Cognitive mediators of aggression in adolescent offenders: II. Intervention.

A 12-session intervention program, based on a model of social–cognitive development, was designed to remediate cognitive factors identified as correlates of aggression (R. G. Slaby and N. G. Guerra; see record 1989-01839-001). 120 male and female adolescents incarcerated for aggression offenses participated in either the cognitive mediation training program, an attention control group, or a no-treatment group. Compared with Ss in both control groups, Ss in the treatment group showed increased skills in solving social problems, decreased endorsement of beliefs supporting aggression, and decreased aggressive, impulsive, and inflexible behaviors, as rated by staff. Posttest aggression was directly related to change in cognitive factors. No group differences were detected for number of parole violators up to 24 months after release. The ways in which changes in cognitive skills and beliefs may mediate changes in aggressive behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relationship Between Automatic Thoughts and Negative Emotions in Children and Adolescents: A Test of the Cognitive Content-Specificity Hypothesis.

The aim of this study was to test the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis in children and adolescents aged 7-16 years. Participants consisted of a community sample of 200 youth and a clinical sample of 160 youth with anxiety, depressive, or disruptive behavior disorders. Participants completed several self-report measures assessing a wide range of negative beliefs and symptoms of internalizing and externalizing problems. Multivariate analyses examining the interrelationships between beliefs and noncognitive symptoms revealed that thoughts on loss or personal failure were the strongest predictors of depressive symptoms, thoughts on social threat were the strongest predictors of anxiety symptoms, and thoughts on hostility or revenge were the strongest predictors of aggression. Results showed clear evidence of cognitive-affective specificity across both internalizing and externalizing problems in youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescents' perceptions of process and specialty group therapy.

82 emotionally disturbed adolescents (mean age 16.4 yrs) living in a residential treatment center rated their perceptions of process and specialty group therapies. Ongoing process groups were rated as more helpful for relating to staff and peers, and specialty groups were considered more helpful for cognitive, social, and interpersonal skill development. Despite the findings that both types of group therapy were helpful in different ways, all Ss preferred to deal with their problems in individual therapy. These findings challenge the popular notion that adolescents prefer group therapy to individual psychotherapy, suggesting a need to offer both individual and group therapies to optimize treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social maladjustment and problem solving in school-aged children.

Examined the relationship between social adjustment and the cognitive skills of solving interpersonal problems. 68 popular, aggressive, or isolated boys at 2 grade levels (2nd–3rd and 4th–5th) were presented with 6 hypothetical problem situations and asked to generate alternative solutions to the problems. Ss were subsequently asked to evaluate the effectiveness of solutions presented to them by the experimenter. It was found that the popular Ss generated more solutions than either the aggressive or isolated groups, which did not differ. The initial solutions of all groups were rated as "effective," in most cases, by independent coders. Subsequent solutions, however, varied as a function of S status. Popular Ss continued to generate effective solutions, whereas deviant Ss generated aggressive and ineffective solutions. No differences among S groups were found in the evaluations of the effectiveness of given solutions. Data support the notion that deviant boys are deficient in the cognitive problem-solving skills of generating alternative solutions but are not deficient in the evaluation of presented solutions. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital and severe parent-to-adolescent physical aggression in clinic-referred families: Mother and adolescent reports on co-occurence and links to child behavior problems.

This study examined the interplay of marital and severe parental physical aggression, and their links to child behavior problems, in 232 families of clinic-referred adolescents. Combined reports from mothers and adolescents indicated that two thirds of adolescents exposed to marital aggression in the past year had also experienced parental aggression. Mothers and fathers who used and/or were victims of marital aggression were both more likely to direct aggression toward their adolescent. Mother and youth reports of marital aggression were tied to each party's report of greater externalizing problems and to youth reports of greater internalizing problems. Severe parental aggression uniquely predicted maternal reports of both behavior problems, after controlling for marital aggression; the reverse was not true. Also, adolescents exposed to both types of family aggression did not display greater maladjustment than those subjected to only one type of family aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence.

People who hold strong opinions on complex social issues are likely to examine relevant empirical evidence in a biased manner. They are apt to accept "confirming" evidence at face value while subjecting "disconfirming" evidence to critical evaluation, and, as a result, draw undue support for their initial positions from mixed or random empirical findings. Thus, the result of exposing contending factions in a social dispute to an identical body of relevant empirical evidence may be not a narrowing of disagreement but rather an increase in polarization. To test these assumptions, 48 undergraduates supporting and opposing capital punishment were exposed to 2 purported studies, one seemingly confirming and one seemingly disconfirming their existing beliefs about the deterrent efficacy of the death penalty. As predicted, both proponents and opponents of capital punishment rated those results and procedures that confirmed their own beliefs to be the more convincing and probative ones, and they reported corresponding shifts in their beliefs as the various results and procedures were presented. The net effect of such evaluations and opinion shifts was the postulated increase in attitude polarization. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changing the way children "think" about aggression: Social-cognitive effects of a preventive intervention.

The study reports social-cognitive outcomes of interventions in a cluster-randomized school-based aggression prevention trial in low and moderate resource urban communities. Targeted social cognitions were aggressive responses, aggressive/prosocial fantasy, and normative beliefs supporting aggression. Participants were 1,484 early elementary school-age children selected for aggression above school medians. Schools received no treatment, curriculum plus teacher consultation (Level A), or Level A plus small-group training (Level B) over 2 years. The Level A condition changed the social cognitions supporting aggression in the desired direction but only in the moderate resource communities. The small-group component did not appear to add to the effect of the Level A condition. Findings suggest that early prevention can modify children's social cognitions in moderate resource communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control and efficacy as interdisciplinary bridges.

Control and efficacy are ideally suited as "bridges" or linking constructs for social scientists working at different levels of analysis. Control and efficacy depend on the fit between individuals and the social systems in which they are embedded, and control and efficacy have measurable effects on neurotransmitter levels and endocrine responses. This article presents an interdisciplinary perspective on control and efficacy. The authors survey the history of control-related constructs in psychology, from their roots in animal learning to the present cognitive focus on beliefs about control. They then point out connections "up" to the sociological level and "down" to the physiological level. They propose a taxonomy of 6 useful constructs organized into 3 perspectives: motivational, cognitive, and systemic. Such a multilevel, multidisciplinary approach may be particularly useful for approaching large real-world problems such as improving schools or neighborhoods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Straight talk about cognitive assessment and diversity.

Examines the issues surrounding alternative assessments for culturally diverse groups. The issues discussed include: (1) the criteria that distinguish alternative assessment from traditional assessment are considerably blurred; (2) the question of whether alternative assessments are more appropriate than traditional cognitive ability assessments. The author also discusses the "real" question behind these issues: to what extent can school psychology place confidence in the expectation that social problems have measurement solutions? The term "straight talk" is also defined in this article and used to articulate what is known surrounding the use of traditional and alternative cognitive assessments with culturally, ethnically, and racially diverse individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived control, effort, and academic performance: Interindividual, intraindividual, and multivariate time-series analyses.

A naturalistic study tested a model depicting how perceived control functions to regulate and interpret children's cognitive performances. Data, collected daily in the classroom over 4 mo, were organized around children's cognitive performances (graded assignments). For each homework and test, children provided information about effort, performance, attributions (effort, ability, concentration/help, task difficulty, and unknown causes), and expected control. The data formed a sequence of beliefs–performance–beliefs "loops" for each child. Although data at the interindividual level were consistent with the model, intraindividual data revised each link; furthermore, exploratory multivariate time-series analyses suggested that different models may best fit single Ss. Intraindividual implications included adding mediators to the model and designing interventions to fit individual children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental aggression and young children's representations of family relationships.

Children's maternal, self, and marital representations were examined in 46 children 3 1/2 to 7 years old using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. Children drawn from agencies serving battered women expressed fewer positive representations of their mothers and themselves, were more likely to portray interparental conflict as escalating, and were more avoidant and less coherent in their narratives about family interactions than children from a nonviolent community sample. Interparental aggression uniquely predicted representations of conflict escalation and avoidance after accounting for parent-child aggression, and the two types of aggression had additive effects in predicting positive maternal representations. The results suggest that witnessing aggression in the family affects children's developing beliefs about close relationships and may be a process by which these experiences give rise to later problems in social and emotional functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Boys with peer adjustment problems: Social cognitive processes.

30 4th-grade and 30 6th-grade males with positive (P) or negative (N) peer status were asked to generate alternative solutions to hypothetical problems, evaluate possible solutions, describe self-statements, and rate the likelihood of possible self-statements to investigate the hypothesis that maladjusted Ss (N peer status) would lack specific social cognitive skills. Hypothetical problems were presented in interviews that emphasized situations involving acts of aggression. Interviews were conducted in 2 parts, involving knowledge of interpersonal problem-solving strategies and attributional style assessment. Results indicate that N Ss generated fewer alternative solutions, proposed fewer assertive and mature solutions, generated more intense aggressive solutions, showed less adaptive planning, and evaluated physically aggressive responses more positively and positive responses more negatively than did P Ss. Data support the notion that boys with social adjustment problems are deficient in the cognitive problem-solving skill of generating multiple alternative solutions. Findings suggest that differences in knowledge and/or attitudes concerning normative social behavior may contribute to the more negative behavior patterns observed in socially maladjusted boys. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of interparental aggression on children's adjustment: The moderating role of cognitive appraisal and coping.

This research examined the relationship between interparental aggression and children's adjustment through an analysis of the moderating effects of children's cognitive appraisal and coping strategies. Participants were 80 children in Grades 6, 7, and 8 who completed measures of level of interparental aggression and of cognitive appraisal and coping strategies reported in response to parents' conflicts. Children's adjustment was based on self-report measures of self-worth, externalizing behavior, and depression. Results showed that more frequent and intense conflict was associated with greater adjustment problems for children. Problematic beliefs about interparental conflict and ineffective coping strategies were also related to greater maladjustment. Significant interaction effects suggest that perceived peer availability and the use of social supports may buffer the negative effects of marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Dating Relationships: Integrating Cognitive, Emotional, and Peer Influences.

This study investigated the ways in which exposure to interparental conflict may affect adolescent dating relationships in a sample of 391 adolescents ages 14 to 18 years. Boys exposed to greater parental discord were more likely to view aggression as justifiable in a romantic relationship, had more difficulty managing anger, and believed that aggressive behavior was more common in their peers' dating relationships. Each of these variables in turn linked witnessing interparental conflict to higher levels of verbal and physical aggression toward their own romantic partners. Interparental conflict was not related to girls' aggressive behavior. These data support the value of targeting cognitive and emotional processes in prevention programs designed to reduce dating violence and suggest that such programs will be strengthened by focusing on peer influences as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between exposure to violence and social information processing among incarcerated adolescents.

Combining evidence from social learning theory with reports of the association between community violence exposure and aggressive behavior development, the authors examined the link between specific characteristics of violence exposure and social information-processing mechanisms (N. R. Crick & K. A. Dodge, 1994; K. A. Dodge, 1980, 1986) in a sample of highly aggressive, incarcerated adolescent boys (N?=?110). Results demonstrated that victimization by severe violence was significantly related to approval of aggression as a social response, problems with the interpretation of social cues, and maladaptive social goals. Witnessing severe violence, in contrast, was related to perceived positive outcomes for the use of aggression. These data suggest the importance of examining the severity and modality of exposure to community violence for understanding patterns of social–cognitive functioning among adolescents exposed to violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children.

Examined 3 factors that were hypothesized to increase risk for aggression among urban children: economic disadvantage, stressful events, and individual beliefs. Ss were 1,935 African American, Hispanic, and White elementary-school boys and girls assessed over a 2-yr period. Individual poverty (INP) and aggression were only significant for the White Ss, with significant interactions between individual and community poverty for the other 2 ethnic groups. A linear structural model to predict aggression from the stress and beliefs variables, INP predicted stress for African American Ss and predicted beliefs supporting aggression for Hispanic Ss. For all ethnic groups, both stress and beliefs contributed significantly to the synchronous prediction of aggression, and for the Hispanic children, the longitudinal predictions were also significant. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for preventive interventions in multiethnic, inner-city communities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interparental conflict, children's social cognitions, and child aggression: A test of a mediational model.

Although correlations between interparental conflict and child maladjustment are well-established, the processes connecting these 2 phenomena are less understood. The present study tested whether an aggressogenic cognitive style mediates the relationship between interparental conflict and child aggression. A multiethnic sample of 115 families with a child between the ages of 7 and 13 years participated. Questionnaires were used to assess parents' and children's perceptions of interparental conflict, children's social problem-solving strategies and beliefs about aggression, and parent and teacher reports of child aggression. Support was found for the mediating effect of aggressogenic cognitions on children's school aggression but not on children's aggression at home. Implications for understanding the associations among interparental conflict, children's social cognitions, and child aggression in different environmental contexts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the Family Beliefs Inventory: A measure of unrealistic beliefs among parents and adolescents.

Evaluated the criterion-related validity of a family beliefs inventory that measures unreasonable beliefs regarding parent–adolescent relationships. The inventory and brief self-report measures of parent–adolescent communication and conflict were completed by 30 distressed and 30 nondistressed families, each with a 12–17 yr old target adolescent. Distressed families were defined as those in therapy for relationship problems and in which the adolescents had externalizing behavior disorders. Distressed fathers displayed more unreasonable beliefs concerning ruination, obedience, perfectionism, and malicious intent than nondistressed fathers. Distressed adolescents displayed more unreasonable beliefs concerning ruination, unfairness, and autonomy than nondistressed adolescents. There were no differences for mothers. Low-to-moderate relations were found between measures of beliefs, communication, and conflict. Results support the contribution of cognitive factors to parent–adolescent relationship problems and the validity of the family beliefs inventory. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What role do lay beliefs about hypertension etiology play in perceptions of medication effectiveness?

Background: Some people take the disease label "hypertension" literally; leading to the belief that increasing relaxation instead of medication is the best treatment for this condition. We experimentally tested the effect of such underlying beliefs on ratings of interventions for hypertension and compared alternative communication strategies to increase medication effectiveness ratings. Methods: Outpatients (N = 152) with a known diagnosis of hypertension read a vignette describing an asymptomatic condition and recommended treatment. Experimental factors were the disease label (Hypertension vs. Korotkoff's Syndrome) and type of argument designed to persuade the reader that medication is most effective (Causal vs. Correlational). Measures: Background measures included demographics, beliefs that stress causes health problems and trust in physicians. Outcomes were effectiveness ratings for interventions to treat the condition. Results: Participants who read a vignette describing "Hypertension" rated "relaxing more" as significantly more effective than participants exposed to the same condition but with the unfamiliar "Korotkoff's Syndrome" label, [F(1, 141) = 5.22, p = .024]. However, medication, reducing salty foods and losing weight were rated as more effective than relaxing more. Intervention ratings did not differ by type of argument presented. There was a significant interaction of disease label and trust in physicians [F(1, 125) = 7.01, p = .009]. Individuals with low trust rated medication as significantly less effective when exposed to an unfamiliar disease label. Conclusions: This study confirms the effect of the hypertension disease label on ratings of different interventions for the condition. However, participants rated biomedically recommended interventions as more effective than those not endorsed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)