Life after Trauma: Personality and Daily Life Experiences of Traumatized People

In this study, we explored differences in personality and daily life experiences of traumatized (n= 26) versus nontraumatized (n= 30) college students. Study participants completed a variety of personality measures as well as a 28–day experience sampling study assessing daily activities, emotions, and physical health. Although not differing on general demographics, traumatized individuals reported more trait anxiety and lower self–esteem than nontraumatized individuals. They scored higher on Neuroticism, were more introverted, and were less emotionally stable than nontraumatized participants. Traumatized individuals also reported more cognitive disturbances, emotional blunting, and interpersonal withdrawal. They did not report being more depressed, but did endorse cognitive styles associated with heightened risk for depression. Earlier age of trauma was associated with more pathological outcomes: lower self–esteem and psychological well–being, more anxiety, more pessimism, and emotional constriction of positive mood. We compare this symptom profile to that of posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Biased attention in childhood Anxiety disorders: A preliminary study

This study provides preliminary tests of two hypotheses: (1) Anxiety-disordered children show an attentional bias toward emotionally threatening stimuli, and (2) normal controls show an attentional bias away from emotionally threatening stimuli. Twelve children, 9 to 14 years of age, with primary diagnoses of anxiety disorder were compared with 12 normal controls matched for age, gender, vocabulary level, and reading ability. Subjects completed a reaction time task that measured visual attention toward threatening versus neutral words. The anxious group showed the predicted attentional bias toward threat words. However, controls did not show the predicted bias away from threat words. These results are the first showing that biased attentional processing occurs among clinically anxious children. The potential role of such an attentional bias in childhood anxiety disorders and future direction for research are discussed.This research was supported by a Seed Grant and a Small Grant to the first author from The Ohio State University. Portions of this paper were presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Atlanta, November 1993. Thanks are extended to the participants and all those who helped with the project.     

Evaluation of a “mental effort” hypothesis for correlations between cortical metabolism and intelligence

Previous research indicates that low scores on the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) test are associated with increased cortical glucose utilization during problem solving. We hypothesized that previous results may reflect the neurophysiological consequences of patterns of effort requirements; that is, high-effort expenditure from lower aptitude participants (for whom the problems are hard) and low-effort expenditure from higher aptitude participants (for whom the problems are easy). In this experiment, positron emission tomography (PET) data were gathered on participants (N = 28) who solved easy and hard problems that were tailored to the participants' own ability levels, thereby eliminating aptitude group differences in effort requirements. Contrary to previous results, high aptitude was associated with high cortical glucose use. Average aptitude participants showed diminished glucose use in the hard condition. A significant Group X Condition X Hemisphere Effect was also noted, with greater right hemisphere activation in the hard condition for the high-aptitude group. These results demonstrate that the relation of cerebral glucose use and cognitive ability is sensitive to participant and task selection.     

Brief report: Effects of informational feedback on aluminum can recycling

The impact of informational feedback on the depositing of aluminum cans in recycling receptacles at a medium-sized university was investigated. Informational signs were placed over 20-recycling receptacles in three academic buildings. Each informational sign was placed at eye level, with the number of aluminum cans deposited for recycling during the previous week displayed in red digits. A 65% increase in the number of aluminum cans deposited in recycling receptacles with the informational signs was observed. Furthermore, removal of the informational signs was observed to reliably decrease the number of aluminum cans deposited. These results are discussed in the context of employing feedback to increase environmental protection behaviors.     

Culturally Sensitive AIDS Educational Videos for African American Audiences: Effects of Source, Message, Receiver, and Context

The importance of using culturally sensitive educational materials in HIV-related interventions with racial and ethnic minority groups is widely recognized. However, little empirical research has been conducted to assess the relative effectiveness of different techniques for creating culturally sensitive AIDS educational videos. Two field experiments with three samples of African American adults (N = 174, 173, and 143) were conducted to assess how source characteristics (race of communicator), message characteristics (multicultural message vs. culturally specific message), and audience characteristics (racial distrust and AIDS-related distrust) influence proximate (perceptions of the message's credibility and attractiveness) and distal (AIDS-related attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions) output variables for AIDS educational videos. In Study 1, an AIDS video with a culturally specific message was rated as more credible, more attractive, and of higher quality than was a video with a multicultural message. The multicultural message was rated less favorably when delivered by a White announcer than when the announcer was Black. In Study 2, the same pattern was replicated with a second community sample and a campus-based sample. Study 2 also indicated that a multicultural message might be more effective if delivered in a culturally specific context, namely, after audience members watch a culturally specific video. Minimal changes were observed in distal outcome variables. It is argued that influencing proximate output variables is necessary, though not sufficient, for effecting long-term change in AIDS-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.     

Effects of diagnostic classification systems on clinical hypothesis-generation

In this study it was determined whether (a) classification as opposed to absence of classification has an effect on the quality of clinical hypotheses (b) the DSM-III-R and the CBCL have a different effect on the quality of clinical hypotheses, and (c) the potential difference between the DSM-III-R and the CBCL is moderated by the different number of syndromes identified by these systems. To investigate these questions, an experiment was conducted in which 86 clinicians generated hypotheses for six cases. The clinicians were divided into a DSM-III-R, a CBCL, and a control group. Of the six cases, two were classified by both classification systems as one syndrome, two were classified as one syndrome by the DSM-III-R but as two syndromes by the CBCL, and two were classified as two syndromes by the DSM-III-R but as one syndrome by the CBCL. The quality of the hypotheses was determined by means of four dependent variables selected from an overview of qualitative criteria: explanatory value, redundancy, possibility of operationalization, and specificity. No differences between the CBCL and the control groups were found. The DSM group performed better than the control group regarding explanatory value and redundancy. The DSM-III-R group also scored better than the CBCL group regarding explanatory value, particularly when the number of identified syndromes was two for the CBCL and one for the DSM-III-R.     

Substance use and violent behavior in adolescence

The relation between substance use and violent behavior in adolescence is reviewed, and each of five competing models of this relation is examined. I begin by presenting background material on adolescent substance use and adolescent violence. I then describe five different models that have been proposed to explain the association between substance use and violent behavior. Next, I review the adolescent literature concerning substance use and violence, noting methodological weaknesses that have plagued this research. I conclude with an evaluation of the five models and suggestions for future research.     

The measurement of imagery ability

When variations in imagery ability are used to predict task performance, distinct and consistent relationships do not tend to emerge. A selective review of studies is undertaken to outline some basic reasons why individual difference measures of imagery are often so unsuccessful. Relevant studies concerning the learning and performance of motor skills are examined in some detail. It is concluded that the major problem in these studies is the types of imagery tests that have been employed; these tests have not adequately measured imagery ability. A recently developed instrument, the Movement Imagery Questionnaire, which has been designed to assess individual differences in visual and kinesthetic imagery of movement is discussed.