Previous studies have revealed that the ways couples deal with stress in their lives are significantly associated with their marital quality and overall marital functioning. However, there has been little empirical evidence linking dyadic coping with marital quality over time. This study addresses the relationship between dyadic coping and marital quality among 90 couples over a period of 2 years. The results reveal that dyadic coping was significantly associated with marital quality over 2 years. For women, both their own dyadic coping and that of their partner were significant predictors, whereas for men only their own dyadic coping was predictive. The results are discussed with regard to prevention of marital distress.

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Callous-unemotional (CU) traits identify adolescents at high risk for severe and recurrent antisocial behaviour and are included in the DSM-5 as a specifier to conduct disorder. The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) might be the most cost-effective screening instrument for detecting CU traits in youth. We aimed to address an important gap in research by comparing the factor structure and psychometric properties of ICU scores across gender, age, and setting (community versus institutionalized). Community-based (n=397) and institutionalized (n=164) adolescent boys and girls completed self-reported measures of psychopathic traits (including the ICU), externalizing problems and aggression, and a laboratory measure of emotional recognition; the staff reported antisocial behavior for institutionalized children. Factor-analytic results indicated that a three-factor bifactor model best fit the data across samples, with measurement invariance across gender, age, and setting, supporting the construct validity of the ICU. In support of its criterion validity, across groups ICU scores were positively correlated with analogous dimensions from the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, measures of proactive aggression, and self-and staff-reported antisocial behavior, and were associated with poorer accuracy in recognizing distress-related emotions. Our findings thus support the overall utility of the ICU for assessing CU traits in adolescent populations regardless of gender, age, and community or institutionalized status, but suggest a need for refining its assessment of the shallow affect dimension.

BackgroundPersons with dementia experience a progressive decline associated with an increasing dependency. Most of the support they require to stay at home comes from their informal caregivers (IC). Dementia informal caregiving imposes high costs on IC’s health and quality of life, related to long periods of chronic stress. Based on evidence that more adequate coping strategies can reduce chronic stress and its negative consequences, and that psycho-educative interventions have the broadest effects on IC quality of life, the program “Learning to feel better… and help better” was developed in French-speaking Canada. This group intervention focusing on coping with the daily stress of dementia caregiving showed efficacy in decreasing the behavior problems of the person with dementia and the associated stress reactions in their IC. The objectives of our study were to examine within a one group pre- and post-test design 1) the feasibility of implementing the program in two regions of French-speaking Switzerland, 2) the effects of the program, and 3) the participants’ use of the trained strategies in daily life.MethodA mixed-methods concurrent nested design was used to quantitatively evaluate the feasibility, the effects on five core outcomes, and strategy use in daily life. Additional qualitative data documented in depth the acceptability and impact of the intervention.ResultsWe analyzed 18 complete data sets. Regarding feasibility, qualitative and quantitative results converged towards a very good acceptance of the program and a strong implication of the participants. Regarding effects, the program resulted in substantial and significant improvements in burden (d = 0.41, p < .05), psychological distress (d = 0.54, p < .05) and self-efficacy (d = 0.43, p < .05). The qualitative results emphasized the benefits of a group format: Participants felt understood by peers, could build new social bonds and experienced reduced social isolation. Data regularly collected in daily life showed that participants were using more and more over time the strategies they learned (β01 = 0.55, p < .001), particularly reframing.ConclusionThis study expands on the original one conducted by the developers of the program in French-speaking Canada, by showing the feasibility and the very promising effects of this intervention in two regions of French-speaking Switzerland.

This study sought to assess the effectiveness of a marital distress prevention program for couples by examining how marital quality, especially marital competencies such as dyadic coping, could be improved by means of a prevention program focusing on the enhancement of coping resources (Couples Coping Enhancement Training). The study consisted of 59 couples in the intervention group and 59 couples in the matched comparison group. The results reveal that it is possible to improve marital quality, especially marital competencies, by means of one short-term intervention lasting 18 hr. However, the effects decreased after 2 years, raising the importance of booster sessions in helping to maintain effects over a longer period of time.

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) assesses psychopathic traits cost-effectively while minimizing social desirability. To determine which YPI summary scores should be used, we tested (a) the factorial validity of its three scales and 10 subscales, (b) the fit of a new bifactor model, and (c) the measurement invariance of the best model across gender, age, and community/institutionalized samples. Three hundred ninety-five community adolescents (M age 15.8) and 200 institutionalized adolescents (M age 15.0) filled in the French translation of the YPI. The factorial validity of the 10 subscales was supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Model comparisons favored the new bifactor model, independent of age, gender, and community/institutionalized status. Measurement invariance was confirmed. These findings support the previous YPI validation studies conducted on the 10 subscale scores, and suggest that YPI users should rely in all samples on the simultaneous use of the total score and the three scale scores, which is a common practice.

CACR can be successfully administered in this population; it proved to be effective over and above CG for the most intensively trained cognitive ability.

Objective: To investigate short-term outcomes of a computer-assisted cognitive remediation (CACR) for adolescents with psychotic disorders or at high risk for psychosis. Method: Cognitive abilities and clinical status were assessed at baseline (N = 32) and at 6-month follow-up (N = 22) after enrolment in either a CACR (treatment group) or a computer games (control group) program (8 weeks). Results: With regard to the cognitive abilities, no amelioration was found in the control group while, in the CACR group, significant improvements in inhibition (p = 0.040) and reasoning (p = 0.005) were observed. Furthermore, symptom severity decreased significantly in the control group (p = 0.046) and marginally in the CACR group (p = 0.088). Improvements in cognitive abilities were not associated with symptoms' amelioration. Finally, increase in reasoning abilities was related to the median effective work time in sessions of CACR (R = 0.64, p = 0.024). Conclusion: At follow-up, enhanced cognitive abilities (reasoning and inhibition), which are necessary for executing higher-order goals or adapting behaviour to the ever-changing environment, were reported in adolescents participants of the CACR. Thus, further studies are needed to confirm and extend these interesting results.