Validation of the Suicide Resilience Inventory-25 (SRI-25) in adolescent psychiatric inpatient samples

Resilience has been associated with a markedly decreased chance for risky behaviors following a trauma or other negative life event. This study examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of a self-report measure of resilience, the Suicide Resilience Inventory-25 (SRI-25; Osman et al., 2004 ), among psychiatric inpatient adolescents. In Study 1, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis to provide additional empirical support for the structure and invariance of the 3-factor model of the SRI-25 in youth samples, ages 14 to 17 years (N = 152 boys, 220 girls). Scale reliability analyses provided good evidence for internal consistency reliability of scores on the SRI-25 total and scales. In Study 2 (N = 30 boys, 40 girls), we presented data in support for the concurrent validity (i.e., known groups) of scores on the SRI-25. Additionally, we identified potential correlates for the SRI-25 total scale scores.     

Memory modulation by post-training intraperitoneal, but not intracerebroventricular, administration of ACTH or epinephrine

Post-training introparitoneal (ip) administration of ACTH1-24 (25 ng/rat) or epinephrine HCl (625 ng/rat) facilitated retention of a step-down inhibitory avoidance task acquired using a small start platform (5-cm high, 25 X 7 cm) and a low intensity training footshock (0.3 mA, 60 Hz), and caused retrograde amnesia for a similar task acquired using a large platform (5-cm high, 25 X 25 cm) and a high intensity training footshock (0.8 mA, 60 Hz). The post-training intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of 5, 25, or 125 ng/rat of ACTH or of 5, 25, 125, 625, or 1250 ng/rat of epinephrine had no effect on retention of either task. These findings suggest that memory modulation by ACTH and epinephrine is mediated by reflexes initiated at peripheral receptors that affect brain activity during the post-training period.     

Pigeons prefer to invest early for future reinforcers

Five pigeons were trained in a series of conditions in which food was delivered after 25 responses, but only when a different (Investing) response had been made before the 25 responses had been completed. If an Investing response was not made, the 25 responses ended in blackout. In various conditions, effective Investing responses either had to be made before the first of the 25 responses, or anywhere within the 25 responses; and effective Investing responses either resulted in a stimulus change or did not. Pigeons Invested even when the consequences were temporally and spatially distant, but Investing was most likely when it produced an immediate stimulus change. When given the choice, pigeons preferred to make Investing responses at the beginning of a trial. These findings again demonstrate that behavior may be maintained by events that are separated in time and space from the present.     

Assessing executive functions in traumatic brain injury: an exploratory study of the Executive Interview

Executive dysfunction is a frequent sequela of traumatic brain injury. Two correlational studies using samples of inpatients and outpatients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury were undertaken to evaluate the validity of a bedside screening test of executive functioning, the 1992 Executive Interview EXIT 25 by Royall, Mahurin, and Gray. In the first study of 23 inpatients receiving rehabilitation, the EXIT 25 was strongly related to both the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination. In the second study of 20 outpatients, the EXIT 25 correlated with other executive function measures and with ratings of functional disability at discharge, although a ceiling effect raised questions about its utility for patients with mild to moderate disability. Further study of the EXIT 25 is justified with a larger sample of inpatients, although caution should be exercised when using the EXIT 25 in mildly impaired outpatients.     

Film Reviews

IT HAPPENS TO US (color, 30 min., rent $30, sale $350) New Day Films
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NOT TOGETHER NOW: END OF A MARRIAGE (color, 25 min., rent $30, sale $325) Polymorph Films     

Picking up speed in understanding: Speech processing efficiency and vocabulary growth across the 2nd year

To explore how online speech processing efficiency relates to vocabulary growth in the 2nd year, the authors longitudinally observed 59 English-learning children at 15, 18, 21, and 25 months as they looked at pictures while listening to speech naming one of the pictures. The time course of eye movements in response to speech revealed significant increases in the efficiency of comprehension over this period. Further, speed and accuracy in spoken word recognition at 25 months were correlated with measures of lexical and grammatical development from 12 to 25 months. Analyses of growth curves showed that children who were faster and more accurate in online comprehension at 25 months were those who showed faster and more accelerated growth in expressive vocabulary across the 2nd year.     

Validation of the Suicide Resilience Inventory‐25 with American and Chinese College Students

This study is the first to evaluate evidence for measurement invariance and the psychometric properties of the Suicide Resilience Inventory‐25 (SRI‐25; Osman et al., 2004 ) in college‐age samples in both the United States and China. We found strong support for full measurement invariance of the three‐factor structure of the SRI‐25 in the U.S. (113 men and 238 women) and Chinese (121 men and 205 women) samples. In addition, we found that the U.S. sample scored significantly higher than the Chinese sample on all the individual scale scores. Composite scale reliability estimates ranged from moderate (ρ = .83) to high (ρ = .93) across the groups. Although not an aim of the current study, we examined estimates of internal consistency of the SRI‐25 scales for men and women within each sample. Differential correlates of the SRI‐25 scales were explored further for each sample. These results provide support for the use of the SRI‐25 in U.S. and Chinese student samples.     

Recognition of facial affect in depression

25 depressed patients recognized a sad face with more errors than 25 normal persons and labeled other expressions as sadness when affective content was not recognized. Correct recognitions for 6 affects were related to the portion of the face depicted. Comparisons of responses of 25 patients diagnosed as having anxiety neuroses showed differences in responses from the depressed patients and normal persons.     

Sex moderates associations between prenatal glucocorticoid exposure and human fetal neurological development

Maternal cortisol levels (at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 37 weeks’ gestation) and fetal movement response to vibroacoustic stimulation (VAS; at 25, 31 and 37 weeks) were assessed in 190 mother‐fetus pairs. Fetuses showed a response to the VAS at 25 weeks and there was evidence of increasing maturation in the response at 31 and 37 weeks. Early elevations in cortisol predicted a failure to respond to the VAS at 25 weeks and later elevations in cortisol were associated with a larger response among fetuses when assessed near term. The associations between cortisol and VAS emerged earlier and were more apparent among female fetuses than among the males. The findings provide support for the role of prenatal glucocorticoids in shaping human fetal CNS development.     

Immediate effects of snoezelen? treatment on adult psychiatric patients and community controls

The effectiveness of Snoezelen? multi-sensory stimulation treatment was evaluated with 50 psychiatric patients (25 men, 25 women) and 50 hospital employees (25 men, 25 women). Pre and post-treatment physiological responses (galvanic skin conductance response, heart rate, and percentage blood oxygen) were compared and participants were evaluated post-treatment for perceived psychological benefits with a nine-item questionnaire. Results indicate that participation in a single 20-minute Snoezelen? session had significant and positive physiological effects on both the patient and staff groups. Also, post-treatment participants in both groups did not perceive any change on the dimension reserved-outgoing but felt more sleepy, passive, relaxed, cheerful, focused, optimistic, calm, and comfortable. Consequently, beneficial physiological and psychological Snoezelen? treatment effects were apparent for both patients and controls.     

Three prepositional calculi of probability

Attempts are made to transform the basis of elementary probability theory into the logical calculus.We obtain the propositional calculus NP by a naive approach. As rules of transformation, NP has rules of the classical propositional logic (for events), rules of the ukasiewicz logic ₀ (for probabilities) and axioms of probability theory, in the form of rules of inference. We prove equivalence of NP with a fragmentary probability theory, in which one may only add and subtract probabilities.The second calculus MP is a usual modal propositional calculus. It has the modal rules x x, x y x y, x x, x y (y x), (y x), in addition to the rules of classical propositional logic. One may read x as x is probable. Imbeddings of NP and of ₀ into MP are given.The third calculus P is a modal extension of ₀. It may be obtained by adding the rule ((xy)y) xy to the modal logic of quantum mechanics Q [5]. One may read x in P as x is observed. An imbedding of NP into P is given.     

Effects of timeout on a discrimination between fixed-ratio schedules

A discrimination was established between two fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement. In one, fixed ratio 25, the reinforcer was delivered on the twenty-fifth response; on the other, fixed ratio 50, the fiftieth response was reinforced. In the first component of a chain, either fixed ratio 25 or fixed ratio 50 was randomly programmed on the center key of a three-key pigeon box. Reinforcement of a single peck on the side key was contingent upon discriminating which schedule had just been completed on the center key. During test trials, a timeout was introduced after the first response on fixed ratio 25 and after either the first or twenty sixth response on fixed ratio 50. When the timeout followed the first response on fixed ratio 25 and fixed ratio 50, the accuracy of the discrimination was unaffected. When the timeout followed the first response on fixed ratio 25 and the twenty sixth response on fixed ratio 50, the accuracy of the discrimination decreased rapidly to chance as a function of the duration of the timeout. The loss of discrimination was primarily due to errors after fixed ratio 50 was completed. The timeout appears to weaken the control over the choice response by the response-produced stimuli which preceded the timeout. The results are consistent with the interpretation that the discrimination between fixed ratio 25 and fixed ratio 50 is maintained by chaining of response-produced stimuli within the ratio cycle.     

Immediate effects of snoezelen® treatment on adult psychiatric patients and community controls

The effectiveness of Snoezelen® multi-sensory stimulation treatment was evaluated with 50 psychiatric patients (25 men, 25 women) and 50 hospital employees (25 men, 25 women). Pre and post-treatment physiological responses (galvanic skin conductance response, heart rate, and percentage blood oxygen) were compared and participants were evaluated post-treatment for perceived psychological benefits with a nine-item questionnaire. Results indicate that participation in a single 20-minute Snoezelen® session had significant and positive physiological effects on both the patient and staff groups. Also, post-treatment participants in both groups did not perceive any change on the dimension reserved-outgoing but felt more sleepy, passive, relaxed, cheerful, focused, optimistic, calm, and comfortable. Consequently, beneficial physiological and psychological Snoezelen® treatment effects were apparent for both patients and controls.     

Media influences on body image and disordered eating among indigenous adolescent Australians

There has been no previous investigation of body image concerns and body change strategies among indigenous Australians. This study was designed to investigate the level of body satisfaction, body change strategies, and perceived media messages about body change strategies among 50 indigenous (25 males, 25 females) and 50 non-indigenous (25 males, 25 females) Australian adolescents (mean age 14.05, SD = 1.05). Consistent with past studies, girls were more likely to be dissatisfied with their weight and engage in strategies to lose weight. However, contrary to expectations, indigenous adolescents engaged in more strategies to lose weight, increase weight, and increase muscles than did non-indigenous adolescents, despite perceiving fewer media messages about losing weight. Additional factors that may explain the findings and the need for further research with different cultural groups are highlighted.     

Pilot Testing and Preliminary Psychometric Validation of the Polish Translation of the EORTC INFO25 Questionnaire

The quality of information that oncological patients receive from health care professionals is an underestimated issue in Poland and Eastern European countries. There is lack of sufficient data on this subject. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) supplies a new tool for measuring the quality of information provided to cancer patients. The purpose of the study is the translation into Polish, pilot testing and preliminary validation of the EORTC information module (INFO25). Following the EORTC translation procedures, forward and back translations of the questionnaire were performed (English?→?Polish, Polish?→?English). The intermediate version of the INFO25 was pilot-tested together with the general questionnaire of quality of life (EORTC QLQ-C30). Reliability, validity and known-group comparison tests were performed. A total of 21 patients with different cancer diagnoses were recruited into the study (7 women and 14 men; mean age of 60,2 years, age range 25–73 years). Apart from filling out the INFO25, patients were interviewed about the difficulties with answering every questionnaire item. Patients' comments were analyzed and minor language changes were made to the initial translation. The internal consistency of the INFO25 showed a reliability of 0,78. The final version of the Polish translation of the INFO25 module was obtained and approved by the EORTC Quality of Life Department. It can now be used in clinical setting and for scientific purposes.     

Function of intertrial interval in matching-to-sample

Twelve pigeons were trained on matching-to-sample using either a 0-, 5-, 15-, 25-, or 60-sec intertrial interval. Eight of these 12 pigeons were given one of the following intertrial interval changes: 0 to 60, 0 to 5, 5 to 0, 60 to 0, 15 to 25, 5 to 15, 60 to 5, 5 to 1, 1 to 5, 1 to 25, and 25 to 1 sec. Most intertrial interval changes were repeated at least once. The 0-sec intertrial interval subjects failed to match beyond chance levels, while other intertrial interval values resulted in matching acquisition. Changes from 0 sec to other intertrial interval values increased and changes to 0 sec decreased matching performance. Changes to intertrial interval values other than 0 sec resulted in little change in matching accuracy once stable performance had been attained.     

Measuring time perspective in adolescents: Can you get the right answer by asking the wrong questions?

Time perspective continues to evolve as a psychological construct. The extant literature suggests that higher future orientation and lower present orientation are associated with better developmental outcomes. However, the extant literature also suggests that issues remain with the measurement of the construct. Recently, a 25-item version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-25) was suggested for use based on high internal consistency estimates and good discriminant validity of scores in a sample of Italian adolescents. However, the genesis of this scale is uncertain. The present study examined the factorial validity, reliability, and concurrent validity of ZTPI-25 scores in Slovenian, American, and British adolescents. Results revealed satisfactory concurrent validity based on correlations with measures used in the development of the full ZTPI. However, internal consistency and factorial validity of scores were unsatisfactory. The present study questions the use of the ZTPI-25 with adolescents in the context of conceptual and measurement issues more broadly.     

Maturing Religious Experience and the Postmodern Self

Past attempts to define mature religion have been rooted in a modernist theological anthropology which assumes an atomistic, universal, rational, and stable human self. Yet postmodernists resist universal statements about humanity and understand the self as an ever-changing social construct. This paper suggests a theological anthropology more adequate to the postmodern world, examines maturing religious experience from this perspective, and considers ways pastoral care/counseling can nurture healthy, integrative, and maturing Christian faith in postmodern culture.     

Expletives and woman's place

This study empirically examined the relationship between the expletives, bitch and bastard, and sex-role stereotyping. The expletives were rated by 68 men and 68 women on 80 trait adjectives as to how typical or characteristic each trait was of the stereotypic bitch or bastard in our society. The sex-role implications of the 10 trait terms judged most characteristic of each expletive were then examined. For male subjects, the most distinguishing feature between the two expletives was the inclusion of the stereotypically masculine trait dominant, in their characterization of bitch. Female subjects, on the other hand, did not ascribe such opposite sex-role stereotype traits to bitch, but rather emphasized stereotypically masculine traits in their characterization of bastard. These results are discussed in terms of the regulatory and expressive nature of language, as well as the differential sanction value of the terms bitch and bastard for out-of-role behavior.