Performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSIs) among minority offenders

Previous research has shown the performance of the CJDATS Co-Occurring Disorders Screening Instruments (CODSI-MD and SMD)--six- and three-item instruments to screen for any mental disorder (CODSI-MD) and for severe mental disorders (CODSI-SMD), respectively--to be comparable or superior to other, longer instruments. This study tested the stability of the performance of the CODSI-MD and SMD across three racial/ethnic groups of offenders entering prison substance abuse treatment programs (n = 353), consisting of 96 African American, 120 Latino, and 137 White admissions. The Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) was used to obtain DSM-IV Axis I and II diagnoses; a lifetime SCID diagnosis of a mental disorder or a severe mental disorder was the criterion against which the CODSI-MD and SMD were validated. Results showed no statistical differences in sensitivity or specificity for either the CODSI-MD or SMD across the African American, Latino, and White prisoner groups. The value of the CODSI-MD and SMD as brief screens for mental disorders among offenders with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds is discussed.     

An adult model of preschool children’s speech memory

In previous work, it has been demonstrated that phonetic similarity among the items in a spoken list interferes with recall much more in school-aged children than in preschool children. The basis of this developmental change, however, is unclear. In the present study we examined the possibility that a developmental increase in the use of covert verbal rehearsal accounts for the change in the effects of phonetic similarity. Adults who recalled lists of spoken words during articulatory suppression tasks that blocked covert rehearsal were found to display patterns of recall that resembled those ordinarily found in 5-year-old children. The specific aspects of rehearsal responsible for these effects also were investigated.     

Resilience Mediates the Relations Between Perfectionism and College Student Distress

This study examined the relations among perfectionism dimensions, resilience, and distress. Participants were 413 undergraduate students. All 3 of Hewitt and Flett's (2004) dimensions of perfectionism were associated with greater reports of depression and anxiety; however, only socially prescribed perfectionism was significantly associated with resilience. Results indicated that resilience partially mediated the relations between socially prescribed perfectionism and distress. Implications for counselors in the prevention, assessment, and treatment of depression and anxiety are discussed.     

Maternal Sensitivity and Anxiety: Impacts on Child Outcome

ABSTRACT

Children of anxious parents have been shown to be at an increased risk of developing an anxiety disorder. Thus, it is critically important to identify factors that increase or decrease that risk. The depression literature has shown that maternal sensitivity decreases negative child outcome associated with maternal depression. The current study was designed to determine whether maternal sensitivity may buffer children of anxious mothers in a similar way. Three hypotheses were tested. First, that anxious mothers would display less sensitivity than nonanxious mothers in interactions with their children; that there would be an interaction between sensitivity and anxiety on child outcome; and that sensitivity would account for variance in child outcome beyond that attributed to anxiety. One hundred and twenty-five mothers (75 anxious) and their children (ages 3–12) completed the study. Mothers were administered the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-IV and Parent, and a subset also completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Children completed the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-Child. Dyads also engaged in two interaction tasks (one cognitive, one social) which were coded for maternal sensitivity and three child outcome behaviors. Results showed that anxious mothers displayed less sensitivity in the social task but not in the cognitive task. An interaction between anxiety and sensitivity was found only when predicting child negativity in the social task. Finally, maternal sensitivity was found to account for variance in child outcome beyond that of anxiety. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ethnicity and the stigma of disabilities

Abstract

Recent studies reveal significant differences in the attitudes held by people of various ethnic groups toward people with disabilities. We surveyed university students and community members on a scale of desired social distance from people with disabilities. Study 1 revealed that Asian-American participants were more likely to stigmatize and less likely to differentiate between individuals with physical and mental illness than were their African-American, Latin-American or European-American counterparts. Study 2 compared U.S. born with Asian born Asian-Americans and found that nativity was a useful predictor of attitudes toward people with disabilities. Asian born participants were more likely to stigmatize disabilities overall (except mental illness and old age) than U.S. born participants presumably because of the level of assimilation. These cultural differences may have health care and psychosocial implications for those who are disabled and for health care providers.     

A Minority Stress Model for Suicidal Ideation in Gay Men

There is a dearth of research on mechanisms underlying higher rates of suicidal ideation among gay men compared to heterosexual men. The purpose of this study was to establish the link between social/psychological predictor variables and suicidal ideation by testing a hypothesized minority stress model. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationships posited in the model using data from a community sample of 167 gay men. Model fit was adequate and hypothesized relationships were partially supported. Also, depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship between (less) outness predicting suicidal ideation. These findings imply that therapeutic approaches targeting the coming out process may be more effective than approaches targeting internalized homophobia when suicidal ideation is indicated in the clinical presentation of gay and bisexual men.     

Rationality,sociology and the symmetry thesis

This paper attempts to clarify the debate between those philosophers who hold that the development of science is governed by objective standards of rationality and those sociologists of science who deny this. In particular it focuses on the debate over the ‘symmetry thesis’. Bloor and Barnes argue that a properly scientific approach to science itself demands that an investigator should seek the same general type of explanation for all decisions and actions by past scientists, quite independently of whether or not she or he happens to agree with those decisions or approve those actions as ‘correct’ or ‘rational’. I try to improve on previous treatments of the ‘rationalist’ position (by Lakatos, Laudan, Newton‐Smith and Brown) and clarify the exact asymmetries to which the ‘rationalist’ is, and is not, committed.     

The development of emotional responses to music in young children

Children aged 3 to 4 and 7 to 8 years listened to eight tunes which were either in the major or minor mode and either unaccompanied melody or harmonized. For each tune children selected one of two schematic faces chosen to depict happy or sad facial expressions. Children 7 to 8 years old showed a significant major-happy and minor-sad connotation, which was also shown by adults. However 3 to 4 year-olds did not show any such significant association between musical mode and emotional response. Harmonic accompaniment significantly increased the frequency of happy responses. The results support the idea of a learned association between mode and emotional response. We thank the teachers and children of Mauldeth Road County Primary School and Ladybarn Primary School, Manchester, for their cooperation, and we thank Debra Raye and Daniela Milone for help with testing.     

Enlivening Models of Pastoral Care: Relating Theory to the Complex Life Experiences Depicted in Fiction

In this paper, the tradition in pastoral psychology of relating theoretical models to the specific practice of psychotherapy will be examined by using new hermeneutics to understand how psychological and theological studies are inter-related in pastoral psychology. The hazard of this tradition is that psychological languages being used in technical ways may arise out of a mechanistic orientation to the world. The benefits of using fiction as an experiential grounding for theory will be described. Two novels, Paradise news, by David Lodge and The autobiography of my mother, by Jamaica Kincaid will be employed to illustrate how using fiction can enliven models of pastoral care by pushing pastoral psychologists to interface imaginative language with conceptual language from several disciplines.     

Whose self is it anyway? Self-aspect control moderates the relation between self-complexity and well-being

Greater self-complexity refers to the extent that one’s self-concept is comprised of many and relatively differentiated self-aspects. Although some research has found that those greater in self-complexity fare better physically (e.g., fewer illnesses) and psychologically (e.g., less depression) when experiencing stress, other studies have reported another pattern of data (e.g., greater self-complexity predicts greater depression). In the current work, two studies found support for a moderating variable in this latter pattern, self-aspect control. Specifically, for those who perceived relatively little control over their self-aspects, being greater in self-complexity predicted worse physical and psychological outcomes. Study 2 tested alternative explanations and supported an interpretation that perceptions of control over one’s multiple selves, in particular, moderated the relation between self-complexity and well-being.