A Resume of Some Make-A-Picture-Story (MAPS) Test Results

Summary: Two experiments were conducted to examine the determinants of affective guilt states, and to examine the interrelationships among one measure of dispositional guilt, and two measures of affective guilt. In study 1, women who were high in affective trait guilt had higher guilt states after being required to make sexual responses to sexual double-entendre words. In study 2, high affective trait guilt women had higher guilt states after being told they would be required to make sexual responses, but before they actually made any responses. The hypothesized relationship between a measure of dispositional guilt and a measure of affective state guilt was not found in either experiment.     

Use of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) with Adolescents

This study examined the utility of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) by comparing results obtained with a sample of 217 normal adolescents (M = 16.2 years) to the findings obtained in Cull and Gill's (1988 ) standardization effort. The present sample scored significantly higher than Cull and Gill's normative sample in SPS item, subscale, and total scores. In addition, the SPS generally failed to discriminate between the present, adolescent sample and Cull and Gill's inpatient psychiatric sample. Moreover, item-subscale correlations obtained for the present sample often differed from those reported by Cull and Gill, and factor analysis of SPS item scores failed to replicate Cull and Gill's four-factor solution. Findings suggest the need for caution when using the SPS to assess adolescent suicide potential and underscore the need for additional research regarding the instrument's efficacy in distinguishing between normal and suicidal adolescents.     

In-Home Treatment of Families with Seriously Disturbed Adolescents in Crisis

This article describes an innovative Adolescent In-Home Treatment Program that was designed as a hospital alternative for families with adolescents in serious crises. Using multiple-impact, in-home, and in-office techniques, a mental health team systemically intervenes with families to assist them in resolving this major developmental event. Since the program's inception, over 160 high-risk adolescents have completed the 90-day course of treatment. Preliminary data gathered from an early group of families and clinicians suggest the potential of significant improvements in family and adolescent functioning, and the attainment of clinical goals among the majority of families served.     

Developmental Patterns and Use of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test for Children and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

This study examined the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) by testing 129 children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) who were between 7 and 13 years of age. Developmental trends were examined across age groups using scores from the WCST. Several scales yielded developmental patterns, supported by statistically significant main effects for age. Additionally, multiple regression analyses were run examining the relationship of the WCST with other measures. The models yielded were in predicted directions. The results of this study support the clinical utility of the WCST in children and adolescents with LD.     

Motivation and Problem Solving (MAPS): Motivationally Based Skills Training for Treating Substance Use

Over 10 years ago, Baer and colleagues proposed the integration of skills training and motivational strategies for the treatment of substance abuse. Since that time, several studies evaluating the efficacy of such hybrid approaches have been published, but few have been efficacious. Motivation and Problem Solving (MAPS) is a comprehensive, dynamic, and holistic intervention that incorporates empirically supported cognitive behavioral and social cognitive theory–based treatment strategies within an overarching motivational framework, and has been demonstrated to be effective in a randomized clinical trial focused on the prevention of postpartum smoking relapse. MAPS was designed to be applicable to not only relapse prevention but also the cessation of substance use, and is relevant for individuals regardless of their motivation to change. MAPS views motivation as dynamically fluctuating from moment to moment throughout the behavior change process, and comprehensively addresses multiple issues important to the individual and relevant to change through the creation of a wellness program. As a result, we believe that MAPS enhances the likelihood that individuals will successfully achieve and maintain abstinence from substance use, and that its comprehensive focus on addressing diverse and salient issues enhances both engagement in treatment and its applicability in modifying other health risk behaviors. The current paper introduces MAPS, distinguishes it from other hybrid and stage-based substance use treatments, and provides detailed information and clinical text regarding how MAPS is specifically and uniquely implemented to address key mechanisms relevant to quitting smoking and maintaining abstinence.     

The Hand Test and Other Aggression Indicators in Emotionally Disturbed Children

The Hand Test is a projective technique yielding an Acting Out Score (AOS) which the test authors feel is useful as a predictor of aggressive, acting-out behavior. This study produced data regarding the stability of AOS, the relation of AOS to another projective device used to assess aggressive potential and the ability of AOS to predict teacher ratings of acting-out behavior among emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents. Results indicate that for this sample of Ss the AOS lacks stability as a measurement construct, does not correlate with another projective measure of aggressive potential and is not a useful predictor of acting-out behavior as rated by teachers of emotionally disturbed pre-adolescents.     

Suicide Attempt and Social Isolation on the MAPS Test*

ABSTRACT: Make-A-Picture Story Test protocols of 14 suicidal, 47 schizophrenic, and 49 normal male Caucasian subjects were evaluated for the presence and extent of social isolation. Social isolation was defined by the number of figures used and their social withdrawal implications. It was found that the suicide attempters used more figures than the other subjects and that there was no difference in the social withdrawal implications of the figures used by the suicidal and normal subjects. It was concluded that the social isolation of suicidal individuals manifests itself on the MAPS by increased compensatory fantasied interpersonal contacts.     

A Comparison of Clinical Manifestations of Hostility with Rorschach and MAPS Test Performances

Abstract

De Martino, Manfred F., (Ed.) Dreams and personality dynamics. Springfield, III.: Charles C. Thomas. 1959, pp. 377, $10.00. Reviewed by Sohan Lal Sharma

Ledwith, Nettie H. A Rorschach Study of Child Development. Pittsburgh, Pa: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press 1960 pp. lx-336. Reviewed by Mortimer M. Meyer

Nel, B. F., and Pelser, A. J. K. The South African Picture Analysis Test (SAPAT). Amsterdam: Swets &; Zeitlinger, 1960; pp. 74. Paper bound. Price with plates ca. $6.50. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

Orr, Miriam Le Test De Rorschach et L'Imago Maternelle. (The Rorschach and maternal imago.) Paris: Groupement Francais du Rorschach, 1958, pp. 104, paper bound, 500 fr. Reviewed by Mary Engel

Zulliger, H. The Behn-Rorschach Test. Hans Huber, Bern: 1956, 200 pp. Reviewed by Murray Levine     

Substance Use and Psychological Adjustment in Homeless Adolescents: A Test of Three Models

Three models of adolescent substance use, the deviance-prone, affect-regulation, and normative development models, were assessed regarding their ability to predict the substance use of a high-risk homeless adolescent sample with high rates of deviance, depression, and substance use. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses that included tests for curvilinear and gender interaction effects were performed. Results supported the deviance-prone model most strongly, with delinquency but not aggressive behavior predicting substance use. The affect-regulation model received support for females but not for males. With respect to the normative development model, results did not indicate that moderate substance users were better off than abstainers in terms of negative affect or interpersonal relationships.     

The Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS): Development and Psychometric Properties

The aim of the current study was to create a new measure of parenting practices, constituted by items from already established measures, to advance the measurement of parenting practices in clinical and research settings. Five stages were utilized to select optimal parenting items, establish a factor structure consisting of positive and negative dimensions of parenting, meaningfully consider child developmental stage, and ensure strong psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the final measure. A total of 1790 parents (44% fathers) were recruited online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for three cohorts: Stages 1 (N?=?611), 2 (N?=?615), and 3 (N?=?564). Each sample was equally divided by child developmental stage: Young childhood (3 to 7 years old), middle childhood (8 to 12 years old), and adolescence (13 to 17 years old). Through the five-stage empirical approach, the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) was developed, successfully achieving all aims. The MAPS factor structure included both positive and negative dimensions of warmth/hostility and behavioral control that were appropriate for parents of children across the developmental span. The MAPS demonstrated strong reliability and longitudinal analyses provided initial support for the validity of MAPS subscales.     

A Cross-Cultural Test of Social Structure and Social Learning: Alcohol Use among South Korean Adolescents

The main purpose of this study is to test the validity and cross-cultural generalizability of Akers’ Social Structure and Social Learning (SSSL) model of crime and deviance. The test is done with data on substance use behavior among adolescents in South Korea utilizing a sample of 1,021 high school students. The data are taken from (1) a self-report survey of 1,021 high school students in Busan, South Korea and (2) district (Gu) level census reports of Busan. We consider this a test of the full SSSL model because we have at least one measure of all of the four main explanatory concepts found in social learning theory (differential association, definition, differential reinforcement, and imitation) and of all four of the social structural components of SSSL (differential social organization, differential location in the social structure, theoretically defined structural causes of crime, and differential social location in groups). The principal hypothesis is that the effects of the measures of social structure on adolescent deviance (substance use) will be substantially mediated by the measures of the social learning variables. To test this hypothesis multi-level data are analyzed in several Hierarchal Linear Models. The social learning variables are found to substantially mediate the effects of social structural components on adolescents’ alcohol use. Therefore, the study provides additional evidence supportive of SSSL and evidence that it applies not only in the United States but also is generalizable to a non-Western society. The contributions, limitations, and implications of the study for future research are presented.     

Perceived Parental Attitudes and Family Concepts of Disturbed Adolescents,Normal Siblings and Normal Controls

This study tested the hypotheses that disturbed adolescents perceive lower parental attitudes (positive regard, empathic understanding, genuineness and unconditional regard) than are perceived by their normal siblings and normal controls; that normal siblings do not differ from normal controls on these variables; that levels of perceived attitudes are positively related to family concept measures of adjustment and satisfaction; and that attitudes perceived in one parent are positively associated with those perceived in the other. The hypotheses were substantially confirmed. In contrast to both normal groups, the disturbed adolescents failed to show positive relationships between maternal attitudes and the family concept measures and between perceived paternal and maternal attitudes.     

内隐联结测验(IAT)研究回顾与展望

Greenwald等人提出的内隐联结测验(Implicit Association Test,IAT),引起了心理学家的广泛关注,是当前心理学研究的热点之一。虽然IAT以其突出的优点被广泛应用,但由于它仅仅有五年的历史,所以还不够成熟,在程序、效度等方面有很多争议。本文对以前的有关研究成果进行了总结,并从IAT的程序、效度和变式三个方面进行了概括,展望了今后的研究方向。     

Slowing Down the Conversation: The Use of Letter Writing with Adolescents and Young Adults in Residential Settings

For some time therapeutic letter writing has been used to promote change within the client and family system. The use of specific letter writing assignments with an adolescent in residential care allows the therapist to work systemically on specific patterns of interaction within the family. This article describes letters writing techniques that provide opportunities for adolescents to be confronted with their behaviors, while also giving them space to accept responsibility and embrace the need to change. Methods are also outlined for holding parents accountable for their behaviors and helping them to change their approach to working with their child. Some possible outcomes from using such assignments include moving individuals and families through the stages of change, promoting a systemic view, slowing down the conversation, teaching communication skills, increasing nurturance, and repairing attachment injuries.     

Item Level Improvements for Use of the MMPI With Adolescents

The decision to develop a separate adolescent form of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (i.e., the MMPI-A) raised questions about continued use of 20 original items that seemed unnecessarily ambiguous in content when employed with younger students (Ss). The responses of 362 academically gifted boys, aged 14 to 17 years, from an urban Catholic high school were compared on the experimental 704-item Form TX of the MMPI and a form containing 20 rewritten and 9 control items. The psychometric properties of the rewritten items indicated the same or better performance than that on the original versions while improving the items' face validity and reducing item ambiguity. Responses from 321 Ss to a follow-up questionnaire suggested eliminating offensive or irrelevant items and reducing the test's length would increase acceptance of the MMPI-A.