Adolescence is a significant period for the formation of relationship networks and the development of internalizing problems. With a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 3,834, 52.01% girls, Mage = 16.68 at Wave 1), the present study aimed to identify the configuration of adolescents’ relationship qualities from four important domains (i.e., relationship quality with mother, father, peers, and teachers) and how distinct profiles were associated with the development of internalizing problems (indicated by depressive and anxiety symptoms) across high school years. Latent profile analysis identified a five-profile configuration with four convergent profiles (i.e., relationship qualities with others were generally good or bad) and one “Father estrangement” profile (i.e., the relationship quality with others were relatively good but that with father was particularly poor). Further conditional latent growth curve analysis indicated the “Father estrangement” profile was especially vulnerable to an increase in the internalizing problems as compared with other relationship profiles. This study contributes to understanding the characteristics of interpersonal relationship qualities and their influences on adolescent internalizing problems in a non-Western context. Results were further discussed from a culturally specific perspective.

Intrusive autobiographical memories are a prominent feature of depression implicated in the onset and course of the disorder. Current cognitive behavioural treatment of depression does not specify techniques to address intrusive memories. Imagery rescripting has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of trauma-related intrusive memories. This paper illustrates the application of imagery rescripting as a stand-alone treatment for two patients experiencing a current major depressive episode. The two cases are described in detail and follow-up data are reported. Both patients experienced clinically significant and reliable change in their depression scores and no longer met criteria for a current major depressive episode at post-assessment, with gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. Implications are discussed for the theoretical mechanisms of change of this intervention as well as methods to overcome common treatment obstacles that arise in depression.

Health anxiety (HA) is common in psychiatric and medical settings. Cognitive models of HA highlight the role of misinterpreting physical sensations as dangerous. This report presents the case of a 31-year-old man and the use of a cognitive-behavioural approach to treat his HA which also considers the role of misinterpreting intrusions as abnormal, by drawing on theoretical accounts of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A single-case experimental design demonstrated reliable improvements in symptom measures of HA and general distress. Distinguishing sensation-based versus intrusion-based appraisals in HA has implications for interventions in health settings and for refining cognitive theory.

The study of the brains’ oscillatory activity has been a standard technique to gain insights into human neurocognition for a relatively long time. However, as a complementary analysis to ERPs, only very recently has it been utilized to study bilingualism and its neural underpinnings. Here, we provide a theoretical and methodological starter for scientists in the (psycho)linguistics and neurocognition of bilingualism field(s) to understand the bases and applications of this analytical tool. Towards this goal, we provide a description of the characteristics of the human neural (and its oscillatory) signal, followed by an in-depth description of various types of EEG oscillatory analyses, supplemented by figures and relevant examples. We then utilize the scant, yet emergent, literature on neural oscillations and bilingualism to highlight the potential of how analyzing neural oscillations can advance our understanding of the (psycho)linguistic and neurocognitive understanding of bilingualism.

Demonstrative words are one of the most important ways of establishing reference in conversation. This work describes Spanish-speaking children’s demonstrative production between ages 2 to 10 using data from the CHILDES corpora. Results indicate that children feature all demonstratives in their lexicon – however, the distal term is scarce throughout development. Moreover, patterns of demonstrative use are not adult-like at age 10. We compare adult and child data to conclude that children’s development of demonstrative production is largely protracted. Adult use of the distal demonstrative is higher than in young children, although both older children and adults use the medial term ese more than any other demonstratives. In contrast, younger children use proximals relatively more frequently than older children and adults. Suggestions for future research and theoretical implications for the Spanish demonstrative system are discussed.

The relations between socioeconomic status (SES) and language skills at the onset of reading acquisition has not received much attention in research. In this study, a standardized battery of oral and written language tests was administered to 127 Arabic-speaking children at the end of first grade. SES-related differences were found in a line of oral language measures (vocabulary, syntax, morphology, and listening comprehension), but not in phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN), nor in any of the reading components (decoding, word reading, reading comprehension and orthographic knowledge). These findings point to a distinction between two groups of language skills with regard to their relations with SES in the first year of reading instruction. The results imply that SES should not be regarded as a mediating factor in the development of PA, RAN and reading in first grade among novice readers of Arabic.

Animal phobia is common in children, but it is also frequent in adults who maintain the problem throughout their lives. Eleven cases of animal phobia that were treated with progressive multimedia exposure are presented. The participants were two men and nine women (aged 19–27 years), with anxiety and avoidance problems in relation to various animals. A single-case A-B-Follow-up design was carried out, with concurrent control of several baselines; and a systematic between-subjects replication, with the same treatment repeated across different participants and types of phobias. A behavioural interview, phobia questionnaires, and Multimedia Behavioural Avoidance Test (M-BAT) with pictures and videos of animals, as well as heart rate, were used for assessment purposes. The intervention was the progressive multimedia exposure in four phases (photographs, videos, simulated animals, and live exposure), in addition to diaphragmatic breathing, and homework assignments. The results replicate the same efficacy in each of the participants, with statistically significant and clinical changes in their daily lives. Also, the data as a group show this success with a high Cohen's d effect size (between −1.63 and −30.03). We conclude with an appraisal of the usefulness of the procedure for adults with phobias who do not tolerate direct exposure.