Psychosocial Well‐Being and a Multicultural Personality Disposition

This study examined the relationship between psychosocial well‐being and a multicultural personality disposition in undergraduates (N = 124). Measures of universal‐diverse orientation, hardiness, psychosocial‐interpersonal functioning, self‐esteem, and political correctness ideology were administered. Results indicated that the multicultural personality disposition of universal‐diverse orientation significantly predicted psychological hardiness, psychosocial‐interpersonal functioning, and self‐esteem beyond the influence of politically correct responding. These findings suggest that having a multicultural personality disposition (universal‐diverse orientation) may be positively related to psychosocial well‐being.     

Greater attention problems during childhood predict poorer executive functioning in late adolescence

Attention problems (behavior problems including inattention, disorganization, impulsivity, and hyperactivity) are widely thought to reflect deficits in executive functions (EFs). However, it is unclear whether attention problems differentially relate to distinct EFs and how developmental stability and change predict levels of EFs in late adolescence. We investigated, in an unselected sample, how teacher-rated attention problems from ages 7 to 14 years related to three correlated but separable EFs, measured as latent variables at age 17. Attention problems at all ages significantly predicted later levels of response inhibition and working memory updating, and to some extent set shifting; the relation to inhibiting was stronger than the relations to the other EFs or IQ. Growth models indicated that attention problems were quite stable in this age range, and it was the initial levels of problems, rather than their changes across time, that predicted later EFs. These results support the hypothesis that attention problems primarily reflect difficulties with response inhibition.     

Health anxiety, hypochondriasis, and the anxiety disorders

Although clinical observations suggest that health-related anxiety is present, to some extent, in a number of anxiety disorders, this relationship has not been examined empirically. The present study therefore utilized the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) to elucidate the structure of such symptoms among patients with anxiety disorders and to empirically investigate the presence of health anxiety in various anxiety disorders. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded equivalent support for either a 2-factor or 3-factor model of the SHAI's latent structure. The measure demonstrated good reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Comparison of SHAI scores across groups of patients with various anxiety disorders revealed elevated levels of health anxiety among patients with hypochondriasis and panic disorder relative to those with other anxiety disorders. Receiver operating characteristic analyses supported the utility of the SHAI as a diagnostic tool for screening patients with hypochondriasis utilizing empirically derived cut scores. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioral models of anxiety disorders.     

Suicide schema in schizophrenia: the effect of emotional reactivity, negative symptoms and schema elaboration

Suicide risk is thought to increase with a greater potential for activation of suicide-related schemas. Suicide schemas are less likely to be activated with reductions of emotional range associated with certain negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The study tested whether suicide risk would increase in patients with recent onset schizophrenia with increased potential for suicide schema activation as indicated by lower levels of specific negative symptoms that reflected emotional reactivity, namely emotional withdrawal and blunted affect. A logistic regression analysis of baseline data of 278 recent onset schizophrenic patients with a measure of suicide behaviour as the dependent variable and negative symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, depression, gender, episode, ethnicity, education, age, duration of untreated psychosis and substance use as independent variables was carried out. Emotional withdrawal, but not blunted affect was significant and negatively associated, and depression positively associated with suicide behaviour. There was evidence to indicate that restricted emotions are associated with reduced suicide risk as predicted.     

Conflicting social motives in negotiating groups

Negotiators' social motives (cooperative vs. individualistic) influence their strategic behaviors. In this study, the authors used multilevel modeling and analyses of strategy sequences to test hypotheses regarding how negotiators' social motives and the composition of the group influence group members' negotiation strategies. Four-person groups negotiating a 5-issue mixed-motive decision-making task were videotaped, and the tapes were transcribed and coded. Group composition included 2 homogeneous conditions (all cooperators and all individualists) and 3 heterogeneous conditions (3 cooperators and 1 individualist, 2 cooperators and 2 individualists, 1 cooperator and 3 individualists). Results showed that cooperative negotiators adjusted their use of integrative and distributive strategies in response to the social-motive composition of the group, but individualistic negotiators did not. Results from analyses of strategy sequences showed that cooperators responded more systematically to others' behaviors than did individualists. They also redirected the negotiation depending on group composition.     

Abnormal motor movements associated with combining psychostimulants and atypical antipsychotics in children

A random sampling of patients taking a psychostimulant, an atypical antipsychotic, a combination of both, or neither were administered a brief examination to assess the possibility of abnormal motor movements induced by combining these classes of medications. Children on the combination demonstrated significant abnormalities when compared to those on either medication alone. This suggests a need for further study of neurologic risks associated with combining these medications.     

Learning to label letters by sounds or names: a comparison of England and the United States

Learning about letters is an important foundation for literacy development. Should children be taught to label letters by conventional names, such as /bi/ for b, or by sounds, such as /b/? We queried parents and teachers, finding that those in the United States stress letter names with young children, whereas those in England begin with sounds. Looking at 5- to 7-year-olds in the two countries, we found that U.S. children were better at providing the names of letters than were English children. English children outperformed U.S. children on letter-sound tasks, and differences between children in the two countries declined with age. We further found that children use the first-learned set of labels to inform the learning of the second set. As a result, English and U.S. children made different types of errors in letter-name and letter-sound tasks. The children's invented spellings also differed in ways reflecting the labels they used for letters.