Brian Vandenberg

GRIEF COMMUNICATION, GRIEF REACTIONS AND MARITAL SATISFACTION IN BEREAVED PARENTS

This study examined if attitudes about grief communication are related to grief reactions and marital satisfaction in bereaved parents. The sample consisted of 36 couples who experienced the loss of a child. For the couple as a unit, the relation between attitudes about communication and grief changed over time, and the nature of the change was related to the level of communication; positive attitudes about open communication were related to high grief in the early stages of bereavement and to low grief in later stages. No relation to marital satisfaction was found. Spouses were correlated in their attitudes about communication, but women valued open communication significantly more than men. Positive attitudes about grief communication were related to mens grief reactions but not marital satisfaction; whereas for women, positive attitudes were related to marital satisfaction but not grief.

Psychological and Religious Coping Strategies of Mothers Bereaved by the Sudden Death of a Child

ABSTRACT The authors examined the associations of 3 types of psychological coping (task-based, emotion-based, avoidance), 2 types of religious coping (positive, negative), and their interactions with grief of 57 mothers bereaved by the sudden death of a child. Results indicated that mothers who use emotion-based coping report significantly higher levels of grief, whereas mothers who use avoidance coping report lower levels of grief. The interaction of task coping and positive religious coping was also associated with lower self-reported grief. The findings support the differential utility of various coping styles on mothers’ grief reactions to the sudden death of a child.

Environmental and cognitive factors in social play

Abstract The impact of differing play environments, as well as cognitive and social egocentrism factors, on the social play of preschoolers was examined. Fifteen boys and thirteen girls (55 months of age) were allowed free access to two distinctly different environments containing play materials which were aimed at exercising either big or fine muscle coordination. The childrens cognitive abilities and social egocentrism were also measured. The results indicate that the play environment strongly influenced the type of social play as well as the size of the play groups. Differences in cognitive level and social egocentrism influenced the childrens choice of play environment, suggesting an organism-environment interaction in the childrens social play. The results indicate that todays generation of children may not be less social in their play, as Barnes has suggested, but that differences between studies may be a consequence of differing play environments and not generational differences.

Early Life Stress on Brain Structure and Function Across the Lifespan: A Preliminary Study

Previous studies have shown that exposure to early life stress (ELS) is associated with reduced volume of brain regions critical for information processing, memory and emotional function. Further, recent studies from our lab utilizing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have found alterations in the microstructural integrity of white matter pathways among adults exposed to ELS. However, it is not clear if these relationships extend to children and adolescents, and it is also unclear if these DTI abnormalities are associated with cognitive performance. The present study examined the relationship between ELS and the microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum among a sample of otherwise healthy controls between the ages of 8 and 73. The participants were subdivided into four age groups (8–12, 13–18, 19–50, 51–73). Individuals with three or more ELS events were compared to individuals with fewer than 3 ELS events on fractional anisotropy (FA) in the genu of the corpus callosum. Separate analyses examined the two groups on tests of verbal memory, information processing speed, psychomotor speed and cognitive flexibility. Results revealed that the youngest group and the oldest group of individuals with ELS exhibited significantly lower FA in the genu compared to individuals without ELS. However, there were no group differences on any of the cognitive tasks. Our results indicate that ELS is related to subtle alterations in brain structure, but not function. The effects found with regard to DTI occurred during periods of critical age-related developmental windows.

Factors Influencing Adjustment in the Families of Autistic Children

This study investigated factors influencing the adjustment of families of 49 autistic children (38 boys, 11 girls) to the stress of raising an autistic child. Analysis indicated that the severity of the childs disorder (stress), mothers social support (resources), and mothers perceived locus of control (perception) were significant factors in family adjustment. In addition, evidence suggested that agency affiliation also was an unexpected, yet important factor.

Authentic religious experience or insanity

This study examined how mental health professionals make judgments about the religious authenticity and mental health of behaviors motivated by religious ideation. Participants were presented with written vignettes of religiously motivated behavior. The context of religious behavior varied on 6 dimensions and also on 3 levels of conventionality. The results indicated that the determining factor in the ratings was not dimensions of religious experience, but the degree that the experience deviated from conventional religious beliefs and practices. The more unconventional the behavior, the less religiously authentic and mentally healthy it was deemed to be.

PARENTAL DIVORCE AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS OF YOUNG ADULTS

This study examined associations among parental divorce, family conflict, sex, and young mens and womens achievement of intimacy. Analyses indicated that family conflict and sex, but not divorce, were significantly related to intimacy. Examination of those within the divorced group suggest that time of divorce, along with family conflict, were related to intimacy.

Play: Dormant Issues and New Perspectives

The role of play in development is discussed from cultural-evolutionary and ontogenetic-historical perspectives. The Piaget/Sutton-Smith debate serves as a point of departure for identifying important questions concerning the role of play in development. Parallels are drawn between genetic mutation and DNA in biological evolution, and play and imitation in cultural evolution. Vygotsky’s model of language development is used to provide an understanding of the ontogenetic history of play. These perspectives illuminate how play and imitation are important for the developing individual emerging and influencing a changing cultural environment.

Levinas and the Ethical Context of Human Development

Research on infancy and the philosophy of Levinas are integrated, suggesting that human development is forged within an ethical, relational context, with particular individuals, embodied in ordinary, daily, concrete acts of giving, care and exchange. Ethics is immanent in human conduct and moral principles are derived from the acts of relatedness and care essential to human life, present from the earliest, first moments of life. Ethics as first philosophy suggests that the primordial relational context of development necessarily entails ethical responsibility, revealed most visibly in love and death.

DEPRESSION AND ATTRIBUTION IN ABUSED CHILDREN AND THEIR NONOFFENDING CAREGIVERS

This study examined depression and attribution in 17 abused children and their nonoffending caregivers. Analysis indicated that negative attributions were significantly related to higher scores on depression of both children and caregivers, that depression scores of caregivers were unrelated to depression of their abused children, but that caregivers, nevertheless, assessed their childrens self-reported depression as similar to their own self-reported depression.