Recent Adolescent MMPI Norms: T-Score Elevation Comparisons to Marks and Briggs

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) norms developed by Marks and Briggs (1967/1972) have served as the standard adolescent norms used for over 10 years. Additional adolescent, norms, have recently been produced by Gottesman, Hanson, Kroeker, and Briggs (1987) and by Colligan and Offord (1989), thereby providing MMPI users with a potential choice of adolescent norms. Our study examines the effects of these adolescent norm sets on single-scale and profile elevations. In addition, we examine the ability of these norm sets to generate T-score values that would serve to discriminate accurately among adolescents in outpatient (n = 100), inpatient (n = 100), and normal (n = 100) settings. Results indicated teat the choice of adolescent norms resulted in important differences in profile elevation. Findings from the discriminant function analyses, however, indicated that these normative sets were roughly equivalent in discriminating among adolescents in the three settings.     

Borderline Personality Disorder,Divorce and Family Therapy: The Need for Family Crisis Intervention Strategies

Recent literature reviews, point out the lack of crisis intervention and crisis prevention programs that are in existence to address crises experienced by first-degree and divorced family members of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) probands. The focus of such intervention programs should be to facilitate the improved ability of the first-degree and divorced family members to manage and transcend the unstable family environment. Correlations between personal instability and frequency of psychosocial crises have been examined, as well as the ripple effect of frequent individual crises on family environments. Reviews of current therapeutic interventions, as well as a synthesis of practical family therapy interventions focusing on breaking the cycle of dysfunctional multi-generational family environments are also examined.     

Anxiety, Sensory Over-Responsivity, and Gastrointestinal Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high rates of anxiety, sensory processing problems, and gastrointestinal (GI) problems; however, the associations among these symptoms in children with ASD have not been previously examined. The current study examined bivariate and multivariate relations among anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and chronic GI problems in a sample of 2,973 children with ASD enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network (ages 2–17 years, 81.6 % male). Twenty-four percent of the sample experienced at least one type of chronic GI problem (constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, and/or nausea lasting three or more months). Children with each type of GI problem had significantly higher rates of both anxiety and sensory over-responsivity. Sensory over-responsivity and anxiety were highly associated, and each provided unique contributions to the prediction of chronic GI problems in logistic regression analyses. The results indicate that anxiety, sensory over-responsivity and GI problems are possibly interrelated phenomenon for children with ASD, and may have common underlying mechanisms.     

Adaptation is automatic

Two experiments were used to test whether selective adaptation for speech occurs automatically or instead requires attentional resources. A control condition demonstrated the usual large identification shifts caused by repeatedly presenting an adapting sound (/wa/, with listeners identifying members of a /ba/-/wa/ test series). Two types of distractor tasks were used: (1) Subjects did a rapid series of arithmetic problems during the adaptation periods (Experiments 1 and 2), or (2) they made a series of rhyming judgments, requiring phonetic coding (Experiment 2). A control experiment (Experiment 3) demonstrated that these tasks normally impose a heavy attentional cost on phonetic processing. Despite this, for both experimental conditions, the observed adaptation effect was just as large as in the control condition. This result indicates that adaptation is automatic, operating at an early, preattentive level. The implications of these results for current models of speech perception are discussed.     

The Association of Fly-in Fly-out Employment,Family Connectedness,Parental Presence and Adolescent Wellbeing

Fly-in fly-out work patterns have become an integral part of employment in the Australian resource sector. When attachment to parents is disrupted by a parent working away from home on a regular basis, young people’s feelings of connection to their family may be impacted, as well as their mental and emotional well-being compromised. The objective of this study was to explore the mediation of parental presence and family connectedness on the association between fly-in fly-out employment and adolescent well-being. A cross-sectional survey of over 3,000 Grades 5–10 students from 40 Perth West Australian metropolitan and rural schools identified 618 students whose parents were involved in fly-in fly-out employment. Multi-level mediation analysis showed that the negative relationship between fly-in fly-out status and adolescent depressive symptoms and emotional and behavioural difficulties was fully or partially mediated by parent presence and family connectedness, controlling for both student and school level demographics. The intermittent absence/presence of fly-in fly-out employment patterns appears to create challenges for workers and their families, not experienced by non-fly-in fly-out families.This study highlights the importance of strengthening family connections within fly-in fly-out households. Suggestions have been made to help fly-in fly-out parents to stay in touch with their families.     

9 Suicide in San Francisco,CA: A Comparison of Caucasian and Asian Groups, 1987–1994

Completed suicides in the city of San Francisco, California, were examined across all ages in the racial groups of Caucasians (n = 798) and Asians (n = 124) from 1987 to 1994. A comparison of Caucasians and Asians showed that there were differences between them in their rates across all age groups. The major findings are: (1) Caucasians predominately used gunshot to complete suicide whereas Asians predominately used hanging to complete suicide, (2) Asian women over the age of 85 have the highest rates across both groups and genders, (3) Asians, as compared to Caucasians, used fewer drugs and alcohol at time of death. Theoretical connections between differences in suicide and definition of the self, as influenced by culture, are discussed.