A comparison of cognitive-behavioral therapy and relaxation training for the treatment of depression in adolescents.

30 moderately depressed high school students were randomly assigned to either cognitive-behavioral treatment, relaxation training, or a wait-list control condition. Treatment Ss met in small groups for 10 50-min sessions over 5 wks in a high school setting. Outcome measures included a modified Beck Depression Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The cognitive-behavioral and relaxation training groups were superior to the wait-list control group in the reduction of depressive symptoms at both posttest and 5-wk follow-up assessments. There was no significant difference between active treatments in their effectiveness for reducing depression. Ss in the cognitive-behavioral and relaxation training conditions went from moderate levels of depression at pretest to nondepressed levels at posttest, and they maintained these levels at follow-up. Improvements in anxiety and academic self-concept were also demonstrated by the active treatments. Findings demonstrate that these short-term group-administered therapies are effective in significantly decreasing depression in adolescents. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of assertion training on acceptance of disability by physically disabled university students.

This pilot study focused on the effects of assertion training on 14 physically disabled undergraduates' acceptance of disability. A pretest–posttest control group design was utilized. Ss were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a no-treatment control group. The hypotheses analyzed were that Ss given assertion training would show increases in Acceptance of Disability Scale scores, self-concept/esteem scores (Rathus Assertiveness Scale), and social interaction skills scores (Behavioral Observation Scale) when compared with individuals who did not experience assertion training. Significant results were obtained for all hypotheses indicating that the groups differed in acceptance of disability, self-concept, and social interaction. The study suggests that assertion training may be effective for increasing acceptance of disability in physically disabled students. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generalization from categorical memory tasks to prose by learning disabled adolescents.

Investigated how 60 learning disabled ([LD] aged 12 yrs to 14 yrs 5 mo) and 20 age-matched nondisabled (NLD) Ss would transfer the use of 4 study rules from instructed materials (pictures) to a prose recall task. Four phases spread over a 3-wk period were involved: pretest, informational phase (2 lessons), individualized training (3 lessons), and posttest. Results show that LDs performed poorly relative to NLD peers at pretest on categorical picture and prose recall tasks. 20 LD Ss who received rule-only instruction and 20 LD Ss who received rule-plus-prose examples instruction surpassed 20 LD Ss in the control condition at posttest on the picture task in rule use and in recall. On the prose task, a majority of the instructed LD Ss demonstrated transfer of the instructed rules. As a group, the instructed LD Ss no longer differed observably from NLD Ss in recall or in the strategies they employed to study and to retrieve. The clinical view that LD Ss are characterized by a failure to generalize was not supported by these findings. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pretesting effects in retrospective pretest-posttest designs.

Two studies evaluated communication skills training by using a pretest-posttest design, including retrospective pretest ratings, to control for response shift bias. A response shift is a change in a subject's internal standard for determining his or her level of functioning on a given dimension. In Exp 1, Ss were 37 hospital employees. Data indicated that the self-report pretest exerted a clear effect on subsequent self-report posttest and retrospective pretest ratings. Training was ineffective and a response shift did not occur. Experimental Ss could not remember and control Ss could remember their pretreatment ratings to a reasonable extent. In Exp 2, Ss were 58 3rd-year dental students. Results show that the training was effective. A behavioral pretest administered prior to the self-report pretest prevented a response shift from occurring. This finding gives empirical support to the contention that Ss' lack of sufficient information about their level of functioning at pretest may be a causal determinant of the response shift. Data also indicate that the retrospective pretest is robust for procedural differences in administering this instrument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a verbal mediation strategy on cognitive processes in mathematics learning.

Hypothesized that the use of verbal rhymes (the form of mnemonics used) would facilitate learning and recall of mathematics computations and problem solving among 100 Japanese 7th graders. A pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest crossover design was employed to control for contamination between experimental and control groups and potential school and teacher effects. Ss received mathematics instruction for 10 wks on monomials, polynomials, equations, inequalities, and problem solving. Experimental Ss were taught with the aid of verbal rhymes. Results show no pretest differences between groups, but significant differences favoring experimental Ss on both the immediate and delayed (2-wk) posttest. It is concluded that the hypothesis was supported. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of concept identification performance in older adults.

A sequential training procedure combining operant and cumulative learning hierarchy principles was found effective in reducing the decrement in concept identification performance typically observed in older adults. 20 male and 20 female Ss aged 63-83 yrs were given a pretest and posttest, each involving a 3-category unidimensional concept identification problem. The training and reinforced-training Ss were given 3 training sessions between pretest and posttest. Training involved a programmed learning sequence designed to facilitate the development of an effective solution strategy. Control Ss were given only the pretest and posttest, while practice Ss were given 3 additional practice sessions. Substantial improvement was found in both the training and reinforced training groups, but only slight improvement obtained in the practice and control groups. Results are consistent with recent conceptions of cognitive and intellectual development in the older adults in which performance deficits are largely attributed to experiential factors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancement of conjunctive concept attainment in older adults.

Studied 30 community-dwelling females (mean age, 71.4 yrs) to determine whether older adults' performance on a complex concept identification task could be enhanced through training designed to promote the use of a specific problem-solving strategy. Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 groups (training, practice, or control) and were tested individually on the pretest problem followed by the posttest problem 4 days later, with the relevant dimensions used in these problems counterbalanced. Ss were given detailed instructions on all facets of the task. Stimulus cards were presented one at a time, with as much time as needed for response. Ss in the control condition were given only the pre- and posttest problems. The training and practice groups all received 3 additional sessions. Statistical analysis on transformed trials to criterion showed significant main effects due to treatment. The substantially enhanced performance of the trained Ss indicates that a training procedure combining operant and cumulative learning hierarchy principles effectively promoted elderly Ss' use of an appropriate bidimensional conjunctive concept identification strategy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive strategies, experimenter modeling, and expectation in the attenuation of pain.

Obtained verbal reports of pain from 120 female undergraduates during a base-level pretest and also during a posttest conducted under 1 of several experimental treatments. The pain stimulus was a heavy weight applied to a finger for 2 min. During the posttest, Ss who had been asked to utilize cognitive strategies for reducing pain (i.e., to imagine pleasant events or to imagine the finger as insensitive) showed a reduction in pain as compared to uninstructed control Ss. Ss led to expect a reduction in pain, but not provided with cognitive strategies, also showed reduced pain during the posttest compared to controls, but the reduction was smaller than for Ss using cognitive strategies. An E modeling procedure, used with half of the Ss under each experimental treatment, was effective in reducing verbal reports of pain only for Ss with high pretest levels who were asked to imagine pleasant events. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contribution of pretesting to several measures of semantic desensitization effectiveness.

32 snake- or spider-phobic Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: pretest–posttest therapy, posttest-only therapy, pre–post control, or post-only control. Ss receiving semantic desensitization therapy showed less posttest anxiety on the semantic differential than controls regardless of testing condition. However, therapy Ss demonstrated less anxiety on a fear survey, a fear thermometer, and a behavioral approach test only in the pretest–posttest condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Group treatment with divorced women using cognitive-behavioral and supportive-insight methods.

Examined the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral and supportive-insight group therapy with 46 women (aged 23–36 yrs) who had been divorced between 8 mo and 1? yrs. 12 clients were assigned to the cognitive-behavioral group; 12 were assigned to a supportive-insight group; and 22 Ss were assigned to 2 control groups. Differences between pre- and posttest, and pretest and follow-up scores on measures of depression (Beck Depression Inventory, Lubin Depression Checklist), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory), and neuroticism (Eysenck Personality Inventory) were taken. When compared with the control groups on the posttest, both cognitive-behavioral and supportive-insight treatments were more effective on most criteria. At the 4-mo follow-up, cognitive-behavioral counseling continued to be beneficial, whereas the supportive-insight approach was consistently less effective. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence in children's reading behavior as a function of N length and attribution retraining.

In an investigation using 30 children (Grades 5-7) who were experiencing reading difficulties, procedures involving partial reinforcement and attribution retraining were assessed in terms of their relative effectiveness in developing reading persistence. Two levels of a partial reinforcement variable, termed N length (the number of successive failures prior to success), were factorially combined with the presence or absence of attribution retraining. A 5th condition received success-only training. These manipulations occurred in the context of a reading task presented on 3 successive days. A posttest measure of persistence revealed that the number of difficult sentences attempted by the Ss was increased jointly by both independent variables. However, Ss receiving success-only training or partial reinforcement with nonsuccessive failure (N lengths of 1), without the benefit of attribution retraining, did not show improvement from pretest to posttest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anabolic-androgenic steroids: Effects on social behavior and baseline heart rate.

Examined effects of anabolic androgenic steroids on behavior, baseline heart rate (HR), and stress-induced HR responses in 24 monkeys. Ss received 8 wks of im injections of testosterone and were assigned to 4 mixed social groups of both treated and sham control Ss. Testosterone disrupted the social milieu such that all dominant Ss exhibited increased submission. These changes returned to pretest levels 8 wks after termination of the drug intervention. Affiliative behaviors decreased for all Ss as a function of testosterone and, with the exception of play behavior, failed to return to pretest levels after the 8-wk recovery period. Testosterone increased baseline HR, particularly among dominant Ss; subordinate Ss treated with testosterone experienced a decrease in baseline HR from pre- to posttest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Forgiveness as a psychotherapeutic goal with elderly females.

A psychotherapeutic intervention with forgiveness as the goal was implemented with 24 elderly women (mean age 74.5 yrs). The client's goal was to forgive one person who had inflicted considerable psychological hurt, as judged by the client. The Ss were randomly assigned to a forgiveness condition and a control group. The forgiveness group followed a treatment model based on R. D. Enright et al (1991). Dependent variables included 2 forgiveness scales, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories, Beck Depression Inventory, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Following the 8-wk intervention, the experimental group showed significantly higher forgiveness profiles at posttest compared with the control group. Both groups significantly decreased from pretest to posttest on psychological depression and trait anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving memory performance in the aged through mnemonic training: A meta-analytic study.

The effectiveness of memory training for the elderly was examined through a meta-analysis of pre- to posttest gains on episodic memory tasks in healthy Ss (aged 60+ yrs). Pre- to posttest gains were found to be significantly larger in training groups (0.73 SD, k?=?49) than in both control (0.38 SD, k?=?10) and placebo (0.37 SD, k?=?8) groups. Treatment gains in training groups were negatively affected by age of participants and duration of training sessions and positively affected by group treatment, pretraining, and memory-related interventions. No differences in treatment gain were obtained as a function of type of mnemonic taught nor the kind of pretraining used. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of widows' groups in facilitating change.

70 32–74 yr old urban widows participated in 1 of 3 group treatments for a 7-wk period or a waiting list control group. Two therapists each led a self-help group, a "confidant" group, and a women's consciousness–raising group. Personality, attitude, and behavioral measures were obtained at pretest, posttest, and 14-wk follow-up. At posttest, Ss in all conditions had significantly higher self-esteem, experienced a significant increase in intensity of grief, and espoused significantly more negative attitudes toward remarriage. Experimental Ss showed significant improvement in their ratings of future health and became significantly less other-oriented in their attitudes toward women relative to the controls. The therapist variable produced few differences in response to treatment. At follow-up, treatment gains were maintained. Life changes were significantly more positive in the consciousness-raising groups, and posttest evaluations of the program by these Ss were significantly higher. All treatments resulted in high rates of contact among participants in the group. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persistence and the causal perception of failure: Modifying cognitive attributions.

In a 2-phase study with a total of 159 6th graders, the relation of persistence behavior to the causal perception of failure was examined. Ss were administered a battery of tests, including the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale, a modified version of the Perceptual Reasoning Test, and a circle design task. Results of Phase 1 show that temporal persistence and resistance to extinction were positively related to the attribution of failure to insufficient effort and negatively related to attributions to ability and task difficulty by both males and females. In Phase 2, the males who least frequently attributed failure to lack of effort (42 Ss) were randomly allocated to a control group or a social reinforcement group or a token plus social reinforcement attribution retraining group. At immediate and delayed posttests, experimental Ss attributed success and failure on the training task and 2 independent transfer tasks to effort significantly more than did controls. A significant increase from pretest levels on both persistence indexes paralleled the attributional change of experimental Ss. No difference was evident in the effectiveness of the 2 experimental treatments. Despite some attenuation on the transfer tasks, there was evidence of durability of training effects, and generalization of effects to an independent tester at a further 4-mo follow-up posttest. Results provide support for the attribution model of achievement motivation and provide an empirical foundation for the rationale of attribution retraining programs. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assertion training with handicapped persons.

Investigated the effects of assertion training in 9 handicapped college students and 5 handicapped discharged rehabilitative medicare outpatients. Ss were matched on self-reported assertiveness and were assigned to 1 of 2 groups: (a) treatment Ss who received assertion training, and (b) waiting-list-control Ss who received no treatment for 5 wks and then received assertion training. Behavioral role playing, self-report, and activity budget pre- and posttest measures revealed that assertion-training Ss reported significantly greater gains in assertive behavior and showed greater improvement in performance on 7 criterion measures than did control Ss. 18 criterion measures did not show any differences between treatment and control groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do alphabet letters help prereaders acquire phonemic segmentation skill?

Tested the assumptions that phonemic segmentation skill is learned best in the oral mode and that teaching segmentation with alphabet letters confuses learners. Three treatment groups of 8 prereaders (mean age 67.8 mo) were formed. The letter group was taught to segment nonword blends using letter tokens. The nonletter group was taught to segment blends with tokens lacking letters. A control group received no training. Experimental groups took about the same time and number of trials to reach criterion during training, indicating that neither method was more difficult or time consuming. Errors indicated that letters helped Ss learn to distinguish phoneme-size units and to remember the correct sounds during the task. On a segmentation posttest, letter and nonletter Ss segmented unpracticed blends better than controls, indicating that both groups acquired general segmentation skill. Letter Ss were superior to nonletter Ss in segmenting practiced sounds, with both groups surpassing controls. It is suggested that letters provide learners with a mental symbol system for representing and thinking about specific phonemes. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowing and telling: Type of rule and level of knowledge about messages in children's use of self-regulative communication training.

23 1st- and 2nd-graders were assigned to 3 training groups: a practice control group, a comparison rule-only group, and a 2-rule group that received training on both a comparison rule and a rule that required the Ss to identify the listener's set of potential nonreferents. Ss were trained on a complex picture message task and tested for generalization of speaker training on another referential task; knowledge about message ambiguity in communication situations was measured pretest. Results show significant training effects on immediate and delayed (10 days later) posttest only for the 2-rule group; some generalization of training was observed for this group to a novel task. Training and generalization effects were correlated with the Ss' initial knowledge about the role of messages in communication. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of desensitization treatment on core-condition training.

Tested the prediction that training for helping skills when paired with desensitization treatment will improve significantly the posttest ratings of the trainee's helping function. 2 groups of 9 male and 7 female adult trainees each were matched systematically and trained over a 6-wk period to function in a helping role. Ss received preliminary training in empathy, respect, concreteness, and genuineness. Following preliminary training, the experimental group received 1 wk. of desensitization treatment; the control group did not. Both the control and experimental Ss proceeded to a 6-wk advanced training in empathy, respect, concreteness, and genuineness. Results of pre- and posttest ratings on measures of helping skills in the preliminary and advanced training indicate a significant training effect was obtained for both groups. Desensitization treatment was a significant source of variance for the experimental Ss in training (p