The Relationship Between the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) and Indicators of Functioning

We investigated the relationship between scores on the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) and several indicators of functioning assessed in the national evaluation of the demonstration grants funded by the Center for Mental Health Services System of Care Initiative. The sample included 3187 youths, ranging in age from 4 to 23, with serious emotional disturbance (SED) who were evaluated at intake. At 6 month post-intake, 873 of these youths were re-evaluated. As predicted, higher CAFAS scores were associated with previous psychiatric hospitalization, more serious psychiatric diagnoses, and more restrictive living arrangements. Youths in residential inpatient settings were significantly more impaired than youths living in their own home or in regular foster care. Below average school performance, poor attendance, and contact with law enforcement personnel were also associated with greater impairment. Youth's total CAFAS scores decreased significantly from intake to 6 months. These results indicate that the CAFAS is a measure of functioning which has both statistical and clinical significance.     

Chronic Pain and Neuropsychological Functioning

This review article examines the effect of chronic pain on neuropsychological functioning. Primary attention is given to studies that include patient groups without a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) or neurologic disorders. Numerous studies were identified that demonstrate neuropsychological impairment in patients with chronic pain, particularly on measures assessing attentional capacity, processing speed, and psychomotor speed. Despite suggestive findings, further studies are needed to clarify the variables that mediate the impact of pain on neuropsychological functioning and the unique role of various symptoms often associated with chronic pain.     

Testing for DIF in a model with single peaked item characteristic curves: The parella model

The PARELLA model is a probabilistic parallelogram model that can be used for the measurement of latent attitudes or latent preferences. The data analyzed are the dichotomous responses of persons to items, with a one (zero) indicating agreement (disagreement) with the content of the item. The model provides a unidimensional representation of persons and items. The response probabilities are a function of the distance between person and item: the smaller the distance, the larger the probability that a person will agree with the content of the item. This paper discusses how the approach to differential item functioning presented by Thissen, Steinberg, and Wainer can be implemented for the PARELLA model. Requests for the PARELLA software should be sent to Iec Progamma PO Box 841, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands.     

幼儿执行功能的发展对心理理论发展的影响*

采用追踪研究设计,探讨儿童3至5岁成长过程中,执行功能与心理理论发展间的预测关系。以155名3岁、4岁儿童为被试,采用经典实验任务对儿童的执行功能和心理理论进行间隔1年的追踪测查,并运用分层回归分析检验了二者间的预测关系。结果发现：儿童执行功能、心理理论在3至5岁期间均有显著的发展,且在此期间执行功能、心理理论的个体差异相对稳定;儿童在3岁、4岁时执行功能与心理理论呈显著正相关,但在5岁时二者间相关不显著;儿童3岁时的执行功能能够显著预测3至4岁期间心理理论的发展,而4岁时的执行功能不能预测4至5岁期间心理理论的发展;3至5岁期间,心理理论对执行功能发展始终不具有预测作用。     

On the possibility and desirability of constructing a neutral conception of disability

Disagreement about the properattitude toward disability proliferates. Yetlittle attention has been paid to an importantmeta-question, namely, whether ``disability' isan essentially contested concept. If so, recentdebates between bioethicists and the disabilitymovement leadership cannot be resolved. Inthis essay I identify some of the presumptionsthat make their encounters so contentious. Much more must happen, I argue, for anydiscussions about disability policy andpolitics to be productive. Progress depends onconstructing a neutral conception ofdisability, one that neither devaluesdisability nor implies that persons withdisabilities are inadequate. So, first, I clearaway the conceptual underbrush that makes usthink our idea of disability must bevalue-laden. Second, I sketch someconstituents of, and constraints upon, aneutral notion of disability. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Influence of Perceived Versus Aerobic Fitness on Psychological Health and Physiological Stress Responsivity

This study sought to evaluate the association between perceived and aerobic physical fitness and both psychological functioning and physiological stress responsivity. Sixty nonsymptomatic participants (30 males, 30 females) participated in the experiment. Participants completed a series of personality and mood questionnaires as well as a laboratory procedure measuring cardiovascular responses (i.e., heart rate and blood pressure) while performing stressful laboratory tasks (i.e., the Stroop Color Naming Test and a sham IQ test). Aerobic fitness (i.e., VO ₂ max using the Bruce protocol) as well as perceived fitness were also determined. Results suggest that perceived fitness was generally associated with positive personality and mood variables while aerobic fitness was not. Overall results support the view that perception of fitness may be as important or perhaps even more important than aerobic fitness in its association with psychological but perhaps not physical functioning.     

Improved Perceptions of Emotion Regulation and Reflective Functioning in Parents: Two Additional Positive Outcomes of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

The purpose of this study was to test whether Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), a widely used effective therapy for children’s externalizing behaviors and parenting problems, was associated with improvements in parents’ emotion regulation and reflective functioning. We also investigated whether these improvements had unique associations with children’s improvements in externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Participants were 139 Australian children aged 29 to 83 months and their caregivers; all were referred for child externalizing behavior problems coupled with parenting skill deficits or high parent stress. All data were gathered via a questionnaire completed prior to and after completion of PCIT. Significant improvements were found in parents’ self-reported emotion dysregulation and capacity to use cognitive reappraisal for emotion regulation. There was also improvement in parents’ self-report of children’s symptoms, parenting practices, and reflective functioning in the form of prementalizing, which measured a low capacity to understand the emotional world of the child. Multiple regression showed that improvements in cognitive reappraisal, prementalizing, and negative parenting practices were associated with improvement in children’s symptoms. The findings extend the existing evidence for PCIT as an effective parenting intervention, adding parents’ perceived emotion regulation and reflective functioning to the list of positive outcomes from PCIT. Improved emotion regulation and reflective functioning, unique from changes in parenting practices, could be mechanisms that help explain why PCIT has been associated with improvements in children’s externalizing behaviors.     

Predictors of Family Functioning Among Clergy and Spouses: Influences of Social Context and Perceptions of Work-Related Stressors

We wished to identify predictors of family functioning from models including perceptions of stresses associated with mobility, financial compensation, intrusiveness to family boundaries, expectations on time demands, and the lack of social support. Data were collected from 136 randomly selected couples from six denominations in which husbands were clergy. Participants completed a survey that included the Clergy Family Life Inventory which assessed perceptions of five work-related stressors and the Self Report Measure of Family Functioning scale which measured 12 dimensions of family functioning. Separate regression models were tested for husbands and wives and these analyses indicated that no single stressor seemed influential for all 12 dimensions of family functioning. However, for both husbands and wives, family boundary intrusiveness, lack of social support, and mobility stresses influenced their competence in numerous areas of family functioning. In addition, husbands and wives experienced similar effects of stress among several dimensions of family functioning (e.g. enmeshment, family organization, democratic family atmosphere expressiveness).