17 research outputs found

    Distorted Cognitive Processing in Youth: The Structure of Negative Cognitive Errors and Their Associations with Anxiety

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    The Childrenā€™s Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ) is commonly used to measure four errors in young peopleā€™s thinking, but research has failed to support the factorial validity of the measure. The primary objective of the present study was to examine the factor structure of a refined and extended version of the CNCEQ. Revision of the CNCEQ involved the exclusion of items rated as contaminated, and the addition of items measuring cognitive errors closely associated with anxiety (ā€˜threat conclusionā€™ and ā€˜underestimation of the ability to copeā€™). A secondary objective was to determine the relation between the negative cognitive errors and anxiety. Principal component analysis of data from 481 children and adolescents indicated five distinct negative cognitive error subscales labeled ā€˜underestimation of the ability to copeā€™, ā€˜personalizing without mind readingā€™, ā€˜selective abstractionā€™, ā€˜overgeneralizingā€™, and ā€˜mind readingā€™ which contained the new ā€˜threat conclusionā€™ items. Confirmatory factor analysis in an independent sample of 295 children and adolescents yielded further support for the five-factor solution. All cognitive errors except ā€˜selective abstractionā€™ were correlated with anxiety. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the strongest predictors of anxiety were the two subscales containing new items, namely ā€˜underestimation of the ability to copeā€™ and ā€˜mind readingā€™. The results are discussed with respect to further development of the instrument so as to advance the assessment of distorted cognitive processing in young people with internalizing symptoms

    The plasticity of adolescent cognitions: Data from a novel cognitive bias modification training task.

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    Many adult anxiety problems emerge in adolescence. Investigating how adolescent anxiety arises and abates is critical for understanding and preventing adult psychiatric problems. Drawing threat interpretations from ambiguous material is linked to adolescent anxiety but little research has clarified the causal nature of this relationship. Work in adults using Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I) training show that manipulating negative interpretational style alters negative affect. Conversely, 'boosting' positive interpretations improves affect. Here, we extend CBM-I investigations to adolescents. Thirty-nine adolescents (13-18 years), varying in trait anxiety and self-efficacy, were randomly allocated to receive positive or negative training. Training-congruent differences emerged for subsequent interpretation style. Induced negative biases predicted a decline in positive affect in low self-efficacious adolescents only. Tentatively, our data suggest that cognitive biases predict adolescent affective symptoms in vulnerable individuals. The acquisition of positive cognitions through training has implications for prevention

    Journalism, accountability and the possibilities for structural critique: A case study of coverage of whistleblowing

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    This article looks at the coverage of whistleblowers in the UK national press as a way of examining practices of journalistic accountability. Based on a content analysis of newspaper coverage in the period from 1997 to 2009, the study demonstrates, first of all, that whistleblowing is viewed as newsworthy and is taken seriously by the media, who mostly cover whistleblowers in neutral or positive ways. Nevertheless, the acts of whistleblowing which receive most media attention fit with the existing news agenda and prevailing social and economic trends. We further suggest that journalistic story-telling constructs narratives of whistleblowers as heroic, selfless individuals to establish the legitimacy of their claims of systemic wrongdoing in the public interest. Thus, our study ultimately demonstrates that the forms of accountability and systemic critique enabled by whistleblowing stories operate in complex and historically contingent ways
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