Testing the developmental distinctiveness of male proactive and reactive aggression with a nested longitudinal experimental intervention

An experimental preventive intervention nested into a longitudinal study was used to test the developmental distinctiveness of proactive and reactive aggression. The randomized multimodal preventive intervention targeted a subsample of boys rated disruptive by their teachers. These boys were initially part of a sample of 895 boys, followed from kindergarten to 17 years of age. Semiparametric analyses of developmental trajectories for self‐reported proactive and reactive aggression (between 13 and 17 years of age) indicated three trajectories for each type of aggression that varied in size and shape (Low, Moderate, and High Peaking). Intent‐to‐treat comparisons between the boys in the prevention group and the control group confirmed that the preventive intervention between 7 and 9 years of age, which included parenting skills and social skills training, could impact the development of reactive more than proactive aggression. The intervention effect identified in reactive aggression was related to a reduction in self‐reported coercive parenting. The importance of these results for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behaviors and the value of longitudinal‐experimental studies from early childhood onward is discussed. Aggr. Behav. 36:127–140, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The association between religiosity and alcohol use: the mediating role of meaning in life and media exposure

We examined whether meaning in life and exposure to media mediate the association between religiosity and alcohol use among members of the Jewish-orthodox community in Israel. One hundred and ten young adult men self-identified as orthodox (n?=?57) or secular (n?=?53) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report measures designed to assess meaning in life, media exposure, alcohol use, and craving. Our findings show that orthodox participants consumed less alcohol and reported less alcohol craving compared to their secular counterparts. Importantly, search for meaning in life and media exposure mediated the relationship between religiosity and alcohol craving. Our findings suggest that religion provides a sense of meaning that serves as a protective factor against alcohol craving, supporting existential theories. Furthermore, our studies show that practices that are associated with a religious lifestyle such as low exposure to mass media also serve as protective factors for alcohol use and craving.     

Peer support for women with breast cancer: the role of empathy and self‐disclosure

This study examined how women with breast cancer perceived different styles of peer helping. Forty recently diagnosed breast cancer patients evaluated three audiotaped conversations between a breast cancer patient and an (ex‐patient) volunteer helper; the conversations differed in terms of the empathy and self‐disclosure offered by the helper. The findings supported the first hypothesis, that a helping style involving high self‐disclosure would be positively evaluated only in the presence of high empathy. However, the findings did not support the second hypothesis, that in conversations where high empathy is present, a helping style involving high self‐disclosure would be evaluated more positively than one involving low self‐disclosure. Qualitative data suggested that the helper's ability to listen to the patient and the helper's appropriate sharing of her own experience of breast cancer were both perceived as important components of effective helping. Implications for the training and practice of volunteer helpers are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictors of Appraisal and Psychological Well-Being in Alzheimer's Disease Family Caregivers

The objective of this study was to test a model of stress, appraisal, and adaptation in 114 family caregivers of patients diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (white non-Hispanic, N = 64; Hispanic-American, N = 50). Results of structural equation analysis show that appraised caregiver burden played a central role in determining the psychological well-being of family caregivers. The findings indicate that this mediating variable, negative caregiver appraisal, was predicted by increased functional limitations and behavioral disturbances in the patient, poorer perceived physical health, and lower levels of perceived emotional support. Contrary to a priori hypotheses, functional limitations in the patient also exhibited a direct association with caregiver depression. Further, patient cognitive impairment and caregiver ethnicity were not related to caregiver appraisal. Overall, these results support the role of appraised burden in mediating the relationships between caregiving factors and the adaptational outcome of depression. The implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and future directions are discussed.     

The Relaxation Inventory: self-report scales of relaxation training effects

The development of a self-report measure to assess the effects of relaxation training was examined. A rigorous statistical method of scale construction consisting of a modification of the scale discrimination technique was employed, resulting in a 45-item questionnaire representing three orthogonally derived scales. The three scales, Physiological Tension, Physical Assessment, and Cognitive Tension, demonstrated adequate internal consistency with KR20 reliability coefficients of .89, .95, and .81, respectively. In a second study of predictive validity, 40 individuals were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: relaxation training, tension inducement, pre-postcontrol, or postcontrol. Univariate analysis of variance indicated significant findings for each of the three dimensions of the inventory. The Physiological Tension Scale detected significant increases in tension following tension inducement, whereas the Physical Assessment Scale and Cognitive Tension Scale detected increases in relaxation following relaxation training. Recommendations were made for future research on the inventory.     

Material Implication and General Indicative Conditionals

This paper falls into two parts. In the first part, I argue that consideration of general indicative conditionals, e.g., sentences like If a donkey brays it is beaten , provides a powerful argument that a pure material implication analysis of indicative if p, q is correct. In the second part I argue, opposing writers like Jackson, that a Gricean style theory of pragmatics can explain the manifest assertability conditions of if p, q in terms of its conventional content – assumed to be merely ( p ⊃ q ) – and the conversational implicature contents which utterance of if p, q may gain in certain contexts. I also defend the pragmatic approach against a recent objection by Edgington that appeal to pragmatics cannot explain what we are inclined to say about the believability conditions, as opposed to the assertability conditions, of indicative if p, q.