Thomas M. Brunner, PhD, coauthor of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2™ Child and Adolescent (STAXI-2™ C/A) will be giving a poster presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development’s (SRCD) 2011 Biennial Meeting.

Dr. Brunner’s presentation, “Advanced Anger Assessment Using the STAXI-2 C/A to Identify Anger Profiles,” will take place during poster session 9 on Friday, April 1, from 2:10 to 3:50 p.m.

The SRCD 2011 Biennial Meeting will be held the Palais des Congrès de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from March 31 to April 2. For more information about SRCD 2011, visit http://www.srcd.org.

PAR author Adele Eskeles Gottfried, professor of educational psychology and counseling at the California State University at Northridge, is being honored by the Western Psychological Association (WPA) at their convention next month in Los Angeles. Dr. Gottfried, creator of the Children’s Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (CAIMI), has been named recipient of the WPA’s 2011 Social Responsibility Award based on her research in the field of intrinsic motivation that has contributed to enhancing knowledge about children’s motivational development and educational attainment. In recognition of her award, she has received a special invitation to present at the convention; her talk will be entitled, “Searching for Motivation from Childhood through Adulthood: Findings and Implications.” Dr. Gottfried will also present her research on intrinsic motivation at the 2011 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting next week in Montreal. This presentation will be entitled, “Developmental Motivation Roots and the Need for Cognition: A 20-Year Longitudinal Study.”

Dr. Gottfried developed the Children’s Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (CAIMI) as a tool to help differentiate motivation from achievement and ability factors in students with academic difficulties. The CAIMI is also useful for counseling students in the general population with regard to academic interests and course selection, in instructional planning to stimulate motivation in weak areas and facilitate intrinsic motivation in strong areas, in providing individualized program planning, and in program and educational evaluation by schools and school districts. In addition, the CAIMI is the basis for the construct of gifted motivation, which addresses the concept that individuals with exceptionally high intrinsic motivation have a history of higher academic competence and functioning. Through the years, the evidence for the validity and stability of the CAIMI has continued to mount. Dr. Gottfried currently has both a book chapter and a journal article in press that extend the CAIMI to leadership literature.

To learn more about Dr. Gottfried’s research, click here for her intrinsic motivation bibliography.

Congratulations to Dr. Gottfried on this honor!

With spring training now underway, people’s thoughts tend to move toward thoughts of America’s favorite pastime – baseball. You may not be aware, however, that major league baseball (MLB) is, perhaps, the most progressive of all professional sports when it comes to issues involving mental health. In fact, on April 1, 2009, the MLB put in place a disabled list (DL) for players suffering from emotional disorders. Teams were then allowed to place players on the DL if they were evaluated and diagnosed as suffering from a psychological problem that prevents them from playing, the same way they handle physical injuries.

During the 2009 season, five players were put on the disabled list with diagnoses ranging from clinical depression to anxiety attacks to social anxiety disorder.

While the MLB may be bringing more awareness to mental health issues, no other professional sports league has followed this path. While we know there are many professional athletes who live with mental health diagnoses (remember Ron Artest thanking his psychiatrist after winning the NBA championship?), why do you think they have not created similar programs? Do you believe that mental health still has a stigma in professional sports?

In January, The Clinical Neuropsychologist (TCN) and the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN) released the results of the TCN/AACN 2010 Salary Survey. Doctoral-level members of the AACN, members of Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), members of the National Academy of Neuropsychology, and other neuropsychologists were invited to participate in a web-based survey to learn more about their beliefs, their income, and their practice.

The following are just some of the findings that were released in the January issue of The Clinical Neuropsychologist.

• The field of neuropsychology continues to see increasing numbers of women joining the profession – 7 out of 10 current postdoctoral residents are women. Furthermore, for the first time ever, more than half of the total respondents to the TCN/AACN survey were female.


• Substantial numbers of young psychologists are entering the field of neuropsychology. The median age of APA members has been above 50 since the early 1990s, while the current median age of clinical neuropsychologists remains at 47 and has stayed relatively unchanged since 1989.


• Neuropsychologists are preferring to use flexible battery assessments rather than fixed or standardized batteries. The flexible battery approach is continuing to see an upswing in popularity while the use of fixed batteries are on the decline.


• Clinical neuropsychologists specializing in pediatrics are more likely than others to work part time, are more likely to be women, are more likely to work in institution settings, and also report lower incomes than respondents who see only adult clients or a combination of adult and pediatric clients.


• Incomes are dependent on number of years in clinical practice, work setting, amount of forensic practice, and location (state and/or region of the country), and can vary considerably. However, according to survey data, job satisfaction has little relationship to income and is comparable across the variables of work setting, professional identity, and amount of forensic activity.


• Neuropsychologists report higher job satisfaction than that reported for other jobs in the U.S. Fewer than 5% of respondents are considering changing job position.

Are you a neuropsychologist? Do you agree or disagree with these findings? Comment on this posting and let us know!

For the full results of this survey, see: Sweet, J. , Meyer, D., Giuffre , N., Nathaniel W., and Moberg, P. J. (2011). The TCN/AACN 2010 “Salary Survey”: Professional Practices, Beliefs, and Incomes of U.S. Neuropsychologists. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 25, 12-61.

Noted psychologist and violence prevention expert Dr. Lisa Firestone will be conducting a CE webinar for mental health professionals, as well as a free webinar for the public, this March and April. Dr. Firestone is the coauthor of several PAR publications including the Firestone Assessment of Self-Destructive Thoughts™ (FAST™) and the Firestone Assessment of Violent Thoughts ™ (FAVT™).

Violence Prevention: Understanding and Assessing Risk
A CE Webinar for Professionals with Dr. Lisa Firestone
Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 7:00–8:30 pm EST

The prodigious rates of violence in our country establish a need for an understanding and accurate assessment of violence risk. This webinar will address these concerns by providing participants with a developmental understanding of violence and a method for assessing violence risk.

To more effectively deal with the public health problem of violence, it is important to integrate knowledge from several disciplines to enhance our understanding of the many factors that contribute to an individual’s potential for violence. In this webinar, Dr. Firestone, a leading expert on violence, will integrate findings from the fields of neuroscience, attachment, and psychology.

Learning objectives for this webinar include:

• understanding the core dynamics operating in clients at risk for violent behavior;


• identifying clients’ negative thought patterns that influence self-destructive and violent behavior; and


• utilizing assessment and interview techniques, based on static and dynamic risk factors, to effectively identify those at greatest risk for violent behavior.

This webinar offers two continuing education (CE) credits. Price: $25.

To learn more, visit  www.glendon.org and click on Upcoming Webinars; to register now, click on https://www3.gotomeeting.com/island/webinar/registration.tmpl?id=787421062.

Understanding and Preventing Violence
A Free Webinar for the public with Dr. Lisa Firestone
Tuesday, April 5, 2011, 2:00–3:00 pm EDT

What causes violence? How do you know if someone is at risk? What can you do if you—or someone you know—might be in trouble? This webinar will provide you with answers to these questions, as well as a developmental perspective on violence and the factors that contribute to violent behavior.

In this webinar, leading violence prevention expert Dr. Lisa Firestone will address some common questions on the topic, including what everyone should know about violence, how violence affects us, the signs of violent behavior, and how to stand up to violence.

To learn more, visit www.glendon.org and click on Upcoming Webinars; to register for this FREE webinar now, click on https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/558146001.