P300 delay and attenuation in schizophrenia: reversal by neuroleptic medication

PURPOSE: To examine parental influences on two transitions in the adolescent smoking uptake process: from never having smoked to experimentation and from experimentation to established smoking. METHODS: Using data from the longitudinal Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey of 1989-1993, we related perceived parental concern about their adolescents' future smoking, parental smoking status, problem-solving communication between parent and adolescent, demographics, and other factors at baseline to experimentation by follow-up among those who had never puffed on a cigarette (n = 4149). We also related these factors at baseline to reaching a lifetime level of smoking of at least 100 cigarettes by follow up among those who had experimented but smoked < 100 cigarettes (n = 2684) in univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Among never-smokers, baseline susceptibility to smoking and having male best friends who smoke predicted experimentation in the next 4 years. Among experimenters, susceptibility to smoking, having male or female best friends who smoked, and lack of parental concern about future smoking distinguished those who progressed to established smoking by follow-up. Furthermore, communicating with parents first about serious problems was protective against progression from experimentation to established smoking. CONCLUSION: Interventions aimed at reducing adolescent smoking should encourage cessation for parents who smoke and help parents communicate strong anti-smoking norms to children and adolescents and maintain strong lines of communication with them.     

Do interactions between personality and social-environmental factors explain smoking development in adolescence?

This study examined if the effects of peer smoking, family smoking, and parenting on smoking development during adolescence are moderated by personality characteristics of adolescents. Longitudinal data were obtained from 428 adolescents (aged M = 13.4, SD = .50) and their parents. Latent Growth Curve models assessed the development of smoking as a function of predictors and if effects of smoking-specific parenting and exposure to smoking were moderated by adolescents’ Big Five personality dimensions. Findings revealed that having peers who smoked was associated with an increased likelihood of being a smoker at baseline. Further, significant interactions revealed that adolescents lower in agreeableness were more likely to be a smoker at baseline if they had an older sibling who smoked or if their parents engaged in frequent smoking-related discussions with them and that effective smoking-specific conversation was more strongly related to smoking at baseline among adolescents who were highly emotionally stable. No interactions predicted growth in smoking over time yet significant main effects showed that growth in smoking was associated with higher levels of extraversion, lower levels of emotional stability, and less effective parental smoking-specific communication. This study highlights the relevance of personality-target interventions and policy programs directed at parents and peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood variability and cigarette smoking escalation among adolescents.

The current study examined how affect dysregulation, as indexed via within-person negative mood variability, related to longitudinal patterns of smoking among adolescents. Students in the 8th and 10th grades (N = 517, 56% girls) provided data on cigarette use at baseline, 6-, and 12-month waves and provided ecological momentary assessments of negative moods via palmtop computers for 1 week at each wave. Mood variability was examined via the intraindividual standard deviations of negative mood reports at each wave. As predicted, high levels of negative mood variability at baseline significantly differentiated participants who escalated in their smoking behavior over time from participants who never progressed beyond low levels of experimentation during the course of the study. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that participants who escalated in their smoking experienced a reduction in mood variability as smoking increased, whereas participants with consistently high or low levels of cigarette use had more stable mood variability levels. Results suggest that high negative mood variability is a risk factor for future smoking escalation and that mood-stabilizing effects may reinforce and maintain daily cigarette use among youths. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of depressed mood on smoking cessation: Mediation by postcessation self-efficacy.

This study evaluated the relationship between precessation depressed mood and smoking abstinence and assessed the mediation of this effect by postcessation self-efficacy, urges to smoke, nicotine withdrawal, and coping behavior. The sample included 121 smokers previously treated in a randomized controlled trial involving behavior therapy and the nicotine patch. The results showed that precessation depressed mood was inversely related to 6-month abstinence. This effect remained significant after controlling for treatment, possible depression history, baseline smoking rates, and several other demographic factors. Postcessation self-efficacy, at the 2-, 4-, and 8-week postquit assessments, was the strongest mediator of the effects of precessation depressed mood on abstinence, accounting for 32%, 38%, and 48% of the effect of mood on abstinence, respectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family Functioning and Children's Adjustment: Associations Among Parents' Depressed Mood, Marital Hostility, Parent-Child Hostility, and Children's Adjustment.

Relations between parents' depressed mood, marital conflict, parent-child hostility, and children's adjustment were examined in a community sample of 136 ten-year-olds and their parents. Videotaped observational and self-report data were used to examine these relations in path analyses. A proposed model was tested in which mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and marital hostility were associated with children's adjustment problems through disruptions in parent-child relationships. Results showed that both mothers' and fathers' marital hostility were linked to parent-child hostility, which in turn was linked to children's internalizing problems. Fathers' depressed mood was linked to children's internalizing problems indirectly through father-child hostility. Fathers' depressed mood was directly linked to children's externalizing problems and indirectly linked through father-child hostility. For mothers, marital hostility was directly linked to children's externalizing problems, and marital hostility in fathers was indirectly linked to children's externalizing problems through father-child hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain metastasis model in athymic nude mice using a novel MUC1-secreting human breast-cancer cell line, MA11

OBJECTIVES: This study explored parental attitudes about their interactions with their children's providers when decision making involved critical life situations. We evaluated parents' attitudes regarding the following questions: What was the parents' understanding of their children's health care issues, and what was the parental perception of the professionals' understanding of their children and of themselves? Who should be the principal decision makers for the children? What was the parents' knowledge about advance directives? Did parents want to participate in a process of advance planning to assist with critical life decision making for their children? METHODS: We surveyed all parents attending a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for parents of children with special needs. The questionnaire was provided to all parents attending the conference. An announcement was made at the conference requesting parental participation. The 76 respondents constitute a convenience sample of parents of children with special needs sufficient for this preliminary stage of investigation. RESULTS: Of 177 parents attending the conference, 76 (43%) completed the questionnaire. Eighty-eight percent of the participants strongly agreed that they understood their children's conditions. Twenty-one percent stated that they had sufficient understanding of their children's future medical needs, and 21% thought that they had a sufficient understanding of their children's developmental potential. Ninety-nine percent of parents strongly agreed that physicians should share information with parents no matter how serious or potentially upsetting. Ninety-four percent of those parents who thought that their children's physicians understood their own needs also thought that the physicians understood their children's needs. In contrast, only half (55%) of those parents who thought the physicians did not understand their needs thought the physicians understood their children's needs. Ninety-two percent of parents who thought that the physicians understood their needs agreed that the physicians would make the best decisions in crises versus 60% of those who did not think the physicians understood their needs. Seventy-four percent stated that they would consider written guidelines for their children that dealt with critical life situations. All parents who thought their children's conditions were not understood wanted written guidelines. Of those parents who had thought their children would not survive (15 parents), 94% wanted written guidelines. All seven parents who had been told their children would not survive wanted written guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Parents in this study were generally satisfied with care being provided to their children. Nevertheless, the results clearly suggest goals that could lead to improved capacity for parents and providers to make critical life decisions for and with children. First, physicians must understand the needs of parents to be able to make decisions that would be in the children's best interests. Second, parents should participate fully in critical life decisions for their children and should use written guidelines to assist with the process of these critical life decisions. Our findings strongly support the development of a longitudinal process, initiated early after the onset or discovery of illness and maintained longitudinally throughout the course of a child's illness, to help parents and providers work together in this vital area of health care to children.     

A prospective study of cigarette smoking initiation during college: Chinese and Korean American students.

Objective: The present study was a prospective investigation of baseline influences on initial smoking and transition to established smoking among college students who had not smoked prior to college. Design: Included were 267 participants in a longitudinal study of tobacco use. Students of Chinese (52%) or Korean (48%) descent were enrolled during their freshman year in college. Data for the present study were collected during four annual in-person interviews. Main outcome measures: (1) Initial use of a cigarette reflected having first smoked a cigarette (more than a puff) during college. (2) Established smoking was defined as having smoked at least 100 cigarettes. Results: Over the course of the study, 25% of baseline never-smokers tried their first cigarette, and 9% became established smokers. Overall, men were significantly more likely to experiment and progress to established smoking. Baseline alcohol and drug use, behavioral undercontrol, and parental smoking predicted smoking experimentation but not established smoking. Students of Korean ethnicity were more likely to become established smokers. However, acculturation was not a significant predictor of experimentation or established smoking after accounting for the effects of other predictors. Conclusion: These findings suggest a need for efforts to prevent smoking uptake among Asian American college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mood on mothers' evaluations of children's behavior.

Examined the effects of mood on mothers' evaluations of their children's behavior. Ss were 54 mothers and their 4- to 5-yr-old children. Families were randomly assigned to a depressed, positive, or neutral mood condition. Mothers evaluated their children's behavior after participating in a mood induction. Independent observers also evaluated children's behavior. Mothers in the positive mood condition evaluated their children's behavior as more favorable than did mothers in the depressed and neutral mood conditions. Mothers in the positive mood condition also evaluated their children's behavior as more favorable than did independent observers of the children's behavior. Evaluations provided by mothers in the depressed mood condition did not differ from those provided by mothers in the neutral mood condition or from those provided by independent observers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship among alcohol use, depression, smoking behavior, and motivation to quit smoking with hospitalized smokers.

Relationships among depression, alcohol use, and motivation to quit smoking were examined in a sample of 350 hospitalized smokers. Multivariate multiple regression and logistic regression analyses indicated that participants with depressed mood were more likely to have a history of problematic drinking. Participants with depressed mood and a history of problematic drinking were more likely to be nicotine dependent and anticipated greater difficulty refraining from smoking while hospitalized. Alcohol use in heavier amounts was associated with a decreased concern with negative aspects of smoking, whereas history of depression was associated with increased concern in that area. Finally, current drinking was associated with increased confidence in quitting in 1 month whereas depressed mood was associated with decreased confidence in quitting. Overall, depression and alcohol use had stronger associations with smoking-related variables than with smoking cessation motivation variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of susceptibility as a predictor of which adolescents take up smoking in the United States.

Smoking onset has 4 levels, with a "susceptibility" level preceding early experimentation. This study assessed the predictive validity of smoking susceptibility in a longitidinal study of a nationally representative sample of 4,500 adolescents who at baseline reported never having puffed on a cigarette. At follow-up 4 yrs later, 40% of the sample had experimented with smoking, and 8% had established a smoking habit. Baseline susceptibility to smoking, defined as the absence of a firm decision not to smoke, was a stronger independent predictor of experimentation than the presence of smokers among either family or the best friend network. However, susceptibility to smoking was not as important as exposure to smokers in distinguishing adolescents who progressed to established smoking from those who remained experimenters at follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial adjustment of adolescent children of a depressed, arthritic, or normal parent.

Examined the joint effects of having a parent with a psychological or physical disability and stressful life events on the mental health of 3 groups of adolescents: 16 adolescent children of a depressed parent, 16 adolescent children of a parent with rheumatoid arthritis, and 16 adolescent children of parents free from psychological or physical disability. Ss were asked to complete a battery of assessments, including the SCL-90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Family Environment Scale, and scales assessing life events and satisfaction with school. It was found that, in contrast to the normal group, Ss with arthritic parents reported lower self-esteem, whereas Ss with depressed parents reported lower self-esteem and more symptomatology. However, the 2 risk groups did not differ in terms of mental health or family and school adjustment. Both negative and positive life events were strongly related to poorer adjustment, but only for Ss with depressed and arthritic parents. There was a significant interaction effect of parental disability (depressed vs normal) and negative life events on symptomatology, with the Ss with depressed parents who experienced few negative life events reporting symptom levels equivalent to that of the normal group. Within-group analyses revealed that a positive familial social climate was related to better adjustment among all 3 groups: satisfactory school involvements were related to better adjustment among the depressed-parent and normal groups. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rumination and cigarette smoking: A bad combination for depressive outcomes?

Ruminative coping has been shown to heighten the risk and severity of depression. The authors hypothesized that ruminators who smoke would experience greater depressive symptoms than ruminators who do not. The rationale is that, by heightening attentional focus, nicotine may increase ruminators' ability to focus on negative thoughts, augmenting depressed mood. Participants (N = 145) self-reported smoking status, rumination, and current and lifetime depressive symptoms, including depressed mood. Results showed that rumination accounted for a larger amount of variance in current and past depressed mood and severity of lifetime depressive symptoms among smokers than nonsmokers. Noncorrelational, experimental research should directly test whether nicotine worsens depressed mood among ruminative smokers. Such evidence would be surprising because it would contradict the assumption that nicotine dispels negative moods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Siblings' differential experiences of marital conflict and differences in psychological adjustment.

The present study examined whether siblings experience marital conflict differently and whether such differences, if present, were associated with differences in their adjustment. Self-report data about marital conflict, children's depressed mood, behavioral conduct, and externalizing problems were obtained from 122 sibling pairs (mean ages = 10 and 12 years) and their parents. Results indicated that siblings were significantly different in exposure to and appraisals of marital conflict. Differences in siblings' exposure to marital conflict were significantly correlated with differences in their depressed mood, behavioral conduct, and externalizing problems. Differences in siblings' feelings of self-blame for marital conflict were significantly correlated with differences in their depressed mood and behavioral conduct. Children who experienced more marital conflict than their siblings had more adjustment problems than their siblings. These results highlight the importance of studying siblings' unique experiences of marital conflict to better understand its impact on children's adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responses to depressed individuals: Discrepancies between self-report and observer-rated behavior.

Examined the behavior, mood, and perceptions of 40 nondepressed female undergraduates (Ss) interacting with 20 depressed and 20 nondepressed female undergraduates (targets). Ss tried to get to know the targets and then completed questionnaires including the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Following the interaction, Ss who spoke with depressed targets did not differ from Ss who interacted with nondepressed targets with respect to either self-reported mood or willingness to engage in further contact with their partners. However, Ss who interacted with depressed targets smiled less often, demonstrated less arousal and pleasantness in their facial expressions, exhibited less positive and more negative content in their conversations, and made fewer statements of direct support to the targets. Depressed targets offered fewer statements of direct support to their partners and talked about more negative content in their interactions. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations of parental emotional expressivity with quality of Indonesian children's social functioning.

In Western societies, parental expression of positive emotion has been positively related to the quality of children's social functioning, whereas their expression of negative emotion has been negatively or inconsistently related. The relations of parental expressivity to 3rd-grade Indonesian children's dispositional regulation, socially appropriate behavior, popularity, and sympathy were examined. Parents, teachers, and peers reported on children's social functioning and regulation, and parents (mostly mothers) reported on their own expression of emotion in the family. Generally, parental expression of negative emotion was negatively related to the quality of children's social functioning, and regression analyses indicated that the relations of parental negative expressivity to children's popularity and externalizing behaviors might be indirect through their effects on children's regulation. Unexpectedly, parental expression of positive emotion was unrelated to children's social functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple trajectories of cigarette smoking and the intergenerational transmission of smoking: A multigenerational, longitudinal study of a midwestern community sample.

Objective: To investigate the relation between developmental phenotypes of parental smoking (trajectories of smoking from adolescence to adulthood) and the intergenerational transmission of smoking to their adolescent children. Design: A longitudinal, multigenerational study of a midwestern community sample followed individuals from adolescence into adulthood and was combined with Web-based assessment of participants' spouses and adolescent children. Mixture modeling identified multiple trajectories of smoking, and path analyses related these trajectories to adolescents' smoking (beyond both parents' current smoking). Potential mediations were parental education and adolescents' personality characteristics. Main Outcome Measure: The outcome measure was adolescent smoking. Results: A parent's smoking trajectory had a unique effect on their adolescent's smoking, beyond both parents' current smoking and the parent's educational attainment. However, although adolescents' personality characteristics were related both to adolescent smoking and to their parents' smoking, these characteristics could not explain the effects of the parent's smoking trajectory. Conclusion: Parents whose smoking had an early onset, steep acceleration, high levels of smoking, and persistence over time had the highest risk for intergenerational transmission of smoking to their adolescent children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of parental and peer attachments by women with mood disorders.

The relationship between perceptions of parental and peer attachments at various ages and adult mood disorders was examined in 156 women classified as having bipolar disorder or unipolar depression or as nonpsychiatric controls. Nonpsychiatric controls reported a decreased attachment to their parents over time, but they also reported an increased closeness to their mothers in adulthood following a distant adolescence. Never hospitalized, moderately depressed Ss showed a similar trend toward decreased relatedness, but moderately depressed Ss did not report reestablishment of a close relationship with their mothers after adolescence. Severely depressed and bipolar Ss reported little attachment to their mother at all ages. Bipolar Ss also reported little connectedness to their fathers throughout their lifespan and severely depressed women felt less attached than nonpsychiatric controls to peers during development. None of the psychiatric groups reported difficulties with parental overcontrol. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Point process analyses of variations in smoking rate by setting, mood, gender, and dependence.

The immediate emotional and situational antecedents of ad-libitum smoking are still not well understood. We reanalyzed data from ecological momentary assessment using novel point process analyses to assess how craving, mood, and social setting influence smoking rate, as well as to assess the moderating effects of gender and nicotine dependence. Smokers (N = 304) recorded craving, mood, and social setting using electronic diaries when smoking and at random nonsmoking times over 16 days of smoking. Point process analysis, which makes use of the known random sampling scheme for momentary variables, examined main effects of setting and interactions with gender and dependence. Increased craving was associated with higher rates of smoking, particularly among women. Negative affect was not associated with smoking rate, even in interaction with arousal, but restlessness was associated with substantially higher smoking rates. Women's smoking tended to be less affected by negative affect. Nicotine dependence had little moderating effect on situational influences. Smoking rates were higher when smokers were alone or with others who were smoking, and smoking restrictions reduced smoking rates. However, the presence of others who are smoking undermined the effects of restrictions. The more sensitive point process analyses confirmed earlier findings, including the surprising conclusion that negative affect by itself was not related to smoking rates. Contrary to hypothesis, men's and not women's smoking was influenced by negative affect. Both smoking restrictions and the presence of others who are not smoking suppress smoking, but the presence of others who are not smoking undermines the effects of restrictions. Point process analyses of ecological momentary assessment data can bring out even small influences on smoking rate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Movie exposure to smoking cues and adolescent smoking onset: A test for mediation through peer affiliations.

Objective: To determine whether the effect of movie exposure to smoking on adolescent smoking onset is mediated through increased affiliation with peers who smoke. Design: A longitudinal study was conducted with a sample of 5th- 8th graders; persons who were nonsmokers at the baseline assessment (N = 2,614) were followed up 18 months later. Movie exposure to smoking cues was assessed at baseline with a rigorous coding procedure. Main Outcome Measure: A school-based survey and follow-up telephone interview determined whether the participant smoked cigarettes. Results: Longitudinal structural modeling analysis indicated movie-smoking exposure was related to smoking onset both through an indirect effect involving increased affiliation with peer smokers and through a direct effect. The analysis controlled for demographics, parenting style, rebelliousness and sensation seeking, school performance, parental smoking, and sibling smoking; several of these variables also had mediated or direct effects to smoking onset. Conclusion: The effect of movie exposure on adolescent smoking onset is attributable in part to a social mechanism. Implications of media effects for prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depression, interpersonal standard setting, and judgments of self-efficacy.

Investigated the relationship between standard setting and judgments of self-efficacy in the domain of interpersonal functioning for depressed and nondepressed Ss. Consistent with a self-control model of depression, a large discrepancy between personal standards and judgments of personal efficacy for performance was postulated to be related to depression. Undergraduate students who scored above 13 on 2 administrations of the Beck Depression Inventory composed the depressed group. 39 depressed and 39 nondepressed students rated their minimal standards for adequate interpersonal performance, its importance to them, and their judgments of self-efficacy for the same tasks, using the Interpersonal Concerns Questionnaire. Depressed Ss showed a larger discrepancy between strength of interpersonal standards and strength of self-efficacy than did normal Ss. Depressed Ss expressed a lower strength of self-efficacy than did nondepressed Ss, but they did not differ on their interpersonal standards. Importance and the strength for standards are consistent with recent extensions of P. M. Lewinsohn's (1974) model of depression, which suggests that disruptions in self-evaluation are related to lowered judgments of self-efficacy for depressed Ss. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)