Perfectionism, acne and appearance concerns

This study investigated the relationship between perfectionism and two aspects of appearance worry: acne-related concerns and dysmorphic concerns. One-hundred and sixty five female university students completed measures of three facets of perfectionism: self-oriented, other-oriented and socially prescribed [Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (1991a). Perfectionism in the self and social contexts: conceptualization, assessment and association with psychopathology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456–470], general psychopathology (GHQ-28), acne health related quality of life [Girman, C. J., Hartmaier, S., Thiboutot, D., Johnson, J., Barter, B., DeMunro-Mercon, & Waldstreicher, J. (1996). Evaluating health-related quality of life in patients with facial acne: development of a self-administered questionnaire for clinical trials. Quality of Life Research, 5, 481–490] and dysmorphic concerns [Oostuizen, P., Lambert, T., & Castle, D.J. (1998). Dysmorphic concern: prevalence and associations with clinical variables. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 32, 129–132]. Multiple regression analyses showed that, after controlling for general psychopathology, a high level of socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with a greater tendency to be concerned about acne in particular and appearance in general.     

A Comparison of Three Methods of Teaching Skin Self-Examinations

Skin self-examinations are essential for the early identification and treatment of skin cancers. However, little is known about the most effective methods for teaching skin cancer detection and skin self-examination. This study compared three skin cancer education methods that are commonly used in the primary care setting: viewing a videotape, reading brochures, and one-on-one instruction from a nurse practitioner. One hundred forty-three young adults were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions (educational intervention or wait list) and completed measures of skin cancer knowledge, ability to visually discriminate cancerous versus noncancerous skin growths, and behavioral ability to perform a skin self-examination immediately (Time 1) and 3 weeks (Time 2) after the educational intervention. Results showed that participants across all educational interventions had significantly higher skin cancer knowledge compared to those in the wait-list control group, and these knowledge scores were maintained for 3 weeks. Participants in the brochure condition scored significantly higher than participants in all other conditions on an observational measure of skin self-examination. Demographic variables, such as gender and ethnicity, were not found to be related to performance on any of the dependent measures. These findings provide preliminary evidence that knowledge of skin cancer may be enhanced through a variety of educational techniques and that written materials (e.g., brochures) may represent the minimal intervention level necessary for teaching adults how to perform thorough skin self-examinations.     

Traumatic Brain Injury as a Risk Factor for Alzheimer's Disease: A Review

Accumulating epidemiological evidence implicates traumatic brain injury as a pathogenic agent in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Considering the increase in the prevalence of both traumatic brain injury and AD in recent times, the possibility that brain trauma may provoke the early development of AD has important implications for health service planning, preventative efforts, and medico-legal compensation settlements. This paper evaluates the plausibility of the proposed link between traumatic brain injury and AD, largely by way of exploring a theoretical perspective advanced by Satz (1993) and considering recent contributions from the epidemiological, neuropathological, and biochemical literature that are pertinent to this issue. The literature reviewed provides sufficient support and empirical vindication to give credence to the proposed association between these two neuropsychological entities at the statistical, theoretical, and biological level.     

Sex and generational differences in desired characteristics in mate selection

This study compared the ranking of 18 personal characteristics or qualities which college students might use in selecting a future mate and builds on six other assessment periods from 1939-1996 which dealt with this issue. Among the most consistent findings for all seven assessment periods is the high value both sexes place on dependable character, emotional stability/maturity, pleasing disposition, and mutual attraction/love. Men across all assessment periods placed a higher value than women on good health, good cook/housekeeper, and good looks, while women placed a higher value on ambitious/industrious, similar educational background, and good financial prospect. These trends could go along with ethological theory. For both sexes chastity and similar religious background gained value; however, this may be an artifact of the current sample of 100 students.     

A model of childhood perceived peer harassment: analyses of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth Data

The authors developed a model of childhood perceived peer harassment, using several personality, peer, and familial characteristics of victims, and tested it with children 10 to 11 years old (N = 3,434) drawn from the Canadian National Survey of Children and Youth, which is a stratified random sample of 22,831 households in Canada. A 3-step analytic procedure with 3 separate subsamples of the children was used to explore psychosocial correlates of peer harassment. Results from the latent variable path analysis (comparative fit index = .90) showed that victims are likely to feel anxious and disliked by their peers. Their parents reported using high levels of control and low levels of warmth with their children and reported high levels of depression and marital conflict themselves. These results are discussed from a social-cognitive perspective.     

Peer Victimization in Youth with Tourette’s Syndrome and Chronic Tic Disorder: Relations with Tic Severity and Internalizing Symptoms

The present study analyzed rates of peer victimization in children with a chronic tic disorder as compared to children with type 1 diabetes and healthy controls. The associations among peer victimization, tic symptom severity, and psychological symptoms, as well as the potential mediating relationship between peer victimization, tic severity, and child internalizing symptoms, were also explored. Children with tics displayed higher rates of peer victimization than control groups, and peer victimization in children with tics was positively correlated with tic symptom severity, loneliness, anxiety symptoms, and parent report of child internalizing symptoms. Results also supported the hypothesis that peer victimization mediates the relationship between tic symptom severity and loneliness. Findings highlight the importance of the assessment and treatment of psychosocial variables in children with chronic tic disorders, including social functioning and peer relationships.     

Psychopathic personality traits and temporal perspective: A test of the short time horizon hypothesis

A number of authors have proposed that psychopathic individuals possess an abnormally constricted time horizon (i.e., foreshortened sense of the future). This hypothesis was tested among 101 undergraduates, who were administered a battery of (1) self-report indices of psychopathic personality traits, antisocial behavior, and normal-range personality traits; (2) self-report indices of time perspective; (3) projective tests of time perspective; and (4) laboratory tasks assessing time estimation and capacity for foresight and impulse control. Measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior tended to be negatively correlated with several self-report indices assessing preoccupation with the future and with a projective task assessing the frequency of thoughts concerning future events, although only one of the correlations with this latter task was significant. In most cases these correlations were not attributable to the variance shared by measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior and measures of (low) anxiety-proneness, although several correlations decreased substantially after levels of harmavoidance were controlled. In contrast, measures of psychopathy/antisocial behavior were negligibly correlated with laboratory tasks. These results provide mixed support for the short time horizon hypothesis and suggest that further attention to the role of method factors in investigations of future time perspective is warranted.     

Intensive Family-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Applications for Treatment of Medication Partial- or Nonresponders

Serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are both effective treatments for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite recommendations that youth with OCD be treated with CBT alone or together with serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication, many youth are treated with medication alone or with non-CBT psychotherapy initially. Although effective, symptom remission with medication alone is rare (e.g., only 21.4% of youth achieved remission with sertraline in the Pediatric OCD Treatment Study, 2004) and residual symptoms often remain (e.g., 58% of subjects in the March et al. [1998] sertraline trial were not considered treatment responders). This paper reviews the literature on the efficacy of CBT for pediatric OCD, particularly as it relates to the treatment of youth with prior inadequate response to medication. It also describes an intensive, family-based CBT program for children and adolescents with OCD and support for its efficacy among those with prior partial- or nonresponse to medication. Finally, we present a case study of an adolescent girl with OCD who participated in the intensive treatment program after having limited benefit from medication and non-CBT psychotherapy and experienced a favorable response.     

The role of comorbid disruptive behavior in the clinical expression of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder

This study explored the impact of disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) comorbidity on a number of theoretically relevant outcomes among 192 children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Youth were divided into three groups: OCD Only, OCD+DBD comorbidity and OCD+Other comorbidity. Relative to those without a comorbid condition and those with any non-DBD comorbidity, comorbid DBD was associated with greater family accommodation and less symptom resistance. Youth with comorbid DBD exhibited greater OCD symptom severity, OCD-related impairment, anxiety, and internalizing problems than those with no comorbidity. Those with comorbid DBD were over 3.6 times as likely to be taking an atypical antipsychotic medication relative to children without comorbidity. The present results suggest that comorbid DBD contributes to more severe illness presentation above and beyond an OCD diagnosis alone, and may be associated with differing pharmacotherapy prescribing practices.