Look Who's Talking: Pre-Verbal Infants’ Perception of Face-to-Face and Back-to-Back Social Interactions

Four-, 6-, and 11-month old infants were presented with movies in which two adult actors conversed about everyday events, either by facing each other or looking in opposite directions. Infants from 6 months of age made more gaze shifts between the actors, in accordance with the flow of conversation, when the actors were facing each other. A second experiment demonstrated that gaze following alone did not cause this difference. Instead the results are consistent with a social cognitive interpretation, suggesting that infants perceive the difference between face-to-face and back-to-back conversations and that they prefer to attend to a typical pattern of social interaction from 6 months of age

Childhood experiences of companion animal abuse and its co-occurrence with domestic abuse: Evidence from a national youth survey in Norway

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Childhood experiences of companion animal abuse and its co-occurrence with domestic abuse: Evidence from a national youth survey in Norway

It is increasingly acknowledged that companion animal abuse often occurs in the same contexts as other types of abuse, particularly domestic abuse. However, the co-occurrence and strengths of these associations in the general population have not been well established in research. With data from a large representative sample of Norwegian adolescents, we aimed to determine 1) the extent to which Norwegian children are exposed to companion animal abuse in the family, 2) whether and how companion animal abuse is linked to other forms of domestic abuse that children experience, and 3) background factors associated with companion animal abuse. A total of 9240 adolescents aged 12–16 years (Mage 14.7) participated in the digital school-based survey. Four percent (n = 380) reported that they had ever witnessed a parent being violent towards a family companion animal, whereas 1% (n = 125) had experienced that an adult in the household had threatened to harm a companion animal. There was a substantial overlap between companion animal abuse and child abuse, and it most frequently co-occurred with psychological abuse and less severe forms of physical child abuse. This resonates with conceptualizations of domestic abuse as an ongoing pattern of psychological abuse and coercive control. The risk factors identified for companion animal abuse in this representative sample of adolescents were similar to known risk factors for domestic abuse. Low socioeconomic status and parents’ substance abuse, parents’ psychiatric illness, and parents’ history of incarceration entailed a greater risk of experiencing companion animal abuse. We conclude that companion animal abuse co-occurs with other forms of domestic abuse and that it may be considered a part of the repertoire of domestic abuse that impacts children.publishedVersio

False Memory for Trauma-Related DRM Lists in Adolescents and Adults with Histories of Child Sexual Abuse

The purpose of the present research was to examine Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory for trauma-related and nontrauma-related lists in adolescents and adults with and without documented histories of child sexual abuse (CSA). Individual differences in psychopathology and adult attachment were also explored. Participants were administered free recall and recognition tests after hearing CSA, negative, neutral, and positive DRM lists. In free recall, CSA and negative lists produced the most false memory. In sharp contrast, for recognition, CSA lists enjoyed the highest d’ scores. CSA-group adolescents who evinced greater PTSD symptoms had higher rates of false memory compared to: 1) nonCSA-group adolescents with higher PTSD symptom scores (free recall), and 2) CSA-group adolescents with lower PTSD symptom scores (recognition). Regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher PTSD scores and greater fearful-avoidant attachment tendencies showed less proficient memory monitoring for CSA lists. Implications for trauma and memory development and for translational research are discussed

Child sexual abuse and PTSD symptoms : children's self-blame and age at abuse

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to explore the relations between self-blame attributions in child sexual abuse (CSA) victims and later post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in adulthood. Furthermore, the effect of age at abuse was examined in relation to the number of PTSD criteria met in adulthood. This research is based on a study by Goodman et al. (1992) and a follow-up study by Quas et al. (2005) conducted using a prosecution sample. Out of 218 participants, 129 completed a PTSD measure, and hence were included in the present study. Regression analyses were employed to explore relations between variables related to the abuse (relationship to perpetrator, child s sexual acts), child (age), attributions (victim s self-blame), maternal support, disclosure, and traumatization (PTSD criteria met, number of life traumas). The results indicated no significant relation between self-blame in childhood and PTSD in adulthood. However, a significant age effect emerged, indicating that older age when abuse ended was related to more PTSD symptoms in adulthood. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to previous studies findings. Limitations and directions for future research are also addressed

Affective Inhibitory Control and Risk for Internalizing Problems in Adolescents Exposed to Physical and Psychological Abuse. A Population-based Study

Background. Adolescents’ emotion regulatory capacities may modulate the relationship between childhood maltreatment experiences and psychopathology. Affective inhibitory control constitutes an important part of emotion regulation and involves the ability to regulate automatic or prepotent responses to irrelevant and potentially distracting emotional information. Aims. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of affective inhibitory control in the relationship between exposure to childhood psychological and physical abuse and internalizing problems in adolescence. Method. A nationally representative sample of adolescents (Mage/SD =14/.8) exposed to physical and psychological abuse (N = 1841; male = 964; female = 877) conducted an Emotional Go/No-go task. Participants were presented with angry facial expressions as emotional no-go stimuli in order to examine their ability to inhibit behavioral responses to threatening task-irrelevant stimuli. Results. Affective inhibitory control problems were uniquely related to internalizing problems in girls, but not in boys. Moreover, affective inhibitory control moderated the relationship between exposure to psychological abuse and internalizing problems in girls. We did not observe any relationship between inhibitory control and internalizing problems when neutral faces were presented as task-irrelevant information. Conclusion. Findings suggest that a reduced ability to inhibit threatening, but task-irrelevant, information is related to internalizing problems in adolescent girls exposed to physical and psychological abuse. This highlights the importance of affective inhibitory control as a potential moderating mechanism in individual risk for experiencing internalizing problems in abused adolescent girls

Unity or diversity of executive functioning in children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress symptoms? A systematic review and meta-analysis

For some children the psychological reactions to a traumatic event develop into severe or persistent posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) or the clinical condition of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive problems in children with PTSS have been reported, but it is not clear which specific functions are affected. Executive functions is a domain of particular interest, given its importance for academic performance and social and emotional functioning. A systematic literature search was performed and 12 studies with 55 comparisons of executive functions in children with PTSS and healthy controls were eligible for meta-analysis. A subset of the studies also included a comparison group of children with traumatic experienced but without PTSS. Overall, across all tasks and measures, children with PTSS showed lower executive functioning than healthy controls (SMD = -0.57). The effect sizes between the subdomains complex tasks, verbal fluency, inhibition, shifting and working memory were not significantly different from each other, but was largest for verbal fluency (SMD = -1.45). Analyses comparing children with traumatic experiences with and without PTSS similarly showed overall lower executive functioning in the PTSS group (SMD = -0.34) and no significant differences in effect sizes between subdomains. The results have implications for assessment and clinical work with youth exposed to traumatic events. We should be aware of the poor executive functioning that may be an issue for some children with a history of trauma and subsequent development of PTSS, and the impact this could have on everyday functioning

Unity or diversity of executive functioning in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress symptoms? A systematic review and meta-analysis

For some children, psychological reactions to a traumatic event develop into severe or persistent post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) or the clinical condition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive problems in children with PTSS have been reported, but it is not clear which specific functions are affected. Executive functions is a domain of particular interest, given its importance for academic performance and social and emotional functioning. A systematic literature search was performed, and 12 studies with 55 comparisons of executive functions in children with PTSS and healthy controls were eligible for meta-analysis. A subset of the studies also included a comparison group of children with traumatic experienced but without PTSS. Overall, across all tasks and measures, children with PTSS showed lower executive functioning than healthy controls (SMD = −0.57). The effect sizes between the subdomains complex tasks, verbal fluency, inhibition, shifting and working memory were not significantly different from each other, but was largest for verbal fluency (SMD = −1.45). Analyses comparing children with traumatic experiences with and without PTSS similarly showed overall lower executive functioning in the PTSS group (SMD = −0.34) and no significant differences in effect sizes between subdomains. The results have implications for assessment and clinical work with youth exposed to traumatic events. We should be aware of the poor executive functioning that may be an issue for some children with a history of trauma and subsequent development of PTSS, and the impact this could have on everyday functioning