Although recognised by policy incentives shaping children's services, research and service de... more Although recognised by policy incentives shaping children's services, research and service development for children with complex healthcare needs have received limited attention. Both health-care professionals and families of those children affected frequently report fragmented care and unmet needs in the literature. Not only is the wellbeing of the family and health of the child jeopardised, but also the lack of consistent service coordination between diagnosis, impairment, functional need or disability, directly contributes to a lack of data for the subgroup of children with complex healthcare needs. In this scoping review, key themes are identified, proposing priorities for innovation of future services. It is clear from the literature, longitudinal data analysis providing a more accessible platform for service evaluation and improvement, specialist training for key workers, and further research around definitions and classification systems, is lacking.
This study investigated the 'latent deficit' hypothesis in two groups of head-inj... more This study investigated the 'latent deficit' hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients with predominantly frontal lesions, those injured prior to steep morphological and corresponding functional maturational periods for frontal networks (<or=age 25), and those injured>28 years. The latent deficit hypothesis proposes that early injuries produce enduring cognitive deficits manifest later in the lifespan with graver consequences for behavior than adult injuries, particularly after frontal pathology (Eslinger, Grattan, Damasio & Damasio, 1992). Implicit and executive deficits both contribute to behavioral insight after frontal head injury (Barker, Andrade, Romanowski, Morton, & Wasti, 2006). On the basis of morphological and behavioral data, we hypothesized that early injury would confer greater vulnerability to impairment on tasks associated with frontal regions than later injury. Patients completed experimental tasks of implicit cognition, executive function measures and the DEX measure of behavioral insight (Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome: Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie, & Evans, 1996). The Early Injury group were more impaired on implicit cognition tasks compared to controls that Late Injury patients. There were no marked group differences on most executive function measures. Executive ability only contributed to behavioral awareness in the Early Injury Group. Findings showed that age at injury moderates the relationship between executive and implicit cognition and behavioral insight and that early injuries result in long-standing deficits to functions associated with frontal regions partially supporting the latent deficit hypothesis.
Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, Mar 30, 2014
"An experimental evaluation of the State Adult Attachment Measure:
The Influence of Attachment ... more "An experimental evaluation of the State Adult Attachment Measure:
The Influence of Attachment Primes on the Content of State Attachment Representations"
Both avoidant and borderline personality disorder (APD and BPD) are theoretically associated with... more Both avoidant and borderline personality disorder (APD and BPD) are theoretically associated with temperamental vulnerabilities, adverse attachment experiences, and negative (pessimistic or catastrophic) reactions to the threat of perceived rejection; however, more work is needed to differentiate how these processes account for the etiology and maintenance of both disorders. In this study, 156 adults completed questionnaires measuring APD and BPD features, temperament (sensory processing sensitivity), mood, and attachment experiences. A vignette task was devised to examine pessimistic cognitive-affective reactions in situations signaling potential rejection. Both APD and BPD were associated with temperamental sensitivity, but BPD was uniquely linked with a subscale measuring sensitivity to mental and emotive stimuli, whereas APD was uniquely linked with a subscale measuring the control and avoidance of aversive stimulation. Compared to APD, BPD was more strongly linked with negative moods (anxiety, anger, sadness) and insecure attachment to parents, whereas APD was more strongly linked (than BPD) to pessimistic cognitive-affective responses to rejection-related situations.
According to self-determination theory, well-being and healthy personality development depend on ... more According to self-determination theory, well-being and healthy personality development depend on the fulfillment of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, and competence. However, various contextual features can interfere with need satisfaction and undermine well-being. We hypothesized that fashion models, who are often valued for superficial reasons (i.e., their looks) and who may not have regular opportunities to cultivate deep relationships or exercise personal control on the job, might experience lower psychological need satisfaction, less well-being, and less optimal personality adjustment. Two studies were conducted in which professional fashion models (N = 56 in Study 1; N = 35 in Study 2) were compared to approximately equally large groups of non-models. Fashion models reported slightly lower need satisfaction and well-being but greater personality maladjustment (personality disorder features). Mediation analyses in Study 1 suggested that the lower well-being among models was explained via unfulfilled basic needs. These findings further substantiate the importance of basic need satisfaction for well-being and optimal adjustment.
This study investigated the ‘latent deficit’ hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients wi... more This study investigated the ‘latent deficit’ hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients with predominantly frontal lesions, those injured prior to steep morphological and corresponding functional maturational periods for frontal networks (≤age 25), and those injured >28 years. The latent deficit hypothesis proposes that early injuries produce enduring cognitive deficits manifest later in the lifespan with graver consequences for behavior than adult injuries, particularly after frontal pathology (Eslinger, Grattan, Damasio & Damasio, 1992). Implicit and executive deficits both contribute to behavioral insight after frontal head injury (Barker, Andrade, Romanowski, Morton, & Wasti, 2006). On the basis of morphological and behavioral data, we hypothesized that early injury would confer greater vulnerability to impairment on tasks associated with frontal regions than later injury. Patients completed experimental tasks of implicit cognition, executive function measures and the DEX measure of behavioral insight (Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome: Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie, & Evans, 1996). The Early Injury group were more impaired on implicit cognition tasks compared to controls that Late Injury patients. There were no marked group differences on most executive function measures. Executive ability only contributed to behavioral awareness in the Early Injury Group. Findings showed that age at injury moderates the relationship between executive and implicit cognition and behavioral insight and that early injuries result in long-standing deficits to functions associated with frontal regions partially supporting the latent deficit hypothesis.
Personality research has shown that negativity in social evaluations (e.g., negative evaluations ... more Personality research has shown that negativity in social evaluations (e.g., negative evaluations of others) can be reduced by the activation of participants’ sense of attachment security. Individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD), however, are theroretically less responsive to context or situational cues because of their personality disposition. This idea was tested in a sample of 169 undergraduates who were assessed for APD features and assigned to positive, negative or neutral priming conditions. More pronounced APD features were associated with more negative responses to vignettes describing potentially distressing social situations. A significant interaction showed that participants with more avoidant features consistently appraised the vignettes relatively more negatively, regardless of priming condition. Those without avoidant PD features, by contrast, did not exhibit negative appraisals/evaluations unless negatively primed (curvilinear effect). This effect could not be explained by depression, current mood, or attachment insecurity, all of which related to negative appraisal biases, but none of which related to situation inflexibility. These findings provide empirical support for the notion that negative information processing is unusually inflexible and context-unresponsive among individuals with more pronounced features of APD.
Although recognised by policy incentives shaping children's services, research and service de... more Although recognised by policy incentives shaping children's services, research and service development for children with complex healthcare needs have received limited attention. Both health-care professionals and families of those children affected frequently report fragmented care and unmet needs in the literature. Not only is the wellbeing of the family and health of the child jeopardised, but also the lack of consistent service coordination between diagnosis, impairment, functional need or disability, directly contributes to a lack of data for the subgroup of children with complex healthcare needs. In this scoping review, key themes are identified, proposing priorities for innovation of future services. It is clear from the literature, longitudinal data analysis providing a more accessible platform for service evaluation and improvement, specialist training for key workers, and further research around definitions and classification systems, is lacking.
This study investigated the 'latent deficit' hypothesis in two groups of head-inj... more This study investigated the 'latent deficit' hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients with predominantly frontal lesions, those injured prior to steep morphological and corresponding functional maturational periods for frontal networks (<or=age 25), and those injured>28 years. The latent deficit hypothesis proposes that early injuries produce enduring cognitive deficits manifest later in the lifespan with graver consequences for behavior than adult injuries, particularly after frontal pathology (Eslinger, Grattan, Damasio & Damasio, 1992). Implicit and executive deficits both contribute to behavioral insight after frontal head injury (Barker, Andrade, Romanowski, Morton, & Wasti, 2006). On the basis of morphological and behavioral data, we hypothesized that early injury would confer greater vulnerability to impairment on tasks associated with frontal regions than later injury. Patients completed experimental tasks of implicit cognition, executive function measures and the DEX measure of behavioral insight (Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome: Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie, & Evans, 1996). The Early Injury group were more impaired on implicit cognition tasks compared to controls that Late Injury patients. There were no marked group differences on most executive function measures. Executive ability only contributed to behavioral awareness in the Early Injury Group. Findings showed that age at injury moderates the relationship between executive and implicit cognition and behavioral insight and that early injuries result in long-standing deficits to functions associated with frontal regions partially supporting the latent deficit hypothesis.
Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, Mar 30, 2014
"An experimental evaluation of the State Adult Attachment Measure:
The Influence of Attachment ... more "An experimental evaluation of the State Adult Attachment Measure:
The Influence of Attachment Primes on the Content of State Attachment Representations"
Both avoidant and borderline personality disorder (APD and BPD) are theoretically associated with... more Both avoidant and borderline personality disorder (APD and BPD) are theoretically associated with temperamental vulnerabilities, adverse attachment experiences, and negative (pessimistic or catastrophic) reactions to the threat of perceived rejection; however, more work is needed to differentiate how these processes account for the etiology and maintenance of both disorders. In this study, 156 adults completed questionnaires measuring APD and BPD features, temperament (sensory processing sensitivity), mood, and attachment experiences. A vignette task was devised to examine pessimistic cognitive-affective reactions in situations signaling potential rejection. Both APD and BPD were associated with temperamental sensitivity, but BPD was uniquely linked with a subscale measuring sensitivity to mental and emotive stimuli, whereas APD was uniquely linked with a subscale measuring the control and avoidance of aversive stimulation. Compared to APD, BPD was more strongly linked with negative moods (anxiety, anger, sadness) and insecure attachment to parents, whereas APD was more strongly linked (than BPD) to pessimistic cognitive-affective responses to rejection-related situations.
According to self-determination theory, well-being and healthy personality development depend on ... more According to self-determination theory, well-being and healthy personality development depend on the fulfillment of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, and competence. However, various contextual features can interfere with need satisfaction and undermine well-being. We hypothesized that fashion models, who are often valued for superficial reasons (i.e., their looks) and who may not have regular opportunities to cultivate deep relationships or exercise personal control on the job, might experience lower psychological need satisfaction, less well-being, and less optimal personality adjustment. Two studies were conducted in which professional fashion models (N = 56 in Study 1; N = 35 in Study 2) were compared to approximately equally large groups of non-models. Fashion models reported slightly lower need satisfaction and well-being but greater personality maladjustment (personality disorder features). Mediation analyses in Study 1 suggested that the lower well-being among models was explained via unfulfilled basic needs. These findings further substantiate the importance of basic need satisfaction for well-being and optimal adjustment.
This study investigated the ‘latent deficit’ hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients wi... more This study investigated the ‘latent deficit’ hypothesis in two groups of head-injured patients with predominantly frontal lesions, those injured prior to steep morphological and corresponding functional maturational periods for frontal networks (≤age 25), and those injured >28 years. The latent deficit hypothesis proposes that early injuries produce enduring cognitive deficits manifest later in the lifespan with graver consequences for behavior than adult injuries, particularly after frontal pathology (Eslinger, Grattan, Damasio & Damasio, 1992). Implicit and executive deficits both contribute to behavioral insight after frontal head injury (Barker, Andrade, Romanowski, Morton, & Wasti, 2006). On the basis of morphological and behavioral data, we hypothesized that early injury would confer greater vulnerability to impairment on tasks associated with frontal regions than later injury. Patients completed experimental tasks of implicit cognition, executive function measures and the DEX measure of behavioral insight (Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome: Wilson, Alderman, Burgess, Emslie, & Evans, 1996). The Early Injury group were more impaired on implicit cognition tasks compared to controls that Late Injury patients. There were no marked group differences on most executive function measures. Executive ability only contributed to behavioral awareness in the Early Injury Group. Findings showed that age at injury moderates the relationship between executive and implicit cognition and behavioral insight and that early injuries result in long-standing deficits to functions associated with frontal regions partially supporting the latent deficit hypothesis.
Personality research has shown that negativity in social evaluations (e.g., negative evaluations ... more Personality research has shown that negativity in social evaluations (e.g., negative evaluations of others) can be reduced by the activation of participants’ sense of attachment security. Individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD), however, are theroretically less responsive to context or situational cues because of their personality disposition. This idea was tested in a sample of 169 undergraduates who were assessed for APD features and assigned to positive, negative or neutral priming conditions. More pronounced APD features were associated with more negative responses to vignettes describing potentially distressing social situations. A significant interaction showed that participants with more avoidant features consistently appraised the vignettes relatively more negatively, regardless of priming condition. Those without avoidant PD features, by contrast, did not exhibit negative appraisals/evaluations unless negatively primed (curvilinear effect). This effect could not be explained by depression, current mood, or attachment insecurity, all of which related to negative appraisal biases, but none of which related to situation inflexibility. These findings provide empirical support for the notion that negative information processing is unusually inflexible and context-unresponsive among individuals with more pronounced features of APD.
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Papers by David Bowles
The Influence of Attachment Primes on the Content of State Attachment Representations"
The Influence of Attachment Primes on the Content of State Attachment Representations"