The Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS): Review and Current Status

Measures of impairment in psychological and behavioral functioning have a long history in the field of children's mental health, and appear particularly useful in eligibility determination, treatment planning, and outcome evaluation of services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED). One recently developed multidimensional measure of functional impairment—the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS; K. Hodges, 1989, 1997)—has enjoyed widespread use nationwide. It has been adopted as a tool for making treatment eligibility decisions and documenting outcomes on a statewide level in more than 20 states and on a local level in dozens of research and demonstration projects. In this paper, the technical merits of the CAFAS are closely examined, with the conclusion that empirical evidence is lacking to support its valid use in making the types of treatment decisions for which it is currently being employed across the nation. Furthermore, there appears to be little concern among mental health researchers, practitioners, administrators, and state legislators about these apparent limitations of the CAFAS. The potential benefits of establishing objective and valid level-of-need criteria, using the CAFAS are numerous and the interest in doing so is clear; however, the psychometric limitations of the scale identified in this review need to be addressed before its full potential can be realized.     

The relevance of attachment theory to a contemporary Jungian view of the internal world: internal working models, implicit memory and internal objects

In this paper I examine the various meanings of the term 'internal object' and the differences between various theoretical models for the formation of internal objects. I suggest that the idea in attachment theory of 'internal working models' emphasizes the internal world as one consisting of unconscious internalized patterns of emotional relationships. The term 'internal object' lacks this clarity and the different meanings it carries within differing theoretical frameworks are a source of confusion. I describe the role implicit memory plays in the formation of 'internal working model's and suggest that these offer us an alternative explanation for unconscious fantasy and for object relationships to that of instinctual drives. This model is then brought to bear on contemporary Jungian concepts of the internal world, with a suggestion that, seen in this light, Jung's formulation of the concept of the complex has many features in common with the 'internal working model' of attachment theory.     

The content of internal conflicts: A personal values perspective

This paper highlights the importance of considering two facets of the content of internal conflicts: The concrete subject theme of the conflict and the abstract motivations that people perceive as being conflicted (e.g. values implicated in the conflict). The paper demonstrates how personal value priorities contribute to the understanding of internal conflicts. In two studies I examined the relationship between values and the content of internal conflicts. In Study 1 (N = 250), students described a central conflict that they were experiencing and analysed the values they perceived as opposing in their conflict. Results indicated that the reported conflicts were usually between values not conceptualized as motivationally opposite to each other. Furthermore, personal value priorities were related to the values implicated in the conflict both directly and indirectly by their effect on the themes of the conflicts. In Study 2 (N = 230), working parents analysed the values they perceive as coming in conflict in two work–family dilemmas. Findings supported the premise that values explain individual differences in the motivational meaning attributed to a conflict even when the conflict theme is held constant. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Development of Internal State Language during the Third Year of Life: A Longitudinal Parent Report Study

Children's talk about the mind has been scarcely studied in non‐English speakers. For this reason, this longitudinal study documents age‐related changes in German‐speaking children's internal state language. At 24, 30 and 36 months, children were administered general language tests and their internal state vocabulary levels were obtained via parental report. The developmental transition from a vocabulary rich in physiological, perceptual and desire terms to a vocabulary rich in a wider range of mental concepts confirmed previous research with French‐speaking and English‐speaking children and research in children's internal state comprehension. Further, children's category scores proved to be developmentally stable. Finally, with increasing age, children's category scores became more specifically related to each other, independent of general language skills. The results are discussed in regard to the universality of children's talk about the mind. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Internal State Language with Their Young Children: An Examination of Gender Differences During an Emotions Task

The current study examined gender differences in mothers' and fathers' internal state language (ISL), children's use of ISL, and whether ISL was related to parents' ratings of the children's social skills. Fifty‐seven (28 boys, 29 girls) toddler/preschool children (M age = 32.5 months, SD = 5.38 months) were observed separately with their mothers and fathers in their homes while they discussed pictures of children's facial expressions of emotions. Parents completed a questionnaire concerning their child's social–emotional behaviours (i.e. BASC‐2). Parents used more ISL with sons compared with daughters, and sons used more ISL with mothers than with fathers. No overall differences were found between mothers' and fathers' ISL. Children's social skills as rated by mothers were predicted by mothers' ISL comments, whereas children's social skills as rated by fathers were predicted by children's age and fathers' ISL clarifications. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward the Scientific Study of Polytheism: Beyond Forced‐Choice Measures of Religious Belief

This article argues that zero‐sum, forced‐choice approaches to measuring religious belief do not work well outside of the Abrahamic world. Positive‐sum approaches to measuring religious beliefs (in the plural) are better suited to the study of polytheistic societies. Using results from a nationally representative survey conducted in 2011 Taiwan, we demonstrate that in a polytheistic society like Taiwan, religious belief is not zero sum. We also contrast our results with those of the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), and seek to show that our positive‐sum approach to measuring religious beliefs can help us better understand the disparate causes and consequences of different religious beliefs in polytheistic societies. The challenge of Christocentrism in quantitative studies of religion is also discussed.     

Individual differences in vulnerability to subjective time distortion1

Time duration is perceived to be longer when accompanied by dynamic sensory stimulation than when accompanied by static stimulation. This distortion of time perception is thought to be due to the acceleration of an internal pacemaker that has been assumed to be the main component of temporal judgments. In order to investigate whether the function of the internal pacemaker is modality dependent or independent, we examined the correlation of visual flicker and auditory flutter effects on a temporal production task. While seeing a 10‐Hz visual flicker or hearing a 10‐Hz auditory flutter, participants estimated a duration of 2500 ms as accurately as possible by pressing a button. The results showed a significant within‐individual correlation between the time distortion due to visual flicker and that due to auditory flutter. Additionally, we found that time distortion due to auditory flutter tended to be larger in female participants than in male participants. These results suggest that the mechanisms underlying subjective time dilation are similar between vision and audition within individuals, but that they vary across individuals.     

COMPUTER‐ASSISTED MEASUREMENT OF WOUND SIZE ASSOCIATED WITH SELF‐INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR

We evaluated an inexpensive, efficient, and noninvasive technique for measuring tissue damage produced by self‐injurious behavior (SIB). The technique involved computerized measurement of wound surface area (WSA) based on digital photographs. In Study 1, we compared photographic measurement to a more commonly used procedure, transparency measurement, in estimating WSA of 20 wound models. Results showed that both methods were reliable and that there was a high degree of correspondence between the 2 sets of measures. In Study 2, we compared photographic WSA measures to direct‐observation measures in documenting changes over time in the SIB exhibited by a woman with Prader‐Willi syndrome. Results showed that increases and decreases in observed SIB during baseline and treatment conditions corresponded with changes in WSA measures, indicating that the computer‐assisted photographic technique may be useful as a corroborative measure or as a primary measure when direct observation of SIB is not feasible.     

OBSERVER TRAINING REVISITED: A COMPARISON OF IN VIVO AND VIDEO INSTRUCTION

We compared the effects of 2 observer‐training procedures. In vivo training involved practice during actual treatment sessions. Video training involved practice while watching progressively more complex simulations. Fifty‐nine undergraduate students entered 1 of the 2 training conditions sequentially according to an ABABAB design. Results showed that the 2 training methods produced almost identical scores on a posttraining observational test; however, the video method required fewer training sessions to complete.     

Dopamine regulation of human speech and bird song: a critical review

To understand the neural basis of human speech control, extensive research has been done using a variety of methodologies in a range of experimental models. Nevertheless, several critical questions about learned vocal motor control still remain open. One of them is the mechanism(s) by which neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, modulate speech and song production. In this review, we bring together the two fields of investigations of dopamine action on voice control in humans and songbirds, who share similar behavioral and neural mechanisms for speech and song production. While human studies investigating the role of dopamine in speech control are limited to reports in neurological patients, research on dopaminergic modulation of bird song control has recently expanded our views on how this system might be organized. We discuss the parallels between bird song and human speech from the perspective of dopaminergic control as well as outline important differences between these species.