Rebuilding the tower of Babel: a revised nomenclature for the study of suicide and suicidal behaviors. Part 1: Background, rationale, and methodology

Since the publication of the O'Carroll et al. (1996) nomenclature for suicidology, there have been a number of published letters and articles, as well as an active e‐mail dialogue, in response to, and elaborating upon, this effort to establish a standard nomenclature for suicidology. This new nomenclature has been presented on a number of occasions at both national and international meetings. In this paper we provide the background, rationale, and methodology involved in the process of revising the O'Carroll et al. nomenclature, based on the feedback and discussions that have ensued over the past 10 years. Those who have written and studied the phenomenon of suicide have not defined the term so simply … how the word is defined has implications and large effects for statistics that are compiled on the official number of suicides, and for researchers, so that there is clear communication regarding what and who is being studied. Among writers in the field of suicidology there is no single common accepted definition … the term suicide refers not to a single action but more broadly to a great many varied behaviors. For example, one can speak of suicidal thoughts, intentions, ideation, gestures, attempts, completions, equivalents. Thus far, no single term, definition, or taxonomy has served to sufficiently represent the complex set of behaviors that have been suggested as suicidal. A standard set of terms and definitions are greatly needed to advance the science of suicidology and aid communication and understanding of the field. McIntosh (1985 , pp. 18–19)     

Assessment of Suicidal Youth in the Emergency Department

Accurate evaluation of suicidal adolescents in the emergency department (ED) is critical for safety and linkage to follow‐up care. We examined self‐reports of 181 adolescents who presented to an ED with suicidal ideation (SI) or a suicide attempt (SA). Parents also completed self‐reports. Results showed fair agreement between parents and youth on the reason for the ED visit (e.g., SI vs. SA) and greater agreement between independent judges and youths than between judges and parents. In accordance with accepted definitions of suicide attempts (e.g., Crosby, Ortega, & Melanson, 2011; O'Carroll, Berman, Maris, Moscicki, Tanney, & Silverman, 1996, p. 237; Posner, Oquendo, Gould, Stanley, & Davies, 2007, p. 1035; Silverman, Berman, Sanddal, O'Carroll, & Joiner, 2007, p. 248), most youth with SA as the reason for the ED visit reported some intent to die associated with the attempt. Finally, youth presenting to the ED with SA did not differ clinically from youth presenting with SI, and almost half of youths with SI reported past suicide attempts. These results highlight the need to emphasize adolescents' reports in clinical decision making, suggest adolescents' defined suicide attempts similarly to published definitions, and show that assessment of past SAs, as well as present suicidal thoughts and behaviors, is critical in determining future risk.     

Help‐Seeking and Counseling Within a Traditional Male Gender Role: An Examination From a Multicultural Perspective

A traditional male gender role reflects an affirmation of masculine identity associated with such qualities as success and self‐reliance. This gender role is examined from a diversity perspective in counseling, because it may affect many men's help‐seeking attitudes and behaviors. Suggestions from the literature are reviewed from the standpoint of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies (P. Arredondo et al., 1996). The counseling profession would benefit from greater sensitivity in aiding men endorsing this role.     

Paternity,Enframing, and a New Revealing: O'Brien's Philosophy of Reproduction and Heidegger's Critique of Technology

This article seeks to demonstrate the importance of the philosophical work of Mary O'Brien. It does so by showing how O'Brien's work counters Heidegger's strict differentiation between the ancient Greek metaphysics of presence and modern technological thinking. O'Brien's ideas indicate two critical lacunae in Heidegger's interpretation of the ancient Greeks: the latter's attempt to secure paternity and their overlooking of birth as a form of unconcealment. According to O'Brien, the way in which we understand and experience human reproduction influences both our sense of self and our sense of continuity. According to Heidegger, the way in which things are brought forth or unconcealed is fundamental to our being‐in‐the‐world. Neither O'Brien nor Heidegger lived to see the current advancements in reproductive technology, but both would consider them significant and meaningful beyond their social, political, and even ethical implications. Furthermore, recent reproductive technology draws attention to birth as revealing—although as increasingly Enframed. Rapid changes in reproduction may reveal Enframing as Enframing, and also show that technology is not something that we can simply master. But for this to occur, we must take into account the radical critique and rethinking of Heidegger's philosophy implied by O'Brien's thought.     

No Other Life: death and Catholicism in the novels of Brian Moore

There is a critical consensus (Dahlie, 1969, 1981; Flood, 1974; O'Donoghue, 1990; Sullivan, 1996) that one theme predominates in Brian Moore's fiction: the literary portrayal of Roman Catholicism. Yet over the past five decades, Moore's attitude to Catholicism, now more ambivalent than openly antagonistic, has changed and developed just as Roman Catholicism, especially post‐Vatican II, has changed and developed. Refining such a literary consensus, this article argues that the literary examination of a metaphysics and theology of death has been central to Moore's portrayal of Catholicism. A critical examination will be provided here of the portrayal of death in a representative sample of Brian Moore's novels before a more detailed focus upon the novel from which this article takes its main title, No Other Life (1993). By way of open conclusion, literary case study will be highlighted as a means of engaging in that interdisciplinary realm where literature and theology examine similar themes. In particular, such interdisciplinary research will be contextualised as part of an international literary‐theological programme from which one volume has arisen and which the present author is currently editing (Gearon, forthcoming).     

Stigma,Expressed Emotion,and Quality of Life in Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia

Expressed emotion (EE) is a measure of a caregiver's critical and emotionally overinvolved (EOI; e.g., intrusive, self‐sacrificing) attitudes and behaviors toward a person with a mental illness. Mounting evidence indicates that high levels of these critical and EOI attitudes and behaviors (collectively termed high EE) in family members are associated with a poorer course of illness for people with a range of disorders, including dementia (Nomura et al., 2005). However, less is known about factors that might trigger high EE and how high EE might impact dementia caregivers’ own mental health. In this study we propose that caregivers who perceive stigma from their relative's illness may be more likely to be critical or intrusive (high EOI) toward their relative in an attempt to control symptomatic behaviors. We further hypothesized that high EE would partially mediate the link between stigma and quality of life (QoL) as there is some evidence that high EE is associated with poorer mental health in caregivers themselves (Safavi et al., 2015). In line with study hypotheses and using a sample of 106 dementia caregivers, we found that greater caregiver stigma was associated with both high EE (for criticism and EOI) and with poorer QoL. Mediational analyses further confirmed that high EE accounts for much of the association between stigma and poorer QoL. Study results suggest that addressing caregiver stigma in therapy could reduce levels of high EE and indirectly therefore improve caregiver QoL. Intervening directly to reduce high EE could also improve caregiver QoL.     

Kantian Constructivism,the Issue of Scope,and Perfectionism: O'Neill on Ethical Standing

Abstract: Kantian constructivists accord a constitutive, justificatory role to the issue of scope: they typically claim that first‐order practical thought depends for its authority on being suitably acceptable within the right scope, or by all relevant others, and some Kantian constructivists, notably Onora O'Neill, hold that our views of the nature and criteria of practical reasoning also depend for their authority on being suitably acceptable within the right scope. The paper considers whether O'Neill‐type Kantian constructivism can coherently accord this key role to the issue of scope while adhering to the universalist, ‘cosmopolitan’ commitments at its core. The paper argues that this is not so. On the one hand, it shows that O'Neill's attempt to ‘fix’ the scope of practical reasoning supposes, rather than establishes, a view of ethical standing and the scope of practical reasoning. On the other hand, the paper argues that Kantian constructivism should endorse a non‐constructivist, perfectionist view of the good to determine that scope. The paper thereby supports the perfectionist conjecture that Kantian constructivism, in order to defend its universalist commitments, should take refuge in non‐constructivist, perfectionist considerations, and that Kantian constructivism should therefore construe perfectionism as a partial, though uneasy, ally.     

Percentile Norms and Accompanying Interval Estimates from an Australian General Adult Population Sample for Self‐Report Mood Scales (BAI,BDI, CRSD,CES‐D,DASS, DASS‐21, STAI‐X,STAI‐Y,SRDS, and SRAS)

Despite their widespread use, many self‐report mood scales have very limited normative data. To rectify this, Crawford et al. have recently provided percentile norms for a series of self‐report scales. The present study aimed to extend the work of Crawford et al. by providing percentile norms for additional mood scales based on samples drawn from the general Australian adult population. Participants completed a series of self‐report mood scales. The resultant normative data were incorporated into a computer programme that provides point and interval estimates of the percentile ranks corresponding to raw scores for each of the scales. The programme can be used to obtain point and interval estimates of the percentile ranks of an individual's raw scores on the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Carroll Rating Scale for Depression, the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Rating Scale for Depression, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS), the short‐form version of the DASS (DASS‐21), the Self‐rating Scale for Anxiety, the Self‐rating Scale for Depression, the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), form X, and the STAI, form Y, based on normative sample sizes ranging from 497 to 769. The interval estimates can be obtained using either classical or Bayesian methods as preferred. The programme (which can be downloaded at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~psy086/dept/MoodScore_Aus.htm ) provides a convenient and reliable means of obtaining the percentile ranks of individuals' raw scores on self‐report mood scales.     

Work,marriage, and health behaviors of African American working couples

Using a sample of 379 African American working husbands and wives, this study examined a unique link between work and marital experiences on health‐promoting behaviors. Results of the dyadic model show that husbands' and wives' control over work are directly associated with husbands' and wives' health‐promoting behaviors, respectively, after taking into account the dependencies between husbands and wives. The results of the dyadic model also show that husbands' and wives' control over work are indirectly associated with husbands' and wives' health behaviors through their perceived marital integrations. By understanding how work control and marital integration combine to influence both husbands' and wives' health behaviors, programs that promote healthy behaviors can be better designed and more effectively implemented.     

How Master of Divinity Education Changes Students: A Research‐Based Model

To increase understanding of how Master of Divinity education actually functions and to respond to accreditors' emphasis on the outcomes of learning, this paper presents a research‐based model that focuses on how M.Div. education transforms students. The students‐in‐seminary model is conceptually undergirded by life course theory. In the model, students attending seminary engage in a messy process in which they respond to competing demands of school, church, and family. The author compares the students‐in‐seminary model with the dominant message model for theological education articulated by Carroll et al. (1997 ) and argues that the students‐in‐seminary model more adequately describes the process of theological education. The author calls for further research to study how seminaries promote key messages to their students, the plasticity of students' sense of calling, the impact of church requirements on M.Div. students, and the complexity of life for multiple‐role students.     

CHC theory and the human cognitive abilities project: Standing on the shoulders of the giants of psychometric intelligence research

During the past decade the Cattell–Horn Gf–Gc and Carroll Three-Stratum models have emerged as the consensus psychometric-based models for understanding the structure of human intelligence. Although the two models differ in a number of ways, the strong correspondence between the two models has resulted in the increased use of a broad umbrella term for a synthesis of the two models (Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory of cognitive abilities—CHC theory).The purpose of this editorial is three-fold. First, I will describe the CHC framework and recommend that intelligence researchers begin using the CHC taxonomy as a common nomenclature for describing research findings and a theoretical framework from which to test hypotheses regarding various aspects of human cognitive abilities. Second, I argue that the emergence of the CHC framework should not be viewed as the capstone to the psychometric era of factor analytic research. Rather, I recommend the CHC framework serve as the stepping stone to reinvigorate the investigation of the structure of human intelligence.Finally, the Woodcock-Muñoz Foundation Human Cognitive Abilities (HCA) project, which is an evolving, free, on-line electronic archive of the majority of datasets analyzed in Carroll's (1993) seminal treatise on factor analysis of human cognitive abilities, is introduced and described. Intelligence scholars are urged to access the Carroll HCA datasets to test and evaluate structural models of human intelligence with contemporary methods (confirmatory factor analysis). In addition, suggestions are offered for linking the analysis of contemporary data sets with the seminal work of Carroll. The emergence of a consensus CHC taxonomy and access to the original datasets analyzed by Carroll provides an unprecedented opportunity to extend and refine our understanding of human intelligence.     

The language of suicidology

This 2005 Louis I. Dublin Award Address explores some of the basic difficulties and controversies inherent in the development and universal acceptance of a nomenclature for suicidology. Highlighted are some of the unresolved challenges with agreeing upon a mutually exclusive set of terms to describe suicidal thoughts, intentions, motivations, and self-destructive behaviors.     

A Kantian Hybrid Theory of Art Criticism: A Particularist Appeal to the Generalists

Noël Carroll proposes a generalist theory of art criticism, which essentially involves evaluations of artworks on the basis of their success value, at the cost of rendering evaluations of reception value irrelevant to criticism. In this article, I argue for a hybrid account of art criticism, which incorporates Carroll's objective model but puts Carroll‐type evaluations in the service of evaluations of reception value. I argue that this hybrid model is supported by Kant's theory of taste. Hence, I not only present an alternative theory of metacriticism, which has the merit of reinstating the centrality of reception value in art critics’ evaluations, but also show that, contrary to a common conception, Kant's aesthetic theory can house a fruitful account of art criticism. The benefit of this hybrid account is that, despite being essentially particularist, it should be appealing even to generalists, including Carroll.     

Seeing is a verb

This commentary on ‘The interaction of attention and action: From seeing action to acting on perception’ by Humphreys et al. (2010) considers selection‐for‐action in relation to the role of parietal cortex corollary discharge in the ‘mastery of sensori‐motor contingencies’ that O'Regan and Noe (2001) suggest gives rise to visual awareness.     

Gender behaviors as predictors of peer acceptance and victimization

Children's peer relationships are important to their socioemotional and cognitive development; thus, understanding the determinants of such relationships is of ongoing interest. It was hypothesized that gender behaviors and affiliations would predict peer acceptance and victimization. Path analyses using data from 192 fourth graders showed that for both genders, engaging in feminine activities predicted less peer‐reported acceptance and greater victimization, and engaging in masculine activities predicted greater peer acceptance. Affiliating with male peers was associated with greater peer‐reported acceptance for both genders, and greater self‐reported peer acceptance for boys. Indirect effects showed that the link between gender behaviors and victimization is mediated by peer acceptance. These findings support the contention that gender behaviors relate to the quality of children's relationships.     

The Carroll Scale for Depression--the German version and validation

The Carroll Rating Scale for Depression, first published by Carroll et al. in 1981, has been translated into German. 28 out-patients and a control-group of 28 normals were submitted to the CRS and, for purposes of validation, to the BECK scale and the diagram HARD. The Carroll Rating Scale is directly based on the Hamilton Rating Scale, but, in contrast, it represents a self rating that should be useful for longitudinal studies.     

Maintaining nonvoluntary relationships with disliked partners: an investigation into the use of distancing behaviors

Theory in interpersonal communication usually assumes that people maintain their relationships voluntarily and that they like their relational partners. Neither assumption is necessarily correct. This research examines nonvoluntary relationship with disliked partners (NR/Ds). Heider's balance theory predicts that when people dislike their relational partners they will feel discomfort. It was hypothesized that people would try to attenuate this discomfort by increasing psychological distance between themselves and their disliked partners. Participants (n = 185 in Study 1, n = 158 in Study 2) responded to questionnaires about their maintenance of voluntary and nonvoluntary relationships with liked and disliked partners. The results showed that people use distance to attenuate the discomfort created by an NR/D. Thirty‐six distancing behaviors were found through content analysis. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, these behaviors were grouped into clusters that suggested 3 basic profiles of regulating distance in NR/Ds ‐ expressing detachment, avoiding involvement, and showing antagonism.     

Perceptual similarity in autism

People with autism have consistently been found to outperform controls on visuo-spatial tasks such as block design, embedded figures, and visual search tasks. Plaisted, O'Riordan, and others (Bonnel et al., 2003; O'Riordan & Plaisted, 2001; O'Riordan, Plaisted, Driver, & Baron-Cohen, 2001; Plaisted, O'Riordan, & Baron-Cohen, 1998a, 1998b) have suggested that these findings might be explained in terms of reduced perceptual similarity in autism, and that reduced perceptual similarity could also account for the difficulties that people with autism have in making generalizations to novel situations. In this study, high-functioning adults with autism and ability-matched controls performed a low-level categorization task designed to examine perceptual similarity. Results were analysed using standard statistical techniques and modelled using a quantitative model of categorization. This analysis revealed that participants with autism required reliably longer to learn the category structure than did the control group but, contrary to the predictions of the reduced perceptual similarity hypothesis, no evidence was found of more accurate performance by the participants with autism during the generalization stage. Our results suggest that when all participants are attending to the same attributes of an object in the visual domain, people with autism will not display signs of enhanced perceptual similarity.     

Reducing cognitive complexity in a hypothetico-deductive reasoning task

The confusion/non-consequential thinking explanation proposed by Newstead, Girotto, and Legrenzi (1995) for poor performance on Wason's THOG problem (a hypothetico-deductive reasoning task) was examined in three experiments with 300 participants. In general, as the cognitive complexity of the problem and the possibility of non-consequential thinking were reduced, correct performance increased. Significant but weak facilitation (33-40% correct) was found in Experiment 1 for THOG classification instructions that did not include the indeterminate response option. Substantial facilitation (up to 75% correct) was obtained in Experiment 2 with O'Brien et al.'s (1990) one-other-THOG classification instruction. In Experiment 3, a revised version of O'Brien et al.'s pre-test problem format also led to substantial facilitation, even with the use of the standard three-choice THOG classification instruction. These findings are discussed in terms of Newstead et al.'s theoretical proposal and possible attentional factors.