The moral of her story: Exploring the philosophical and religious commitments in Mary Whiton Calkins' self-psychology.

Over the course of 3 decades, from the turn of the century to the late 1920s, Mary Whiton Calkins articulated and defended a system of self-psychology that held that psychology as a field should be organized as the science of selves. Calkins' system was far from popular at the time, which leads one to question why she persisted in dedicating herself to the cause of defending it. Previous research has sought answers to this question through examination of Calkins' experience as a faculty member at Wellesley College. In this article it is additionally argued that Calkins was not prepared to abandon her system of self-psychology because it was intricately connected to her ideas about ethics and morality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partner smoking status and pregnant smoker's perceptions of support for and likelihood of smoking cessation.

Perceptions of support for cessation of smoking during pregnancy, likelihood of quitting, and partner smoking status were explored in a sample of 688 pregnant smokers (372 baseline smokers and 316 baseline quitters). Women with nonsmoking partners were significantly more likely to be baseline quitters than women with partners who smoked. Baseline quitters reported significantly more positive support from their partners than did continuing smokers (p?=?.02). Neither partner smoking status nor partner support at baseline was associated with cessation or relapse later in pregnancy. Women reported greater support, both positive and negative, from nonsmoking partners than from partners who smoked (p?=?.001). Among partner smokers, those who were trying to quit were perceived to be particularly supportive. Cessation interventions for expectant fathers may increase pregnant women's success at quitting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racists or Tolerant Multiculturalists? How Do They Begin?

The author discusses how negative racial attitudes originate. First, she looks globally at how various theories have attempted to explain the origins of racism. Second, she reviews some research on this topic that she and her colleagues have completed with very young children. Both the theories and the studies have ramifications for how psychologists might reduce the possibility of children becoming racist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Follow-Up Study of Kinder Training for Preschool Teachers of Children Deemed At-Risk.

Authors conducted a follow-up study to Post, McAllister, Sheely, Hess, & Flowers (2004) to determine whether a group of teachers who previously had been taught play therapy training skills maintained the skills and empathic responding in individual play sessions and in the classroom one academic year after the original training. The participating teachers were matched with a control group of untrained teachers. Results showed differences between the trained and untrained teachers on the use of play therapy skills and empathetic responses in individual play sessions. There were no differences found between the trained and untrained teachers on the use of play therapy skills and empathic responses in the classroom setting. In addition, the participating teachers reported the usefulness of the training in focus group dialogues, citing that the new skills improved their classroom behaviors, changed their perspective on the value of including children's opinions, and increased their confidence as teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid determination of low levels of water in pressurized pharmaceutical inhalation aerosol products

A simple, fast and rugged method for the determination of low levels of water in pressurized pharmaceutical inhalation aerosol products is described. The pressurized canister is pierced and the contents are directly transferred into a Karl Fischer unit. The water content is measured by coulometric titration. This method has been applied to two commercial products and two development formulations.     

Child-Centered Kinder Training for Teachers of Pre-School Children Deemed At-Risk.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of child-centered kinder training on both at-risk children and their teachers using Landreth's 10-week filial training model. In this project, the teachers received 30 minutes of immediate feedback following their play sessions with individual children. Following the 10-week training, teachers participated in 13 group sessions to help them generalize the use of the skills into their classrooms. The findings indicate that changes occurred in both the children and the teachers. The children who participated in play sessions with their teachers improved in three of the four composite scales of the Behavior Assessment Scale for Children (Internalizing Problems, Behavioral Symptoms Index, and Adaptive Skills), when compared to a control group of children who did not have the play sessions. The teachers demonstrated better play therapy skills and higher levels of empathic responding with children in the playroom. In addition, teachers were able to generalize the skills into their classrooms when compared to teachers who had not received kinder training. The findings of this study indicate that child-centered kinder training is an effective strategy for both at-risk pre-school children and their teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marijuana Use From Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Multiple Developmental Trajectories and Their Associated Outcomes.

This study used latent growth mixture modeling to identify discrete developmental patterns of marijuana use from early adolescence (age 13) to young adulthood (age 23) among a sample of 5,833 individuals. After the a priori removal of abstainers, 4 trajectory groups were identified: early high users, who decreased from a relatively high level of use at age 13 to a more moderate level: stable light users, who maintained a low level of use: steady increasers, who consistently increased use; and occasional light users, who began use at age 14 and used at low levels thereafter. Analyses of covariance comparing the trajectory groups on behavioral, socioeconomic, and health outcomes at age 29 revealed that abstainers consistently had the most favorable outcomes, whereas early high users consistently had the least favorable outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sue Rosenberg Zalk (1945-2001).

Memorializes developmental psychologist Sue R. Zalk. Her contributions to the field of education and the study gender are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural Basis for Verb Processing in Alzheimer's Disease: An fMRI Study.

Patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) have difficulty understanding verbs. To investigate the neural basis for this deficit, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine patterns of neural activation during verb processing in 11 AD patients compared with 16 healthy seniors. Subjects judged the pleasantness of verbs, including MOTION verbs and COGNITION verbs. Healthy seniors and AD patients both activated posterolateral temporal and inferior frontal regions during judgments of verbs. These activations were relatively reduced and somewhat changed in their anatomic distribution in AD patients compared with healthy seniors, particularly for the subcategory of MOTION verbs, but AD patients showed minimal activation in association with COGNITION verbs. These findings imply that poor performance with verbs in AD is due in part to altered activation of the large-scale neural network that supports verb processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child's play with adults, toys, and peers: An examination of family and child-care influences.

Toddler-age children's (11 to 30 months old) play with care-giving adults and with toys and peers was observed and rated in family day-care homes. Fifty-five children, their mothers, and family day-care home providers participated in this study. The quality of the family day-care homes was assessed with the Harms and Clifford Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS) and by measures of ratio and group size. Information on family stress, social support, child-rearing attitudes, and maternal role satisfaction was reported by mothers. More nurturing and supported families were associated with higher quality child care, whereas more restrictive and stressed families were associated with lower quality child care. More restrictive and stressed families were associated with more changes in child-care arrangements. Greater numbers of child-care changes also were associated with lower levels of competent play with objects and peers. When quality of care was controlled, both more nurturing and supported families and less restrictive and stressed families were associated with higher levels of competent play with adult caregivers, peers, and objects. When family characteristics were controlled, higher quality child care was associated with more competent play with adult caregivers and with peers and objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)