The effect of attentional focus on social anxiety

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of attentional focus on social anxiety in a group of high and low blushing-anxious subjects. One hundred and fourteen psychology undergraduate students were screened using the Fear of Blushing subscale of the Blushing Questionnaire [B?gels, S. M., & Reith, W. (1999). Validity of two questionnaires to assess social fears: The Dutch social phobia and anxiety questionnaire and the blushing, trembling and sweating questionnaire. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 21, 51-66]. Those with the most extreme scores in the top and bottom 20% of the distribution were selected to form a high (n=22) and a low (n=22) blushing-anxious group. Subjects were randomly allocated to either a self-focused attention (SFA) condition or a task-focused attention (TFA) condition. They were asked to engage in a 5 min conversation with the first author, and were instructed to either self-focus (SFA condition) or task-focus (TFA condition). Levels of social anxiety and self-awareness were measured using visual analogue scales. Results suggest that the there was a significant condition by group interaction, with high blushing individuals showing considerably higher levels of social anxiety in the SFA condition compared to the TFA condition while low blushing individuals showed no significant difference across the two conditions.     

Trait Stability and Continuity in Childhood: Relating Sociability and Hostility to the Five-Factor Model of Personality

We investigated the continuity of personality constructs in the Oregon Youth Substance Use Project, a cohort-sequential study encompassing development from early childhood to adolescence with five annual or biennial assessments. Sociability and Hostility, assessed by teachers' ratings of children's behaviors at each assessment, were related to the traits comprising the Five-Factor model assessed by teachers' ratings at the fifth assessment. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that Sociability and Hostility were reliably measured at each assessment, and these constructs were relatively stable over time (mean rank-order stability coefficients over intervals of 1-5 years were .50 and .43, respectively). Sociability was most strongly associated (positively) with Extraversion, and Hostility was most strongly associated (negatively) with Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. No differences were found for younger versus older children. Implications for measuring childhood personality traits using teachers' reports of early childhood behavior are discussed.     

Prospective Relations Between Organized Activity Participation and Psychopathology During Adolescence

This longitudinal study examined psychopathology as a predictor and outcome of organized activity involvement during high school among 198 adolescents who varied in risk for psychopathology as a function of their mother's depression history. Higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in eighth grade significantly predicted lower levels of involvement in academic clubs during high school, over and above risk and SES. Tobacco use prior to high school predicted lower levels of involvement overall and in academic clubs and performance arts. Controlling for psychopathology prior to high school, higher levels of activity involvement were associated with lower levels of externalizing symptoms, less tobacco use, and fewer diagnoses of behavior disorders and substance abuse in 12th grade. The positive association between risk and adolescent psychopathology was not buffered by adolescent activity involvement. Overall, these findings suggest that involvement in organized activities may contribute to lower levels of externalizing psychopathology during high school even when controlling for prior psychopathology.     

A PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF PETER HØEG'S NOVEL MISS SMILLA'S FEELING FOR SNOW3

The author presents a psychoanalytic reading of the Danish author Peter Høeg's masterpiece ‘Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow’, focusing on the special linguistic style of the novel. Further, the author puts forward an interpretation of the heroine, seeing her as a literary example of female bisexuality. Investigating the heroine's fate, the author discusses Miss Smilla's phallic defence and identity. The narrative technique in Høeg's novel is analysed through Lacan's concepts of the Real, the Imaginary and the Symbolic. The main figure is interpreted as an imaginary example of female bisexuality. Miss Smilla has neither an unambiguous gender identity nor ethnicity. The heroine is pictured in a conflict between two cultures: the Greenlandish and the western European, and her bisexuality both reflects this and is part of it. The author proposes to interpret a significant memory from Smilla's early childhood as an example of a castration phantasy, which retroactively gives new significance to the little girl's pre‐oedipal frustration.     

Women helping chewers: partner support and smokeless tobacco cessation.

Data from 363 male smokeless tobacco users and their romantic partners were analyzed to discern the role of support in cessation. Women reported playing a part in enrollment (71%), and more than half examined program materials or discussed cessation activities with the chewers. Women's reports of delivered support correlated substantially with men's experience of received support. Men's received positive support predicted abstinence at 6-month follow-up (odds ratio = 1.29, confidence interval = 1.03-1.61) and more than 24 hr of abstinence for those still using tobacco at 6 months (odds ratio = 1.75, confidence interval = 1.30-2.36) and moderated the effect of baseline depression and addiction on abstinence. Women played a major role through all stages of cessation.     

Effects of self-correction on the spelling performance of junior high students with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Self-Correction and Traditional spelling on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of spelling words with five junior high school students with learning disabilities. During Traditional spelling students received a weekly list of 20 unknown words. Daily 20-minute assignments with these words varied among writing them, arranging them in alphabetical order, dividing the words into syllables, and using a dictionary to locate word meaning. Students were tested on the 20 words at the end of the week. During Self-Correction, students received 20 words on a 5-column sheet of paper. Columns were arranged so that stimulus words could be hidden by folding the paper back, and later exposed after the teacher dictated and the student wrote the words. Students used proofreading marks to self-correct. Sessions lasted 20 minutes, and weekly, delayed, and generalized assessments were conducted. Results indicated that for all five students the Self-Correction procedure was more effective for word acquisition than Traditional spelling. Also, for four of the five students, maintenance of words was higher under Self-Correction. Generalization occurred for three students. Finally, measures of social validity indicated that the students preferred Self-Correction over Traditional spelling, although two teachers in regular classrooms did not notice significant changes in the overall spelling performance for the students. Implications for the classroom practitioner are discussed.