Celia B. Fisher

Discrimination Distress During Adolescence

Amidst changing patterns of accommodation and conflict among American ethnic groups, there remains a paucity of research on the nature and impact of racial and ethnic discrimination on development in multiethnic samples of youth. The Adolescent Discrimination Distress Index along with measures of caregiver racial bias preparation and self-esteem was administered to 177 adolescents drawn from 9th–12th graders self-identified as African American, Hispanic, East Asian, South Asian, and non-Hispanic white. Youth from all ethnic backgrounds reported distress associated with instances of perceived racial prejudice encountered in educational contexts. Instances of institutional discrimination in stores and by police were higher for older youth and particularly for African American and Hispanic teenagers. Encounters with peer discrimination were reported most frequently by Asian youth. Reports of racial bias preparation were associated with distress in response to institutional and educational discrimination and self-esteem scores were negatively correlated with distress caused by educational and peer discrimination. The importance of research on discrimination distress to understanding adolescent development in multiethnic ecologies is discussed here.

Toward a Science for and of the People: Promoting Civil Society through the Application of Developmental Science

Applied developmental science (ADS) is scholarship that seeks to advance the integration of developmental research with actions-policies and programs-that promote positive development and/or enhance the life chances of vulnerable children and families. Through this integration ADS may become a major means to foster a science for and of the people. It may serve as an exemplar of the means through which scholarship, with community collaboration, may contribute directly to social justice. In so doing, ADS helps shift the model of amelioration, prevention, or optimization research from one demonstrating efficacy to one promoting outreach. When this contribution occurs in the context of university-community partnerships, ADS may serve also as a model of how higher education may engage policy makers, contribute to community capacity to sustain valued programs, and maintain and perpetuate civil society through knowledge-based, interinstitutional systems change.

AGING AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION SKILLS : AN EXAMINATION OF A COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER ADULT POPULATION

The purpose of the present study was to employ the Tower of Hanoi task to the study of possible changes in executive function skills in older adults. The study used a quasi-experimental design, with age group (i.e., young adult, young elderly, or older elderly), being the independent variable in examining performance differences between younger and older adults. Data were analyzed cross-sectionally by age group. Nineteen elderly men and women comprised two groups; nine Young Elderly with an average age of 65 years and ten Older Elderly with an average age of 75 years. Two men and ten women served as a Young Adult comparison group having an average age of 19 years. Performance on the Tower of Hanoi was measured by efficiency scores (number of trials to consecutive solutions), frequency of error types, self-correction scores (completing the goal configuration in twenty or fewer moves after committing an error precluding a “correct” solution), and error perseveration (committing the same error on two consecutive trials of a problem). Analysis of variance and chi-squared tests suggested similar executive capacities among the 9 young adult and the 8 young elderly participants as compared to their 7 older elderly peers on the 3–disk task. However, on the 4–disk task where problem complexity increased by the addition of another disk and longer move sequences, young adult participants showed superior performance on the average than either young elderly or older elderly participants. Although the present study is limited by the small sample size and the use of cross-sectional analyses to examine age differences, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis of age differences in executive function.

Health care decision-making by adults with mental retardation.

Abilities of adults with mild, moderate, or no mental retardation to understand hypothetical treatments was investigated using the Assessment of Consent Capacity-Treatment developed for this study based on Appelbaum and Roths psycholegal consent standards. Performance in all groups decreased with increasing psycholegal complexity of consent decision-making. Most adults with mild and no mental retardation and almost half of adults with moderate mental retardation were able to make and justify treatment choices and fully or partially understand treatment information. Most adults without mental retardation, 50% with mild, and 18% with moderate mental retardation were able to partially appreciate relevance of treatment choice to patients situation and weigh treatment risks against benefit. Implications of findings for patient rights are discussed.

Through the community looking glass: Reevaluating the ethical and policy implications of research on adolescent risk and psychopathology.

Drawing on a conception of scientists and community members as partners in the construction of ethically responsible research practices, this article urges investigators to seek the perspectives of teenagers and parents in evaluating the personal and political costs and benefits of research on adolescent risk behaviors. Content analysis of focus group discussions involving over 100 parents and teenagers from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds revealed community opinions regarding the scientific merit, social value, racial bias, and participant and group harms and benefits associated with surveys, informant reports, intervention studies, blood sampling, and genetic research on youth problems. Participant comments highlight new directions for socially responsible research.

Ethical issues in mental health research with children and adolescents

Contents: Preface. Part I: Scientific, Regulatory, and Family Perspectives. K. Hoagwood, P.S. Jensen, C.B. Fisher, Toward a Science of Scientific Ethics in Research on Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders. J.P. Porter, Regulatory Considerations in Research Involving Children and Adolescents With Mental Disorders. T.W. Osher, M. Telesford, Involving Families to Improve Research. Part II: Ethical Challenges Across Diverse Research Contexts. C.C. Attkisson, A. Rosenblatt, K. Hoagwood, Research Ethics and Human Subjects Protection in Child Mental Health Services Research and Community Studies. E.D. Hibbs, P. Krener, Ethical Issues in Psychosocial Treatment Research With Children and Adolescents. H. Leonard, P.S. Jensen, B. Vitiello, N. Ryan, J. March, M. Riddle, J. Biederman, Ethical Issues in Psychopharmacological Treatment Research With Children and Adolescents. L.E. Arnold, D.M. Stoff, E. Cook, Jr., C. Wright, D.J. Cohen, M. Kruesi, J. Hattab, P. Graham, A. Zametkin, F.X. Castellanos, W. McMahon, J.F. Leckman, Biologic Procedures: Ethical Issues in Research With Children and Adolescents. F.W. Putnam, M.B. Liss, J. Landsverk, Ethical Issues in Maltreatment Research With Children and Adolescents. Part III: Casebook. C.B. Fisher, K. Hoagwood, P.S. Jensen, Casebook on Ethical Issues in Research With Children and Adolescents With Mental Disorders. Part IV: Bridging Science and Ethics. E.G. DeRenzo, A Bioethicists Perspective. P.S. Jensen, K. Hoagwood, C.B. Fisher, Bridging Scientific and Ethical Perspectives: Toward Synthesis.

Research Ethics Education for Community-Engaged Research: A Review and Research Agenda

Community engagement is increasingly becoming an integral part of research. “Community-engaged research” (CEnR) introduces new stakeholders as well as unique challenges to the protection of participants and the integrity of the research process. We—a group of representatives of CTSA-funded institutions and others who share expertise in research ethics and CEnR—have identified gaps in the literature regarding (1) ethical issues unique to CEnR; (2) the particular instructional needs of academic investigators, community research partners, and IRB members; and (3) best practices for teaching research ethics. This paper presents what we know, as well as what we still need to learn, in order to develop quality research ethics educational materials tailored to the full range of stakeholder groups in CEnR.

Victimization by Community Violence in Young Adolescents from a Suburban City

An exploratory model of the victimization-distress relation was tested with a sample of 123 sixth- through eighth-grade students from a small suburban city. More than one-half of the participants reported being victimized by community violence (including being chased, hit, mugged, and wounded). Although the majority of victimization incidents described by students included less severe types of physical confrontations such as chasing or hitting, nearly one-fifth of the students experienced more severe forms of victimization, namely mugging or wounding. An exploratory model was constructed whereby assertiveness and self-controlling coping predicted victimization. Victimization and family support emerged as direct predictors of distress, and family support moderated the victimization-distress relation. Suggestions for further research are discussed.

The Goldmeier Effect in Adults and Children: Environmental, Retinal, and Phenomenal Influences on Judgments of Visual Symmetry

Adults judge that patterns symmetrical about the vertical axis are more similar to standard patterns symmetrical about both major orthogonal axes than are patterns which are symmetrical only about the horizontal axis (the Goldmeier effect). Thus, symmetry about the vertical axis is more salient for adults than symmetry about the horizontal axis. Two experiments are reported in which subjects from three age groups (preschool, 8 years old, and adult) were given Goldmeier problems under different conditions. In experiment 1 three head-tilt conditions were used (0°, 45°, 90°); in experiment 2 there were four conditions defined by head orientation (0°, 90°) and phenomenal instructions (top of figure at 0° or at 90°). In both experiments, increasing head tilt from 0° decreased the consistency with which the environmentally vertical pattern was chosen. Noncorrespondence between the three spatial frameworks (environmental, retinal, and phenomenal) failed to produce biases in favor of either retinal-egocentric or phenomenal systems. For rotated adult subjects in experiment 2, 0° phenomenal instructions strengthened an environmental bias, and 90° phenomenal instructions shifted responses toward a retinal bias. These findings provide strong refutation of explanations for symmetry perception that are based solely upon the anatomical symmetry of the visual system. The data also fail to support arguments for environmental or phenomenal frameworks as singular influences. The results are best explained in terms of failure of constancy mechanisms to coordinate environmental and retinal information as a function of degree of head rotation and stimulus complexity.

Identification of symmetry: Effects of stimulus orientation and head position

It has been argued that the perceptual advantage of symmetry depends upon the essentially symmetrical properties of the visual system. According to this explanation, the ease of identification of symmetries about different axes of orientation should decrease with increasing distance from the vertical: Reaction times to vertical symmetry should be faster than those to diagonal symmetry, which in turn should be faster than those to horizontal symmetry. Previous research demonstrating this pattern of responding employed stimuli with linear axes. In the present study, the subjects viewed tachistoscopically presented symmetrical and asymmetrical dot patterns (which had no explicit axes) in one of three head positions: upright, 45 deg left, and 45 deg right. The subjects’ performance failed to support the structural explanation: Identification of symmetry is equivalently fast for vertical and horizontal; vertical and horizontal show strong advantages over obliques, and this general advantage follows retinal coordinates. Findings are discussed in light of alternative theories of symmetry processing.