Parenting stress and competence among mothers of young children with substance use disorders: The roles of trauma and reflective functioning

Posttraumatic stress symptoms are prominent in the lives of parents of young children with substance use disorders (SUD). Parenting experiences, particularly stress and competence, impact parenting behaviors and concomitant child growth and development. Factors that promote positive experiences of parenting, such as parental reflective functioning (PRF), and protect the mother and child from negative outcomes are crucial to understand to develop effective therapeutic interventions. The current US study analyzed baseline data from a parenting intervention evaluation to examine how length of substance misuse, PRF, and trauma symptoms were associated with parenting stress and parenting sense of competence among mothers in treatment for SUDs. Measures included the Addiction Severity Index, PTSD Symptom Scale-Self Report, Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index/Short Form, and Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. The sample included 54 predominantly White mothers with SUDs who had young children. Two multivariate regression analyses found that (1) lower parental reflective functioning and higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with higher parenting stress, and (2) only higher posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with lower levels of parenting sense of competence. Findings underscore the importance of addressing trauma symptoms and PRF when aiming to improve parenting experiences for women with an SUD.     

Social Anxiety Among Adolescents: Linkages with Peer Relations and Friendships

This study examined the utility of modifying the Social Anxiety Scale for Children—Revised (SASC-R) for use with adolescents, and examined associations between adolescents' social anxiety (SA) and their peer relations, friendships, and social functioning. Boys (n = 101) and girls (n = 149) in the 10th through 12th grades completed the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) and measures of social support, perceived competence, and number and quality of their best friendships. Factor analysis of the SAS-A confirmed a three-factor structure: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Social Avoidance and Distress in General, and Social Avoidance Specific to New Situations or Unfamiliar Peers. Girls reported more SA than boys, and SA was more strongly linked to girls' social functioning than boys'. Specifically, adolescents with higher levels of SA reported poorer social functioning (less support from classmates, less social acceptance), and girls with higher levels of SA reported fewer friendships, and less intimacy, companionship, and support in their close friendships. These findings extend work on the SASC-R to adolescents, and suggest the importance of SA for understanding the social functioning and close friendships of adolescents, especially girls.     

Cognitive functioning as a contraindication to organ transplant surgery: Dilemmas encountered in medical decision making

A case is presented to illustrate some of the difficulties encountered when providing psychological consultation to evaluate the readiness of patients for pediatric heart-lung transplantation. The outcome of complex medical decision making can often hinge on information provided by the psychological consultant who is attempting to simultaneously serve the needs of the patient as well as the transplant team. Ethical dilemmas frequently arise when medical decision making is driven by limited health care resources and cost constraints. The utility of cognitive functioning as a variable in pediatric transplant decision making is discussed. Recommendations are made for further work in this area on both conceptual and empirical grounds to guide the integration of psychological information into transplant decision making as health care delivery continues to evolve in the future.     

Effects on fathers of children with down syndrome

This study investigated research evidence for eight assertions found in the literature about effects on fathers of children with disabilities. Eighty-seven fathers of children with Down syndrome completed questionnaire instruments designed to measure demographic variables, adaptation, stress, personality, social support and marital functioning. The results provided little support for most of the assertions. It is concluded that the existing literature provides a somewhat erroneous perspective of the experiences of such fathers. These findings reinforce the need for further research specifically with fathers of children with mental retardation.     

The relationship of young adolescent Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) scores to their social and cognitive functioning

The relationship of young adolescents' scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) to subjective and objective indices of their social and cognitive functioning was examined. Subjects were 89 young adolescents (11–15 years old), their parents, and their social studies teachers. The correlations of adolescents' CDI scores with recent school grades, objective ratings of overt social behavior, and measures of adolescent social and cognitive competence as perceived by the adolescent, both parents, and the teacher were examined. CDI scores were significantly and negatively correlated with school grades, behavioral ratings of positive social communication, and adolescent, mother, father, and teacher perceptions of the adolescents' social and cognitive competence. The relationship of these findings to those of other CDI validity studies is discussed.This research was supported, in part, by the William T. Grant Foundation and the University of Georgia's Institute for Behavioral Research.     

Cognition–emotion interactions in schizophrenia: Emerging evidence on working memory load and implicit facial-affective processing

Although much is known about working memory (WM) and emotion perception deficits in schizophrenia, little is known of how these deficits interact. We sought to address this gap by conducting a narrative review of relevant literatures and distilling core themes. First, people with schizophrenia have difficulty with high load and during initial phases of WM (e.g., encoding, early rehearsal), yet are able to activate WM-related prefrontal brain regions to the same maximal degree as comparison controls under certain circumstances. Second, people with schizophrenia have difficulty identifying and expressing facial emotions, yet demonstrate heightened automatic/implicit processing of facial emotions. Third, people with schizophrenia behaviourally demonstrate intact cognition–emotion interactions on laboratory tasks wherein emotional processing is automatic/implicit, yet demonstrate cognition–emotion disconnections in other levels of analysis. Insights are drawn from basic science showing interdependency between WM load and implicit emotion. Future research questions are raised regarding interactions between WM load and implicit facial-affective processing in schizophrenia.     

从心理理论的脑机制研究看心理理论与执行功能的关系

心理理论发展与执行功能的关系以及心理理论脑机制的研究是近年来心理理论研究中的一个热点。文章首先对心理理论与执行功能关系的研究现状进行了分析与概括,提出了目前研究中的问题;然后从介绍了心理理论脑机制研究现状,并以此为基础探讨了心理理论与执行功能的关系。     

The ego according to Klein: return to Freud and beyond

This paper explores fundamental dimensions of Melanie Klein's concept of the ego through a detailed study of the writings of Klein and her early colleagues (Paula Heimann, Susan Isaacs and Joan Riviere). The study examines three central issues: (a) the basic theoretical framework for Klein's conceptualization of the ego, and specifically how her conceptualization builds on Freud's structural and dual instinct models; (b) the processes involved in the development of the ego and its capacities (including the development from id to ego and from ego to superego); and (c) the view of the ego as an object of phantasy. Through this examination, the study demonstrates that Klein's conceptualization of the ego is firmly grounded both in Freud's formulations about the ego and in his theoretical and metapsychological approach to thinking about the ego. This counters the prevalent view that Klein was only focused on clinical understandings, unconcerned with theory and fuzzy in her abstract thinking. More specifically, it counters the view that Klein did not really have a concept of the ego in any well-structured sense of the term (Britton, 2003; Hinshelwood, 1994; Segal, 2001). The study considers the sources of these misconceived views. Finally, it argues that discarding such views allows us to appreciate better the richness of Klein's thinking, her theoretical affinities to Freud, and the role of theory in the development and justification of psychoanalysis.     

Mental Health Aspects of Arab-Israeli Adolescents From Polygamous Versus Monogamous Families

Abstract

The authors considered the mental health consequences of polygamy in a sample of 101 Arab Muslim adolescents (19 from polygamous and 82 from monogamous families) at Juarish (Ramla), Israel. The respondents completed the Self-Esteem Scale (SE; M. Rosenberg, 1979), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; L. Derogatis & N. Melsavados, 1983; L. Derogatis & P. Spencer, 1982), and the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD; N. B. Epstein, M. N. Baldwin, & D. S. Bishop, 1983). The respondents from polygamous families had lower SE scores, statistically significant higher scores in 2 BSI dimensions, higher scores in all other BSI dimensions, and higher levels of self-reported family dysfunction. The respondents from polygamous families reported lower levels of socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and parental academic attainment. Those variables may have had a more direct impact on mental health than did parental marital status. The data also indicated that perceived family functioning was the best predictor of mental health.     

Multilevel Measurement of Dimensions of Collaborative Functioning in a Network of Collaboratives that Promote Child and Family Well-Being

Evaluating collaboration between community partners presents a series of methodological challenges (Roussos and Fawcett in Annu Rev Public Health 21:369-402, 2000; Yin and Kaftarian 1997), one of which is selection of the appropriate level of analysis. When data are collected from multiple members of multiple settings, multilevel analysis techniques should be used. Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) is an analytic approach that incorporates the advantages of latent variable measurement modeling and multilevel modeling for nested data. This study utilizes MCFA on data obtained from an evaluation survey of collaborative functioning provided to members of 157 community collaboratives in Georgia. This study presents a well-fitting measurement model that includes five dimensions of collaborative functioning, and a structural component with individual- and collaborative-level covariates. Findings suggest that members' role and meeting attendance significantly predicted their assessment of collaboration at the individual level, and that tenure of collaborative leaders predicted the overall functioning of the collaborative at the collaborative level. Dimensionality of collaborative functioning and implications of potentially substantial measurement biases associated with selection of respondents are addressed.