Assessment of accurate self-knowledge

Despite ongoing theoretical interest in the accuracy of self-knowledge and its implications for mental health, few researchers have yet to tackle this topic directly. This may be due, in part, to several factors that make assessing individual differences in accurate self-knowledge especially difficult. In this article, we present a method for the assessment of accurate self-knowledge that relies on information gathered from the self, knowledgeable others, and observations of behavior in the laboratory, and we provide psychometric support for this newly developed assessment procedure. Specifically, we present evidence for internal consistency reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity. Other researchers interested in studying the accuracy of self-knowledge might wish to adopt this procedure in their own research endeavors.

Bipolar diagnoses in community mental health: Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist profiles and patterns of comorbidity

BACKGROUND

There are converging findings about pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) in terms of associated comorbidity and behavior problem profiles on the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). However, no study has examined clinical or demographic characteristics of youths clinically diagnosed with bipolar disorder in a low-income, diverse community clinical sample.

METHODS

Archival data (N = 3086 cases) from six urban community mental health centers (CMHC) were reviewed to determine the base rate of bipolar disorder and the demographic and clinical characteristics (comorbidity and CBCL profiles) associated with the diagnosis.

RESULTS

Roughly 6% of the sample received clinical diagnoses of PBD. Patterns of comorbidity and CBCL profiles were highly similar to published samples. However, elevated CBCL scores were not specific to bipolar disorder, since they were also frequently high for nonbipolar cases.

CONCLUSIONS

There appears to be substantial convergence between the demographic and clinical characteristics of cases clinically diagnosed with PBD versus those diagnosed with semistructured research interviews, strengthening the validity of both sets of diagnoses. At the same time, the CBCL appears to do poorly discriminating clinical diagnoses of PBD, due to the pervasive externalizing behavior problems in CMHC samples and the variable presentation of PBD cases.

Social, psychological, and psychiatric interventions following terrorist attacks: recommendations for practice and research

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the constant threat of imminent terrorist activity have brought into the forefront the urgent need to prepare for the consequences of such attacks. Such preparation entails utilization of existing knowledge, identification of crucial gaps in our scientific knowledge, and taking steps to acquire this knowledge. At present, there is little empirical knowledge about interventions following terrorism and absolutely no available empirical knowledge about interventions following bioterrorism. Therefore, this paper reviews knowledge about (1) reactions following the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and other places, (2) the practical experiences accumulated in recent years in countries (eg, Israel) that have had to cope with the threat of bioterrorism and the reality of terrorism, and (3) interventions for acute and chronic stress reactions following other types of traumatic events (eg, rape, war, accidents). Our review found several treatments efficacious in treating individuals for acute and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to other traumatic events that will likely be efficacious in treating PTSD related to terrorist attacks. However, there were significant gaps in our knowledge about how to prepare populations and individuals for the possibility of a terrorist attack and what interventions to apply in the immediate aftermath of such an attack. Accordingly, we conclude the paper with several questions designed to guide future research.

A Comparison of Therapy Alone Versus Therapy and Medication in a Community Clinic

Research to date suggests that the best treatment for many mental disorders is provided through the combination of medications and psychotherapy (e.g., Hollon, Thase, & Markowitz, 2002). However, the majority of studies supporting this point have been done utilizing highly restricted, controlled samples that may not accurately reflect the way mental illness is treated in the community. The present study attempted to replicate those findings in an outpatient community clinic. One hundred seventy-four adult clients who presented to a community clinic were rated as to their illness severity at both intake and termination of therapy using the Clinical Global Impression Scale and the Global Assessment of Functioning. These clients were divided into groups based on whether or not they took psychotropic medications at any point during therapy. Results showed that clients who took medications fared no better than clients who did not. These preliminary findings suggest that the combination of medications and psychotherapy may not be as effective in the “real world” as prior studies have implied, and point to the need for further research utilizing community samples.

Comparing effect sizes in follow-up studies: ROC Area, Cohen's d, and r

In order to facilitate comparisons across follow-up studies that have used different measures of effect size, we provide a table of effect size equivalencies for the three most common measures: ROC area (AUC), Cohen's d, and r. We outline why AUC is the preferred measure of predictive or diagnostic accuracy in forensic psychology or psychiatry, and we urge researchers and practitioners to use numbers rather than verbal labels to characterize effect sizes.

Written emotional expression and emotional well-being: the moderating role of fear of rejection

Empirical research shows that individuals high in fear of rejection typically report low levels of perceived social support and are more vulnerable to stressful experiences. At the same time, writing about stressful experiences in an emotional way seems to help people adapt to current stressors and not-yet-assimilated stressful experiences. Therefore, the authors suggest that written emotional expression may be a particularly effective strategy to manage negative emotions for individuals high in fear of rejection. Three studies were conducted to test these assumptions. Study 1 found that high fear of rejection is linked to a lack of perceived social support. Longitudinal Studies 2 and 3 supported our main hypothesis, demonstrating that written emotional expression is linked to lower levels of negative mood among individuals high (but not among individuals low) in fear of rejection.

Is more better? Combining actuarial risk scales to predict recidivism among adult sex offenders

The present study was conducted to determine whether combining the results of multiple actuarial risk scales increases accuracy in predicting sex offender recidivism. Multiple methods of combining 4 validated actuarial risk scales--the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide, the Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide, the Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism, and the Static-99--were evaluated in a sample of 215 adult male sex offenders. These included the intuitively appealing believe-the-negative and believe-the-positive rules, adapted from medical decision making; the combination of absolute decision thresholds across a range of cutoff scores; and the statistical optimization methods of logistic regression and principal components analyses. No combination method provided a statistically significant or consistent advantage over the predictive accuracy of the single best actuarial scale.

The effects of spelling consistency on phonological awareness: a comparison of English and German

Within alphabetic languages, spelling-to-sound consistency can differ dramatically. For example, English and German are very similar in their phonological and orthographic structure but not in their consistency. In English the letter a is pronounced differently in the words bank, ball, and park, whereas in German the letter a always has the same pronunciation (e.g., Ball, Park, Bank). It is often argued that reading acquisition has a reciprocal effect on phonological awareness. As reading is acquired, therefore, spoken language representation may be affected differently for English and German children. Prior to literacy acquisition, however, phonological representation in English and German children should be similar due to the similar phonological structure of the two languages. We explored this hypothesis by comparing phonological awareness at the rime and phoneme levels in prereaders and beginning readers in English and German. Similar developmental effects were indeed observed in prereaders, but differential effects had emerged within the first year of reading instruction.

Evidence-Based Assessment of Anxiety and Its Disorders in Children and Adolescents

We provide an overview of where the field currently stands when it comes to having evidence-based methods and instruments available for use in assessing anxiety and its disorders in children and adolescents. Methods covered include diagnostic interview schedules, rating scales, observations, and self-monitoring forms. We also discuss the main purposes or goals of assessment and indicate which methods and instruments have the most evidence for accomplishing these goals. We also focus on several specific issues that need continued research attention for the field to move forward toward an evidence-based assessment approach. Finally, tentative recommendations are made for conducting an evidence-based assessment for anxiety and its disorders in children and adolescents. Directions for future research also are discussed.

Strategies to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia

The aim of this review is to present factors that are relevant to cognitive decline and risk of dementia in later life. With longer life expectancy, the likelihood of experiencing age-related cognitive difficulties has increased. Maintaining normal cognitive function is necessary for successful performance of activities of daily living and independence in later life. Although cognitive decline and dementia are sometimes unavoidable, there are ways in which people can modify their risk of these outcomes. Furthermore, the authors suggest that factors contributing to deviations from homeostasis may have adverse effects on brain health and possibly increase the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Psychological Response to Disasters: Focus on Adolescents

The effects of disasters may predispose many adolescents to psychological stress, which can interfere with their growth and development and disrupt their intrapsychic homeostasis. This may lead to negative long-term health outcomes and hamper normal development. Many nurses view traumatic events involving children, including adolescents, as the most frequent and stressful critical incidents. There is a need to address psychological emergency preparedness for mass disasters with the development of protocols and practice guidelines. Assessing and managing physical injuries may take priority in emergencies, but incorporating rapid, cost-effective mental health assessments for children and adolescents is essential.

Social class of origin, lost potential, and hopelessness in schizophrenia

Among schizophrenia patients, young (under 35 years of age), men within the first 5 years of illness onset are a particularly vulnerable group for suicide. It has been hypothesized that suicide in this group is related to the experience of the loss of functioning from pre- to post-morbid state and/or to the discrepancy between high expectations and actual achievements. The purpose of this study is to initiate the deconstruction of the sociocultural context of family of origin among schizophrenia patients as a means of better understanding "lost potential" and its relationship to indices of suicide risk such as hopelessness. Eighteen young, White, unemployed male schizophrenia patients were asked to indicate what job they thought they would have before the onset of schizophrenia and completed depression and hopelessness questionnaires. The results suggest that job expectation was significantly positively correlated with socioeconomic status of family of origin and patients' depression and hopelessness. The theoretical and treatment (especially with respect to vocational services) implications are discussed. Finally, this study formally introduces the concept that "advantaged" socioeconomic status may confer paradoxical disadvantage in coping with the vocational losses consequent to schizophrenia.

Self-esteem, locus of control, hippocampal volume, and cortisol regulation in young and old adulthood

Self-esteem, the value we place on ourselves, has been associated with effects on health, life expectancy, and life satisfaction. Correlated with self-esteem is internal locus of control, the individual's perception of being in control of his or her outcomes. Recently, variations in self-esteem and internal locus of control have been shown to predict the neuroendocrine cortisol response to stress. Cumulative exposure to high levels of cortisol over the lifetime is known to be related to hippocampal atrophy. We therefore examined hippocampal volume and cortisol regulation, to investigate potential biological mechanisms related to self-esteem. We investigated 16 healthy young (age range 20-26 years of age) and 23 healthy elderly subjects (age range 60-84 years). The young subjects were exposed to a psychosocial stress task, while the elderly subjects were assessed for their basal cortisol regulation. Structural Magnetic Resonance Images were acquired from all subjects, and volumetric analyses were performed on medial temporal lobe structures, and whole brain gray matter. Standardized neuropsychological assessments in the elderly were performed to assess levels of cognitive performance, and to exclude the possibility of neurodegenerative disease. Self-esteem and internal locus of control were significantly correlated with hippocampal volume in both young and elderly subjects. In the young, the cortisol response to the psychosocial stress task was significantly correlated with both hippocampal volume and levels of self-esteem and locus of control, while in the elderly, these personality traits moderated age-related patterns of cognitive decline, cortisol regulation, and global brain volume decline.

Acculturation, income, education, safety belt use, and fatal motor vehicle crashes in California

This paper investigates the role that acculturation, income, and education play in safety belt nonuse among Californian drivers involved in fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes (MVCs). To achieve this goal, measures of acculturation, income, and education were stochastically incorporated into the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Using the 1990 California Tobacco Survey and U.S. Census data, we estimated the combination of zip-code-based measures that most accurately predicts an individual, language-based acculturation index for Hispanics and Asians. Logistic regression was used to investigate the role of these variables in safety belt nonuse in fatal MVCs. We found that acculturation has a positive direct effect on safety belt use among Hispanics. We hypothesize that this positive direct effect is caused by Hispanic immigrants learning the benefits of wearing safety belts. However, our study also suggests an indirect negative effect of acculturation on safety belt use through drinking and driving. Prevention programs aimed at increasing the safety of Hispanic drivers not only need to take acculturation differences into account, but also need to be comprehensive in their message, simultaneously targeting both seat belt nonuse and drinking-and-driving problems.

Children's exposure to violent video games and desensitization to violence

Desensitization to violence is cited frequently as being an outcome of exposure to media violence and a condition that contributes to increased aggression. This article initiates the development of a conceptual model for describing possible relationships among violent video games, brain function, and desensitization by using empathy and attitudes toward violence as proxy measures of desensitization. More work is needed to understand how specific game content may affect brain activity, how brain development may be affected by heavy play at young ages, and how personality and lifestyle variables may moderate game influence. Given the current state of knowledge, recommendations are made for clinicians to help parents monitor and limit exposure to violent video games and encourage critical thinking about media violence.

Effectiveness of providing self-help information following acute traumatic injury: randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Patients attending an accident and emergency department may exhibit psychological disturbances post-injury. Early interventions have been suggested to reduce the risk of post-injury disorder, including psychoeducation.

AIMS

We assessed the efficacy of providing such self-help information.

METHOD

Patients who had experienced trauma were randomised to two groups: those given (n=75) and not given (n=67) a self-help booklet. Psychological assessments were completed within 2, 10-12 and 24-26 weeks.

RESULTS

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression decreased (P < 0.05) with time but there were no group differences in PTSD or anxiety. The controls were less depressed (P < 50.05) at follow-up. There was a reduction in PTSD caseness within the control (50%) compared with the intervention (20%) group which was almost significant (P < 0.06).

CONCLUSIONS

This trial failed to support the efficacy of providing self-help information as a preventive strategy to ameliorate PTSD.

Avoidance and processing as predictors of symptom change and positive growth in an integrative therapy for depression

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and can worsen the course of a variety of medical illnesses. There is a clear need to develop more potent treatments for this debilitating disorder and prevent its return. We are developing a promising psychotherapy that integrates components of current, empirically supported therapies for depression and also teaches healthy lifestyle and emotion regulation habits to promote psychological health. In the 1st open trial, growth curve analyses revealed a significant linear decrease in symptoms of depression in a sample of 29 clients who completed the therapy. Participants wrote essays about their depression each week, and the content was analyzed using a new coding system of change processes. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed that peak levels of processing in the essays were associated with more improvement in depression and with the expression of more hope and of both negative and positive views of the self, presumably as clients explored their depressive views of self. Peak levels of avoidance were associated with less improvement in depression and with more hopelessness and negative views of the self. These preliminary results suggest possible targets of change that can facilitate symptom reduction and perhaps also promote psychological health.

The inadequacy of Individual Educational Program (IEP) goals for high school students with word-level reading difficulties

This investigation analyzed goals from the Individual Educational Programs (IEPs) of 54 high school students with diagnosed reading disabilities in basic skills (decoding and/or word identification). Results showed that for 73% of the students, the IEPs written when they were in high school failed to specify any objectives regarding their acute difficulties with basic skills. IEPs from earlier points in the students' educations were also reviewed, as available. For 23 of the students, IEPs were present in the students' files for three time points: elementary school (ES), middle school (MS), and high school (HS). Another 20 students from the sample of 54 had IEPs available for two time points (HS and either MS or ES). Comparisons with the IEPs from younger years showed a pattern of decline from ES to MS to HS in the percentage of IEPs that commented on or set goals pertaining to weaknesses in decoding. These findings suggest that basic skills deficits that persist into the upper grade levels are not being sufficiently targeted for remediation, and help explain why older students frequently fail to resolve their reading problems.

Automatic and controlled semantic processing: A masked prime-task effect

A classical definition of automaticity establishes that automatic processing occurs without attention or consciousness, and cannot be controlled. Previous studies have demonstrated that semantic priming can be reduced if attention is directed to a low-level of analysis. This finding suggests that semantic processing is not automatic since it can be controlled. In this paper, we present two experiments that demonstrate that semantic processing may occur in the absence of attention and consciousness. A negative semantic priming effect was found when a low-level prime-task was required and when a masked lexical decision prime-task was performed (Experiment 1). This paper also discusses the limitations of the inhibitory mechanism involved in negative semantic priming effect.

Mental Illness and/or Mental Health? Investigating Axioms of the Complete State Model of Health

A continuous assessment and a categorical diagnosis of the presence (i.e., flourishing) and the absence (i.e., languishing) of mental health were proposed and applied to the Midlife in the United States study data, a nationally representative sample of adults between the ages of 25 and 74 years (N = 3,032). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesis that measures of mental health (i.e., emotional, psychological, and social well-being) and mental illness (i.e., major depressive episode, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, and alcohol dependence) constitute separate correlated unipolar dimensions. The categorical diagnosis yielded an estimate of 18.0% flourishing and, when cross-tabulated with the mental disorders, an estimate of 16.6% with complete mental health. Completely mentally healthy adults reported the fewest health limitations of activities of daily living, the fewest missed days of work, the fewest half-day work cutbacks, and the healthiest psychosocial functioning (low helplessness, clear life goals, high resilience, and high intimacy).

Build-a-Person Technique: an examination of the validity of human-figure features as evidence of childhood sexual abuse

OBJECTIVE

This exploratory study examined the discriminant validity of 10 human-figure features commonly used by many proponents of the draw-a-person (DAP) projective technique as evidence of childhood sexual abuse. Two exploratory features were also examined.

METHOD

Rather than drawing human figures, 64 children (M = 8 years, 9 months), including 19 sexually abused children, 26 nonsexually abused but emotionally/behaviourally troubled children, and 19 nonabused, nonclinical children, were instructed to build male and female figures using groups of prefabricated pieces of human-figure body parts. Unbeknownst to the children, each group of parts contained a potential sexual abuse feature (or features).

RESULTS

None of the human-figure features under examination, either individually, or in combination, distinguished the sexually abused group from the other two groups of children.

CONCLUSIONS

In accordance with years worth of DAP projective technique research, no support for the validity of the human-figure features under examination as evidence of childhood sexual abuse, was found.

Fostering the Development of Reading Skill through Supplemental Instruction: Results for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students

This paper reports the effects of a two-year supplemental reading program for kindergarten through third grade students that focused on the development of decoding skills and reading fluency. Two hundred ninety-nine students were identified for participation and were randomly assigned to the supplemental instruction or to a no-treatment control group. Participants' reading ability was assessed in the fall, before the first year of the intervention, and again in the spring of years 1, 2, 3, and 4. At the end of the two-year intervention, students who received the supplemental instruction performed significantly better than their matched controls on measures of entry level reading skills (i.e., letter-word identification and word attack), oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The benefits of the instruction were still clear two years after instruction had ended with students in the supplemental-instruction condition still showing significantly greater growth on the measure of oral reading fluency. Hispanic students benefited from the supplemental reading instruction in English as much as or more than non-Hispanic students. Results support the value of supplemental instruction focused on the development of word recognition skills for helping students at risk for reading failure.

Neuroethics: the practical and the philosophical

In comparison with the ethical issues surrounding molecular genetics, there has been little public awareness of the ethical implications of neuroscience. Yet recent progress in cognitive neuroscience raises a host of ethical issues of at least comparable importance. Some are of a practical nature, concerning the applications of neurotechnology and their likely implications for individuals and society. Others are more philosophical, concerning the way we think about ourselves as persons, moral agents and spiritual beings. This article reviews key examples of each type of issue, including the relevant advances in science and technology and their accompanying social and philosophical problems.

Personality architecture: within-person structures and processes

This chapter reviews theory and research on intraindividual personality structures and processes. Principles for modeling the architecture of personality, that is, the overall design and operating characteristics of intraindividual personality systems, are addressed. Research demonstrates that a focus on within-person structures and processes advances the understanding of two aspects of personality coherence: the functional relations among distinct elements of personality, and cross-situational coherence in personality functioning that results from interactions among enduring knowledge structures and dynamic appraisal processes. Also reviewed are recent conceptual and empirical advances, which demonstrate that the interindividual personality variables that summarize variability in the population are wholly insufficient for modeling intraindividual personality architecture.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): what we have learned and what we still have not found out

This article discusses the biomedical and the social constructionist models applied to response to trauma, presents the prevalence and the etiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and describes its biological and psychological correlates in children and adults. It concludes that future research might benefit from investigating factors that may protect people who have been exposed to an event likely to be traumatic from presenting with PTSD symptoms, and factors that may affect the longitudinal course of PTSD and treatment effectiveness.

Self-Regulation and Self-Presentation: Regulatory Resource Depletion Impairs Impression Management and Effortful Self-Presentation Depletes Regulatory Resources

Self-presentation may require self-regulation, especially when familiar or dispositional tendencies must be overridden in service of the desired impression. Studies 1-4 showed that self-presentation under challenging conditions or according to counter-normative patterns (presenting oneself modestly to strangers, boastfully to friends, contrary to gender norms, to a skeptical audience, or while being a racial token) led to impaired self-regulation later, suggesting that those self-presentations depleted self-regulatory resources. When self-presentation conformed to familiar, normative, or dispositional patterns, self-regulation was less implicated. Studies 5-8 showed that when resources for self-regulation had been depleted by prior acts of self-control, self-presentation drifted toward less-effective patterns (talking too much, overly or insufficiently intimate disclosures, or egotistical arrogance). Thus, inner processes may serve interpersonal functions, although optimal interpersonal activity exacts a short-term cost.

Obstetrician-gynecologists' decision making about the diagnosis of major depressive disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is underdiagnosed and undertreated in ambulatory care settings including gynecologic practices. Far less is known about the diagnosis of Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). Three hundred and thirty-five gynecologists responded to mailed questionnaires that used descriptive scenarios as analogues to clinical cases. Questionnaire recipients were randomly selected to receive either a MDD or PMDD version of the questionnaire. Respondents were less accurate when diagnosing MDD cases (48% accuracy; p = 0.526), than PMDD cases (80% accuracy; p < 0.001), but were significantly more confident about their probability ratings of MDD cases, t = 2.57, p < 0.02. Qualitative analysis suggested that less accurate MDD respondents did not prioritize case data according to DSM-IV criteria, whereas almost all PMDD respondents made use of valid reasoning strategies. Respondents did not take base rates into account when deciding about the probability of either affective disorder. Results imply that gynecologists employ cognitive strategies that result in accurate diagnostic judgments about PMDD, but overconfidence, lack of attention to DSM-IV criteria and base rate neglect could hinder clinical decisions about MDD, and may contribute to underdiagnosis of depression.

Racial, cultural and ethnic disparities in health and mental health: toward theory and research at community levels

We need to further develop theoretically informed, empirically grounded bodies of knowledge on how community structures, norms, and processes operate in local communities and how they affect human well-being, especially in culturally diverse and ethnic minority communities. Scholars pursuing this agenda will benefit from "population thinking" which focuses attention on human aggregates and on equilibrium processes and social and community mechanisms of change. They will benefit too from considering a promising body of theory and research on social capital. Community level knowledge has profound intervention-related implications at policy levels: such knowledge figured prominently in initiatives associated with 2.5 million residents leaving poverty neighborhoods during the decade 1990-2000. It continues to figure in crucial policy debates and provides a knowledge base on which future federal reports, like 2001s Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity-A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, can draw.

Description of an early intervention to prevent substance abuse and psychopathology in recent rape victims

Approximately 683,000 adult women are raped each year. Only one in seven of these victims report the assault to police and receive forensic exams and other professional services. For many rape victims, this may be the only professional contact with service providers; however these services are typically limited to evidence collection and prophylactic STD treatment. Yet this exam also presents a unique opportunity for a preventive intervention to help prepare women to cope with potential stress related to rape-exam procedures and to address potential post rape psycho-pathology. This article reviews psychological interventions for trauma victims used in the acute post rape time frame and provides data from an ongoing clinical trial that evaluates delivery of a preventive intervention for victims presenting for forensic rape exams.

Structural models of psychopathy

Psychopathy traditionally is defined by a cluster of inferred personality traits and socially deviant behaviors. The accepted standard for the reliable and valid assessment of psychopathy is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Because of its importance in basic and applied research, and in the mental health and criminal justice systems, the PCL-R has been subjected to intense scrutiny by researchers and clinicians. In this article we discuss issues surrounding its structural properties and those of its derivatives. Using factor analysis, item response theory, and multidimensional scaling, we propose that the PCL-R and its derivatives are underpinned by at least four correlated factors: Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle, and Antisocial. We argue that attempts to characterize antisocial behaviors as merely "downstream" manifestations of more central traits are inconsistent with the structural properties of the PCL-R and with evidence that the development of traits and actions are interactive and reciprocal. We also report new evidence that psychopathy and its factors are dimensional in nature, perhaps extreme variants of normal personality traits and behaviors.

ROC-based assessments of 3D cortical surface-matching algorithms

Algorithms for the semi-automated analysis of brain surfaces have recently received considerable attention, and yet, they rarely receive a rigorous assessment of their performance. We present a method for the quantitative assessment of performance across differing surface analysis algorithms and across various modifications of a single algorithm. The sensitivity and specificity of an algorithm for detecting known deformations added synthetically to the brains being studied are assessed using curves for Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC). We also present a method for the isolation of sources of variance in MRI data sets that can contribute to degradation in performance of surface-matching algorithms. Isolation of these sources of variance allows determination of whether degradation in performance of surface-matching algorithms derives primarily from errors in registration of brains to a common coordinate space, from errors in placement of the known deformation, or from interindividual or between-group variability in morphology of the cortical surface. We apply these methods to the study of surface-matching algorithms that are based on fluid flow (FF) deformation, geodesic (GD) interpolation, or nearest neighbor (NN) proximity. We show that the performances of surface-matching algorithms depend on the presence of interindividual and between-group variability in the surfaces surrounding the cortical deformation. We also show that, in general, the FF algorithm performs as well as or better than the GD and NN algorithms. The large variance in identifying point correspondences across brain surfaces using the GD and the NN algorithms suggests strongly that these point correspondences are less valid than those determined by the FF algorithm. The GD and NN algorithms, moreover, are both vulnerable to detecting false-positive activations at points of high curvature, particularly along large fissures, cisterns, and cortical sulci.

Does class size in first grade relate to children's academic and social performance or observed classroom processes?

This study evaluated the extent to which first-grade class size predicted child outcomes and observed classroom processes for 651 children (in separate classrooms). Analyses examined observed child-adult ratios and teacher-reported class sizes. Smaller classrooms showed higher quality instructional and emotional support, although children were somewhat less likely to be engaged. Teachers in smaller classes rated typical children in those classes as more socially skilled and as showing less externalizing behavior and reported more closeness toward them. Children in smaller classes performed better on literacy skills. Larger classrooms showed more group activities directed by the teacher, teachers and children interacted more often, and children were more often engaged. Lower class sizes were not of more benefit (or harm) as a function of the child's family income. First-grade class size in the range typical of present-day classrooms in the United States predicts classroom social and instructional processes as well as relative changes in social and literacy outcomes from kindergarten to first grade.

Psychosocial approaches of acute stress reactions

What are the conceptual and empirical bases for current interventions for acute stress reactions following trauma exposure? This review compares the two major alternatives to managing acute stress reactions, outlines their conceptual bases and critiques the evidence for their efficacy in preventing subsequent stress disorders. The review integrates current evidence for cognitive behavior therapy with recent neuroscience findings that fear reduction learning can be enhanced by modulating glutamatergic systems. D-cycloserine provides exciting opportunities to enhance the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and points to closer understanding of the biological mechanisms that underpin clinical gains achieved by psychological therapies.

Assessment and treatment of adult acute responses to traumatic stress following mass traumatic events

Assessment and treatment of acute responses to traumatic stress has received much attention since September 11, 2001. This article elucidates principles of early intervention with adults in the immediate (within 48 hours) and early recovery phase (within the first week). The principles have been drawn from research on risk and recover factors, stress and traumatic stress theory, and expert consensus recommendations. The debriefing model is discussed, and principle interventions of psychological first aid, pharmacology, and mass trauma systems are described. This article concludes with brief guidelines for longer-term interventions and recommendations for future research.

20 years of research into violence and trauma: past and future developments

This reflection on major developments in the past, present, and future of the wider field of violence and trauma is a personal (and probably biased) sampling of what the authors hold to be important. The authors reviewed advances for victims and perpetrators of violence separately. For victims, the authors note that empirical research has established the potential traumatic impact of violence as well as various predictors of what makes persons vulnerable to adverse psychological consequences. The authors also note that the definitions of violence and trauma have evolved to include such behavioral patterns as stalking. Finally, encouraging evidence regarding the efficacy of exposure-based treatments for victims of violence is reviewed, as well as discouraging evidence regarding the efficacy of single-session debriefing following trauma. For the perpetrators, the importance of individual assessment in planning interventions is underscored, and advances in explicit and implicit assessment techniques are discussed.