Keyboard coercion: Online and face-to-face sexual aggression in a college sample.

Objective: This work sought to assess relationships between sexually aggressive behavior occurring through the use of technology and social media, perceived social norms of sexually aggressive behavior, and face-to-face sexual aggression and coercion. Participants: Participants were 663 undergraduate students (73.1% Female). Methods: Participants completed measures assessing perceived social norms of sexually aggressive strategies, personal sexual strategies used, alcohol use, cyberbullying, sexual victimization, personal wellbeing, and socially desirable responding. Results: Thirty percent of participants reported engaging in some form of sexually aggressive behavior offline; 15.6% endorsed engaging in sexual cyberbullying. However, 100% of participants endorsed the belief that their peers were engaging in some form of sexually aggressive behavior either online or offline. Conditional process modeling revealed a significant indirect effect of perceived social norms of sexually aggressive behavior on face-to-face sexual aggression via sexual cyberbullying (b = .0015, p < .001, 95% CI [.0030, .0110]), indicating mediation. Conclusions: The present work highlights the importance of further research in the domain of sexual cyberbullying.

Why so many arrows? Introduction to structural equation modeling for the novitiate user.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is the term for a broadly applicable set of statistical techniques that allow researchers to precisely represent constructs of interest, measure the extent to which data are consistent with a proposed conceptual model, and to adjust for the influence of measurement error. Although SEM may appear intimidating at first glance, it can be made accessible to researchers. The current manuscript provides a non-technical overview of SEM and its major constructs for a novitiate user. Concepts are illustrated using a simple example, representing a potential study performed in the field of youth and family research. The purpose of this manuscript is to offer interested scholars a conceptual overview and understanding of research questions and issues that may be addressed with this family of techniques.

Role of religious attendance and identity conflict in psychological well-being.

A sample of individuals who identified as gay or lesbian were administered measures of church attendance, their religious organization's view of homosexuality, perceived conflict between religious faith identity and sexual orientation identity, social support, depression, and generalized anxiety. Among participants who rated their church as rejecting of homosexuality, greater frequency of attendance was related to a higher incidence of GAD symptoms, but not depression. No correlation was found for those attending accepting faith communities. Those who attend rejecting faith communities attended services less often, experienced greater identity conflict, and reported significantly less social support than those of the Accepted group. Regression analyses indicated that identity conflict and social support did not fully account for the relationship between attendance and GAD symptoms. Overall, findings from the current study support previous suggestions that participation in conservative or rejecting religious communities may adversely affect the emotional well-being of GL individuals.

The impact of attention on social functioning in survivors of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain tumors.

BACKGROUND: The cognitive late effects experienced by many survivors of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and brain tumors are well-established. The most commonly reported deficit is difficulty with attention. Problems with social functioning have also been identified, but their relationship with cognitive functioning is not well understood. This multi-site, cross-sectional study aimed to examine the impact of attention on social functioning. PROCEDURE: Four hundred sixty nine survivors of ALL and brain tumors (55% ALL; 57% male) completed study procedures, including parent- and teacher-report measures of attention (Conners' Rating Scales, Revised) and parent-report of social functioning [Social Skills Rating System (SSRS)] as part of their screening evaluation for a large clinical trial. Survivors were 12.1 years of age and 4.9 years from the end of treatment at the time of study. RESULTS: Results revealed that survivors' parent-reported attention problems were uniquely associated with their social functioning, relative to known demographic- and treatment-related risk factors. Teacher-reported attention problems, in contrast, were not, despite a significant correlation between the two. Deficits in intelligence and female gender were also significantly associated with poor social functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Attention problems uniquely impact difficulties with social functioning in survivors of pediatric cancer. Future studies will need to further examine the relationship between attention and social functioning in survivors, particularly when assessed by teacher report. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2012; 59: 1290-1295. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Detection of response bias and noncredible performance in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently prescribed stimulant medication and eligible for accommodations at work or school that serve as potent incentives to feign ADHD symptoms. The current investigation examined the predictive validity of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) validity scales in detecting and accurately classifying individuals attempting to feign ADHD. An archival ADHD clinical group (n = 34), normal control group (n = 37), and group instructed to feign ADHD symptoms (n = 32) completed the MMPI-2 and ADHD Current and Childhood Symptoms Scales. Behavior rating scales were unable to differentiate the clinical group from the simulated malingering group. Logistic regressions revealed that Infrequency-Psychopathology scale best detected response bias, followed by Infrequency scale, Back-Infrequency scale, Response Bias Scale (RBS), Henry-Heilbronner Index scale (HHI), and Fake Bad Scale (FBS). Results also indicate that recommended cutoffs for HHI, RBS, and FBS display inadequate sensitivity and specificity. Nevertheless, the MMPI-2 offers a number of validity indices that may assist in detecting individuals attempting to feign ADHD.

Prediction of exercise in patients across various stages of bariatric surgery: a comparison of the merits of the theory of reasoned action versus the theory of planned behavior.

Obesity is a world-wide health concern approaching epidemic proportions. Successful long-term treatment involves a combination of bariatric surgery, diet, and exercise. Social cognitive models, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), are among the most commonly tested theories utilized in the prediction of exercise. As exercise is not a completely volitional behavior, it is hypothesized that the TPB is a superior theoretical model for the prediction of exercise intentions and behavior. This study tested validity of the TPB in a sample of bariatric patients and further validated its improvement over the TRA in predicting exercise adherence at different operative stages. Results generally confirmed research hypotheses. Superiority of the TPB model was validated in this sample of bariatric patients, and Perceived Behavioral Control emerged as the single-best predictor of both exercise intentions and self-reported behavior. Finally, results suggested that both subjective norms and attitudes toward exercise played a larger role in the prediction of intention and behavior than previously reported.

Sexual boundaries: an examination of the importance of talking before touching.

This study examined a woman's clearly articulated sexual boundary and its effect on college students' discrimination of when a woman wants her date to stop making sexual advances. Male and female participants listened to an audio recording of a date rape vignette and signaled when the man should stop making sexual advances. Relative to participants in the no-boundary condition, participants who heard a discussion including a sexual boundary before intimate physical contact occurred displayed significantly shorter latencies to identify the inappropriateness of the man's behavior. No significant difference was observed between male and female participants.

Brief report: sluggish cognitive tempo among pediatric survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to assess sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) behavioral symptoms among pediatric survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to determine the relationship of these behaviors with cognitive late effects. METHODS: ALL survivors (n = 80) and a sibling control group (n = 19) were administered intelligence (IQ) testing, achievement testing and SCT behavioral items. Group differences (patients vs. siblings) were examined on the SCT behaviors and partial correlations were conducted to explore the relationship of the SCT behaviors with IQ and achievement, while controlling for age at treatment and time since treatment. RESULTS: ALL survivors exhibited significantly more SCT symptoms than the sibling control group and increased SCT symptoms were associated with lower IQ and achievement scores. CONCLUSIONS: ALL survivors are vulnerable to SCT symptoms and these behaviors are associated with cognitive late effects. SCT symptoms may represent a behavioral component of cognitive late effects.

Selective mutism and anxiety: a review of the current conceptualization of the disorder.

Selective mutism (SM) is a rare and interesting condition that has been associated with a wide variety of childhood psychiatric conditions. Historically viewed as more of an oddity than a distinct diagnostic entity, early conceptualizations of the condition were based largely on case studies that tended to link SM with oppositional behavior. More recently, controlled studies have enhanced our understanding of SM. This review summarizes the current conceptualization of SM, highlighting evidence supporting the notion that SM is an anxiety-related condition.

An examination of sexual violence against college women.

This investigation examined college women's experiences with unwanted sexual contact. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing the incidence of various types of forced sexual contact the women had experienced since enrolling in college. Demographic and situational variables associated with these incidents of sexual violence were also obtained. It was observed that since enrolling in college, 27% of the sample had experienced unwanted sexual contact ranging from kissing and petting to oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse. Type of sexual violence, perpetrator characteristics, and racial differences regarding types of unwanted sexual contact were examined. The implications of the data are discussed.

Biased attentional behavior in childhood anxiety. A review of theory and current empirical investigation.

This review examines the state of current theory and research regarding a relatively new area of study in childhood anxiety: the examination of attentional biases associated with the processing of threatening environmental stimuli. In particular, this paper focuses upon current attempts to extend an information processing framework traditionally associated with childhood psychopathology (i.e., Crick & Dodge [Psychol Bull 115 (1994) 74]) and anxiety-related attentional bias research previously conducted only with adults, to populations of anxious children. First, a thorough discussion of Crick and Dodge's model and its applicability to current theories of anxiety is presented. Although each stage of Crick and Dodge's model is shown to possess correlates with current conceptualizations of anxiety, the research investigations reviewed here focus upon the multiple approaches that have been undertaken to better comprehend anxious children's attentional biases in encoding and subsequent task performance decrements. Specifically, recent investigations of anxious children's attentional performance utilizing Stroop tasks, probe detection tasks, and the relatively new probe localization task are reviewed. A discussion of the disparate findings associated with recent studies of each of these tasks is given, with an eye toward the need to specify the developmental, theoretical, demographic, and clinically relevant characteristics associated with the biased attentional behavior observed among highly anxious children.