Psychopathology subtypes and symptom correlates among former prisoners of war

Psychopathology and symptom patterns were studied in 60 former prisoners-of-war (POWs) by administering standardized tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), an adjustment problem checklist, and a structured clinical interview. Most POWs showed marked psychological impairment, but modal profile analysis identified two prototypic MMPI patterns, which differed in pervasiveness and type of psychopathology. Profile subtypes were defined by unique clusters of clinical symptoms and differed in confinement stress severity. The typology of symptoms argues against a homogeneous conceptualization of stress-induced disorders and suggests the need for definition of the severity and subtype of stress phenomena and individual difference factors in responding to trauma.     

Dating age and stage as correlates of adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior

Dating experiences, especially the type or stage of dating, have consistently been found to be related to premarital sexual behavior. Findings regarding the age at 1st date and sexual behavior have been less consistent. This paper examined the age at which dating began and the type of dating relationship as correlates of premarital sexual attitudes and behavior among mid-teen adolescents. The analyses were based on a sample of high school students (n=836), most of whom were between the ages of 15 and 18 when the surveys were conducted. Early dating, especially early steady dating, was related to permissive attitudes and to premarital sexual experience among both males and females. The relationship between early dating and intercourse experience was particulary strong among Mormons, a religious group which has institutionalized age 16 as the legitimate age to begin dating.     

The Novacco Anger Scale and Jenkins Activity Survey as predictors of cardiovascular reactivity

This study investigated the relationship among anger, the Type A construct, and cardiovascular reactivity. The Novacco Anger Scale and the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) were used to measure anger proneness and Type A characteristics, respectively. Twenty-four college males were selected from the upper and lower quintiles of the JAS distribution. During the study, the subjects were exposed to varying levels of experimentally induced challenge, while measurements were taken of heart-rate and blood-pressure changes. The results showed a modest but significant correlation between scores on the Novacco Anger Scale and the JAS. More importantly, scores on the Novacco Anger Scale correlated significantly with heart rate and systolic blood pressure under all challenge conditions, while those on the JAS were unrelated to cardiovascular excitability. These results raise questions about the usefulness of the JAS as a predictor of CHD risk. They are also consistent with the beliefs of other investigators that anger and hostility are the most important Type A behaviors in predisposing patients to coronary heart disease. Additional implications of the study are discussed.     

Mentalism, behavior-behavior relations, and a behavior-analytic view of the purposes of science

In a behavioral view, the purposes of science are primarily prediction and control. To the extent that a scientist embraces both of these as a unified and generally applicable criterion for science, certain philosophical and theoretical practices are counterproductive, including mentalism in both its metaphysical and metatheoretical forms. It is possible and often worthwhile to recast some mentalistic talk into an issue of behavior-behavior relations. When behavior-behavior relations are approached non-mechanistically, however, analysis cannot stop at the level of the relations themselves. Several analytic concepts common in the behavioral community share some of the dangers of mentalism if not employed properly, including such concepts as self-reinforcement, response-produced stimulation, and self-rules.     

Multimodal therapy in an inpatient setting

Inpatient Multimodal Therapy (imt) is a residential treatment program, lasting a maximum of 36 weeks, for patients with severe neurotic symptoms. A group of 44 chronic obsessive-compulsive patients and a group of 40 chronic phobic patients were treated in order to assess the outcome and the process of treatment and to identify prognostic factors associated with the effect. At follow-up—on average, eight months after discharge—it was found that 60% had improved, 32% had remained the same, and 8% had deteriorated, indicating that, in general, the treatment was beneficial. That these effects were long-lasting is supported by the fact that, at follow-up, 78% of all patients were no longer receiving treatment, 18% were receiving outpatient or day treatment, and 4% were receiving inpatient treatment. Phobic patients appear to have gained more from the multimodal approach than did obsessive-compulsive patients, as indicated by the fact that the severity of symptoms decreased as they improved in rational thinking, assertiveness, and arousal. By contrast, obsessive-compulsive patients relapsed more than phobic patients did. This was attributed to the fact that the former gained less from the rational-emotive training, denied problems with assertiveness, and did not practice the acquired relaxation skills. It further appeared that a favorable outcome could be induced in patients who (1) expressed relatively mild symptoms in this otherwise severe group, (2) reported relatively few additional complaints, (3) could clearly indicate interpersonal problems, and (4) did not use psychotropic drugs. These prognostic factors are so widespread that not much weight can be ascribed to them. Yet they are useful for indication ofimt until better predictors are found.     

Criminal profiling from crime scene analysis

Since the 1970s, investigative profilers at the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit (now part of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime) have been assisting local, state, and federal agencies in narrowing investigations by providing criminal personality profiles. An attempt is now being made to describe this criminal-profile-generating process. A series of five overlapping stages lead to the sixth stage, or the goal of apprehension of the offender: (1) profiling inputs, (2) decision-process models, (3) crime assessment, (4) the criminal profile, (5) investigation, and (6) apprehension. Two key feedback filters in the process are: (a) achieving congruence with the evidence, with decision models, and with investigation recommendations, and (b) the addition of new evidence.     

The process of scapegoating in a neonatal nurses' group

This paper reviews the literature on scapegoating, elaborating on the underlying mechanisms before describing the process of scapegoating as it occurred in a neonatal nurse support group. Illustrative vignettes are used to discuss how scapegoating was used by group members to avoid painful feelings arising from their care of extremely ill infants. Group process is related to the stages of the group's development as feelings were addressed more directly and the need to use scapegoating as a defense decreased.