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The influence of family processes on school attendance issues.

The influence of family processes on school attendance issues.

Marlow and Rehman conducted a systematic literature review of the relationship between positive and negative family processes and school absenteeism and dropout among primary and secondary school students.

Effect sizes from 33 studies were used to conduct meta-analyses on the overall relationships and multiple outcome analyses. A significant positive relationship between school absenteeism and dropout and negative family processes, and a significant negative relationship between positive family processes and school attendance issues were found.

In addition, the correlation between positive family processes and school attendance issues was strongest for primary school children, whereas the correlation between negative family processes and absenteeism and dropout was strongest for students in secondary school.

The study supports the use of a systemic and developmental focus for understanding school absenteeism and dropout. Key implications include the use of interventions aimed at increasing positive family processes in primary school and decreasing negative family processes in secondary school.

doi.org/10.1080/20590776.2020.1834842

Change is needed to increase mental health help-seeking among chronically ill older adults.

Although chronically ill older adults (aged 65+ years) are at greater risk of mental health declines relative to their physically healthy peers, they underutilise mental health-related services.

Researchers investigated intentions to seek professional mental health support in this population in Australia. The aim was to facilitate early intervention and enhance help-seeking intentions. Participants (N = 108) provided demographic and health-related information, completed self-report measures of mental and physical health, and attitudinal and belief-based factors related to help-seeking based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB).

Most participants reported some intention to seek professional mental health support, yet 41 per cent stated they would not. Attitudes, norms and perceived ability to seek help had the greatest influence on help-seeking intentions, beyond mental and physical health status, explaining 69.7 per cent of the variance in intentions.

Participants reported a high perceived ability to seek help, therefore, congruent with the TPB, promoting favourable attitudes towards mental health help-seeking among chronically ill older adults is likely to enhance their help-seeking intentions and behaviour.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1952850

Dietary interventions as part of treatment for children with psychological symptoms.

Nutrition is becoming increasingly recognised for its important role in maintaining optimal health and wellbeing. While there are positives to supporting healthy eating practices, there is a worrying trend towards people taking up fad diets and using dietary supplements that are not medically or scientifically sound. Of particular concern is the growing interest in fad diets and supplements for children with psychological disorders such as autism spectrum disorder.

Nutritional interventions are often perceived as being harmless, risk-free and natural, especially when compared with pharmaceutical options. However, many diets, such as the Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) diet, eliminate whole food groups and can result in serious nutritional deficiencies as well as lower quality of life.

Researchers explored whether psychologists have a role in the uptake of nutritional interventions for children with psychological disorders through an anonymous survey. Of those who responded to the survey, nearly all held favourable attitudes towards nutritional interventions, and many reported they would be likely to incorporate a nutritional intervention into the treatment of a child presenting for psychological therapy.

The GAPS diet, although a fad diet lacking empirical support, was one of the most widely endorsed of the diets and supplements in the survey. The results highlight the importance of ensuring psychology training programs support graduates to critically evaluate the evidence for therapeutic interventions to ensure the best outcomes for clients.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2021.1944788

What motivates the darker side of personality?

The Dark Tetrad of personality (i.e., sub-clinical traits of sadism, psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism) has demonstrated use in predicting self-reported risk-taking behaviour, but more research is needed.

Studies indicate psychopaths are more likely to be impulsive thrillseekers, narcissists tend to be egotistical attention-seekers, Machiavellians tend to be strategic manipulators, while sadists appear to receive gratification from inflicting cruelty on victims. However, the explanatory power of the Dark Tetrad of personality in the prediction of everyday risk-taking behaviours has yet to be determined.

Participants (N = 216) completed an online survey and the study aimed to predict both self-reported and behavioural risk-taking from the four dark trait variables. Though the Dark Tetrad traits were not significant predictors of behavioural risk-taking, sadism emerged as the strongest predictor of self-reported risk-taking and outcomes of this study suggested that psychopathy and sadism share strong connections.

The practical implications of high levels of sadism or psychopathy combined with a heightened risk-taking disposition carries antisocial implications and underscores the need for harm reduction. The findings also suggest sadism may be more prevalent in the general population than initially surmised. This work highlights the need for identifying potential clinical interventions for extreme levels of the Dark Tetrad traits and more exploration is needed to detect the underlying mechanisms of the dark personality-risk relationship.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00049530.2021.1955224