Marginalized Experiences of Hispanic Females in Youth-Based Religious Groups

As part of a larger ethnographic study on the role of religion in the lives of youth in the United States, data collected through fieldwork at Protestant evangelical ministries in the Chicago area show an emerging pattern of marginalized experiences for "at-risk" teenaged and college-aged Hispanic females who are involved in youth-based religious groups and activities. We suggest a contradiction emerging from our findings: churches desire to save youth from risky behaviors, thus accommodating their ministries to meet the needs of the at-risk youths; yet, the churches simultaneously promote traditional gender roles that foster feelings of oppression. This forces the young women into a difficult position: conform and maintain the connectedness to the ministry, or resist the traditional expectations and forfeit what a youth group provides to at-risk youth.     

Parental Emotion Socialization in Clinically Depressed Adolescents: Enhancing and Dampening Positive Affect

This study compared parental socialization of adolescent positive affect in families of depressed and healthy adolescents. Participants were 107 adolescents (42 boys) aged 14 – 18 years and their parents. Half of the participants met criteria for major depressive disorder and the others were demographically matched adolescents without emotional or behavioral disorders. Results based on multi-source questionnaire and interview data indicated that mothers and fathers of depressed adolescents were less accepting of adolescents’ positive affect and more likely to use strategies that dampen adolescents’ positive affect than were parents of healthy adolescents. Additionally, fathers of depressed adolescents exhibited fewer responses likely to enhance the adolescents’ positive affect than were fathers of healthy adolescents. These findings build on those of previous work in examining parental responses to adolescent emotions, focusing on positive emotions and including both mothers and fathers.     

Derivation and implications of MMPI cluster groups in clinically depressed inpatient females.

The purpose of this study was to subclassify clinically depressed patients based on a cluster-analytic examination of the MMPI. Subjects were 79 female inpatients with major depression. A cluster analysis of the MMPI validity and clinical scales resulted in three clusters labeled psychotic (287 MMPI profile), hostile (24 MMPI profile), and histrionic (32 MMPI profile) depression. The psychotic group exhibited the greatest depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The psychotic and hostile groups, however, did not differ on other associated aspects of depression, such as negative cognitions, nonassertiveness, or personality style. The hostile group reported the fewest physical difficulties and the most excessive alcohol use. The groups, however, did not differ on other aspects of depression history or presentation such as family history of depression or previous hospitalizations. A repeated measures ANOVA for the three cluster groups on the BDI at admission, discharge, and 6 months after discharge indicated that all groups showed improvement at discharge but that only the hostile depressive group continued to show improvement at the 6-month follow-up.     

An MMPI Comparison of Two Groups of Institutionalized Delinquents

Two independent studies compared the MMPI performance of 2 groups of matched institutionalized delinquent boys, those who caused trouble in dormitories (SSs) and those who did not (GGs). In the 1st study, Scale 4 was the only statistically significant scale. Cross-validation found no scales statistically significant. Nineteen items which discriminated between SSs and GGs in the 1st study did not hold up in the cross-validation study. It is concluded that the MMPI has questionable value in discriminating between different levels and types of delinquents.     

The Factor Structure of the COPE Questionnaire in a Sample of Clinically Depressed and Anxious Adults

The Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced is a multidimensional scale designed to assess how people respond to stress. The COPE has been validated in a variety of populations displaying variations in factor structure. However, in terms of mental health populations, it has only been validated in alcohol-dependent samples. This paper investigated the factor structure of the COPE in a sample of adults diagnosed with depression and anxiety. Two hundred and seventy-one patients attending cognitive behaviour therapy for anxiety and depression completed the COPE. Confirmatory factor analysis found a poor fit for both lower order and higher order factors based upon the Lyne and Roger (2000) study. Exploratory factor analyses identified six primary subscales (Active Planning, Social Support, Denial, Acceptance, Disengagement, Restraint) which explained approximately 60% of the variance in coping. These 6 subscales may assist researchers and clinicians to validly measure coping in anxious and depressed adults.     

Interaction Process Differences between Groups of Paranoid Schizophrenic and Depressed Patients

Group psychoanalytic treatment has special value for helping people form intimate attachments, in particular, for enabling them to resolve lifelong unconscious resistances to closeness. The group serves both as an amphitheater and as an agent for change.

As group therapists, we may break the task down into three stages. First, we bring the character resistances into play; second, we resolve the fears underlying them; and third, we empower our patients to develop mature ways of expressing intimacy.

Our task requires that we establish a contract with our patients so as to study any breach as a possible resistance to intimacy with other members. We study these resistances, which are expressed in words and attitudes. Beneath such resistances lie various fears, which we bring to the surface. As our patients resolve these fears, they begin to act toward each other as they did toward significant figures in their formative years. We work with these vestigial modes of relating, and help our patients turn them into mature modes of expression.     

Successful Females: Print Media Profiles and Their Implications

The media are widely recognized as a powerful determinant of attitudes. They help shape the social environment in which personal and professional development take place. This paper is concerned with the way outstanding women are portrayed by the Australian print media and examines whether such portrayals reflect a government-sponsored debate to gain wider community support for its proposals to outlaw discriminatory practices against women. Of interest are the range of achievements singled out, the manner in which successful females are depicted, and whether any changes in these aspects have occurred over a two-year period. The findings are discussed within the general framework of the expectancy value theory of achievement motivation, with specific reference to the fear of success construct.     

Clinically Significant Depressive Symptoms in African American Adolescent Females in an Urban Reproductive Health Clinic

Adolescent depression is a major public health concern. Depression and depressive symptoms are more prevalent in adolescent females and are associated with high-risk sexual behavior. Only one third of adolescents receive professional help for their depression, although about 90% visit their primary care providers on average 2–3 times per year. It is imperative that health professionals seek additional methods in the identification and treatment of depressive symptoms. This paper presents findings of the presence of clinically significant depressive symptoms in African American female adolescents receiving routine health care services within an adolescent primary care reproductive health clinic. Results revealed higher rates of depressive symptoms in this subsample of African American adolescent females when compared to the national sample, suggesting that primary care reproductive health clinics are a viable setting for the identification of depressive symptoms among low income, African American female adolescents. Psychosocial interventions and recommendations for the integration of primary care reproductive health, and behavioral health consultation services are presented.     

The Detection of Malingering in Criminal Forensic Groups: MMPI Validity Scales

Despite the value of the MMPI to the forensic assessment of malingering (exaggeration) of psychopathology, few studies have assessed the accuracy of the MMPI validity scales in criminal forensic populations. We administered the MMPI to 35 insanity defendants undergoing evaluation for fitness to stand trial and/or sanity at the time of the crime, who stood to benefit from being assessed as psychologically disturbed, and 39 subjects previously found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI), who did not stand to gain from such an assessment. Insanity defendants showed significantly more malingering than NGRI subjects, p < .05. Racial differences did not affect the data. These findings support the efficacy of MMPI validity scales in assessing malingering within criminal forensic groups, and support the generalizability of the scales across race.     

Implications of MMPI/MMPI--a findings for understanding adolescent development and psychopathology

The MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) and the MMPI-Adolescent (MMPI-A; Butcher et al., 1992) have been used in the evaluation of adolescents for over 60 years, resulting in over 200 studies involving tens of thousands of adolescents. This literature not only informs us concerning characteristics of this test instrument but also holds important implications for our understanding of adolescent development and psychopathology. In this article, based on an invited master lecture at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality Assessment, I present several points illustrating the relevance of MMPI and MMPI--A research in enriching our understanding of adolescence.     

Screening for Psychopathology in Groups of Black and White Prison Inmates by Means of the MMPI

Of 225 male offenders who were administered both the MMPI and a structured diagnostic interview, the Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview (PDI), 51 (25 blacks, 26 whites) earned highly elevated MMPI profiles (at least one clinical scale<T score of 90) and 46 (26 blacks, 20 whites) achieved profiles that were essentially within normal limits (all clinical scales < T score of 70). It was noted that the concordance between the MMPI and the total number of PDI syndromes reported by inmates was significantly greater in the white group (classification accuracy = 96%) relative to the black group (classification accuracy = 71%). However, both the black and white hit rates were found to significantly improved upon chance.     

Psychoeducational Assessment of Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups: Professional Implications

The authors address the consumer's need for more information by describing a framework for integrating test data when it applies to minority children and their families. Test bias has a long history; the progression to nonbiased assessment includes legal decisions and guidelines, further training and education for professionals who test, and greater awareness of issues for all consumers of test data.     

Original Adult MMPI Norms in Normal Samples: A Review With Implications for Future Developments

Among the most consistent criticisms of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) has been the adequacy of the standardly employed adult norms. Recent work at the Mayo Foundation has provided revised adult norms, and the Restandardization Project at the University of Minnesota Press will soon provide an additional norm set. This article reviews findings from 21 studies of normal adults, comparing obtained MMPI scale values to the standard norms. These comparisons indicate that the traditional adult norms may have contained detectable degrees of bias since their publication, and that consistent patterns of differences from standard MMPI norms can be found in independent studies published as early as 1949. Two separate considerations impact on the development of new adult norms: the research need for adult norms which accurately reflect the response patterns of the general population and the clinical need to evaluate individual psychiatric patients on norms that produce codetypes related to an empirical literature spanning more than 40 years. This study notes the inherent tension between these two purposes and discusses the implications of new adult MMPI norms for research and clinical practice.