Collectivism and rates of personal violence (suicide and homicide)

Homicide rates, but not suicide rates, were associated with an index of collectivism for the states of America in 1992.     

Cross-national social ecology of intelligence and suicide prevalence: integration, refinement, and update of studies

This study integrates, refines, and updates previous findings pertaining to positive ecologic (population-level) associations between intelligence and suicide prevalence across nations by using corrected and revised national IQ estimates and, further, a quality-of-human-conditions index, both recently published by Lynn and Vanhanen. Across a global 85-nation sample of sex-specific total suicide rates and a Eurasian 48-nation sample of sex-specific elderly suicide rates, these were positively associated with updated national IQ estimates. The associations were stronger for the general population than for elderly persons, independent of the quality of human conditions, and notedly stronger in exponential fitting of suicide rates with national IQ than in linear fitting, thereby indicating that shifts or differences in national IQ correspond to proportional, not absolute, changes in suicide rates. Implications of these findings and the question of generalizability of such associations to the individual level are discussed.     

Development, gender equality, and suicide rates

A component of the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index which measures longevity was negatively associated -.55 with suicide rates in 37 nations for men; the correlation with the suicide sex ratio was also negative (r = -.59). Women's access to social, political, and economic power in a subsample of 26 nations, summarized in the UNDP's Gender Empowerment Measure, was positively correlated with suicide rates (r = .36 for both women and men). UNDP measures of attainment in literacy and income showed no individual relationship with suicide rates. In a multiple regression model, life expectancy was negatively related, and the Gender-related Development index was positively related, to suicide rates.     

Models of acceleration and deceleration rates on a complex two-lane rural highway: Results from a nighttime driving experiment

This study aimed to model driver’ deceleration or acceleration rates on a complex two-lane rural highway when approaching or departing horizontal curves under nighttime driving conditions. The data used in the study were from a field experiment conducted in Pennsylvania. Research participant speeds were continuously tracked along the experimental roadway. The deceleration and acceleration rate models when approaching and departing horizontal curves were treated as a uni-directional recursive system to account for the effects of upstream rates on deceleration and acceleration rates. This system was estimated using seemingly unrelated regression with random effects to account for the contemporaneous correlation across the two equations. Research participants were included in the model as random effects while several geometric roadway design features along the experimental roadway were included as fixed effects in the model. The results indicate that the explanatory variables associated with deceleration or acceleration rates when approaching or departing horizontal curves in the present experiment included several geometric design variables, such as curve direction, curve radius, horizontal curve length, and a vertical curve index. The deceleration and acceleration rates approaching and departing horizontal curves along the complex, two-lane rural highway included in this study have a larger range than those in past research studies of two-lane rural highways.     

Values for comparison of WAIS-III index scores with overall means

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III; Wechsler, 1997b) provides factor-based index scores but allows only for pairwise comparison of these scores, producing inflated Type I error rates and reducing profile interpretability. This article provides tables for simultaneous comparison to the overall mean index score, thus reducing error rates and aiding interpretation. The Working Memory Index or Processing Speed Index can also be specifically compared when an individual is believed to have a condition, such as a learning disability or traumatic brain injury, associated with the selective depression of these indexes. Tables for the infrequency of specific differences are also provided, allowing the practitioner to note how unusual an obtained difference is in the general population.     

National character and rates of suicide and homicide

Hofstede's personality scores for workers in 50 nations were not associated with national homicide rates in 1980. Suicide rates were, however, negatively associated with power-distance scores.     

Moderators of the adaptiveness of self-enhancement: Operationalization, motivational domain, adjustment facet, and evaluator

The literature includes conflicting perspectives regarding the impact of self-enhancement on adjustment outcomes. To help sort out the disparities, we examined four potential moderators of the enhancement–adjustment association in 123 college students. First was the method of operationalizing self-enhancement, that is, social comparison (rating oneself more positively than one rates others) vs. criterion discrepancy (rating oneself more positively than one is rated by others). Second was the motivational domain of the operationalization—agentic vs. communal attributes. Third was the evaluator of adjustment—self-rating vs. peer ratings. Fourth was the facet of adjustment—personal adjustment (e.g., self-esteem, happiness) vs. interpersonal adjustment (e.g., harmonious social relations). With peer-rated adjustment as the criterion, the social comparison operationalization was associated with better adjustment whereas the discrepancy operationalization was associated with maladjustment. Both operationalizations of self-enhancement were positively associated with self-reported personal adjustment. When trait variance was partialed out, the social comparison index lost its predictive power, but the discrepancy index held up. Motivational domain and adjustment facet played significant but more complex roles in the enhancement–adjustment association. Our firmest conclusion is that the social comparison index is not an appropriate measure of self-enhancement.     

Repressive coping and cardiovascular reactivity to novel and recurrent stress

Background and objectives: Repressors tend to report less negative emotion and to describe challenges as less stressful, yet tend to exhibit higher rates of cardiovascular disease. While repressive coping has been shown to be associated with exaggerated physiological reactivity to novel stress, we sought to establish if elevated responses persisted across repeated exposure.

Design and methods: In a sample of 86 healthy female adults, a verbal-autonomic response dissociation index of repressive coping was computed. Participants were exposed to two consecutive stress tasks, with analyses based on comparisons of consecutive stress responses.

Results: Analysis of covariance demonstrated significant differences across the study on diastolic blood pressure and cardiac output, as a function of repressive coping. Repressors showed elevated reactions to both stress tasks; however, cardiac output responses to the second task were more muted indicating that repressive coping was associated with successful adaptation to recurrent stress. Nevertheless, repressive copers maintained an exaggerated cardiovascular responses to recurrent stress.

Conclusions: The present study identifies that repressive coping may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease development through elevated cardiovascular reactions to both novel and recurrent stress.     

The Associations Between Infant Homicide,Homicide, and Suicide Rates: An Analysis of World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control Statistics

Previous studies have found that rates of homicide of children aged under one (infant homicide) are associated with rates of suicide, but not with rates of homicide. Linear regression was used to examine associations among infant homicide, homicide, and suicide in samples of regions in the United States and other countries. Infant homicide rates were significantly and independently associated in all analyses with both total homicide and total suicide rates. The epidemiological evidence supports the clinical observation that infant homicides are due to a range of causes, including maternal mental illness, but are also related to the level of serious violence within a community.     

Interpersonal Dependency and Physical Illness: A Meta-Analytic Review of Retrospective and Prospective Studies

Meta-analysis of research on the dependency–illness relationship indicated that high levels of interpersonal dependency are associated with elevated rates of illness in retrospective studies (r= .31) and with increased risk for illness in prospective studies (r= .27). These effect sizes are larger than those obtained in most investigations of the personality–illness link involving other trait variables. The relationships of participant characteristics, illness category, dependency measure used, and illness index to observed dependency–illness effect sizes were also examined. Implications of these findings for theoretical models of the dependency–illness relationship are discussed, and possible mediating variables are considered.     

The association between body image and smoking cessation among individuals living with HIV/AIDS

Lower smoking cessation rates are associated with body image concerns in the general population. This relationship is particularly important to study in individuals living with HIV/AIDS due to alarmingly high smoking rates and considerable bodily changes experienced with HIV disease progression and treatment. The association between body image and smoking cessation rates was examined among individuals living with HIV/AIDS participating in a smoking cessation intervention. Body image concerns were significantly associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and social support, all variables known to affect cessation rates. However, reduced quit rates were found among individuals reporting elevated and low levels of body image concerns at the end of treatment. These findings suggest a unique relationship between smoking and body image among individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Further research is needed to examine these effects and whether moderate levels of body image concerns in this population reflect realistic body perceptions associated with positive mental health.     

Characteristics of Dieting and Nondieting Adolescents in a Psychiatric Inpatient Setting

  The clinical and psychosocial characteristics of 239 dieting and nondieting adolescents (61% female; mean age=15.3) recruited from an inpatient psychiatric setting were examined. Dieting adolescents were compared to nondieting adolescents on exercise frequency, weight control behaviors, risky behaviors, psychiatric comorbidity and distress, eating disorder symptomatology, smoking, coping, and family factors. While dieters did not statistically differ from nondieters on scores of body mass index, dieting youth reported greater levels of self-reported distress, poorer coping, greater eating disorder symptomatology, and were more likely to engage in extreme weight control behaviors. In addition, dieting was associated with higher rates of major depression (58% vs 34%) and eating disorders (14% vs 1%). Among adolescent smokers, dieters endorsed smoking as a weight control behavior. Engaging in risky behaviors or familial factors did not differentiate dieters from nondieters. Given the number of negative correlates associated with dieting in adolescents, identifying dieting and weight control behaviors in clinical settings may prove to be an effective strategy in the development of prevention and intervention efforts for youth.     

Multiple protective and risk factors for drug use and abuse: cross-sectional and prospective findings.

A conceptual elaboration was developed that incorporates many risk and protective factors, and both direct and moderating (buffering) influences on drug involvement were tested. From prospective data, 14 factors related to drug use were selected and assigned empirically to either a multiple protective index (PFI) or a risk factor index (RFI). Analyses examined the relationships of the RFI, PFI, and their interaction on measures of cigarette, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and hard drug use cross-sectionally in late adolescence and later in young adulthood. These same variables were used to predict alcohol, cannabis, and cocaine abuse 8 years later. Vulnerability as measured by the RFI, PFI, and their interaction was highly associated with drug use in adolescence, moderately associated with certain types of drug use in young adulthood, and strongly associated with heightened drug problems in adulthood.     

A state level investigation of the associations among intellectual capital, religiosity and reproductive health

The current study examines the degree to which state intellectual capital, state religiosity and reproductive health form a meaningful nexus of ecological relations. Though the specific magnitude of effects vary across outcomes, results from hierarchical regression analyses were consistent with the hypothesized path model indicating that a state's intellectual capital (as indicated by average state IQ and graduation rates at various levels) has a positive overall effect on state reproductive health statistics, whereas state religiosity generally has a negative impact. Specifically, both IQ and education were positively associated with breastfeeding rates, immunization rates, and rates of mammography screening, and negatively associated with teen fertility rates and infant mortality rates. Additionally, results confirm that education rates partially mediate the influence of IQ onto religiosity, and both education and religiosity partially or fully mediate the relation between IQ and state health (depending on specific outcome measure). The current results are consistent with a growing interdisciplinary literature establishing that individual, state and national well-being is substantially related to general mental ability and its covariates.     

Gun availability and use of guns for suicide, homicide, and murder in Canada

A reliability check of Lester's (2000b) 1970-1995 time series that examined associations between the availability of firearms and their use for homicide and suicide in Canada. For the period 1974 to 1999, the relative availability of firearms as measured by the rate of accidental death from firearms and the average of the percentages of suicides + homicides using firearms was positively associated with the rate of homicide by firearms but not negatively associated with the rate of homicide by all other methods, and positively associated with the rate of suicide by firearms and negatively associated with the rate of suicide by all other methods. Correlations for the homicide versus murder rates, homicide rate using guns versus murder rate using guns, and homicide rate by all other methods versus murder rate by all other methods were very similar. There was a decrease over time of total suicide and homicide rates and firearm suicide and homicide rates, and with a slight indication of substitution of other methods for suicide.     

Social-Cognitive and Behavioral Correlates of Aggression and Victimization in Boys' Play Groups

A contrived play group procedure was utilized to examine the behavioral and social-cognitive correlates of reactive aggression, proactive aggression, and victimization via peers. Eleven play groups, each of which consisted of six familiar African-American 8-year-old boys, met for 45-min sessions on five consecutive days. Social-cognitive interviews were conducted following the second and fourth sessions. Play group interactions were videotaped and examined by trained observers. High rates of proactive aggression were associated with positive outcome expectancies for aggression/assertion, frequent displays of assertive social behavior, and low rates of submissive behavior. Reactive aggression was associated with hostile attributional tendencies and frequent victimization by peers. Victimization was associated with submissive behavior, hostile attributional bias, reactive aggression, and negative outcome expectations for aggression/assertion. These results demonstrate that there is a theoretically coherent and empirically distinct set of correlates associated with each of the examined aggression subtypes, and with victimization by peers.     

分类视角下认知诊断测验项目区分度指标及应用

在认知诊断中还没有指标能在无作答数据情况下直接评价项目的属性分类准确率或属性判准率。项目水平上的属性分类准确率,与项目属性向量、项目参数、先验分布和作答反应等有关。综合各个影响因素定义了项目水平上的属性期望分类准确率指标,并将其用于组卷。模拟研究显示：新指标可十分准确地评价项目的属性判准率,新指标对于项目筛选十分重要;以模式分类准确率为评价指标,基于新指标的组卷方法与经典的组卷方法表现相当。     

Free-operant compounding of variable-interval and low-rate discriminative stimuli

Four rats were trained on a schedule containing stimuli associated with variable-interval 30-sec and differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 20-sec schedules of reinforcement. Subsequently, a stimulus compounding test was administered that included individual presentations of two intensities of each stimulus plus compounds of these stimuli. In training, extremely high rates were emitted to the variable-interval stimulus, and very low rates to the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate stimulus. Compounding the two training stimuli always produced an overall response rate intermediate between the rates controlled by the two stimuli separately presented. Essentially the same relationship held with different stimulus intensities. These results resolve the confounding of response and reinforcement variables present in previous conditioning studies reporting response averaging. They are discussed in terms of the incompatibility of the response chains associated with the individual stimuli compounded.     

Adjustment of Siblings of Children with Mental Health Problems: Behaviour, Self-Concept, Quality of Life and Family Functioning

This study examined the adjustment of siblings of children with mental health problems. The participants had brothers or sisters receiving treatment at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service within the Hunter New England Health Service, New South Wales, Australia. Seventy-five siblings completed questionnaires on their self-concept, quality of life and family functioning. Their carers completed questionnaires on the sibling’s behaviours, family demographics and family functioning. The diagnosis and severity of disability of index children were attained from the treating clinician. The study revealed the siblings had significantly higher rates of psychopathology, poorer quality of life and lived in more dysfunctional families than normally developing children. Regression modelling predicted variables related to the three main behaviour scales of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Family functioning, family communication and the extreme ends of family cohesion and balance, were the most significant contributors to regression model. The sibling self-concept domains of global self-worth, athletic competence and behavioural conduct, contributed to the model. Additionally, a smaller family size was associated with more internalising behaviour disorders in the siblings. The diagnosis and severity of mental health problem of the index child and other family demographic factors did not impact on the sibling’s behavioural functioning. This study highlights that siblings of children with mental health difficulties are a group vulnerable to adjustment difficulties regardless of the index child’s diagnosis or the severity of impairment. Overall, family functioning had a greater impact on the siblings than other factors.