Developing a screening instrument and at-risk profile for nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior in college women and men

Archival data (N = 1,048 women, 1,136 men) from a mental health survey of college students were used to investigate incidence of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), including cutting. Significant levels (defined as 4-5 lifetime incidents) were found in 9.3% of women and 5.3% of men. The Counseling Center Assessment for Psychological Symptoms (a global symptom inventory) and an assessment of trauma had been field tested with this sample. We randomly partitioned half of these data into a holdout sample and used the remainder to develop an NSSI screening inventory that included (a) 5 women's screening items, including 1 item to assess trauma experienced; (b) 11 men's screening items; and (c) 12 items common to men and women, including depression, dissociation, anger, unwanted thoughts, nightmares or flashbacks, and having witnessed trauma. Logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis suggested the inventory significantly discriminated NSSI men and women in the holdout sample, p < .001. Cutoff scores were identified to correctly classify about 48% of the true positive male and female NSSI cases, with false positive rates of 13.2% and 8.4% for women and men, respectively.     

Stimulus disparity and punisher control of human signal-detection performance

The present experiment examined the effects of varying stimulus disparity and relative punisher frequencies on signal detection by humans. Participants were placed into one of two groups. Group 3 participants were presented with 1:3 and 3:1 punisher frequency ratios, while Group 11 participants were presented with 1:11 and 11:1 punisher frequency ratios. For both groups, stimulus disparity was varied across three levels (low, medium, high) for each punisher ratio. In all conditions, correct responses were intermittently reinforced (1:1 reinforcer frequency ratio). Participants were mostly biased away from the more punished alternative, with more extreme response biases found for Group 11 participants compared to Group 3. For both groups, estimates of discriminability increased systematically across the three disparity levels and were unaffected by the punisher ratios. Likewise, estimates of response bias and sensitivity to the punisher ratios were unaffected by changes in discriminability, supporting the assumption of parameter invariance in the Davison and Tustin (1978) model of signal detection. Overall, the present experiment found no relation between stimulus control and punisher control, and provided further evidence for similar but opposite effects of punishers to reinforcers in signal-detection procedures.     

Reliability of 16 balance tests in individuals with Down syndrome

To assess test-retest reliability scores on 16 balance tests of 21 individuals with Down syndrome whose ages ranged from 5 to 31 yr., participants performed a standing test on firm and soft surfaces with the eyes open and closed, the balance subset of the Bruininks-Oseretsky test, full turn, timed-up-and-go test, forward reach, and sit-to-stand. Each participant completed all 16 tests twice in one day and then again on a subsequent day for a total of 4 sessions. The interclass reliability correlation coefficients (ICC) value for each measure of balance varied considerably by age and sex. Based on having an ICC > .50, only 3 tests were reliable in young males and young females, whereas 5 tests could reliably be used in adult females and 9 tests could reliably be used in adult males. The results of this study raise suspicions as to the reliability of tests commonly used to assess balance and differences in reliability due to age and sex. Results of balance tests should be interpreted with caution in males and females with Down syndrome across the age span.     

A Call to Broaden and Build Mikulincer and Shaver's Work on the Benefits of Priming Attachment Security

Psychologists have tended to view religion from a distance as a global, undifferentiated, stable process that is largely good or largely bad. This article presents a more fine-grained analysis of religion and its implications for well-being, positive and negative. The empirical literature points to five conclusions. First, some forms of religion are more helpful than others. Well-being has been linked positively to a religion that is internalized, intrinsically motivated, and based on a secure relationship with God and negatively to a religion that is imposed, unexamined, and reflective of a tenuous relationship with God and the world. Second, there are advantages and disadvantages to even controversial forms of religion, such as fundamentalism. Third, religion is particularly helpful to socially marginalized groups and to those who embed religion more fully in their lives. Fourth, religious beliefs and practices appear to be especially valuable in stressful situations that push people to the limits of their resources. Finally, the efficacy of religion is tied to the degree to which it is well integrated in the individual's life. These conclusions belie stereotypes or simple summaries about religion. Instead, they suggest that religion is a richer, more complex process than psychologists have imagined, one that has the potential both to help and to harm. Questions about the general efficacy of religion should give way to the more difficult but more appropriate question, How helpful or harmful are particular forms of religious expression for particular people dealing with particular situations in particular social contexts according to particular criteria of helpfulness or harmfulness?     

Crime,drug abuse,mental illness,and homelessness

In this project, 345 homeless persons were interviewed during the period from May, 1985 to May, 1986 in Richmond, Virginia. Data reveal that current afflictions (e.g., hallucinations) are related to major life events in the past (i.e., psychiatric hospitalizations). Further, certain experiences prior to adulthood (e.g., drug use) predict these major life events (e.g., crime). Thus, the data support a general “drift down” hypothesis as a useful explanation of homeless for future theory development. Some policy implications are given.     

Deterring Anger and Anger-Motivated Behaviors

Two experiments were carried out to explore an anger-reducing strategy based on Brehm's emotional intensity theory. According to this theory, anger can be reduced indirectly by interfering with the feeling of anger rather than by dealing directly with the source of anger. One strategy involves providing the angered person with a reason for feeling happy. We predicted that anger intensity would be reduced not only by a large reason for feeling happy, such as a large gift, but also by a small reason, like a tiny gift. A medium-size gift was expected to maintain anger at approximately its instigated level. Both experiments instigated anger by personal insult and then measured the intensity of felt anger and retaliation after either no further treatment, or a small, a moderate, or large irrelevant gift was presented. The results for felt anger and retaliation confirmed our theoretical expectations.     

An Application of the LC-LSTM Framework to the Self-esteem Instability Case

The present research evaluates the stability of self-esteem as assessed by a daily version of the Rosenberg (Society and the adolescent self-image, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1965) general self-esteem scale (RGSE). The scale was administered to 391 undergraduates for five consecutive days. The longitudinal data were analyzed using the integrated LC-LSTM framework that allowed us to evaluate: (1) the measurement invariance of the RGSE, (2) its stability and change across the 5-day assessment period, (3) the amount of variance attributable to stable and transitory latent factors, and (4) the criterion-related validity of these factors. Results provided evidence for measurement invariance, mean-level stability, and rank-order stability of daily self-esteem. Latent state-trait analyses revealed that variances in scores of the RGSE can be decomposed into six components: stable self-esteem (40 %), ephemeral (or temporal-state) variance (36 %), stable negative method variance (9 %), stable positive method variance (4 %), specific variance (1 %) and random error variance (10 %). Moreover, latent factors associated with daily self-esteem were associated with measures of depression, implicit self-esteem, and grade point average.