Autonomic arousal as a cognitive cue in stressful situations1

The need for further investigation and integration in a real world situation is demonstrated in a critical review of the literature on autonomic feedback and attribution of arousal in stressful situations. In the present study, actual autonomic arousal, arbitrary feedback of arousal, and attributions for arousal were manipulated in a dental clinic where the subjects were awaiting oral surgery. The main prediction was that cognized arousal (due either to perception of actual arousal or to arbitrary feedback about arousal level) in the absence of a nonemotional attribution for that cognized arousal would lead to higher subjective report of anxiety and to greater avoidance than would be found with either of these conditions unmet. The results on the subjective report measure generally supported this hypothesis. In addition, arbitrary feedback about arousal level did not interact with the actual arousal manipulation; nor did it produce changes in pulse rate or blood pressure, further supporting a cognitive interpretation of the effects of autonomic arousal on subjective report. However, the study illustrates difficulties in inducing beneficial beliefs in the real world. And the manipulations generally did not affect the behavioral measure, probably due to the expected consequences of that behavior.     

Reflections on the Evaluation of a Cambodian Youth Dance Program

Evaluating a youth program whose goals are to provide instruction in Cambodian dance, increase awareness and pride in Cambodian culture, promote healthy behaviors, and create linkages within the community has been a challenge. A primary source of conflict was incorporating evaluation methods that were required of all funded programs with our own specifically tailored measures. One of our concerns was that the required tools were not culturally appropriate for our participants. Our experiences reinforce the importance of forming partnerships that embrace principles of respect, equity, and empowerment among all involved before establishing a research agenda. The choices we made and did not make contributed to our struggles and frustration and also to the insight that was gained. Our analysis examines the importance of clear communication, cultural awareness, tailoring evaluation, and meaningful participation. We believe that the lessons we learned will help facilitate the conduct of culturally sensitive community-based research.     

Interactive effects of situational judgment effectiveness and proactive personality on work perceptions and work outcomes

This study was based on a sample of 139 employees. The results support the hypothesis that proactive personality (PAP) predicts work perceptions (procedural justice perception, perceived supervisor support, and social integration) and work outcomes (job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and job performance) positively among individuals with high situational judgment effectiveness (SJE) but negatively among those with low SJE. The findings on the disordinal SJE = PAP interaction effects show that high levels of PAP may be either adaptive or maladaptive, depending on the individual's level of SJE, and these findings caution against direct interpretations of bivariate associations between PAP and work-relevant criteria. Limitations and implications of the study as well as future research directions on the study of PAP and situational judgment are discussed.     

Volunteers serving victims of sexual assault

Rape crisis volunteers who provide direct-care services to victims of sexual assault are a much-understudied group. Volunteers provide a crucial role in support of nonprofit rape crisis centers, and factors influencing their continued service are an important consideration for decision makers. In the present study, the authors examined--among volunteers providing hospital and crisis-line advocacy to victims of sexual assault--the training, service self-efficacy, social support, and experiences with victim blaming as correlates with overall satisfaction, affective commitment, and the intent to remain. Overall satisfaction and affective commitment were positively related to the intent to stay. Additionally, the perceived value of training was positively related to overall satisfaction and the intent to remain.     

Pilot assessment of pain of orthopaedic patients in Hong Kong

This pilot study examined the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the Chinese version of the Acute Lower Back Pain Screening Questionnaire. A sample of 45 acute low back pain patients (27 men and 18 women; mean age = 47.8) were recruited from the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the Tuen Mun Hospital in Hong Kong. Three items of the original questionnaire were excluded from the analyses because response was low by 30 of the 45 patients. The questionnaire showed good internal reliability (Cronbach alpha = .88) and correlated significantly with other test scores: the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (alpha = .74), the Chinese (Hong Kong) SF-12 Health Survey (Mental subscale, alpha = -.47; Physical subscale alpha = -.62), and the Chinese Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Anxiety subscale, alpha = .42; Depression subscale, alpha = .43). The questionnaire could be used in research and clinical work to provide data on the multicomponents of a pain experience as well as psychosocial risk factors related to pain among the Chinese. Researchers might examine the course of change in chronic pain.     

Old and new controversies in the alternative treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has become widespread in both referral and primary care populations. We review the purported mechanism of action and available evidence for selected CAM therapies for ADHD. Enduring controversies, such as elimination of artificial food additives, colors, and/or preservatives; the effect of sugar on behavior in children; and the use of EEG biofeedback, have been well studied but lack support as effective sole treatments for ADHD. The initial evidence for some emerging CAM therapies, such as essential fatty acid supplementation, yoga, massage, homeopathy, and green outdoor spaces, suggests potential benefits as part of an overall ADHD treatment plan. More rigorously designed studies are needed to evaluate their effectiveness as single therapy for ADHD.     

Publication Patterns of The Personnel and Guidance Journal/Journal of Counseling & Development: 1978 to 1993

The purposes of this study were (a) to identify the primary institutional sources of articles to The Personnel and Guidance Journal/Journal of Counseling & Development from 1978 to 1993 (Volumes 57–71); (b) to identify the primary individual contributors to this journal during the survey period; (c) to identify and compare the program affiliations of individual contributors by editor during the survey period; and (d) to speculate as to whether the study results, collectively, indicate a trend toward more psychologists than counselors contributing to this journal. A total of 1,843 articles were reviewed. Of the 2,198 authors, 69% were academicians and 31% were practitioners. The data suggest that there has been a clear pattern of more psychologists than counselors contributing to this journal.     

Covariance structure analysis of ordinal ipsative data

Data are ipsative if they are subject to a constant-sum constraint for each individual. In the present study, ordinal ipsative data (OID) are defined as the ordinal rankings across a vector of variables. It is assumed that OID are the manifestations of their underlying nonipsative vector y, which are difficult to observe directly. A two-stage estimation procedure is suggested for the analysis of structural equation models with OID. In the first stage, the partition maximum likelihood (PML) method and the generalized least squares (GLS) method are proposed for estimating the means and the covariance matrix of A_cy, where A_c is a known contrast matrix. Based on the joint asymptotic distribution of the first stage estimator and an appropriate weight matrix, the generalized least squares method is used to estimate the structural parameters in the second stage. A goodness-of-fit statistic is given for testing the hypothesized covariance structure. Simulation results show that the proposed method works properly when a sufficiently large sample is available.This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants DA01070 and DA10017. The authors are indebted to Dr. Lee Cooper, Dr. Eric Holman, Dr. Thomas Wickens for their valuable suggestions on this study, and Dr. Fanny Cheung for allowing us to use her CPAI data set in this article. The authors would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments from the editor and the two anonymous reviewers.     

Reward dominance and passive avoidance learning in adolescent psychopaths

This study tests predictions that adolescent psychopaths are hyperresponsive to rewards (Quay, 1988) and deficient in passive avoidance learning (Newman & Kosson, 1986). Forty male adolescent juvenile offenders were divided into psychopaths and nonpsychopaths using cluster analysis. Subjects were administered a passive avoidance learning task which required learning when to respond to cards associated with either reward or punishment. Results showed a greater responsivity to reward in psychopaths, with no group differences in passive avoidance errors. Results lend support to the view that psychopaths tend to focus on the prospect of reward under conditions of mixed incentives and, when sufficiently motivated, are capable of improved performance. Together with findings of recent psychophysiological studies, these results suggest that adolescent psychopaths may have latent abilities which could have treatment implications.The authors are greatly indebted to the boys and staff of the testing institution for their kind cooperation in this study. Thanks are also due to Dr. Rand Wilcox for statistical consultation and Cheryl Eurton and Marni Ayers for assistance in data coding.