Measuring Lifestyle and Attachment: An Empirical Investigation Linking Individual Psychology and Attachment Theory

P. R. Peluso, J. P. Peluso, J. F. White, and R. M. Kern (2004) reviewed the theoretical constructs underlying the similarities between lifestyle and attachment style. Specifically, they suggested that the individual psychology construct of lifestyle (or style of life) and attachment style should be empirically investigated. The present research provided an empirical analysis of the concepts of lifestyle and attachment style and compared the methods for assessing these concepts. The findings supported the overall hypotheses that attachment style and lifestyle are similar constructs.     

Confabulation in Alzheimer's disease.

Confabulation is present when memory is disturbed, but does it occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD) where memory abnormalities are often severe? In this study, confabulation was assessed prospectively in 26 AD patients and 15 normal elderly (NE) controls using a neuropsychological battery specifically designed to assess different types of memory errors. The results indicated that the AD group made significantly more verbal intrusions than the NE group. These findings provide evidence for the feasibility of eliciting confabulatory-type behavior during clinical assessment and support previous reports which have documented verbal intrusions as a common accompaniment of the memory impairment manifested by AD patients.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Convergent Validity of Self-Control Measures

There is extraordinary diversity in how the construct of self-control is operationalized in research studies. We meta-analytically examined evidence of convergent validity among executive function, delay of gratification, and self- and informant-report questionnaire measures of self-control. Overall, measures demonstrated moderate convergence (r_random = .27 [95% CI = .24, .30]; r_fixed = .34 [.33, .35], k = 282 samples, N = 33,564 participants), although there was substantial heterogeneity in the observed correlations. Correlations within and across types of self-control measures were strongest for informant-report questionnaires and weakest for executive function tasks. Questionnaires assessing sensation seeking impulses could be distinguished from questionnaires assessing processes of impulse regulation. We conclude that self-control is a coherent but multidimensional construct best assessed using multiple methods.     

Personality and Health, Subjective Well-Being, and Longevity

ABSTRACT Personality traits can be employed to guide understanding of trajectories to health and longevity, but long-term longitudinal study and multifaceted assessment of healthy aging are crucial. Following up on the life span study initiated by Lewis Terman, we assessed 4 validated factors of personality in young adulthood in 1940, constructed a multifactor measure of participants' healthy aging in 1986, and collected death certificates through 2007 (to determine longevity) on a sample of 1,312 Terman participants (732 men). Neuroticism predicted worse physical health and subjective well-being in old age and, for women, higher mortality risk, but for men, neuroticism predicted decreased mortality risk. For both sexes, extraversion predicted old-age social competence, whereas conscientiousness predicted men's old-age productivity. Differential patterns of association between personality traits and healthy aging components are informative about individual personality characteristics and long-term health outcomes.     

Evolutionary psychology and developmental dynamics: comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003)

Evolutionary psychology provides a cogent metatheory for psychological science. It has furnished compelling theories of major domains of human functioning, including mating, parenting, kinship, morality, cooperation, conflict, aggression, and aesthetics. It has produced hundreds of empirical discoveries missed entirely by prior psychologists. Developmental dynamics, properly conceived, can add to the theoretical foundation of evolutionary psychology. But it has not provided alternative theories capable of explaining the many detailed empirical discoveries made by evolutionary' psychologists. Nor has it generated a comparable bounty of new empirical discoveries. By critical scientific standards--theoretical cogency, predictive accuracy, interdisciplinary consistency, and empirical harvest--modern evolutionary psychology fares well compared with alternatives.     

Psychometric evaluation of the outcome based performance measures

The Outcome Based Performance Measures are widely used to evaluate and accredit organizations providing services to persons with disabilities. This study evaluated the interrater reliability, levels of difficulty for items, and factor groupings of this measure with 448 Nevadans with mental retardation. Results supported the measure's reliability and most of the items' levels of difficulty. Factor analysis yielded seven factors with item loadings that varied moderately from prior reports, tending to coincide with the original measure's logically-based groupings. Revisions to the measure are suggested.     

Classroom-based functional and adjunctive assessments: proactive approaches to intervention selection for adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The present investigation evaluated the utility of classroom-based functional and adjunctive assessments of problem behaviors for 2 adolescents who met diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). For children with ADHD-ODD, environmental classroom variables, when systematically manipulated by teachers, were related to the occurrence and nonoccurrence of problem behaviors. Classroom interventions derived from information that was obtained during functional and adjunctive assessments and from subsequent analyses resulted in substantial reductions in problem behaviors. Teacher and student consumer satisfaction ratings indicated that the interventions were effective and feasible in the classroom setting.     

THE EFFECTS OF INTERSPERSED MAINTENANCE TASKS ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN A SEVERE CHILDHOOD STROKE VICTIM

We examined the effects of task-sequencing variables on the academic performance of an 8-year-old severe stroke victim. Within a multiple baseline design, previously acquired (maintenance) task trials were systematically interspersed at designated points in treatment among new (acquisition) task trials. The results showed improvements in both academic responding and subjective ratings of motivation in each of four treated areas (spelling, reading, word-finding, and memory). Social validation data obtained from standardized school placement examinations suggested marked improvement in a variety of related areas of academic functioning. Results suggest that children suffering severe strokes may be capable of learning more than has previously been suspected, and that behavioral treatments may improve such children's functioning.     

A COMPARISON OF SIMULTANEOUS AND DELAYED REINFORCEMENT AS TREATMENTS FOR FOOD SELECTIVITY

This study compared the relative efficacy of providing simultaneous or delayed reinforcement on food acceptance during meals. The participant was a 7-year-old boy with pervasive developmental disorder and a history of food selectivity. Results indicated that both procedures were effective in increasing acceptance; however, the simultaneous reinforcement procedure produced more rapid behavior change and a higher overall percentage of food acceptance.