Individuals with sex chromosomal anomalies are known to be at increased risk for learning problems and in some cases social or behavioral problems. Girls with an absent or structurally abnormal second sex chromosome (the Turner syndrome) have been found to have cognitive problem solving deficits and immature, inadequate social relationships. The present study attempted to link cognitive and social problems by assessing the girls' ability to process affective cues. 17 girls with karyotypes consistent with a diagnosis of Turner syndrome were compared to a group of 16 short-stature girls of comparable age, verbal intelligence scores, height, and family socioeconomic status on the Affective Discrimination Task, which required interpretation of affective intention from facial expression. The results revealed that the Turner syndrome girls were less accurate at inferring facial affect than the short-stature controls. Analyses revealed that the Turner syndrome girls performed more poorly on spatial, attentional, and short-term memory cognitive tasks and had more psychosocial problems than the short-stature controls. Ability to discriminate facial affect may be another area of cognitive weakness for girls with the Turner syndrome and may underlie the psychosocial problems found in this sample.

No abstract

Individuals with sex chromosomal anomalies are known to be at increased risk for learning problems and in some cases social or behavioral problems. Girls with an absent or structurally abnormal second sex chromosome (the Turner syndrome) have been found to have cognitive problem solving deficits and immature, inadequate social relationships. The present study attempted to link cognitive and social problems by assessing the girls' ability to process affective cues. 17 girls with karyotypes consistent with a diagnosis of Turner syndrome were compared to a group of 16 short-stature girls of comparable age, verbal intelligence scores, height, and family socioeconomic status on the Affective Discrimination Task, which required interpretation of affective intention from facial expression. The results revealed that the Turner syndrome girls were less accurate at inferring facial affect than the short-stature controls. Analyses revealed that the Turner syndrome girls performed more poorly on spatial, attentional, and short-term memory cognitive tasks and had more psychosocial problems than the short-stature controls. Ability to discriminate facial affect may be another area of cognitive weakness for girls with the Turner syndrome and may underlie the psychosocial problems found in this sample.

Previous studies have attributed low rates of alcoholism and alcohol consumption among Chinese and Japanese to genetic or to cultural factors. The present study examined the responses of 47 Asian and 77 Causasian American students who completed questionnaires concerning their drinking patterns, their own and their parents' attitudes toward drinking, and the cues they used to control alcohol consumption. Asian students were also administered assimilation measures. Results indicated that (a) Asians reported more moderate drinking, (b) degree of assimilation was positively related to drinking, (c) attitudes toward drinking were related to reported drinking and were more negative in the case of Asians and their parents, and (d) Caucasians reported more extensive use of cues in the regulation of their drinking. The results suggest the importance of cultural factors in drinking patterns.

SummaryAftercare contributes to improved drinking outcome, yet maintenance has been overlooked as a point for intervention. This project evaluated the effect of cognitive‐behavioural relapse prevention (RP) and interpersonal process (IP) aftercare groups for recently hospitalized alcoholics, consisting of eight weekly 90 min sessions delivered by three co‐therapy teams conducting one group in each condition. Six cohorts of patients were assigned to conditions (N=39) and assessed at pretreatment, post‐treatment, and 6 month follow‐up. RP and IP resulted in comparable improvement/outcome on alcohol consumption, alcohol‐related impairment, cognitive coping, drinking days, time to first drink, abstinence, and aftercare attendance. In secondary analyses, improvement on temptation was attributed to RP, on behavioural coping to IP, and effects on self‐efficacy appeared marginally related to greater short term improvement for RP. The lack of differential outcome is discussed with respect to inadequate power, possible ceiling effects in outcome, the brevity of the follow‐up period, and the possibility that treatments may have been more similar in implementation than intended. Suggestions for improving aftercare and relapse prevention research are presented.

No abstract

This paper provides an overview of the role aftercare plays in the outcome of alcoholism treatment. The conceptual and practical similarities between the functions of aftercare services and cognitive-behavioral relapse-prevention approaches are presented. The results of a study comparing a relapse-prevention group to standard group therapy during the first 8 weeks following the completion of inpatient treatment are presented. Both interventions had similar impacts on drinking-related outcome measures; the relapse-prevention group appeared to provide a greater sense of personal efficacy, however. Issues to consider in future research incorporating relapse prevention into aftercare programs are discussed.

No abstract