Assessing worry in older adults: confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and psychometric properties of an abbreviated model

The assessment of worry among older adults typically has involved measures designed with younger cohorts. Because of special concerns in assessing older adults, modifications to existing instruments may be necessary. Addressing equivocal factor analytic data on the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) among younger adults, the authors conducted confirmatory factor analyses to evaluate the generalizability of previous models to older adults with generalized anxiety disorder. Data fit poorly with established single- and two-factor models. The single-factor model was modified, resulting in the elimination of 8 items, strong fit indices, high internal consistency, adequate test-retest reliability, and good convergent and divergent validity. Further psychometric work is required to assess whether the revised model is a more parsimonious method to assess late-life anxiety.     

Mothers' psychological adjustment following disaster affecting their children

The authors investigated the psychological adjustment of 37 British women whose adolescent children survived the cruise ship Jupiter's sinking in 1988, about 6 years previously. They compared these women with a group of widows (N = 18) and a group of women who had suffered no major negative life event (N= 15). Psychological adjustment of the 37 women was assessed with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Lifetime Version (SADS-L; R. L. Spitzer & J. Endicott, 1975) and various standard questionnaires. The women whose children had been involved in the disaster were found to have suffered a greater number of incidents of psychological distress in the period since the disaster than the women who had suffered no major negative life events but fewer incidents of psychological distress than the widows. The significance of these findings and clinical implications are discussed.     

Personality and executive functioning as risk factors in recidivists

The classification of an inmate population at a maximum security jail in Canada was undertaken to study factors correlated with recidivism. A total of 12 recidivists and 12 nonrecidivists were classified according to their index offenses, and a Criminal Record search was completed to verify their statements. A total of 15 non-offenders who had also undergone a criminal record check were included as controls. All participants were administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-168, Violence Risk Scale-Experimental Version, Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the groups on scores for the Hypochondriasis, Psychopathic Deviate, and Hypomania scales of the MMPI-168. Significant differences were noted for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and the Violence Risk Scale. Discriminant analysis of the recidivists and nonrecidivists correctly classified at a 91.3% level.     

Meme Pools, World 3, and Averroës's Vision of Immortality

Dawkins's concept of the meme pool, essentially equivalent to Popper's World 3, is considered as an expression in modern terms for what Averroës knew as the active intellect , an immortal entity feeding into, or even creating, the passive intellect of consciousness. A means is thus provided for reconciling a materialist Darwinian view of the universe with a conception of nonpersonal immortality. The meme pool/active intellect correspondence provides a strong basis for regarding science as a communal enterprise producing enrichment of the meme pool and expansion of consciousness. It also emphasizes the virtues of memetic conservation in relation to vanishing cultures.     

Effects of self-control training for elementary students with emotional and behavioral disorders

Progressive delay training (PDT) has been used to promote self-controlled choices (i.e., selecting a larger, later reward over a smaller, immediate reward) for people with a variety of developmental characteristics. However, the efficacy of PDT has not been evaluated in children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), who often have co-occurring symptoms of impulsivity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of PDT with a rule-following requirement on the impulsive choices of 6 elementary students with EBD using a modified changing criterion design. Results indicated that PDT alone did not improve self-control, but a modified version of PDT with a rationale and rule for selecting the delayed reward promoted self-control for 3 participants. The remaining 3 participants continued to make impulsive choices despite further modifications to the PDT protocol. We discuss implications of our results and directions for future research on treating impulsivity in children with EBD.     

Integration of intermittent visual samples over time and between the eyes

The authors investigated the integration of alternate disparate monocular inputs for binocular perception in 1-handed catching experiments (N = 14, 32, 22, and 15 participants, respectively in Experiments 1-4). They varied the no-vision interval between alternate monocular samples to measure catching performance, and they compared the alternating monocular conditions with binocular and monocular conditions with equal no-vision intervals. They found no evidence of a binocular advantage for one-handed catching in the alternating monocular conditions. Performance in monocular and alternating monocular conditions did not differ across no-vision intervals ranging from 0-80 ms and was particularly worse than performance in binocular viewing conditions when the no-vision interval was 40 ms or more. The authors argue that the dissimilarity between disparate monocular inputs created by the approaching object limited the integration of those inputs and subsequent binocular perception.     

On the practice of dichotomization of quantitative variables

The authors examine the practice of dichotomization of quantitative measures, wherein relationships among variables are examined after 1 or more variables have been converted to dichotomous variables by splitting the sample at some point on the scale(s) of measurement. A common form of dichotomization is the median split, where the independent variable is split at the median to form high and low groups, which are then compared with respect to their means on the dependent variable. The consequences of dichotomization for measurement and statistical analyses are illustrated and discussed. The use of dichotomization in practice is described, and justifications that are offered for such usage are examined. The authors present the case that dichotomization is rarely defensible and often will yield misleading results.     

Euthanasia and John Paul II's "silent language of profound sharing of affection:" why Christians should care about Peter Singer.

Peter Singer's recent appointment to Princeton University created considerable controversy, most of it focused on his proposal for active euthanasia of disabled infants. Singer articulates utilitarian ideas that often appear in public discussions of euthanasia. Drawing on Pope John Paul II's work on ethics and suffering, I argue that Singer's utilitarian theory of value is impoverished. After introducing the Pope's ethic based on the imago dei, I discuss love as self-gift. I show how this concept supports a theory of value in which spiritual goods are preeminent over material goods. I then describe how suffering reveals spiritual goods, discussing how participation in Christ's suffering can alter our perception of value. I also consider how communal responses to suffering provide opportunities for self-giving. Third, I consider Singer's proposal for killing infants with hemophilia, arguing that it arbitrarily ignores spiritual goods. I then discuss proposals to kill anencephalic infants, discussing how parental responses to their suffering can demonstrate an extraordinary love in seemingly hopeless circumstances. I conclude by calling for a more sustained social response to euthanasia initiatives.     

The effects of self-disclosure and non self-disclosure of stuttering on listeners' perceptions of a person who stutters

The aim of this study was to examine listener perceptions of an adult male person who stutters (PWS) who did or did not disclose his stuttering. Ninety adults who do not stutter individually viewed one of three videotaped monologues produced by a male speaker with severe stuttering. In one monologue, 30 listeners heard the speaker disclose stuttering at the beginning and in another monologue, 30 listeners heard the speaker disclose stuttering at the end. A third group of 30 listeners viewed a monologue where no disclosure of stuttering occurred. After listeners viewed a monologue, they were asked to rate a set of six Likert scale statements and answer three open-ended questions. The results showed that only one of six Likert statements was significantly different across the three conditions. The only statement that was different was that the speaker was perceived to be significantly more friendly when disclosing stuttering at the end of the monologue than when not disclosing stuttering. There were no significant differences between the percentage of positive and negative comments made by listeners across the three conditions. Listeners' comments to each open-ended question showed they were comfortable listening to stuttering with or without disclosure and slightly more than half of the listeners believed their perceptions of the speaker did not change when he disclosed stuttering. The results also showed that the speaker who disclosed stuttering at the beginning of the monologue received significantly more positive listener comments than when he disclosed stuttering at the end of the monologue. Results are discussed relative to comparisons with the study, the clinical relevance of acknowledging stuttering as a component of treatment, and future research on the self-disclosure of stuttering. Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe how different groups of listeners perceive and respond to two conditions of self-disclosure of stuttering and one condition involving non self-disclosure of stuttering; (2) summarize the range of listener responses to and benefits of self-disclosure of stuttering; and (3) describe the value of self-disclosure of stuttering for the listener and the speaker.     

How do room and apparatus cues control navigation in the Morris water task? Evidence for distinct contributions to a movement vector

The present study compared the relative influence of location and direction on navigation in the Morris water task. Rats were trained with a fixed hidden or cued platform, and probe trials were conducted with the pool repositioned such that the absolute spatial location of the platform was centered in the opposite quadrant of the pool. Rather than swimming to the platform location, rats swam in the direction that was reinforced during training, resulting in navigation to the relative location of the platform in the pool and search at the appropriate distance from the pool wall. Pool relocation tests revealed disruptions in cued navigation if the cued platform remained at the absolute location, whereas no disruption was observed if the platform remained at the relative location (same direction). The results indicate that direction holds greater influence than does location and further demonstrate that this observation is not altered by the amount of training or time on the platform. The authors propose that navigation in the water task involves a movement vector in which the distal cues and apparatus provide direction and distance information, respectively.