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Contingency Contracting Effects on Psychotherapy Attendance and Termination at Two Community Mental Health Centers: Contingency management has been utilized to improve treatment compliance and attendance in a medical setting. A related question involves the effect of contingency management on attendance in outpatient psychotherapy. Sixty-nine individuals ranging in age from 8 to 50 years agreed to participate in such a study. These individuals agreed to sign a contract specifying consequation for failure to notify the centers 24 hours in advance of an impending absence. Data on attendance and notification of impending absences were collected weekly for five sessions. After five sessions, dropouts and remainers were interviewed and the course of treatment was discussed. For the purpose of this study, a "dropout" occurred whenever an individual terminated therapy by missing an appointment and not rescheduling, or whenever an individual missed three consecutive appointments.
Post-Traumatic Symptomatology in the Luby's Shooting: The role of exposure to a human-made disaster and the subsequent development of post-traumatic stress reactions were examined. Subjects included 49 males and 30 females who were variously exposed to the Luby's shooting incident in Killeen, Texas in October of 1991. Post-traumatic stress symptomatology was measured by the SCL-90R. Exposure was operationalized by using a scenario-rating scheme with independent raters estimating each subject's level of exposure. A regression and commonality analysis revealed that exposure is an important predictor in post-traumatic symptomatology. Premorbid functioning and gender were also found to play important roles, with females expressing higher levels of symptomatology.
Bias in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Gay Males: The purpose of this study was to explore heterosexual bias in the diagnosis and treatment of gay males. Two hundred-fifty (134 males and 116 females) mental health professionals from the Division of Psychotherapy (29) of the American Psychological Association participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two case history conditions, which presented a 35-year-old male seeking therapy. Both conditions were equivalent with regards to the presenting problem (i.e., diagnostic symptoms) with the exception of his significant other (i.e., gay vs. non-gay condition). Potential bias was measured through a diagnostic rating Likert scale and a treatment plan questionnaire. Other independent variables that could potentially have an effect on diagnostic ratings were explored, such as gender, year of graduation, and theoretical orientation of the respondents. Results of the statistical analyses failed to confirm evidence of heterosexual bias. Implications for further research and training are discussed.
Children of Battered Women: Personality Patterns and Identification: Mental health professionals have observed that children who witness interparental violence frequently display either an affrontive, demanding personality style, or a passive, compliant style. The prevalence of these personality types and their relation to identification, stress, and other variables was evaluated in a sample of 40 children (age range = 6 - 12 years old) who have witnessed parental spouse abuse. Children completed the Children's Personality Questionnaire and the Parental Identification Questionnaire. Mothers completed the Life Experiences Survey. Independent ratings of the children's personality were made. The results validated the existence of these two personality styles among both male and female witnesses, and supplied evidence for their relation to paternal identification, familial instability, and parental ineffectualness. The implications of these findings for assessment and intervention are discussed.
Siblings of Incest Victims: Sibling-Victim Relationships and Adjustment: The non-victimized siblings in incestuous families have often been ignored in research, literature, and treatment. This study explored these siblings' 1) relationship to the victim, 2) attribution of blame, and 3) adjustment. Participants were 30 non-victimized siblings of incest victims, between the ages of 8 and 14. They completed the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Self-perception Profile for Children, the Children's Depression Inventory, and a questionnaire developed for this research. Participants' scores were compared with the normative sample scores on several measures. Siblings perceived little warmth and closeness in their relationships to their victimized sisters. Rivalry and conflict were within normal limits. Siblings blamed victims and other family members less than expected, with the greatest amount of blame attributed to perpetrators. Adjustment was impaired. Males demonstrated less athletic competence, less global self-worth, more worry and oversensitivity than normative samples. Females showed a tendency toward less global self-worth and heightened general anxiety. Siblings' overall level of emotional distress was higher than most of the normative samples.
Parental Cultural Mistrust, Background Variables, and Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services for Their Children: Attitudes toward mental illness and the willingness to seek psychological treatment for their children among ethnic minority group parents were investigated. Participants consisted of black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian parents. All parents were given the Terrell and Terrell Cultural Mistrust Inventory, Cohen and Struening Opinions About Mental Illness Scale, Reid-Gundlach Social Services Satisfaction Scale, Fischer-Turner Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help Scale, and Ahluwalia Parents' Psychological Help-Seeking Inventory. A multiple regression model was used to explore the purpose of this study. Parental mistrust level, ethnicity, education, income level, and opinions about mental illness served as predictor variables. The criterion variables consisted of scores on the Social Services Satisfaction Scale and Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. The results indicated that the most significant predictor of psychological help-seeking was parental cultural mistrust level. Parents with higher cultural mistrust levels were less likely to seek help. Education was also predictive of black and Native American parents' help-seeking attitude and willingness to seek psychological help for their children. Black and Native Americans with lower levels of education were less willing to seek treatment for their children than members of those ethnic groups with higher levels of education. Ethnicity was also related to parental willingness to seek help for their children. Hispanic and black parents expressed more willingness to seek help than Native American and Asian parents. Finally, parents' opinions about mental illness were found to be significantly related to help-seeking attitude. Parents with positive opinions about mental illness were more likely to utilize professional psychological help than those parents with negative opinions about mental illness. Some clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Perceptions of Parent-Child Relations and Their Relation to the Acceptance of a Naive Model for Social Expectations: The central concern of this investigation was the determination of the relationships between Ss' perceived parent-child relations and their acceptance of the BSE model for social expectations. It was assumed that this model is a learned naive cognitive structure shared by the members of the society. It was predicted that certain parental behaviors critical to the socialization process would affect the acceptance or lack of acceptance of the BSE model. The measurement of perceived parent-child experiences was obtained through the use of the Roe-Siegelman Parent Child Relations Questionnaire (PCR). Baldwin's Social Expectations Scale was employed to obtain measures of the degree to which the BSE model could account for the variability of Ss' judgments of people-in-general in choice situations involving harming and helping behavior. Scores indicating the acceptance of the BSE model were then correlated with scores on each of the ten scales of the PCR. The results illuminated sex differences relating to the acceptance of the BSE model. For the females, warm, loving, and rewarding parent-child relations related positively to the acceptance of the BSE model. For the males, the effects of parental behavior were contingent on the individual parent. Fathers who were perceived as not overprotective or demanding and who promoted autonomous behavior in their sons were the fathers who had sons who made judgments according to the BSE model. Mothers who were perceived as demanding, punitive, and neglecting by their sons had sons who made judgments according to the BSE model. It was suggested that parental behaviors that are key factors in the development of the child's appropriate sex role may be the important factors affecting the acceptance of the BSE model for social expectations. Finally, the evidence suggested that the BSE model is capable of predicting people's social expectations, though not as effectively in the current …
Therapist (Dis)Continuity, Therapeutic Relationship, and (Premature) Termination in a Psychology Training Clinic: Premature termination is a substantial problem with significant adverse effects for clients, therapists, and treatment organizations. Unfortunately, it is also a relatively common phenomenon within mental healthcare settings. Across varied mental healthcare settings, rates of premature termination have reportedly ranged from 19.7 % to 40 %. Perhaps not surprisingly, the rate of premature termination in training clinics is substantially higher than in community mental health settings and private practice, with 75 to 80 % of clients ending treatment services prematurely. The purpose of this study was to explore the combined effect of intake therapist continuity or discontinuity, and quality of the therapeutic relationship on premature termination. Intake therapist continuity, measures of working alliance, and termination outcome from 524 clients at the University of North Texas Psychology Clinic were utilized for adults receiving individual therapy services between August 2008 and August 2013. Results of the study suggest intake therapist continuity did not predict subjective termination status (X2(2, n = 524) = 1.61, p = 0.45), nor did it predict change in symptomology status (X2(3, n = 453) = 1.14, p = 0.77). Additionally, working alliance predicted subjective termination status (X2(6, n = 212) = 21.17, p < 0.01), but not change in symptomology status (X2(9, n = 208) = 6.27, p = 0.71). The findings of the current study are discussed, as well as suggestions for further research related to client, therapist, treatment, and procedural variables and their impact on premature termination.
Interpersonal Perception and Communication within Marital Dyads: The present study examined the relationships among similarity, interpersonal perception and communicative behaviors in marriage. It was hypothesized that greater understanding, feelings of being understood, and realization of understanding would be associated with greater self-disclosure, use of more direct person control strategies, and use of less attention control strategies. It was further hypothesized that measuring feelings of being understood and realization of understanding, in addition to measuring understanding, would improve prediction of behavior. Finally, it was hypothesized that the contextual measure of understanding would better predict self-disclosure and interpersonal control than would global measures of understanding.
Perspective Taking and Self Disclosure: The effects of taking a third person role on self disclosure, self sympatheticness and several nonverbal parameters of task involvement were examined in a psychotherapy analogue study. Subjects were classified as high or low in ego strength using previously established norms for college students. In the third person role subjects were instructed to describe themselves from the perspective of an "intimate and sympathetic best friend." An encouragement to talk format was used to facilitate self description from the first person. Support was not found for the hypotheses that altering the perspective used in self description would increase self disclosure and that high ego strength subjects would be better able to use a perspective taking intervention. Theoretical and methodological issues are discussed. Recommendations for future research are made.
Unconscious Affective Concern and the Fear of Death: a Comparison of Mortuary and College Students: This study attempted to ascertain the differences between mortuary and college students in terms of unconscious affective concern with death and the conscious fear of death.
Perceptions and attributions of child, spousal, and elder abuse.: Although researchers have studied perceptions regarding sexually abused children, little was known about how other types of abusive events were perceived. This study examined 480 college students' abuse history and perceptions of child, spousal, and elder abuse by varying the respondent, victim, and perpetrator genders. Physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect were investigated. Perceptions of abusiveness, seriousness, harm, and responsibility were examined, along with the extent of identification with the victims/perpetrators. Participants viewed spousal abuse as less serious and harmful than other abuse types, especially when perpetrated against a male or by a female. Although able to recognize psychological abuse, students did not fully understand what other abuse types entailed. Individuals also showed a considerable amount of blame toward victims. Results further demonstrated important findings about how ethnic identity/orientation, religious affiliation, and history of abuse related to perceptions of abusive events.
Felony Offenses Related to Personality Traits: The problem with which this investigation is concerned is whether relationships may exist between personality and type of offense in a felon population. The Eysenck Personality Inventory, which measures extraversion-introversion (E), neuroticism-stability (N), and includes a lie scale (L), was used to determine subject's personality traits. Offenses were divided into crimes against persons, crimes against property, and crimes against the morals of the state. Subjects consisted of 751 adult male felons. The product-moment correlation was computed for each offense-variable EPI pair. A negative association between E and crimes against persons, together with a positive association between L and crimes against persons, were found to be statistically significant at the 0.05 level, although quite low. It was concluded that results obtained should be guardedly interpreted in view of the minimal amount of variability accounted for, though of possible value in suggesting future research.
Correlates of Body Image in University Women: The relationship between maturation rate, body image, depression and eating disorder tendencies was explored in a group of 251 college-age females in order to better understand the developmental progression of body image and related variables. Two aspects of body image were measured, namely, level of body satisfaction and amount of body distortion. Body dissatisfaction was found to be associated with early maturation, depression, and eating disorder tendencies. Body distortion was not found to be associated with any of the primary variables. The significant relationship which was found between maturation rate and level of body satisfaction in young adult females suggests that pubertal timing may have lasting effects on the body satisfaction of women. Body satisfaction and depression were found to contribute significantly to the variance in eating disorder tendency.
The Effect of Alternative Stress Response Training on Bulimic Behaviors: The incidence of bulimia has been increasingly documented in recent years. Treatments have focused on one behavior in the Binge-Purge chain or have combined several treatment components. This study was designed to assess the effect of teaching bulimics alternative responses for dealing with stressful events.
Allergen Research and Its Implications for Psychology: History, Current Status, and Prospectus: The purpose of this manuscript was to present a brief history, the current status, and a prospectus of allergen and allergic reactions. Research on allergic reactions, particularly as viewed from the psychogenic position, was presented. The review strongly suggests that the psychogenic orientation has been frought with contradictions, unnecessarily complex interpretations, and an over-abundance of subjective, dynamic, and analytic redundancies which have done little more than perpetuate the stagnation of a rather important subdomain of the "mental" health professions.
Psychopathology and Love: This study considered the relationship between psychopathology and love. Agape love was defined as spontaneous and selfless love. The hypothesis tested was that people demonstrating psychopathology would make fewer positive responses to statements reflecting love than people free of psychopathology. The MMPI was utilized to measure the presence of psychopathology. The Atkinson A Scale (developed for this study) measured agape responses. Both these instruments were administered to 102 subjects in three groups: hospital patients, seminary students, and psychology students. Mean agape scores were subjected to a one-way analysis of variance, Significant difference among the group means was detected at the p <.05 level. A Scheffe test showed hospital patients' agape scores significantly lower than scores of seminary and psychology students. The initial hypothesis was confirmed,
Sex Role Stereotypes: The Effects of Instructional Salience on Clinical Judgment of Mental Health Professionals: This investigation examines how knowledge of a researcher's intent, as well as gender, influences the clinical judgments of mental health professionals in sex role research. Conscious awareness of the study's aim was manipulated by varying experimental instructions to minimize (not salient) or maximize (salient) sex role awareness. Subjects were mental health professionals who rated a protocol of a female or male pseudopatient exhibiting masculine, and lacking feminine, stereotyped behaviors. It was hypothesized that if sex biases affect judgments, more negative ratings should be assigned to a female with cross sex role behavior than to male-appropriate role behavior. Differences should be greater when subjects were unaware of the nature of the study.
Eight-Year Course of Cognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features: The purpose of the current study was to examine neuropsychological functioning in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) with psychotic features. Data from a large, epidemiological study of patients with first-episode psychosis was used to examine verbal learning and working memory 10 years after onset of psychosis in patients with BD relative to patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and patients with psychotic major depressive disorder (MDD). Cross-sectional comparisons of verbal learning and working memory at the 10-year follow-up mirrored findings of relative performance at the 2-year follow-up (Mojtabai, 2000), as patients with SZ performed significantly worse than patients with psychotic affective disorders. When FEP patients' cognitive performance was examined longitudinally, all groups showed non-significant decline over time, with no significant diagnostic group differences after accounting for current symptoms. More frequent hospitalizations and longer treatment with antipsychotics were associated with poorer performance on cognitive testing 10 years after illness onset, but these associations disappeared when controlling baseline cognitive performance. Within the BD sample, current positive and negative psychotic symptoms were associated with poorer performance on cognitive testing. After controlling for baseline cognitive performance, markers of clinical course were unrelated to cognitive performance, consistent with existing literature on longitudinal cognitive functioning in patients with BD. The current findings support a neurodevelopmental model of verbal learning and working memory deficits in patients with bipolar disorder.
Imagery, Psychotherapy, and Directed Relaxation: Physiological Correlates: Thirty outpatients being treated at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center Department of Behavioral Health Psychology were randomly assigned to either a relaxation/imagery training class (R/I), a short-term psychotherapy group (P/G) or a no treatment control group. Subjects had psychological, physiological and immunological data taken before and after treatment. Results indicated that support for the hypothesis that relaxation/imagery training improves the psychological, physiological, and immunological functioning of participants was found.
Psychoneurological Responses Associated with Chemicals in Serum of Environmentally Ill Patients: The purpose of the present study was to determine the degree of relationship between neurotoxic chemicals in the blood of chemically sensitive patients and psychoneurological functioning. Blood samples were drawn from 30 patients being treated for environmental illness. All patients were administered a standardized intermediate psychoneurological examination. Results indicate a significant positive relationship between psychoneurological (cognitive neurobehavioral) functioning and the number of and total parts per billion of certain environmental toxins (solvents) in the blood of the subjects. The symptoms most commonly exhibited included deficits in short-term memory, problems with coordination and motor sequencing, somatosensory deficits, and cognitive dysfunction.
Androgyny and Sex-Role Measurement: A Personal Construct Approach: Recent research into sex roles has been heavily influenced by androgyny theory, and by the development of the Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI; Bern, 1974). Psychological androgyny is the combination, in one individual, of both culturally defined masculine and feminine personality traits. The Sex-Rep, a new instrument for assessing sex role which is aimed at rectifying certain problems associated with the BSRI, was then described. The Sex-Rep, the BSRI (Bern, 19 34), the Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI; Spence & Stapp, 1974), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, Beck, 1967), and a self-concept thermometer, were given to 100 male and 108 female undergraduates. Results indicated that the BSRI and the Sex-Rep are both valid sex-role instruments, insofar as they both discriminate between males and females. They tend to measure nonredundant components of sex role as indicated by a lack of overlap between their sex-role classifications. The present study did not find any support for the balance model of androgyny which suggests that high masculinity and high femininity interact by balancing each other to produce a healthier, more behaviorally flexible individual. BSRI masculinity (M) was strongly related to adjustment in both sexes, but BSRI femininity (F) had little impact. This relationship between BSRI M and adjustment was described as probably resulting from measurement artifact since (&) only socially desirable traits are included on the BSRI, (b) removing self-esteem effects from the BSRI M scale enhanced its ability to discriminate between the sexes, (c) Sex-Rep masculinity was not related to adjustment for women, and its linkage to adjustment for men was less strong than BSRI M, (d) women rated their feminine constructs as more desirable than their masculine constructs, and (e) there were no actual self-esteem differences between males and females. Thus, findings from the BSRI regarding the relationship between sex role and adjustment …
Dissociation and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Women Who Have Experienced Trauma and Sexual Assault: The relation between dissociative symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was investigated in women who had experienced trauma or sexual assault. Subjects were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the Sexual Experiences Scale (SES), and the PTSD Interview (PTSD-I). Subjects were grouped according to their scores on the SES and the PTSD-I. Analysis of variance revealed a relation between DES scores and PTSD symptom severity scores. Correlational analyses showed a relation between dissociative symptoms and PTSD symptom severity but not recency of trauma. Three factors from a previously published factor analysis of the DES were found to contribute to the DES scores of PTSD subjects.
Self-Complexity and Physiological Responses to Facial Self-Reflection: An Investigation into Women's Self-Image: In this study, effects of facial self-reflection and complexity of self on physiological responses were investigated. Skin conductance levels were measured during baseline and neutral conditions, then under a self-focusing condition provided by mirror reflection of the face. Subjects completed measures of self-complexity, depressive affect, self-esteem, anxiety and body image satisfaction. Eye tracking data was collected during the mirror condition. Results showed a significant effect of mirror self-reflection on physiological reactivity as measured by differences between mirror and baseline mean responses. Pre-test depressive affect was correlated with low self-esteem but not with self-complexity. Self-complexity was negatively correlated with orientation to physical appearance and positively correlated with greater differences between baseline and mirror mean reactivity. Self-complexity and depressive affect did not significantly predict physiological reactivity, although a trend was found for the influence of each variable. Post-hoc analyses showed significant group differences for both self-complexity and depressive affect on physiological reactivity, although the influence of self-complexity was in the unexpected direction. Results of this study are consistent with general findings that negative self-esteem, anxiety and depression are strongly correlated. In addition, a strong correlation was found between negative self-esteem and dissociative symptoms. Exploratory analyses of eye tracking data found no significant relations among personality variables and percent of time looking at facial image, although some trends were found. Trends for a relation of self-complexity with time looking at facial image, negative evaluation of appearance in the mirror, and less focus on physical appearance suggest a component in the domain of self-complexity related to physical appearance. Clearly, self-complexity has a number of interrelated dimensions and remains a challenging area of study. In addition, the combination of eye tracking and physiological measurement is a relatively new area of study that shows promise for continued investigation.
Application of a Non-Speech Response Mode in Teaching Simple Language Functions to Three Autistic Children: A non-speech response mode similar to the one used by Prepack (1971) to teach language to a chimpanzee was utilized to teach two simple language functions to three autistic children. The response mode consisted of picking up a geometric symbol and placing it on a response tray. The geometric symbol was the basic unit in this language system. The symbols were used to represent objects in the environment and relationships between the objects.
Anxiety-Management Training for the Reduction of Type A Coronary-Prone Behavior: The present study investigated the effects of anxiety management training on the reduction of Type A coronary-prone behavior in a college student population and utilized behavioral measures as well as self-report indices of change. Evaluations pre- and post-treatment included self-report measures of Type A behavior, empirically validated performance measures of the achievement-striving and time-urgency components of coronary-prone behavior, and a learned helplessness manipulation that has been associated with this behavior pattern. Analysis of covariance indicated that the treatment group changed in the desired direction on all self-report indices, and on most of the performance measures and helplessness scores that were used as dependent variables. Discussion centered on the implications of these data to theoretical and practical conceptualizations of coping behavior and coronary disease and cautions were expressed concerning clinical significance, maintenance, and generalization of results.
Comparability of the WPPSI-R and the Stanford-Binet: Fourth Edition: The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of children on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI-R) with their performance on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:FE). One hundred and four children between 3 and 7 years of age were administered both tests. A moderate correlation was found between the WPPSI-R Full Scale IQ and the SB:FE Composite Score with a Pearson product-moment correlation of .46. This correlation suggests that the two tests are not interchangeable measures of children's intelligence. They may measure different, equally important aspects of intelligence. As both tests used are relatively new, the current findings should be considered one step in the accumulation of knowledge about the usefulness of the WPPSI-R.
The Bender Gestalt Test and Prediction of Behavioral Problems in Moderately Mentally Retarded Children: The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of Koppitz's method of scoring the Bender Gestalt (BG) Test for the prediction of behavioral problems in retarded children. The problem behaviors with which this study was concerned were those most often associated with the hyperactive child.
Temperament Traits and Self-Concept in Individuals of Varying Creativity from a Normal University Population: "This study investigates the differences in temperament and self-concept between a group of university students scoring in the upper one-third of a distribution of creativity test scores and a group of university students scoring in the lower one-third of that distribution."--[1].
Differential Response of Speech-Anxious Repressors and Sensitizers to Systematic Desensitization and Rational-Emotive Therapy: There is a scarcity of objective criteria upon which to select among the available therapies for those most likely to benefit specific patients. Comparative research has suggested that the outcomes of alternative and competitive therapies are equivalent. There are few facts available concerning which patients benefit most from even the more popular therapies. The purpose of this study was to find a type of patient for which differential improvement could be predicted. Neither therapy decreased checklist scores or increased speaking time significantly more than the other. Repressors and sensitizers responded equally to therapy. When dropout rates were analyzed there were also no significant differences between the therapies or between repressors and sensitizers. When posttherapy scores from both therapies were compared to pretherapy scores, no significant changes were found. The latter finding was important for understanding the absence of support for the hypotheses. Since the subjects did not improve as a result of either desensitization or rational-emotive therapy, there was no opportunity to observe the hypothesized differential changes. Given this hindsight, it was concluded that speech anxiety may not be a desirable disorder with which to study the prediction that repression-sensitization is related to the outcome of rational-emotive therapy and desensitization. It was recommended that future research of this relationship utilize a disorder for which therapeutic effectiveness is more firmly established.
Lecithin Therapy for Tardive Dyskinesia: Drug-induced tardive dyskinesia, an irreversible involuntary movement disorder caused by neuroleptic drugs, may reflect cholinergic hypofunction in the corpus striatum. Therapeutic results have been reported in trials of choline and lecithin, nutritional substrates which may enhance cholinergic neurotransmission. Lecithin's effects on dyskinetic symptoms were examined in 50 male patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups; 31 patients were retained in the analytic cohort. Experimental patients were treated with 60 gm/day lecithin (55% phosphatidyl choline) for 11 days. Symptom frequency was rated from videotapes made at baseline, 3 and 11 days of treatment, and 1 week follow-up.
Effectiveness of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination in Assessing Alzheimer's Disease: Accurate, early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease is becoming increasingly important in light of its growing prevalence among the expanding older-aged adult population. Due to its ability to assess multiple domains of cognitive functioning and provide a profile of impairment rather than a simple global score, the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE) is suggested to better assess such patterns of cognitive deficit for the purpose of diagnosis. The performance of the NCSE was compared with that of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for diagnostic sensitivity in a sample of patients diagnosed as having probable Alzheimer's Disease. The strength of correlation between severity of cognitive impairment on these tests and report of behavior problems on the Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist (MBPC) was also explored, as was performance on the NCSE and report of behavior problems using the MBPC in predicting Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) scan results. The NCSE was found to exhibit greater sensitivity to physician diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's Disease relative to two versions (Serial 7's or WORLD) of the MMSE (.90, .77 and .68, respectively). While both measures were found to correlate significantly with the report of behavior problems, only a moderate proportion (NCSE = .22 and MMSE = .33) of the explained variance was accounted for by either test. Severity of cognitive impairment on the NCSE was found to be significant, though small in estimate of its effect size, for predicting the absence/presence of pathognomic findings on SPECT scans. In contrast, the report of behavior problems on the MBPC did not significantly predict SPECT scan outcomes. The NCSE would appear to be a sensitive tool for the identification of the extent and severity of cognitive impairment found among demented individuals; however, it may be "over"-sensitive to such diagnosis. Although relationships between cognitive impairment and behavior problems …
Individual, Group, and Self Behavior Therapy for Weight Reduction in High and Low Self Reinforcing Persons: An experiment was conducted to contrast the effectiveness of Behavior Therapy administered in self, individual, or group therapy versus a no-treatment control condition. The therapy conditions were administered to two subgroups, high and low self reinforcers, as defined by Rosensky and Bellack (1976). The general hypothesis was that high self reinforcers would engage in countercontrol and therefore do poorly in group and individual therapy, but would lose weight in self therapy. Individual behavior therapy showed the best long term results, but self and group therapies also showed significant weight loss. It was also found that low self reinforcers as a group lost more weight than did high self reinforcers.
Feigning Cognitive Deficits on Neuropsychological Evaluations: Multiple Detection Strategies: Individuals undergoing forensic neuropsychological evaluation frequently stand to gain in some manner if neurocognitive dysfunction is diagnosed. As a result, neuropsychologists are customarily asked to test for neurocognitive feigning during the assessment. The current study employed an analogue design with a clinical comparison group to examine the utility of the TOCA (Rogers, 1996) as a measure of feigned neurocognitive impairment. Two groups of simulators (one cautioned about the presence of detection strategies and one not cautioned) were compared to clinical and normal control groups. Fourteen scales were developed based on five detection strategies: symptom validity testing, performance curve, magnitude of error, response time, and floor effect. Each was employed during both verbal and nonverbal tasks. Significant differences were revealed among groups when subjected to ANOVA. Classification rates from subsequent utility estimates and discriminant function analyses on the scales ranged from 58.8% to 100%. Combining strategies yielded a classification rate of 95.7%. The effect of cautioning simulators was modest; however, a trend was noted on some scales for cautioned simulators to appear less obviously impaired than noncautioned. Although the results require crossvalidation, preliminary data suggest that the TOCA is a sensitive and specific measure of feigned neurocognitive performance. Strengths and weaknesses of the study are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.
Common Strategies for Regulating Emotions across the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Model: The hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP) is a novel classification system that adopts both a dimensional and hierarchical approach to psychopathology to address shortcomings. However, the HiTOP framework is descriptive in nature and requires additional research to consider potential mechanisms for the onset and maintenance of psychopathology, such as cognitive-behavioral emotion regulation strategies. To redress this gap, a sample of 341 adults who endorsed ongoing mental health concerns completed self-report measures of emotion regulation strategies and psychopathology. The data revealed a three-spectra HiTOP model consisting of internalizing, thought disorder, and antagonistic externalizing. Results found that psychopathology was most strongly associated with avoidance, catastrophizing, expressive suppression, and self-blame. In contrast, adaptive strategies were generally unrelated to the HiTOP spectra. This pattern was strongest for internalizing, distress, and detachment. Fewer, yet noteworthy unique relationships between the strategies and specific spectra/subfactors were also found. These findings suggest that psychopathology may be best conceptualized as an overutilization of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Furthermore, the results indicate there is added benefit to considering these strategies within a hierarchical approach to psychopathology. These associations alert clinicians to potential treatment targets and contribute to an ongoing literature that seeks to identify underlying mechanisms of the structure of psychopathology.
The Use of Local Norms to Improve Configural Reproducibility of Two MMPI Short Forms: The effectiveness of local norms with two short forms of the MMPI was investigated in this study. Comparisons were made between high-point code-type concordance rates and the overall concordance rates generated by local norms and the original norms of Faschingbauer's Abbreviated MMPI (FAM) and the MMPI-168. The use of local norms did not produce significantly higher high-point code-type concordance rates than the use of original norms. The use of local norms was indicated when one is interested in overall profile concordance. However, this finding was not replicated in the cross-validation samples. No conclusion was reached regarding the superiority of one short form over the other in terms of high-point codetype concordance. In terms of overall concordance, the FAM was found to generate higher concordance rates than the MMPI-168 when original norms were used. Overall concordance rates were not significantly different between the two short forms when local norms were used. Design changes and possible explanations for the findings were discussed. The former included increasing the sample size of the cross-validation samples to reduce sampling error. The latter consisted of the lack of congruence between the factor structures of the FAM and MMPI-168 and that of the MMPI, possible similarities between the populations sampled and those upon which the FAM and MMPI-168 were standardized, and inadequate sample size.
Biofeedback and Control of Skin Cell Proliferation in Psoriasis: The present study was designed to determine the effect of skin-temperature-biofeedback training on cellular proliferation in three psoriasis patients. It was hypothesized that (a) psoriasis patients would be able to consciously decrease skin temperature of psoriatic tissue, and (b) there would be a positive correlation between rate of cellular proliferation and temperature change. Results obtained indicated biofeedback training to be effective in decreasing the surface temperature of psoriatic tissue. A 2 X 7 analysis of variance for two repeated measures indicated the change in skin temperatures as a function of sample period to be significant, F (6,26) = 3.29, p < .02. Generalization of temperature-training effects from the biofeedback to the no-feedback condition were observed. Rate of proliferation decreased from pretraining to posttraining biopsies.
Attribution Retraining: Effects on Persistence in Special Education Students' Mathematics Behavior: To investigate the effects of attribution retraining under conditions of intermittent success and failure, 14 helpless subjects were given 15 days of treatment in one of two procedures. Except for the attribution of all failures to lack of effort in the attribution retraining condition, the two procedures were identical in all respects. After training, both groups showed significant and equivalent improvement in reactions to failure, suggesting that intermittent success and failure increase the persistence of helpless children, rather than attribution retraining as suggested by Dweck (1975). Recommendations included follow-up studies and exploration of the attributional patterns of children under conditions of intermittent success and failure.
Needs of familial caregivers of cancer patients across the advanced cancer disease trajectory.: Familial caregivers are providing increasing amounts of care to advanced cancer patients. Increased understanding of caregivers' needs is vital in providing necessary support to lessen caregiver burden and comorbidity. This study examines particular information needs across a variety of specific events in the advanced cancer disease trajectory. A cross-sectional sample of 107 familial caregivers (24 current and 83 bereaved) of people with advanced cancer completed a needs assessment survey along with a measure of health information-seeking behavior. Analyses extend current research by including more specific disease-related events along the advanced cancer trajectory through bereavement. In all information categories, endorsement of wanted information differed across broad stages of Cancer Progression, Treatment, End of Life, and Post-Patient Death. For all information categories, except Dying and Spirituality, greatest information was wanted at the Cancer Progression stage. Information need also differed across specific events within broad stages. The categories of Disease/Medical and Relating to the Patient were the most endorsed at events involving patient care. Spirituality was least endorsed. At patient death, Caregiver Well-being has the highest endorsement. For events thereafter, information on Caregiver Well-being, Spirituality, Future Outlook, and Family and Close Others was most endorsed. Information needs did not differ based on age or education. Whether or not a caregiver had experienced a given event on the cancer trajectory impacted some categories of information desired at the events of leaving the hospital for home, going into hospice, patient death, immediately after death, and bereavement. In all cases, those who had experienced the event wanted more information. In comparing current to bereaved caregivers, no differences in information endorsement occurred for events of the Cancer progression or Treatment stages. This study also involved the validation and factor analysis the Health Information-Seeking Behavior Survey. Two factors, Health Information-Seeking and Health Information-Avoiding, emerged. Health Information-Seeking correlates positively …
Attitudes and Treatment Knowledge by Medical Students Regarding Rape Victims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes and treatment knowledge of medical student professionals regarding rape victims. In addition to generating normative data for a population which, as a function of their vocation may come in contact with victims, comparisons were made between a sample of those beginning their medical education process and those at the end of training in order to measure change in treatment knowledge and attitudes towards rape victims which occur during medical school. Also investigated were differences which exist in the attitude and treatment knowledge measures for rape victims compared to other emergency room patient populations, and the effect of gender of the physician upon those measures. A final element investigated the physicians' perceptions of a "real" rape as it relates to those measures.
Exploring Psychopathic Personality Traits and Moral Development in a Non-criminal Sample: This study explored psychopathic personality traits among a non-criminal, college undergraduate sample. Much research has been done on conceptualizing the construct of psychopathy, but this work has been conducted primarily with incarcerated individuals using a structured interview, The Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003). The goal of the current study was to assess psychopathic traits among non-criminal individuals using The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale - Version Four (SRP-IV; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, in press), and compare how SRP-IV scores were associated with a well recognized semi-structured interview for psychopathy, The Psychopathy Checklist – Screening Version (PCL: SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). The study also examined whether psychopathic personality traits could be predicted using a measure of normal-range personality, based on the five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990), and a measure developed by Loevinger (1976) related to ego development. Five-Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF; Mullins-Sweat, Jamerson, Samuel, Olson, & Widiger, 2006) scores and Total Protocol Ratings (TPR score) on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) were used to predict psychopathy scores. Correlations of SRP-IV scores and PCL: SV scores with FFMRF scores and WUSCT TPR scores were also examined for their uniformity. As predicted, there were significant, negative correlations between FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientious, and SRP-IV scores, as well as significant, negative correlations between WUSCT TPR scores and SRP-IV scores. These correlations ranged from small to strong for both SRP-IV overall scores and for SRP-IV factor scores (i.e., Interpersonal Manipulation, Callous Affect, Erratic Lifestyle, and Criminal Tendencies). Additionally, FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores significantly predicted SRP-IV scores. FFM domains, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and WUSCT TPR scores, were the strongest predictors of SRP-IV scores. Similar results were found when FFM domain scores and WUSCT TPR scores predicted SRP-IV factor scores. Results also indicated …
Structural Equation Model of Variables Associated with Family Functioning among a Nationally Representative Sample of Families with a Child with Autism: Previous research indicates that stressors experienced by a family, the perceived level of burden assigned by the family to the stressor, and the utilization of resources predict family functioning. The current study utilized a nationally representative sample of families of children with autistic disorder to determine if previously proposed models of family functioning accurately conceptualized family functioning within a representative sample. Structural equation modeling was utilized to test the double ABCX and the linear ACBX models of family functioning. With slight modifications, the double ABCX model was supported, thus indicating that pileup of stressors, perception of burden, and utilization of resources each have unique predictive ability for family functioning, with perception of burden demonstrating the highest amount of predictive ability. Results, implications, and limitations of the study are discussed.
Marital Adjustment and Interspousal Personality Relationships: Husbands and wives of 67 couples described themselves on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, described their spouses on an altered form of this test, and completed the Locke-Wallace Short Marital Adjustment Test. Results for each man were matched to a woman's results based on socio-cultrual similarity to create a comparison group of nonmarried couples. A chi-square test indicated that related spouses of the married group did not have more similar personalities than unrelated partners in the comparison group. An F-test suggested that actually, interspousal personality similarity affects marital adjustment for both sexes, but it is not affected by perceived similarity. Accuracy of perception on the introversion-extraversion scale had a positive effect on the marital adjustment of wives, but not of husbands.
Maternal Stress and Cystic Fibrosis: The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between parent and child factors for mothers of children diagnosed with cystic fibrosis to predict mother's psychological distress. Mothers were surveyed to identify measurement models in areas of Child and Parental characteristics and a Full Causal Model of Maternal distress. Factors related to Child Characteristics include general parental stressors and cystic fibrosis specific parental stressors. Factors related to Parental Characteristics include the mother's sense of parental competence and self-esteem. Additional factors related to the Full Causal Model include social support, major and minor life events, and demographics. Results were analyzed using LISREL IV structural equation modeling. Measurement model analysis found a good fit for the Child Characteristics model (Chi Square = 6.85, df = 4, JD = .144, Goodness of Fit Indices = .972) and Parental Characteristics model (Chi Square = 5.89, df = 3, p = .117, Goodness of Fit Indices = .971), but not for the full causal model of maternal distress (Chi Square = 114.98, df = 66, E = .000, Goodness of Fit Indices = .853)
Stressors, Resources, and Psychological Symptomatology for Family Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between life stressors, resources, and psychological symptomatology of 20 family caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Stressors were categorized as stressors specific to the caregiving role and general life stressors. Resources were also categorized as resources specific to the caregiving role and general life resources. Multiple regression determined which stressors, resources, and demographic variables predicted psychological symptomatology. Specific stressors that were significant predictors included: caregiving events, caregiving event chronicity, and mean burden scores. Significant general stressors included: size of caregivers' household, non-caregiving events and non-caregiving event chronicity. Significant resources included: other caregivers, the duties other caregivers provided, and caregiver's educational level. No Other Demographic Variables were found to be significant predictors.
Miranda Reasoning and Competent Waiver Decisions: Are Models of Legal Decision Making Applicable?: Miranda understanding, appreciation, and reasoning abilities are essential to courts' determinations of knowing and intelligent Miranda rights waivers. Despite the remarkable development of Miranda research in recent decades, studies have generally focused on understanding and appreciation of Miranda rights, but have not examined Miranda reasoning and waiver decisions. Therefore, examining the nature of defendants' decisional capacities constitutes a critical step in further developing theoretical and clinical models for competent Miranda waiver decisions. The current study evaluated Miranda waiver decisions for 80 pretrial defendants from two Tulsa-area Oklahoma jails. Previously untested, the current study examined systematically how rational decision abilities affect defendants' personal waiver decisions. Components from general models of legal decision making, such as decisional competence and judgment models, were examined to determine their applicability to Miranda waiver decisions.
The Personality Pattern of Hyperactive Boys: Adjustments in Internality, Self-Esteem, and Anxiety: During the past 80 years, similar descriptions of a hyperactive behavior pattern in children have appeared in medical, educational, and psychological literature. Hyperactivity has been conceptualized as a character disorder, an organic disorder, and, most recently, as a behavior disorder. In this study, hyperactivity was explained in interactional terms, using Rotter's social learning theory of personality. Little consideration has been given in research to the influence of an abnormally high activity level upon personality development during childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the general influence of negative interactions associated with hyperactivity upon the organization of four personality constructs: locus of control, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety.
A Comparison of the Child-Rearing Attitudes of Disadvantaged Chicano and Black Mothers: Hypothesized in this study are the following: (1) that there are significant general differences between the childrearing attitudes of disadvantaged Chicano and Black mothers, (2) that their respective attitudes significantly vary on particular subtests of maternal attitude, and (3) that demographic variables, such as age, number of marriages, nativemigrant status, and level of education will affect significant differences in response on a number of specified attitudinal subtests.
Blood Pressure Biofeedback and Relaxation Training: The Effects of Home Practice on Reduction of Blood Pressure in Persons with Essential Hypertension: Blood pressure biofeedback at home was compared with relaxation training and a combination of the two procedures for the treatment of essential hypertension, Ten subjects were taught to monitor blood pressure (BP) at home with electronic sphygmomanometers designed for self-use. Although situational factors appeared to have rather potent effects on BP levels, results suggested that training to control BP did generalize across situations. Although pretreatment BP level seemed to be related to the amount of reduction obtained, there was some evidence to indicate that subjects trained in behavioral methods of control could maintain BP in the average range after medication was discontinued, even if no significant reductions were obtained during treatment . Home practice of BP biofeedback was found to be the most successful single treatment for reducing systolic BP in the practice setting.
Effects of Enculturation in Neuropsychological Test Performance on the African Neuropsychological Battery in African Americans and First-Generation Sub-Saharan African Immigrants to the United States: This study used an archival data set of 26 healthy adult immigrants from a sub-Saharan African country to the United States (Mage 39.0, SD = 11.36; Meducation 16.33, SD = 2.88; 40.7% male). Additional archival data was used for 32 healthy African American adults (Mage 34.06, SD = 11.18; Meducation 16.16, SD = 2.49; 53.1% male). A bivariate correlation indicated that acculturation to African culture, as measured by the mBIQ (M 49.29, SD = 8.66), was significantly positively correlated with ethnicity, r = .632, p = .000, ηp2 = 0.399. Two-way ANOVAs revealed that African Americans were able to name more animals than African immigrants (F(1, 54) = 4.82, p = 0.32, ηp2 = 0.82) and exhibited greater organizational skills during a task of cognitive set shifting and problem solving than African immigrants, regardless of level of acculturation (F(1, 54) = 4.47, p =.039, ηp2 = 0.078). In contrast, African immigrants scored higher than African Americans on indigenous fruit (F(1, 54) = 7.60, p =.008, ηp2 = 0.123) and object naming (F(1, 54) = 5.59, p =.022, ηp2 = 0.094). Results of the study concluded that there are small variance effects in language tasks as well as strategy-based approaches to tasks of novel problem solving. Implications of these findings are discussed relative to future research as well as clinical practice in the assessment of culturally dissimilar people across a racially homogenous population by pushing the field forward with diversified approaches to neuropsychological testing.

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