Showing papers in "American Psychologist in 2019"

The future of sex and gender in psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary.

Abstract: The view that humans comprise only two types of beings, women and men, a framework that is sometimes referred to as the "gender binary," played a profound role in shaping the history of psychological science. In recent years, serious challenges to the gender binary have arisen from both academic research and social activism. This review describes 5 sets of empirical findings, spanning multiple disciplines, that fundamentally undermine the gender binary. These sources of evidence include neuroscience findings that refute sexual dimorphism of the human brain; behavioral neuroendocrinology findings that challenge the notion of genetically fixed, nonoverlapping, sexually dimorphic hormonal systems; psychological findings that highlight the similarities between men and women; psychological research on transgender and nonbinary individuals' identities and experiences; and developmental research suggesting that the tendency to view gender/sex as a meaningful, binary category is culturally determined and malleable. Costs associated with reliance on the gender binary and recommendations for future research, as well as clinical practice, are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, White allies, and bystanders.

Abstract: Given the immense harm inflicted on individuals and groups of color via prejudice and discrimination, it becomes imperative for our nation to begin the process of disrupting, dismantling, and disarming the constant onslaught of micro- and macroaggressions. For too long, acceptance, silence, passivity, and inaction have been the predominant, albeit ineffective, strategies for coping with microaggressions. Inaction does nothing but support and proliferate biased perpetrator behaviors which occur at individual, institutional and societal levels. This article introduces a new strategic framework developed for addressing microaggressions that moves beyond coping and survival to concrete action steps and dialogues that targets, allies, and bystanders can perform (microinterventions). A review of responses to racist acts, suggest that microaggression reactions/interventions may be primarily to (a) remain passive, retreat, or give up; (b) strike back or hurt the aggressor; (c) stop, diminish, deflect, or put an end to the harmful act; (d) educate the perpetrator; (e) validate and support the targets; (f) act as an ally; (g) seek social support; (h) enlist outside authority or institutional intervention; or (h) achieve any combination of these objectives. We organize these responses into four major strategic goals of microinterventions: (a) make the invisible visible, (b) disarm the microaggression, (c) educate the perpetrator, and (d) seek external reinforcement or support. The objectives and rationale for each goal are discussed, along with specific microintervention tactics to employ and examples of how they are executed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationship between the Implicit Association Test and intergroup behavior: A meta-analysis.

Abstract: Using data from 217 research reports (N = 36,071, compared to 3,471 and 5,433 in previous meta-analyses), this meta-analysis investigated the conceptual and methodological conditions under which Implicit Association Tests (IATs) measuring attitudes, stereotypes, and identity correlate with criterion measures of intergroup behavior. We found significant implicit-criterion correlations (ICCs) and explicit-criterion correlations (ECCs), with unique contributions of implicit (β = .14) and explicit measures (β = .11) revealed by structural equation modeling. ICCs were found to be highly heterogeneous, making moderator analyses necessary. Basic study features or conceptual variables did not account for any heterogeneity: Unlike explicit measures, implicit measures predicted for all target groups and types of behavior, and implicit, but not explicit, measures were equally associated with behaviors varying in controllability and conscious awareness. However, ICCs differed greatly by methodological features: Studies with a declared focus on ICCs, standard IATs rather than variants, high-polarity attributes, behaviors measured in a relative (two categories present) rather than absolute manner (single category present), and high implicit-criterion correspondence (k = 13) produced a mean ICC of r = .37. Studies scoring low on these variables (k = 6) produced an ICC of r = .02. Examination of methodological properties-a novelty of this meta-analysis-revealed that most studies were vastly underpowered and analytic strategies regularly ignored measurement error. Recommendations, along with online applications for calculating statistical power and internal consistency are provided to improve future studies on the implicit-criterion relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial trauma: Theory, research, and healing: Introduction to the special issue.

Abstract: Racial trauma, a form of race-based stress, refers to People of Color and Indigenous individuals' (POCI) reactions to dangerous events and real or perceived experiences of racial discrimination. Such experiences may include threats of harm and injury, humiliating and shaming events, and witnessing racial discrimination toward other POCI. Although similar to posttraumatic stress disorder, racial trauma is unique in that it involves ongoing individual and collective injuries due to exposure and reexposure to race-based stress. The articles in this special issue introduce new conceptual approaches, research, and healing models to challenge racial trauma. The authors encourage psychologists to develop culturally informed healing modalities and methodologically sophisticated research and urge the inclusion of public policy interventions in the area of racial trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

RECASTing racial stress and trauma: Theorizing the healing potential of racial socialization in families.

Abstract: For youth and adults of color, prolonged exposure to racial discrimination may result in debilitating psychological, behavioral, and health outcomes. Research has suggested that race-based traumatic stress can manifest from direct and vicarious discriminatory racial encounters (DREs) that impact individuals during and after an event. To help their children prepare for and prevent the deleterious consequences of DREs, many parents of color utilize racial socialization (RS), or communication about racialized experiences. Although RS research has illuminated associations between RS and youth well-being indicators (i.e., psychosocial, physiological, academic, and identity-related), findings have mainly focused on RS frequency and endorsement in retrospective accounts and not on how RS is transmitted and received, used during in-the-moment encounters, or applied to reduce racial stress and trauma through clinical processes. This article explores how systemic and interpersonal DREs require literate, active, and bidirectional RS to repair from race-based traumatic stress often overlooked by traditional stress and coping models and clinical services. A novel theory (Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory [RECAST]), wherein RS moderates the relationship between racial stress and self-efficacy in a path to coping and well-being, is advanced. Greater RS competency is proposed as achievable through intentional and mindful practice. Given heightened awareness to DREs plaguing youth, better understanding of how RS processes and skills development can help youth and parents heal from the effects of past, current, and future racial trauma is important. A description of proposed measures and RECAST's use within trauma-focused clinical practices and interventions for family led healing is also provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender differences in reading and writing achievement: Evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

Abstract: A frequently observed research finding is that females outperform males on tasks of verbal and language abilities, but there is considerable variability in effect sizes from sample to sample The gold standard for evaluating gender differences in cognitive ability is to recruit a large, demographically representative sample We examined 3 decades of US student achievement in reading and writing from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to determine the magnitude of gender differences (N = 39 million), and whether these were declining over time as claimed by Feingold (1988) Examination of effect sizes found a developmental progression from initially small gender differences in Grade 4 toward larger effects as students progress through schooling Differences for reading were small-to-medium (d = -32 by Grade 12), and medium-sized for writing (d = -55 by Grade 12) and were stable over the historical time Additionally, there were pronounced imbalances in gender ratios at the lower left and upper right tails of the ability spectrum These results are interpreted in the context of Hyde's (2005) gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that most psychological gender differences are only small or trivial in size Language and verbal abilities represent one exception to the general rule of gender similarities, and we discuss the educational implications of these findings (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

The impact of historical trauma on health outcomes for indigenous populations in the USA and Canada: A systematic review.

Abstract: Beginning in the mid-1990s, the construct of historical trauma was introduced into the clinical and health science literatures to contextualize, describe, and explain disproportionately high rates of psychological distress and health disparities among Indigenous populations. As a conceptual precursor to racial trauma, Indigenous historical trauma (IHT) is distinguished by its emphasis on ancestral adversity that is intergenerationally transmitted in ways that compromise descendent well-being. In this systematic review of the health impacts of IHT, 32 empirical articles were identified that statistically analyzed the relationship between a measure of IHT and a health outcome for Indigenous samples from the United States and Canada. These articles were categorized based on their specific method for operationalizing IHT, yielding 19 articles that were grouped as historical loss studies, 11 articles that were grouped as residential school ancestry studies, and three articles that were grouped as "other" studies. Articles in all three categories included diverse respondents, disparate designs, varied statistical techniques, and a range of health outcomes. Most reported statistically significant associations between higher indicators of IHT and adverse health outcomes. Analyses were so complex, and findings were so specific, that this groundbreaking literature has yet to cohere into a body of knowledge with clear implications for health policy or professional practice. At the conceptual level, it remains unclear whether IHT is best appreciated for its metaphorical or literal functions. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm surrounding IHT as an explanation for contemporary Indigenous health problems renders it imperative to refine the construct to enable more valid research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Healing ethno-racial trauma in Latinx immigrant communities: Cultivating hope, resistance, and action.

Abstract: Latinx immigrants living in the United States often experience the negative effects of systemic oppression, which may lead to psychological distress, including ethno-racial trauma. We define ethno-racial trauma as the individual and/or collective psychological distress and fear of danger that results from experiencing or witnessing discrimination, threats of harm, violence, and intimidation directed at ethno-racial minority groups. This form of trauma stems from a legacy of oppressive laws, policies, and practices. Using an intersectionality framework, this article discusses the complex ways in which interlocking systems of oppression (e.g., racism, ethnocentrism, nativism, sexism) and anti-immigrant policies impact Latinxs individuals, families, and communities. The article also presents a framework to stimulate healing from ethno-racial trauma titled, HEART (Healing Ethno And Racial Trauma). Grounded in the principles of Liberation Psychology and trauma-informed care, the framework is composed of four phases. Each phase is accompanied by a goal to assist clinicians in helping individuals, families, and communities to achieve growth, wellness, and healing. The main objective of each phase is for Latinx immigrants to find relief, gain awareness, and cope with systemic oppression while encouraging resistance and protection from the external forces that cause ethno-racial trauma. Overall, our intention and hopeful expectation is that the content presented in this article serves as a call to action for psychologists to make psychology a Sanctuary Discipline by using and integrating intersectionality theory, trauma-informed care, and Liberation Psychology into policy, research, and practice with Latinx immigrants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

APA Multicultural Guidelines executive summary: Ecological approach to context, identity, and intersectionality.

Abstract: The initial version of the Multicultural Guidelines, titled Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists, was published in 2002. Since then, there has been significant growth in research and theory regarding multicultural contexts. The revised Multicultural Guidelines are conceptualized to reconsider diversity and multicultural practice within professional psychology at this period in time, with intersectionality as its primary purview. Psychologists are encouraged to incorporate developmental and contextual antecedents of identity and consider how they can be acknowledged, addressed, and embraced to generate more effective models of professional engagement. The Multicultural Guidelines incorporate broad reference group identities that acknowledge within-group differences and the role of self-definition. Identity is shaped across contexts and time by cultural influences including age, generation, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, religion, spirituality, language, sexual orientation, social class, education, employment, ability status, national origin, immigration status, and historical as well as ongoing experiences of marginalization. The theoretical model, a layered ecological model of the Multicultural Guidelines, is presented along with 10 corresponding guidelines. The guidelines are applicable to psychologists in their work with clients, students, research participants, and in practice, education, research, and/or consultation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The policy relevance of personality traits

Abstract: Personality traits are powerful predictors of outcomes in the domains of education, work, relationships, health, and well-being. The recognized importance of personality traits has raised questions about their policy relevance, that is, their potential to inform policy actions designed to improve human welfare. Traditionally, the use of personality traits in applied settings has been predicated on their ability to predict valued outcomes, typically under the assumption that traits are functionally unchanging. This assumption, however, is both untrue and a limiting factor on using personality traits more widely in applied settings. In this article, we present the case that traits can serve both as relatively stable predictors of success and actionable targets for policy changes and interventions. Though trait change will likely prove a more difficult target than typical targets in applied interventions, it also may be a more fruitful one given the variety of life domains affected by personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Mapping 24 emotions conveyed by brief human vocalization.

Abstract: Emotional vocalizations are central to human social life. Recent studies have documented that people recognize at least 13 emotions in brief vocalizations. This capacity emerges early in development, is preserved in some form across cultures, and informs how people respond emotionally to music. What is poorly understood is how emotion recognition from vocalization is structured within what we call a semantic space, the study of which addresses questions critical to the field: How many distinct kinds of emotions can be expressed? Do expressions convey emotion categories or affective appraisals (e.g., valence, arousal)? Is the recognition of emotion expressions discrete or continuous? Guided by a new theoretical approach to emotion taxonomies, we apply large-scale data collection and analysis techniques to judgments of 2,032 emotional vocal bursts produced in laboratory settings (Study 1) and 48 found in the real world (Study 2) by U.S. English speakers (N = 1,105). We find that vocal bursts convey at least 24 distinct kinds of emotion. Emotion categories (sympathy, awe), more so than affective appraisals (including valence and arousal), organize emotion recognition. In contrast to discrete emotion theories, the emotion categories conveyed by vocal bursts are bridged by smooth gradients with continuously varying meaning. We visualize the complex, high-dimensional space of emotion conveyed by brief human vocalization within an online interactive map. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Posttraumatic stress disorder in African American and Latinx adults: Clinical course and the role of racial and ethnic discrimination.

Abstract: Research has suggested that African American and Latinx adults may develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at higher rates than White adults, and that the clinical course of PTSD in these minority groups is poor. Factors that may contribute to higher prevalence and poorer outcome in these groups are sociocultural factors and racial stressors, such as experiences with discrimination. To date, however, no research has explored the relationship between experiences with discrimination and risk for PTSD, and very little research has examined the course of illness for PTSD in African American and Latinx samples. The present study examined these variables in the only longitudinal clinical sample of 139 Latinx and 152 African American adults with anxiety disorders, the Harvard/Brown Anxiety Research Project-Phase II. Over 5 years of follow-up, remission rates for African Americans and Latinx adults with PTSD in this sample were 0.35 and 0.15, respectively, and reported frequency of experiences with discrimination significantly predicted PTSD diagnostic status in this sample, but did not predict any other anxiety or mood disorder. These findings demonstrate the chronic course of PTSD in African American and Latinx adults, and highlight the important role that racial and ethnic discrimination may play in the development of PTSD among these populations. Implications for an increased focus on these sociocultural stressors in the assessment and treatment of PTSD in African American and Latinx individuals are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding the link between racial trauma and substance use among American Indians.

Abstract: Historians and scholars from various disciplines have documented the pervasive influence of racism on American society and culture, including effects on the health and well-being of American Indian (AI) people. Among the many health problems affected by racial discrimination and oppression, both historical and current, are substance use disorders. Epidemiological studies have documented greater drug and alcohol-related morbidity and mortality among AI/AN Alaska Natives compared to other ethnic groups, and culturally appropriate, effective interventions are sorely needed. We collected, as part of a larger community-based participatory research project to address substance use disparities in rural AI communities, qualitative interview data from 25 AI key informants from a frontier reservation in Montana. Using a semistructured interview guide, we asked participants to discuss their perceptions of the causes of substance use problems and barriers to recovery on the reservation. Although no questions specifically asked about discrimination, key informants identified stress from racism as an important precipitant of substance use and barrier to recovery. As one participant stated: "Oppression is the overarching umbrella for all sickness with drugs and alcohol." Participants also identified historical trauma resulting from colonization as a manifestation of race-based stress that drives behavioral health problems. Findings suggest that interventions for AIs with substance use disorders, and possibly other chronic health problems, may be more effective if they address social determinants of health such as racial discrimination and historical trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

American Indian historical trauma: Anticolonial prescriptions for healing, resilience, and survivance.

Abstract: The American Indian historical trauma (HT) concept is an important precursor to racial trauma (RT) theory that reflects the distinct interests of sovereign Indigenous nations but shares much of the same promise and challenge. Here, that promise and challenge is explored by tracing HT's theoretical development in terms of its anticolonial ambitions and organizing ideas. Three predominant modes of engaging HT were distilled form the literature (HT as a clinical condition, life stressor, and critical discourse), each informing a research program pursuing a different anticolonial ambition (healing trauma, promoting resilience, practicing survivance) organized by distinct ideas about colonization, wellness, and Indigeneity. Through critical reflection on these different ambitions and dialogue of their organizing ideas, conflict between research programs can be mitigated and a more productive anticolonialism realized in psychology and related health fields. Key recommendations emphasized clarifying clinical concepts (e.g., clinical syndrome vs. idiom of distress), disentangling clinical narratives of individual pathology (e.g., trauma) from social narratives of population adversity (e.g., survivance stories), attending to features of settler-colonialism not easily captured by heath indices (e.g., structural violence), and encouraging alignment of anticolonial efforts with constructive critiques establishing conceptual bridges to disciplines that can help to advance psychological understandings of colonization and Indigenous wellness (e.g., postcolonial studies). This conceptual framework was applied to the RT literature to elaborate similar recommendations for advancing RT theory and the interests of ethnic/racial minority populations through engagement with psychology and related health fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Obtaining consensus in psychotherapy: What holds us back?

Abstract: Although the field of psychotherapy has been in existence for well over a century, it nonetheless continues to be preparadigmatic, lacking a consensus or scientific core. Instead, it is characterized by a large and increasing number of different schools of thought. In addition to the varying ways in which psychotherapy has been conceptualized, there also exists a long-standing gap between psychotherapy research and how it is conducted in actual clinical practice. Finally, there also exists a tendency to place great emphasis on what is new, often rediscovering or reinventing past contributions. This article describes each of these impediments to obtaining consensus and offers some suggestions for what might be done to address them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

"Forward flow": A new measure to quantify free thought and predict creativity.

Abstract: When the human mind is free to roam, its subjective experience is characterized by a continuously evolving stream of thought. Although there is a technique that captures people's streams of free thought-free association-its utility for scientific research is undermined by two open questions: (a) How can streams of thought be quantified? (b) Do such streams predict psychological phenomena? We resolve the first issue-quantification-by presenting a new metric, "forward flow," that uses latent semantic analysis to capture the semantic evolution of thoughts over time (i.e., how much present thoughts diverge from past thoughts). We resolve the second issue-prediction-by examining whether forward flow predicts creativity in the lab and the real world. Our studies reveal that forward flow predicts creativity in college students (Study 1) and a representative sample of Americans (Study 2), even when controlling for intelligence. Studies also reveal that membership in real-world creative groups-performance majors (Study 3), professional actors (Study 4) and entrepreneurs (Study 5)-is predicted by forward flow, even when controlling for performance on divergent thinking tasks. Study 6 reveals that forward flow in celebrities' social media posts (i.e., on Twitter) predicts their creative achievement. In addition to creativity, forward flow may also help predict mental illness, emotional experience, leadership ability, adaptability, neural dynamics, group productivity, and cultural success. We present open-access online tools for assessing and visualizing forward flow for both illustrative and large-scale data analytic purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

An integrative development-in-sociocultural-context model for children's engagement in learning.

Abstract: The construct of engagement provides a holistic lens for understanding how children interact with learning activities, with distinct behavioral, emotional-affective, and cognitive components forming a multidimensional engagement profile for each child. As the understanding of engagement and recognition of its complexity grow, a pressing need has emerged for a synthetic, coherent review that simultaneously integrates extant literature and clarifies the conceptualization of engagement, identifies its key facilitators and consequences, and proffers a theoretical framework that elaborates on how engagement functions. Using a developmental-contextual approach, this article integrates empirical and theoretical scholarship to illustrate how engagement is produced by developmental and relational processes involving transactions across multiple ecologies. The integrative model of engagement offers a comprehensive perspective on the multiple pathways-psychological, cognitive, social, and cultural-underlying the development of children's engagement. Conceptualizing engagement as a multidimensional construct shaped by interactions between an individual and the environment enriches the field's understanding of the personal, contextual, and sociocultural factors that foster or undermine engagement. This framing also enhances understanding of the psychosocial mechanisms through which learning environments influence engagement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The source model of group threat: Responding to internal and external threats.

Abstract: We introduce a model of group threat that articulates the opposing effects of intergroup (between-groups) and intragroup (within-group) threat on identity processes and group relations. The source model of group threat argues that the perceived source of a threat is critical in predicting its consequences, such that perceptions of intergroup threat will strengthen (in)group identity processes and relations, whereas perceptions of intragroup threat has the potential to undermine the same. In addition to reviewing the large literature on intergroup threat and a smaller body of unsynthesized work on intragroup threat, we discuss how these processes are captured in representations of monsters (aliens, vampires, and zombies) in popular media and how these ideas can inform interpretation of current political debates, such as those around homegrown terrorism. This model provides a novel summary of the core effects of intergroup and intragroup threat, generating testable hypotheses about the psychological effects of different types of threat. Applying this model will help to make sense of seemingly contradictory findings in the literature, illustrating how appraisal of a threat as originating from an intergroup or intragroup source has the capacity to change the group-based effects of that threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial trauma, microaggressions, and becoming racially innocuous: The role of acculturation and White supremacist ideology.

Abstract: Acculturation theories often describe how individuals in the United States adopt and incorporate dominant cultural values, beliefs, and behaviors such as individualism and self-reliance. Theorists tend to perceive dominant cultural values as "accessible to everyone," even though some dominant cultural values, such as preserving White racial status, are reserved for White people. In this article, the authors posit that White supremacist ideology is suffused within dominant cultural values, connecting the array of cultural values into a coherent whole and bearing with it an explicit status for White people and people of color. Consequently, the authors frame acculturation as a continuing process wherein some people of color learn explicitly via racism, microaggressions, and racial trauma about their racial positionality; White racial space; and how they are supposed to accommodate White people's needs, status, and emotions. The authors suggest that acculturation may mean that the person of color learns to avoid racial discourse to minimize eliciting White fragility and distress. Moreover, acculturation allows the person of color to live in proximity to White people because the person of color has become unthreatening and racially innocuous. The authors provide recommendations for research and clinical practice focused on understanding the connections between ideology, racism, microaggressions and ways to create psychological healing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial discrimination and racial identity: Daily moderation among black youth

Abstract: The present study examined daily ethnic/racial identity as a moderator for racial discrimination. The idiographic approach was used to understand when Black youth are at risk for negative outcomes in the context of racial discrimination. The current study assessed if within-person changes in racial centrality, private regard, and public regard moderated the daily relation between racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. Daily measures of racial discrimination, ethnic/racial identity, and depressive symptoms were administered to a sample of 103 Black adolescents for 2 weeks. The results suggest that neither racial centrality nor private regard moderated the same-day or lagged associations between daily racial discrimination experiences and daily depressive symptoms. Although low public regard fluctuations evidenced no moderation for the within-day relation, low public regard fluctuations exacerbated the lagged day relation between daily racial discrimination experiences and daily depressive symptoms. When Black youth experienced lower levels of public regard compared to their average levels, previous-day racial discrimination experiences were associated with an increase in depressive symptoms. The results are discussed in the context of within-person changes in ethnic/racial identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Protective factors for youth confronting economic hardship: Current challenges and future avenues in resilience research.

Abstract: Economic hardship during childhood is associated with worse mental and physical health across the life span. Over the past decade, interdisciplinary research has started to elucidate the behavioral and biological pathways that underlie these disparities and identify protective factors that mitigate against their occurrence. In this integrative review we describe these advances, highlight remaining gaps in knowledge, and outline a research agenda for psychologists. This article has 3 aims. First, we consider the evolving psychobiological literature on protective factors and conclude that supportive relationships can mitigate against the physical health problems often associated with economic hardship. Second, we discuss recent empirical developments in health psychology, public health, and the biological sciences, which reveal trade-offs associated with adaptation and challenge the conception of what it means to be resilient. Finally, we outline a research agenda that attempts to integrate existing knowledge on health disparities with these newer challenges to inform both policy and practice for youth experiencing economic hardship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

A model of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma among Americans of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent.

Abstract: Americans of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent in the United States have been historically understudied, in part due to limitations of racial classification systems that typically include MENA under the broad umbrella of White. As a result, enormous gaps in knowledge about health and mental health disparities exist, with broad public health significance. In particular, there is an urgent need to attend more specifically to MENA Americans' experiences of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma, which occurs at every level of their social ecologies. This article offers a conceptual model of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma to represent the unique experiences of the MENA American population. Traumatic factors at the macrolevel include historical trauma, pervasive institutional discrimination, and a hostile national context. These factors interact with one another and further impact microlevel traumatic experiences related to interpersonal discrimination and microaggressions, as well as struggles with identity and recognition. The deleterious impacts of these experiences may include a ubiquitous sense of insecurity, hopelessness, and alienation among MENA American individuals, in addition to more specific mental health and physical health concerns. It also compromises the overall well-being of the MENA American population in terms of belonging versus alienation, freedom versus restriction, and opportunities versus disadvantage. We discuss how the model can help to create a foundation for future inquiry and contribute to intervention efforts to find effective ways to support resilience and thriving for the MENA American population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Transnormativity in the psy disciplines: Constructing pathology in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and Standards of Care.

Abstract: The psy disciplines (i.e., psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy) have played a significant role in shaping understandings of transgender people's lives in ways that are transnormative (i.e., by emphasizing one particular account of what it means to be transgender). This article documents (a) how the rise of the psy disciplines created opportunities for transgender people to access treatment (but that such access often required tacit acceptance of transnormativity), and (b) how transgender people have resisted transnormative accounts within the psy disciplines. More specifically, this article explores how both the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and what is now the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards of Care, have often enshrined highly regulatory accounts of transgender people's lives, while also changing over time, in part as a result of the contributions of transgender people. The article concludes by considering recent contributions by transgender people in terms of the use of informed consent models of care and clinical research, and highlights the ongoing marginalization of transgender people in terms of access to ethical, transcompetent care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Japanese American Wartime Incarceration: Examining the Scope of Racial Trauma

Abstract: Ten weeks after the 1941 Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the U.S. government authorized the removal of more than 110,000 Japanese American men, women, and children from their homes in Western portions of the country to incarceration camps in desolate areas of the United States. The mass incarceration was portrayed as necessary to protect the country from potential acts of espionage or sabotage that might be committed by someone of Japanese ancestry. However, an extensive government review initiated in 1980 found no evidence of military necessity to support the removal decision and concluded that the incarceration was a grave injustice fueled by racism and war hysteria. The Japanese American wartime experience represents a powerful case example of race-based historical trauma. This article describes the consequences of the incarceration for Japanese Americans during and after their unjust imprisonment, their coping responses and healing strategies, as well as the impacts of receiving governmental redress more than four decades after the war's end. Examination of this specific event provides a perspective for understanding the long-term, radiating effects of racial trauma and the process of healing, over a broad arc of time and across social contexts. Current relevance of the Japanese American incarceration and implications for the field of psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Teams of psychologists helping teams: The evolution of the science of team training.

Abstract: Team training contributes to improved performance, reduced errors, and even saving lives-and it exists today because psychologists collaborated across domains to contribute their expertise. Our objective was to highlight the salient role of multidisciplinary collaboration in the success of team training, an area driven by psychologists responding to real-world problems. In this article, we deliver (a) a historical account of team training research, acknowledging critical turning points that shaped the science; (b) a synthesis of major contributions from subdisciplines of psychology; and (c) a collection of lessons learned in the science and practice of team training. We begin with the history of problems that created a need for solutions and the psychologists across domains who worked together to develop a science to improve teamwork. We give poignant examples of fatal mistakes that incited action and enabled scientific breakthroughs through research partnerships. Next, we detail the theoretical drivers behind the science and the hands-on approach of investigating how we turn a team of experts into an expert team. We discuss the spectrum of team training research throughout time, including major influences that shifted dominant paradigms of thought, while emphasizing its multidisciplinary nature and the contributions of psychologists. Finally, we provide a list of lessons learned from a half-century of multidisciplinary research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Abstract: The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of psychology's most famous studies. It has been criticized on many grounds, and yet a majority of textbook authors have ignored these criticisms in their discussions of the SPE, thereby misleading both students and the general public about the study's questionable scientific validity. Data collected from a thorough investigation of the SPE archives and interviews with 15 of the participants in the experiment further question the study's scientific merit. These data are not only supportive of previous criticisms of the SPE, such as the presence of demand characteristics, but provide new criticisms of the SPE based on heretofore unknown information. These new criticisms include the biased and incomplete collection of data, the extent to which the SPE drew on a prison experiment devised and conducted by students in one of Zimbardo's classes 3 months earlier, the fact that the guards received precise instructions regarding the treatment of the prisoners, the fact that the guards were not told they were subjects, and the fact that participants were almost never completely immersed by the situation. Possible explanations of the inaccurate textbook portrayal and general misperception of the SPE's scientific validity over the past 5 decades, in spite of its flaws and shortcomings, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Rethinking the nature of cruelty: The role of identity leadership in the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Abstract: The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) is one of the most famous studies in the history of psychology For nearly a half century it has been understood to show that assigning people to a toxic role will, on its own, unlock the human capacity to treat others with cruelty In contrast, principles of identity leadership argue that roles are unlikely to elicit cruelty unless leaders encourage potential perpetrators to identify with what is presented as a noble ingroup cause and to believe their actions are necessary for the advancement of that cause Although identity leadership has been implicated in behavior ranging from electoral success to obedience to authority, researchers have hitherto had limited capacity to establish whether role conformity or identity leadership provides a better account of the cruelty observed in the SPE Through examination of material in the SPE archive, we present comprehensive evidence that, rather than guards conforming to role of their own accord, experimenters directly encouraged them to adopt roles and act tough in a manner consistent with tenets of identity leadership Implications for the analysis of conformity and cruelty as well as for interpretation of the SPE are discussed (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

What is it to discipline a child: What should it be? A reanalysis of time-out from the perspective of child mental health, attachment, and trauma.

Abstract: Parental discipline strategies are a necessary and critical aspect of positive child development. Their qualities confer risk versus protection for the development of mental health problems. Time-out from positive reinforcement is now one of the most common and well-researched discipline procedures across the world, with overwhelming evidence to support its efficacy and acceptability. It has also recently attracted considerable criticism from writers evoking child well-being considerations based on attachment theory. The main concern is that the removal of a child to time-out exposes the child to a break in attachment security and, for children with trauma histories, potentially causes harm. Here, we consider what a discipline strategy should be from a mental health perspective and, utilizing the best available models of developmental mental health and psychopathology, derive five axioms for judging and guiding the worth and acceptability of any particular discipline strategy. We then use these axioms to evaluate and specify how time-out can be used in a way that maximizes positive child outcomes, and then review its use with children who have experienced complex trauma. We show that time-out, when conceptualized and enacted consistently with contemporary models of learning, attachment, self-regulation, and family systems theory, is actually a positive perturbation to these systems that can rapidly remediate problems the child is experiencing, and thereby generally enhances child well-being. Clinical, research, and policy implications are briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Scientific imperatives vis-à-vis growing inequality in America.

Abstract: A landmark article published in the American Psychologist (Adler et al., 1994) encouraged psychologists to engage in research on socioeconomic inequality and health. Numerous contributions followed to fill in psychosocial and behavioral pathways. Specifically, we review advances on health inequalities research from a large public-use study (Midlife in the United States [MIDUS]). The Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 and its lingering effects are then reviewed to underscore widening inequality in access to education, employment, and income. Two MIDUS national samples of same-aged adults recruited 2 decades apart are then compared to assess historical changes in socioeconomic, physical health, and well-being profiles from the 1990s to postrecession. Despite historical gains in educational attainment over time, we show that indicators of socioeconomic status, health, and well-being are more compromised in the postrecession sample relative to the 1990s sample. Building on these preliminary findings, we elaborate opportunities for further inquiry by the scientific community to examine whether widening socioeconomic inequalities exacerbated by the Great Recession translate to widening health inequalities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Reducing poverty and inequality through preschool-to-third-grade prevention services

Abstract: The contributions of psychology to the development and evaluation of preschool-to-third-grade prevention programs are analyzed with an emphasis on poverty alleviation through implementation of effective services for a greater number of children. The need to alleviate poverty and increase economic success is high. Early childhood programs have been found to be an effective strategy for promoting educational success and economic well-being, but the availability of high quality programs that are aligned and integrated with schools across the learning continuum is limited. Psychology has made major contributions to knowledge and practice in (a) defining and evaluating educational enrichment and (b) understanding mechanisms of behavioral change. As an empirical illustration of these contributions for enhancing economic well-being, we report new midlife income data in the Child-Parent Centers, a preschool-to-third-grade program that integrates the two major contributions to improve life course outcomes. Based on a well-matched alternative-intervention design with high sample retention (86%; N = 1,329), findings indicate that participation was associated with a 25% increase in average annual income at age 34 years ($22,708 vs. $18,130; p < .01). Graduates were also more likely to be in the top income quartile (≥$27,500; 30.7% vs. 20.2%; p < .01). Most of the main effects were explained by cognitive, school, and family factors, though further corroboration is needed. Implications for strengthening the impacts of early childhood programs as an avenue for increasing well-being and reducing inequality emphasize redressing ecological barriers, improving continuity and alignment with other strategies, and implementing effectiveness elements widely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).