Volume 10, Issue 1, January-December 2023
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The moderating roles of resilience and social support in the relationships between bullying victimization and well‐being among Chinese adolescents: Evidence from PISA 2018
Abstract
Bullying victimization can undermine adolescents' well-being. However, few studies have comprehensively investigated the contributions of various victimization forms to well-being and compared which forms were more harmful than others. Evidence on whether resilience and social support moderate such associations is also limited. Using a sample of 12,058 Chinese adolescents in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, this cross-sectional study aimed to (1) investigate the associations of physical, verbal and relational victimization with well-being; (2) compare the strengths of these associations; and (3) examine the moderating roles of resilience and teacher and parent support in these associations. Results showed that three victimization forms were associated with poorer well-being. Relational and physical victimization were more harmful to most studied well-being outcomes than verbal victimization. Furthermore, resilience weakened the negative effects of physical victimization on negative affect and life satisfaction but aggravated the negative effects of verbal victimization on both outcomes and the negative effect of relational victimization on school belonging. Teacher support intensified the negative effects of physical victimization on school belonging. Parent support was not effective in regulating the victimization–well-being association. The findings underscored the detrimental effects of bullying victimization on adolescents' well-being and the potentially harmful sides of resilience and social support. Implications for bullying prevention were discussed.
Introductory editorial to the special issue: Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and cognitive functioning along the Alzheimer’s continuum
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Integrating Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy With Compassion-Focused Therapy for the Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder: An Evidence-Based Case Study
Clinical Case Studies, Ahead of Print.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for social anxiety disorder that has been found to elicit significant changes in process-based mechanisms (e.g., emotion regulation strategies), which subsequently lead to reductions in social anxiety and associated functional impairment; however, CBT may be less effective for socially anxious individuals experiencing high self-criticism and low self-compassion. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) has been used to address these tendencies in socially anxious individuals, but research in this area is limited. The present case study examined changes in social anxiety symptoms, self-compassion, emotion regulation strategies, and functional impairment throughout the course of treatment with a young, Chinese American woman using a novel integration of CBT and CFT for social anxiety disorder. The client experienced significant reductions in social anxiety and functional impairment across treatment, which was accompanied by reductions in fear and avoidance ratings for feared social scenarios. Significant mechanistic changes were also observed, including decreases in maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., suppression, rumination) and increases in self-compassion and adaptive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., expressive engagement, cognitive reappraisal). Findings support the efficacy of integrating compassion-focused strategies with CBT for social anxiety for a young adult with prominent tendencies of self-criticism and low self-compassion.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for social anxiety disorder that has been found to elicit significant changes in process-based mechanisms (e.g., emotion regulation strategies), which subsequently lead to reductions in social anxiety and associated functional impairment; however, CBT may be less effective for socially anxious individuals experiencing high self-criticism and low self-compassion. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) has been used to address these tendencies in socially anxious individuals, but research in this area is limited. The present case study examined changes in social anxiety symptoms, self-compassion, emotion regulation strategies, and functional impairment throughout the course of treatment with a young, Chinese American woman using a novel integration of CBT and CFT for social anxiety disorder. The client experienced significant reductions in social anxiety and functional impairment across treatment, which was accompanied by reductions in fear and avoidance ratings for feared social scenarios. Significant mechanistic changes were also observed, including decreases in maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., suppression, rumination) and increases in self-compassion and adaptive emotion regulation strategies (i.e., expressive engagement, cognitive reappraisal). Findings support the efficacy of integrating compassion-focused strategies with CBT for social anxiety for a young adult with prominent tendencies of self-criticism and low self-compassion.
The relationship between semantic and episodic memory: evidence from a case of severe anterograde amnesia
Life motion signals bias the perception of apparent motion direction
Abstract
Walking direction conveyed by biological motion (BM) cues, which humans are highly sensitive to since birth, can elicit involuntary shifts of attention to enhance the detection of static targets. Here, we demonstrated that such intrinsic sensitivity to walking direction could also modulate the direction perception of simultaneously presented dynamic stimuli. We showed that the perceived direction of apparent motion was biased towards the walking direction even though observers had been informed in advance that the walking direction of BM did not predict the apparent motion direction. In particular, rightward BM cues had an advantage over leftward BM cues in altering the perception of motion direction. Intriguingly, this perceptual bias disappeared when BM cues were shown inverted, or when the critical biological characteristics were removed from the cues. Critically, both the perceptual direction bias and the rightward advantage persisted even when only local BM cues were presented without any global configuration. Furthermore, the rightward advantage was found to be specific to social cues (i.e., BM), as it vanished when non-social cues (i.e., arrows) were utilized. Taken together, these findings support the existence of a specific processing mechanism for life motion signals and shed new light on their influences in a dynamic environment.
Self- reported and informal caregiver proxy-reported met needs in persons living with dementia are associated with lower health-related quality of life: a dyadic, cross-sectional study
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Early childhood sleep quantity, but not caregiver-reported sleep problems, predicts impulse control in children at age 8 years
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Environmental predictors of children’s executive functioning development
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A Transdiagnostic Prevention Support Group for Caregivers of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Example
Clinical Case Studies, Ahead of Print.
Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression compared to caregivers of neurotypical children. The high levels of stress and the prevalence of emotional disorders experienced by caregivers may negatively impact their capacity and confidence to effectively manage their child’s complex emotional and behavioral needs. Given these demands, caregivers of children with ASD require additional support to improve their psychological well-being and parenting self-efficacy. While support programs and treatments for children and adolescents with ASD are abundant, prevention programs that specifically targeted the emotional well-being of caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic were limited. In this case paper, we describe Coping Options for Parent Empowerment (COPE), a prevention program for parents adapted from the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adults, Children, and Adolescents developed during the pandemic. To alleviate the stressors faced by caregivers during the pandemic and beyond, including increased caregiving responsibilities and financial difficulties, Project COPE targeted parent anxiety and depression through four brief, telehealth group sessions provided free of cost for caregivers of school-age children with ASD. In the case example presented, decreases in anxiety and depression, and increases in parent self-efficacy were reported after completing this program. Key insights about the intervention’s feasibility and content reported by parents are described. Findings suggest that the intervention removes some treatment access barriers typically seen in caregivers of children with ASD during and following the pandemic and that the program can be modified to increase engagement and acceptability.
Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression compared to caregivers of neurotypical children. The high levels of stress and the prevalence of emotional disorders experienced by caregivers may negatively impact their capacity and confidence to effectively manage their child’s complex emotional and behavioral needs. Given these demands, caregivers of children with ASD require additional support to improve their psychological well-being and parenting self-efficacy. While support programs and treatments for children and adolescents with ASD are abundant, prevention programs that specifically targeted the emotional well-being of caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic were limited. In this case paper, we describe Coping Options for Parent Empowerment (COPE), a prevention program for parents adapted from the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Adults, Children, and Adolescents developed during the pandemic. To alleviate the stressors faced by caregivers during the pandemic and beyond, including increased caregiving responsibilities and financial difficulties, Project COPE targeted parent anxiety and depression through four brief, telehealth group sessions provided free of cost for caregivers of school-age children with ASD. In the case example presented, decreases in anxiety and depression, and increases in parent self-efficacy were reported after completing this program. Key insights about the intervention’s feasibility and content reported by parents are described. Findings suggest that the intervention removes some treatment access barriers typically seen in caregivers of children with ASD during and following the pandemic and that the program can be modified to increase engagement and acceptability.