Communication and social skills in socially anxious and nonanxious individuals in the context of romantic relationships

This study examined differences between socially anxious and nonanxious individuals' ability to use effective communication skills and social skills in the context of romantic relationships. Socially anxious (n = 13) and nonanxious (n = 14) individuals and their romantic partners were videotaped while participating in 10-minute neutral, negative, and pleasant conversations. Regardless of the type of conversation in which they were involved, socially anxious individuals demonstrated impairment in 10 of the 11 social skill variables assessed. In negative conversations, socially anxious individuals displayed more "very negative" behaviors than nonanxious individuals, and across all conversations they displayed fewer "positive" behaviors than nonanxious individuals. Partners of socially anxious and nonanxious individuals did not differ in their communication quality. The results suggest that social anxiety is associated with deficits in relationship maintenance behavior and call for the completion of a larger study examining the interpersonal consequences of social anxiety.     

Cognitive change and enhanced coping: missing mediational links in cognitive behavior therapy with anxiety-disordered children

In this review, we examine the recent cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) outcome literature with anxiety-disordered children and, specifically, explore the status of cognitive change and increased coping ability as (1) specific treatment effects, and (2) possible mediators of the efficacy of CBT. In the past decade, the number of controlled CBT studies with clinically diagnosed anxiety-disordered children has increased substantially. CBT aims to restructure distorted or maladaptive cognitions and teach the anxious child to effectively use diverse coping strategies. Our review shows that in recent CBT research with anxiety-disordered children the use of domain-specific measures like cognitive and coping measures is, unfortunately, not common practice. Furthermore, only one study examined the issue of treatment mediation. Generally, recent CBT research has not been designed to test mediational issues and does not clarify whether cognitive change and enhanced coping—the presumed central components of CBT—are in fact responsible for its efficacy. Implications for the direction of future CBT research with anxiety-disordered children are discussed.     

Principles for Designing Randomized Preventive Trials in Mental Health: An Emerging Developmental Epidemiology Paradigm

An emerging population-based paradigm is now being used to guide the design of preventive trials used to test developmental models. We discuss elements of the designs of several ongoing randomized preventive trials involving reduction of risk for children of divorce, for children who exhibit behavioral or learning problems, and for children whose parents are being treated for depression. To test developmental models using this paradigm, we introduce three classes of design issues: design for prerandomization, design for intervention, and design for postintervention. For each of these areas, we present quantitative results from power calculations. Both scientific and cost implications of these power calculations are discussed in terms of variation among subjects on preintervention measures, unit of intervention, assignment, balancing, number of pretest and posttest measures, and the examination of moderation effects.     

Behavioral Genetics as a Tool for Developmental Psychology: Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents

Over the past decade there has been a huge increase in the number of behavioral genetic studies looking into anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. There are now enough data in this area to make a review of the results useful. This paper begins with an outline of the methods used in such research and moves on to review the results in extant studies. Overall, these studies indicate modest to moderate genetic influence on both anxiety and depression. However, behavioral genetic methods are also paramount for exploring environmental influences in addition to genetic influences. Shared environment (that which makes family members resemble one another) is rarely identified in adult studies of personality or psychopathology and does not appear to be a significant influence for depression but it is for anxiety. Nonshared environment, which makes family members differ from one another, is found to be a significant influence for both anxiety and depression. Patterns within these results due to rater effects, age effects, sex effects, the precise phenotype measured, and the study design are explored.     

What It Means to Be a Man: Aging and Anxiety in Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape and That Time

One of the great writers of Twentieth-century doubt, Samuel Beckett is perhaps best known for endowing his protagonists with some of the more classic symptoms of anxiety and depression. The result is an extraordinary corpus that unfolds how the intricacies and excesses of anxiety affect the behavior of men and women involved in intimate relationships, and how that behavior is exhibited in their aging years. While this discussion of Krapp's Last Tape (1960) and That Time (1976) will explore anxiety from a specifically male point of view, the works themselves compel various responses from readers of both sexes. Both pieces also may be of interest to those concerned with the rethinking of sexual roles in intimate relationships in light of an individual's response to the physical and emotional aspects of aging.     

An Integrative Brief Treatment Approach for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

This article reports on the integrated application of cognitive therapy, transactional analysis techniques, and the behavioral technique of response prevention using self-instructional training and behavioral substitution in a brief therapy approach. These methods were applied in the case of a young man who presented with compulsions to perform repetitive and ordering rituals with the belief that it would prevent his girlfriend from becoming pregnant. A 21-year-old white male who had performed 3 to 5 hours of rituals daily for several years was able to eliminate the majority of his compulsive behaviors and reduce his level of anxiety after eight clinical therapy sessions. Results were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The clear precipitating factors and the unusual maintaining variables for the disorder in the client are described. The author discusses the case in light of current theoretical, therapeutic, and biomedical understandings of the disorder.     

SOCIAL VALIDATION: THE EVOLUTION OF STANDARDS OF COMPETENCY FOR TARGET BEHAVIORS

The use of social validation procedures has become widespread in recent years. Although most researchers have used social validation procedures to select target behaviors and to evaluate whether the changes produced by a treatment program should be considered socially useful, little attention has been focused upon using the social validation process to determine the optimal levels for target behaviors. This paper suggests several ways in which social validation procedures can be employed in order to select when and how much to change target behaviors.     

TEACHING RETARDED WOMEN A CLOTHING SELECTION SKILL USING COMMUNITY NORMS

Five institutionalized retarded women were taught a clothing selection skill to coincide with popular fashion. Normative data concerning popular styles of color-coordinated clothing were collected through observations of women's apparel in a local community. Using a puzzle simulation of a woman with alternative pieces of colored clothing, color coordination training was conducted using modelling, instructions, practice, praise, and feedback to teach popular selections of color combinations. A generalization training component with actual clothing was also included. Training was accompanied by large increases in percentage of popular color selections with the puzzle and actual clothing. The increases maintained over a seven- to 14-week followup period. Time efficiency measures supported the use of the simulation procedure as opposed to total reliance on actual clothing. The results underscore the utility of local norms in community preparation programs and the efficacy of instructional procedures for severely and profoundly retarded persons as part of their participation in the deinstitutionalization movement.     

TEACHING JANITORIAL SKILLS TO THE MENTALLY RETARDED: ACQUISITION,GENERALIZATION, AND MAINTENANCE

A task analysis of janitorial skills required for cleaning a restroom was performed. Six subtasks with a total of 181 component responses were identified. Subjects were required to progress through a series of four prompt levels ordered generally from more to less direct assistance for 20 of the most difficult component steps. Another series of four prompts, ordered from less to more direct assistance, was used to teach the other 161 responses. Subjects progressed to the next more intense prompt level contingent on a failure to respond appropriately with less assistance. A multiple baseline across subjects as well as the six subtasks was employed to evaluate the efficacy of the procedures. Six moderately retarded adolescents were trained in their public school. The results show rapid response acquisition, skill generalization to a second restroom, and maintenance of the newly learned behavior. The present research provides evidence of a model for analyzing and training vocational skills to the mentally retarded.