The new MAACL scales with adolescents: preliminary reliability and validity determinations

This study reports on the reliability and concurrent validity of both the trait and state forms of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL) with a high school population, age range of 14-16 years and educational range of 9th and 10th grades (N = 403). Alphas of the four scales (anxiety, depression, hostility, and positive affect) ranged from .67 to .91. Correlations with a check-list of stress-related symptoms and an inventory of the number of extracurricular activities in which the students participated were significant and in the expected direction. Means and standard deviations on the MAACL scales were similar to those of college students. Sex differences were found on some of the scales. The findings indicate that the MAACL is sufficiently reliable and valid to warrant additional use with an adolescent population.     

Adolescent eating disorder: bulimia

Bulimia, an eating disorder, recently has emerged as a major mental health problem, especially among adolescent females. The bulimic experiences periods of compulsive binge eating followed by purges to rid the body of unwanted calories. Binges are triggered by intense emotional experiences, such as loneliness, anger, rejection, or stress. Associated features of bulimia are secretiveness, depression, drug abuse, preoccupation with body image and sexual attractiveness, and an awareness that the behavior is abnormal. The physical side effects include dental problems, inflamed esophagus, EEG abnormalities, abdominal or urinary disturbances, and changes in blood sugar level. Cognitive disturbances related to binging and purging are perfectionistic, egocentric, and distorted thinking, misconceptions about nutritional requirements, unreasonable goals and expectations, and disturbed affect. Bulimics resist treatment; however, such methods as cognitive, group, family, behavior, and drug therapy, and hospitalization appear promising.     

Variables which differentiate placement of adolescents into juvenile justice or mental health systems

Studies of the variables that determine whether an adolescent is placed in the mental health or juvenile justice system for treatment have led to conflicting conclusions based on impressionistic data. The primary hypothesis of this study--that demographic variables would and personality/psychopathology variables would not differentiate into which system a youth will be placed--was supported. Adolescents were studied at intake into both the juvenile justice system and the mental health system. Data were collected on demographics (structured interviews), personality/psychopathology (MMPI), social adjustment (CAAP), and academic achievement (PIAT). A discriminant function analysis identified eight statistically significant variables which differentiated the two groups. In order of decreasing importance they are: ethnicity, gender, MMPI-depression, previous mental health history, CAAP-productivity, drug use, parental marital history, and parental religious preference.     

Recognizing people seen in events via dynamic "mug shots"

This study examined effects of an event and dynamic mug shots on facial recognition. Witnesses saw either a film of a liquor store holdup staged by six perpetrators, slides of the same targets, or freeze-framed views from the filmed event. Slides of different facial views of targets among 12 foils, or dynamic 180 degrees mug shots of the same men, or multiple static views were administered 24 hr later in yes-no recognition tests. Recognition (d') was poorer for the same men seen in the event than in slides, but better for dynamic than for static mug shots. Nondynamic event characteristics were responsible for poor recognition of people seen in events, whereas dynamic aspects of facial transformations, not multiple views, seemed responsible for the superiority of dynamic mug shots. The implications of these results for issues of ecological validity of traditional face recognition methodology and for static feature models vs. dynamic transformation models of face recognition are discussed.     

Identity conflict in Mexican-American adolescents

Mexican-American adolescents of migrant origin present conflicting attitudes in their selection of ideal characters and images for identification. As minority members, identification with members of outside groups appears blocked for them. At the same time, encounters with outside society seem to undermine identification processes that develop within their own group, their families, and community. This study concludes that relationships of dominance and dependence in the outside society foster inhibitions to the process of identification, and disturbances in the mechanisms of defense in the minority member. These relationships seem to interfere with the internalization and adoption of significant others' characteristics and attitudes.     

The princess in the tower: Zelda Fitzgerald's creative impasse

Gifted women often find it difficult to integrate an acceptable social image with an autonomous artistic identity. This paper explores the ambitions and conflicts of Zelda Fitzgerald, who aspired to be an artist in several fields, but whose fame is largely contingent on the role she played in the life of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda's flamboyant public pose, which served as a model for many of her husband's literary characters, is interpreted as an attempt to organize a consistent identity configuration by means of constant appeals for applause from an admiring audience. But although this configuration provided some stability and cohesion for her during her twenties, it was a superficial and vulnerable structure which failed to support her serious artistic aspirations. An examination of the separation conflicts and difficulties in internalization which contributed to Zelda's dilemma leads to a consideration of the role of the father in the organization of differentiated female achievements. Although Zelda Fitzgerald's pathology was extreme, her struggles suggest useful insights into the intrapsychic and social barriers commonly confronting creative women.