Profiles of psychological well‐being in a sample of Australian university students

The present study identified psychological well‐being profiles in a sample of Australian university students (N = 207, Mean age = 30.16 years; SD = 11.90). Respondents completed two measures: Ryff's (1989) Psychological Well‐Being (PWB) scale and Lovibond and Lovibond's (2002) Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales‐21 (DASS‐21) assessing their levels of PWB and depression. Latent profile analysis was applied to six indices of positive functioning derived from PWB scale: self‐acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery, positive relations with others, personal growth and autonomy. An optimal 5‐profile solution, reflecting significant incremental shifts from very low to very high PWB, was interpreted. As predicted, profile membership distinguished participants on depression. Importantly, profiles indicating moderate to very high PWB, particularly with the presence of above average autonomy, reported significantly lower levels of depression. Our results suggest prevention of, and treatment efficacy for, mental health problems may be improved by incorporating strategies that address positive functioning attributes, particularly associated with a sense of autonomy.     

Reliability and validity of the self‐perception profile for adolescents: An Australian sample

In this study, we explored the psychometric properties and factorial validity of Harter's Self‐Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA) with an Australian sample drawn from the Raine study 14‐year follow‐up. Participants, boys (n = 795) and girls (n = 758) from Grades 8, 9, and 10, completed the SPPA. Cronbach's alpha showed good internal reliabilities for seven of the eight subscales and global self‐worth. Boys had significantly higher athletic (p < .001), physical appearance (p < .001), and romantic (p < .05) self‐perceptions, while the girls perceived significantly higher behavioural conduct (p < .001) and close friendships (p < .001). Exploratory factor analysis yielded similar factors to those reported by Harter with North American adolescents, although cross loadings resulted in one additional factor. Our findings generally supported Harter's conceptualisation of the self as a multidimensional construct, and with minor modifications, the use of the SPPA with Australian adolescents.     

The contribution of anxiety and depression to fatigue among a sample of Australian university students: suggestions for university counsellors

Responses to the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS: Zung, W. (1971). A rating instrument for anxiety disorders. Psychosomatics, 12, 371–379), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS: Zung, W. (1973). From art to science: The diagnosis and treatment of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 29, 328–337) and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) developed by Krupp and colleagues (Krupp, L.B., LaRocca, N.G., Muir-Nash, J., & Steinberg, A.D. (1989). The fatigue severity scale: Application to patients with multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Archives of Neurology, 46, 1121–1123) were collected from 200 Australian university students to explore the links between these three disorders. Reliability data were satisfactory for all three scales and there were no significant gender or age-related differences between total scale scores. Factor analyses revealed a 5-factor solution for the SAS, a 6-factor solution for the SDS and a single factor for the FSS. There were 8 major and meaningful correlations found and these were entered into a regression of the SAS and SDS factor scores upon the single factor of the FSS. Fatigue factor scores were most powerfully predicted by psychomotor agitation, pain and resultant fatigue and cognitive and emotional arousal factor scores from the SAS and SDS. These data argue for an arousal/anxiety-fatigue-depression progression in disease that may be developmental or accumulative, with extreme levels of psychomotor arousal, resultant muscle fatigue and pain, plus concurrent elevated emotional state and cognitive arousal contributing to an eventual depletion of physical resources, leaving the individual in extreme fatigue. Implications for diagnosis and treatment by counsellors are discussed.     

Scores for schizotypy and five-factor model of a sample of distant healers: a preliminary study

A preliminary study was conducted to evaluate the personality scores of 18 distant healers on the NEO-Five Factor Inventory and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief. These distant healers differed significantly in their schizotypic tendencies, both in comparison to normed scores and to a control group of 19 masseurs. Further differences were found on scales of Conscientiousness and Openness to experience.     

Vocal frequency and person perception: Effects of perceptual salience and nonverbal sensitivity

Previous research has demonstrated that changes in vocal frequency (pitch) influence judgments made about a speaker, although there is some question as to the relative importance of frequency to message content in person perception. Moreover, these studies have failed to examine the possible joint effect of frequency and individual differences in nonverbal sensitivity on person perception. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the independent and joint effects of vocal frequency, perceptual salience, and nonverbal sensitivity (assessed by the Profile of Nonverbal Sensitivity) on person perception. Participants were assigned to one of nine experimental conditions and were asked to rate two male and two female speakers on seven unipolar adjective scales. The nine conditions were produced by factorially combining three levels each of salience (content, voice, control) and vocal frequency (decreased, increased, unmanipulated). The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that variations in frequency did influence evaluative judgments of the speakers (competent, honest, persuasive), but that the magnitude of the influence varied as a function of the participants' levels of nonverbal sensitivity. The analyses, however, yielded no significant effects for participants' affective judgments, nor any significant effects involving perceptual salience.     

WASI profile variability in a sample of psychiatric inpatients

This study examined the variability of Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence profiles using the subtest range and profile variability index in a sample of 70 psychiatric inpatients. The subtest range and profile variability index were correlated .93 (p<.001), indicating that either measure may be used to assess profile variance. Comparison of profile variability on this abbreviated scale with other Wechsler intelligence scales in similar populations suggests that variability measures are not comparable across the tests.     

The growing field of nonverbal behaviour: A review of twelve books on nonverbal behaviour and nonverbal communication

This book review covers two monographs and ten edited books, mostly psychological in orientation and centered on current research questions about nonverbal behaviour or nonverbal communication. The edited books comprised 213 contributors. In each case, the reader is informed about the origin of the book, its main emphasis, the kind of topics covered, the nature of the material presented (whether theoretical discussions, reviews of research, research reports…), its general interest, and the type of readers who would mostly benefit of it. The material has been organized into five classes: Books of readings, introductory books, books on methods, specific dimensions, and specific topics.     

Learning social attitudes: children's sensitivity to the nonverbal behaviors of adult models during interracial interactions

White children show marked ingroup race preferences and a relative devaluation of Black people. The origin of these early interracial attitudes is to a large extent still unclear. The studies here test the possibility that preschool-aged children are particularly sensitive to the nonverbal behaviors performed by White adults during interracial interactions. In Study 1, children were shown a video displaying an interaction between a White and a Black adult. Across conditions, the White adult's verbal behaviors were either friendly or neutral, whereas his nonverbal behaviors showed either easiness (e.g., closeness, high eye contact) or uneasiness (e.g., distance, avoidance of eye contact). Results revealed that participants shaped their attitudes toward the Black target accordingly, independently from the White adults' verbal behaviors. Study 2 replicated the basic findings and demonstrated that the observed effects generalized to other Black targets. Results are discussed in relation to current approaches to understanding the formation of racial attitudes among children.     

Scores on the eysenck personality questionnaire for a sample of children and adolescents receiving psychological treatment in Puerto Rico

Personality questionnaire scores obtained by children and adolescents (n = 28) receiving psychological treatment at a health facility in Humacao, Puerto Rico were examined. The scores were compared with those of regular school children of the same age, of Gurabo, Puerto Rico, who were not in treatment (n = 30). The children in treatment obtained higher scores on Psychoticism, lower scores on Extraversion, and similar scores on Neuroticism and Dissimulation by comparison with regular students.     

School Anxiety Inventory: validation in a sample of Spanish secondary education students

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric evidence of scores on the School Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The SAI was administered to a sample of 520 secondary education students, aged from 12 to 18 years. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the correlated four-factor structure related to school situations (Anxiety about Academic Failure and Punishment, Anxiety about Aggression, Anxiety about Social Evaluation, and Anxiety about Academic Evaluation) and the three-factor structure related to the response systems of anxiety (Cognitive Anxiety, Psychophysiological Anxiety, and Behavioral Anxiety). Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were appropriate. The results also revealed positive and statistically significant correlations between the SAI and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).     

Animal fears in the Antipodes: normative data from an Australian sample

The present study investigated reported fear of snakes, spiders and mutilation in an Australian sample ( N =235). Standardized questionnaires were used, and scores from the Australian sample were compared with those obtained by other authors from North American and Swedish samples. The psychometric characteristics of test scores from the Australian sample were similar to those from the North American and Swedish samples. Although there were no differences in reported fear of snakes between the three samples, both the Australian and North American samples reported greater fear of spiders than did the Swedish sample. Females scored higher on all scales than did males, and Australian and North American females reported greater fear of mutilation than did Swedish females. Test-retest reliability in a non-clinical Australian subsample ( n =48) was low for all scales. The results are discussed in terms of the adaptation/habituation hypothesis and the preparedness account of the acquisition of fear.     

Television and aggression: a test of a mediated model with a sample of Portuguese students

We examined the role of identification with violent TV heroes, enjoyment of TV violence, and perceived reality in TV violence as mediators of the relationship between viewing TV violence and subsequent physical and verbal aggression. A sample of 722 4th, 6th, and 8th grade students from schools in the central region of Portugal completed measures assessing enjoyment of TV violence, perceived reality, aggression, identification with violent TV heroes, and exposure to TV violence. The results showed that the relationship between TV violence and physical aggression is mediated by enjoyment of TV violence, perceived reality in TV violence, and identification with violent TV heroes. The TV violence to verbal aggression relationship was also mediated by enjoyment of TV violence.     

Mental health of medical students: a cross-sectional study in Tehran

Medical students are subject to stress from sources related to medical training in addition to personal problems, resulting in significant mental distress. This study evaluates the scope of the problem in Tehran medical schools and sheds light on some of its associations. Students (604) of medicine from four medical schools in the city of Tehran responded to the Persian version of 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) in conjunction with a data collection sheet asking about age, sex, marital status, current training level, living place, grade point average in previous semester, and perceptions of their financial status. Of 602 students, 40.7% had mental distress (45.7% of female and 36.7% of male students). Distress was associated with being a woman (female to male odds ratio: 1.55) and very poor financial status (OR: 18.0).     

Electrodermal indices in a selected prison sample and students

Electrodermal indices relevant to Eysenck's (1970) theory of criminology and subsequent modifications of this theory were compared in a prison sample selected for ‘good’ home backgrounds and a student sample. A previously developed differential electrodermal conditioning paradigm of social learning was administered to both samples.Selected prisoners displayed significantly less evidence of differential responding throughout the extinction phase (p < 0.01), significantly longer half time recovery (p < 0.01) and significantly less stimulus specific responding in extinction (p < 0.01). Spontaneous fluctuations did not differentiate the samples.Results are discussed with reference to personality measures taken concurrently and it is suggested that significant differences between the samples are comparable to previously reported differences between primary psychopaths and non-psychopaths.     

High risk behaviors in a sample of Mexican-American college students

This study explored different types of high risk behaviors of Mexican-American college students attending a small university in south Texas. High risk behaviors for contracting HIV/AIDS examined in this study included unprotected sex, drug use, and alcohol abuse. In 1995 in the United States, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in people between the ages of 25 and 44. Because use of alcohol and certain recreational drugs lowers inhibitions, their use could increase the possibility of having unprotected and unplanned sex with multiple partners. Thus, it was expected that Mexican-American college students who use drugs and alcohol would be more likely to engage in unprotected sex. Data were from 105 men and 211 women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Drug use and alcohol abuse were significantly associated with high risk sexual behavior. Individuals in monogamous relationships were more likely to not use condoms than those involved in casual relationships. Self-reported religiosity was not correlated with high risk behaviors, although there were implications that stronger religious affiliation did alter sexual beliefs and practices. Lastly, parental communication was not significantly associated with high risk behaviors, but family unity did seem related to some risky sexual practices.     

Psychometric properties of the Spanish Beck Depression Inventory-II in a medical sample

The authors examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) in a sample of individuals undergoing hemodialysis. They performed a confirmatory factor analysis of a previously reported 2-factor solution for the English BDI-II derived from a medical sample. Results indicate that the established model for the English-speaking medical sample provided adequate fit in the present sample. Spanish BDI-II scores were not significantly associated with age or gender in their sample, but they were significantly associated with disease severity. Bilingual participants completed the inventory in both Spanish and English, and their data revealed that BDI-II total scores were similar across language administration. The preliminary data suggest that the Spanish BDI-II can be reliably used in medical samples.