New Research From Clinical Psychological Science

Read about the latest research published in Clinical Psychological Science:

The Vicissitudes of Positive Autobiographical Recollection as an Emotion Regulation Strategy in Depression

Aliza Werner-Seidler, Laura Tan, and Tim Dalgleish

In this study, the authors examined whether the concordance or discrepancy of a memory with the person’s current self impacts the effect of that memory on mood. Depressed and never-depressed British participants rated their mood; never-depressed participants then watched a video designed to induce a sad mood, whereas depressed participants watched a neutral movie. Participants were then asked to recall a positive memory that was discrepant or concordant with their current self. Depressed participants reported an increase in mood only if the recalled memory was concordant with their current self, whereas never-depressed participants reported a boost in mood for both discrepant and concordant memories. This finding may help inform the best ways for depressed individuals to regulate mood through memory recall.

Relationship Quality and Alcohol-Related Social Reinforcement During Couples Interaction

Catharine E. Fairbairn and Maria Testa

People who are in unhappy marriages have been found to be at greater risk for developing drinking problems. To understand why this might occur, the researchers examined the impact of alcohol on relationship interactions. Heterosexual married or cohabitating couples were asked to try to resolve one topic of conflict after one of them, neither of them, or both of them had consumed alcoholic beverages. After the interaction, participants provided a rating of their relationship quality and completed an assessment of their mood and of the behaviors that occurred during the interaction. Alcohol consumption improved the interactions of pairs who rated themselves as having low relationship quality, but it did not affect the interactions of pairs reporting high relationship quality. Alcohol may be a reinforcing component for those in unhappy relationships, explaining why they are at a higher risk for problem drinking.

Cognitive Profiling Useful for Unraveling Cross-Disorder Mechanisms: Support for a Step-Function Endophenotype Model

Nanda N. J. Rommelse, Jolanda M. J. van der Meer, Catharina A. Hartman, and Jan K. Buitelaar

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often co-occur, and some have hypothesized that both disorders are part of one overarching disorder. Participants were children between the ages of 5 and 17 who had one, both, or neither of the two disorders. Participants were assessed in a variety of cognitive domains related to ADHD and ASD. Based on the data, the researchers were able to identify four cognitive classes. These classes were predictive of ADHD, ASD, and ADHD/ASD comorbid symptoms in the clinical sample, but not in the nonclinical sample, suggesting that ADHD and ASD are part of the same overarching disorder.