Values and Policy: The Case of legal Services

This study examines the value systems of a sample of over three hundred respondents to determine differences between those who use the services of an attorney and those who do not. Using a modification of the Rokeach Value Survey, it is found that those people who use legal services are more apt to value "independence" more highly than do those who do not use lawyers. This finding seems to contradict the work of Phillips (1963) who found that those who value "self-reliance" are more apt to shun the services of mental health professionals. It is suggested that lawyers may function as aids to those who value independence highly and psychiatrists for those who do not. This study casts doubts on simpler models of the delivery of legal services based on traditional marketing approaches.     

Psychoeducational Intervention Program about Posttraumatic Growth for Japanese High School Students

This study evaluates the effect of a psychoeducational intervention about posttraumatic growth (PTG) among Japanese adolescents. Study 1 examined whether those who learned about changes related to stress would report higher growth than those who did not. Study 2 examined whether those who learned about PTG perceived more growth than those who learned about negative changes or those who did not learn about potential changes. Findings from both studies indicated that PTG was higher in those who received the intervention program than those who did not. These studies demonstrate the potential effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention program in fostering adolescents’ perceptions and understanding of their personal growth following stressful experiences. Implications are that the knowledge about not only stress reactions or coping but the possibility of PTG can be integrated into the health education.     

The effect of computer‐mediated communication on conformity vs. nonconformity: An impression management perspective

There is disagreement in the literature regarding whether those communicating in computer-mediated (CM) groups are attentive or oblivious to the social situation. There is evidence on both sides, with those in CM groups sometimes modifying their public responses and other times not. This apparent contradiction may be due in part to the impression that those in CM groups wish to convey and whether modifying their responses would help convey this impression. Specifically, whereas those in face-to-face (FTF) groups may strategically alter their public responses to present themselves as part of the group, those in CM groups may strategically alter their public responses to present themselves as separate from the group and unique on a positive dimension. The results of three experiments support this impression-management account: those in CM groups strategically altered their responses when doing so produced a desirable impression. The results further suggest that visual information about the group and social distance play important roles in affecting whether those in CM groups conform or not.     

Paying for sanctions in social dilemmas: The effects of endowment asymmetry and accountability

The present research examines whether or not endowment asymmetry leads those with many endowments to contribute more than those with few endowments towards the public good (i.e., a first-order dilemma), but also towards the implementation of a sanctioning system (i.e., a second-order dilemma). In Experiment 1, we found that those with many endowments contributed more than those with few endowments in a public good dilemma without a sanctioning system present, whereas those with many endowments did not contribute more than those with few endowments toward the implementation of a sanctioning system. The latter effect, however, was eliminated when participants were accountable (i.e., when expectations that they would have to justify their decisions to others in the group were high). Experiment 2 showed that when participants were accountable, the contributions of those with many endowments (and not those with few endowments) toward the sanctioning system increased, but only when they perceived the group to be more self-evaluative in terms of morality (i.e., high-evaluation expectancy). Experiment 3 showed that this effect of evaluation expectancy only emerged when participants were accountable to the whole group rather than to only one group member.     

Religious celibacy from the celibate's point of view

What do celibates consider the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of their celibate religious lifestyle? What role has celibacy played in understanding the differences between those who persevere and those who choose to resign from celibate religious life and/or ordained ministry? Using data from extensive interviews, this exploratory study begins to focus some of the perceived effects of celibacy upon personal development for both those who persevere in celibate religious life and those who resign.     

Multiple Risk Factors for Frequent and Problem Gambling: Individual, Social, and Ecological

We analyzed data for a national U.S. telephone survey. Most likely to have gambled in the past year were those whose friends and families looked favorably on gambling, Catholics, young adults, and those who live close to a lottery outlet. Most likely to have gambled frequently in the past year were those whose friends look favorably on gambling and those who live close to a lottery outlet. Most likely to be problem gamblers were Blacks, those who smoke or who are alcohol dependent, and those who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The decision to gamble is influenced by social milieu and values, while risk for problem gambling is influenced by proneness to problem behaviors and by disadvantaged status. Availability of gambling influences all gambling involvement.     

Ratings of self and parents by youth: are they affected by family status, gender, and birth order?

In the present study, 648 youths from across the state of Kansas voluntarily evaluated themselves and their parents using the Personal Attribute Inventory for Children. Self-concept was found to be significantly higher for those from intact families in comparison with those from divorced remarried families. Evaluations of mothers were significantly higher for those from intact and divorced nonremarried families as compared with those from divorced remarried families. The ratings of fathers by youths from intact families were significantly more favorable than the ratings by those from either divorced nonremarried or divorced remarried families. Interestingly, gender by family status two-way interaction effects were also found for self-concept and ratings of fathers. Possible explanations for these findings, and their implications, are discussed.     

A Comparison of Residents Who Moved Versus Those Who Remained Prior to Restart of Three Mile Island1

This study examines the importance of attitudinal and demographic variables in discriminating those residents who had moved prior to the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in 1985 from those who remained. Findings indicate that movers and stayers were discriminated by demographic factors, age, and length of residence in the vicinity. Movers and nonmovers also differed in the interrelatedness of their attitudes pertaining to environmental threat and perceived control. Among those who left, perceived threat of radiation was associated with lack of control; among those who stayed, perceived control was related to faith in experts. This difference was related to a possible defensive adaptation to environmental threat through disassociation of sense of control from worry about environmental threat by those who remained in the area.     

Parents' and practitioners' perspectives of young children's everyday natural learning environments

Parents' views of natural learning environments were compared to those of practitioners having either considerable or little experience with the characteristics of everyday natural learning opportunities. 8 experienced practitioners' views were congruent with those of the parents, whereas the 8 inexperienced practitioners' views were incongruent with those of both parents and their experienced peers.     

Differential effects of manual assisted cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of recurrent deliberate self-harm and personality disturbance: the POPMACT study

A total of 480 patients were treated in a large, multicenter randomized trial of a brief form of cognitive therapy, manual-assisted cognitive behavior therapy (MACT) versus treatment as usual (TAU) for recurrent deliberate self-harm. Each patient was randomized after a self-harm episode assessed at an accident and emergency center and followed up over 1 year. The main hypothesis tested was that those allocated to MACT would have a lower proportion of self-harm episodes in the succeeding year. A total of 60% of those allocated to MACT had face-to-face treatment and 430 (90%) of all patients had self-harm data recorded after 1 year. Although the results showed no significant difference between those repeating self-harm in the MACT group (39%) compared with the TAU group (46%) (P = 0.20), the treatment was cost effective (10% cheaper than TAU) and the frequency of self-harm episodes was fewer (50%) in the MACT group. A total of nine of 10 patients had some personality disturbance (42% of these with disorder), and for those where information on parasuicide events was collected, the proportion having a repeat episode ranged from 33% to 63% for different personality disorders. Those with BPD were most likely to repeat episodes quickly (mean 89 days for 25% to repeat) with dissocial personality disorder (equivalent mean 384 days) the slowest to repeat. Total costs were significantly greater in those with personality disorder and were reduced in those allocated to MACT; this saving was reversed in those with borderline disorder. On average, MACT appeared to increase the cost of those patients with BPD (BPD) and reduce the cost of those with other personality disorders. It is concluded that MACT has value in preventing self-harm cost effectively but this appears to be confined mainly to those who do not have BPD.     

The Importance of Assessing for Childhood Abuse and Lifetime PTSD in Bariatric Surgery Candidates

For bariatric surgery candidates, history of child abuse and PTSD may be under-recognized or under-reported at pre-surgical evaluation. On a range of clinically relevant factors, we studied 3045 candidates for bariatric surgery: (1) those with a history of childhood abuse compared to those without such history; and (2) among candidates with a history of abuse, those with a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD compared to those without that diagnosis. We compared them on current and lifetime eating disorders, physical health problems, health behaviors, physical functioning, psychosocial functioning, psychiatric disorders, emotional wellness, body satisfaction, and self-esteem. We hypothesized that patients with a history of childhood abuse, and within that group, those with a lifetime PTSD diagnosis, would display greater overall impairment. Patients were interviewed with semi-structured interviews and completed self-report questionnaires. Results showed that (1) patients with a history of childhood abuse exhibited significantly greater impairment than those without abuse; and (2) among candidates with a history of abuse, those with a lifetime history of PTSD displayed significantly greater impairment than those without a PTSD diagnosis. The findings suggest that a history of both childhood abuse and lifetime PTSD should be thoroughly assessed for at pre-surgical evaluation, and that greater attention be paid to the experience of PTSD symptoms in abuse survivors presenting for bariatric surgery.     

Prevalence of auditory verbal hallucinations in a general population: A group comparison study

The present study was specifically designed to investigate the prevalence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in the general population, and sought to compare similarities and differences regarding socio‐demographics, mental health and severe life events between individuals who have never experienced AVH with those who had. The study also aimed to compare those who sought professional help for their experience of AVH with those who had not sought help. Through a postal questionnaire, 2,533 participants ages 18 and over from a national survey completed the Launay‐Slade Hallucinations Scale and other measures examining AVH characteristics and other areas related to AVH. In total, 7.3% of the sample reported a life‐time prevalence of AVH. Those with AVH were more likely to be single and unemployed, reported higher levels of depression and anxiety, and experienced a higher number of severe life events compared with those without AVH. Only 16% of those who experienced AVH in the general population sought professional help for these experiences. Compared to those who did not seek professional help, participants that had were more likely to experience AVH with a negative content, experience them on a daily basis, undergo negative reactions when experiencing AVH, and resist AVH. In conclusion, the prevalence of AVH was found to be relatively high. The results also revealed higher levels of reduced mental health for individuals who sought professional help, followed by those who did not, compared with those who had never experienced AVH.     

Age and prospective memory

This paper reports an investigation into the effects of age, intelligence, and retrospective memory on performance in a prospective memory task in which subjects aged between 52 and 95 were required to telephone once a day either between two times or at an exact time. The most important influence on performance was how subjects chose to remember to make the telephone calls. The best performance was from subjects who telephoned either in conjunction with another routine event or engaged in some form of advanced planning of the daily schedule. The worst performance was from those who relied on internal cues from their own memory. Performance was intermediate from those who used external cues such as notes or diary entries. Subjects in the between condition were less likely to choose internal cues than those in the exact condition, possibly because the task appeared more difficult, and this resulted in their showing superior performance. The effect of age was influenced by the cue used. For subjects using internal cues, those who forgot were older than those who remembered, whereas for subjects using the other cues, those who forgot were younger than those who remembered. Regardless of cue, self-ratings of cognitive failures were related to performance such that those who reported more minor everyday mistakes were indeed more likely to forget to telephone. While there was some indirect effect of general intelligence on performance in the task, there was no relationship between retrospective memory scores and whether or not subjects remembered to telephone.     

The stalking of psychotherapists by current or former clients: Beware of the insecurely attached!

Abstract

A survey of psychological therapists who worked in primary care showed that the incidence of psychotherapists being harassed or stalked by their current or former clients was more than twice the national average at 24%. The stalkers fell into three broad categories: those clients who were needy and made early attachments to their therapists; those experiencing erotic transference; and those with personality disorders, especially those with a narcissistic style. All of these are disorders of attachment. This paper discusses the neurobiological development of an insecure attachment and how that manifests during therapy in stalking behaviour. Psychotherapists who are aware of the dynamics within the therapeutic relationship can take preventative steps to inhibit the automatic fear response of a client who is insecurely attached and which may lead to stalking behaviour.

A survey of psychological therapists who worked in primary care showed that the incidence of psychotherapists being harassed or stalked by their current or former clients was more than twice the national average at 24%. The stalkers fell into three broad categories: those clients who were needy and made early attachments to their therapists; those experiencing erotic transference; and those with personality disorders, especially those with a narcissistic style. All of these are disorders of attachment. This paper discusses the neurobiological development of an insecure attachment and how that manifests during therapy in stalking behaviour. Psychotherapists who are aware of the dynamics within the therapeutic relationship can take preventative steps to inhibit the automatic fear response of a client who is insecurely attached and which may lead to stalking behaviour.     

Adolescents' relationships with their mothers and fathers: associations with depressive disorder and subdiagnostic symptomatology

Family relationships across 3 groups of adolescents were compared: (a) those with unipolar depressive disorders (n=82); (b) those with subdiagnostic depressive symptoms (n=78); and (c) those without emotional or behavioral difficulties (n=83). Results based on multisource, multimethod constructs indicated that depressed adolescents, as well as those with subdiagnostic symptomatology, experience less supportive and more conflictual relationships with each of their parents than do healthy adolescents. These findings are notable in demonstrating that adverse father-adolescent relationships are associated with depressive symptomatology in much the same way as mother-adolescent relationships. As well, the findings add to the emerging evidence that adolescents with subdiagnostic symptoms experience difficulties in social relationships similar to those experienced by adolescents with depressive disorder.     

Terror Management Theory and Identity: The Effect of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on Anxiety and Identity Change

Baumeister and Muraven (1996) reasoned that those who have a well-formed identity should express a greater amount of fear when faced with the prospect of their own death. In Study 1, terror management theory methodology was applied to test this hypothesis. The results show that individuals who were exploring their identity had greater identity exploration scores when reminded of their death in comparison to those who were not given such a reminder. In Study 2, the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on identity and anxiety were examined using a terrorism salience approach. The results show that reminders of the terrorist attacks produced greater anxiety in those who were exploring their identity and less anxiety in those who were not exploring. Terrorism salience also produced greater identity commitment, especially in those who were exploring their identity.     

Reduced visual acuity is mirrored in low vision imagery

Research has examined the nature of visual imagery in normally sighted and blind subjects, but not in those with low vision. Findings with normally sighted subjects suggest that imagery involves primary visual areas of the brain. Since the plasticity of visual cortex appears to be limited in adulthood, we might expect imagery of those with adult-onset low vision to be relatively unaffected by these losses. But if visual imagery is based on recent and current experience, we would expect images of those with low vision to share some properties of impaired visual perception. We examined key parameters of mental images reported by normally sighted subjects, compared to those with early- and late-onset low vision, and with a group of subjects with restricted visual fields using an imagery questionnaire. We found evidence that those with reduced visual acuity report the imagery distances of objects to be closer than those with normal acuity and also depict objects in imagery with lower resolution than those with normal visual acuity. We also found that all low vision groups, like the normally sighted, image objects at a substantially greater distance than when asked to place them at a distance that ‘just fits’ their imagery field (overflow distance). All low vision groups, like the normally sighted, showed evidence of a limited visual field for imagery, but our group with restricted visual fields did not differ from the other groups in this respect. We conclude that imagery of those with low vision is similar to that of those with normal vision in being dependent on the size of objects or features being imaged, but that it also reflects their reduced visual acuity. We found no evidence for a dependence on imagery of age of onset or number of years of vision impairment.     

Creating embryos for research

ABSTRACT The 1987 Amendment to the Infertility (Medical Procedures) Act (Vic) allows the creation of embryos specifically for research purposes, as long as the proposed experiment takes place within 24 hours. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is aany significant ethical difference between creating embryos specifically for research and using those that are surplus from the new reproductive technologies. The relevant arguments in this debate can be grouped under three heads: those focussing on the embryo; those focussing on the possible consequences of these practices and those focussing on the women who donate the eggs.     

A comparison of individuals with unanswered callings to those with no calling at all

The purpose of this research was to compare the life-, job-, and health-related experiences of those who perceive an unanswered occupational calling to those who (1) are living a calling and (2) perceive no calling at all. Surveys containing measures of callings, work engagement, job involvement, career commitment, life and job satisfaction, turnover intentions, physical health and emotional well-being were administered to 378 American academics. As expected, academics with an answered occupational calling tended to report better job attitudes and domain-specific satisfaction and less withdrawal intentions than those who reported an unanswered occupational calling or no calling at all. Furthermore, those who did not have a calling to a particular vocation reported better life-, job-, and health-related outcomes than those experiencing an unanswered calling. Surprisingly, only those academics experiencing an unmet calling reported significantly poorer physical and psychological health as compared to the other two calling groups. These results are consistent with the self-determination theory, which predicts that those who are able to satisfy their basic psychological needs reap benefits in terms of psychological growth, optimal functioning, and wellbeing. The study contributes to the literature on callings by showing that having a calling is a benefit only if it is met, but can be a detriment when it is not as compared to having no calling at all.