Personality disorders and psychopathy in men convicted for severe intimate partner violence

In this paper, a study of personality disorders and psychopathy in imprisoned male batterers is carried out. A sample of 76 batterers sentenced for a severe offence of violence against their intimate partner was selected. All the participants were assessed with the MCMI-II before beginning a treatment program in prison for gender violence. Likewise, all participants were assessed with the PCL-R in order to identify psychopathic symptoms. According to the results, 86.8% of the sample showed at least one personality disorder. The most prevalent one was the Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder (57.8% of cases), followed by the Dependent Personality Disorder (34.2% of cases) and Paranoid Personality Disorder (25%). Regarding psychopathy, the results of PCL-R showed that there were 11 people (14.4% of the sample) who met the criteria for psychopathy or probable psychopathy. Finally, implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented upon.     

Personality variables, psychopathological alterations and personality disorders in alcohol-dependent patients according to Cloninger's typology of alcohol abuse

In this paper, an evaluation of Cloninger's typology of alcohol abuse in personality, psychopathology and personality disorders is carried out. The sample consisted of 158 alcoholics in treatment (56 Type I alcohol-dependent patients and 102 Type II alcohol-dependent patients). All subjects were assessed with diverse assessment tools related to personality (Impulsiveness Scale, Sensation Seeking Scale and STAI), psychopathology (SCL-90-R, BDI and Inadaptation Scale) and personality disorders (IPDE). The main findings were that Type II alcohol-dependent patients were more impulsive and sensation-seeking and they displayed more hostility and emotional distress than Type I alcohol-dependent patients. Personality disorders were not so prevalent in the case of Type I alcohol-dependent patients. The most specific personality disorders for Type II alcohol-dependent patients were narcissistic and paranoid. The implications of this study for further research are commented on.     

Anxiety Symptoms and Fears in Hispanic and European American Children: Cross-Cultural Measurement Equivalence

The cross cultural equivalence of child (n = 217) and parent (n = 283) versions of the revised children’s manifest anxiety scale (RCMAS), multidimensional anxiety scale for children (MASC), and the fear survey schedule for children—revised (FSSC-R) was examined in Mexican youth in Mexico, and Hispanic and white European American youth in the USA. The RCMAS, MASC, and FSSC-R showed cross ethnic measurement equivalence. The Mexican and Hispanic youth reported more worries, and the Mexican youth reported more somatic symptoms than the European American youth. Per mother report, Mexican and Hispanic youth express more somatic symptoms than European American youth who also show the least number of fears of the unknown and fears of danger and death. The results support the validity of commonly used child anxiety measures with these populations and accrue evidence for greater anxiety and fear expression by Hispanic and Mexican youth in certain domains.

Logical Operations and Invariance

I present a notion of invariance under arbitrary surjective mappings for operators on a relational finite type hierarchy generalizing the so-called Tarski–Sher criterion for logicality and I characterize the invariant operators as definable in a fragment of the first-order language. These results are compared with those obtained by Feferman and it is argued that further clarification of the notion of invariance is needed if one wants to use it to characterize logicality.     

Psychological Follow-up of Presymptomatic Genetic Testing for Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 (SCA2) in Cuba

Presymptomatic testing for spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2) in Cuba started five years ago. We have now investigated the psychological impact of test results on 150 individuals at 50% risk for SCA2. In a prospective study, psychological instruments were used to evaluate depression, anxiety and family functioning (1) before testing and (2) one year after disclosure of the test result. One year after, anxiety and depression levels decreased both in carriers and non-carriers, but anxiety decreased significantly more in carriers. Pathological levels of anxiety were seen mostly in members of dysfunctional families, but decreased more in them than in other consultands. Presymptomatic testing thus seems to have been especially beneficial for these testees, possibly due to a greater gain from the psychosocial support received. It would be pertinent to evaluate now the impact of other psychosocial variables and perform longer-term longitudinal studies.     

Psychopathological profile of battered women according to age

In this paper, differential psychopathological consequences in battered women according to age were analysed in a sample of 148 victims seeking psychological treatment in a Family Violence Centre. The younger victims exposed to intimate partner violence suffered more often from physical violence and were at higher risk for their lives than the older ones. The prevalence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was higher (42%) in the younger victims than in the older ones (27%). Likewise, younger victims were affected by more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem than the older ones. The severity of PTSD in the younger victims was related to the presence of forced sexual relationship but in the older ones, it was related to the perceived threat to their lives. Implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented upon.     

Stem allomorphy in the Spanish mental lexicon: evidence from behavioral and ERP experiments

This study presents results from a nonce-word elicited production task and a reading experiment using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) investigating finite forms of Spanish verbs which consist of marked stems and regular person and number agreement suffixes. The first experiment showed that unmarked stems are productively extended to nonce words, whereas marked stems generalize more restrictively to nonce words, based on lexical similarity to existing stem forms. The second experiment yielded a lexical ERP signature for stem violations and an ERP pattern signaling morpho-syntactic (rule-based) processing for suffix violations. We argue that stem allomorphy is lexically represented in the Spanish mental lexicon, with marked stems forming subnodes of structured lexical entries.     

The role of cortical cholinergic pre- and post-synaptic receptors in taste memory formation

A number of studies have implicated cholinergic activity in the mediation of learning and memory processes. However, the specific role of muscarinic receptors in memory formation mechanisms is less known. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of muscarinic antagonist M2 presynaptic receptor, AFDX-116 (0.5mM) and M1 and M3 post-synaptic receptor pirenzepine (100mM), as well as a non-selective muscarinic antagonist, scopolamine (136mM), in the insular cortex (IC) during acquisition and retrieval of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). In addition, we evaluate the effects of those antagonists in cortical ACh release by in vivo microdialysis and the effects on the induction of in vivo LTP in the BLA-IC projection. The results showed that the cortical microinjections of scopolamine and pirenzepine, but not AFDX-116, produced significant disruption in the acquisition of CTA, without effects during retrieval. Microinjections of scopolamine and AFDX-116 produced significant cortical ACh release, while infusions of pirenzepine did not produce any release. Application of scopolamine and pirenzepine diminished induction of LTP in the BLA-IC projection, but not AFDX-116, as compared with vehicle. The induction of BLA-CI LTP seems to be modulated by post-synaptic muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and not by pre-synaptic muscarinic receptors. These results suggest a differential involvement of cholinergic receptors during acquisition and retrieval of aversive memory formation, as well as a differential role of muscarinic receptors in the biochemical and electrophysiological processes that may underlay aversive memory.     

Social inequalities in suicide mortality: Spain and France, 1980-1982 and 1988-1990

In this study we analyzed the socioeconomic differences in mortality from suicide in the economically active male population aged 25-64 years in Spain and France in 1980-1982 and 1988-1990; in the case of Spain the data came from the Eight Provinces Study (Regidor, Gutierrez-Fisac, & Rodríguez, 1995). Individuals were grouped into four categories: professional/managerial, clerical/sales/ service, agricultural, and manual workers. For 1980-1982, among those aged 25-44, professionals and managers had the lowest risk of mortality in Spain, and clerical/sales/service workers in France. These socioeconomic differences in mortality increased in 1988-1990. In 1980-1982, among those aged 45-64, clerical/ sales/service workers had the lowest risk of mortality from suicide relative to the other occupational groups in both countries, but this difference was not maintained in 1988-1990. Thus, differences in suicide mortality for men by occupational status depended in the present study upon both the nation studied and the time period chosen for study.