Prior studies have demonstrated that a sizeable percentage of children presenting to the epilepsy monitoring unit for evaluation of paroxysmal events (seizures) are found to have non-epileptic seizures (NES) (Asano et al., 2005). The importance of identifying NES cannot be overstated since misdiagnosis often leads to treatment with antiepileptic drugs, which may have side effects that may negatively impact cognition (Chen, Chow, & Lee, 2001) and perhaps even cognitive development. While studies in adults with epilepsy or NES have demonstrated impaired executive functioning and social outcome compared to healthy peers, less work is present among pediatric populations (Cragar, Berry, Fakhoury, Cibula, & Schmitt, 2002; Rantanen, Eriksson, & Nieminen, 2012). Furthermore, research is void of information regarding social skills between these pediatric groups. The aims of this study were to examine group differences between social skills and executive functioning between pediatric epileptic and NES patients, determine if social skills predict diagnostic classification, and examine correlations between executive functioning and social skill measures. This study was conducted on the epilepsy monitoring units (EMU) at Phoenix Children's Hospital and Primary Children's Medical Center. The parent/caregiver of patients admitted to the EMU for video-EEG diagnosis of seizures was approached regarding study participation. A total of 43 children and parent/caregiver participated in this study. The NES group consisted of15 participants (67% female; M age at testing = 12.62, SD = 3.33), and the epilepsy (ES) group consisted of 28 participants (50% female, M age at testing = 11.79, SD = 3.12). Both the parents and children completed brief questionnaires measuring executive functioning and social skills. These measures included The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning, The Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, and the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales. Binomial logistic regression analysis showed social skills did not significantly predict diagnostic group. No group differences were found between children with epilepsy and NES on measures of executive functioning or social skills. Parents of both groups rated their children as having below average social skills, while children rated their social skills in the average range compared to healthy peers. Both children and parents of both groups rated their executive functioning within the average range. Executive functioning scores and social skill scores significantly correlated and regression analyses indicated that the Behavioral Regulation Index on the BRIEF significantly predicted Social Skills on the SSIS. Interpretationof results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

There is overwhelming evidence that the presence of secondary gain is an independent predictor of both performance validity and neuropsychological test outcomes. In addition, studies have demonstrated that genuine cognitive and/or psychological conditions can influence performance validity testing, both in the presence and absence of secondary gain. However, few studies have examined these factors in a large sample of academic accommodation seeking college students. The current study examined base rates of symptom validity test failure, the possibility of a “Near-Pass” intermediate group on symptom validity tests, the influence of diagnoses on performance indicators, and whether performance validity differed for “Near-Pass” patients relative to those who pass and those who fail performance validity indicators.

Research is lacking regarding the role of positive emotions expressed by parents during interparental conflict (IPC) on child functioning. This study examined the relationship between parents’ expressions of positive emotions (PE) during IPC and child functioning. Child functioning measures included children’s feelings of happiness during an IPC laboratory task between their parents, cognitions regarding IPC in the home, feelings of emotional security in the marital system, and psychological adjustment (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and depression). In addition, this study tested whether PE predicted these measures of child functioning above and beyond conflict resolution, and whether child temperamental surgency moderated the relationship between PE and child functioning. It was hypothesized that more PE would be related to more adaptive child functioning scores (Research Question 1), and that this relationship would occur above and beyond conflict resolution (Research Question 2). Furthermore, it was hypothesized that for children with high levels of temperamental surgency, more PE would be related to more adaptive child functioning scores compared to less PE (Research Question 3), mainly due to the proclivity for surgent individuals to experience and express positive emotions more strongly compared to less-surgent individuals. Participants included 98 parent dyads and their children between the ages of 9-11 years. The family triad came in to the laboratory and completed questionnaires and a problem discussion task in which parents discussed a conflict topic with their child present in the room. Trained coders coded parents’ expressions of happiness during the problem discussion task, as well as signs of conflict resolution. Children reported on their feelings of happiness immediately following the problem discussion, and on their perceptions of their parent’s IPCs and their feelings of depression. Mother’s reported on their children’s security in the marital system, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and surgency traits. These child functioning measures were regressed on mother PE and father PE separately to determine whether parents’ expressions of PE were related to child functioning. Child gender, family socioeconomic status, and an average of parents’ negative emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, and fear) during the problem discussion were included in the analyses as potential covariates. Results from Research Question 1 were such that mother PE was positively associated with children’s feelings of happiness during the problem discussion, and father PE was negatively associated with children's negative emotional reactivity (a component of children’s sense of emotional security in the marital system). Research Question 2 results showed that mother PE predicted child happiness above and beyond conflict resolution, and that father PE predicted children’s negative emotional reactivity above and beyond conflict resolution. Finally, Research Question 3 results showed that child temperamental surgency moderated the relationship between mother and father PE and children’s reports of conflict properties (i.e., children’s perceptions of their parents’ conflicts as more frequent, more intense, and less resolved). Decomposition of the interactions indicated that as father PE increased, children with surgency scores in the top 66th percentile reported increases in conflict properties. Alternatively, for children with surgency scores below the 25th percentile, increases in father PE was associated with decreases in reports of conflict properties. All other analyses were nonsignificant. This study provides an important first step in determining whether parents’ expressions of positive emotions during IPC are related to child functioning, and whether child temperament plays a role in this relationship.

Introduction: Over 74,000 US women are diagnosed annually with endometrial or cervical cancers and experience significant treatment-related difficulties with body image, sexuality, and sexuality. The aims of the research were to examine relationships among body image, sexuality, and sexual functioning, and understand women’s views of these concepts. A novel theoretical framework encompassing these three concepts and contextual variables guided the research. Methods: A non-experimental cross-sectional pilot study was conducted with pre-menopausal women in an academic medical center who had stages I-III cervical or endometrial cancer, were 3-36 months post-treatment, and had no mental health diagnoses. Participants completed the Body Image Scale, Female Sexual Function Index, Female Sexuality Questionnaire, a demographic questionnaire, and open-ended questions and the researchers collected clinical data from the medical record. Results: Twenty women participated, and most reported disruption in body image, sexuality, and sexual functioning. Significant relationships were found between body image and sexuality (p = 0.0244) and sexuality and sexual functioning (p <0.0003). Stages II-III disease were significantly (p= 0.0371) associated with worse body image. Women reported issues with body image, sexuality, sexual functioning, psychosocial areas, reproduction, and communication with healthcare providers and personal caregivers. Discussion: This study is one of the first to examine relationships among body image, sexuality, and sexual functioning simultaneously, highlighting the importance of this approach. Despite design and sample limitations, results demonstrate a need for longitudinal studies using larger samples to further examine relationships among these concepts and selected contextual variables, explore communication issues, and refine the theoretical framework.

Purpose: Research has shown that children who stutter (CWS) demonstrate poor adaptive functioning, or poor functional, social, and psychological skills, when compared to children who do not stutter (CWNS). Previous work has also shown that preschool CWS demonstrate significantly lower effortful control than CWNS. High effortful control, or the ability to inhibit a dominant response, is predictive of high adaptive functioning in children who are exposed to a range of adversities. The purposes of this study were fourfold: (a) to investigate if the differences between preschool CWS and CWNS in effortful control extended to school-aged children; (b) to determine if effortful control could uniquely explain adaptive functioning after controlling for a diagnosis of stuttering; (c) to investigate whether effortful control was more influential to CWS than to CWNS; and (d) to investigate whether effortful control uniquely explained adaptive functioning in CWS after controlling for stuttering frequency. Methods: Effortful control and seven core areas of adaptive functioning were investigated in 46 school-age CWS and 46 CWNS. Eight independent two tailed t-tests were used to assess whether CWS demonstrated lower effortful control than CWNS and lower adaptive functioning than CWNS in seven adaptive functioning areas: communication competence, peer competence, internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, general anxiety, social anxiety, and depression. Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the extent to which each component of adaptive functioning was related to effortful control when controlling for age, intelligence, parent-child relationship, and stuttering group membership. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the extent to which each separate component of adaptive functioning was related to effortful control in CWS only. Results: CWS demonstrated significantly lower effortful control when measured by the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire (a parent report measure of hot effortful control) than CWNS. CWS also performed more poorly in all aspects of adaptive functioning; however statistical significance was only reached for internalizing behaviors and general anxiety. The hierarchical linear regressions indicated that effortful control predicted the majority of the variance in five areas of adaptive functioning: peer competence, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, general anxiety, and depression. In the group of CWS, stuttering frequency predicted internalizing behaviors, general anxiety, and social anxiety. However, stuttering was the most important contributor to only one of the seven components of adaptive functioning, social anxiety. Conclusions: This study with school-aged CWS extends previous work indicating that preschool CWS exhibit lower effortful control than their normally fluent peers. The fact that emotional aspects of effortful control were a stronger predictor of social functioning, internalizing behaviors, and externalizing behaviors than either a stuttering diagnosis or the quantity of stuttering, may explain the adaptive functioning deficits often observed in CWS. Because effortful control is both a powerful contributor to adaptive functioning, and is reduced in CWS, clinical therapy approaches, which boost effortful control skills, have the potential to greatly lessen the impact of stuttering for CWS.

While there has been extensive research on the quality of life for people with disabilities, very little research has been conducted on the way in which families impact the quality of life of these individuals. This study focused on how family dynamics impact the quality of life for people with disabilities who are clients of state vocational rehabilitation agencies. Specifically, family flexibility and cohesion, as well as family resilience, were the independent variables; quality of life was the dependent variable. It was found that family functioning and family resilience play an important role in the quality of life for people with disabilities. There was a strong relationship between family functioning and quality of life, in addition to family resilience and quality of life. Ten life domains were used to examine quality of life: physical health, mental health, work/education, leisure activities, relationship with significant other, family relationships, social relationships, financial situation, independence/autonomy, and religious/spiritual expression. For each domain, the participant was asked four questions on the importance, control, satisfaction, and impact of disability. Family functioning and family resilience significantly correlated with all of the 10 life domains on most of the four factors. Family dynamics account for 36% of the variance of quality of life. Family dynamics significantly impact the quality of life for people with disabilities and therefore should be taken into consideration in the rehabilitation process.

The concurrent criterion-related validity of the Family Profile (FAMPRO) was investigated using the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales II (FACES II), the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD) as criterion measures . Further analysis was conducted through a principal component factor analysis with a varimax rotation and correlations with a Family Satisfaction Scale. The Family Profile is an easy-to-administer, -score, and -interpret instrument designed for use in family life education. It is a 35-item instrument that measures seven areas of family functioning: Family Fun, Family Decisions, Family Pride, Family Values, Family Caring, Family Communication, and Family Confidence. The total scores of the Family Profile had strong correlations with the total scores of the three criterion instruments. Additionally, the individual constructs of the Family Profile showed moderate to strong relationships with the corresponding subscales found in the criterion instruments. Factor analysis of the FAMPRO with this sample indicated that the most important factor explaining the largest portion of the variance is the ability of family members to display positive regard to one another in an open and warm manner. The Family Satisfaction Scale created for this project was moderately to strongly correlated with all of the Family Profile's Subscales. The sample used for this study was taken from undergraduate Family and Human Development classes at Utah State University and had a total N of 194. This nonrandom sample was mostly young, single, and female. The religious preference for 80% of the sample was Mormon (LDS). While the sample limits generalization of the results, these preliminary results provide sufficient evidence to warrant further research using the Family Profile. Because the FAMPRO is easy to use and interpret, it holds promise as an effective tool for family life educators and clinicians alike.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the direct, purposeful self-infliction of injury, which results in tissue damage, is performed without conscious suicidal intent and through methods that are not socially sanctioned (Nixon & Heath, 2009). The phenomenon of self-injurious behaviours is alarming, especially among adolescents and young adults (Muehlenkamp, 2005). In fact, it is estimated that lifetime prevalence of NSSI in young adults within the general population is around 12% to 38% (for reviews, see Heath, Schaub, Holly, & Nixon, 2009; Jacobson & Gould, 2007; Rodham & Hawton, 2009). While this proportion declines when assessing recent NSSI (i.e., usually performed in the past six months or in the past year), the numbers are still disturbing with 2.5% to 12.5% of young adults reporting current NSSI (for reviews, see Heath et al., 2009; Jacobson & Gould, 2007; Rodham & Hawton, 2009). The goal of this thesis is to investigate the associations between romantic relationships and NSSI in young adults and to address two major limitations that emerge from the literature, namely: a) several theoretical hypotheses have yet to be validated despite considerable advances in the scientific study of NSSI; and b) with the exception of one study, the few studies available relating romantic relationships and NSSI solely focused on the individual level of analysis instead of including both partners in the model. This goal will be addressed through three articles, each targeting specific objectives. For the sake of methodological rigor and for adequate evaluation of the constructs under study, the purpose of the first study was to validate the factorial structure of the English version of the Dyadic Coping Inventory (DCI; Bodenmann, 2008). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) corroborated the measurement theory of the DCI by revealing the presence of five coping factors (i.e., stress communication, supportive dyadic coping, delegated dyadic coping, negative dyadic coping, common dyadic coping) and two target factors (i.e., one’s own dyadic coping and partner’s dyadic coping). The English DCI also demonstrated good internal reliability and yielded preliminary evidence of concurrent validity. All together, these findings lead to the conclusion that the English DCI is an accurate and reliable measure of dyadic coping, and that researchers can use the English DCI confidently in their research to evaluate dyadic coping processes. The established factorial structure of the English DCI was then used in subsequent studies of this thesis. The purpose of the second study was to investigate direct and indirect associations between insecure romantic attachment, difficulties in emotion regulation and common dyadic coping strategies, and endorsement of NSSI behaviours. From an empirical standpoint, this study is the first to explore these specific relationships in one comprehensive model, targeting both interpersonal and intrapersonal strategies to deal with stressful experiences and the role it might have on one’s NSSI behaviours. Overall, the results revealed that difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the relationships between romantic attachment insecurity (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and NSSI, whereas no such effects were found for common dyadic coping strategies. Findings from this study suggest that intrapersonal strategies (i.e., emotion regulation) might be more influential on one’s NSSI behaviours than behavioural strategies (i.e., common dyadic coping). This study also offers a first step towards the understanding of the romantic relational context of individuals struggling with NSSI behaviours. The next step remains to explore the couple as the unit of analysis rather than focusing on only one member of the relationship, giving way to the third study of this thesis. The primary aim of the third study was to generate a general portrait of young women’s romantic relationship functioning, distinguishing women who recently self-injured from those who have never self-injured. This study was designed to permit the exploration of not only the individual-level effects, but also potential effects from the romantic partner. Through a series of nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests, results revealed that women who engage in NSSI behaviours are more likely to report subjective distress in the form of attachment anxiety and distrust compared to women who do not engage in NSSI behaviours. They also reported good, but slightly lower levels of, relationship satisfaction and adaptive dyadic coping strategies compared to women who have never engaged in NSSI. Findings also showed that partners of women who engage in NSSI behaviour reported more attachment anxiety than partners of women who do not engage in NSSI behaviours. The women and their partner’s reports about their romantic relationship experiences provide unique insight into the similarities and differences of individuals who self-injure and those who do not. Furthermore, a cursory exploration of the partners’ NSSI behaviours revealed that nearly one-third of the partners in a relationship with women who self-injured also reported having recently engaged in NSSI behaviours. These findings add some depth to the understanding of the relational context of those who are struggling with NSSI and provide future directions in research.

<p>This thesis examined inhibition, executive functioning and their possible relation to childhood problems of hyperactivity and inattention, in its clinical form referred to as Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder (ADHD). Concurrent as well as longitudinal relations were of interest, and both clinical and non-clinical samples were studied. </p><p>Study I demonstrated concurrent relations between executive inhibition and both hyperactivity and conduct problems in preschool. However, the relation between inhibition and conduct problems could be attributed to the large overlap between hyperactivity and conduct problems.</p><p>In Study II, linear relations were found between executive inhibition and hyperactivity, whereas inhibition to the unfamiliar was related to hyperactivity, social initiative, as well as social anxiety. Non-linear analyses showed that children with high levels of both types of inhibition were at risk for developing low social initiative and social anxiety, whereas children with low levels of inhibition were at risk for developing hyperactivity, but at the same time protected from social anxiety. </p><p>In Study III, executive inhibition was longitudinally related to ADHD symptoms in both school and at home for boys, but only in the school context for girls. Executive inhibition was also related to more general executive functioning deficits, and concurrent relations were found between executive functioning and ADHD symptoms, although in both cases only for boys. Inhibition and executive functioning made independent contributions to the understanding of ADHD symptoms for boys, and together explained about half the variance in inattention problems. </p><p>In Study IV, group differences were found between ADHD children and controls for both inhibition and various other executive function measures. These measures also discriminated well between groups. The best model, which included measures tapping inhibition, working memory and emotion regulation, classified 86% of the children correctly. </p><p>In summary, the results of the present thesis were mostly supportive of Barkley’s hybrid model of ADHD, although it should be noted that the question of whether inhibition should be regarded as primary to other executive functions requires further investigation.</p>

This study examined the moderating role of motivational tendencies for social approach and avoidance behavior, as measured by anterior EEG asymmetry, on symptom expression. In particular, this study aimed to replicate and extend previous findings that measures of anterior EEG asymmetry provide an important marker of subgroups of HFA children that significantly differ from each other, and controls, on measures of social communication impairment. EEG data were collected across two occasions on 51 HFA and 44 non-HFA children. EEG asymmetry was computed for homologous electrode pairs (e.g., lnF4-lnF3). More positive scores were indicative of relative left frontal asymmetry. Data on social and behavioral functioning were collected via parent- and self-report. Results of this short-term longitudinal study revealed moderate test-retest reliability for midfrontal asymmetry, r (65) = .39, p < .01. Results supported previous research demonstrating the differential relation of EEG asymmetry to symptom impairment among HFA children, such that parents of LFA-HFA children reported lower levels of impairment than RFA-HFA children on the SCQ Total Score, F (3, 47) = 3.58, p = .065, and Social Interaction Domain, F (3, 47) = 4.59, p < .05. Results also indicated that parents of LFA-HFA children reported higher levels of general communicative competence on the CCC-2, GCC, F (3, 47) = 6.83, p = .01, but greater impairment in pragmatic communication when compared to RFA-HFA children, SIDC, F (3, 47) = 4.41, p < .05. Additional analyses indicated that RFA was associated with early and more confident recognition of atypical (and stereotypically autistic) development based on retrospective parent-report (ADI-R #86), while LFA was associated with early, but less unambiguously autistic impairment, X2 (51) = 3.75, p = .05. This study demonstrates that anterior EEG asymmetry subgroups are reliable and useful markers of phenotypic variability that are meaningfully related to the experience and expression of symptoms of core autism impairment.