The personal inventory as a psychotherapeutic technique in treating a person with AIDS

The use of a personal inventory, an adaptation of the moral inventory used in Twelve Step programs, is discussed as a psychotherapeutic tool in providing treatment to persons with AIDS. Clinical application of this technique can facilitate progress toward achieving a sense of integrity prior to death by addressing a client's feelings of guilt and shame. The authors describe the use of this technique in working with a young adult African-American female diagnosed with AIDS and discuss appropriate and inappropriate applications of this approach.     

Changes in Fear of AIDS and Homophobia in a University Population

A survey measuring attitudes toward fear of AIDS and homophobia, taken in the fall of 1985, was repeated in the fall of 1989 on the same university population. The results indicated that whereas fear of AIDS decreased, the degree of homophobia remained essentially unchanged. In addition, although respondents were much more knowledgeable about AIDS in 1989 than in 1985, there was no evidence of any change in the relatively high correlation between the fear of AIDS and homophobia.     

Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.     

Aggression and sexuality in relation to toddler attachment: Implications for the caregiving system

Sexuality and aggression emerge in the second year of life as important motivational systems that organize substantial aspects of the toddler's behavior, affecting the operation of the attachment system and transforming the parents' perceptions and behaviors toward the child. The interconnection between different motivational systems in the parent and child is discussed as an important dimension in broadening our understanding of attachment in the context of the caregiving system. Normative and clinical examples are presented to illustrate how aggression and sexuality affect attachment and caregiving behaviors and representations in toddlerhood.     

Maternal Meta-Emotion Philosophy Moderates Effect of Maternal Symptomatology on Preschoolers Exposed to Domestic Violence

Exposure to domestic violence in the preschool years is consistently associated with children’s heightened risk for developing behavior problems. Maternal meta-emotion philosophy (awareness, acceptance, and coaching of children’s emotions) has been identified as an important protective factor in children’s development of internalizing and externalizing behaviors following exposure to domestic violence. However, mothers who are victims of domestic violence often experience symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, which may undermine their capacity to respond to their children’s negative emotions. The present study examines the protective role of maternal meta-emotion philosophy among mothers and preschool-aged children exposed to domestic violence. Participants were 95 mothers (mean age?=?31.78) and their preschool-aged children (mean age?=?4.11) who had witnessed domestic violence involving their mothers. Multiple regression analyses, controlling for family socioeconomic status and child exposure to interpersonal violence in the family, indicated that maternal symptomatology was positively associated with children’s internalizing problems. In addition, maternal awareness and coaching of children’s negative emotions was found to moderate relations between maternal symptomatology and children’s internalizing behaviors, and maternal awareness of children’s negative emotions was found to moderate relations between maternal symptomatology and children’s externalizing behaviors. These findings expand our understanding of maternal meta-emotion philosophy as a protective factor for preschoolers who have witnessed domestic violence.     

Validity rates of the Personality Assessment Inventory and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 in a VA Medical Center Setting

In this study, we compared protocol validity rates between the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) and the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) in a veteran population. Veterans (N=472) were administered both instruments as part of routine psychological evaluations. Profile validity was based on previously published criteria. When applying primary validity indicators, inpatients produced significantly fewer invalid PAI profiles (37%) than MMPI-2 profiles (63%). We found similar results among outpatients for which we considered 47% of MMPI-2 profiles invalid compared to only 21% of PAI profiles. When applying both primary and supplementary validity indicators, both inpatients and outpatients continued to produce fewer invalid PAI profiles than MMPI-2 profiles. We discuss factors that may be related to the differences in validity rates.     

Are spatial and temporal attention independent?

Participants searched for one of two target letters in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence of 17 successive frames, each containing four letters arranged into a box around a central fixation point. In control trial blocks, the participants had no information about when or where one of the target letters would appear. In other trial blocks, visual cues were given to indicate with 100% validity either the spatial location of the target, the time at which it would be presented, or both where and when it would appear. The results showed that both types of cues were effective on their own in speeding target identification, and their effects combined additively when the cues were presented and used together. These results support a growing body of evidence indicating that early attentional selection of information in vision is independently attuned to spatial and temporal properties of the environment.