Specific worry about breast cancer predicts mammography use in women at risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

This longitudinal study examined predictors of mammography use among women with a family history of breast cancer participating in a risk assessment and surveillance program (N = 213). Assessed were background variables (age, prior mammography utilization), cognitive variables (perceived vulnerability), and affective variables (cancer worry and general distress). Results of logistic regression analyses predicting adherence 1 year after baseline contact, in which variables of prior utilization, feelings of vulnerability, and general distress were controlled for, indicated that cancer worry and age were significant predictors of mammography adherence. Results suggest that moderate levels of cancer worry facilitate, rather than undermine, adherence. The results have implications for the construction of educational messages that should be designed to acknowledge feelings of cancer-specific worry and to provide guidance in health protective behaviors.     

Values Espoused by Australian and US Organisations

On a compare´ les valeurs de 132 organisations, 77 australiennes et 55 ame´ricaines, apparie´es selon la branche industrielle. Un logiciel d'analyse de contenu a recense´ les re´fe´rences aux valeurs dans les rapports annuels des anne´es 1986 a` 1990. On a compare´ les fre´quences des re´fe´rences a` neuf valeurs graĉe a` l'analyse de re´gression multiple et a` l'analyse en clusters, ce qui a permis de classer chaque organisation dans l'une de quatre cate´gories the´oriques de´finies par leur profil ou structure de valeurs: Elite, Leadership, Me´ritocratique et Colle´giale (Kabanoff, 1991). Les organisations de type me´ritocratique caracte´risent davantage les organisations ame´ricaines que les organisations australiennes, tandis que l'inverse est vrai pour les organisations de type e´litiste.
Seventy‐seven Australian and 55 US organisations matched by industry were compared in terms of their espoused values by using computer‐aided content analysis to count the value references in their annual reports for the years 1986–1990. Frequencies of reference to nine values were compared using multiple regression and cluster analysis, which assigned organisations to one of four theoretically specified organisational types based on their value structures or profiles—Elite, Leadership, Meritocratic, and Collegial (Kabanoff, 1991). Meritocratic‐type organisations were more prevalent among US than Australian organisations, while the opposite was true for Elite‐type organisations.     

Interpersonal problem-solving deficits in self-poisoning patients

Self-poisoning patients (n = 40) were compared with psychiatric patients (n = 40) and nonpatient controls (n = 20) on measures of interpersonal problem-solving skills and locus of control in an effort to determine the importance of these cognitive and personality variables in self-poisoning behavior. The psychiatric and self-poisoning groups showed deficits on measures assessing interpersonal problem solving when compared with nonpatient controls. The self-poisoning group performed below the level of the psychiatric patients on all except one test, on which they performed at the level of the psychiatric group. Locus of control did not differentiate self-poisoning patients from nonpatient controls, and it was concluded that this variable is not an important factor in self-poisoning behavior.