Issues in Parent-Child Agreement: The Case of Structured Diagnostic Interviews

There are three primary purposes of this review. First, the review distinguishes among three types of reliability and describes the importance of evaluating the reliability of child psychopathology assessment instruments for clinical practice and research. Second, parent-child reliability findings from 5 of the more carefully studied and frequently used Structured (semi and highly) diagnostic interviews (The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children, The Child Assessment Scale, The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children. The Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents, and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children) are examined. Finally, this review explores factors that have been implicated in terms of their potential effect on parent-child agreement. In addition, future directions for research and clinical practice within this area are identified and potential resolutions to the conundrum of parent-child discordance are discussed.     

Raters who pursue different goals give different ratings

J. N. Cleveland and K. R. Murphy (1992) suggested that phenomena such as rater errors and interrater disagreements could be understood in terms of differences in the goals pursued by various raters. We measured 19 rating goals of students at the beginning of a semester, grouped them into scales, and correlated these with teacher evaluations collected at the end of the semester. We found significant multiple correlations, both within classes and in an analysis of the pooled sample (adjusting for instructor mean differences, incremental R2 =.08). Measures of rating goals obtained after raters had observed a significant proportion of ratee performance accounted for variance (incremental R2 =.07) not accounted for by measures of goals obtained at the beginning of the semester.     

The Relation Between Coordinated Interpersonal Timing and Maternal Sensitivity in Four-Month-Old Infants

The relation between mother–infant coordinated interpersonal timing, an automated microanalytic measure of dyadic vocal coordination, and maternal sensitivity was explored. Thirty-five mothers and their developmentally normal 4-month-old infants were audio-recorded during a 20-min laboratory vocal interaction session, that was later analyzed for degree of vocal coordination. Maternal Sensitivity ratings (Ainsworth & Bell, 1969) were based on a video-taped 45-min unstructured laboratory interaction period. A significant curvilinear relation between the degree to which mother coordinated her noninterruptive co-occurring speech to that of her infant was found and revealed that mothers highest in sensitivity were characterized by moderate levels of coordination. Examining mother-infant interaction at the specific behavioral level, while incorporating tests of nonlinear trends, may provide important information about the nature of sensitive parenting.     

Predictors of depressive symptoms among breast cancer patients during the first year post diagnosis

It is important to identify predictors of psychological health among breast cancer patients that can be relatively easily identified by medical care providers. This article investigates the role of one class of such potential predictors: easily identified demographics that have potential social and/or practical implications. Specifically, we examined whether income, marital status, presence of children in the home, education, travel distance, age and rurality interact with time to predict psychological health over the first year post diagnosis. Two hundred and twenty five breast cancer patients receiving radiation treatment completed four surveys over the course of 13 months that included measures of both their physical health and depressive symptoms. The results revealed that women who were not married had children living in the home or had to travel long distances to receive radiation treatment reported higher levels of depressive symptoms across the entire study. Women with lower incomes reported increased depressive symptoms, but only after the completion of treatment. Younger women reported elevated depressive symptoms during initial treatment, but this effect dissipated after the completion of treatment. The current results suggest that demographic patient characteristics may indeed be useful in identifying both when and for whom depressive symptoms are particularly likely to be problematic.     

To have and to hold: gratitude promotes relationship maintenance in intimate bonds

This multimethod series of studies merges the literatures on gratitude and risk regulation to test a new process model of gratitude and relationship maintenance. We develop a measure of appreciation in relationships and use cross-sectional, daily experience, observational, and longitudinal methods to test our model. Across studies, we show that people who feel more appreciated by their romantic partners report being more appreciative of their partners. In turn, people who are more appreciative of their partners report being more responsive to their partners' needs (Study 1), and are more committed and more likely to remain in their relationships over time (Study 2). Appreciative partners are also rated by outside observers as relatively more responsive and committed during dyadic interactions in the laboratory, and these behavioral displays are one way in which appreciation is transmitted from one partner to the other (Study 3). These findings provide evidence that gratitude is important for the successful maintenance of intimate bonds.     

Patterns of Adolescents’ Beliefs About Fighting and Their Relation to Behavior and Risk Factors for Aggression

This study examined adolescents' patterns of beliefs about aggression, and how these patterns relate to aggressive and prosocial behavior, and to risk factors associated with aggression. A sample of 477 sixth graders from two urban schools and a school in a nearby county completed measures of beliefs, behavior, and individual, peer and parental factors associated with aggression. Teacher ratings of participants' behavior and emotion regulation were also obtained. The urban sample was 84% African American; the county school was in a rural fringe area with a student population that was 45% Caucasian and 40% African American. Latent class analysis of items on a beliefs measure supported hypotheses predicting three groups: (a) a Beliefs Against Fighting (BAGF) group that opposed the use of aggression (31% of the sample); (b) a Fighting is Sometimes Necessary (FSNEC) group that endorsed beliefs that fighting is sometimes necessary or inevitable (41%), and (c) a Beliefs Supporting Fighting (BSUPF) group that supported aggression across multiple contexts (28%). Differences across groups were found on race/ethnicity and family structure, but not on gender. Significant differences were also found such that the FSNEC group fell between levels of the BAGF and BSUPF groups on most measures. In contrast, the FSNEC and BAGF groups both differed from the BSUPF group, but not from each other on measures of empathy, perceived effectiveness of nonviolence and aggression, and parental messages supporting nonviolence. These differences suggest the need for tailoring prevention approaches for subgroups of adolescents who differ in their patterns of beliefs.     

Development of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Resources in Vietnam

In this paper, we discuss development of the Vietnam National University graduate Clinical Psychology Program, which has the goal of training both Vietnamese researchers who will develop and evaluate culturally appropriate mental health treatments, as well as Vietnamese clinicians who will implement and help disseminate these evidence-based treatments. We first review the background situation in Vietnam regarding mental health, and its infrastructure and training needs, and discuss the process through which the decision was made to develop a graduate program in clinical psychology as the best approach to address these needs. We then review the development process for the program and its current status, and our focus on the schools as a site for service provision and mental health task shifting. Finally, we outline future goals and plans for the program, and discuss the various challenges that the program has faced and our attempts to resolve them.     

How Sacrifice Impacts the Giver and the Recipient: Insights From Approach‐Avoidance Motivational Theory

This study investigated how sacrificing for approach versus avoidance goals shapes the giver's and the recipient's emotions and relationship quality. A sample of 80 dating couples participated in a three‐part study in which they discussed sacrifice in the laboratory (Part 1), reported on their daily sacrifices for 14 days (Part 2), and completed a follow‐up survey 3 months later (Part 3). When partners discussed a sacrifice they had made for approach goals, they experienced greater relationship quality, whereas when they discussed a sacrifice they had made for avoidance goals, they experienced poorer relationship quality. These effects were replicated with outside observer reports. On days when partners sacrificed for approach goals, both partners experienced increased relationship quality, but on days when people sacrificed for avoidance goals, the giver experienced decreased relationship quality. These effects were mediated by positive and negative emotions, respectively. Approach sacrifice goals predicted increases in relationship quality and avoidance sacrifice goals predicted decreases in relationship quality, as reported by both partners 3 months later. Sacrifice per se does not help or harm relationships, but the goals that people pursue when they give up their own interests can critically shape the quality of intimate bonds.