Nature and role of change in anxiety sensitivity during NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment

This study evaluated the associations between change in anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of the negative consequences of anxiety and related sensations) and lapse and relapse during a 4-week group NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral Tobacco Intervention Program. Participants were 67 (44 women; M (age) = 46.2 years, SD = 10.4) adult daily smokers. Results indicated that participants who maintained high levels of AS from pretreatment to 1 month posttreatment, compared to those who demonstrated a significant reduction in AS levels during this time period, showed a significantly increased risk for lapse and relapse. Further inspection indicated that higher continuous levels of AS physical and psychological concerns, specifically among those participants who maintained elevated levels of AS from pre- to posttreatment, predicted significantly greater risk for relapse. Findings are discussed with respect to better understanding change in AS, grounded in an emergent taxonic-dimensional factor mixture model of the construct, with respect to lapse and relapse during smoking cessation.     

Informant reports add incrementally to the understanding of the perfectionism–depression connection: Evidence from a prospective longitudinal study

Perfectionism is a putative risk factor for depressive symptoms. However, most research in this area uses cross-sectional designs (which fail to address temporal precedence) and mono-source designs (which are influenced by various biases). The present study overcomes these limitations by using a novel design involving both self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism (i.e., negative reactions to perceived failures, concern over others’ criticism and expectations, doubts about performance abilities, and intense self-rebuke). It was hypothesized that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism would correlate moderately and that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism would predict increases in depressive symptoms over time. A sample of 155 target participants and 588 informants was recruited and studied using a prospective longitudinal design. All study hypotheses were supported, including evidence that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism each add incrementally to the understanding of the self-critical perfectionism–depressive symptoms connection. Informant reports may provide a more complete picture of the self-critical perfectionist and her or his vulnerability to depressive symptoms.     

Extending Neuropsychological Assessments into the Primary Mental Ability Space

ABSTRACT

A battery of 17 neuropsychological tests (including the CERAD battery) and 17 psychometric ability tests were administered to a sample of 499 participants of the Seattle Longitudinal study who had been given the psychometric ability tests seven and 14 years earlier. The neuropsychological tests were projected into a 5-factor psychometric ability space by means of extension analysis. The concurrent regressions of the neuropsychology tests on the psychometric ability tests were then used to estimate neuropsychology test scores from the psychometric ability tests administered in 1984, 1991 and 1998. Neuropsychologists then rated the study participants as either normal, suspect or cognitively impaired in 1998. Changes in estimated test scores were computed over seven and fourteen years. Significant odds ratios between normal and cognitively impaired groups were found for all neuropsychological tests over the proximal period and for most tests over the 14-year period. Similar findings occurred for the odds ratios between the normal and suspect groups for the most proximal 7-year changes.     

Temporal Relations in Daily-Reported Maternal Mood and Disruptive Child Behavior

Examined temporal relations between maternal mood and disruptive child behaviour using daily assessments of 30 mother-child dyads carried out over 8 consecutive weeks (623 pooled observations). Pooled time-series analyses showed synchronous fluctuation in child behaviour and maternal distress. Time-lagged models showed temporal relations between maternal and child outcomes that changed according to the type of maternal mood and child behaviour being reported. Controlling for cross-sectional relations, maternal anger and fatigue were related to previous child inattentive/impulsive/overactive behaviour (IO) and maternal confusion related to previous child oppositional/defiant behaviour (OD). However, maternal depression, low vigour, anger, and anxiety each predicted subsequent child IO and maternal confusion and anxiety each predicted subsequent child OD. Mutual influences on maternal and child functioning were interpreted in the context of interpersonal mechanisms that mediate psychological problems within families and their implications for treatment.     

Person factors associated with suicidal behavior among African American women and men

This study compared person risk factors among the following groups of low-income, African American adults in an urban, public hospital: (a) suicide attempters and nonattempters, (b) male and female attempters, and (c) all 4 groups (50 female attempters, 50 female nonattempters, 50 male attempters, and 50 male nonattempters). Participants completed psychological distress, aggression, substance use, cognitive processes, religiosity/spirituality, and ethnic identity measures. Compared with nonattempters, attempters reported more psychological distress, aggression, substance use, and maladaptive coping strategies; less religiosity/spirituality; and lower levels of ethnic identity. Male attempters endorsed more substance use than female attempters. No person risk factors differentiated among the 4 groups. Assessment of person risk factors and implementation of commensurate culturally competent interventions are recommended.     

Changing self-perception: success in independent living for individuals with chronic mental illness

Rates of rehospitalization of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness were compared prior to and after they were moved into 4-bed corporate foster homes. Results showed a significant drop in the number of rehospitalizations and in the total number of days hospitalized after moving into a 4-bed home. The data suggest that living in a 4-bed home-like environment may result in significantly fewer and shorter hospitalizations for these types of mentally ill individuals.     

Environmental factors associated with a spectrum of neurodevelopmental deficits

A number of environmental agents have been shown to demonstrate neurotoxic effects either in human or laboratory animal studies. Critical windows of vulnerability to the effects of these agents occur both pre- and postnatally. The nervous system is relatively unique in that different parts are responsible for different functional domains, and these develop at different times (e.g., motor control, sensory, intelligence and attention). In addition, the many cell types in the brain have different windows of vulnerability with varying sensitivities to environmental agents. This review focuses on two environmental agents, lead and methylmercury, to illustrate the neurobehavioral and cognitive effects that can result from early life exposures. Special attention is paid to distinguishing between the effects detected following episodes of poisoning and those detected following lower dose exposures. Perinatal and childhood exposure to high doses of lead results in encephalopathy and convulsions. Lower-dose lead exposures have been associated with impairment in intellectual function and attention. At high levels of prenatal exposure, methylmercury produces mental retardation, cerebral palsy and visual and auditory deficits in children of exposed mothers. At lower levels of methylmercury exposure, the effects in children have been more subtle. Other environmental neurotoxicants that have been shown to produce developmental neurotoxicity include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, pesticides, ionizing radiation, environmental tobacco smoke, and maternal use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and cocaine. Exposure to environmental agents with neurotoxic effects can result in a spectrum of adverse outcomes from severe mental retardation and disability to more subtle changes in function depending on the timing and dose of the chemical agent.     

Psychometric Assessment of the Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire: Comparing a Brief Version to the Original Full Scale

The current set of studies compared the psychometric properties of the original Comprehensive Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire (CEOA) to a 15-item version (B-CEOA) in a nonclinical undergraduate sample (N = 581), and attempted to replicate and extend the B-CEOA findings in an undergraduate sample referred to an alcohol intervention (N = 734). Psychometric assessment included construct validity, internal consistency, and concurrent validity, using both positive and negative expectancy items in all analyses. Results provided further support for the empirical validity of the original CEOA, and provided support for the use of the B-CEOA despite the reduction in the number of items. The B-CEOA factor structures obtained using exploratory and confirmatory techniques provided support for a 4-factor structure of expectancies and 3-factor structure of valuations. Findings reveal potential problems with positive and negative expectancy items. Trade-offs regarding factor structure, internal consistency, and administration time should be considered in using the B-CEOA vs. the CEOA.     

Conducting and interpreting canonical correlation analysis in personality research: a user-friendly primer

The purpose of this article is to reduce potential statistical barriers and open doors to canonical correlation analysis (CCA) for applied behavioral scientists and personality researchers. CCA was selected for discussion, as it represents the highest level of the general linear model (GLM) and can be rather easily conceptualized as a method closely linked with the more widely understood Pearson r correlation coefficient. An understanding of CCA can lead to a more global appreciation of other univariate and multivariate methods in the GLM. We attempt to demonstrate CCA with basic language, using technical terminology only when necessary for understanding and use of the method. We present an entire example of a CCA analysis using SPSS (Version 11.0) with personality data.     

Distress and help-seeking as a function of person-environment fit and self-efficacy: A causal model

Self-efficacy, indicators of distress (state anxiety and frequency of physical symptoms), help-seeking (visits to the campus health center, an outside physician, and a counselor), and two measures of person-environment (P-E) fit were assessed on 152 college students and examined in a LISREL model. The two P-E fit measures were perceived discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each student would like their residence floor and how each viewed it as being, and actual discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each would like the floor to be and the mean rating for how floor residents viewed the floor. It was found that self-efficacy and perceived discrepancy had independent and moderate effects on distress but not on help-seeking, whereas actual discrepancy was found to have a strong effect on help-seeking and no direct effect on distress. Help-seeking was found to have a strong negative effect on distress.