Psychological impact of colorectal cancer screening.

This article examines the psychological impact of participating in sigmoidoscopy screening for colorectal cancer prevention. The 1st study examined psychological well-being at 3 months, in relation to screening outcome, in 4,153 individuals. The 2nd study used longitudinal data to examine changes in psychological functioning from before to after screening in relation both to screening outcome and baseline indicators of vulnerability. There were few psychological differences between those who had received negative results or had polyps detected. These findings were confirmed in the longitudinal study, which also found no evidence for vulnerability to adverse effects among those who were initially most anxious or who perceived their risk of cancer to be higher. The longitudinal data suggested that screening might produce transient positive effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing attendance at colorectal cancer screening: Testing the efficacy of a mailed, psychoeducational intervention in a community sample of older adults.

This article describes a trial of a psychoeducational intervention designed to modify negative attitudes toward flexible sigmoidoscopy screening and thereby increase screening attendance. The intervention materials addressed the multiple barriers shown to be associated with participation in earlier studies. Adults ages 55-64 (N=2,966), in a "harder-to-reach" group were randomized either to receive an intervention brochure or to a standard invitation group. Attitudes and expectations were assessed by questionnaire, and attendance at the clinic was recorded. Compared with controls, the intervention group had less negative attitudes, anticipated a more positive experience, and had a 3.6% higher level of attendance. These results indicate that psychoeducational interventions can provide an effective means of modifying attitudes and increasing rates of screening attendance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of child teacher relationship training on teachers’ and aides’ use of relationship-building skills and the effects on student classroom behavior.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 18(4) of International Journal of Play Therapy (see record 2009-18366-003). There was an error in the abstract. In the current abstract the fourth sentence reads: Using a repeated measures design, results revealed that children in the experimental group (n 19) demonstrated a significant decrease (p .04) in Externalizing Problems between measurements 1 and 3 compared to children in the active control group (n 13). However, the fourth sentence should have read “Results of ANCOVA revealed a statistically significant difference (p .04) with a large effect size in externalizing scores between the experimental (n 19) and active control groups (n 13) at the end of treatment but no difference at the 10-week non-intervention follow-up.”] This study examined the impact of Child Teacher Relationship Training on educators’ use of relationship-building skills in the classroom and the effect on student behavior. Preschool-age children (3–4 years old) who scored in the Borderline/Clinical range on at least one scale of the Child Behavior Checklist-Caregiver/Teacher Report Form (C-TRF) qualified for the study (N = 32). In this quasi-experimental design, 12 teacher aide dyads (N = 24) were assigned to the experimental (n = 12) or active control groups (n = 12). Using a repeated measures design, results revealed that children in the experimental group (n = 19) demonstrated a significant decrease (p = .04) in Externalizing Problems between measurements 1 and 3 compared with children in the active control group (n = 13). A statistically significant relationship was found between educators’ higher use of relationship-building skills and students’ decrease in externalizing behaviors (p     

Neuropsychological mechanisms of individual differences in emotion, personality, and arousal.

Evidence is reviewed to suggest that parietotemporal regions of the right hemisphere not only are specialized for the processing of emotional information but also play a critical role in the experience of emotion. In particular, it is argued that these regions of the right hemisphere constitute a system involved in modulating autonomic and behavioral arousal in emotional states. This system is characterized by a set of cognitive and attentional qualities that make it uniquely suited to respond to environmental events in an adaptive fashion. The current proposal is an elaboration of a model of emotion and brain organization (W. Heller, 1990) that incorporates several aspects of emotional function: (1) perception and production of emotional information, (2) mood and emotional experience, and (3) autonomic arousal. In the context of this model, it is suggested that the right-hemisphere system operates in conjunction with a system localized to the frontal lobes that is involved in modulating the emotional valence of experience. The interaction of these 2 systems is hypothesized to be conditioned by individual differences and developmental tendencies that contribute to the production of a unique and stable pattern of personality traits and emotional characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Genetically Informed Study of Marital Instability and Its Association With Offspring Psychopathology.

Parental divorce is associated with a number of emotional and behavioral problems in young-adult offspring, but theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that the relation may be partially or fully accounted for by passive gene-environment correlation or environmental selection characteristics. The current study used the Children of Twins Design to explore whether shared environmental or genetic factors confound the relationship between parental marital instability and measures of psychopathology. Comparisons of the offspring of adult twins in Australia on 3 factors of abnormal behavior, including drug and alcohol, behavioral, and internalizing problems, suggest that environmental influences associated with divorce account for the higher rates of psychopathology. The results are consistent with a causal connection between marital instability and psychopathology in young-adult offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived Facial Expressions of Emotion as Motivational Incentives: Evidence From a Differential Implicit Learning Paradigm.

Participants (N = 216) were administered a differential implicit learning task during which they were trained and tested on 3 maximally distinct 2nd-order visuomotor sequences, with sequence color serving as discriminative stimulus. During training, 1 sequence each was followed by an emotional face, a neutral face, and no face, using backward masking. Emotion (joy, surprise, anger), face gender, and exposure duration (12 ms, 209 ms) were varied between participants; implicit motives were assessed with a picture-story exercise. For power-motivated individuals, low-dominance facial expressions enhanced and high-dominance expressions impaired learning. For affiliation-motivated individuals, learning was impaired in the context of hostile faces. These findings did not depend on explicit learning of fixed sequences or on awareness of sequence-face contingencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age Differences in Everyday Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Effectiveness: A Meta-Analytic Review.

The authors report a meta-analysis of age differences in everyday problem-solving/decision-making effectiveness (EPSE). Effect sizes were calculated to reflect 3 age group comparisons: old versus young, young versus middle-aged, and middle-aged versus old. Findings from the meta-analysis of 28 separate studies with an aggregate of 4,482 participants do not support theories of preserved EPSE in late adulthood. Although significant age differences of moderate magnitude persisted across methodological and theoretical domains, rating criteria (experimenter vs. participant) emerged as a significant moderator of the effect magnitude and direction. In addition, EPSE in older adults was bolstered when problem content was interpersonal and when samples were highly educated. Finally, the current results support the conceptual integration of findings from the everyday problem-solving and everyday decision-making literatures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A medication screening tool for cognitive aging researchers.

A Web-based medication screening toll that provides researchers with information about side effects associated with medications commonly used by older participants is described. this tool can be used for research purposes to better separate the effects of normal, healthy aging processes from the deleterious effects often associated with medication usage. Researchers can use this tool, called SMART (Screening Medications: Aging Research Taxonomy), to (a) obtain information pertaining to the cognitive, sensory, and motor side effects associated with specific medications, and (b) screen medications in their research for side effect severity. The Web address for the tool is www.psychology.gatech.edu/SMART. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of exercise intention and behavior during and after phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation: An application of the theory of planned behavior.

Objective: To evaluate the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as a framework for understanding exercise motivation during and after Phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Design and Participants: Patients (57 men and 24 women) completed a TPB questionnaire that included attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and exercise intentions pre- and post-Phase 2 CR. Results: During Phase 2 CR, regression analyses indicated that attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) explained 38% of the variance in exercise intention while intention explained 23% of the variance in exercise adherence. At postrehabilitation follow-up, attitudes, subjective norm, and PBC explained 51 % of the variance in exercise intention while intention explained 23% of the variance in exercise adherence. Conclusion: The TPB is a useful framework for understanding exercise intentions and behavior both during and after Phase 2 CR. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)