The role of aggression‐related early maladaptive schemas and schema modes in aggression in a prisoner sample

Contemporary social‐cognitive aggression theory and extant empirical research highlights the relationship between certain Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) and aggression in offenders. To date, the related construct of schema modes, which presents a comprehensive and integrated schema unit, has received scant empirical attention. Furthermore, EMSs and schema modes have yet to be examined concurrently with respect to aggressive behavior. This study examined associations between EMSs, schema modes, and aggression in an offender sample. Two hundred and eight adult male prisoners completed self‐report psychological tests measuring their histories of aggression, EMSs, and schema modes. Regression analyses revealed that EMSs were significantly associated with aggression but did not account for a unique portion of variance once the effects of schema modes were taken into account. Three schema modes, Enraged Child, Impulsive Child, and Bully and Attack, significantly predicted aggression. These findings support the proposition that schema modes characterized by escalating states of anger, rage, and impulsivity characterize aggressive offenders. In this regard, we call attention to the need to include schema modes in contemporary social‐cognitive aggression theories, and suggest that systematic assessment and treatment of schema modes has the potential to enhance outcomes with violent offenders.

     

the media's portrayal of urban and rural school violence: a preliminary analysis

Although the juvenile arrest rate has declined in the last few years, public awareness of juvenile crime has not diminished (Snyder 1996; Schiraldi 1998). The recent rash of rural school shootings has, in fact, heightened public awareness of juvenile crime and delinquent behavior. This research examines acts of school violence that have been committed by juveniles in three rural school districts and analyzes how the newspaper media present these acts relative to similar acts committed by juveniles in urban school settings. Our content analysis of the Wall Street Journal, Louisville Courier Journal, New York Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post reveals that these newspapers present school violence in these two settings very differently and that these differences are reflected in the way the political system reacts to such incidents.     

Being Successful in a Creative Profession: The Role of Innovative Cognitive Style, Self-Regulation, and Self-Efficacy

Purpose  

The purpose of this study was to test a model that proposes that innovative cognitive style and self-regulation (setting priorities, planning work activities, and monitoring time and task progress) are related to the self-reported success of architects. We investigated two aspects of the success: as designers and as business people. To this end, we examined the mediating role of self-efficacy in these relationships.     

Counselling with Biofeedback: A Review

Biofeedback increasingly appears to be used as an aid to specified counselling goals. A typical counselling situation using galvanic skin reflex (skin biofeedback) is analysed. The ethical and practical challenges involved in biofeedback-aided counselling are considered.     

Reliable operant apparatus for fish: Audio stimulus generator, response button, and pellet-dispensing nipple

As part of ongoing research into the ability of koi to categorize complex auditory stimuli, we have had to develop novel apparatus. The stimulus generator presents sound from two CD drives under computer control through a new underwater speaker. The operant manipulandum is a horizontal button that eliminates spurious triggering by water turbulence and problematic response topographies. The button’s design has also been adapted for use by tilapia in an aquacultural food-preference study. The feeder uses a nipple to dispense food pellets reliably under water. In this paper, the apparatus is described in detail. Also discussed are methodological issues related to its design, as well as its usage in a pilot study in which koi learned to discriminate music from silence by using a single manipulandum with food reinforcement.     

Disaggregating the Distal,Proximal, and Time-Varying Effects of Parent Alcoholism on Children’s Internalizing Symptoms

We tested whether children show greater internalizing symptoms when their parents are actively abusing alcohol. In an integrative data analysis, we combined observations over ages 2 through 17 from two longitudinal studies of children of alcoholic parents and matched controls recruited from the community. Using a mixed modeling approach, we tested whether children showed elevated mother- and child-reported internalizing symptoms (a) at the same time that parents showed alcohol-related consequences (time-varying effects), (b) if parents showed greater alcohol-related consequences during the study period (proximal effects), and (c) if parents had a lifetime diagnosis of alcoholism that predated the study period (distal effects). No support for time-varying effects was found; proximal effects of mothers' alcohol-related consequences on child-reported internalizing symptoms were found and distal effects of mother and father alcoholism predicted greater internalizing symptoms among children of alcoholic parents. Implications for the time-embedded relations between parent alcoholism and children's internalizing symptoms are discussed.     

Development and examination of the social appearance anxiety scale

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) was created to measure anxiety about being negatively evaluated by others because of one's overall appearance, including body shape. This study examined the psychometric properties of the SAAS in three large samples of undergraduate students (respective ns = 512, 853, and 541). The SAAS demonstrated a unifactorial structure with high test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The SAAS was positively associated with measures of social anxiety. The SAAS was also related to greater disparity between perceived, actual, and ideal physical attributes, beliefs that one's appearance is inherently flawed and socially unacceptable and that being unattractive is socially deleterious, feelings of unattractiveness, emphasis on appearance and its maintenance, and a preoccupation with being overweight. It was a unique predictor of social anxiety above and beyond negative body image indicators. Findings suggest that the SAAS is a psychometrically valid measure of social anxiety regarding one's overall appearance.     

Karamojong Adolescents in Tororo,Uganda: Life Events,Adjustment Problems,and Protective Factors

The Karamojong people of Uganda are marginalized and likely to have difficult lives. Research is needed to understand Karamojong children’s challenges, adjustment, and resiliency to help guide interventions and policies to improve their lives. Thus, 18 Karamojong 10–16-year-olds (10 girls; M?=?13.33 years; SD?=?1.81) were recruited from a nongovernmental organization in Tororo District, Uganda, and interviewed about their life events, coping strategies, social support, and hope. Adolescents also were verbally administered questionnaires about their life events and adjustment problems. Participants reported many negative life events (M?=?9.28 of 16). The number of negative life events was positively correlated with internalizing, but not with externalizing, problems. Participants described a variety of coping strategies. Most participants received emotional or instrumental social support, and were hopeful about their futures. Hardships were often alcohol- or poverty-related events, whereas hope was often centered on education.