Integrative Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A Preliminary Investigation.

This study is a preliminary investigation of an integrative treatment aimed at improving the efficacy of cognitive therapy (CT) for depression. The development of the treatment protocol was based on process findings, which suggested that strategies used in CT to resolve alliance ruptures may actually exacerbate problems in the therapeutic relationship. The protocol integrates, within the traditional CT treatment manual, procedures to repair alliance ruptures that are derived from or consistent with humanistic and interpersonal therapies. Although conducted by inexperienced therapists, the integrative treatment led to greater improvement than a waiting-list condition. The results also compare favorably to previous findings for CT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using Diary Methods to Study Marital and Family Processes.

Diary methods allow researchers to study marital and family processes within the context of daily life in a way that is not possible with more traditional methods. The authors review applications of diary designs in marital and family research and detail the types of research questions that can uniquely be asked of dyadic/family diary data. Technological developments for the use of electronic palm-top devices for implementing diary methods are also reviewed. Additionally, the authors discuss specific issues relevant to the analysis of diary data that come from dyads or families. Last, the authors raise unresolved issues and directions for future research in the use of diary methods for studying marital and family processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discontinuities and cognitive changes in an exposure-based cognitive therapy for depression.

Significant shifts or discontinuities in symptom course can mark points of transition and reveal important change processes. The authors investigated 2 patterns of change in depression-the rapid early response and a transient period of apparent worsening that the authors call a depression spike. Participants were 29 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder who enrolled in an open trial of an exposure-based cognitive therapy. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed an overall cubic shape of symptom change and that both the rapid response and spike patterns predicted lower posttreatment depression. Patients wrote weekly narratives about their depression. Early narratives of rapid responders were coded as having more hope than those of nonrapid responders. The narratives of patients with a depression spike had more cognitive-emotional processing during this period of arousal than those without a spike. Findings are discussed in the context of cognitive-emotional processing theories in depression and anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Power bipolar gridistor

The power bipolar gridistor is a field-effect device designed essentially to switch high power. A high degree of cathode grid interdigitation very strongly reduces the conducting p grid series resistance and allows high turnoff current capability, with switching times in the microsecond range.     

A surrogate-model based multidisciplinary shape optimization method with application to a 2D subsonic airfoil

A surrogate-model based shape optimization method is presented and applied to the case of the multidisciplinary shape optimization of a 2D NACA subsonic airfoil. The cost function is designed so that both the far-field radiated noise and the aerodynamic forces are controlled. The surrogate model is based on the Kriging optimal interpolation technique. In order to increase the efficiency of the method, a dynamic Kriging method is developed, which can be interpreted as an Adaptive Mesh Refinement method in the shape optimization parameters.     

Community-Based Prevention of Marital Dysfunction: Multilevel Modeling of a Randomized Effectiveness Study.

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial of the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP; H. J. Markman, S. M. Stanley, & S. L. Blumberg, 2001). Fifty-seven religious organizations (ROs), consisting of 217 newlywed couples, were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 intervention conditions: PREP delivered by university clinicians (U-PREP), PREP delivered by RO clergy (ROPREP), and naturally occurring (NO) marriage preparation. Self-reported relationship satisfaction, negative behavior, and positive behavior were assessed at preintervention, postintervention, and 1-year follow-up. Trajectories of relationship satisfaction showed no change over time and did not differ across conditions. Trajectories of negative behavior for RO-PREP wives showed significantly greater linear declines in comparison with NO trajectories. Trajectories of positive behavior for NO and U-PREP partners showed significant declines compared with RO-PREP trajectories. Effectiveness, transportability, and dissemination of marital distress prevention programs in community settings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of relationship-specific incentive and threat sensitivities: Predicting satisfaction and affect in adult intimate relationships.

Self-report scales assessing relationship-specific incentive and threat sensitivity were created. Initial tests of factor structure and associations with relationship quality were conducted in a sample of persons in intimate relationships (Study 1). Associations with conceptually related measures were examined to determine convergent and discriminant validity in a sample of dating couples (Study 2). Cross-validation of the factor structure was established in engaged couples (Study 3) and in newlywed couples (Study 4). In Study 4, couples also engaged in a laboratory-based threat task (discussion about a significant marital problem) and incentive task (discussion about loving aspects of the partner/marriage). Relationship incentive sensitivity predicted higher positive affect after the incentive task for both husbands and wives. Relationship threat sensitivity predicted greater anxiety in response to the threat laboratory task for wives only. Implications of approach and avoidance motivations in close relationship processes and outcomes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Interpersonal Process Model of Intimacy in Marriage: A Daily-Diary and Multilevel Modeling Approach.

This study used daily reports of interactions in marriage to examine predictions from the conceptualization of intimacy as the outcome of an interpersonal process. Both partners of 96 married couples completed daily diaries assessing self-disclosure, partner disclosure, perceived partner responsiveness, and intimacy on each of 42 consecutive days. Multivariate multilevel modeling revealed that self-disclosure and partner disclosure both significantly and uniquely contributed to the contemporaneous prediction of intimacy. Perceived partner responsiveness partially mediated the effects of self-disclosure and partner disclosure on intimacy. Global marital satisfaction, relationship intimacy, and demand-withdraw communication were related to daily levels of intimacy. Implications for the importance of perceived partner responsiveness in the intimacy process for married partners are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and the Natural History of Self-Rated Health: A 59-Year Longitudinal Study.

Self-ratings of health are uniquely predictive of morbidity and mortality, and they encompass people's evaluations of many medical, psychological, and social conditions in their lives. However, the longitudinal trajectory of self-rated health has not been evaluated to date. In the present study, 59-year longitudinal multilevel analyses (1940-1999) of data from 1,411 men and women revealed that self-rated health was relatively stable until age 50 and then began to decrease in an accelerating fashion through the rest of the life course. Men had higher self-rated health throughout most of adulthood than did women but had steeper linear rates of decline. As a result, the gender difference in self-rated health disappeared by late adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital conflict, maternal and paternal parenting, and child adjustment: A test of mediation and moderation.

Parenting was examined as a mediator of associations between marital and child adjustment, and parent gender was examined as a moderator of associations among marital, parental, and child functioning in 226 families with a school-age child (146 boys). Parenting fully mediated associations between marital conflict and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Parent gender did not moderate associations when data from the full sample or families with girls only were evaluated. Parent gender did moderate associations when families with boys were evaluated, with the association between marital conflict and parenting stronger for fathers than mothers. A trend suggested fathers' parenting may be more strongly related to internalizing behavior and mothers' parenting may be more strongly related to externalizing behavior in boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)