Psychometric Properties of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire in a College Population

The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976) was developed to permit the study of the continuities between normal and pathological forms of depression. Since its publication over 10 years ago, the DEQ has been increasingly used in a wide range of investigations of depression in clinical and nonclinical samples and as a measure of two major personality dimensions in a number of studies of differential responsiveness to various life stressors. This study provides an analysis of the DEQ responses in a large sample of undergraduate subjects in an attempt to articulate more clearly the psychometric properties of the DEQ. The DEQ consists of 66 items describing experiences frequently reported by depressed individuals. In the original development of the DEQ, factor analyses using male and female undergraduate samples yielded three orthogonal factors, Dependency, Self-Criticism, and Efficacy (Blatt et al., 1976). Most subsequent studies have used the factor scoring coefficients from the female sample to score men and women's DEQs. The factor loadings in the new male and female samples were very similar to one another and to the original female factor loadings. Thus, the continued use of the scoring parameters from the original female sample is recommended. Factor scores for Dependency and Self-Criticism continue to be uncorrelated in both men and women. Normative data are presented from the new samples, with men scoring higher on Self-Criticism and women scoring higher on Dependency.     

Resolving Conflicts Among Self-Evaluative Motives: Positive Experiences as a Resource for Overcoming Defensiveness

The present research investigates how undergoing a negative or positive experience subsequently influences feedback seeking regarding self-attributes varying in self-relevance. Participants were offered feedback from earlier testing regarding their assets or liabilities for attaining various personal goals (general life goals or specific careers). Overall, self-relevance of a goal increased interest in both assets- and liabilities-focused feedback regarding that goal. As predicted, however, the effect of self-relevance depended on whether participants initially failed or succeeded on an unrelated task. Specifically, after failure, the self-relevance of a goal was more likely to increase interest in assets-focused feedback than interest in liabilities-focused feedback. In contrast, after success, the self-relevance of a goal was equally or more likely to increase interest in liabilities-focused feedback than interest in assets-focused feedback. These results suggest that undergoing a positive or negative experience subsequently influences the relative weight of ego-defensive and self-assessment motives in feedback-seeking decisions.     

Religiosity as a Substance Use Protective Factor Among Female College Students

Journal of Religion and Health - Research exists about religiosity as a substance use protective factor. However, there is little attention of this issue regarding Israeli female college students....     

The Equity-Control Model as a Predictor of Vandalism Among College Students1

The equity-control model of vandalism (Baron & Fisher, 1984; Fisher & Baron, 1982) is used to conceptualize vandalism among college students. The model predicts that vandalism is most likely where there are low perceived equity (perceived lack of fairness in one's social or environmental arrangements) and low to moderate perceived control (perceived inability to effectively modify outcomes and arrangements). To test the model, university students were given questionnaires which measured perceived equity and control as these factors relate to the university and to dormitory living. Using multiple regression analysis, the interaction of equity and control was predictive of vandalism: Subjects with low perceived equity and control were most likely to report they engaged in vandalistic acts.     

Sexual Prejudice Among Heterosexual College Men as a Predictor of Condom Attitudes

Heterosexual male college students (N?=?100) (average age?=?19.7; 43% European American; 39% Christian) from the southwestern U.S. completed surveys in order to test a model predicting condom attitudes from religiosity, gender role attitudes, sexual prejudice, and the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease.” In the final model, those who reported more religiosity, more traditional gender role attitudes, and greater anxiety about interacting with gay men also reported feeling their core values and beliefs were threatened by gay men. In turn, men who felt strongly threatened in this way more strongly endorsed the belief that “AIDS is a gay disease,” and stronger endorsement of this belief was associated with more negative attitudes about condoms and condom use.     

Intrusive Imagery Experiences in a High Dysmorphic Concern Population

Intrusive imagery may be an important factor in cognitive-behavioural models of body image. Some research has examined the role of imagery within body image disorders; however, little is known about the association between intrusive imagery and body image concern in the general population. The aims of the present study were threefold: 1) to document the content and contexts of intrusive appearance-related images experienced by individuals high in dysmorphic concern, 2) to investigate the relationship between dysmorphic concern and appearance-related imagery, and 3) to investigate the relationships between dysmorphic concern and image suppression. Sixty-five (55 female) undergraduates participated in semi-structured interviews on imagery. Intrusive appearance-related images were common, and mostly involved negative self-imagery and/or images of other people showing disgust toward the individual. Many of the images occurred within social contexts, and depicted present and future selves in undesirable terms and past or ideal selves in desirable terms. There was no relationship between dysmorphic concern and the quality or frequency of intrusive appearance-related images. Importantly, attempts to suppress imagery predicted dysmorphic concern, controlling for general psychopathology.     

Music for the Seasons: Seasonal Music Preferences in College Students

The present research examined music preferences in relation to the seasons: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Across two studies, male and female college students (N = 232 and 199) were primed to think about the seasons and indicate their music preference from Rentfrow and Gosling’s (2003) music classification scheme. Participants were predicted to prefer reflexive and complex music when primed with fall/winter and energetic and rhythmic and upbeat and conventional music when primed with spring/summer. Study 1 had participants read winter or summer season scenarios and Study 2 had participants write their own fall, winter, spring, or summer seasonal experiences. Overall, results were consistent with predictions for the reflexive and complex and energetic and rhythmic classifications, indicating an environmental influence of musical preferences.     

Near-Death Experiences in a Multi-religious Hospital Population in Sri Lanka

Near-death experiences (NDEs) are a wide range of experiences that occur in association with impending death. There are no published studies on NDEs in general hospital populations, and studies have been mainly conducted on critically ill patients. We assessed the prevalence of NDEs and its associations in a multi-religious population in a general hospital in Sri Lanka. A randomised sample of patients admitted to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital was assessed using the Greyson NDE scale and clinical assessment. Out of total 826 participants, NDEs were described by 3%. Compared to the NDE-negative participants, the NDE-positive group had a significantly higher mean for age and a ratio of men. Women reported deeper NDEs. Patients of theistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Hinduism) reported significantly more NDEs compared to patients from the non-theistic religious group (Buddhism). NDE-positive patient group had significantly higher reporting of a feeling ‘that they are about to die’, the presence of loss of consciousness and a higher percentage of internal medical patients. This is the first time that NDEs are assessed in a general hospital population and NDEs being reported from Sri Lanka. We also note for the first time that persons with theistic religious beliefs reported more NDEs than those with non-theistic religious beliefs. Medical professionals need to be aware of these phenomena to be able to give an empathic hearing to patients who have NDE.     

Feeling Controlled and Drinking Motives Among College Students: Contingent Self-Esteem as a Mediator

This article presents an examination of college student drinking motives from a self-determination perspective. We predicted positive associations between controlled orientation (a chronic orientation toward pressures and experiencing a lack of choice in one's behaviors), and drinking as a means of regulating affect (enhancement and coping motives) and social approval (social rewards and conformity motives). Contingent self-esteem involves deriving self-worth from meeting expectations and was expected to mediate the relation between controlled orientation and drinking motives, which were in turn expected to predict alcohol consumption and related consequences. College students' (N?=?204) controlled orientation, contingent self-esteem, motives for drinking, and patterns of alcohol use were assessed. Mediation analyses provided support for our theoretical framework. Results suggest that “controlled” individuals drink to regulate affect and social approval in part because they have a greater tendency to base self-worth on contingencies.     

Personality as a Prospective Vulnerability to Dysphoric Symptoms Among College Students: Proposed Mechanisms

Personality and psychopathology have long been associated; however, the mechanisms that account for this link are not well understood. Stress generation and cognitive vulnerability are examined as potential mechanisms to explain the association between negative emotionality and dysphoria. To evaluate these mechanisms, college students completed measures of personality, dysfunctional attitudes, negative cognitive style, dysphoric symptoms, and negative events. Two years later the same students reported on the occurrence of negative events and levels of dysphoric symptoms that they had experienced over the 2-year follow-up period. Consistent with hypotheses, negative emotionality predicted prospective increases in dysphoric symptoms and the generation of more stressors over time. Both dysfunctional attitudes and negative cognitive style interacted with these additional stressors to predict prospective elevations in dysphoria, and these cognitive vulnerability–stress components partially mediated the association between negative emotionality and future elevations of dysphoric symptoms.

Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action as a Function of Racial Identity Among African American College Students

Variations in support for affirmative action were assessed in a sample of 181 African American college students in Massachusetts. These students generally endorsed affirmative action, and endorsement varied positively as a function of the belief that one had personally benefited from affirmative action. Aspects of racial identity, indexed by the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity, also predicted variations in attitudes toward affirmative action, over and above background factors and personal benefit. Consistent with realistic group conflict theory, the most influential aspects of identity were centrality (i.e., the degree to which group identity is central to personal identity), private regard (i.e., pride in the group), and an oppressed minority ideology (i.e., a viewpoint that emphasizes the similarities between African Americans and other oppressed groups).     

Objectification Theory as It Relates to Disordered Eating Among College Women

Objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. A. Roberts, 1997) demonstrates how sociocultural variables work together with psychological variables to predict disordered eating. Researchers have tested models that illustrate how certain constructsof objectification theory predict disordered eating, but a more comprehensive model that integrates a combination of constructs central to the theory (i.e., sexual objectification; self-objectification; body shame; poor interoceptive awareness of hunger, satiety, and emotions) has not yet been examined. In this study, we incorporated these variables within an inclusive model based on the assertions of B. L. Fredrickson and T. A. Roberts (1997) and examined it with 460 college women. Structural equation modeling analyses suggested that the model provided a good fit to the data and supported most propositions set forth by objectification theory and the eating disorders literature.     

Conservatism as a Determinant of Sexual Experiences

An examination of the relationship of conservatism to reports of sexual experiences and reasons for nonparticipation was conducted using 64 male and 50 female introductory psychology students. Conservatism was found to be inversely related to the frequency and variety of sexual behaviors. High conservative subjects gave the reason that it was morally wrong more often than any other reason for not engaging in coital activities and more intimate forms of petting. Results were in accord with previous research and were interpreted as supporting the notion that the fear of loss of control of one's impulses and hence the basis for conservative attitudes are determinants of sexual experiences.     

Peak shift as a function of multiple schedules of reinforcement

Pigeons were trained to respond to two stimuli on the wavelength continuum, 550 nm and 570 nm, each correlated with an independent schedule of reinforcement. The multiple schedule component in effect during 550 nm (S1) was always a variable-interval 1-min. During the 570-nm stimulus (S2) the second component of the schedule was either variable-interval 30-sec, 1-min, 2-min, 5-min, or extinction for different groups of birds. Generalization gradients were obtained after this training, with the following results: (1) response rate to S1 during training was related to the reinforcement frequency associated with S2; the distribution of responding during generalization testing was a function of the schedules of reinforcement used during training and the response rates they produced. Decreases in the relative frequency of reinforcement correlated with S2 resulted in increases in the distribution shift of responses away from S2 during generalization testing.     

Individual Differences as Predictors of Illicit Drug Use Among Turkish College Students

ABSTRACT

Although the prevalence of drug use in the young adult population in Turkey is still far below the figures reported for most European Union countries and the United States, there seems to be a noteworthy increase in drug use, especially among high school and college students. The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent of drug use among college students in Turkey and to identify some of the individual-difference variables associated with drug use. Participants were 781 college students. A survey package including (a) measures of sensation seeking–risk taking, self-esteem, affectivity level, global mental health, overall life satisfaction, and the rate and nature of substance use and (b) demographic questions was administered to the participants during regularly held class meetings. A logistic regression analysis revealed that sensation seeking?risk taking, parental education level, smoking, and frequency of alcohol use predicted illicit drug experience. Implications of the findings and limitations of the study are discussed using the context of the study as a framework.