The dimensionality of dependent personality disorder

The criteria for dependent personality disorder (DPD) in DSM-IV appear to fall into two categories: dependent and attachment behaviors. The relevance of this division was evaluated in a sample of 182 patients admitted to a national Norwegian psychiatric hospital. Principal Components Analysis of all items belonging to the most frequent personality diagnoses revealed six components. The items for DPD formed two components, labeled attachment/abandonment and dependency/incompetence. Two criteria for borderline personality disorder also loaded on the attachment/abandonment component, while six criteria for avoidant personality disorder loaded on the dependency/incompetence component. Early Maladaptive Schemas of abandonment and failure correlated significantly higher with the attachment/abandonment component than with the dependency/incompetence component.     

Communication with former romantic partners and current relationship outcomes among college students

This research investigates individual and contextual differences underlying postdissolution friendships by considering communication with former romantic partners among individuals in new romantic relationships. Two studies demonstrate the prevalence, determinants, and implications of former partner communication for the current relationship. Study 1 showed that approximately 40% of individuals in relationships communicate with a former partner and highlighted differences between those who communicate and those who do not. Study 2 factor analyzed reasons why people communicate with former partners and examined how the reasons are differentially associated with current relationship functioning. In general, results support the notion that under certain circumstances and for certain individuals, communication with former partners can have deleterious influences on one's current relationship.     

Bad company tamed

Neo-Fregean logicism seeks to base mathematics on abstraction principles. But the acceptable abstraction principles are surrounded by unacceptable (indeed often paradoxical) ones. This is the “bad company problem.” In this introduction I first provide a brief historical overview of the problem. Then I outline the main responses that are currently being debated. In the course of doing so I provide summaries of the contributions to this special issue.     

Infant Socioeconomic Position and Quality of Life in Midlife: A 50-Year Follow-Up Study of 2079 Individuals in Denmark

Applied Research in Quality of Life - During the last decades, an important line of public health research has focused on the influence of socioeconomic position (SEP) on the quality of life (QoL)...     

Motivation for Dental Home Care: Testing a Self‐Determination Theory Model1

The present research developed the Self‐Regulation for Dental Home Care Questionnaire (SRDHCQ), based on self‐determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000 ), and used it in an SDT process model of dental health behaviors and self‐rated oral health. In this model, patients' perceptions of autonomy‐supportive (relative to controlling) dental professionals were expected to positively predict patients' psychological needs satisfaction in treatment. Needs satisfaction was expected to be positively related to autonomous motivation for dental home care and perceived dental competence, which were expected to be positively associated with self‐rated oral health and dental health behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis of the 5‐factor SRDHCQ model fit the data very well, and a structural equation model supported the hypothesized process model.     

Cognitive Complexity and Dissociative Identity Disorder

Thirteen patients with dissociative identity disorder (DID), 13 with other mental disorders, and 10 nondiagnosed comparison participants were given individual grids. Results showed that displaying alternate personalities did not portend a more multidimensional level of thinking. Instead, the nonclinical comparison group had the greater degree of complexity in comparison to both clinical groups. A notable clinical observation was that DID patients, as compared to non-DID participants, had a greater understanding and speed in completing the grid. Findings are discussed in terms of the advantages of personal construct theory for conceptualizing the construct of dissociation.     

Childhood Adverse Experience: Yes or No? Mothers' Decision-Making Process When Responding to Survey Questions

The aim of this pilot study was to assess how difficult it is for mothers to answer questions regarding adversities their children might have experienced, and to investigate their considerations in the decision-making process. A nonrepresentative community sample of 628 mothers of 6- to 8-year-old children responded to an online survey. The mothers answered questions regarding adversities, rated the acceptability of these questions, and reported on any difficulties they had in responding. Based on the mothers' reports, qualitative analyses were conducted to identify metacategories of arguments. The study highlights the need for increased awareness of the complexity involved in soliciting information about adverse experiences in research and clinical settings, and for caution in interpreting epidemiological results in this field.     

How Much for the Child?

In this paper we explore what sacrifices you are morally required to make to save a child who is about to die in front of you. It has been argued that you would have very demanding duties to save such a child (or any adult who is in similar circumstance through no fault of their own, for that matter), and some examples have been presented to make this claim seem intuitively correct. Against this, we argue that you do not in general have a moral requirement to bear more than moderate cost to save even a child who is just in front of you. Moreover, we explain why you have a much more demanding moral requirement in certain cases by appealing to the notions of undue risk and cost sharing.     

Rumfitt on the logic of set theory

According to a famous argument by Dummett, the concept of set is indefinitely extensible, and the logic appropriate for reasoning about the instances of any such concept is intuitionistic, not classical. But Dummett's argument is widely regarded as obscure. This note explains how the final chapter of Rumfitt's important new book advances our understanding of Dummett's argument, but it also points out some problems and unanswered questions. Finally, Rumfitt's reconstruction of Dummett's argument is contrasted with my own preferred alternative.