The Life Attitudes Schedule-Short Form: psychometric properties and correlates of adolescent suicide proneness

The goals of the present study were to describe the psychometric properties of the Life Attitudes Schedule-Short Form (LAS-SF) in adolescents and provide criterion and construct validity data, including bivariate and multivariate associations with related risk behaviors. Anonymous questionnaires containing the LAS-SF and related measures were administered to 1,742 high school students in three states. Psychometric properties for LAS-SF items and total score were very good, and the LAS-SF was correlated with almost all of the examined risk behaviors, illustrating the broad range of problems measured by the instrument. LAS-SF total scores were associated with past suicide attempt, even after controlling for the impact of current depression. Clinical and research uses for the LAS-SF are discussed.     

Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire profiles of veterans with traumatic combat exposure: externalizing and internalizing subtypes

This study used the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, in press) to identify personality-based subtypes of posttraumatic response. Cluster analyses of MPQs completed by combat veterans revealed subgroups that differed on measures relating to the externalization versus internalization of distress. The MPQ profile of the externalizing cluster was defined by low Constraint and Harmavoidance coupled with high Alienation and Aggression. Individuals in this cluster also had histories of delinquency and high rates of substance-related disorder. In comparison, the MPQ profile of the internalizing cluster was characterized by lower Positive Emotionality, Alienation, and Aggression and higher Constraint, and individuals in this cluster showed high rates of depressive disorder. These findings suggest that dispositions toward externalizing versus internalizing psychopathology may account for heterogeneity in the expression of posttraumatic responses, including patterns of comorbidity.     

Mothers' and fathers' depressive symptoms and conflict-resolution strategies in the marriage and children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors

The authors examined mothers' and fathers' avoidance and attacking conflict-resolution strategies in the marriage and their depressive symptoms as they related to children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. A nonclinical community sample of 51 families and their children's 1st-grade teachers (N = 41) participated. Both mothers and teachers completed a behavior-problem checklist in order to evaluate the incidence of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the children. Correlational statistics revealed significant associations between parents' avoidance and attacking strategies and their depressive symptoms. Also, parents' use of avoidance was related to more internalizing behaviors in the children. When hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the contributions of the parents' attributes to children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors, mothers' avoidance and an interaction between mothers' and fathers' avoidance were identified as significant predictors of children's internalizing behaviors.     

Analysis and analogy in the perception of vowels

In two experiments, we investigated the creation of conceptual analogies to a contrast between vowels. An ordering procedure was used to determine the reliability of simple sensory and abstract analogies to vowel contrasts composed by naive volunteers. The results indicate that test subjects compose stable and consistent analogies to a meaningless segmental linguistic contrast, some invoking simple and complex relational properties. Although in the literature of psychophysics such facility has been explained as an effect of sensory analysis, the present studies indicate the action of a far subtler and more versatile cognitive function akin to the creation of meaning in figurative language.     

What Front-Line CBO Staff Can Tell Us About Culturally Anchored Theories of Behavior Change in HIV Prevention for Asian/Pacific Islanders

Few rigorously tested primary prevention programs have been developed to prevent HIV infection among immigrant communities in the United States. This is in part because of the lack of culturally specific behavioral theories that can inform HIV prevention for immigrant communities in the United States. This article aims to develop such theories for a population—Asian/Pacific Islanders (A/PIs) immigrant communities—who have been overlooked in theory development and program evaluation. Frontline community-based organization (CBO) peer educators, an underutilized source of expertise regarding cultural factors specific to HIV infection among A/PI communities, are the sample of study Asian/Pacific Islander peer educators working at an urban AIDS service organization devoted to health promotion for this population; (N=35). They were interviewed to examine (1) detailed narratives describing instances of behavior change and (2) culturally anchored theories of behavior change which the narratives imply. Theories of the influence of positive cultural symbols on the taboo of HIV/AIDS, moderators of the effectiveness of social network influences on behavior change, and setting- and community-level processes predicting HIV risk behavior were implicit in the peer educators' narratives. Implications for future research, methodology and prevention practice are discussed.     

Do intersections serve as basic features in visual search?

The status of 'intersection' as a basic feature in visual search tasks has been controversial. Under some circumstances, a target possessing this attribute (eg a plus) 'pops out' of a display of distractors that lack the attribute (eg Ls). However, those cases may be artifacts of other features such as relative size or number of line terminators. We report two sets of experiments with stimuli intended to control for these factors. Search for the presence or absence of intersections is very inefficient with these stimuli. The results suggest that intersection should not be included among the list of salient features that support efficient search through visual displays.     

Enhancement,extension, and reversal of the frequency selectivity effect

The influence of a frequency cue on judgments of whether or not a subsequent target incorporated a brief silent gap was examined. In Experiment 1, there was no predictive frequency relation and evidence of auditory inhibition of return was obtained with frequency repetitions, producing a facilitative effect at 175-msec stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and an inhibitory effect at 775-msec SOA. Relative to this baseline performance pattern, increasing the probability of a frequency match to .75 (Experiment 2) served to generate a beneficial effect of frequency repetitions at lengthy SOAs and to enlarge its magnitude at 175-msec SOA. In contrast, a reduction in the probability of a frequency match to .25 (Experiment 3) resulted in the elimination of any facilitative effect of repetition at 175-msec SOA and the development of an inhibitory effect at 475- and 1,075-msec SOA. These results establish that a frequency cue may engage both exogenous and endogenous attentional processes within 175 msec following its presentation.     

Perfectionism and ethnicity: implications for depressive symptoms and self-reported academic achievement

Ethnic differences in perfectionism were examined among Asian American, African American, and Caucasian American college students. Analyses revealed that Asian American students scored significantly higher than the other groups on 3 of 6 perfectionism subscales. Minority students reported significantly higher parental expectations than Caucasian students. Significant correlations emerged for all 3 groups between depressive symptoms and concerns about making mistakes, perceived criticism from parents, and self-doubt. In regression analyses, perfectionism explained significant variance in depressive symptoms for Asian Americans and Caucasians and explained significant variance in cumulative grade point average for Asian Americans and African Americans. Self-doubt emerged as a robust individual predictor in these analyses.     

Forbidden knowledge

This case is part of a series of case studies used as an exercise within a program on research ethics education. The case involves research on genetic birth defects in a culturally distinct, closed religious community in which elders speak for the community. The case raises ethical issues of informed consent in such a setting; of collaboration with the community; of conflicts between the researchers’ responsibilities to the community as a whole and to individual subjects; of the impact of the researcher’s findings on the practices and values of the community and issues regarding how the researchers share findings with subjects and how the findings are stored.     

Happiness and health: environmental and genetic contributions to the relationship between subjective well-being, perceived health, and somatic illness

The aim was to identify genetic and environmental influences on the covariances between subjective well-being (SWB), perceived health, and somatic illness. Analyses were based on 6576 Norwegian twins aged 18-31. Heritabilities ranged from .24 to.66. SWB correlated .50 with perceived health, -.25 with musculoskeletal pain, and -.07 with allergy. Common genetic factors accounted for 45%-60% of associations. SWB and perceived health was to a high extent influenced by the same genes (r(g)=.72 and.82 for males and females, respectively). For SWB and musculoskeletal pain, r-sub(g) =-.29 and -.42 for males and females, respectively. Effects were partly sex specific. Environmental factors shared by twins did not affect the covariances. Results support a differentiated view of SWB-health relations, and imply that both genes and environment play important roles in the associations between well-being and health.