Visual perception in 'low vision'

'Low vision' has an international classification as an impairment of vision that is defined by loss of visual acuity and the size of the visual field. Functional classification that would depict capability to use vision in different activities has not yet been agreed upon. Abnormal visual information leads to changes in visual perception, and brain-damage-related visual impairment may alter or prevent one or several cognitive visual functions. Abnormal visual perception opens a window into brain mechanisms that the psychophysicists otherwise do not have. Together with clinicians, psychophysicists can help visually impaired persons to understand the nature of their disability by thoroughly studying the nature of the altered image and the profile of cognitive visual functions.     

Portraying reflection: the contents of student teachers’ reflection on personal practical theories and practicum experience*

This research focused on personal practical theories of Finnish student teachers, on how they argued for them and what they contained, and the data were analysed using Korthagen’s ‘onion’ model of reflection (e.g. 2004). The framework of this research consists of reflection and personal practical theories (PPTs). Personal practical theories are viewed as important for a teacher’s identity: they guide the teacher’s work, action, and reactions before, during, and after a teaching event. Reflecting on teaching, then again, has been one of the most significant issues and focus of numerous studies for several decades. This is a case study of six elementary school student teachers, who had constructed their PPTs before the practicum. We examined their reflections using the onion model of reflection, according to which a person reflects on different levels. The data were collected by interviewing the student teachers after their final practicum. The results show that most of their reflection focused on Environment and Behaviour, so it was located mostly in the outer layers of the onion model. The categorization of the reflection also showed that Competence was the smallest category.     

A person‐centred approach to investigate the development trajectories of job‐related affective well‐being: A 10‐year follow‐up study

The primary aim of this three‐wave 10‐year follow‐up study was to investigate the intra‐individual change trajectories of job‐related affective well‐being among Finnish managers (n= 402). Job‐related affective well‐being as indicated by anxiety, depression, comfort, and enthusiasm was measured in 1996, 1999, and 2006. The characteristics of the trajectories were sought from experienced career disruptions (i.e., periods of unemployment or lay‐offs) and perceived job insecurity. The growth mixture modelling (GMM) revealed altogether three latent trajectories that differed from each other in their mean levels and regard to changes in job‐related affective well‐being over time: (1) high and improving well‐being (n= 347), (2) decreased well‐being (n= 32), and (3) low and improving well‐being (n= 23). The associations between job‐related affective well‐being trajectories and career disruptions depended upon the timing of the career disruptions. In addition, perceived job insecurity is associated with concurrently decreased occupational well‐being. Overall, the results highlighted both typical and untypical development trajectories of job‐related affective well‐being and related career characteristics.     

A new measure for dispositional optimism and pessimism in young children

We describe here a new test for dispositional optimism and pessimism in young children, the Parent‐rated Life Orientation Test of children (the PLOT) and assess its psychometric properties. Two hundred and twenty one mother–father pairs rated their children's (mean age = 8.1, SD = 0.3 years) dispositional optimism and pessimism using a new scale, the PLOT, including four optimism and four pessimism items. We associated the PLOT with parent‐rated self‐esteem (Behavioral Rating Scale of Presented Self‐Esteem in Young Children), social competence (Social Competence and Behaviour Evaluation Scale, the SCBE‐30), psychiatric symptoms (Child Behaviour Checklist, the CBCL) and temperament (Children's Behaviour Questionnaire, the CBQ) of the child. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the mother‐ and father‐rated PLOT revealed a significantly better fit for a two‐ over a one‐factor solution (p < 0.001). The optimism and pessimism subscales displayed good reliabilities, inter‐parental agreement and modest to moderate associations, in the expected direction, with the measures of self‐esteem, social competence, temperament and behaviour problems. To conclude, the PLOT shows good construct and convergent validity and reliability. The findings encourage its use to assess early emerging generalized expectancies of positive and negative outcomes in young children. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stressed parents: a dyadic perspective on perceived infant temperament

The study employed the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) to test whether one parent's experiences of recent life events as more stressful (the PSS) are associated with the same parent's own (the actor effect) and the other parent's (the partner effect) perceptions of the infant temperament as more negatively and/or less positively tuned (the IBQ; n=584 parents, 292 dyads). The results indicated that the more stress one parent reported the more negatively tuned were the same parent's own, and the other parent's perceptions of the infant. Perceptions of the infant temperament were least positive for members of parent dyads who were more, relative to less, similar in the experienced stress. The associations were independent of the parent gender and the parent‐reported level of trait anxiety. The findings augment prior knowledge on the factors that steer parental perceptions, and suggest that the dyadic perspective may offer valuable insight into the dynamics of interacting within a family consisting of two biological parents and an infant. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Young managers’ drive to thrive: A personal work goal approach to burnout and work engagement

This study approaches young managers’ occupational well-being through their work-related goal pursuit. The main aim was to identify content categories of personal work goals and investigate their associations with background factors, goal appraisals, burnout, and work engagement. The questionnaire data consisted of 747 young Finnish managers (23-35 years; M = 31 years) who were mostly men (85.5%). Seven work-related content categories were found on the basis of qualitative data analysis: (1) competence goals (30.5%), (2) progression goals (23.7%), (3) well-being goals (15.2%), (4) job change goals (13.7%), (5) job security goals (7.4%), (6) organizational goals (5.6%), and (7) financial goals (3.9%). ANCOVA analyses, where goal appraisals and significant background factors were controlled for, indicated that organizational goals were related to low burnout and the highest level of work engagement, whereas well-being and job change goals were related to higher burnout and lower work engagement. The study shows that the contents of young managers’ work-related goals can contribute to the understanding of individual differences in occupational well-being.     

Mother‐child interaction is associated with neurocognitive outcome in extremely low gestational age children

Early mother‐child interaction is one of the factors suggested to have an impact on neurocognitive development of extremely low gestational age (ELGA) children. Our aim was to examine associations of mother‐child interaction with neurocognitive outcome, neurological impairments and neonatal brain injuries in ELGA children. A prospective study of 48 ELGA children, born before 28 gestational weeks (26.3 ± 1.2 weeks, birth weight 876 g ± 194 g), and 16 term controls. Brain MRI was performed at term‐equivalent age. At two years of corrected age, the mother‐child interaction was assessed in a structured play situation using the Erickson Scales and Mutually Responsive Orientation Scales. Neurocognitive outcome was assessed with Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales (GMDS) and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development ‐ Third Edition (BSID‐III) and with Hempel neurological examination. Among ELGA children, higher quality of dyadic relationship and maternal sensitivity, responsiveness, and supportiveness were associated with positive neurocognitive outcome measured both with GMDS and BSID‐III (adjusted p < 0.05). This association remained after adjusting for mother's educational level. Neurological impairments at two years, white matter or gray matter abnormalities in MRI at term‐equivalent age, and grade III‐IV intraventricular hemorrhage during the neonatal period were not associated with mother‐child interaction. This study emphasizes the importance of the quality of mother‐child interaction after extremely preterm birth for neurocognitive development. Neonatal brain injury and neurological impairments were not associated with worse parent‐child interaction after two years.     

Insecure adult attachment style and depressive symptoms: Implications for parental perceptions of infant temperament

The current study tested associations between parental depressive symptoms, adult attachment styles, and perceptions of infant temperament among 319 mother–infant and 173 father–infant dyads. Depressive symptoms and insecure attachment style among the mothers and/or fathers were associated with perceptions of the infant as temperamentally more negatively and/or less positively tuned. Multivariate analyses of depressive symptoms and attachment styles with perceived temperament suggest that depressive symptoms and perceived temperament remain significantly associated, while the associations between attachment styles and perceived temperament, in most instances, were reduced to nonsignificance. We also tested whether secure attachment among the parents buffered any negatively and/or positively tuned depression‐related perceptions, but found no supporting evidence. Even though the study results await replication in longitudinal designs, they nevertheless underline the significance of parental depressive information processing in the perceiving of infant temperament. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Depressed youth: treatment outcome and changes in family functioning in individual and family therapy

This study explores the role of family functioning in therapeutic change in focused individual psychodynamic psychotherapy (FIPP) and time‐limited systems integrative family therapy (SIFT) for depressed children and adolescents. After a screening process, 72 participants aged 8 to 15 were randomized to either FIPP or time‐limited SIFT. Assessments took place prior to, at the end of, and 6 months after treatment. Families in both SIFT and FIPP showed a small but significant and sustained improvement in family functioning by the end of treatment in both mothers' self‐reports and family therapists' assessments. Better family functioning at baseline in mothers' self‐reports and improved family functioning during SIFT, as assessed by family therapists, predicted a sustained decrease in self‐reported depressive symptoms. Results indicated that time‐limited SIFT may be more effective with younger children and in patients without a diagnosis of double depression than adolescents.