Moderate and severe pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are associated with significant familial stress and child cognitive and adaptive sequelae (Taylor et al., 1999). Research has demonstrated a relationship between familial stress and resources and child recovery of functioning following TBI (Taylor et al., 1999). We built on these findings by examining authoritarian parenting values and styles as a mediator of the relationship between parental stress and child adaptive outcomes 12-36 months following TBI or orthopedic injury (ORTHO). Participants were 21 children/adolescents with traumatic brain injuries and 23 with orthopedic injuries and one of their parents/guardians. Parents completed measures of demographics, parental stress, parenting values and styles, and child adaptive functioning. Child participants completed brief demographic questionnaires and intelligence screeners. Moderation was examined using hierarchical multiple regression. Mediation and moderated mediation were examined using bootstrapping tests of the indirect effect of parental stress on child adaptive functioning. After controlling for family insurance status, higher levels of parental stress were associated with reduced child adaptive functioning in the TBI group but not the ORTHO group. An examination of the mediational analyses revealed that higher levels of parental stress were associated with a greater reliance on authoritarian parenting styles, which was associated with reduced overall adaptive functioning and daily living skills across the two injury groups. Therefore, across groups, the relationship between parental stress and child overall adaptive functioning and daily living skills was found to be partially mediated by an authoritarian parenting style. Moderated mediation results revealed the presence of a significant interaction and 95% confidence interval on the socialization domain and indicated that the relationship between authoritarian parenting styles and child adaptive social skills differed significantly between the two groups. Our findings suggest a relationship between parental stress, authoritarian parenting styles, and child adaptive functioning in the 12-36 months following pediatric traumatic injury. Future research should explore the association among these, as well as other potentially mediating variables, both within and between the two groups with the goal of further elucidating the relationship between familial/environmental variables and child adaptive functioning following traumatic brain and orthopedic injury.

No description available.

The purpose of this research was to establish the feasibility of delivering a 6-week long adapted Mindfulness for Academic Success (MAS) program to post-secondary students who were experiencing difficulties with their academic performance. Feasibility was established based on recruitment success (70%), program attendance (70% of participants attending at least four sessions), and homework compliance (70% homework completed). In addition, we hoped to establish the MAS program’s preliminary efficacy in improving executive and academic functioning and reducing mind wandering, inattention, symptoms of ADHD, and psychological distress. Forty participants from Carleton University were randomized to the MAS program (n = 20) or waitlist (WL) condition (n = 20). The overall dropout rate in this study was 38 %. Forty-five percent of the MAS program and 80% of the WL condition participants completed the study. MAS program completers complied with 32% of the overall homework during the five week reporting period and no student completed individually more than 57% of the assigned homework tasks. Accordingly, we did not meet the session attendance or homework completion feasibility requirements. Our preliminary efficacy results indicated significant improvements in some program outcomes in the intent-to-treat sample and results were more robust for MAS completers. Specifically executive functioning—self-management to time, self-organization, self monitoring, self-regulation of emotions, and executive function (EF) related ADHD symptoms—improved and ADHD symptoms decreased in the intent-to-treat sample and results were more robust in the completer sample. Psychological distress symptoms (depression and stress) and mind wandering decreased only in MAS program completers, but no changes were noted in students’ ability to pay attention to presented information during the mind wandering task. Academic functioning as measured by selecting main ideas, the use of study aids, and time management improved in both the intent-to-treat and completer samples. Changes in concentration and information processing were only evident for MAS program completers, however, changes were also noted in academic anxiety, motivation, and the use of test strategies, although effects were small. No changes were observed in participants’ self-restraint (EF), generalized anxiety, attitude toward school, and the use of self-testing in exam preparation. Although efficacy results suggest the MAS program may be beneficial, low program compliance and lack of change in students’ levels of mindfulness compromise the internal validity of this study and make drawing causal conclusions about the program’s efficacy difficult. Furthermore, while program attendance and homework compliance were correlated with some program outcomes, the lack of correlation between formal practices of mindfulness and program outcomes suggest that non-specific factors may have contributed to observed improvement in study outcomes.

Research shows that there is a gap between interest and experience in the area of sexuality for individuals with autism. Also, although these individuals have unique learning requirements pertaining to their sexuality, there is no consensus on the provision and content of such education. Using a socially inclusive theoretical lens founded on existing models of disability and competence, this bilingual study (a) developed a conceptual framework of sexuality education, as understood by adolescents living in Ontario with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and their caregivers; (b) used extant texts to support the conceptualization provided by youth and caregivers; and (c) identified personal strengths and barriers, as well as societal supports and barriers that impact sexuality education for these youth. Using a qualitative orientation, this study employed in-depth interviews, surveys, and a literature review to better understand the topic under investigation. Twenty participants from 8 families took part in these interviews, including 9 adolescents and 11 caregivers. Survey and extant textual-analysis data were used to support the findings. Sexuality education content was conceptualized as a combination of facts and sociosexual norms, with emphasis on outcomes. Additionally, safety and pleasure were identified as important content areas, including the historically absent aspect of shared enjoyment. Some content areas were part of a greater discourse of normalization. Sexuality education was seen as a combination of formal and informal activities that are developmentally appropriate, proactive, and take place across various settings and groupings. Caregivers were cited as the primary providers of informal education, whereas schools and other community partners were seen as formal providers of education. Various supports and barriers were identified, some of which were viewed as both. Themes related to media and technology pervaded all findings. This study provides further emic and etic understanding of the subject with implications for practice, policy, and theory.

Memory and concentration problems are frequently reported long after experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury (mild TBI), though conflict with null findings of deficits on standard neuropsychological tests. Experimental research shows that these inconsistencies are, in part, due to the simplicity of neuropsychological tests. As well, past research suggests that when neuropsychological deficits are occasionally detected within this population, they could be influenced by diagnosis threat: an expectation bias for impaired performance when individuals are merely informed that cognitive problems may be experienced following a mild TBI. The main goal of this thesis was to specify the long-term cognitive effects of mild TBI, with the prediction that, while cognitive complaints may be over-reported due to diagnosis threat, significant deficits can be detected using sensitive measures in experimental paradigms. Experiment 1 sought to document whether diagnosis threat influenced self-report of everyday attention and memory problems and neuropsychological task performance in individuals with a remote history of mild TBI. We found that undergraduate students with a mild TBI were significantly more likely to report having attention and memory failures in their daily lives when exposed to diagnosis threat, compared to undergraduate students not exposed to diagnosis threat. These findings call into question the efficacy of using of self-report measures to identify long-term cognitive deficits following a mild TBI. In an attempt to further specify persistent significant cognitive deficits, we designed two different experimental paradigms that uniquely manipulated the demand place on executive processes, as past research suggested deficits emerge only when tasks require considerable cognitive resources. In Experiment 2a, we manipulated processing load on a visual working memory task, across two conditions, while also limiting the potential effect of diagnosis threat. While self-report and neuropsychological measures of attention and memory did not differentiate the groups, the mild TBI group took significantly longer to accurately detect repeated targets on our working memory task. Accuracy was comparable in the low-load condition and, unexpectedly, mild TBI performance surpassed that of controls in the high-load condition. Temporal analysis of target identification suggested a strategy difference between groups: mild TBI participants made a significantly greater number of accurate responses following the target’s offset, and significantly fewer erroneous distracter responses prior to target onset, compared to controls. In Experiment 2b we also examined whether manipulating executive processing demands would differentiate mild TBI from controls, this time on a routine action task that required participants to learn a sequence of hand movements to targets. While not significant, we found a trend such that mild TBI participants were slower to respond on trials with a large executive demand compared controls, while no differences were found on trials with relatively low executive requirements. Results from Experiments 2a and 2b provide stronger evidence for mild TBI-related slowing during a working memory task with an executive component compared to a skilled action task that also had an executive component, but placed minimal demand on memory. To more precisely identify the brain basis of this cognitive slowing, in Experiment 3 we administered a visual n-back task in which we systematically increased working memory demands from 0- to 3-item loads. We found that, compared to controls, mild TBI participants showed a reduction in P300 amplitude, conceptualized as an index of available cognitive resources for stimulus classification. While no late stage response differences were found between groups, P300 amplitude was negatively correlated with response times at higher loads in both control and mild TBI participants. Findings suggest that high functioning young adults who sustained a mild TBI in their remote past, have a reduced amount, or inefficient recruitment of, cognitive resources for target detection; a potential mechanism underlying mild TBI-related response slowing on tasks that place a heavy demand on processing resources. Similar to the effects of mild TBI, aging is also known to negatively impact cognition. In Experiment 4, we examined whether TBI-related deficits persist into older adulthood, and compound the negative effect of aging on cognition. We administered the same working memory task as in Experiment 2a, along with a variety of neuropsychological tests in order to investigate the effect of a TBI sustained an average of 50 years in the past. While no group differences emerged on our experimental working memory task, older adults with a history of 1 or 2 TBIs performed significantly worse than non head-injured older adults only on neuropsychological measures of attention that had an executive component. Such results suggest that a remote TBI sustained early in life further compounds normal age-related cognitive decline. Together, these experiments help specify the measures that best detect long lasting cognitive changes following TBI. Particularly, our findings provide a potential explanation for why long-term cognitive deficits are difficult to identify in the young mild TBI population: the majority of neuropsychological tests are insensitive to minor changes in information processing speed and, as a result, the execution of slowing strategies to maintain accuracy may go undetected. Our findings also demonstrate the importance of investigating longer-term effects of TBI, as they may be chronic and impact cognitive task performance in old age, amplifying normal age-related cognitive deficits.

Empathy is an essential prerequisite for the development and maintenance of close interpersonal relationships. Given that older adults are particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of loneliness and social isolation, it is surprising that few studies have assessed empathy in this group. The current programme of research addressed this gap in the literature by testing competing predictions derived from Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the Ageing-Brain Model for age-related sparing and impairment of empathy, respectively. Study 1 compared young (N = 80) and older (N = 49) adults?? self-reported levels of cognitive and affective empathy, and engagement in social activities. It was found that although affective empathy is spared, cognitive empathy is subject to age-related decline, and this decline mediates reductions in social participation. These data therefore affirmed the importance of further investigation into the nature, causes and potential consequences of age-related differences in empathy. Since disinhibition is one mechanism contributing to difficulty taking the perspective of another, and is known to increase with age, in Study 2, behavioural measures sensitive to inhibitory failure and to cognitive empathy were administered to young (N = 36) and older (N = 33) adults. One of the measures of cognitive empathy directly manipulated inhibitory demands, involving either high or low levels of self-perspective inhibition. The results indicated that older adults were selectively impaired on the high-inhibition condition, with cognitive disinhibition mediating this association. Study 2 therefore provided important evidence relating to one potential mechanism that contributes to age-related difficulties in perspective-taking. Studies 3 and 4 provided the first behavioural assessments of age-related differences in affective empathy by using electromyography to index facial expression mimicry. Study 3 found that young (N = 35) and older (N = 35) adults?? demonstrate comparable mimicry of anger, but older adults?? initial (i.e., implicit) reactions were associated with reduced anger recognition. Thus, to test the possibility that despite explicit recognition difficulties, implicit processing of facial expressions may be preserved in older adulthood, Study 4 compared young (N = 46) and older (N = 40) adults?? mimicry responses to subliminally presented angry and happy facial expressions. As predicted, the two groups demonstrated commensurate subconscious mimicry of these expressions. Taken together, these studies indicate that separate components of empathy are differentially affected by healthy adult ageing. Implications for competing perspectives of socioemotional functioning in older adulthood are discussed.

Empathy is an essential prerequisite for the development and maintenance of close interpersonal relationships. Given that older adults are particularly vulnerable to the negative consequences of loneliness and social isolation, it is surprising that few studies have assessed empathy in this group. The current programme of research addressed this gap in the literature by testing competing predictions derived from Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and the Ageing-Brain Model for age-related sparing and impairment of empathy, respectively. Study 1 compared young (N = 80) and older (N = 49) adults?? self-reported levels of cognitive and affective empathy, and engagement in social activities. It was found that although affective empathy is spared, cognitive empathy is subject to age-related decline, and this decline mediates reductions in social participation. These data therefore affirmed the importance of further investigation into the nature, causes and potential consequences of age-related differences in empathy. Since disinhibition is one mechanism contributing to difficulty taking the perspective of another, and is known to increase with age, in Study 2, behavioural measures sensitive to inhibitory failure and to cognitive empathy were administered to young (N = 36) and older (N = 33) adults. One of the measures of cognitive empathy directly manipulated inhibitory demands, involving either high or low levels of self-perspective inhibition. The results indicated that older adults were selectively impaired on the high-inhibition condition, with cognitive disinhibition mediating this association. Study 2 therefore provided important evidence relating to one potential mechanism that contributes to age-related difficulties in perspective-taking. Studies 3 and 4 provided the first behavioural assessments of age-related differences in affective empathy by using electromyography to index facial expression mimicry. Study 3 found that young (N = 35) and older (N = 35) adults?? demonstrate comparable mimicry of anger, but older adults?? initial (i.e., implicit) reactions were associated with reduced anger recognition. Thus, to test the possibility that despite explicit recognition difficulties, implicit processing of facial expressions may be preserved in older adulthood, Study 4 compared young (N = 46) and older (N = 40) adults?? mimicry responses to subliminally presented angry and happy facial expressions. As predicted, the two groups demonstrated commensurate subconscious mimicry of these expressions. Taken together, these studies indicate that separate components of empathy are differentially affected by healthy adult ageing. Implications for competing perspectives of socioemotional functioning in older adulthood are discussed.

Background: There is presently a lack of consistency in research designed to measure executive functioning (EF) in autism that may be attributable to lack of homogeneity or comorbid conditions (i.e. learning disability or additional diagnosis) in test samples. Aim: A systematic review focused on a subset of EF (verbal fluency: VF) was conducted, using only studies of high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA) without an additional diagnosis or learning disability. An empirical study was conducted comparing the executive functioning profile of individuals with HFA and typically developed (TD) individuals. Method: For the systematic review, 16 studies met the specified inclusion criteria, depicting 15 semantic (category), 14 phonological (letter), and 6 switching (categories) VF tasks. In order to assess potential bias, the available VF information of the included papers was scrutinised by the author and an independent clinical practitioner. For the empirical paper, 22 HFA and 22 TD participants (mean age = 28, range = 17-73, 52% male) without a comorbid condition, learning disability or brain injury completed three subtests from the WAIS-IV (vocabulary, block design and digit span) and all subtests of the Delis–Kaplan Executive Functioning System (D-KEFS). Results: For the systematic review, a minority of semantic and phonological VF studies reported a significant difference between typically developed and HFA populations. Five of the six semantic switching studies reported a significant difference between groups. All papers included were of good or adequate quality and inter-rater reliability was high. For the empirical paper, the HFA group performed significantly poorer on the switching condition of the design fluency task, semantic conditions of the verbal fluency task and on the word context task overall. No other significant differences were observed. Summary: Although the systematic review concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support that disfluency can be attributed to autistic symptomology, the empirical study found that the HFA group performed poorer than TD in semantic VF and other subtests designed to measure generating novel ‘imaginative’ ideas, without visual cues to aid performance. The deficit on these subtests was increased when there was the added condition requiring the participant to switch between newly formed concepts. Conclusions: Although in VF, results are mixed, the empirical study demonstrates that even in a group of high-functioning individuals there are still measurable differences in EF between TD and HFA samples that may not be apparent through more general cognitive testing. Implications for using a neuropsychological profile for adults with HFA are discussed.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship among psychological flexibility, mindfulness, and goal-directed behaviors controlled by executive function, as measured by the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y), the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM), and the Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory (CEFI). Participants completed the AFQ-Y, CAMM, and CEFI as part of a Midwestern alternative school’s curriculum. Data was collected for 30 participants (male = 28, female = 2) with approval from the school. The results indicate a significant relationship between the AFQ-Y and CAMM (r = -0.7711, p < 0.0001), CAMM and CEFI (r = -0.3226; p = 0.0821), AFQ-Y and the emotion regulation subscale (r = -0.5018; p = 0.0047), as well as the working memory subscale of the CEFI (r = -0.3622; p = 0.0492), and the CAMM and the emotion regulation subscale (r = 0.494; p = 0.0055), organization subscale (r = 0.3723; p = 0.0427), and working memory subscale (r = 0.4725; p = 0.0084). The results are beneficial for clinicians who specialize in providing treatment to children and adolescents with development disabilities and various other disorders. Limitations and future research are also discussed within the current study.

xvi, 132 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis and the related Biological Sensitivity to Context theory contend that individuals with "susceptible" traits reap the benefits of positive rearing environments and exhibit better outcomes compared to their less susceptible peers. Studies have largely focused on physiological reactivity as an index of this susceptibility in children and adults, and most have measured physiology by grand mean changes from baseline to a stressor. The goal of this dissertation was to examine baseline Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA stress reactivity by taking advantage of analytical techniques modeling growth over time, as well as individual differences in this growth-using latent Growth Modeling (LGM) and Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM), respectively. Maternal sensitivity at 5 months and the quality of the attachment environment at 17 months were used as indicators of environmental conditions that might interact with infant susceptibility. Problem behavior and social competence were assessed at 17 months as measures of child well-being. Consistent with the theory of differential susceptibility, there were no significant differences in problem behavior or social competence among infants with low baseline RSA, but infants with high baseline RSA exhibited the lowest levels of problem behavior if reared in an environment that fostered security and more competence if their mothers exhibited greater sensitivity. Contrary to hypotheses, LGM analyses revealed that withdrawal of infant RSA appeared to buffer the impact of being reared in an environment that fostered disorganization, as infants with disorganized attachment histories exhibited the lowest number of problem behaviors. Two distinct groups of children were identified by GMM analyses: a class of infants with low RSA that decreased across the still-face episode, and a class of infants with high RSA that increased across this episode. Class by maternal sensitivity interactions were significantly predictive of social competence, with the high increasing class emerging as the group most susceptible to environmental influences, consistent with the differential susceptibility hypothesis. This dissertation adds importantly to both the sharpening and extension of theories of differential susceptibility. / Committee in charge: Jennifer Ablow, Chairperson, Psychology; Philip Fisher, Member, Psychology; Jeffrey Measelle, Member, Psychology; Jane Squires, Outside Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences