Behavioral Parent Training Engagement Among Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The purpose of the current study was to examine engagement with Behavioral Parent Training (BPT) for families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and assess openness to novel delivery formats for BPT (e.g., telehealth, group). Participants were caregivers of 501 children with ASD (ages 2–6) enrolled in the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge) online national registry. The study assessed: (1) rates of child disruptive behavior diagnoses, (2) engagement and satisfaction with BPT, (3) parent and child factors (e.g., diagnostic history), and (4) openness to novel delivery formats. Almost 25% of young children with ASD in this sample had disruptive behavior problems rising to the level of a diagnosis of ADHD or ODD and thus would benefit from BPT. However, only one third of these families had actually been referred to BPT. Families indicated high level of interest in participating in BPT, with a particular interest in Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) as well as novel delivery formats such as telehealth and group. Specific components of the therapy and delivery formats were indicative of parent satisfaction (e.g. groups, longer treatment sessions, longer treatment length). Specific parent and child characteristics were predictive of openness to novel formats (e.g. parental depression, more severe behavioral challenges, lower verbal skills). Results underscore the need for increased referrals and access to BPT programs the ASD population. Both parent and child characteristics are important for determining appropriate delivery formats.     

Cross-Lagged Analyses of Prolonged Grief and Depression Symptoms With Insomnia Symptoms

Prolonged grief disorder, characterized by severe, persistent and disabling grief, has recently been added to the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11. Treatment for prolonged grief symptoms shows limited effectiveness. It has been suggested that prolonged grief symptoms exacerbate insomnia symptoms, whereas insomnia symptoms, in turn, may fuel prolonged grief symptoms. To help clarify if treating sleep disturbances may be a viable treatment option for prolonged grief disorder, we examined the proposed reciprocal relationship between symptoms of prolonged grief and insomnia. On three time points across 6-month intervals, 343 bereaved adults (88% female) completed questionnaires to assess prolonged grief, depression, and insomnia symptoms. We applied random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to assess reciprocal within-person effects between prolonged grief and insomnia symptoms and, as a secondary aim, between depression and insomnia symptoms. Changes in insomnia symptoms predicted changes in prolonged grief symptoms but not vice versa. Additionally, changes in depression and insomnia symptoms showed a reciprocal relationship. Our results suggest that targeting insomnia symptoms after bereavement is a viable option for improving current treatments for prolonged grief disorder.     

Extending exploratory diagnostic classification models: Inferring the effect of covariates

Diagnostic models provide a statistical framework for designing formative assessments by classifying student knowledge profiles according to a collection of fine-grained attributes. The context and ecosystem in which students learn may play an important role in skill mastery, and it is therefore important to develop methods for incorporating student covariates into diagnostic models. Including covariates may provide researchers and practitioners with the ability to evaluate novel interventions or understand the role of background knowledge in attribute mastery. Existing research is designed to include covariates in confirmatory diagnostic models, which are also known as restricted latent class models. We propose new methods for including covariates in exploratory RLCMs that jointly infer the latent structure and evaluate the role of covariates on performance and skill mastery. We present a novel Bayesian formulation and report a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm using a Metropolis-within-Gibbs algorithm for approximating the model parameter posterior distribution. We report Monte Carlo simulation evidence regarding the accuracy of our new methods and present results from an application that examines the role of student background knowledge on the mastery of a probability data set.     

跨期选择的变易程度正向预测中华文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效：亚非欧美大洋洲18国跨国研究

跨期选择是对不同时间点的得失的权衡与选择。伊索寓言《蚂蚁和蚱蜢》假借群居型昆虫的跨期选择偏爱暗喻投资未来的慢策略比只顾眼前的快策略更利于生存。用跨期选择领域通用的语言解读这一寓言便是：选择大而迟选项的蚂蚁比选择小而早选项的蚱蜢更可能扛过严冬而生存下来。为了探索何种跨期选择策略更有助于我们扛过疫情,本研究调查了亚非欧美大洋洲这5大洲18个国家共计26355名受测者对混合得失双结果的跨期选择偏爱,测量了人们平时和疫时跨期选择偏爱的变易程度(2类变易的程度指标),以及人们自评的扛疫成效。跨文化比较结果的主要发现是：不同通货的选择变易程度(指标1)和不同时期的选择变易程度(指标2)能联合预测中国/新加坡文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效;不同时期的选择变易程度(指标2)也可以单独预测印度/马来西亚/菲律宾/尼日利亚文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效;这2类选择偏爱变易的程度指标不能预测其他文化圈国民的自评扛疫成效(或者预测方向和假设相反)。基于易经“穷则变,变则通”的要旨和跨国比较的发现,我们认为：面临历史危机时善于变通的特长抑或成就了中华民族特有的竞争优势;在应对危机时,与中国文化距离越相近的国家或民族抑或也能...     

The sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of COVID-19 vaccine concerns among urban college students

COVID-19 vaccine concerns remain high among Americans. Although recent studies have investigated the sociodemographic disparities in vaccine concerns, less attention has been given to reasons for vaccine skepticism and psychosocial factors that may explain it. The current study examined specific types of vaccine concerns among a diverse sample of college students (N = 1985) living in New York City. Participants who identified as Black, younger, with later immigrant generational status, and those with more conservative political leanings reported more vaccine concerns. Concerns regarding vaccine side effects were the most frequently reported source of concern. Reason for getting vaccinated, personal experiences with COVID, and COVID stress was also associated with vaccine concerns. Study results emphasize the importance of sociodemographic factors and COVID knowledge and stress in examining and addressing vaccine concerns.     

Differences in the importance of romantic structures among transgender and cisgender adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

The stressors of the global COVID-19 pandemic have led to an increased need for support. For adults, romantic relationships often represent an environment of emotional support and stability; as such, attitudes toward—and particularly the importance of—romantic relationships may have shifted as a result of the pandemic. The present cross-sectional study explores how U.S. transgender (n = 99) and cisgender people (n = 1886) report whether they have perceived a change in their feelings about the importance of long-term romantic structures (i.e., committed relationships, monogamy, cohabiting with a romantic partner, and marriage) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results found that transgender people reported a more positive perceived change in importance placed on all four romantic items relative to cisgender people. Different forms of stress (e.g., social, financial, health) associated with the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to an increased need, and subsequent desire, for social connection and support in the form of romantic relationships among transgender individuals to a greater extent than cisgender individuals, perhaps in part due to the additional layers of stress transgender people must navigate. Results are discussed through the lens of the minority stress framework.     

Coping with COVID: Use,factor structure,and health behavior implications of specific emotion regulation strategies during the coronavirus pandemic

This series of studies examined U.S. individuals' use of specific emotion regulation/coping strategies during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, investigated the factor structure among strategies during this universally experienced stressor, and the extent to which these factors predicted engagement in COVID-related health-promoting behaviors. In Study 1, participants (N = 520) rated their use of 17 strategies for coping with pandemic-related stress during the past 24 h. Differences emerged in strategy use across demographic groups (age, race, income). Results of exploratory factor analysis suggest a factor structure grouping strategies in terms of goals beyond emotion regulation per se, rather than phases of the emotion process or a binary adaptive versus maladaptive distinction. In Study 2 (N = 264), participants reported daily on their coping strategy use and weekly on their engagement in COVID-specific health behaviors for 22 days. Results of confirmatory factor analysis replicate the factor structure found in Study 1. Some significant associations of coping strategy use with health-promoting behaviors were observed, but these were sporadic and largely involved baseline measures rather than predicting change over time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Distress,wellbeing, and growth amidst COVID-19: Considering the dynamic interplay between positive and negative anticipatory emotions

Although negative anticipatory emotions are typically seen as risk factors for poorer psychological outcomes over COVID-19, emotion theorists suggest that this risk may be attenuated if balanced by the experience of positive emotion. Thus, the current study examined whether interactions between positive and negative anticipatory emotions were concurrently associated with psychological distress and greater personal wellbeing/posttraumatic growth (PTG) at three distinct periods (i.e., pre-lockdown, during lockdown, post-lockdown), and whether associations varied by these three COVID-19 time periods. The study utilizes two large longitudinal Australian samples, surveyed in 2020 prior to, during, and after a strict 4-month lockdown that occurred in Australia. Overall, positive emotions attenuated the adverse psychological outcomes arising from higher levels of negative emotion (i.e., higher psychological distress and lower personal wellbeing). Observed effects varied according to COVID-19 threat exposure. Specifically, the interaction was significantly associated with psychological distress prior to the lockdown for Sample 2, and during the lockdown for both samples. The interaction was significantly associated with wellbeing (Sample 2) prior to, and during, the lockdown but only marginally associated post-lockdown. The interaction, however, was not significantly associated with PTG (Sample 1). The results suggest that it is valuable for future research to consider greater emotional complexity (i.e., mixed emotions) over COVID-19, and other stressors more generally, to encompass a more nuanced understanding of resilience.     

Information processing,neuropsychological function,and the inherited predisposition to alcoholism

Sons of male alcoholics are at particularly heightened risk for the development of alcoholism. This heightened risk frequently appears in association with increased incidence of conduct disorder or hyperactivity, with deficits in abstract thinking and poor school performance, with abnormalities in cued psychophysiological response, and with increased sensitivity to the putatively stress-response-dampening effects of alcohol intoxication. This risk and its associated features are discussed within the context of a neuropsychological theory, predicated on the notions (1) that deficits in cognitive functions theoretically dependent upon the intact functioning of the prefrontal cortex could underlie manifestation of the idiosyncracies commonly attributed to sons of male alcoholics, and (2) that acute alcohol intoxication could relieve the subjective discomfort associated with the consequences of such deficits.     

The factor structure of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL-R): Some statistical considerations

In response to Zuckerman's comments on my factor analyses of the MAACL-R, I focus on the statistical issues of the cutoff criterion for factor loadings and the evidence for the discriminant validity of the five-factor solution. Based upon the conclusions I draw in these two areas, I recommend that researchers either (a) use the two factor solution to the MAACL-R represented in the summary scores of Dysphoria and Positive Affect + Sensation Seeking or (b) include all MAACL-R scales in their studies and analyze their data to determine whether it is statistically appropriate to report results from a single scale (A, D, H, PA, or SS) rather than from the summary scores.