Prevention of sexual aggression: Sociocultural risk and protective factors.

Physiological, cognitive, affective, and developmental sociocultural risk factors for perpetrating sexual aggression are identified. Feminine and multicultural socialization may serve as protective factors against these risk factors because both forms of socialization emphasize empathy and sexuality in the context of committed relationships. It is proposed that feminist and multicultural education across the developmental span may constitute methods of reducing and preventing the development of sexually aggressive behavior. However, feminist and multicultural approaches may have limited impact without greater acceptance within societal power structures, including psychology. The authors call for psychologists interested in reducing sexually aggressive behavior to become better informed and experienced with feminist and multicultural approaches. They also suggest that it may be time for all persons in society to become competent in multiple domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of sensory factors in cognitive aging research.

Performance on complex, cognitive tasks often is sensitive to low-level sensory and perceptual factors. These relations are particularly important for cognitive aging researchers because aging is associated with a variety of changes in sensory and perceptual function. In this article, the author first selectively outlines some relations between task performance and sensory function. Next, the author summarizes age-related changes in visual function and the implications of these changes for task performance, using the digit-symbol subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test as an example. Then the author offers some reasons why age-related sensory decline may not be important to all cognitive tasks. Finally, several recommendations are offered for cognitive gerontologists who want to minimize the risk that the age differences they observe are sensory in nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology research on sexual (orientation) minority issues: Conceptual and methodological challenges and opportunities.

This lead article of the special issue discusses conceptual and methodological considerations in studying sexual minority issues, particularly in research conducted by counseling psychologists (including the work represented in this special issue). First, the overarching challenge of conceptualizing and defining sexual minority populations is described. Second, the importance and value of scholarship about sexual minority issues are highlighted. Third, challenges in sexual minority research are outlined, using the articles in this special issue for illustrative purposes, and suggestions are offered for consideration in future research. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which counseling psychologists are uniquely positioned to advance knowledge, practice, and social justice through research on sexual minority issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading level design: Conceptual and methodological issues in reading research.

Researchers have recently begun to use the reading level design, in which reading-disabled children are compared with younger normal children at the same level of reading achievement, in an attempt to overcome some of the interpretational problems in the field. The potential of this design for testing hypotheses is explored by using examples from current research, and a more general design is introduced that extends the utility of the design from studying reading disability to investigating normal or superior reading acquisition. Limitations and practical problems associated with this approach are discussed, and methodological issues in the implementation of reading level designs are considered in terms of the choice of a criterion of reading achievement for matching the groups, the question of whether groups should be matched on IQ, and the identification of subgroups of reading disabled children. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Outcome research on cognitive-behavioral marital therapy: Conceptual and methodological issues.

Comments on an article by P. M. Emmelkamp et al (see record 1989-16433-001) comparing communication skills training with cognitive therapy in treating distressed couples. Issues related to the scope and methods of cognitive-behavioral interventions are addressed, including development of assessment instruments, standardization of treatment, therapist training and expertise, and matching treatments to client needs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory and aging: Selected research directions and application issues.

Everyday memory failures and long-term memory changes are among the most empirically established, socially expected, personally disconcerting, and widely misinterpreted aspects of human aging. A large, sophisticated, and still growing theoretical research base on memory aging has accumulated over the last several decades. Following a brief summary of a broad swath of selected basic memory aging phenomena, we identify a small subset of relatively recent but well-researched topics that may hold promise for optimizing memory adaptation in late life. Linking research with potential application, we sketch key objectives for three potential directions of intervention in memory and aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy: Further issues in current evidence and future research.

The authors respond to the article by H. F. Coelho, P. H. Canter, and E. Ernst (2007) (see record 2007-19013-016), which reviewed the current status of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). First, they clarify the randomization procedures in the 2 main MBCT trials. Second, they report posttreatment and follow-up data to show that trial participants allocated to "treatment as usual" did not become worse. Third, they discuss which experimental designs are better for identification of the active component of treatment. Finally, they report reanalyses of the 2 main MBCT trials with multilevel modeling that corrected for intragroup correlations. These analyses reinforce the original findings: For patients with 3 or more previous episodes, MBCT significantly reduced the risk of a further episode of depression and significantly decreased mean scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck, C. H. Ward, M. Mendelson, J. Mock, & J. Erbaugh, 1961) after treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specialty designation in psychology: Conceptual issues.

Argues that specialties already exist in the discipline of Canadian psychology and that this subdivision of special knowledge base and skills is the sign of a healthy, maturing discipline. The advantages and disadvantages of establishing a specialty designation system in Canada are reviewed, and comparisons are made with the disciplines of law and medicine. It is concluded that if such a system is decided to be desirable, it should be national in scope and should employ a certification for advanced expertise, which recognizes extra qualification related to additional training, experience, and rigorous direct evaluation of competency. Such a system of specialty designation more closely approximates an excellence-based competency model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health screening and random recruitment for cognitive aging research.

A survey of 197 cognitive aging studies revealed infrequent use of structured health assessments and random recruitment. In this study, a health screening questionnaire developed to identify Ss with medical problems that might impair cognition was administered to 315 adults (aged 60+ yrs) who were recruited by random digit dialing. On the basis of self-reported medical problems, 35% of the Ss were excluded. Those excluded were older (p?p?p?p?     

Coping in context: Sociocultural determinants of responses to sexual harrassment.

The authors investigated coping responses to sexual harassment across 4 samples of working women from 3 cultures and 2 occupational classes. Complete-link cluster analyses provide preliminary support for D. E. Knapp, R. H. Faley, S. E. Ekeberg, and C. L. Z. Dubois's (1997) coping framework, suggesting that avoidance, denial, negotiation, advocacy seeking, and social coping are universal responses to sexual harassment. Further, L. F. Fitzgerald's (1990) internal-extemal dichotomy appears to capture higher order relationships among coping responses. In addition, regression analyses suggest that Turkish and Hispanic American women engage in more avoidance than Anglo American women, and Hispanic women also use more denial but less advocacy seeking. No differences emerged in social coping. The authors discuss these results in the context of coping theory, individualism-collectivism, power distance, and patriarchal gender norms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring parental attributions: Conceptual and methodological issues.

A selective review is offered of current issues and new developments in the measurement of parental attributions for social behavior. Attributions have alternatively been conceptualized as involving (a) memory-dependent knowledge structures (i.e., interpretive styles that are dependent on the parent's history) or (b) stimulus-dependent appraisal processes (i.e., interpretations that are dependent on information available in the immediate context). Consideration is given to the theoretical underpinnings of different types of attributional measures and the implicit models within attribution research (e.g., attributions as mediators, attributions as moderators). Finally, psychometric issues within different attributional approaches are discussed, including consideration of the factors that optimize or constrain the utility of different measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with health problems: Conceptual and methodological issues.

Reviews and critiques the recent literature on the study of coping and health problems. Although coping variables now figure prominently in various health psychology models, the coping literature continues to be plagued by a variety of methodological weaknesses. These include the questionable reliability and validity of available measures, a failure to address coping issues specific to medically-ill samples, and lack of attention to potential age and gender differences. These problems, which are reviewed and critically discussed, have seriously restricted the development of a systematic body of theory and empirical knowledge about coping and health problems. The discussion concludes with a review of some recent research attempting to overcome some methodological problems in the coping and health area. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: Review and hypothesis.

Cognitive aging reflects not only loss but also adaptation to loss. The adult brain is capable of plastic change, including change in cortical representation. This has been seen in association not only with frank lesions but also in healthy individuals as a function of experience and training. This review considers the potential for adult plasticity together with evidence of a relation in old age between regional cortical atrophy/shrinkage and increased activation in neuroimaging. Those cortical regions shown most consistently to shrink in adulthood--prefrontal and parietal cortices--are the same regions showing increased regional activation in aging. Combining several strands of behavioral and neuroimaging evidence, the author argues that functional plasticity alters the course of cognitive aging. The author advances the hypothesis that losses in regional brain integrity drive functional reorganization through changes in processing strategy and makes specific predictions from that hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformations in cognitive science: Implications and issues posed.

Cognitive science currently offers models of cognition that depart substantively from those of information processing models and classical artificial intelligence, while it embraces methods of inquiry that include case-based, ethnographic, and philosophical methods. To illustrate, five overlapping approaches that constitute departures from classical representational cognitive science are briefly discussed in this paper: dynamical cognition, situated cognition, embodied cognition, extended mind theory, and integrative cognition. Critical responses to these efforts from members of the self-proclaimed cognitive science orthodoxy are also summarized. The paper then discusses ethical and epistemological implications arising from the “new” cognitive science and from critical responses to it and considers the broader importance of this literature for theoretical and philosophical psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive therapy for depression: Conceptual issues and clinical efficacy.

Cognitive therapy has emerged as one of the most promising psychosocial interventions for the treatment of depression. It appears to be at least the equal of alternative interventions (including pharmacotherapy) with respect to acute treatment. In addition, there are indications that it may reduce risk of symptom return after treatment termination. Nonetheless, design limitations reduce the certainty with which such conclusions can be drawn. Furthermore, tests of its efficacy have largely been limited to nonbipolar outpatient (or subclinical) samples. At this time, cognitive therapy is best considered a promising, but as yet not adequately tested, intervention for the treatment of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual research use: Some problems.

Responds to L. Cohen's (see record 1986-04739-001) criticism of the present authors' (see record 1986-04773-001) article on research in the practice of community mental health by identifying problems with the notion of the conceptual use of research. It is suggested that, given that these are actual problems, studies such as that of the present authors are correct in focusing on the instrumental use of research rather than on conceptual research use. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical issues in cognitive remediation.

Describes cognitive remediation (CGR) as a rehabilitation intervention that gained momentum in the early 1970s when a group of investigators at New York University Medical Center began a series of systematic studies to examine the learning styles of brain-damaged patients and to determine if their cognitive deficits were amenable to treatment. Although CGR is widely applied to individuals with brain injury, insufficient large-scale research has been conducted supporting its efficacy. Several principles that underlie successful CGR are discussed. These include (1) the existence of a logical basis for the ordering of treatment, (2) generalization as the goal and outcome of CGR, (3) psychotherapy as a mediator of successful CGR, and (4) the need to modify existing methodologies to assess treatment efficacy. The use of single-case experimental designs is suggested as a means of expanding the literature on the utility of CGR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Process and outcome research in the treatment of adult victims of childhood sexual abuse: Methodological issues.

Distinguishes between process and outcome research, describes areas within process and outcome research that would be applicable to studying adult survivors of sexual abuse, and identifies methodological issues in these research areas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic physical illness and sexual behavior: Psychological issues.

States that the impact of chronic physical illness on sexual behavior is often overlooked in clinical care and research and that psychological adaptations of patients and their partners are often ignored as contributing to sexual difficulties. A model of sexual behavior and chronic illness must take into account the mutual feedback mechanisms between biological and psychological disease-related processes. Chronic physical illness threatens basic personal resources—sexual identity and self-esteem, personal control over body functions, intimacy, and generativity—that affect sexual behavior after diagnosis. Psychological processes of cognitive appraisal, emotional expression, and coping strategies that are triggered by chronic disease play a vital role in sexual adaptations. Psychologists have a critical role to play in assessments and interventions as well as in providing guidance for other professionals in more effectively and sensitively meeting the sexual needs of seriously ill persons. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)