Developmental Foundations and Clinical Applications of Social Information Processing: A Review

Social information processing has emerged as an important construct in understanding children's interpersonal functioning. This article reviews (1) the theoretical models guiding research, (2) the development of normative and atypical social problem solving, and (3) the connection between social information processing and individual differences in functioning. Finally, this review ends with a summary of efficacy of programs aimed at preventing social information processing biases or intervening with youth who display dysfunctional social information processing skills.     

The Impact of Socio-economic Status and Mobility on Perceived Family Functioning

Perceptions of current family functioning in relation to current household income level, educational status, social-class at birth and social mobility over the lifecourse were investigated in a group of 483 individuals at age 50. Subjective report of family functioning was assessed using the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) with socio-economic information obtained from a self-report Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire. Results indicated significant relationships between household income, social mobility and FAD scores for men but not for women in this sample. For men, lower current income and downward social mobility over the lifecourse were associated with a more negative perception of family functioning. Further research is required to understand the gender differences observed and delineate cause versus effect mechanisms.     

Social support networks of care leavers: Mediating between childhood adversity and adult functioning

Care leavers' social support networks have often been theorized as having a salient role in explaining youths' functional outcomes and the way these relate to their adverse pasts. The goals of the present study are to examine the association between childhood adversity and adult functioning among youth aging out-of-care, and to explore how attributes of their social support networks mediate this association.The sample consisted of 345 Israeli care leavers (ages 18 to 25), formerly placed in residential or foster care. Standardized self-report questionnaires were administered to assess various attributes of youths' support networks (e.g., network size or adequacy) vis-à-vis three types of social support (emotional, practical, information and guidance), indices of childhood adversity, and markers of adult functioning (adjustment to post-school settings, economic well-being, and housing difficulties).Structural equation modeling indicated that a significant portion of youths' functioning outcomes was attributable to childhood adversity. This relationship was fully or partially mediated by social support, across the various types of support and outcomes examined. Network size and network adequacy were the most prominent predictors of functioning; the latter more consistently so. Whereas emotional, practical, and information and guidance supports all significantly contributed to greater adjustment to post-school settings and economic well-being, only practical support was related to fewer housing difficulties.The differential effects of the attributes and functions of care leavers' support networks on functioning outcomes are discussed in reference to social network literature. The paper also presents recommendations for practice and policy with a focus on social network intervention.     

The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information

Abstract

This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child's scholastic, social, and emotional functioning, and make predictions about the child's behaviour in school. The results indicated that male (but not female) participants rated stepchildren less positively than biological children with respect to their social and emotional functioning. Scholastic functioning was not influenced by family status information, nor was the child's predicted behaviour in school. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for stepchildren in today's society.     

Risk perception of food safety issue on social media

This study aims to investigate individuals’ risk perceptions of food safety by extending the heuristic and systematic information processing model (HSM) to the social media context. Specifically, we examine the predictors of risk perceptions of food safety, including social media attention, social media credibility, as well as systematic and heuristic processing. A convenient sample of 640 adults was collected in China. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effects of social media attention and social media credibility on public risk perceptions of food safety, with information processing as mediating factors. The findings indicated that social media attention and social media credibility motivate systematic processing, which in turn promote risk perception of food safety. However, the mediating effect of heuristic processing was not found. Implications for theory and practice were discussed.     

Need to know vs. need to share: information technology and the intersecting work of police,fire and paramedics

Emergency preparedness concerns over inadequate emergency interoperability among police, fire and emergency medical services (EMS) have led to the adoption of shared information technologies. Using a social worlds/arenas framework, I ethnographically study police, fire and EMS, as ‘users’ of technology, to understand how they interact with their technologies, and the ways in which their respective organizational contexts, cultures and practices shape technological functioning and collaborative action. From this analysis, I uncover social world contexts (ideologies) and individual actions (social legitimation and hierarchy of credibility) that alter technological functioning and create impediments to emergency interoperability. I further highlight an important ideological disconnect between the design and in-situ application of emergency technologies. I conclude by discussing the extent to which policies and technological innovations cannot, in and of themselves, address emergency preparedness concerns.     

The Role of Emotion Processing in the Association between Parental Discipline and Adolescent Socio‐Emotional Development

This research investigated whether biases in processing threatening emotional cues operate as an indirect pathway through which parental harsh discipline is associated with adolescent socio‐emotional functioning. Participants were 192 adolescents (M age = 12.4), and their parents assessed over two years. Findings revealed two significant indirect pathways involving fear processing. Greater parental harsh discipline was linked to more emotional response inhibition difficulty for fear, which was linked to more depressive symptoms in the following year. Greater parental harsh discipline was also associated with more emotional response inhibition difficulty for fear, and thereby, more peer problems later. Findings suggest that adolescent emotional processing operated as an indirect pathway linking parental harsh discipline and adolescent socio‐emotional functioning within the broader social context.     

When Public Tragedies Happen: Community Practice Approaches in Grief,Loss, and Recovery

Although an expansive literature exists on individual experiences after a catastrophic event, there is less attention to how the community as a social structure experiences a significant tragedy. These public tragedies create disruptions across multiple domains of community functioning. Using the Community Capacity Model (Hart, 1999) as a framework for assessment, outcomes of a public tragedy are described. Additionally, community practice approaches are identified for the three phases that communities subsequently experience: crisis, processing of the event, and adaptation.     

Sexual expression in later life: a review and synthesis

In the past decade, researchers have begun to study the sexual functioning of typical older persons. This review summarizes literature on the sexuality of men and women over age 50 as researched by social and health scientists. Research on the relationship of biological factors (changes accompanying aging), health (physical, mental, and medication use), psychological factors (attitudes, information about sex), relationship factors (status, satisfaction), and sexual functioning (desire, dysfunctions, treatment) to sexual behavior is reviewed. The review suggests that (a) men and women remain sexually active into their 70s and 80s, (b) aging-related physical changes do not necessarily lead to decline in sexual functioning, and (c) good physical and mental health, positive attitudes toward sex in later life, and access to a healthy partner are associated with continued sexual activity. In turn, regular sexual expression is associated with good physical and mental health. Progress in understanding later life sexuality requires development of comprehensive theoretical models, a broad focus on intimacy, attention to measures and samples, and research on couples. Progress in understanding is especially important, given the aging of populations.     

Health-Promoting Influences of the Family on Late Adolescent Functioning

This study examined whether potentially modifiable health-promoting family factors during mid-adolescence (age 15) predicted adaptive functioning in late adolescence (age 18) among members of a working-class community cohort. Family factors included feeling valued in the family, cohesion, and social support. Late adolescent outcomes covered developmentally salient areas: academic functioning; mental health; suicidal behavior; and social, psychological, and behavioral functioning. Our findings demonstrate that a positive adolescent family milieu is related to both adaptive outcomes and a reduced likelihood of serious difficulties, including mental and behavior problems. Although each hypothesized health-promoting factor was significantly associated with multiple areas of age 18 functioning, the patterns of association differed by type of family factor. Taken together, results suggest that the family remains an important social context during mid-adolescence and that to be most effective programs designed by practitioners aimed at strengthening families should target multiple features of the family environment.     

The Role of Socialization,Effortful Control,and Ego Resiliency in French Adolescents' Social Functioning

The relations among effortful control, ego resiliency, socialization, and social functioning were examined with a sample of 182 French adolescents (14–20 years old). Adolescents, their parents, and/or teachers completed questionnaires on these constructs. Effortful control and ego resiliency were correlated with adolescents' social functioning, especially with low externalizing and internalizing behaviors and sometimes with high peer competence. Furthermore, aspects of socialization (parenting practices more than family expressiveness) were associated with adolescents' effortful control, ego resiliency, and social functioning. Effortful control and ego resiliency mediated the relations between parental socialization and adolescents' peer competence and internalizing problems. Furthermore, effortful control mediated the relations between socialization and adolescents' externalizing behavior. Findings are discussed in terms of cultural and developmental variation.     

Cross-cultural Misinformation: What does special education say about Deaf people

Special education is involved in a large scale attempt to 'educate' regular classroom teachers in addition to teachers traditionally served by special education. This paper examines the information presented in special education text books to determine how issues surrounding deaf persons are presented. Chapters addressing the Deaf in 13 special education text books were reviewed. The content of each chapter was examined to determine if a pathological view (the ear as an organism that needs to be fixed) or a cultural view (the Deaf as functioning members of society, with a legitimate language, American Sign Language, and a fully founded social structure) was the underlying theme. The majority of the chapters focused on the perspective that correction and cure are more important than positive functioning and respect for language and culture. These chapters suggest that not only is there no input from the Deaf community, but there is a systematic avoidance to include Deaf viewpoints.     

The social gradient in cultural consumption and the information‐processing hypothesis

Patterns of cultural consumption have a strong social gradient which is primarily driven by education, but what explains these educational differences in cultural preferences remains unclear. Explanations based on information processing capacity have gained widespread currency; the perceived cognitive ‘difficulty’ of both appreciating high culture, and of maintaining broad, omnivorous tastes. If, on average, high culture is more complex than low culture then a higher level of information processing capacity may be required to derive enjoyment from it. In contrast, socialization theories suggest that exposure to ‘high’ culture, may explain this gradient, particularly among university graduates with degrees in the Arts or Humanities. To test these two theories we use the Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion survey (n = 1,079) and estimate the association between degree type and measures of cultural preference and consumption, including: film directors, artists, and cultural participation. Compared to non‐graduates, arts, humanities, and social science graduates are more likely to enjoy highbrow directors and artists, and are more likely to be cultural omnivores; while graduates from other subjects are not clearly distinct from non‐graduates in their cultural preferences. These findings suggest that information processing plays a minor role in shaping the social gradient in cultural consumption.     

Multi-Systemic Influences on the Family Functioning of Teens Attending Pregnancy Prevention Programs

This exploratory study used Bronfenbrenner's (1979) multi-systemic framework to determine the factors predicting scores on the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) with a sample of low SES and culturally diverse (White non-Hispanic, African-American, and Hispanic) teenagers attending both primary and secondary pregnancy prevention programs. Factors studied at the individual (micro) level involved the adolescent's pregnancy status; at the level of the immediate social environment (meso), family structure was assessed, and SES and race were studied as broader social environment influences (macro). Overall, scores on the FAD were high, indicating unhealthy functioning according to teen self-reports. Support was indicated for the Bronfenbrenner model with all three systems levels exerting an influence on family functioning. Adolescents who had grown up in homes without their parents seemed most at risk for perceptions of poor family functioning although racial differences were found. Overall, minority teens rated their families as higher functioning. Pregnancy and parenting as a teenager also appeared to put a strain on family functioning. Implications for service delivery are discussed.     

Four publics of anti-bioterrorism information campaigns: A test of the situational theory

Applying the situational theory, this study examines the extent to which citizens recognize bioterrorism as a social issue, their level of involvement with it, and how their perceptions of it affect communication and protective behaviors. A national sample survey (N = 363) showed that problem recognition was positively related to information seeking and processing while constraints recognition was negatively related to information seeking and processing. Involvement was positively related to information seeking. Respondents were segmented into four public types based on media consumption habits, source trust evaluations and intentions to perform recommended behaviors.     

Breakthroughs in the Management Accounting Science: Imaging a Balanced Scorecard Thought by Lean Philosophy Rationales

This paper aims at providing a proposal for a new way of conducting the balanced scorecard (BSC), assuming a model that fulfils the leading features of lean philosophy and designing a research strategy that could explain how to act for arguing a “Lean–Balanced Scorecard”. Management solutions inclined towards lean thinking try to solve contemporary worldwide market challenges by focusing on a virtuous corporate functioning, thanks to a shared philosophy that relies entirely on the minimization of any kind of waste: their main target is to achieve business goals in a way that is absolutely flexible and can be shared at any strategy level within the firm. In the transition towards new management accounting paradigms, might the use of the BSC enhance information processing, useful for spreading lean thinking all over the firm, and for testing its effects? Moreover, thanks to lean thinking, might we suppose improvements related to the BSC functioning, by streamlining that information processing? According to the literature, little is known about how to answer these questions. By answering them, however, we may find innovative solutions towards a better measuring process of firm success—especially from the perspectives of integrated management reporting activities in turbulent times.     

A COMPARISON OF FAMILY ADAPTATIONS TO HAVING A CHILD WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

The effect of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) on the structure and social climate of the family was examined with self-report scales and independent observations of family functioning. Families in which the child with CF was not the firstborn were found to be functioning more healthily than those in which the child was the firstborn. This was found on 7 of 10 family environment scales, a family hierarchy test, and on all three of the family system scales used by the independent observers (power, cohesion and closeness). Significant correlations between specific family variables and problem behaviors and social competencies were also found.     

Influences of patient, service program, and clinician characteristics on judgments of functioning and treatment recommendations

The study examines the interactions among (a) type of service program (inpatient, partial hospital, and outpatient) (b) patient characteristics (social support, cooperativeness with treatment, and whether the symptoms of aggression are directed externally toward others or internally toward self), and (c) the type of level of functioning scale used (grossly versus behaviorally anchored scales) on two sets of dependent measures: (1) clinicians' judgments of patient level of functioning and (2) the clinicians' recommendations for initial treatment modality (inpatient, partial hospitalization, or outpatient individual or group therapy). Seventy-eight clinicians made judgments on 16 analogue cases systematically varied on the three patient variables. Forty-six clinicians worked in programs regularly using a behaviorally anchored functioning scale; of these, 27 made their level of functioning ratings with the nine point scale used by their programs, 19 used a grossly anchored scale (from “extreme dysfunction” to “no dysfunction”). The remaining 32 clinicians, from programs using structured scales, used the grossly anchored scale. Clinicians who used the behaviorally anchored scale gave higher level of functioning ratings overall and were less influenced by differences in the patient variables manipulated in the case vignettes. Male and female clinicians showed different effects of the patient social support variable. Treatment recommendations were influenced by the patient variables and by the type of service setting in which the clinician was working.     

The effects of economic circumstances on British students' mental and physical health

Three-hundred sixty British university students completed a questionnaire providing information on demographic characteristics, financial circumstances, smoking, and drug and alcohol use. A 14-item inventory of physical symptoms, the short form 36 health survey (SF-36), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were used to assess their physical and psychological well-being. Except for physical functioning, all subscales of the SF-36 and the GHQ indicated levels of health significantly below population norms matched for age and sex. Poorer mental health was related to longer working hours outside the university and difficulty in paying bills. Students who had considered abandoning study for financial reasons had poorer mental health, lower levels of social functioning and vitality, and poorer physical health as indicated by variables on the SF-36. They were also heavier smokers. Students' personal debt was significantly associated with their knowing people involved in prostitution, crime, or drug dealing to help support themselves financially.     

Chapter 3 Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly

Abstract

Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs), known as board and care homes, are licensed in California and many other states for non-medical care in the community. RCFEs are examined here to provide illustrative issues in the definition of types of long-term residential care. The research examines physical functioning, social supports, and course of residential placement for 109 RCFE residents (mean age 84 years). A significant portion of the residents had personal assistance needs not usually provided at the RCFE level (75% assistance with medication, 52% used walking aids, 29% assistance in bathing). Additionally, a third of the residents had restricted social supports and social activity. Residents report declines in functioning and support as reasons for moving to residential care. Length of residence in the facility (range less than a year to 15 years) was not related to physical functioning or social activity. These findings do not support “aging in place,” within the facility, as the rationale for increased need for assistance in residential care. Implications include the need to maintain the social model of residential care ample for the majority of residents while assuring the availability of a higher need for assistance of a significant portion of the residential care population.