SGER: Intrusive Thought and Social-Cognitive Development following Hurricane Katrina.

意识需要不断的思想流动的体验，由一系列连续的精神状态和内容(思想、感知、感觉等)组成。即使当个人花费相当大的努力来抑制不想要的想法时，这种意识流仍在继续。“我心不在焉”这样的表达和“我脑子里想不到那首歌”之类的说法反映了成年人的一种感觉，那就是大脑部分失控。与成年人不同，幼儿园和小学生通常对持续不断的思想流动及其不可控性只有有限的了解。这些基本发现支持这样一种假设，即在卡特里娜飓风等潜在创伤性事件发生后，幼儿将难以监控和报告侵入性想法。这个项目将调查儿童大脑运作的“理论”是否支持他们监控侵入性思维的能力。居住在卡特里娜飓风直接影响地区的儿童，以及没有直接受到卡特里娜飓风影响的地区的对照儿童，将接受关于侵入性思维的访谈，并测试心理发展理论、自我控制、语言技能和一般智力。与其他儿童相比，直接经历过卡特里娜飓风的儿童预计会报告更多侵入性想法。此外，儿童的心理理论水平预计会预测他们注意和报告侵入性想法的能力。自我控制水平、语言技能、一般智力和家庭社会经济地位被认为是心理理论在预测侵入性思维方面的独立预测因素或协变量。最近的研究还表明，心理理论的发展可能会在遭受虐待或虐待等精神创伤事件后延迟。因此，预计直接经历卡特里娜飓风的儿童在心理理论发展方面将被推迟。预计学龄前儿童比年龄较大的儿童对这一假设的支持力度更大。不受欢迎的侵入性想法和闪回是对心理健康和日常功能的潜在威胁，特别是在卡特里娜飓风等潜在创伤事件之后。这个项目将是第一个关于侵扰性思维、儿童心理知识水平和自然灾害经历之间关系的经验性研究。如果儿童的心理理论水平确实预示着侵入性思维，如果年幼的儿童因为对大脑运作的理解没有完全发展而难以监控和报告侵扰性思维，那么反复出现侵扰性思维的儿童--具体地说，负面思维卡特里娜飓风--可能会出现行为问题。相比之下，较高水平的心理发展理论可能与先进的社交技能和对精神病理学的适应能力有关。鉴于心理理论发展对社会功能的重要性，自然灾害后心理理论发展延迟的证据将具有重大的临床和教育意义。这个项目的假设结果表明，心理理论应该是针对经历过虐待、自然灾害、战争和恐怖主义等创伤事件的儿童的预防性干预的组成部分。

Consciousness entails experiences of a constant flow of thought, consisting of a continuous succession of mental states and contents (thoughts, percepts, feelings, etc.). This stream of consciousness continues even when individuals expend considerable effort to inhibit unwanted thoughts. Expressions like "my mind wandered" and claims such as "I can't get that song out of my head" reflect adults' sense that the mind is partially uncontrollable. Unlike adults, kindergartners and elementary school children typically have only limited knowledge of the constant flow of thought and its uncontrollability. These basic findings argue for the hypothesis that young children will have difficulty monitoring and reporting intrusive thoughts following potentially traumatic events, such as Hurricane Katrina. This project will investigate whether children's "theories" of the mind's operations underlie their abilities to monitor intrusive thoughts. Children living in areas directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, and control children in areas not directly affected by Katrina, will be interviewed on intrusive thoughts and tested for theory of mind development, self-control, language skills, and general intelligence. Children who experienced Hurricane Katrina directly are expected to report more intrusive thoughts than other children. In addition, children's level of theory of mind is expected to predict their ability to notice and report intrusive thoughts. Levels of self-control, language skills, general intelligence and family socio-economic status are expected to be either independent predictors or covariates of theory of mind in predicting intrusive thoughts. Recent research has also shown that theory of mind development can be delayed following traumatizing events, such as maltreatment or abuse. It is therefore expected that children who experienced Hurricane Katrina directly will be delayed in theory of mind development. Stronger support for this hypothesis is expected for preschool age children than for older children. Unwanted intrusive thoughts and flashbacks are potential threats to psychological health and everyday functioning, especially after potentially traumatizing events like Hurricane Katrina. This project will be the first empirical study of the relationships among intrusive thoughts, children's level of knowledge about the mind, and experiences with a natural disaster. If children's level of theory of mind does indeed predict intrusive thoughts, and if younger children have difficulties monitoring and reporting intrusive thoughts because their understanding of the mind's operations is not fully developed, then children who suffer from recurring intrusive thoughts--and specifically, negative thoughts Hurricane Katrina--may be at risk for developing behavioral problems. By contrast, higher levels of theory of mind development may be associated with advanced social skills and resilience to psychopathology. Given the importance of theory of mind development to social functioning, evidence for delays in theory of mind development subsequent to a natural disaster would have significant clinical and educational implications. The hypothesized findings from this project would suggest that theory of mind should be an integral part of preventive interventions aimed at children who experience traumatizing events, such as abuse, natural disasters, war, and terrorism.