Humor and coping with stress: A test under real-life conditions

The relationship between humor and coping with stress was investigated for trainees in a course for combat NCOs in the Israel Defense Forces. Measures of humor through self-report and peer-ratings were administered to 159 soldiers. Coping with stress was assessed through ratings by commanders and peers, and through final course grades. The findings showed that humor as rated by peers (but not by self-report) was positively related to performance under stress. This was especially true for active humor (self-produced as opposed to reactive humor). No differences were found between individuals characterized by self-directed humor and other-directed humor in performance under stress. The implications in terms of humor theories and further research are discussed.     

Developmental sequences in the age of onset of disruptive child behaviors

Retrospective and prospective reports of the onset of disruptive child behaviors were analyzed in a sample of clinic-referred boys. The younger boys (ages 7–9 years), compared with the older boys (ages 10–12 years), showed the highest level of disruptive behavior and, judging from mothers' reports, had the fastest progression of onsets from less serious to more serious problem behaviors. Despite some overlap, developmental sequences in problem behavior within the domains of hyperactivity/inattention, oppositional behavior, and conduct problems were similar across the two age groups. This was also the case for developmental sequences of overt or confrontive problem behaviors and covert or concealing conduct problems. Sequences of the onset of oppositional behavior and conduct problems were validated through prospective data, based on the information from mothers, teachers, and boys themselves. The implications of the findings are discussed for the formulation of developmental pathways of behavior and the analysis of causal factors.     

PRODUCING GENERALIZED JOB INITIATIVE IN SEVERELY MENTALLY RETARDED SHELTERED WORKERS

The development of generalized job initiative was examined with three severely retarded men working in an industrial assembly area of a sheltered workshop. Interventions included discrimination training, role-play training, and self-monitoring. For each participant, training was applied sequentially to three sets of job initiative behaviors. Intensive training was required to establish the first set of job initiative behaviors; however, the second and third sets of job initiative behaviors were learned with only discrimination training. The discussion summarizes the findings and suggests research needed to develop more powerful learning-to-learn paradigms.     

Of beasties and butterflies: Evidence for the stability and domain-specificity of individual differences in categorization

Previous research has failed to demonstrate unambiguously the relative stability across time and consistency across tasks of individual differences in categorization, or categorization breadth The present study of categorizing behavior in college students assesses breadth at each of four points in time over a six-week period Results are consistent with an interpretation of breadth as a highly stable individual difference variable, but one that is constrained by the nature of the stimulus sets employed High stability coefficients were observed for each of two redundant tasks In contrast, cross-task consistency indices were generally low Personality correlates of breadth were similarly weak and inconsistent Several variables are suggested that may attenuate the generality of categorization breadth The existence of multiple styles of categorization is discussed     

Conceptualising,designing and drafting a monthly multi-family therapy programme and manual for adolescents with anorexia nervosa

The written transmission of therapists' expertise in manuals is an important issue which is highlighted in the literature. Manuals are essential for research, training and therapeutic guidance. However, the conceptualisation, design and drafting of therapy manuals have received little attention. Our team conceptualised and designed a 10-monthly session multi-family therapy programme for adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa. This paper presents the methodology used to evolve from training and theoretical models to designing a programme and drafting the accompanying manual. We then describe how our team reached a consensus regarding the role to be attributed to food-related symptoms in the programme. These arduous tasks were rewarded by fruitful discussions among team members, which led to a shared theory of treatment. The methodology presented here is drawn from both the experience of specialised teams and from that of families in providing care to adolescents with anorexia nervosa.     

Rice-farming areas report more anxiety across two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in China

Cultures responded to the COVID-19 pandemic differently. We investigated cultural differences in mental health during the pandemic. We found regional differences in people's reports of anxiety in China over two years from 2020 to 2021 (N = 1186). People in areas with a history of rice farming reported more anxiety than people in wheat-farming areas. Next, we explored more proximal mechanisms that could help link the distal, historical factor of rice farming to people's modern experience of anxiety. Rice areas scored higher on collectivism and tight social norms than wheat areas, and collectivism, rather than norm tightness, mediated the rice-anxiety relationship. These findings advance our understanding of the distal sources of cultural differences, the proximal mechanisms, and mental health problems during the pandemics.     

A method of determining unbiased distribution in the latin square

The paper describes a method of constructing Latin-square designs in which treatment sequences are unbiased with regard to serial order as well as position of treatment. The procedure is useful for those Latin squares in which the number of cells in each column (or row) is an even number, which, when written in ascending and descending series, contain corresponding ordered numbers prime to each other. Such numbers are 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, 16, 18, 22, 28, 30, 36, etc.     

Geometrical representation of two methods of linear least squares multiple correlation

Geometrical properties and relationships of the Doolittle and square root methods of multiple correlation, as represented in the variable subspace of an orthogonal person space, are shown. The method of representation is also useful for depicting zero-order and partial correlations, as well as for the more general problem of the combination of variables.     

Some multiple correlation and predictor selection methods

The Doolittle, Wherry-Doolittle, and Summerfield-Lubin methods of multiple correlation are compared theoretically as well as by an application in which a set of predictors is selected. Wherry's method and the Summerfield-Lubin method are shown to be equivalent; the relationship of these methods to the Doolittle method is indicated. The Summerfield-Lubin method, because of its compactness and ease of computation, and because of the meaningfulness of the interim computational values, is recommended as a convenient least squares method of multiple correlation and predictor selection.