Self-esteem in schizophrenia: relationships between self-evaluation,family attitudes,and symptomatology

Participants with schizophrenia (N = 59) were assessed on self-evaluation, symptomatology, and positive and negative affect (expressed emotion) from significant others. An interview-based measure of self-evaluation was used and two independent dimensions of self-esteem were derived: negative and positive evaluation of self. As predicted, negative self-evaluation was strongly associated with positive symptoms, a more critical attitude from family members was associated with greater negative self-evaluation, and analyses supported a model whereby the impact of criticism on patients' positive symptoms was mediated by its association with negative self-evaluation. The interview-based method of self-esteem assessment was found to be superior to the questionnaire because its predictive effects remained after depressed mood was accounted for.     

Privileged treatment of toddlers: cultural aspects of individual choice and responsibility

This study examined the idea that toddlers in some communities are accorded a privileged status in which they are allowed what they want, assumed not yet to "understand" how to cooperate. U.S. middle-class and Guatemalan Mayan mothers and 3- to 5-year-old siblings were observed while the siblings and toddlers (14-20 months) both sought access to attractive objects. The Mayan toddlers' desires were usually respected by both the mothers and the siblings, who often voluntarily cooperated without mothers' intervention. In contrast, the U.S. middle-class toddlers seemed to be expected to follow the same rules for sharing (with some leniency) as the older children. The Mayan pattern fits a cultural model prioritizing both responsibility and respect for others' freedom of choice.     

Predicting the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation: the roles of self-determination, the balance of challenges and skills, and self-realization values

A series of studies was conducted to investigate the contributions of self-determination, perceived competence, and self-realization values to the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation. Using varying sets of instructions in these studies, college undergraduates generated and subsequently evaluated panels of identity-related activities. Three measures of the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation were used as outcome variables: (a) interest, (b) flow experiences, and (c) feelings of personal expressiveness. These subjective experience measures were strongly intercorrelated. Across studies, self-determination was found to be strongly associated with all of the subjective experience measures. In contrast, self-realization values made larger contributions to flow experiences and to personal expressiveness than to interest. Perceived competence, although significantly correlated with all subjective experience measures, played a considerably smaller role in the prediction of intrinsic motivation.     

The cultural adjustment and mental health of Japanese immigrant youth

Interviews were conducted with eight Japanese immigrant youth about their experiences with respect to adjusting to life in the United States, dealing with discrimination, and coping with cultural challenges. They were also questioned about their mental health and family and peer relations. Results indicate that participants managed to maintain bicultural identities and to cope with the problems that they encountered. Nevertheless, they experienced the following difficulties: racism and prejudice, language barriers, and conflict regarding identity and values. In terms of coping, participants mostly relied on friends for support; only one had sought the help of a professional counselor. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of working with immigrant youth from Japan.     

Early intervention after universal neonatal hearing screening: impact on outcomes

This article summarizes the developmental outcomes of Colorado children with significant hearing loss. Some of the research compares children born in hospitals that have implemented universal newborn hearing screening programs for newborns. Other research compares the developmental outcomes of children who have been early-identified with hearing loss. Early-identification is defined as identification of hearing loss within the first six months of life. Late identification in the Colorado studies is defined as age of identification of hearing loss after the age of six months. In a few of the Colorado studies, age at initiation of intervention was used. Within the Colorado system, age of identification can be interpreted as almost synonymous with age of intervention, as the vast majority of children enter intervention services with two months after the identification of the hearing loss. Children who were early-identified and had early initiation of intervention services (within the first year of life) had significantly better vocabulary, general language abilities, speech intelligibility and phoneme repertoires, syntax as measured by mean length of utterance, social-emotional development, parental bonding, and parental grief resolution. Two other studies (Nebraska and Washington state) of early- versus later-initiation of intervention services report findings similar to the Colorado studies. Direct comparisons with the historical literature are not possible because the developmental delays of what would now be termed "later-identified" were too low to report developmental ages for the birth through five-year-old population.     

Personality assessment in neuropsychology: the nonspecificity of MMPI-2 neurocorrection methods

Three established methods of neurocorrection claim to improve Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)/MMPI-2 validity with closed-head injury (CHI) patients. These methods (which suggest removing "neurological" items from scoring) were employed here comparing 35 CHI patients with 35 psychiatric patients with elevated profiles. The 14-item correction changed 2-point codes for 41% of CHI and 31% of psychiatric profiles, the 30-item system changed 77% of CHI and 71% of psychiatric profiles, whereas the 37-item system changed 80% of CHI and 71% of psychiatric profiles. There were no significant differences between the two groups in number of profiles changed or number of neurocorrective items endorsed. Using each of the three correction systems, the following percentage of profiles remained elevated: 99%, 87%, and 89%, respectively.     

Spiritual distress at life's end: finding meaning in the maelstrom

Recent trends in social research indicate a decline in church attendance and a corresponding increased interest in spirituality. With the aging of the population, attention to end of life care, with its corresponding spiritual concerns and distress, has become a prominent issue. Spiritual distress can be difficult to distinguish from psychological and physical distress and indicates the need for differential diagnostic markers to distinguish between genuine spiritual experience and psychosis related to the physical death process. Further, for hospice patients who are in genuine need of amelioration through pharmacologic suppression, the question of when and how to medicate becomes paramount as the distinction between spiritual process and physchosis becomes less evident. This article is an exploratory attempt to encourage dialogue across interdisciplinary lines and foster participation from alternative therapies representing the spiritual context of the patient. Anecdotal data from hospice professionals representing a variety of disciplines are presented to illustrate and emphasize the need for continued dialogue and research in this important area.     

The effects of aging on location-based and distance-based processes in memory for time

Retrieving when an event occurred may depend on an estimation of the age of the event (distance-based processes) or on strategic reconstruction processes based on contextual information associated with the event (location-based processes). Young and older participants performed a list discrimination task that has been designed to dissociate the contribution of both types of processes. An adapted Remember/Know/Guess procedure [Can. J. Exp. Psychol. 50 (1996) 114] was developed to evaluate the processes used by the participants to recognize the stimuli and retrieve their list of occurrence. The results showed that aging disrupts location-based processes more than distance-based processes. In addition, a limitation of speed of processing and working-memory capacities was the main predictor of age-related differences on location-based processes, whereas working-memory capacities mediated partly age differences on distance-based processes.     

Challenge and hindrance stress: relationships with exhaustion, motivation to learn, and learning performance

In a study of 696 learners, the authors found that stress associated with challenges in the learning environment had a positive relationship with learning performance and that stress associated with hindrances in the learning environment had a negative relationship with learning performance. They also found evidence suggesting that these stress-learning performance relationships were partially mediated by exhaustion and motivation to lean. Both forms of stress were positively related to exhaustion, and exhaustion was negatively related to learning performance. Hindrance stress was negatively related to motivation to learn, challenge stress was positively related to motivation to learn, and motivation to learn was positively related to learning performance. Implications with respect to theory and practice are discussed.     

Categorical processing in the left and right hemispheres: the effect of category repetition

Previous research has indicated that the right hemisphere (RH) exhibits priming for nonassociated category members, but that the left hemisphere (LH) does not (Chiarello et al., 1990; Chiarello & Richards, 1992). Subsequent research has shown that time course is an important factor, but what other variables might influence the priming of nonassociated semantic category members? We hypothesized that repeated stimulation of the same semantic category would produce priming within the LH. Previous studies have used few exemplars from a given semantic category and thus have not tested this idea. Our prediction was that the LH would show priming after an adequate number of category instances had been processed. Based on previous research, we predicted no change in the priming observed in the RH over trial block. Priming was obtained in the RH, but it diminished as category repetition increased. In contrast, priming was not significant in the LH, indicating that category repetition does not induce maintenance of category members within the LH.