Identity and Difference: A Hundred Years of Analytic Philosophy

At its origins, analytic philosophy is an interest in language, science, logic, analysis, and a systematic rather than a historical approach to philosophical problems. Early analytic philosophers were famous for making clear conceptual distinctions and for couching them in comprehensible and lucid sentences. It is argued that this situation is changing, that analytic philosophy is turning into its mirror image and is thereby becoming more like the kind of philosophy that it used to oppose.     

Venturing a 30-year longitudinal study

Longitudinal inquiry has long been recognized as a uniquely powerful method for seeking understanding of psychological development. A 30-year longitudinal venture is described--its theoretical motivation, methodological rationale, and details of implementation. Some of the novel and implicative findings the study has generated are briefly described. Common to all of the results is an absolute reliance on long-term, widely ranging, independent data. Although specific aspects of the study have appeared over the years, its intentions and scope are recounted only here. By and large, the organizing constructs of ego-control and ego-resiliency find impressive support in various empirical inquiries, here quickly described. Methodologically, a number of savvy research procedures useful and perhaps even necessary in longitudinal research are conveyed. The troublesome burdens but ever-alluring attractions of longitudinal inquiry are noted. A forthcoming Web site will contain the extensive 30-year longitudinal data bank together with explanatory information. Psychological investigators may find these imminently available data resources useful.     

Acculturation, parent-adolescent conflict, and adolescent adjustment in Mexican American families

We tested an acculturation model in a community sample of Mexican American families (146 mothers, 137 fathers, and 146 adolescents) that proposed that differences between parents and adolescents in acculturation would be associated with parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent adjustment problems. Contrary to hypotheses, we found that families who exhibited an acculturation gap were not more likely to report parent-adolescent conflict or adolescent adjustment problems. In fact, familial conflict and adolescent sexual experience were associated with high levels of acculturation among adolescents and their parents. Pending replication, these findings suggest that both parent and children acculturation may independently predict familial processes and youth outcomes, irrespective of an acculturation gap. Future research should consider other factors aside from acculturation differences that might account for parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent adjustment in Mexican American families.     

Cultural variation in affect valuation

The authors propose that how people want to feel ("ideal affect") differs from how they actually feel ("actual affect") and that cultural factors influence ideal more than actual affect. In 2 studies, controlling for actual affect, the authors found that European American (EA) and Asian American (AA) individuals value high-arousal positive affect (e.g., excitement) more than do Hong Kong Chinese (CH). On the other hand, CH and AA individuals value low-arousal positive affect (e.g., calm) more than do EA individuals. For all groups, the discrepancy between ideal and actual affect correlates with depression. These findings illustrate the distinctiveness of ideal and actual affect, show that culture influences ideal affect more than actual affect, and indicate that both play a role in mental health.     

The Personality Assessment Inventory Drug Problems Scale: a validity analysis

An analysis of the relationship among the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991, 1996) Drug Problems (DRG) scale scores, the Addiction Severity Index (ASI; McLellan et al., 1992) scores, and urine toxicology reports revealed that the PAI Drug Problem scale scores of 100 substance-using and substance-abusing men and women were distributed in a manner that was in agreement with the guidelines suggested by Morey (1991, 1996) in the PAI manual. There were significant correlations among the PAI DRG scale and the ASI scales related to frequency of use, negative consequences of use, and need and desire for treatment. Overall, higher scores did reflect both more serious involvements with drug use and more serious problems as a consequence of their involvement.     

Latina adolescents: predicting intentions to have sex

This study utilized the theory of reasoned action to examine how Latina adolescents' intentions to have sex in the coming month were influenced by their general attitude toward having sex and their perceptions of general social norms about having sex. Eighty-four Mexican American and Central American adolescent females ages 14 to 19 participated in telephone interviews. One group of 41 Mexican American adolescents was obtained through a telephone survey and the second group of 43 pregnant or parenting Mexican American and Central American adolescents was recruited from health clinics. Path analysis conducted separately for the two groups indicated that, for the clinic group, perceptions of general social norms, but not general attitude, predicted intentions to have sex; and for the survey group, whether they were sexually active directly predicted perceptions of general social norms and intention to have sex. Adolescents' perceptions of what significant others desired of them, but not their motivation to comply, predicted perceptions of general social norms about having sex. Results underscore the importance of social norms for Latina adolescents when they are considering whether or not to have sex.     

Suicidal behavior among urban,African American young adults

The objectives of the present study were four-fold. First, to determine the lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence and demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in a defined population of urban, African American young adults. Second, to determine the degree of mental health service utilization among attempters. Third, to study the comorbidity between mental disorders and suicidal behavior, along with the variation in the numbers and types of psychiatric disorders associated with attempts versus ideation only. Fourth, to examine gender differences in the psychiatric diagnoses associated with attempts and ideation. Data relevant to each of these objectives were gathered through structured interviews of 1,157 economically disadvantaged, African American young adults. Lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence rates for attempts were 5.3%, 1.2%, and 0.4%, respectively, whereas the lifetime and 6-month prevalence of ideation were 14% and 1.9%, respectively. Approximately two thirds of those who reported lifetime ideation, and a similar proportion of those who reported lifetime attempts, had a history of at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder. There were no gender differences in terms of the degree of risk for suicidal behavior (ideation or attempts) associated with any of the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses assessed. Despite the severity of most attempts, few attempters received mental health services in their lifetime or at the time of their most recent attempt.     

Short-term memory impairment and unilateral dichotic listening extinction in a child with Landau-Kleffner syndrome: auditory or phonological disorder?

The neuropsychological profile of a child with a Landau-Kleffner syndrome is presented here. The observed cognitive difficulties included verbal short-term memory and seemed partially compensated for when the experimental assessments bypassed the auditory channel. This case study is especially challenging since the child, whose phonological skills were quite efficient and who exhibited a dichotic listening unilateral extinction, had developed average reading and spelling abilities. The fact that B.E.'s performance on memory tasks was quite poor when the stimuli were presented auditorily and more efficient when the stimuli were presented visually, strongly suggests that the observed memory impairment was due to a deficit at the level of cortical auditory processing. B.E.'s phonological skills were efficient, suggesting a neuropsychological dissociation between phonological ability and auditory processing. The fact that B.E. dramatically recovered language and easily acquired reading and spelling accounts for the hypothesis that compensatory strategies allowed him to develop phonological skills from predominantly visual input.