Loving styles: relationships with personality and attachment styles

We investigated the ability of the major personality dimensions, some of their underlying facet scales, and attachment styles to predict primary and secondary loving styles, as conceptualized by Lee. Personality was assessed using the International Personality Item Pool, and attachment styles through an inventory devised by Collins and Read. Respondents were 302 undergraduate students (212 females; 90 males) who participated in the study in exchange for course credit. Results of regression path analysis showed that N was the only personality dimension without direct predictive links to loving styles. Instead, the influence of N was through an anxious attachment style. There were no personality predictors of Agape, and similarities were also observed between these results and those obtained in Hong Kong. The results are discussed with reference to previous studies and some suggestions for further research are also noted. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Choosing How to Choose: Institutional Pressures Affecting the Adoption of Personnel Selection Procedures

The gap between science and practice in personnel selection is an ongoing concern of human resource management. This paper takes Oliver's framework of organizations' strategic responses to institutional pressures as a basis for outlining the diverse economic and social demands that facilitate or inhibit the application of scientifically recommended selection procedures. Faced with a complex network of multiple requirements, practitioners make more diverse choices in response to any of these pressures than has previously been acknowledged in the scientific literature. Implications for the science‐practitioner gap are discussed.     

From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding

Connecting deeply with another mind is as enigmatic as it is fulfilling. Why people “click” with some people but not others is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. However, researchers from psychology and neuroscience are converging on a likely physiological basis for connection – neural synchrony (entrainment). Here, we review research on the necessary precursors for interpersonal synchrony: the ability to detect a mind and resonate with its outputs. Further, We describe potential mechanisms for the development of synchrony between two minds. We then consider recent neuroimaging and behavioral evidence for the adaptive benefits of synchrony, including neural efficiency and the release of a reward signal that promotes future social interaction. In nature, neural synchrony yields behavioral synchrony. Humans use behavioral synchrony to promote neural synchrony, and thus, social bonding. This reverse‐engineering of social connection is an important innovation likely underlying this distinctively human capacity to create large‐scale social coordination and cohesion.     

Short-term memory performances during sustained wakefulness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

Both working and immediate memories were assessed every 4h by specific short-term memory tasks over sustained wakefulness in 12 patients with obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and 10 healthy controls. Results indicated that OSAHS patients exhibited lower working memory performances than controls on both backward digit span and complex Sternberg tasks. Speed and accuracy on Sternberg tasks were affected by memory load in both groups. However, immediate memory was not impaired in OSAHS patients. Diurnal and nocturnal SaO(2) were correlated with speed and accuracy high-speed memory scanning performance on Sternberg tasks in patients. These results suggest specific working memory deficits associated with OSAHS over sustained wakefulness with a possible deficiency in the central executive responsible for the higher information processing, in addition to a potentially insufficient storage capacity. Among OSAHS patients, working memory ability involved in high-speed memory scanning may be impaired by chronic hypoxemia.     

The influence of relational complexity and strategy selection on children's reasoning in the Latin Square Task

The present study focused on children's deductive reasoning when performing the Latin Square Task, an experimental task designed to explore the influence of relational complexity. Building on Birney, Halford, and Andrew's (2006) research, we created a version of the task that minimized nonrelational factors and introduced new categories of items. The results of two experiments conducted with school-aged children yielded an apparent dilution of complexity effects and suggest that specific inferential strategies can reduce the relational complexity that children need to process. A theoretical account is proposed emphasizing the influence of adaptive selection of strategies that mediate processing capacity constraints in reasoning development.     

Examining classification criteria: a comparison of three cut score methods

This study compared 3 different methods of creating cut scores for a screening instrument, T scores, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, and the Rasch rating scale method (RSM), for use with the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) Teacher Rating Scale for Children and Adolescents (Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007). Using the BESS norm data set, we compared the methods across 7 classification indices. Additional information about accuracy was used with a subset of children who had been given a prior diagnosis for selected disorders. The results showed that the methods were generally in concordance, with similarities identified across methods. RSM and ROC analysis methods performed similarly, with both methods identifying the same optimal cut-point. The method based on T scores appeared to be more conservative, identifying a lower cut score as optimal.     

The Use of Psychoeducation for a Patient with Hepatitis C and Psychiatric Illness in Preparation for Antiviral Therapy: A Case Report and Discussion

The standard of care treatment for chronic hepatitis C viral infection (HCV) is a combination of pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin for 24-48?weeks according to the virus genotype. This therapy is known to have multiple neuropsychiatric side effects. A major concern when evaluating a patient for HCV treatment with a known history of a psychiatric disorder is the risk that the patient's psychiatric disorder will flare or become unmanageable. The possibility of precipitating depression, confusion, mania, psychosis, hallucinations, or suicidal ideation or attempt is frequently an obstacle to treatment. We present the case of a 50?year-old man with HCV and an extensive psychiatric history involving alcoholism, depression, and suicidality who participated in a psychoeducation group to help prepare him for treatment with pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin therapy. Though the patient derived much benefit from the psychoeducation group, by the time of evaluation for HCV treatment two months after the group ended he had relapsed back into a depressive episode with suicidal thoughts. His acute psychiatric status made him unacceptable for pegylated interferon alfa/ribavirin therapy. Psychoeducation groups show promise for helping patients with chronic medical illness to be ready for and endure intensive medical treatment that has substantial psychiatric side effects. The challenge is to help patients overcome barriers to treatment, particularly psychosocial problems, because available treatments are increasingly effective.     

Age group differences in self-reported aggressive driving perpetration and victimization

Aim

This study examined whether the predictors of self-reported aggressive driving perpetration and victimization vary across age groups.

Method

Based on data from a general-population telephone survey conducted from July 2002 through June 2005, three groups of drivers were examined: 18–34 year-olds (N = 1522), 35–54 year-olds (N = 2726), and 55 years of age or older (N = 1883). For each age group sample, logistic regression analyses examined self-reported aggressive driving perpetration and victimization in the last 12 months by measures of driving exposure, heavy drinking, cannabis use, and drinking-driving, while controlling for demographic factors.

Results

The prevalence of aggressive driving perpetration within the past year was highest for the youngest age group (51%), followed by the middle-aged group (37%), and then the oldest age group (18%). The same pattern of results was found for prevalence of aggressive driving victimization (54%, 47%, and 31%, respectively). Controlling for demographic factors, the predictors of perpetration were generally consistent across the age groups. The logistic regression model for the youngest drivers revealed that those who reported stressful driving, heavy drinking, and cannabis use had significantly increased odds of reporting perpetration of aggressive driving. For middle-aged and older drivers, stressful driving, driving on busy roads, cannabis use, and driving after drinking were associated with perpetration. In addition, increased mileage contributed to perpetration in the oldest group. The findings for victimization by aggressive driving were similar. The logistic regression model for the youngest age group identified stressful driving, cannabis use, and higher annual mileage as being associated with victimization. For the oldest age group, these same variables were significant predictors of victimization, in addition to driving on busy roads. The logistic regression for the middle-aged group identified the same predictors as that of the oldest age group; however, interestingly driving after drinking was found to predict lower victimization among middle-aged drivers.

Conclusions

Although the prevalence of aggressive driving perpetration and victimization declined with age, the factors that contributed to aggressive driving remained generally stable across the lifespan. The results suggest that efforts to reduce aggressive driving among young drivers may prove to be effective for drivers from all age groups.