The short-EMBU in East-Germany and Sweden: a cross-national factorial validity extension

The factorial stability and reliability of the 23-item s(hort)-EMBU previously demonstrated to be satisfactory in samples of students from Greece, Guatemala, Hungary and Italy, were extended with 791 students from East-Germany and Sweden. Previous findings on factorial validity, internal reliability and correlations among scales were replicated. The 23-item form thus continues to be recommended as a reliable functional equivalent to the early 81-item EMBU, when the clinical and/or research context does not adequately permit application of time-consuming test batteries.     

Phobic dimensions: IV. The structure of animal fears

Research designed to determine the number and kind of dimensions underlying self-reports of animal fears is relatively rare. To contribute further knowledge to this area of study, Davey's methodology [Davey, G. C. L. (1994a). Self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult UK population: the role of disgust sensitivity. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 541-554.] was improved. Principal components analysis with Varimax rotation of the self-ratings to items of Davey's Animal Fears Questionnaire returned by Ss from a Dutch community sample (N = 214) revealed four reliable, relatively independent dimensions: (1) fear-relevant animals, (2) dry or non-slimy invertebrates, (3) slimy or wet looking animals and (4) farm animals. Replicating Davey (1994a), females, relative to males, reported higher levels on most fear items. Principal components analysis with Oblimin rotation involving animal fears scales (derived from the dimensions identified in the present study), dimensions of non-animal fears, disgust sensitivity, sex-role orientation and the major dimensions of personality from the Eysenckian system revealed 4 higher-order factors, namely specific animals fears, positive affectivity, toughmindedness and negative affectivity. At an even higher level, these 4 higher-order factors merged into two factors: (1) a bipolar positive affectivity versus neuroticism/general emotionality/negative affectivity factor and (2) a toughmindedness dimension. Studies such as these contribute in helping provide the elements of the hierarchical model of fears proposed by Taylor [Taylor, S. (1998). The hierarchic structure of fears. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 205-214.]. Findings across different studies suggest that there are at least 5 first-order dimensions of animal fears, the above 4 and predatory (fierce) animals, that may be included in such a model.     

Psychological states and traits in female agoraphobics: A controlled study

Recent surveys on the psychology of agoraphobia point to the paucity of sound empirical studies addressing personality and symptomatology factors related to the disorder. In the present study, a sample of female agoraphobics was compared with control groups of nonphobic psychiatric and of nonpatient normal female Ss on a relatively large number of psychological state and trait measures. Besides scoring clearly higher than both groups of controls on agoraphobic symptoms, agoraphobics, as a group, scored significantly higher in terms of (a) anxiety, (b) certain components of depression, (c) interpersonal difficulties, (d) general psychological malaise, and (e) fears of bodily injury, illness, and death as well. Further, compared to both groups of controls, agoraphobics could be characterized by higher levels of (a) neuroticism, (b) seclusion (low on extraversion and sociability and showing greater tendencies toward isolating themselves from social contacts), (c) situational dependency (higher scores on a restrictive style of living), (d) passivity (greater hypoactivity), and (e) intropunitiveness (scores in more intropunitive than extrapunitive direction). The claim, frequently made in the clinical literature, that agoraphobics have dependent personalities was not confirmed.     

The validity of the mu index for differentiation of state and trait scales

For 443 men and women of the general population and mean age of 45.8 yr. state and trait measures were obtained on two occasions, 6 mo. apart. Internal consistencies at each time were similar (.84-.95). Test-retest coefficients were lower for measures of state concepts than for trait concepts. Howarth's mu indices were higher for state concepts than for trait concepts.     

Pathways to spider phobia.

Using a revised version of the Phobic Origin Questionnaire (POQ; Ost, L. G. & Hugdahl, K. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 19, 439-477; 1981), the present study examined whether conditioning experiences, modeling experiences, and/or informational learning experiences were more often reported by spider phobics (n = 41) than by non-fearful controls (n = 30). The two groups did not differ with regard to the overall frequency of conditioning or modeling events. Remarkably, the frequency of informational learning was higher among non-fearful Ss than among phobics. Although the limitations inherent to the retrospective nature of the present study should be borne in mind, the data suggest that, at least in spider phobics, conditioning events, modeling experiences, and/or informational learning do not necessarily give rise to phobic fears.     

A parental rearing style questionnaire for use with adolescents: Psychometric evaluation of the EMBU-A

The present study investigated whether the dimensional framework of the EMBU, a questionnaire assessing adults' retrospective perceptions of parental rearing styles, could be retrieved in an EMBU version that was adapted for adolescents, the EMBU-A. Based on a sample of 1153 healthy young adolescents (mean age 12.4 years), confirmatory factor analyses showed that the factors of Rejection, Emotional Warmth, Overprotection and Favouring Subject found in the new EMBU-A were closely related to the factors originally interpreted in adult ratings. Reliability and aspects of convergent and divergent validity of the new scale were encouraging. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Gender roles in relation to assertiveness and eysenckian personality dimensions: Replication with a spanish population sample

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the cross-national replicability of the usual pattern of associations observed in Anglo-Saxon samples between masculinity and femininity on the one hand and difficulty and distress in assertiveness and the major Eysenckian dimensions of personality on the other hand. Participants were 925 SpanishSs (54% females; and 95.5% “European or other white”). Both the masculinity theory of psychological well-being and the notion thathigh femininity would not be implicated in self-assessed psychologicaldistress ordysfunction were supported by the data. Higher-order analysis showed that masculinity loaded highly on Positive Affect, whereas femininity had its primary loading on Constraint. Tentative support was found for the femininity-humility hypothesis advanced by P. B. Zeldow, S. R. Clark, and D. C. Daugherty in 1985.