Validity of the SDS-17 measure of social desirability in the American context

In Germany, Stober et al. (1999, 2001) presented evidence for the validity of the SDS-17, a new measure of social desirability bias. In the current investigation, three experiments (n = 800) assessed the SDS-17’s validity in the US environment. In all conditions SDS-17 scores correlated highly with Marlowe–Crowne scores. In Study 1, a group administration of a paper and pencil booklet, SDS-17 scores of 327 college students were higher under Fake Good than Standard conditions, and both were higher than scores in the Honest condition. Study 2, an online survey of a demographically diverse adult sample (n = 257), showed that the increase in SDS-17 scores under Fake Good conditions occurs also in a Web survey and that SDS-17 scores were unrelated to one’s demographic profile. Study 3, a group administration to 216 college students, revealed again that scores under Fake Good were higher than those under Standard administration and that SDS-17 scores correlated more highly with the Impression Management than with the Self-Deception subscales of the BIDR. The SDS-17 appeared valid for the US environment as a measure of socially desirable responding. The evidence, however, encourages its further assessment as an index of social desirability bias per se.     

“Blind” interviewing: Is ignorance bliss?

Current investigative interviewing guidelines [e.g., Technical Working Group: Eyewitness evidence. (1999). Eyewitness evidence: A guide for law enforcement. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/178240.pdf] suggest that interviewers review available case information prior to conducting a witness interview. The present study investigated the effect of interviewers’ pre-interview awareness of crime details on eyewitnesses’ memory and interviewer behaviour shortly after a mock crime or a week later. Results indicate that blind interviewers with no knowledge about the crime elicited more correct information than those who were correctly informed about the crime. Differences in interviewer behaviour emerged only in the very first question of the interview: Blind interviewers were more likely to begin the interview with a non-suggestive question than the informed interviewers. Blind interviewers also recalled more details than the informed interviewers when asked to generate a report after the witness interview documenting the witness’ account.     

Diabetes-specific social learning variables and self-care behaviors among persons with type II diabetes

This study assessed the relationship between diabetes-specific social learning factors and diabetes self-care. Predictor variables were collected within the categories of knowledge (e.g., behavioral demonstrations, pencil-and-paper tests), beliefs/expectations (e.g., self-efficacy, self-motivation), skills (e.g., problem-solving and refusal skills), and environmental support (e.g., barriers to adherence, family support). Different results emerged across the three areas of the regimen assessed: diet, exercise, and glucose testing. Multiple-regression analyses revealed that the social learning variables consistently improved the prediction of self-care beyond that attributable to demographic variables but that the categories of social learning variables most closely related to self-care varied across regimen areas. These findings suggest that programs to enhance diabetes self-care could beneficially focus on life-style behaviors and employ strategies to increase regimen-related expectations and diabetes-specific social and problem-solving skills.     

PTSD and Emotional Distress Symptoms Measured After a Motor Vehicle Accident: Relationships with Pain Coping Profiles

This study explored differences among pain patients classified as Dysfunctional, Interpersonally Distressed, and Adaptive Copers on the Multidimensional Pain Inventory with respect to PTSD symptomatology, anxiety, and depression. Eighty-five patients with pain complaints who had experienced a serious motor vehicle accident were classified into these three pain coping categories and assessed using clinician and self-report measures. Results indicated that patients classified as Adaptive Copers (n = 24) showed less PTSD symptomatology, anxiety, and depressed mood, relative to individuals classified as Dysfunctional (n = 36) and as Interpersonally Distressed (n = 25), who did not differ on these dimensions. Emotional responses during the accident (fear, helplessness, danger, perceived control, and certainty that one would die) did not differentiate the groups. Pain profiles contributed to the prediction of self-reported PTSD symptoms, controlling for state anxiety. These data suggest that pain patients with both Dysfunctional and Interpersonally Distressed coping profiles are at elevated risk for a range of posttrauma problems following a serious motor vehicle accident.     

Trauma Recovery in the Transgender and Gender Diverse Community: Extensions of the Minority Stress Model for Treatment Planning

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) populations, including those that do not identify with gender binary constructs (man or woman) are increasingly presenting for treatment of posttrauma sequelae. Providers who offer services for trauma survivors including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment should be knowledgeable about evidence-based care and have some cultural familiarity with TGD experiences. Indeed, the Minority Stress Model suggests that the combination of distal and proximal minority stressors can combine to produce increased mental health symptoms as compared with cisgender peers, though this model has yet to be fully tested. Clients often present with a complicated picture of experiences, which include a variety of minority stressors, microaggressions, discrimination, and traumatic events that can all be related to their identity. However, conceptualizations of trauma treatment in the context of extensive minority stress are lacking. This paper summarizes the existing literature and offers guidance to mental health providers who are well positioned to address stigma, discrimination, violence, and related symptoms that arise from micro-, mezzo- and macro-level spheres of TGD individuals’ experience.     

Relational discrepancies and emotion: The moderating roles of relationship type and relational discrepancy valence

Relational discrepancy theory proposes that discrepancies in the extents to which relational partners meet relational standards are associated with emotions and that perceiving relationships in specified ways moderates associations. In a range of relationships, ideal relational discrepancies were associated with dejection and ought relational discrepancies with agitation (Study 1), associations moderated by relationship type. Discrepancy valence also moderated ideal discrepancy associations. Similar associations were found in friendships, moderated by relationship type (Study 2). Finally, relationship type and valence moderated associations in relationships with supervisors but not with colleagues (Study 3). These results support relational discrepancy theory propositions.     

Physiological evidence that a masked unrelated intervening item disrupts semantic priming: implications for theories of semantic representation and retrieval models of semantic priming

Event-related potentials were recorded in a paradigm where an unrelated word was interposed between two related words. In one condition, the intervening item was masked and in another condition it was not. The N400 component indicated that priming of the related word was disrupted by the intervening item whether it was masked or not. The data are interpreted to be inconsistent with retrieval models of priming.