Validity and reliability of the panic attack symptoms and cognitions questionnaires

The present article reports on the development and validation of two self-report instruments designed to assess the symptoms and cognitions associated with panic attacks. The Panic Attack Symptoms Questionnaire (PASQ) as well as the Panic Attack Cognitions Questionnaire (PACQ) successfully differentiated a group of anxiety-disordered individuals with panic attacks from a group of anxiety-disordered individuals without panic attacks. Reliability estimates based on Cronbach's alpha were adequate, and two discriminant functions designed to determine whether each of these questionnaires contributed uniquely to the separation of individuals with and without panic attacks beyond that provided by standard measures of anxiety and depression supported the validity of these questionnaires. The PASQ and PACQ appear to be useful vehicles for assessing the presence and severity of panic attacks.     

Social Support and the Association of Type 2 Diabetes and Depressive and Anxiety Disorders Among Low-income Adults Seen in Primary Care Clinics

This study examined the association of social support (SS) and affective disturbance among low-income primary care patients with no chronic illnesses vs. those with type 2 diabetes vs. those with other chronic illnesses. The sample was predominantly middle aged (47.2 years old), African American (74%) and female (80%), with an average individual monthly income of approximately $500. Participants (N = 326) were administered the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, IV and the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. Logistic regression results indicated that each standard deviation decrease in SS, increased the odds of having a depressive or anxiety disorder diagnosis by .618 OR (CI .472, .808, p < .000) for all study participants; .438 OR (95% CI .195, .987, p = .046) for those with hypertension, asthma and/or arthritis; and .326 OR (95% CI .141, .755, p = .009) for those with type 2 diabetes. Results suggest that SS may serve an important role in the association between stress and depression/anxiety diagnoses among low-income, primary care patients. This paper was awarded the Lifescan Diabetes Research Award at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.     

Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: a dual-process framework

It is widely acknowledged that emotions can be regulated in an astonishing variety of ways. Most research to date has focused on explicit (effortful) forms of emotion regulation. However, there is growing research interest in implicit (automatic) forms of emotion regulation. To organise emerging findings, we present a dual-process framework that integrates explicit and implicit forms of emotion regulation, and argue that both forms of regulation are necessary for well-being. In the first section of this review, we provide a broad overview of the construct of emotion regulation, with an emphasis on explicit and implicit processes. In the second section, we focus on explicit emotion regulation, considering both neural mechanisms that are associated with these processes and their experiential and physiological consequences. In the third section, we turn to several forms of implicit emotion regulation, and integrate the burgeoning literature in this area. We conclude by outlining open questions and areas for future research.     

Differences in the cognitive demands of word order,plural, and subject-verb agreement constructions

The syntactic devices of subject-verb-object word order, regular plurals, and subject-verb agreement differ in age of acquisition and susceptibility to error within language-disordered populations. In the present article, the performance of adults on a grammaticality judgment task is used to explore whether such differences are related to working memory (both in terms of an externally imposed load and individual differences in capacity) and phonological ability. The results show that word order, the earliest acquired and most resilient device, is not affected by load, memory span, or phonological ability. Plurals are affected marginally by load and significantly by phonological ability. Agreement, the last acquired and least resilient device, is affected by load, memory span, and phonological ability. Thus, consistent with a processing-based explanation, later acquired and less resilient devices have higher working memory and phonological demands.     

Molyneux’s question and the individuation of perceptual concepts

Molyneux's Question, that is, “Suppose a man born blind, and now adult, and taught by his touch to distinguish between a cube and a sphere... and the blind man made to see: Quaere, whether by his sight, before he touched them, he could now distinguish, and tell, which is the globe, which the cube”, was discussed by many theorists in the 17th and 18th centuries, and has recently been addressed by contemporary philosophers interested in the nature, and identity conditions, of perceptual concepts. My main concern in this paper is to argue – against Evans, Campbell, and a number of other contemporary philosophers – that a test of the sort Molyneux envisioned, at least if carefully designed and administered, can indeed be a crucial experiment for the claim that we deploy the same perceptual concepts when identifying shapes by sight and by touch. I will explore some implications of this argument for a theory of recognitional concepts. And I’ll try to trace out some unhappy consequences of various alternative views.     

Bodies at Menarche: Stories of Shame, Concealment, and Sexual Maturation

This study examines the embodied nature of menarche through a focus on themes of shame, concealment, and sexual maturation. Using a narrative analysis, it examines menarche stories of 155 undergraduates in the Pacific Northwest, USA, aged 21 years and younger, who started their periods between 1999 and 2003 and who grew up in a culture with changing attitudes and practices about women and the body. Unlike findings from past studies and those with older participants, women reported more positive experiences of menarche. While these data provide evidence for changing attitudes and practices associated with menarche, they may also reflect cultural changes that increasingly commodify the female body and encourage girls to identify the maturing female body as an asset.     

Quality of Life of Individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries

This study investigated the quality of life of individuals with acquired brain injuries (ABI) across a one- to fifteen-year post-injury time span. This allows us to identify the health and service needs of individuals with ABI and provide direction for further improvement. Twenty-nine individuals were invited from the local Self-Help Group for the Brain-Damaged to participate in this study. Four instruments were used to help in the investigation of the subjective components of the quality of life, including the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) and Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS). The instruments used were the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) and Lawton Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) Scale. After analysis of the results and their interpretation, there was no significant difference between the post-injury groups in their scores of negative affect. It is suggested that there should be services, such as psychotherapy, to help reduce the existence of negative moods. Improvement in the IADL aspect should be more focused in future rehabilitation services to allow people to enjoy a fuller life.     

Voluntary action alters the perception of visual illusions

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - “Intentional binding” refers to the finding that people judge voluntary actions and their effects as having occurred closer together in time...     

An Example of Assessment's Role in Career Exploration

A new ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) 18/19 Career Exploration Program was made available to United States secondary and postsecondary schools in July 1992. The program allows individual students to use their aptitude test results, an inventory of their interests, and personal preferences to identify occupations with characteristics that seem to be consistent with their own. This capability of matching student characteristics to occupations is derived from extensive analyses based on work performed by the U.S. Departments of Labor and Defense.