Steven L. Berman

Predictors of outcome in exposure-based cognitive and behavioral treatments for phobic and anxiety disorders in children

This study examined predictors of exposure-based cognitive and behavioral treatments for phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Childrens so-ciodemographics, diagnostic characteristics (e.g., number of diagnoses), treatment format (i.e., individual, group), child symptoms assessed from the perspective of the child and parent (e.g., anxiety, fear), parent symptoms, and marital adjustment were examined. The best predictors of treatment outcome were depression and trait anxiety in the child, and several psychological symptoms in the parent (e.g., depression, hostility, paranoia). Parent symptoms were less effective predictors with older children and with group treatment. The results are discussed with respect to previous research findings as well as potential treatment implications.

Cognitive errors in youth with anxiety disorders: The linkages between negative cognitive errors and anxious symptoms.

This study examined the linkages between negative cognitive errors and anxiety in a sample of children and adolescents referred for anxiety problems (N = 251). The Childrens Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire was used to assess cognitive errors and several self-report measures of anxiety were used to examine the specific linkages between cognitive errors and different aspects of childrens anxiety phenomenology. Results indicated that each of the measures of anxiety (i.e., trait anxiety, manifest anxiety, and anxiety sensitivity) were significantly related to each of the cognitive errors examined (i.e., catastrophizing, overgeneralization, personalizing, and selective abstraction). The cognitive errors of catastrophizing, overgeneralization, and personalizing were still correlated with trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and manifest anxiety while controlling for childrens level of depression. In addition, the correlation between selective abstraction and anxiety sensitivity was still evident while controlling for childrens level of depression. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that overgeneralization was the strongest predictor of trait anxiety, catastrophizing and personalizing were the strongest predictors of anxiety sensitivity and manifest anxiety, and overgeneralization and selective abstraction were the strongest predictors of depression. Results also indicated that age moderated the relation between some types of cognitive errors and anxiety. The results are discussed with respect to the development of cognitive models of anxiety in youth, future research directions, and potential treatment implications.

The Development and Validation of a Measure of Identity Distress

The most frequently used measures of identity development do not contain a scale to measure the distress that can sometimes be associated with the process. The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Identity Distress Survey. The measure was found to have high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Identity distress was related to the constructs of identity style and identity status. Identity distress was positively correlated with identity exploration and associated with the informational style and was negatively correlated with identity commitment. This measure could help identify those people who are having exceptional difficulties in the process of identity development and in need of intervention.

Promoting Identity Development in Marginalized Youth

This studytested a school-based intervention developed for use with urban minority youth vulnerable to multiple negative developmental outcomes. A quasi-experimental design (pre-and post-follow-up with matched comparison condition) was used to evaluate the impact of the intervention on promoting positive change in four developmental domains (skills/knowledge, attitudes, orientations, exploration/commitment) related to identitydevelopment. The final set of participants comprised a matched sample of 92 youngsters, 46 in the intervention and 46 in the comparison condition. Quantitative results indicated that the intervention condition showed positive and significant gains from pre-to posttest on multiple indices, with a tendencytoward the “leveling off” of intervention gains at follow-up. A qualitative assessment of the impact of the intervention illustrated positive effects of the intervention as well as the possible obstacles to intervention efficacy.

Promoting Positive Youth Development New Directions in Developmental Theory, Methods, and Research

The articles in this special issue report the efforts of the Miami Youth Development Project (YDP), a community-supported positive youth development program of outreach research that draws on a developmental intervention science (DIS) perspective (i.e., a fusion of the developmental and intervention science literatures). These reports illustrate how the application of DIS outreach research contributes to knowledge of human development at all levels (practical as well as methodological, theoretical, and metatheoretical). Consistent with a DIS outreach research approach, YDP is committed to the use of descriptive and explanatory knowledge about changes within human systems that occur across the life span in the development of evidence-based individual and institutional longitudinal change intervention strategies in promoting long-term developmental change. The evolution of the Miami YDP illustrates the value of DIS outreach research “in action.”

Paul Tillich's theory of existential anxiety: A preliminary conceptual and empirical examination

This paper conceptually explores Paul Tillichs theory of existential anxiety and examines existing research relevant to each of Tillichs domains of existential apprehension. This paper also reports data from two initial empirical studies of Tillichs model of existential anxiety and its relation to symptoms of anxiety and depression. A self-report measure of existential anxiety, the Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ) based on Tillichs conceptualization, was developed and data were collected from two socioeconomic and ethnically diverse samples of adults (Study 1, N=225; Study 2, N=331). Results indicated that the EAQ has good test-retest and internal consistency reliability and a factor structure consistent with theory. The EAQ also demonstrated good convergent and incremental validity estimates. The data suggest that existential anxiety concerns are common and that they are associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as psychological distress related to identity problems. Results are discussed with regard to their support for the viability of employing Tillichs theory in empirical research on existential anxiety and the importance of further exploring the relation between existential anxiety concerns and other facets of emotional experience such as clinical anxiety and depression.

Identity Status Measurement Across Contexts: Variations in Measurement Structure and Mean Levels Among White American, Hispanic American, and Swedish Emerging Adults

We conducted this study to examine measurement equivalence and mean differences in identity status across 3 ethnic/cultural contexts: White American, Hispanic American, and Swedish. We used the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status II (EOM–EIS–II; Bennion & Adams, 1986), a commonly used instrument in the identity status literature. We conducted analyses to ascertain the extent to which the EOM–EIS–II functioned equivalently in 3 ethnically/culturally different samples. The internal structure of the measure was consistent across contexts. When we statistically controlled effects of age and gender, mean differences tended to be largely cross-cultural at the observed level of analysis but to be both cross-ethnic and cross-cultural at the latent level of analysis. This divergence in findings was found despite the limited age range represented in each of the samples. We therefore concluded that measurement error may have played a role in these differences and that data gathered using the EOM–EIS–II should be analyzed using latent variable methods. We discuss results in terms of using the EOM–EIS–II with diverse populations.

Promoting Adult Identity Development: A Feasibility Study of a University-Based Identity Intervention Program

Targeting identity as an outcome variable, the research described here reports a preliminary evaluation of the feasibility of extending to adult university-based populations, the use of intervention change strategies (co-participatory and transformative) developed for community-based positive youth development interventions. Participants (N = 43) were enrolled in an elective personal growth psychology course at a public university. Identity exploration significantly increased, and identity distress significantly decreased. In addition, there was a significant decrease in foreclosed identity statuses and a significant increase in achieved identity statuses. Qualitative indices also suggest that the course was well received and course objectives were achieved.

Promoting Positive Youth Development The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP)

The Miami Youth Development Project (YDP) had its beginnings in the early 1990s as a grassroots response to the needs of troubled (multiproblem) young people in the community (Arnett, Kurtines, & Montgomery, 2008, this issue). YDP is an important outcome of efforts to create positive youth development interventions that draw on the strengths of developmental intervention science outreach research in the development of community-supported positive development programs (i.e., an approach that focuses on meeting community needs as well as youth needs by generating innovative knowledge of evidence-based change intervention strategies that are feasible, affordable, and sustainable in “real world” settings, (Kurtines, Ferrer-Wreder, Cass Lorente, Silverman, Montgomery, 2008, this issue). Now completing its second decade, YDP represents an effort to bring together a more empowering model of knowledge development for research involvement in the community, a nuanced and contextualized notion of youth and their development, and methodologies that richly reflect rather than reduce the experiences of the young people whose development the authors seek to promote.

Promoting Positive Identity Development in Troubled Youth: A Developmental Intervention Science Outreach Research Approach

This article illustrates how developmental intervention science outreach research contributes to knowledge development on the promotion of positive identity development by describing results from the Miami Youth Development Project. The project is committed to the use of descriptive and explanatory knowledge about evidence-based individual and institutional intervention strategies for promoting developmental change in self and identity. Our efforts, described here, include a method for measuring theoretically and personally meaningful identity change, a procedure for integrating key aspects of qualitative and quantitative data through relational data analysis, and an evidence-based positive youth development intervention that fosters measurable and meaningful identity change.