Self-report schedules for use in assessing the marital adjustment of abusive and nonabusive parents

Abstract

Abusive parents and nonabusive parents were compared on three self-report behavioral marital questionnaires. The questionnaires—the Marital Status Inventory, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, and the Areas of Change Questionnaire—have been used in pre-post evaluations of treatment and in the discrimination of distressed from nondistressed marriages. The results indicated that both groups reported having only mildly distressed marital relationships. The report presents initial normative data on the questionnaires for abusive parents and nonabusive parents who were seeking help with child management problems.     

Training analysis in the dutch society for psychoanalytic psychotherapy: A survey of attitudes and feasibility

SUMMARY

As is the case in many training courses in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, one of the training requirements of the Dutch Society for Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy (NVPP) is a training analysis, currently a minimum duration of 700 hours. During the last few years, this requirement has become somewhat controversial. Because the NVPP does not have information about the current interest in NVPP membership, the Board of the NVPP decided to do a survey. Of 995 psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists, who had recently completed their training, or were still in training, 623 filled in a questionnaire. Of those who are interested in the NVPP training, 39 per cent judged the training analysis as not feasible in terms of time, and 61 per cent in terms of money. Forms of personal treatment thought desirable for anyone who wishes to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist at a specialist level are, in descending order, psychoanalytic psychotherapy (63%), psychoanalysis (39%), psychoanalytic group psychotherapy (25%), and psychoanalytic marital or family therapy (6%). Respondents who judge personal analysis as not feasible, also tend to judge psychoanalysis to be equivalent to other forms of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, whereas those who judge personal analysis as feasible, tend to think that personal analysis is essential for a psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the specialist level.     

Emotion regulation and the temporal dynamics of emotions: Effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on emotional inertia

The tendency for emotions to be predictable over time, labelled emotional inertia, has been linked to low well-being and is thought to reflect impaired emotion regulation. However, almost no studies have examined how emotion regulation relates to emotional inertia. We examined the effects of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on the inertia of behavioural, subjective and physiological measures of emotion. In Study 1 (N = 111), trait suppression was associated with higher inertia of negative behaviours. We replicated this finding experimentally in Study 2 (N = 186). Furthermore, in Study 2, instructed suppressors and reappraisers both showed higher inertia of positive behaviours, and reappraisers displayed higher inertia of heart rate. Neither suppression nor reappraisal were associated with the inertia of subjective feelings in either study. Thus, the effects of suppression and reappraisal on the temporal dynamics of emotions depend on the valence and emotional response component in question.     

Examination of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory Discrepancy Hypothesis

ABSTRACT

This study examined the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) discrepancy hypothesis, which asserts that a discrepancy in score elevations on the ECBI Intensity and Problem Scales is related to problematic parenting styles. The Intensity Scale measures the frequency of child disruptive behavior, and the Problem Scale measures parent perception of their child's behavior as problematic. In a sample of 216 female caregivers of 3-to7-year-old children, the magnitude of discrepancy between T scores on the two ECBI scales was found to predict parental tolerance for child misbehavior. A one-standard-deviation difference in ECBI T scores identified (a) parents intolerant of their child's misbehavior when the Problem score was highest and (b) overly permissive parents when the Intensity score was highest.     

Treatment Outcome for Low Socioeconomic Status African American Families in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: A Pilot Study

The course and efficacy of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) were examined in 18 socioeconomically disadvantaged African American families of preschoolers with disruptive behavior disorders. Mothers reported significant improvements in child disruptive behavior but not in maternal depressive symptoms or parenting stress. Attrition was 56%, most often occurring after pre-treatment assessment but before treatment began. Results suggest that PCIT may lead to positive behavior changes for disadvantaged young African American children when families complete treatment. Recruitment, engagement, and retention remain significant problems requiring further study. Reduction of parenting stress also requires study in this population.     

Authoritarianism and fear responses to pictures: The role of social differences

Authoritarianism can be defined as the covariation of authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism (Altemeyer, 1981). All three of these tendencies involve adherence to specific standards of behavior: standards that could be exposed to threat and disruption. This study is an investigation of the self‐reported fear of authoritarians in response to threats. A sample of 126 university students was exposed to a series of pictures of potentially threatening people and situations. In general, participants with high scores on authoritarianism were more fearful than participants with low scores. This result was found for both social threats (i.e., social differences, social disorder) and personal threats (i.e., animals, dangerous situations). The strongest association between authoritarianism and fear involved cases of social differences, defined as elements of a person's appearance or behavior that involve diversity or deviance from common social norms. Regression analyses also indicated that variation in authoritarianism could be best predicted by fear of social differences. Thus, these data suggest that authoritarians are relatively sensitive to threat, and particularly to threats involving the “outsider” who does not fit authoritarian standards of uniformity and order. The data are also consistent with recent research and theory that right‐wing ideology is at least partly motivated by threat and fear.     

A pound is a pound is a pound

According to the relevant alternatives theory of knowledge (RA), I know that p only if my evidence eliminates all relevant alternatives to p. Jonathan Schaffer has recently argued that David Lewis's version of RA, which is perhaps the most detailed version yet provided, cannot account for our failure to know in cases involving missed clues, that is, cases in which we see but fail to appreciate decisive evidence. I argue, however, that Lewis's version of RA survives exposure to missed clue cases. Moreover, even though Schaffer maintains that Lewis's Rule of Belief provides no protection against missed clue cases, I argue that we should credit the Rule of Belief with ensuring the survival of Lewis's version of RA.     

Effects of Solution Elicitation Aids and Need for Cognition on the Generation of Solutions to Ill-Structured Problems

Numerous techniques have been proposed to assist problem solvers in the solution generation process. We empirically examined the effectiveness of a solution elicitation technique based on the presentation of problem objectives and also examined whether the technique was effective across individual differences in need for cognition (NC). We found that when two conflicting objectives were presented successively, more solutions, more categories of solutions, and more effective solutions were generated than when the same two objectives were presented simultaneously or not at all. However, the results indicated that effective solutions may be more efficiently generated by considering objectives simultaneously. Need for cognition was positively related to measures of divergent thinking, and the presentation of objectives was particularly effective as a solution elicitation aid for individuals with low NC. Implications for creative problem-solving research and practice are discussed.     

Exploring Individual and Contextual Antecedents of Attitudes Toward the Acceptability of Cheating and Plagiarism

The purpose of this study was to identify the relative contribution of individual and contextual predictors to students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and plagiarism. A group of 324 students from a tertiary institution in New Zealand completed an online survey. The findings indicate that gender, justice sensitivity, and understanding of university policies regarding academic dishonesty were the key predictors of the students’ attitudes toward the acceptability of cheating and plagiarism, both as agents of dishonest conduct and as witnesses of misconduct among their peers. The implications of these findings for the development of policies and initiatives in tertiary institutions are discussed.     

The psychological impact of facial changes in scleroderma

The physical disabilities associated with scleroderma are well known but the psychological impact of the condition has received less attention. Few studies have examined appearance related issues, most notably of the face. The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychological impact of facial, aesthetic and functional changes in scleroderma. One hundred seventy-one patients with a clinical diagnosis of scleroderma were recruited into the study. Digital photographs were objectively graded into groups based on severity of disfigurement as judged by an observer. Facial movement was recorded using a modified House-Brackmann Grading Scale. Psychological evaluation comprised the Derriford Appearance Scale short-form (DAS), the Noticeability and Worry score and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Severity of disfigurement predicted decreased mouth opening, the extent to which participants judged their appearance as noticeable to others, and the level of appearance-related concern as measured by the DAS24. There was an inverse relationship with age. Facial changes were ranked as the most worrying aspect of the condition. This study shows facial disfigurement impacts on patient with scleroderma independent of functional changes related to systemic disease. The major difficulty is with the perceived noticeably of the condition to other people and the resulting self-consciousness in social encounters.