A cognitive approach to child abuse prevention.

This investigation tested the incremental utility of cognitive retraining as a component within a program designed to prevent child maltreatment. High-risk families (N=96) were randomly assigned to a control condition, home visitation modeled after the Healthy Start program (unenhanced home visitation), or home visitation that included a cognitive component (enhanced home visitation). Mothers were identified late during pregnancy or soon after birth, and their participation continued for 1 year. Lower levels of harsh parenting were found among mothers in the enhanced home visitation condition than among those in the unenhanced home visitation or control conditions. Prevalence of physical abuse (percentage of mothers who were abusive) during the first year was 26% in the control condition, 23% in the unenhanced home visitation condition, and 4% in the enhanced home visitation condition. Benefits were greatest in families that included a medically at-risk child. A linear pattern of benefits was found for child health; as program features were added, benefits for child health increased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Future directions in pediatric and clinical child psychology.

Examined future directions in pediatric and clinical child psychology, utilizing a "Delphi" survey of 80 experts. Experts were asked to identify future trends in research, training, and clinical service. Findings suggest considerable overlap for the two subspecialties. Differences were predominantly related to the characteristics of the settings within which the professionals practiced. Implications with regard to research, training, and clinical service are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical ambiguities in the practice of child clinical psychology.

This article presents results from a survey of ethical beliefs about practice dilemmas unique to clinical work with children and adolescents. Survey data suggest that identical practices are not always ethically equivalent, particularly when the developmental status of the client is varied. The survey also reveals widespread ambiguity about what constitutes ethical practice, as manifested both in individual uncertainty and in the absence of group consensus. Ethically guided clinical practice is presented as a far more complex undertaking than adherence to a single set of professional standards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Doctoral training issues in school and clinical child psychology.

Do clinical child and school psychologists feel that broadening their training to include aspects of other professional child psychology specialties would enable better service provision to their clients? Do they feel that children, adolescents, and families would be better served if the 2 specialties were merged? An exploratory questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 300 members of American Psychological Association (APA) Division 16 (School Psychology) and a random sample of 300 members from APA Division 12 (Clinical), Section 1 (Clinical Child). Implications from their responses for training of psychology health service providers to children and families are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a clinical child psychology training program.

Growing interest in clinical child psychology has led to concern for appropriate training for the field. An example is presented of a graduate-level specialty training program that is heavily based on a scientist–practitioner model, that integrates clinical and developmental psychology perspectives, and that responds to expanded roles for clinical child psychologists. Issues to be considered in the development of such a program are noted. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing and cognitive psychology.

Evaluates 4 major approaches to understanding mental abilities: cognitive correlates, which relate test performance to tasks believed to tap basic information-processing abilities; cognitive components, which construct cognitive process models of tasks from standard psychometric tests; cognitive training, which trains individuals in a particular skill and examines subsequent performance; and cognitive contents, which examine the differences in knowledge structures between experts and novices. The major implication of these approaches is that they can relate test performances to specific mental processes. Some newer trends in cognitive research that are potentially fruitful for testing are also discussed. The author concludes that the eventual supplementing of psychometric tests with theory-guided cognitive tasks will be a viable endeavor. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations and organization in cognitive psychology: A reply to Neisser.

Responds to comments by U. Neisser (see record 1984-30595-001) on the present author's (see record 1984-30581-001) study of the long-term retention of school-learned Spanish, in which it was found that Ss retained a portion of the acquired knowledge for long periods. It is suggested that both constructive and simple associative processes are involved in acquisition and retention and that retention is primarily determined by the "state" of the memory trace at the end of training rather than by conditions during the retention interval. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cognitive approach to child mistreatment prevention among medically at-risk infants.

The authors assessed the effectiveness of a home visitation program in enhancing the early parenting history of infants born at medical risk--a population that is at risk for mistreatment. A randomized clinical trial design was used to compare the effects of a cognitively based extension of the Healthy Start home visitation program (HV+) with a visitation condition that did not include this component (HV). In the HV+ condition, they observed (a) a lower use of corporal punishment, (b) greater safety maintenance in the home, and (c) fewer reported child injuries. The sample (N = 102) was primarily Latino; however, the effects of the intervention were not qualified by ethnicity, maternal education, or immigration status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compulsory schooling, child study, clinical psychology, and special education: Origins of school psychology.

The historical development of school psychology is discussed in the context of circumstances and individuals significant to its origins. The contributions of L. Witmer's clinical psychology and G. S. Hall's child study demonstrate how early forms of school psychology evolved from their conceptualizations. Even though the specialty did not achieve a stable national identity until the 2nd half of the 20th century, the provision of psychological services in schools is among the earliest fields of applied psychology and has distinct connections to Witmer and Hall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prolegomena to a Thomistic child psychology.

In this article, ideas from St. Thomas Aquinas's neo-Aristotelian philosophy pertaining to the nature of human existence are used to arrive at a metapsychological orientation to child psychology. Four primary characteristics were identified as being fundamental to a Thomistic perspective on child development: anthropological holism, vitalistic (i.e., incarnate and animated or “lived”) integrative development, inherent sociality, and tactile interpersonal relatedness. These characteristics served as guiding themes for the articulation of a succinct, coherent narrative describing the nature of a Thomistic child psychology. Developmental insights from the works of several psychologists (e.g., Alfred Adler, D. W. Winnicott, Ernest G. Schachtel) were used to assist in the creation of this narrative. Associated characteristics of a Thomistic perspective on child psychology and some remarks concerning the future development of such an approach are provided at the conclusion of this analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes: The importance of analytic approach.

J. Brooks-Gunn, W. J. Han, and J. Waldfogel (2002; see record 2002-17576-005) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN; 2000b; see record 2000-02736-015) came to different conclusions about the effects of maternal employment--although they were addressing similar questions using the same data set. Brooks-Gunn et al. concluded that maternal employment in infancy has a negative effect on children's cognitive abilities at age 3, whereas the ECCRN found that early nonmaternal care is not related to children's cognitive abilities in their first 3 years. The authors account for this difference by comparing 2 approaches to data analysis: a top-down testing of continuous variables (the approach used by the ECCRN, 2000b) and an a priori comparison approach that involves pairwise testing of specific dichotomous contrasts (the approach used by Brooks-Gunn et al., 2002). This comparison illustrates the critical importance of analytic approach. It also suggests that Brooks-Gunn et al.'s conclusion from this data set is overstated and should not be used on its own as the basis for practical or policy decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reading grade level of common measures in child and adolescent clinical psychology.

The purpose of this article is to provide easily accessible readability information for 49 parent- and 35 child- and adolescent-report measures commonly used by clinicians and researchers. There is a great deal of variability in reading ability required across measures. The majority of parent-report measures (65%) required reading ability above the 8th grade level. The average child-/adolescent-report measure required reading ability above the 6th grade level. Given the potential contribution of readability to a measure's reliability, validity, and overall utility, examining and accounting for readability should be a more common practice in test construction and administration (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the status of cognitive psychology.

Discusses the status of cognitive psychology (CP) based on previous research by the present author (see PA, Vols 69:6694 and 71:14115), R. Lachman et al (1979), and E. Tulving (1979). The present author's research confirms Tulving's point that considerable terminological confusion over concepts exists in CP literature, suggesting that CP has some way to go before it assumes the mantle of normal science. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An introduction to clinical psychology.

The student introduced to clinical psychology through this excellent revision of an established text would be well introduced indeed and he should be both impressed and attracted to further study. He certainly could conclude that clinical psychologists are concerned with many things, from myopia to ethics. He should gain assurance of finding a compatible role in the field whether he is attracted most by the opportunity to carry out research or to apply an art in the interest of humanity. He would, of course, be forewarned that the clinical psychologist is expected to burn both ends of the science-service candle, but it will be apparent to him from reading the text that his mentors often burn more brightly at one end than the other. Because of the diligence of the editors and the excellence of the authors, clinical psychology now has an even better introductory text than the good one it has had for the past six years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parentline: A demonstration program for graduate practicum training and community service in clinical child psychology.

Describes a telephone consultation service for parents with questions about their children's developmental, behavioral, and learning problems. First-year graduate students participate as staff after having completed an intensive 10-wk training program that provides a knowledge and skill base in assessment, empathic responding, child development, parenting techniques, and change theory. Staff members learn to propose interventions that include providing information, developing individualized management programs, or offering referral assistance. Community utilization of the program as well as the impact of this practicum training experience on graduate students' professional development are discussed. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychology of thinking before the cognitive revolution: Otto Selz on problems, schemas, and creativity.

Otto Selz has been hailed as one of the most important precursors of the cognitive revolution, yet surprisingly few studies of his work exist. He is often mentioned in the context of the Würzburg School of the psychology of thinking and sometimes in the context of Gestalt psychology. In this paper, it is argued that Selz’s emphasis on the role of problems and schemas in the direction of thought processes and creativity sets him apart from the program of the Würzburg School. On the other hand, by developing a theory of thinking that is exclusively at the intentional level, Selz also differs from psychologists that take physics as a model for psychology, such as the Gestalt psychology of Wolfgang K?hler. Special emphasis is given in this paper to Selz’s use of the concept of problem or task and the concept of the schema. It is further argued that the concept of the schema is the result of Selz’s adaptation of the theory of relations as developed by the philosopher Meinong. The paper begins with a sketch of Selz’s life that ended so tragically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A neuropsychological approach to school psychology.

Reviews advances in clinical neuropsychology and how they can be integrated into school psychology training and practice. Neuropsychological techniques, such as perinatal assessment, neuropsychological symptomatology, and the mental status examination, are evaluated in light of the school psychologist's role and function. Training models in neuropsychology are reviewed, with emphasis on school psychology training programs that offer specialization in neuropsychology. Future directions in pediatric/school neuropsychology are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Progress in psychology: 1903-1907.

Summarizes 5 annual reviews of psychological thought published between 1903 and 1907 by E. T. Buchner, editor of the Psychological Bulletin. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)