Measuring Spiritual Needs in a Secular Society: Validation and Clinimetric Properties of the Danish 20-Item Spiritual Needs Questionnaire

Journal of Religion and Health - In secular cultures, such as Denmark, tools to measure spiritual needs are warranted to guide existential and spiritual care. We examined the clinimetric properties...     

What can self-disorders in schizophrenia tell us about the nature of subjectivity? A psychopathological investigation

The purpose of this article is to show how schizophrenia, understood as a distortion of the most intimate structures of subjectivity, illustrates the nature of subjectivity as such, while at the same time how philosophical considerations may help to understand schizophrenia. More precisely, schizophrenic experiences of self-alienation seem to reflect a congealing or concretization of a form of differentiation or potential alterity implicit in the dynamic nature of subjectivity. In other words, we propose that the structure of subjectivity includes potential divisions and fissures that condition the experiences of radical self-alienation seen in schizophrenia. In order to elucidate how this alterity emerges within the self in schizophrenia and in order to consider its conditions of possibility we examine the disorders of the self as described in phenomenological psychopathology. We especially use the work of the Japanese psychiatrists Mari Nagai, her teacher Bin Kimura, and the French psychiatrist Henry Ey, supplemented with clinical material from our own research. Finally, we shed light on the development of the psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, which are understood as the expressions of a radical alterization (i.e., becoming other) of the self.     

Increased activation in superior temporal gyri as a function of increment in phonetic features

A common assumption is that phonetic sounds initiate unique processing in the superior temporal gyri and sulci (STG/STS). The anatomical areas subserving these processes are also implicated in the processing of non-phonetic stimuli such as music instrument sounds. The differential processing of phonetic and non-phonetic sounds was investigated in this study by applying a “sound-morphing” paradigm, where the presence of phonetic features were parametrically varied, creating a step-wise transition from a non-phonetic sound into a phonetic sound. The stimuli were presented in an event-related fMRI design. The fMRI-BOLD data were analysed using parametric contrasts. The results showed a higher sensitivity for sounds containing phonetic features compared to non-phonetic sounds in the middle part of STG, and in the anterior part of the planum temporale (PT) bilaterally. Although the same areas were involved in the processing of non-phonetic sounds, a difference in activation was evident in the STG, with an increase in activation related to increment of phonetic features in the sounds. The results indicate a stimulus-driven, bottom-up process that utilizes general auditory resources in the secondary auditory cortex, depending on specific phonetic features in the sounds.     

Anxiety as a Predictor of Age at First Use of Substances and Progression to Substance Use Problems Among Boys

This study examined associations of generalized and social anxiety with (1) age at first use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana and (2) interval from first use to first problem use of each substance. Participants were 503 males who comprised the youngest cohort (first assessed in the first grade) of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a longitudinal community-based study of boys. Annual assessments of generalized and social anxiety, delinquency, and substance use from first grade through high school were included. Both types of anxiety predicted earlier first use of alcohol and tobacco, and generalized anxiety predicted earlier first use of marijuana. Both types of anxiety predicted the progression from first use to problems related to marijuana. The effect of generalized anxiety tended to be significant above and beyond the effect of delinquency, while the effect of social anxiety on risk for first use of substances was not. Overall, the associations between anxiety and substance use and related problems depend on the class of substance and the type of anxiety.     

Aggressive behavior among girls and boys during middle childhood: predictors and sequelae of trajectory group membership

Using longitudinal data spanning early elementary through middle school, aggression behavior trajectory groups were identified for boys and girls. Early elementary school predictors of trajectory group membership were examined as well as whether trajectory group predicted physical aggression, covert delinquency, and substance use in 9th grade. Semiparametric group modeling identified aggression behavior trajectory groups. We identified four aggression trajectory groups for both genders described as “not involved,” “low,” “moderate,” and “high.” Attention problems, family conflict, and low school commitment and attachment were predictors of membership in higher aggression groups for both boys and girls. Low family involvement and low parental education predicted membership in higher aggression groups for boys; while depression, low‐income status, and having a single parent predicted higher aggression group membership for girls. For both boys and girls, few risk predictors distinguished between the moderate and high aggression trajectories except that low school commitment and having a teen mother were significant predictors of being in the high group for girls, and low parental education and income were significant predictors of being in the high group for boys. Membership in the higher aggression trajectory groups predicted involvement in violent behaviors, covert delinquency, and substance use in 9th grade. Findings suggest that children who display an early trajectory of high levels of aggressive behavior are more likely to continue involvement in later problem behaviors. Second‐grade predictors suggest commonality of risk across genders and provide evidence of modifiable targets for preventive interventions. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–15. 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Anticipatory spatial representation of 3D regions explored by sighted observers and a deaf-and-blind-observer

Viewers who study photographs of scenes tend to remember having seen beyond the boundaries of the view [boundary extension; J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 15 (1989) 179]. Is this a fundamental aspect of scene representation? Forty undergraduates explored bounded regions of six common (3D) scenes, visually or haptically (while blindfolded) and then the delimiting borders were removed. Minutes later they reconstructed boundary placement. Boundary extension occurred: mean areas were increased by 53% (vision) and by 17% (haptics). A deaf-and-blind woman (KC) haptically explored the same regions. Although a "haptic expert", she too remembered having explored beyond the boundaries, with performance similar to that of the blindfolded-sighted. Boundary extension appears to be a fundamental aspect of spatial cognition. Possibly constrained by the "scope" of the input modality (vision>haptics), this anticipatory spatial representation may facilitate integration of successively perceived regions of the world irrespective of modality and the perceiver's sensory history.     

Screening of intellectual maturity: exploring South African preschoolers' scores on the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test and teachers' assessment

The present study explored the relationship between South African preschool children's intelligence scores achieved on the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GHD), and the accuracy of teachers' ratings of the human-figure drawings and teachers' general perceptions of children's intellectual maturity. The GHD was administered individually to 30 boys and 30 girls between the ages of 4 and 6 years (M = 4.5. SD = 0.7) from a multicultural (Black, Colored, and White) preschool near the Cape, South Africa. The three class teachers of these preschoolers provided the ratings and perceptions of each child's intellectual maturity. Results indicated that the teachers' assessments of children's intellectual maturity were fairly similar to the formal measures of children's intellectual maturity using human figure drawings and their own perceptions. It appears that teacher ratings of drawings could be relied upon as a means of assessment. General perceptions of children's intellectual maturity should not be solely relied upon, but instead these perceptions should be used as an aid for enhancing the teachers' assessment of children's intellectual maturity in addition to the rating of human figure drawings.     

Correlations of scores on the developmental test of visual-motor integration and copying test in a South African multi-ethnic preschool sample

This study assessed the intercorrelations of scores on the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, the locally standardized Copying Test, and teachers' ratings of scholastic skills in a South African multi-ethnic preschool sample. The study also investigated whether cultural and socioeconomic factors might influence test data. Participants were 71 Black, 101 Coloured, and 66 White children attending preschools in a semirural district. Participants' ages ranged from 4 yr., 9 mo. to 7yr., 0 mo. (M=5.8 yr., SD= 0.3 yr.). Analysis yielded a correlation of .75 between the test scores and supports the suitability of the widely used Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration in a multi-ethnic sample. Scores on the Copying Test correlated higher with teachers' ratings. However, significant differences in test performance among groups by race and socioeconomic status suggest the rate of perceptual-motor development may be related to cultural factors. Normative data are reported for groups by race and socioeconomic status.