Studies of suicide
Today, I present summaries of three studies related to suicide. First, Pollak, Cheek, Rudolph, Hastings, Nock, & Prinstein (2023) published “Social Problem-Solving and Suicidal Behavior in Adolescent Girls: A prospective examination of proximal and distal social stress-related risk factors” in Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Adverse social experiences are often linked to suicidal behavior in adolescence, perhaps particularly for girls. Social problem-solving abilities may indicate more or less adaptive responses to adverse social experiences that contribute to adolescent girls’ risk for suicidal behavior.
Studies of loneliness and social anxiety
I remember when Bowling Alone was a major book to read in 2000. This first study, completed almost a quarter century later, is a scary follow-up. Infurna, Dey, Gonzalez Avilés, Grimm, Lachman & Gerstorf (2024) published “Loneliness in Midlife: Historical increases and elevated levels in the United States compared with Europe” in American Psychologist. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Loneliness is gaining attention globally as a public health issue because elevated loneliness increases one’s risk for depression, compromised immunity, chronic illness, and mortality.
Two studies using the AMPD
I’ve written about the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) before. Here, I address two more studies. First, Maffly-Kipp & Morey (2024) published “Comparing the DSM-5 Categorical Model of Personality Disorders and the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders Regarding Clinician Judgments of Risk and Outcome” in Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Here’s the edited abstract:
The goal of this study was to compare the predictive validity of the alternative model for personality disorders (AMPD) versus the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) Section II categorical model regarding clinician judgments about mental health outcomes.
Maternal autonomy support in adolescence
Here, we look at two studies of autonomy support in adolescence. First, Ratelle, Plamondon, Litalien & Duchesne (2024) published “Developmental Trajectories of Mother–Adolescent Agreement on Maternal Autonomy Support and Their Contributions to Adolescents’ Adjustment” in Journal of Family Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:
Based on a multi-informant, longitudinal perspective on parent–adolescent relationships, this study examined patterns of convergence and divergence on maternal autonomy support.
Childhood trauma, psychopathy, and psychopathology
Today, I examine two studies of childhood trauma. First, Garofalo, Delvecchio, Bogaerts, Sellbom & Mazzeschi (2024) published “Childhood Trauma and Psychopathy: The moderating role of resilience” in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Treating Borderline Personality Disorder
Today, I look at three studies of treatment approaches to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) so it’s a longer than usual post. First, Crotty, et al. (2023) published “Psychotherapies for the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder: A systematic review” in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. This is available as open source full text for those who want to read the entire article, but here are the edited details I found most pertinent:
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the most common personality disorder, affecting 1.8% of the general population, 10% of psychiatric outpatients, and 15%–25% of psychiatric inpatients.
A tripartite model of the psychotherapy relationship
Today, I address two articles looking at this tripartite model. I am presenting the earlier one first.
Gelso, C. J., & Samstag, L. W. (2008). A tripartite model of the therapeutic relationship. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (4th ed., pp. 267–283). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Here’s the edited abstract:
It is an understatement to say that there are many ways of framing the relationship that exists between a client and therapist in counseling and psychotherapy.
Consequences of sexual abuse
Today, I address two studies related to effects of sexual abuse. First, So, LaVoy, Harmouch & Alfano (2023) published “Objective and Subjective Sleep Patterns and Biomarkers of Stress among Women with a History of Sexual Abuse in Childhood” in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) and sleep disturbance into adulthood.
The problem of stagnant psychological reports
Today, I present a single article but one that I think is important. Eriksen & Cormier (2024) published “Considering Ethical Obligations to Overcome Stagnant Psychological Report-Writing Practices” in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. Here are the abstract and impact statements with slight editing and some information in bold:
Psychologists have a duty of care to provide accurate evaluation results for the clients they serve. This expectation also includes communicating the results and related treatment recommendations in an understandable manner for the referred client, as well as those involved in their care.
Social and emotional skills in children with autism spectrum disorders
The number of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders has been steadily increasing. Today, I present two studies related to children’s functioning in school. First, Pereira, Hamsho, Susilo, Famolare, Blacher & Eisenhower (2023) published “Longitudinal Associations Between Internalizing Behaviors and Social Skills for Autistic Students During the Early School Years” in School Psychology. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Autistic students experience greater social difficulties and heightened internalizing behaviors (e.g., anxiety, depression, withdrawal)
Effects of Intimate Partner Violence
Today, I examine three studies related to intimate partner violence (IPV), looking first at effects of trauma exposure. Stein, Galano, Grogan-Kaylor, Clark, Hall & Graham-Bermann (2023) published “Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Across 8 Years: Contributions of the posttraumatic stress symptom domains” in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Here are the edited abstract and impact statements:
Although much remains unknown about what creates risk for women’s intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization across time, trauma exposure and mental health are likely contributors.
Challenges for immigrant families
Professionals today more frequently encounter clients who come from immigrant families. Today, I present two studies that offer different perspectives on the challenges such clients may face. First, Eltanamly, Leijten, Roekel & Overbeek (2023) published, “Postmigration Stress Compromises Refugee Parents’ Self-Efficacy and Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: An experience sampling study” in Journal of Family Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:
Helping White parents do better
As we move toward being a majority minority nation, it’s important to continue to examine ways to reduce racial bias. Here, I present three studies that may be helpful. First, Xu et al. (2023) published “White Children's Prosocial Behavior Toward White Versus Black Peers: The Role of Children's Effortful Control and Parents' Implicit Racial Attitudes” in Child Development. Here’s the edited abstract:
White children's effortful control (EC), parents' implicit racial attitudes, and their interaction were examined as predictors of children's prosocial behavior toward White versus Black recipients
Loneliness
Loneliness has been of considerable concern, especially since the COVID epidemic. These two studies may be helpful to those who work with clients who report being lonely. First, Lemay, Jr., Cutri & Teneva (2024) published “How Loneliness Undermines Close Relationships and Persists Over Time: The role of perceived regard and care” in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract:
Understanding depression
Depression has been seen as increasing across the lifespan. Today, I present three recent studies I found helpful. First, Hu, Mizrahi Lakan, Kalokerinos & Tamir (2024) published “Stuck with the Foot on the Pedal: Depression and motivated emotion regulation in daily life” in Emotion. Here’s the edited abstract:
Adverse childhood experiences and adult functioning
I have been writing about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) since the very beginning of this blog. Here, I look at research on adults. First, Turgoose & Murphy (2024) published “Adverse Childhood Experiences in a Clinical Sample of U.K. Military Veterans” in Traumatology. Here’s a highly edited summary:
Predicting Alzheimer's disease
This is another long post with studies utilizing diverse methodologies. First, Frei et al. (2022) published “Can You Find It? Novel oddity detection task for the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease” in Neuropsychology. The edited abstract and impact statements follow:
We aimed to develop a measure to specifically assess the functioning of the perirhinal cortex (PRC), a brain structure affected very early in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology.
Studies of sibling relationships
Many researchers have observed that the sibling relationship is often the longest relationship an individual has across the lifespan. Here, I present three articles addressing the complexity of sibling relationships. First, van Berkel, Groeneveld, van der Pol, Linting & Mesman (2022) published “Growing Up Together: Differences between siblings in the development of compliance separating within-family and between-family effects” in Developmental Psychology. Here’s the edited abstract and impact statement:
Recent studies of sleep
This is a longer than usual post because I am presenting four recent studies of sleep. First,
Palmer et al. (2023) published “Sleep Loss and Emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research” in Psychological Bulletin. The first sentence had my attention:
In a largely sleep-deprived society, quantifying the effects of sleep loss on emotion is critical for promoting psychological health.
Childhood maltreatment and maternal sensitivity to distress
Today, I am again looking at parenting of infants. Girod, Leerkes & Zvara (2023) published “Childhood Maltreatment Predicts Maternal Sensitivity to Distress: Negative attributions during the transition to parenthood” in Journal of Family Psychology. Here’s the abstract:
Childhood maltreatment is a predictor of subsequent parenting behaviors; however, the mechanisms explaining this association have been understudied.