Relations between three components of parenting and young adolescent's depressive symptoms were studied in a sample of240 mothers and children (Mean child age = 11. 87, SD = .57). Mothers were selected for having a range of psychopathology (77% had a history of mood disorders). Mothers and children each completed the Children's Rating of Parental Behavior Inventory (CRPBI), which yields three parenting dimensions: acceptance/rejection, autonomy/psychological control, and firm/lax control. Mothers and children also completed a questionnaire and an interview about the child's depressive symptoms during the previous 2 weeks. Three composite parenting scores were created by combining mothers' and children's ratings on each CRPBI subscale, and a composite depression score was based on the children 's, mothers', and clinicians 'ratings of the child's depressive symptoms. Maternal acceptance showed a significant negative relation to depressive symptoms, and maternal psychological control was positively associated with depressive symptoms. These relations were mediated partially through the child's perceived self-worth.

Contemporary conceptualizations of hypochondriasis (HC) as severe health anxiety have led to the development of cognitive-behavioral approaches to understanding, assessing, and treating this problem. The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is a new instrument that measures cognitive factors associated with HC. In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of the SHAI in a large sample of medically healthy university students. We also examined the scale's convergent, divergent, and predictive validity. Results indicated that the SHAI has good psychometric properties and contains three factors that assess the perceived likelihood and perceived severity of becoming ill, and body vigilance. Facets of health anxiety uniquely predicted increased safety-seeking behavior and medical utilization, behaviors that are commonly observed in HC. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive-behavioral model of HC.

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An integrative model of mediating and moderating mechanisms in the coping process was examined in a 2-year prospective framework with 175 college students using both single-group and multigroup LISREL analyses. Consistent with the hypothesized model, initial parental support was associated with subsequent changes in psychological adjustment both directly and indirectly through adaptive coping strategies. Moreover, as predicted, appraisals of event controllability moderated both the degree to which parental support influenced coping and the effectiveness of coping responses. With controllable events, family support predicted adaptive coping, and coping predicted changes in adjustment. With uncontrollable events, family support related directly to changes in adjustment.

Judgmental biases for threat-relevant stimuli are thought to be important mechanisms underlying the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. The authors hypothesized (a) that people with generalized social phobia (GSP) would rate negative social events but not nonsocial events as more probable and costly than would nonanxious controls (NACs) and (b) that cognitive behavioral treatment would decrease probability and cost estimates for social but not nonsocial events. Participants with GSP and NACs were assessed twice, 14 weeks apart, during which the former received cognitive behavioral therapy. Those with GSP evidenced socially relevant judgmental biases prior to treatment, and these were attenuated following treatment. Reduction in cost estimates for social events, but not in probability estimates, mediated improvement in social phobia. Results are discussed in light of emotional processing theory.