The Relationship between Social Defiance,Vindictiveness, Anger,and Brain Morphology in Eight‐year‐old Boys and Girls

The goal of this study is twofold: (1) to assess brain anatomical differences between children meeting diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and healthy controls, and (2) to investigate whether morphological brain characteristics associated with ODD differ in boys and girls. Eight‐year‐old participants (N = 38) were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging. ODD symptoms were assessed using the Dominic‐R interactive. In ODD participants, we observed a significant reduction of gray matter density in the left orbitofrontal cortex—a prefrontal region that plays a pivotal role in emotional self‐regulation and impulse control—and, conversely, an increase in the left temporal area—an area that has been associated with aggressive, impulsive, and antisocial personality. Furthermore, ODD boys showed a reduction of both gray matter density in the left orbitofrontal cortex and of white matter density in the left superior frontal area. The structural abnormalities found in the present study, in particular, the correlation between ODD symptoms and reduction of gray matter density in the left orbitofrontal cortex, may present some evidence for the existence of neuropathology associated with ODD symptoms during childhood. Furthermore, our findings indicate morphometric differences between boys and girls with ODD, which may be associated with gender differences in social behavior in children showing ODD symptoms.     

Higher order generalisation of first order autoregressive tests

Higher order analogues of currently favoured tests for autocorrelated dicturbances are presented. Comparisons of power, against autoregressive disturbances of a range of orders considered likely in practice, favour a version of a test originally proposed by King (1985). This superiority is particularly marked with regressors for which Ordinary Least Squares is least efficient and thus testing most crucial. Selected significance bounds are tabulated for the twelfth order analogue of this test statistic for use with monthly data.     

Keeping the family balance – adult daughters’ experiences of roles and strategies when supporting caring fathers

The Scandinavian countries represent a progressive approach to gender equality and transitions of traditional gender roles but little attention has been paid to gender equality in old age and how normative constructions of gender intersect in the lives of family carers. The aim of this study was to understand how adult daughters experience their roles and strategies when supporting fathers caring for an ill mother. A sample of eight daughters shared their experiences through in-depth interviews. The findings show that the daughters provide substantial and crucial effort and are intimately involved in the caring for their father and the sole contributors towards the emotional support of their fathers. They tend to devote a lot of energy towards picturing their family as ‘normal’ in terms of the family members adopting traditional roles and activities inside as well as outside the family context. In conclusion, the lack of understanding about gender as a ‘norm producer’ is something that needs to be further elaborated upon in order for professionals to encounter norm-breaking behaviours. The daughters’ position as family carers is often assumed and taken for granted since the intersecting structures that impact on the situations of the daughters are largely invisible.     

Implementation of a Bayesian adaptive design in a proof of concept study

With increased costs of drug development the need for efficient studies has become critical. A key decision point on the development pathway has become the proof of concept study. These studies must provide clear information to the project teams to enable decision making about further developing a drug candidate but also to gain evidence that any effect size is sufficient to warrant this development given the current market environment. Our case study outlines one such proof of concept trial where a new candidate therapy for neuropathic pain was investigated to assess dose-response and to evaluate the magnitude of its effect compared to placebo. A Normal Dynamic Linear Model was used to estimate the dose-response--enforcing some smoothness in the dose-response, but allowing for the fact that the dose-response may be non-monotonic. A pragmatic, parallel group study design was used with interim analyses scheduled to allow the sponsor to drop ineffective doses or to stop the study. Simulations were performed to assess the operating characteristics of the study design. The study results are presented. Significant cost savings were made when it transpired that the new candidate drug did not show superior efficacy when compared placebo and the study was stopped.     

From stress to distress: Conceptualizing the British family farming patriarchal way of life

‘Rural stress’ and ‘farming stress’ are terms that have become commonly appropriated by British health-based academic disciplines, the medical profession and social support networks, especially since the agricultural ‘crises’ of B.S.E. and Foot and Mouth disease. Looking beyond the media headlines, it is apparent that the terms in fact are colloquial catch-alls for visible psychological and physiological outcomes shown by individuals. Seldom have the underlying causes and origins of presentable medical outcomes been probed, particularly within the context of the patriarchal and traditionally patrilineal way of life which family forms of farming business activity in Britain encapsulate. Thus, this paper argues that insufficient attention has been paid to the conceptualization of the terms. They have become both over-used and ill-defined in their application to British family farm individuals and their life situations. A conceptual framework is outlined that attempts to shift the stress research agenda into the unilluminated spaces of the family farming ‘way of life’ and focus instead on ‘distress’. Drawing upon theorization from agricultural and feminist geography together with cultural approaches from rural geography, four distinct clusters of distress originate from the thoughts of individuals and the social practices now required to enact patriarchal family farming gender identities. These are explored using case study evidence from ethnographic repeated life history interviews with members of seven farming families in Powys, Mid Wales, an area dominated by family forms of farming business. Future research agendas need to be based firmly on the distressing reality of patriarchal family farming and also be inclusive of those who, having rejected the associated way of life, now lie beyond the farm gate.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Disordered Gambling: Assessing the Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as sexual and physical abuse, have been established as risk factors for the development of disordered gambling. The underlying mechanism by which ACEs influence disordered gambling, however, remains unknown. The aims of the present research were to comprehensively investigate ten types of childhood adversity and their relationships to disordered gambling in adulthood, and to test whether emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. A sample of community gamblers (N = 414) completed self-report measures of ACEs, emotion dysregulation, and gambling severity. Results revealed a significant association between all but one type (physical abuse) of ACEs and disordered gambling. Further, the results highlighted the cumulative impact of ACEs on gambling. Specifically, individuals who experienced three or more types of ACEs were more than three times as likely to report disordered gambling as compared to individuals with no history of childhood adversity. Importantly, as hypothesized, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between ACEs and disordered gambling. Findings from this research describe the association between ACEs and gambling and indicate a causal link between childhood adversity and disordered gambling. Results suggest that treatment initiatives may do well to address both ACEs and emotion dysregulation in the treatment of problem gambling.     

Familism, Interparental Conflict, and Parenting in Mexican-Origin Families: A Cultural-Contextual Framework

The present investigation examined the relations between the cultural belief of familism and various aspects of family functioning and child adjustment, including interparental conflict, parenting, and children's attachment to school, in a sample of 549 two-parent Mexican-origin families. The results indicated that parents' familistic values were negatively associated with interparental conflict for both mothers and fathers. Parents' familistic values were also indirectly associated with parenting through the marital relationship. Interparental conflict was negatively associated with nurturant-involved parenting for both parents, but particularly for fathers. Interparental conflict had an indirect negative effect on children's attachment to school via mothers' and fathers' nurturant-involved parenting. Both paternal and maternal nurturant-involved parenting behaviors were positively associated with children's attachment to school across two time points. Child gender differences are also discussed.