Substance use escalation and substance use restraint among adolescent children of alcoholics.

Assessed the escalations in substance use over 3 yrs among 246 adolescent children of alcoholics (COAs) and 208 controls (aged 10.5–15.5 yrs). Older COAs showed the steepest escalations in drug use. Younger COAs whose fathers had continuing alcohol-related consequences showed the greatest escalations in alcohol use. Ss' beliefs about drinking restraint were related to their alcohol and drug use. Those whose alcoholic fathers had no continuing alcohol-related consequences showed the strongest relations between substance use and self-control reasons for limiting drinking, perceived risk for future drug problems, and seeing the negative effects of alcohol on someone else. These adolescents may be deterred from substance use escalations because of particular parental characteristics (e.g., mild forms of paternal alcoholism) or because of their beliefs about substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The preschool child witness: Errors in accounts of traumatic injury.

Because errors in recall are an important contributor to assessments of children's credibility as witnesses, the author explored children's errors when recounting details of trauma injuries that resulted in hospital Emergency Room treatment. 37 preschool aged children (aged 2–5 yrs) and 11 9-yr-olds (comparison Ss) were recruited in the emergency room and interviewed at home both within a few days of the injury and after 6 mo. Adult witnesses were also interviewed to corroborate children's accounts. Although 2-yr-old Ss made more errors than did older children, the information provided was accurate, even 6 mo after their injuries. The errors were not random; rather, information that was likely to be important in real-world cases was retained quite accurately, while some other categories of information (e.g., the 1st person to respond to their injury) were more error-prone. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-hypnosis as a facilitator of self-efficacy: A case example.

Presents a case example of a 20-yr-old female undergraduate who sought counseling when her widowed mother was remarrying. Her father had died suddenly 3 yrs previously. Self-hypnosis was used in a 4-session treatment to facilitate her mourning process. It is suggested that self-hypnosis (rather than enhancing imagery) increases self-efficacy. S's sense that she could perform behaviors that lead to desired outcomes increased by allowing her to choose scenes from her life to be explored through imagery. S imagined events around her father's death and "rewrote history" in an attempt to permit herself the direct expression of emotions. At a 3?-yr follow-up, S reported that the self-hypnosis was used to relax and that she had reentered therapy 6 mo before. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of divided attention on memory for items and their context.

Examined differences between item and context memory using divided attention at encoding and retrieval. Ss, in 3 experiments, were presented with word lists and were instructed to learn the items (i.e., words), the intrinsic context (i.e., the color of the cards on which each word was presented), and the extrinsic context (i.e., the temporal order of the words). In Exp 1 24 undergraduates (aged 20–32 yrs) participated in a digit-monitoring and memory tasks. In Exp 2 the authors examined the effect of divided attention at retrieval using 24 undergraduates (aged 18–29 yrs). In Exp 3 the authors examined memory performance when divided attention was employed at encoding on all lists, and attentional load was manipulated at retrieval using 24 undergraduates (aged 19–32 yrs). Among young adults, in comparison to conditions of full attention, divided attention applied at encoding only or retrieval only resulted in equally lower performance on all memory tasks; in contrast, divided attention applied at both encoding and retrieval resulted in lower performance only on memory for temporal order. The findings support the idea that memory for temporal order requires greater attentional resources and strategic processing than memory for items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and the effects of affective and factual focus on source monitoring and recall.

Pairs of young (aged 17–29 yrs) and elderly (aged 64–77 yrs) Ss participated in a short play and were then instructed to talk about factual or affective aspects of the play or to talk about the play without any particular focus suggested. In both the affective and control condition, older adults' ability to discriminate what they had said from what the other person had said was poorer than that of young adults. In contrast, when induced to focus on the factual content of the events, older Ss' source monitoring improved, and the age difference was reduced. The pattern was similar when Ss' ability to discriminate what they had said from what they had thought was examined. Furthermore, affective focus lowered the overall level of recall for both young and older Ss and led older Ss, in particular, to introduce more elaborations into their recall. The possibility that age differences in remembering content and source are related to type of focus is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical disability, physical attractiveness, and social outcomes in children's small groups.

Examined the sociometric status of children with obvious physical handicaps in an integrated (approximately 70% Black, 20% Puerto Rican, and 10% White) summer camp setting containing 61 girls (aged 7.5–14 yrs) and 60 boys (aged 7.75–14 yrs). 23% of Ss had obvious physical handicaps (e.g., spinal injuries, limb deformities), and 33% had some form of chronic illness or physical condition (e.g., sickle cell anemia, pulmonary insufficiency). Ss were interviewed during the 3rd wk of camp on questions concerning who they liked best in their groups and how they made friends. In addition, 12 male and 12 female children from neighboring camps were shown full-body photographs of all Ss and asked to rate them for attractiveness. Results indicate that handicapped Ss were less preferred as friends than their able-bodied peers. Physical attractiveness was also related to sociometric standing, as well as to the presence or absence of a physical handicap. An analysis of the relationship between physical attractiveness and social status for Ss alone indicated that these variables were significantly related for this group. Significant differences were found between obviously handicapped and able-bodied Ss on a knowledge-of-friend-making task; but among the latter group, role-play scores did not differentiate high- from low-status Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing intellectual performance of culturally different, Inuit children with the WISC--R.

Examined problems in the assessment of intelligence using standardized intelligence tests for 366 Canadian Inuit (Eskimo) children (aged 7 yrs to 14 yrs 11 mo), whose Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC—R) scores (using the original WISC—R norms) fell below a scaled score of 70. Data indicate that a major factor accounting for the Ss' relatively poor performance was a verbal comprehension factor, with perceptual organization being relatively stronger. It is suggested that tests (e.g., Wechsler), as originally normed are not adequate to assess the intellectual and academic capabilities of children who are socially, culturally, and linguistically different from the children on whom the test was originally normed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic age regression and the occurrence of transitional object relationships.

Object relations theory and subsequent empirical investigations have established the characteristic ways in which children aged 2–6 yrs utilize transitional objects (e.g., teddy bears or blankets). Three of these characteristics—spontaneity, specificity, and intensity—were used as the primary criteria to investigate the genuineness of hypnotic age regression when Ss were regressed to age 3 and placed in emotional situations typical of those reported clinically. Two groups of college students (16 highly susceptible, as "reals," and 15 low susceptible, as simulators; Ss were administered the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and a version of the Stanford Profile Scales of Hypnotic Susceptibility) behaved differentially on all 3 measures, with reals behaving in a generally more childlike manner, thus suggesting an effect attributable to the hypnotic condition. Further, the behavior of these Ss was compared to that of 77 children aged 1–6 yrs; reals and children were statistically indistinguishable on the 2 criteria on which they were compared, but simulators differed significantly from both groups. This pattern of results, along with real–simulator differences, suggests a more complete reproduction of an earlier affective process as a function of meaningful hypnotic age regression. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of cognitive function in community-dwelling and institutionalized old people of normal intelligence.

30 people (aged 70–88 yrs) living in the community and 44 institutionalized people (aged 71–89 yrs) were administered a neuropsychological cognitive test battery. Screening procedures ensured that Ss were equivalent in terms of health, age, education, and socioeconomic status (SES). A comparison of groups on a cognitive index derived from the test battery yielded a significant difference even when IQ as derived from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) was factored out. Of the 15 cognitive tests, 8 contributed to the group differences. All 8 tests are sensitive to medial-temporal lobe or frontal lobe damage. Results confirm earlier findings (e.g., G. Winocur et al; see record 1988-20729-001) that people who are functioning well in institutions may have significant cognitive impairment. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysical relation between perceived threat of AIDS and willingness to impose social restrictions.

15 young men (aged 18–28 yrs), 15 married women (aged 40–60 yrs), 15 female college students, and 12 male homosexuals (aged 23–44 yrs) rated and gave magnitude estimations for the amount of social restriction in 12 possibilities (e.g., quarantine) for controlling acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Results show that the relation between ratings and magnitude estimations was curvilinear, meaning that the high end of the rating scale could be masking large differences in magnitudes. Perceived threat to society increased as the estimated number of people with AIDS increased. The amount of social restriction imposed was a negatively accelerated growth function of increasing levels of threat. This negative acceleration was probably due to ethical considerations associated with more stringent methods of control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fan effects reveal position-specific numerical concepts.

Examined associative interference (i.e., fan) effects to determine if the numerical concepts mediating numerical fact retrieval can be position specific. 21 Ss (aged 17-22 yrs) memorized 15 "diamond arithmetic" facts (J. Whalen, 1997) involving five different operands. Ignoring operand position (i.e., left vs. right), each operand appeared equally often across items (i.e., position-independent fan was constant). In contrast, position-specific fan values varied across items (e.g., 2 appeared five times as the left operand, but once in the right position; 3 appeared four times as the left operand, and twice as the right operand, etc). Thus, a fan effect was expected only if the concepts activated by arithmetic operands are position specific. Results indicated that position-specific fan was an excellent predictor of trials to criterion, error rate, and latency. The concepts mediating number fact retrieval can be position specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical judgment in geropsychology practice.

418 clinical psychologists (aged 28–77 yrs) were mailed a clinical judgment survey containing a standard case history that varied according to age (46 or 72 yrs), class (working or middle), and gender of client. Clients were rated along Likert scales on dependent variables tapping attitudinal (e.g., "usefulness of intervention"), symptomatological (e.g, "disorientation"), and diagnostic dimensions. MANOVA analyses demonstrated that the 72-yr-old client elicited significantly more negative perceptions, including more "psychotic" diagnoses than the 46-yr-old client. Results provide evidence for ageism in the psychotherapy setting and treatment. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unwilling Versus Unable: Infants' Understanding of Intentional Action.

Infants experienced a female adult handing them toys. Sometimes, however, the transaction failed, either because the adult was in various ways unwilling to give the toy (e.g., she teased the child with it or played with it herself) or else because she was unable to give it (e.g., she accidentally dropped it). Infants at 9, 12, and 18 months of age reacted with more impatience (e.g., reaching, looking away) when the adult was unwilling to give them the toy than when she was simply unable to give it. Six-month-olds, in contrast, showed no evidence of this differentiation. Because infants' behavioral responses were appropriately adapted to different kinds of intentional actions, and because the adult's actions sometimes produced results that did not match her goal (when having accidents or failed attempts), these findings provide especially rich evidence that infants first begin to understand goal-directed action at around 9 months of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategy selection in causal reasoning: When beliefs and covariation collide.

Investigated how people combine covariation information with pre-existing beliefs when evaluating causal hypotheses. Ss were 752 college students (aged 17–52 yrs). Three experiments, using both within- and between-Ss designs, found that the use of covariation information and beliefs interacted, such that the effects of covariation were larger when people assessed hypotheses about believable than about unbelievable causal candidates. In Exp 2, this interaction was observed when Ss made judgments in stages (e.g., first evaluating covariation information about a causal candidate and then evaluating the believability of a candidate), as well as when the information was presented simultaneously. Exp 3 demonstrated that this pattern was also reflected in Ss' metacognitive judgments: Ss indicated that they weighed covariation information more heavily for believable than unbelievable candidates. Finally, Exps 1 and 2 demonstrated the presence of individual differences in the use of covariation- and belief-based views. That is, individuals who tended to base their causality judgments primarily on belief were less likely to make use of covariation information and vice versa. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in cued recall.

Examined the relative effectiveness of semantic and structural retrieval cues in 72 male college graduates of 3 age groups: Group 1 (aged 20–39 yrs), Group 2 (aged 40–59 yrs), and Group 3 (aged 60–80 yrs). The Ss had been administered 2 subtests of the WAIS to insure the compatibility of the Ss. Results of the recall tests show that there was significantly poorer recall by the older Ss in the noncued conditions (free recall) and in the cued condition when structural cues were used. When category labels were used as semantic cues, however, the age deficit in recall was eliminated. Results are discussed in terms of both a retrieval hypothesis and a processing-deficit hypothesis. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Like father, like son? Predicting male adolescents' adjustment from parents' distress and self-restraint.

Mothers' and fathers' own subjective distress and self-restraint when their sons were preadolescents were related to 14 measures of sons' outcomes 4 yrs later. A sample of 82 adolescent boys, including 55 from 2-parent families, participated. Consistent with expectations, the sons of fathers prone to low self-restraint uniformly had subsequent difficulties across domains, including poor academic achievement (e.g., low grades, truancy), poor peer relations (e.g., low emotional support and intimacy), at-risk behaviors (e.g., drug and alcohol use, multiple sexual partners, poor conflict resolution skills), and adjustment problems (e.g., symptoms of depression). In 2-parent families, the associations between mothers' adjustment and sons' outcomes became nonsignificant once differences in fathers' self-restraint were taken into account. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criterion measures for youth-work training programs: The development of relevant performance dimensions.

An empirical approach to criterion development was applied to outcome measures for work-training programs serving disadvantaged adolescents (mean age 17.9 yrs). Performance criteria at program completion ( n = 32) and 40 measures obtained 6 mo following training were factor analyzed to define their relevance within a dimensional structure. Four program completion (proximal) factors were readily interpretable (e.g., training program adjustment, work motivation, social-personal adjustment), as were 5 postprogram (distal) dimensions (e.g., job success and satisfaction, job search motivation). Relevance of the proximal criteria was also determined from their predictive relationships with the distal measures. Uses of the multidimensional aspects of a criterion domain as a basis for setting priorities in selecting criterion variables are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Screening for depression among women attending their family physicians.

In Study 1, 437 women (aged 18–65 yrs) who completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES–D) while visiting their family doctors and received a score of 10 or higher were interviewed. A cut-off score of 13 on the CES–D resulted in zero false negatives among Ss when a classification (i.e., depressed vs nondepressed), based on total CES–D scores, was compared with a classification of these Ss on the basis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) criteria. In Study 2, a screening instrument for depression was tested among 679 women (aged 18–65 yrs) attending their family doctors and whose score on the CES–D was 13 or higher. The screening instrument consisted of the CES–D items plus items measuring recent stressful life events and chronic difficulties, social supports, and personal and family history of psychiatric disorder. The inclusion of additional screening items did not meaningfully improve the detection of depressed Ss beyond the level provided by total scores on the CES–D. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibition de la symbolisation, fonction contenante et identification projective chez des enfants psychotiques et leurs professeurs.

Tested hypotheses derived from the psychoanalytic theory of the containing function which holds that psychotic children have an inhibition of the symbolic function and are therefore obliged to use someone else (e.g., a teacher) as a container to perform this function for them. Human Ss: 11 male Canadian school-aged children (aged 7–12 yrs) (special education students) (mixed psychotic disorders) (frequent psychotic crises) (target group). 11 male Canadian school-aged children (aged 7–22 yrs) (special education students) (mixed psychotic disorders) (infrequent psychotic crises) (control group). The main hypothesis was that failure of the containing function in the student–teacher relationship results in frequent psychotic crises. Target group Ss were paired with same-age control group Ss who had the same diagnosis and the same special education teacher. All Ss completed questionnaires and projective techniques assessing the symbolization function and alexithymia. Ss' teachers completed questionnaires, projective techniques, and interviews assessing their capacity for empathy, personal efficacy in relation to each S, and selected aspects of their relationship with each S (e.g., identification, splitting, projection, and idealization). Results from the target group and the control group were compared. Tests used: Several instruments, including the TAT and the Alexithymia Provoked Response Questionnaire (L. Brunet, 1993). (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of employment-related experiences on immigrants' psychological well-being and adaptation to Canada.

Examined the process of acculturation with a specific emphasis on the impact of economic integration on psychological well-being and adaptation. 110 Turkish immigrants (aged 20–70 yrs) living in Montreal were surveyed through questionnaires. Despite high educational attainments, two-thirds of the sample were either unemployed or underemployed. Inability to fully integrate into the labor force in the 1st 6 mo in Canada was attributed mainly to lack of competence in both official languages, difficulty in getting credentials and accreditations recognized in Canada, and lack of Canadian work experience. In time, these barriers were overcome. In their place, market conditions (e.g., economic recession) delayed full participation in the work force. The model developed and tested through LISREL 8 demonstrated that adversity experienced in employment life, such as status loss, unemployment, and underemployment, had a negative impact on both psychological well-being and adaptation to Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)