Mentally ill foragers and beggars in a peasant society: Their social networks and psychopathology

In this study of psychotic persons in a peasant society, there was a significant attrition in important social network structure after the onset of psychosis. The difficulties involved in providing non-reciprocal social support is noted, yet modest social support of functions may be critical.This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant Number 1 R01 MH34322-01). Acknowledgement is expressed to Dr. Phim and Mr. Phimpha for their assistance with data collection, and to Dr. Robert Zimmerman and Ms. Beth Stone for their assistance with data tabulation and analysis.     

Family functioning and psychopathology among adolescents with severe emotional disturbances

Family psychosocial functioning and its relation to psychopathology among adolescents with severe emotional disturbances (SED) was assessed. Subjects were 353 adolescents with SED, ages 12–18, and their parents. During a semistructured interview, adolescents were administered Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-III), Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-Child Version (DISC-C), and the Self-Derogation Scale. Parents were administered FACES-IIII and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in a phone interview. Results indicated that on the FACES-IIII cohesion dimension, both parents and adolescents perceived their family relations as more disengaged and less connected than did normative families (p < .001). In contrast, only parent FACES-IIII adaptability scores were significantly more extreme than a normative sample (p < .01). Additionally, both parent and adolescent cohesion scores were significantly correlated with adolescent psyehopathology measures: DISC-C conduct disorder (p < .01), depression (p < .05), alcohol/marijuana (p < .01), and CBCL externalizing symptoms (p < .01). These relationships did not deviate from linearity. We gratefully acknowledge Eric C. Brown, Sue Greer, and Sharon P. Lardieri for assistance in data management of this project. Preparation of this article was supported by grant H133B90004-01 from the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research and the National Institute of Mental Health.     

Statistical methods for a general theory of all-or-none learning

Greeno and Steiner have shown that a three state Markov Chain with a single absorbing state is equivalent to many of the current formalizations of All-or-None learning theories. Distribution statistics and other summary statistics are derived from the general model. Expressions for the maximum likelihood estimators of its parameters and the sampling variances of the estimates are presented. Likelihood ratio tests for several different null hypotheses are derived. These tests permit one to evaluate the usual null hypotheses in terms of the parameters of a process model.This research was supported in part by a USPHS Predoctoral Research Fellowship, 1-F1-MH-31-289-01, by a grant from the Graduate School of the University of Texas, and by grant HD-02212-01 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Dr. John Theios.     

Building an identifiable latent class model with covariate effects on underlying and measured variables

In recent years, latent class models have proven useful for analyzing relationships between measured multiple indicators and covariates of interest. Such models summarize shared features of the multiple indicators as an underlying categorical variable, and the indicators' substantive associations with predictors are built directly and indirectly in unique model parameters. In this paper, we provide a detailed study on the theory and application of building models that allow mediated relationships between primary predictors and latent class membership, but that also allow direct effects of secondary covariates on the indicators themselves. Theory for model identification is developed. We detail an Expectation-Maximization algorithm for parameter estimation, standard error calculation, and convergent properties. Comparison of the proposed model with models underlying existing latent class modeling software is provided. A detailed analysis of how visual impairments affect older persons' functioning requiring distance vision is used for illustration.This work was supported by National Institute on Aging (NIA) Program Project P01-AG-10184-03 and National Institutes of Mental Health grant R01-MH-56639-01A1. Dr. Bandeen-Roche is a Brookdale National Fellow. The authors wish to thank Drs. Gary Rubin and Sheila West for kindly making the Salisbury Eye Evaluation data available. We also thank the Editor, the Associate Editor, and three referees for their valuable comments.     

Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: Recovery of metric information

The degree of metric determinancy afforded by nonmetric multidimensional scaling was investigated as a function of the number of points being scaled, the true dimensionality of the data being scaled, and the amount of error contained in the data being scaled. It was found 1) that if the ratio of the degrees of freedom of the data to that of the coordinates is sufficiently large then metric information is recovered even when random error is present; and 2) when the number of points being scaled increases the stress of the solution increases even though the degree of metric determinacy increases.This report was supported in part by a PHS research grant No. M-10006 from the National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service, and in part by a Science Development grant No. GU-2059, from the National Science Foundation. The author is indebted to Charles R. Sherman for his assistance in gathering the data and for his critical re-writing of sections of this report. The assistance of Lyle V. Jones in his critical readings and comments is also deeply appreciated.     

The universality of a contempt expression: A replication

Two experiments replicated Ekman and Friesen's finding of an expression that signals contempt across cultures. The subjects, from West Sumatra, Indonesia, were members of a culture that differs in a number of ways from Western cultures. In one experiment the subjects judged photographs of Japanese and American faces, both males and females, which showed many different emotions. There was very high agreement about which expressions signaled contempt in preference to anger, disgust, happiness, sadness, fear, or surprise. In a second experiment the Indonesian subjects judged expressions shown by members of their own culture, and again there was very high agreement about which expression signals contempt.This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 41100). Paul Ekman's work is also supported by a Research Scientist Award from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 06092). Karl G. Heider's work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 38221). We are grateful to Maureen O'Sullivan for her many helpful comments on this report.     

Irrational beliefs as predictors of negative affective states

One effort to specify cognitive mediators related to dysfunctional emotional responses has been made by Ellis, who proposed that certain irrational beliefs elicit maladaptive emotional reactions. In order to test Ellis's hypotheses in a nonclinical sample, the Irrational Beliefs Test, two anxiety inventories, the MMPI-168, and a locus of control scale were completed by 32 male heavy social drinker undergraduates, who then kept daily records of their anxiety, anger, unhappiness, and drinking behaviors for 7 months. Four factors underlay the 10 beliefs but did not necessarily correlate with dysphoric affect. Certain irrational beliefs predicted daily unhappiness ratings over the 7-month period and daily anger ratings over 3 months, but the beliefs exhibited only a weak relationship with daily general anxiety ratings. Irrational beliefs, especially worrying about approval and competence, were strongly related to test anxiety and Spielberger's trait anxiety measure, were somewhat related to social anxiety and general anxiety, were minimally related to locus of control and social desirability, and were essentially unrelated to the MMPI-168's measures of depression and anxiety and to drinking behaviors. Although 2 of the irrational beliefs failed to exhibit relationships with negative affect, the other 8 show the predicted relationships to moods, providing support for a cognitive mediational model of maladaptive emotions in a nonpathological population.This research was partially supported by grants from the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, from a National Institute of Mental Health small grant AA03947-01, and from a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism postdoctoral training fellowship No. 1T32AA07171-01. We would like to thank Jean Chapman, Ph.D., for her advice on the statistics and Dorothy Knapp, Ph.D., for her painstaking scoring and coding of all the data records.     

A general latent trait model for response processes

The purpose of the current paper is to propose a general multicomponent latent trait model (GLTM) for response processes. The proposed model combines the linear logistic latent trait (LLTM) with the multicomponent latent trait model (MLTM). As with both LLTM and MLTM, the general multicomponent latent trait model can be used to (1) test hypotheses about the theoretical variables that underlie response difficulty and (2) estimate parameters that describe test items by basic substantive properties. However, GLTM contains both component outcomes and complexity factors in a single model and may be applied to data that neither LLTM nor MLTM can handle. Joint maximum likelihood estimators are presented for the parameters of GLTM and an application to cognitive test items is described.This research was partially supported by the National Institute of Education grant number NIE-6-7-0156 to Susan Embretson (Whitely), principal investigator. However the optinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Institute of Education, and no official endorsement by the National Institute of Education should be inferred.     

Exploring sex differences in expectancy,attribution, and academic achievement

Two studies were carried out to explore if sex differences in expectancy and attribution of achievement are related to sex differences in academic performance. Study I investigated expectancy and attribution of achievement, operationalized as grade point index, among 176 male and 116 female college freshmen. Men were found to form higher expectations for future grades. Attributions measured through assigning percentage weights to ability, luck, effort, and difficulty as causal explanations of one's grade point index showed that men make more ability and women more effort attributions. Despite these differences in expectancy and attribution patterns, men and women were found not to differ in their performance. In Study II 120 college freshmen, half of them male, half female, filled out questionnaires before and after a midterm examination. A subsample of 49 also completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The results basically confirm the previous study's findings, except in Study II, men and women gave equally high weights to effort as a cause. The results also show that a feminine sex-role orientation is associated with a debilitating pattern of expectancy and attribution and lower performance, especially among women. Implications of the results for unraveling inconsistencies in the attribution literature and for a need to clarify connotations of femininity are discussed.The author wishes to express her gratitude to the members of the Psychology and Guidance Division of the College of Basic Studies, Boston University, for their assistance in preparing the questionnaire and collecting the data for Study I. Research for Study II was supported by grant MH 31181-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Mark Nachbar provided assistance in analyzing the data to both studies. Jan Mokros, Joseph Pleck, and Dan Jaquette provided valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.     

Analyses of changes in verbal behavior following a cognitive-behavioral treatment for impulsivity

Analyses were conducted to examine further the results of a cognitive-behavioral treatment for impulsivity in emotionally disturbed children (Kendall & Finch, 1978). The verbal behaviors of treated impulsive children, impulsive controls, and reflective children, recorded during MFF performance at pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up, were examined. The results indicated nonsignificant effects for several specific codes; however, the impulsive children that had received treatment evidenced a significant increase in total on-task verbal behavior at posttreatment. Discussion includes a consideration of these findings in regard to the efficacy of the cognitive-behavioral treatment and the need for research on the assessment of cognitive variables in children.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (l F31 MH 05270-01) to the first author and from Virginia Mental Health Fund to the second author. Preparation of this report was also supported by a research grant from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota (440-0160-4909-02). Thanks are extended to Donald MacEachern for his consultation on data analysis, to Steven D. Hollon and Terry F. Pechacek for consultation on computer analyses, and to Mary D. and Priscilla H. for coding the verbal data.     

Symptom and substance use reporting consistency over two years for offspring at high and low risk for depression

We examined 2-year recall of reports of lifetime symptomatology and substance use questions on the K-SADS-E in a sample of offspring at high and low risk for depression. Comparisons were made between those who forgot and those who remembered reports of screening symptoms made at the initial interview. In general, recall for symptoms of internalizing disorders (depression and anxiety disorder) was much worse than recall for symptoms of externalizing disorders (conduct disorder and substance use). Less than two-thirds of those initially meeting the lifetime depression screening criteria provided reports which met the lifetime screening criteria at followup. Significant correlates of screening criteria recall included the following variables (measured at the initial interview): history of treatment for any disorder, impairment on the GAS (a score less than 61), and the presence of hypersomnia and suicidal symptoms (thoughts or ideation). Logistic regression suggested that a prior report of suicidal symptoms (including thoughts, ideation, or behavior) was the most important correlate of screen recall.This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grant R29DA07995), the National Institute of Mental Health (grant P50MH43878-03) and from the University of Illinois Campus Research Board. The authors would like to thank Dr. Myrna Weissman for making the data available and acknowledge the data analytic assistance provided by Yanchun Xu.     

Analogue drinking assessment: Sensation seeking and gender

This study assessed the relationship between sensation seeking measured as a trait variable and drinking behaviors observed unobtrusively in the laboratory. It was hypothesized that high-sensation-seeking subjects would consume more alcohol than low sensation seekers and experience greater enhancement of positive moods and body sensations associated with intoxication. Thirty female and 31 male subjects divided into high- and low-sensation-seeking subgroups participated in an ad libitum drinking situation with the manifest task of taste rating three types of vodka (actually 95% alcohol) or tonic. Dependent variables included beverage consumption, positive/negative mood states, body sensations, breath estimates of blood alcohol levels, and self-rated level of intoxication. All subjects reported feeling the effects of alcohol. Contrary to predictions, high-sensation-seeking subjects neither consumed more alcohol than their low-sensation-seeking counterparts nor drank more alcohol than tonic, Paradoxically, low-sensation-seeking women displayed significantly greater alcohol intake and intoxication than all other groups. Possible explanations for findings were considered as well as the necessity for multimethod assessments of both predictor (i.e., sensation seeking) and criterion (i.e., alcohol consumption) variables across time and situations.This research was supported by Grant Award AA04042-03 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the first and third authors. Special Appreciation is expressed to Anne T. Patsiokas, Susan W. Altman, Victoria Molony-Sinnott, and Pamela J. Thompson for their invaluable assistance in collecting and analyzing the data.     

A desire to be taught: Instructional consequences of intrinsic motivation

This paper summarizes the results from a series of studies designed to test the hypothesis that making learning more fun will produce corresponding increases both in learning and retention and in subsequent interest in the subject matter itself. Each study examined the effects of two or more versions of an educational activity, each designed to involve identical instructional content, but to differ in motivational appeal. The data from the studies presented provide good general support for the hypothesized cognitive and motivational benefits of appropriately designed motivational embellishments of educational activities. Exceptions to this rule, however, and a more general theoretical analysis of the conditions under which such positive effects are (and are not) expected to occur, are also discussed.This research was supported, in part, by research grant HD-17371 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to Mark R. Lepper.     

Comparing psychological and pharmacological treatments for hyperkinetic boys and their classmates

This study compares the short-term effects of methylphenidate and of teacher consultation on the on task behavior of diagnosed hyperkinetic outpatient boys and selected classmates. Statistically significant treatment effects were found for both drug treated and behaviorally treated hyperkinetic boys; the size of these effects did not differ between the two types of treatment. Within the behavioral group, the treatment effect spilled over, so that there was also a significant treatment effect on overactive classmates of the behaviorally treated hyperkinetic children and a trend toward a significant treatment effect on their average classmates. Some implications of the findings are discussed.This study was supported by grant number MH-22659 from the National Institute of Mental Health.     

Random effects diagonal metric multidimensional scaling models

By assuming a distribution for the subject weights in a diagonal metric (INDSCAL) multidimensional scaling model, the subject weights become random effects. Including random effects in multidimensional scaling models offers several advantages over traditional diagonal metric models such as those fitted by the INDSCAL, ALSCAL, and other multidimensional scaling programs. Unlike traditional models, the number of parameters does not increase with the number of subjects, and, because the distribution of the subject weights is modeled, the construction of linear models of the subject weights and the testing of those models is immediate. Here we define a random effects diagonal metric multidimensional scaling model, give computational algorithms, describe our experiences with these algorithms, and provide an example illustrating the use of the model and algorithms.We would like to thank J. Douglas Carroll for early consultation of this research, and Robert I. Jennrich for commenting on an earlier draft of this paper and for help on the computational algorithms. James O. Ramsay and Forrest W. Young were instrumental in providing the example data. This work was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health grant 1 R43 MH57559-01. We would also like to thank the anonymous referees for comments that helped to clarify our work.     

Dimensionality of rosenberg’s self-esteem scale among normal-technical stream students in Singapore

Dimensionality of the widely used Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was investigated in a sample of 153 seventh-grade Asian students from Singapore. Confirmatory factor analyses performed on the scores of the RSES revealed two factors (positive and negative self-esteem) as hypothesized. Both factors were empirically related to different external variables. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that positive self-esteem significantly predicted students’ mastery goal orientation and academic self-efficacy scores while negative self-esteem significantly predicted students’ disruptive behavior. These findings provide some preliminary support that the two factors could possibly be measuring substantively distinct dimensions, thus calling into question the unidimensionalty of the RSES in an Asian school-based sample. This study was supported by a grant from Center for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute of Education (CRP 26/04 RA) to Rebecca P. Ang.     

Rights and rites: Women's roles in liberal religious movements in Israel

A study of the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel indicates that the question of women's rights in these Jewish denominations is essentially dormant. This is in contrast with the lively discussion of the role of women in American Jewish life. The demand for greater roles in the synagogue may be affected by the general societal orientation toward women's rights. In the Israeli case, there is no stimulant from a general movement for women's rights to lead to such demands among religious adherents.The field work upon which this study is based was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service (Grant Number IR03 MH124072-01A1). Gratitude is also expressed to the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and to Bar Ilan University for fellowships during the study period. The author is also grateful to Bernard Lazerwitz, Michael Harrison, David Glanz, J. Alan Winter, and an anonymous reviewer of this journal for their comments to a draft of this article.     

Exploratory longitudinal factor analysis in multiple populations

For multiple populatios, a longtidinal factor analytic model which is entirely exploratory, that is, no explicit identification constraints, is proposed. Factorial collapse and period/practice effects are allowed. An invariant and/or stationary factor pattern is permitted. This model is formulated stochastically. To implement this model a stagewise EM algorithm is developed. Finally a numerical illustration utilizing Nesselroade and Baltes' data is presented.The authors wish to thank Barbara Mellers and Henry Kaiser for their helpful comments and John Nesselroade for providing us the data for our illustration. This research wwa supported in part by a grant (No. AG03164) from the National Institute on Aging to William Meredith. Details of the derivations and a copy of the PROC MATRIX program are available upon request from the first author.