membership in the Decreasing class vs. the combined healthy classes (Stable Excellent, Stable Very Good and Good), even after controlling for adult Conscientiousness and the other adult Big Five traits. The Decreasing class had poorer objectively assessed clinical health measured on one occasion in middle age, was less well-educated, and had a history of more lifespan health-damaging behaviors compared to the combined healthy classes. These findings suggest that higher levels of childhood Conscientiousness (i.e. greater self-discipline and goal-directedness) may prevent subsequent health decline decades later through self-regulatory processes involving the acquisition of lifelong healthful behavior patterns and higher educational attainment.     

正念禅修与成瘾行为

在矫正成瘾行为的研究中,正念禅修作为一种更为有益的尝试,受到研究者们日益广泛的关注。正念禅修指个体自觉地将注意力集中于体验其思想、情绪和身体感觉上,并以觉察、接纳和非批判的态度关注于当下体验的训练方式。目前,研究者主要就正念禅修在成瘾行为矫正中的积极作用、渴望与压力在其中所扮演的作用以及从神经机制三方面对其进行阐述,由于当前的研究大多是初步性的,未来可从研究方法学、解释机制和应用研究等方面展开进一步的探究。     

工作使命感:一个正在复苏的研究课题

将工作看成是使命(view work as calling)一直被人类社会文化所倡导。近年来,使命感成为西方学术界的研究热点。西方学者围绕使命感的概念内涵、测量以及对在职人员的主观幸福感、工作态度与行为的影响进行了大量研究。使命感的未来研究议题应当在:探讨使命感的来源;从正面和负面继续探讨使命感的影响效果;考察使命感的前因变量。关于研究方式方法,未来研究应当:强化理论导向、强化纵向和跨层次研究、开展本土化研究。