The power of presentation: How attire, cosmetics, and posture impact the source credibility of women expert witnesses

Gender stereotypes may negatively affect perceptions of women professionals' credibility, including forensic experts. This study investigated the impact of behavior-based and appearance-based factors on women expert witness's credibility. Jury-eligible adults were shown one of 16 conditions depicting a woman expert which varied based on combinations of three primary independent variables: (1) attire, (2) cosmetic use, and (3) posture. Expert attractiveness and participants' sexist attitudes served as covariates. Results revealed that women experts were seen as marginally more credible when wearing a skirt suit with a closed posture stance than when wearing a pant suit with a closed posture. Secondary analyses indicated expert attractiveness and participant sexist attitudes accounted for the most variability in credibility scores. Credibility of women expert witnesses may be impacted by irrelevant peripheral cues. Findings can inform discussions aimed at mitigating extraneous factors that inadvertently undermine the reception of women expert witness testimony.

Changing criminal thinking: An examination of heterogeneity in treatment effects in a sample of justice-involved persons with dual diagnoses

Recent studies have indicated variable reductions in criminal thinking for justice-involved persons with mental illness exposed to cognitive-behavioral treatments. To date, however, no studies have identified risk factors for limited response or modeled observed disparities in responsivity to interventions aimed at reducing criminal thinking. Using an archival data set of 162 probationers with a dual diagnosis who were exposed to changing lives and changing outcomes, a latent profile analysis modeled unobserved heterogeneity in treatment response per observed changes in criminal thinking. Most participants endorsed significant changes in self-reported reactive criminal thinking with minimal changes in proactive criminal thinking. Neither self-reported pretreatment severity of psychopathology nor self-reported compliance with psychotropic medication predicted response to treatment. Although diagnosis also did not predict responsiveness, more favorable views of treatment predicted greater decreases in criminal thinking. Moreover, those expressing fewer levels of criminal thinking after treatment were also found to express a decrease in attitudes supportive of violence. Limitations and treatment recommendations are discussed, including the need for correctional treatments to improve responsiveness to individual treatment needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Internalization of Behavior Management Skills among Teachers in a Specialized School Serving Students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Prior studies suggest that the fidelity of teachers' implementation of behavior management practices in the classroom diminish over time. Establishing how long it takes teachers to fully learn and sustain their independent use of these skills may aid in addressing implementation drift. The primary goals of this pilot study were twofold: (1) determine how long it takes teachers employed at a school serving students with Neurodevelopmental Disorders to internalize evidence-based behavior management practices (i.e., positive reinforcement, direct commands), and (2) establish whether some skills take longer than others for teachers to internalize. We also had the opportunity to evaluate whether a pre-determined threshold of skill internalization (e.g., 50% increase in skill use for three consecutive weeks) as defined in the extant literature translates into sustained skill implementation. Our results suggest that the length of standard teacher trainings may not be adequate given upwards of 2 months is required for the internalization of one skill and the time needed to reach internalization is dependent upon the skill taught and may deviate by at least 2 weeks across skills. However, given the variability observed in teachers' implementation of skills following internalization, this pre-determined threshold of skill internalization may be insufficient and requires further examination in future studies.

Actor perspective and moral reasoning: Do levels of criminal thinking moderate this relationship among non-criminals?

A large body of literature has explored moral decision-making; however, fewer have examined the explicit role of criminal thinking (CT). This study sought to determine whether moral judgment is influenced by CT in the general population and if this relationship further depends on the type of scenario (i.e., immoral vs. illegal) and/or the actor orientation (i.e., self vs. other). Using a sample of 239 U.S. adults and hypothetical case vignettes, results showed that those who endorsed higher levels of CT rated socially deviant behaviors, regardless of the type of scenario, as significantly more morally acceptable than participants who endorsed lower levels of CT. However, this difference was more pronounced for the immoral dilemma compared to the illegal dilemma. Specifically, proactive CT processes led to higher justification for the immoral dilemma. Neither general nor reactive CT were significantly associated with moral reasoning for the illegal dilemma. Among a mostly non-offending sample, this finding makes sense as it appears participants' levels of criminal thinking may have been high enough to rationalize an immoral dilemma but not so high as to allow for rationalization of an illegal dilemma. No significant differences were found concerning actor orientation. This research not only has important implications for better understanding traits associated with moral decision-making in everyday choices, but it may also have practical application in legal contexts. However, further research is needed in these contexts. Findings were also limited by a lack of racial diversity among participants.

Protective Behavioral Strategies Mediate the Relationship between Overparenting and Alcohol-Related Consequences among College Students

The negative consequences associated with alcohol misuse remain a concern on college campuses nationwide. Alcohol protective behavioral strategies are important factors in mitigating college students' experiences of alcohol-related negative consequences. Overparenting, or "helicopter parenting," is a form of over-involved parenting which has been associated with a range of substance use concerns in college students. The mechanism by which overparenting is associated with alcohol use and/or consequences is unclear; however, it may be partially explained by failure to engage in the use of protective behavioral strategies. Purpose/objectives: The current study explored the degree to which alcohol protective behavioral strategies mediated the relationship between overparenting and alcohol-related negative consequences when accounting for alcohol consumption and if these associations were invariant across race and gender. Methods: Participants were 625 traditional age college students who consumed alcohol within the 30 days prior to completing measures of alcohol consumption, overparenting, alcohol-related negative consequences, and alcohol protective behavioral strategies. Results: Alcohol protective behavioral strategies, specifically manner of drinking, partially mediated the relationship between overparenting and alcohol-related negative consequences when accounting for alcohol misuse. There were no differences noted across gender, but the models were found to be invariant across White and African American participants in relation to the protective value of alcohol protective behavioral strategies. Conclusion/Importance: Overparenting may relate to negative alcohol outcomes in part through less use of harm reduction strategies. More investigation into the value of alcohol protective behavioral strategies across race is needed.

Development of the Impact of a Preschool Obesity Prevention Intervention Enhanced With Positive Behavioral Supports for Mississippi Head Start Centers

OBJECTIVE

To describe the methodology of the Impact of a Preschool Obesity Prevention intervention enhanced with positive behavioral supports.

DESIGN

The social ecological model serves as the conceptual framework for this study, which has a within- and between-subjects design with an intervention group and a delayed intervention control group. This 3-year project will use formative methods to pretest materials in Year 1, collect data pre- and postintervention with a follow-up at 4 months in Years 2 and 3, and conduct summative and process evaluation in Year 3.

SETTING

Head Start centers in Southern and East-Central Mississippi counties.

PARTICIPANTS

Three hundred parents with 3-year-old children enrolled in 9 Head Start centers (53 classrooms) and 75 Head Start teachers.

INTERVENTIONS

During Year 2, Hip Hop to Health Jr., Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports will be implemented.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Primary outcomes include changes in parenting and teacher practices. Secondary outcomes include parent feeding styles as well as weight status and dietary intake. Variables will be measured using anthropometrics and validated surveys.

ANALYSIS

The primary analysis will be a multilevel 2 × 3 mixed ANOVA.

Detecting Potential Underreporting of Suicide Ideation Among U.S. Military Personnel

Using a military sample comprised largely of National Guard personnel, zero-inflation negative binomial regression was applied to estimate the effects of indirect, nonface valid indicators of suicide ideation [Thwarted Belongingness (TB), Perceived Burdensomeness (PB), and Hopelessness], in predicting suicide ideation. Data from a sample of 497 military personnel (82.1% male; m_age  = 27.24; range = 18-59) were analyzed. TB and the interaction of TB with Hopelessness were significant predictors in the logistic regression, and in the negative binomial regression, the main effects of TB and hopelessness, and the interactions of TB with hopelessness and PB with hopelessness were significant. The findings further indicated that approximately 10% of those not reporting ideation would be predicted to be ideators. Clinically, these results indicate that, in samples reluctant to report ideation, the assessment of suicide risk may improve through the use of relevant measures that do not explicitly reference suicide thoughts.

Psychometric evaluation of the drinking refusal self-efficacy scale - revised with college students in the United States

Drinking refusal self-efficacy has recently emerged as a potential factor related to reduced alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences in college students. The Drinking Refusal Self-Efficacy Questionnaire-Revised (DRSEQ-R) has been commonly used to assess for drinking refusal self-efficacy. However, psychometric evaluation of the measure with college students from the United States is needed to enhance its research and clinical utility. The goal of the present study was to confirm the factor structure of the DRSEQ-R with a sample of traditional aged college students from the United States as well as assess the measurement invariance of the factor structure across sex and race and the measure's convergent validity with other common alcohol use measures. Traditional age college students (n = 1683, 73% women; 63% White, non-Hispanic) completed measures of drink refusal self-efficacy, protective behavioral strategies, weekly alcohol use, hazardous drinking, and alcohol-related negative consequences. Using exploratory factor analysis and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, a three-factor structure was identified, but, unlike the DRSEQ-R, one item loaded onto the opportunistic relief factor instead of the social pressure factor. The proposed model registered more reliable internal consistencies across the subscales, was invariant across sex and race, and demonstrated acceptable convergent validity with other commonly used alcohol measures. The proposed model for the DRSE-R may be a more psychometrically sound way to assess for drinking refusal self-efficacy among college students in the United States. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Identifying At-Risk College Student Drinkers With the AUDIT-US: A Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve Analysis

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) is the gold standard screening measure. Recently, there has been increasing call to update the measure to reflect harmful drinking standards in the United States. The purpose of this study was to use receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to evaluate the AUDIT and the United States version (AUDIT-US). Participants were 382 traditional age (M = 20.2, SD = 1.5) college students (68.7% female, 64.9% White) who had consumed alcohol at least once in the 30 days prior to participating. Although results provide evidence for the AUDIT and the AUDIT-US as valid screening tools, the Consumption subscale of the AUDIT-US performed the best in predicting at-risk college drinkers. The Consumption subscale of the AUDIT-US with a single cutoff score of four appears to be the optimal and most parsimonious method of identifying at-risk college drinkers.

Measuring Client Experiences of Motivational Interviewing during a Lifestyle Intervention

The Client Evaluation of Motivational Interviewing was used to assess MI experiences in a predominantly female, African American sample from the Southeastern U.S. who received MI-based feedback during a multi-component lifestyle intervention. MI was experienced differently than a primarily White, male, Northeastern mental health sample.

Harmful alcohol use and alcohol-related sex expectancies as predictors of risky sex among african american female college drinkers

African American college women are experiencing sex-related negative consequences at alarming rates. Alcohol use and alcohol-related sex expectancies are predictors of risky sexual behavior among college women; however, African American college women are often underrepresented in empirical studies. The purpose of the present study was to examine the link between alcohol-related sex expectancies (i.e., enhancement, sexual risk taking, and disinhibition expectancies), alcohol use, and risky sexual behavior among a sample of 222 sexually active African American female college drinkers. Participants completed measures assessing alcohol-related sex expectancies, typical weekly drinking, harmful alcohol use, and risky sexual behavior. Results indicated that combined sexual risk taking and disinhibition alcohol-related sex expectancies predicted both typical weekly drinking and harmful alcohol use. In addition, enhancement alcohol-related sex expectancies and harmful alcohol use predicted risky sexual behavior; however, typical weekly drinking did not. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Testing the main hypotheses of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior in a large diverse sample of United States military personnel

BACKGROUND

Preliminary data indicate the suicide rate in the United States military decreased in 2013, but the National Guard saw a continued increase.

METHOD

We examined the utility of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS) in a sample of US military personnel drawn largely from the National Guard (n=934; 77.7% male; 59.5% white).

RESULTS

Results indicated the interaction of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness predicted suicidal ideation and resolved plans and preparations for suicide. In each case, risk was greatest at higher levels of both predictors. Furthermore, results indicated the interaction of thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability for suicide predicted prior suicide attempts. In this interaction term, the relationship between suicidal desire (thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness) and suicide attempts was significant and positive only at high levels of acquired capability. All analyses were cross-sectional.

CONCLUSIONS

Results indicate the IPTS may be useful for conceptualizing suicide risk in the National Guard.

Psychosocial constructs and postintervention changes in physical activity and dietary outcomes in a lifestyle intervention, HUB City Steps, 2010

INTRODUCTION

Although modifications to dietary and physical activity (PA) behavior can reduce blood pressure, racial disparities in prevalence and control of hypertension persist. Psychosocial constructs (PSCs) of self-regulation, processes of change, and social support are associated with initiation and maintenance of PA in African Americans; which PSCs best predict lifestyle behavior changes is unclear. This study's objective was to examine relationships among PSC changes and postintervention changes in PA and dietary outcomes in a community-based, multicomponent lifestyle intervention.

METHODS

This study was a noncontrolled, pre/post experimental intervention conducted in a midsized, Southern US city in 2010. Primarily African American adults (n = 269) participated in a 6-month intervention consisting of motivational enhancement, social support, pedometer diary self-monitoring, and 5 education sessions. Outcome measures included pedometer-determined steps per day, fitness, dietary intake, and PSC measures. Generalized linear mixed models were used to test for postintervention changes in behavioral outcomes, identify predictors of PSC changes, and determine if PSC changes predicted changes in PA and diet.

RESULTS

Postintervention changes were apparent for 10 of 24 PSCs (P < .05). Processes of change components, including helping relationships, reinforcement management, and consciousness raising, were significant predictors of fitness change (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

This article is among the first to address how measures of several theoretical frameworks of behavior change influence changes in PA and dietary outcomes in a multicomponent, community-based, lifestyle intervention conducted with African American adults. Findings reported identify PSC factors on which health behavior interventions can focus.

Zebrafish and conditioned place preference: a translational model of drug reward

Addiction and substance abuse are found ubiquitously throughout human society. In the United States, these disorders are responsible for amassing hundreds of billions of dollars in annual costs associated with healthcare, crime and lost productivity. Efficacious treatments remain few in number, the development of which will be facilitated by comprehension of environmental, genetic, pharmacological and neurobiological mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of addiction. Animal models such as the zebrafish (Danio rerio) have gained momentum within various domains of translational research, and as a model of complex brain disorders (e.g., drug abuse). Behavioral quantification within the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm serves as a measure of the rewarding qualities of a given substance. If the animal develops an increase in preference for the drug paired environment, it is inferred that the drug has positive-reinforcing properties. This paper discusses the utility of the zebrafish model in conjunction with the CPP paradigm and reports CPP behavior following acute exposure to 0.0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, and 1.00% alcohol, and 0 mg/L, 50 mg/L, 100 mg/L and 150 mg/L caffeine.

Social anxiety symptoms and drinking behaviors among college students: the mediating effects of drinking motives

The impact of social anxiety on negative alcohol-related behaviors among college students has been studied extensively. Drinking motives are considered the most proximal indicator of college student drinking behavior. The current study examined the mediating role of drinking motives in the relationship that social anxiety symptoms have with problematic (alcohol consumption, harmful drinking, and negative consequences) and safe (protective behavioral strategies) drinking behaviors. Participants were 532 undergraduates who completed measures of social anxiety, drinking motives, alcohol use, harmful drinking patterns, negative consequences of alcohol use, and protective behavioral strategy use. Our results show that students with higher levels of social anxiety symptoms who were drinking for enhancement motives reported more harmful drinking and negative consequences, and used fewer protective behavioral strategies. Thus, students who were drinking to increase their positive mood were participating in more problematic drinking patterns compared with students reporting fewer social anxiety symptoms. Further, conformity motives partially mediated the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and negative consequences. Thus, students with more symptoms of social anxiety who were drinking in order to be accepted by their peers were more likely than others to experience negative consequences. Clinical and research implications are discussed.

Alcohol consumption and negative sex-related consequences among college women: the moderating role of alcohol protective behavioral strategies

Alcohol protective behavioral strategies (PBS) limit overall negative consequences; however, less is known about the relationship between PBS and negative sex-related consequences. The purpose of the current study was to examine the moderating effects of 2 distinct types of PBS-controlled consumption strategies and serious harm reduction strategies-on the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol-related risky sexual behavior and sexual victimization. Participants were 459 undergraduate women (ages 18-25) who had consumed alcohol within the past 30 days. Both types of PBS significantly qualified the alcohol-sexual victimization link, but neither type of PBS qualified the alcohol-risky sexual behavior link.