Risk profiles of adolescent girls who were victims of dating violence

The prevalence of dating violence, as well as its relationship to potential risk factors, was examined among a nationally representative sample of 9th-through 12th-grade U.S. females (N = 7,824) who completed the 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The dependent variable was physical dating violence; the independent variables were violence, suicide, substance use, and sexual risk behavior. Unadjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were examined, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the most significant risk factors. It was found that nearly one in ten of the adolescent girls reported dating violence. Twelfth-grade girls had the highest prevalence of dating violence. Girls who were victims of dating violence were more likely to be involved in other violent behaviors, to report extreme sadness and suicidal actions, to use illicit substances, and to engage in risky sexual behavior. Multivariate analysis revealed that dating violence was associated with sad/hopeless feelings (OR = 2.13), binge drinking (OR = 1.96), cocaine or inhalant use (OR = 2.90), multiple sex partners (OR = 2.38), nonuse of condoms (OR = 1.53), and ethnicity, specifically being Black (OR = 2.32) or Hispanic (OR = 1.82). These findings provide further evidence that there is a clustering of risk factors among certain adolescents, specifically girls who experience dating violence.     

Cultural meanings of nature: an analysis of contemporary motion pictures

To evaluate current cultural meanings of nature, the authors asked 65 undergraduate students to "list 3 movies in which nature was an important aspect of the film." They also were asked to specify the natural element that stood out to them and describe "how it related to the overall theme of the movie." Two independent groups of raters skilled in interpretive analysis developed thematic meanings from these responses. Following this, in a 2nd study, a different group of participants rated the 18 most frequently mentioned natural elements on thematic scales derived from the initial interpretive analysis. Participants in the 1st study mentioned 33 different movies at least twice and 5 themes that captured the meaning of nature in these films. Correlational results derived from the 2nd study indicated that rating scales reflecting these 5 themes formed 2 distinct groups; the first group described settings in which nature is experienced as adversarial and plays a significant role in dramatic action, and the second group defined settings in which nature is viewed either as a place of refuge or simply as a locale in which ongoing narrative action occurs. The general conclusion reached in both studies concerns the often noted but not always appreciated fact that movies--similar to everyday events and actions--always take place in specific settings and that neither life events nor dramatic narratives can be understood apart from specific settings.     

Sex differences in the effect of articulatory or spatial dual-task interference during navigation

Women are more likely to employ landmark-based strategies when navigating, and they are superior at employing this type of strategy. The cause of this sexually dimorphic behaviour is unknown. Seventy-nine undergraduates performed a matrix navigation task wherein the symbols within the matrix were highly nameable. Participants were either given landmark-based or Euclidean-based instructions for navigation within the matrix. During navigation, participants were subjected to either articulatory or spatial interference. The articulatory interference selectively impaired women's ability to navigate correctly, regardless of the type of instruction. The performance of the men was not affected differentially by the two types of interference. When given a test of symbol recognition following the navigation task, women recognized more of the symbols employed in the task. Collectively, this result suggests that women rely on linguistic information more than men do when navigating, regardless of the type of instruction.     

Incremental validity and the assessment of psychopathology in adults

Results from studies on incremental validity are described for (a) interviews, (b) personality inventories, (c) projective techniques, and (d) brief self-rated and clinician-rated measures. In some of the studies (clinical judgment studies), psychologists were given increasing amounts of information. In other studies (statistical prediction studies), increasing amounts of assessment information were entered into a statistical prediction rule. Although relatively little research has been conducted on incremental validity, results that have been obtained tend to favor the use of interviews, personality inventories (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R., Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989), and brief self-rated measures (e.g., the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, S. Reiss, R. A. Peterson, D. M. Gursky, & R. M. McNally, 1986). Results are generally less encouraging for projective techniques.     

The clinician-investigator: unavoidable but manageable tension

The "difference position" holds that clinical research and therapeutic medical practice are sufficiently distinct activities to require different ethical rules and principles. The "similarity position" holds instead that clinical investigators ought to be bound by the same fundamental principles that govern therapeutic medicine--specifically, a duty to provide the optimal therapeutic benefit to each patient or subject. Some defenders of the similarity position defend it because of the overlap between the role of attending physician and the role of investigator in a research trial. This overlap is maximal when the same physician occupies both roles with respect to a particular patient-subject. We address the ethical tensions inherent in that role conflict and argue that the tensions are real but manageable. The difference position provides a sound ethical framework within which to manage those tensions, while the similarity position is unsatisfactory because it seeks to deny the existence of the tensions.     

Inhibition of return in a selective reaching task: an investigation of reference frames.

Most previous studies of inhibition of return (IOR) have examined reaction time (RT) and accuracy. These effects have been observed via saccades to targets or with key-press responses. In this study the authors examined, for the first time, IOR in components of a selective reaching task in which participants directly reached for and depressed target keys. When the interval between cue and target was 600 ms, robust IOR effects were observed in RT to begin the reach, but no effects were observed in the movement components (movement time to complete the reach and the path of the reach). However, when the cue-target interval was short (200 ms), hand paths deviated toward the cue. The results suggest that although RT measures of IOR appear to reveal perceptual rather than action-based processes, action-based representations may be briefly activated by irrelevant cues, which can be observed via analysis of three-dimensional reach path.