The toll of ethnic discrimination on sleep architecture and fatigue.

Most work on ethnicity tends to focus on daytime health rather than how aspects of ethnicity affect nighttime functioning. The current study examined how discrimination and ethnic identity relate to sleep architecture and fatigue in 37 African Americans and 56 Caucasian Americans. The authors conducted sleep monitoring with standard polysomnography. African Americans had less slow-wave sleep and reported more physical fatigue than did Caucasian Americans (ps < .05). The authors conducted path analyses to examine relationships between ethnic identity, perceived discrimination, sleep, and fatigue. Perceived discrimination mediated ethnic differences in Stage 4 sleep and physical fatigue. Individuals who reported experiencing more discrimination had less Stage 4 sleep and reported experiencing greater physical fatigue (ps < .05). Although ethnic identity did not mediate ethnic differences in sleep latency, there was a significant relationship between ethnic identity and sleep latency, indicating that individuals who felt more connected to their ethnic group had more difficulty falling asleep while in the hospital (p < .05). These observations suggest that the effects of stress related to one's ethnic group membership carry over into sleep.     

Examining the efficacy of truth/lie discussions in predicting and increasing the veracity of children's reports

This study investigated whether children's ability to reason about truths and lies influenced their truth-telling behavior. Four-six-year-old children (n=118) played a game that was intended to motivate children to use deception to hide a minor transgression. Next, an interviewer gave children one of four preliminary discussions. Children received a typical forensic truth/lie discussion (TLD), a developmentally appropriate and more elaborate TLD, or one of two discussions that controlled for the time spent conversing with children. Children were interviewed about the event. The results revealed that children's performance on the truth/lie questions did not predict their truth-telling behavior. Regardless of their performance on truth/lie questions, children who received TLD's gave more honest reports than children who did not receive TLD's. These results suggest that discussing truths and lies with children may promote truth-telling behavior. However, the results cast doubt on the validity of using children's performance on truth/lie questions as a measure of competency.     

Peer influence on event reports among adolescents and young adults

When two or more people witness an event together, the event report from one person can influence others’ reports. In the current study we examined the role of age and motivational factors on peer influence regarding event reports in adolescents and young adults. Participants (N=249) watched a short video of a robbery then answered questions with no co-witness information or with information believed to be from a co-witness. Public and private response conditions were included to explore motivations for peer influence. Co-witness information influenced participants’ responses, although the effect was equally strong in the private and the public co-witness conditions. Peer influence on event reports was steady across a large age range (11- to 25-year-olds).     

Child Compliance and Congruity between Verbal and Nonverbal Maternal Communication — A Methodological Note

This paper is a report of a study of congruity between verbal and nonverbal maternal communication with sons during two 30-minute sessions. The instructions to the mothers varied for the two sessions by increasing the time the mother was asked to spend on a brain teaser game and by decreasing the number of play materials available for the sons in the second session. The two sessions were videotaped through a one-way mirror and rated independently for maternal verbal and nonverbal communicaiton and child compliance. Mothers differed for the two sessions in their communication with their sons. The study demonstrated that maternal nonverbal communication, as well as verbal communication, can be reliably measured through use of videotape recording.     

The development of metasuggestibility in children

One component of metasuggestibility is the understanding that a person's statements can influence another person's reports. The purpose of the present study was to examine the development of this understanding in school‐aged children. We produced a short video in which a boy makes a false allegation about being hit following an adult's suggestive interview. Children aged 6–13 years (N = 196) watched the video and answered open‐ended and forced‐choice questions about why the boy made a false allegation. The 6‐ and 7‐year‐olds performed poorly on all question types, whereas the 12‐ and 13‐year‐olds were at ceiling. There were developmental increases in metasuggestibility between 8 and 11 years. Our findings indicate that metasuggestibility undergoes prolonged development well into the school years. Implications for child witness training programs are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Review of the contemporary literature on how children report sexual abuse to others: findings, methodological issues, and implications for forensic interviewers

Methods used during forensic interviews with children are driven by beliefs about how children recall and report child sexual abuse (CSA) to others. Summit (1983) proposed a theory (Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome) contending that, due to the specific traumatic characteristics of CSA, children will often delay disclosing abuse or altogether fail to disclose during childhood, deny abuse when asked, and often recant abuse allegations. His theory has had a tremendous impact on the field of CSA forensic evaluations, despite its dearth of empirical support. In this paper, we review and critique the contemporary literature from two main sources: retrospective accounts from adults reporting CSA experiences and studies of children undergoing forensic evaluation for CSA. We conclude that data support the notion that children often delay abuse disclosure, but that among valid abuse cases undergoing forensic evaluation, denial and recantation are not common. Methodological issues and implications for forensic interviewers are discussed.     

Gender-linked Differences in the Toys, Television Shows, Computer Games, and Outdoor Activities of 5- to 13-year-old Children

This study was designed to compare how 5- to 13-year-old children's leisure activity preferences differ with age and gender. Responses from 60 boys and 60 girls about their favorite toys, television shows, computer games, and outdoor activities were compared across leisure categories. The results showed that gender was a significant factor. Overall, boys spent more time in these leisure activities than girls did. They spent the most time engaged in sports, watching television, and playing computer games, whereas girls spent the most time watching television. Results from a gender index for all activities indicated that boys' leisure preferences became slightly more masculine with age. For girls, preferences for television shows became more feminine with age, but preferences for toys, computer games, and sports became less feminine. These self-chosen preferences may provide differential opportunities for the development of visual-spatial skills, achievement, initiative, self-regulation, and social skills.     

Multilevel modelling: Beyond the basic applications

Over the last 30 years statistical algorithms have been developed to analyse datasets that have a hierarchical/multilevel structure. Particularly within developmental and educational psychology these techniques have become common where the sample has an obvious hierarchical structure, like pupils nested within a classroom. We describe two areas beyond the basic applications of multilevel modelling that are important to psychology: modelling the covariance structure in longitudinal designs and using generalized linear multilevel modelling as an alternative to methods from signal detection theory (SDT). Detailed code for all analyses is described using packages for the freeware R.     

Adaptation of Two Family Therapy Training Instruments to Culturally Suit the Indian Context

Two family therapy training instruments, the Family Concept Assessment (FCA) and Rating Scale and Family Therapy Assessment Exercise (FTE), developed in the United States were adapted to suit the Indian cultural context. Several changes were made to the instruments while at the same time maintaining the equivalency of the scales to the original. Both the instruments were tested for face validity by a panel of cultural and content experts in the United States. The FTE was then pilot tested with an Indian sample. The psychometric properties of the adapted instrument are reported in this article including feedback from the participants.