Parkinson’s Disease: Patients’ Knowledge,Attitudes, and Interest in Genetic Counseling

The objective of this study was to assess the genetics knowledge of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and to explore their attitudes on genetic testing and interest in genetic counseling. We surveyed 158 patients from the University of Maryland Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center. Patients averaged a score of 63% on general genetics knowledge and 73% on PD genetics knowledge. Participants had an overall positive attitude toward genetic testing: 80% believed that the use of genetic tests among people should be promoted, and 83% would undertake genetic test for PD if it was available. Patients reported a high interest to discuss the benefits, risks, and impacts of genetic testing for PD (mean sum score?=?26, range?=?9–35), and 43% patients expressed interest in meeting with a genetic counselor. Multivariate regression analysis showed that patients who had more positive attitudes toward genetic testing for PD were more interested in meeting with a genetic counselor (β?=?0.6, p?<?0.001). This study is the first to demonstrate an interest in genetic counseling among patients with PD. Our findings demonstrate a new niche for genetic counselors to support patients in clarifying gaps or misconceptions in knowledge about PD genetics as well as the possible risks, benefits, and limitations of genetic testing.     

Expert and Target Scoring: Their relation,corresponding test instructions,and their effects on the construct validity of the video‐based social understanding test (VSU)

This study investigated the relation between expert and target scoring of a video‐based social understanding test (VSU) under two different types of instructions (internal and observer). The effects of the scoring methods and instructions on the VSU's construct validity were also examined. A total of 529 pilot applicants completed the VSU (some with internal and some with observer instructions), cognitive ability and knowledge tests, and a personality questionnaire. A subsample (n = 132) completed the VSU again with the other instructions and participated in an assessment center (AC). The two scores were moderately correlated; correlations decreased when the instructions were considered. Neither expert nor target scores showed convergent validity with AC variables; none of the scoring‐instruction combinations showed significant associations with the remaining measures.     

Pluralistic folk psychology and varieties of self-knowledge: an exploration

Turning the techniques we use to understand other people onto ourselves can provide an insight into the types of self-knowledge that may be possible for us. Adopting Pluralistic Folk Psychology, according to which we understand others not primarily by thinking about invisible beliefs and desires that cause behavior, but instead by modeling others as people - with rich characters, relationships, past histories, cultural embeddedness, personality traits, and so forth. A preliminary investigation shows that we understand ourselves at least in terms of our phenomenal states, informational states, perceptual states, traits, desires, and beliefs. I then appeal to empirical research to examine the accuracy of our sense of self-understanding in these ways, and argue that these are often non-veridical. Moreover, in our folk practices, we do not take our statements of self-understanding as infallible, but we allow others to help us see ourselves. While there is room for some improvement in our acurarcy, I conclude that our sense of self is largely a joint construct of self and others, and that looping effects play a significant role in what one’s self turns out to be. The self is a fluid thing that we are constantly creating through our actions and self-constituting thoughts, but it is a creation we do not make alone. Others help to create us, as we help to create them.     

Perceived relationship with God moderates the relationship between social comparison and body appreciation

Social comparison has been shown to contribute to the negative attitudes that most Western women have towards their bodies. However, minimal research has addressed the relationship between social comparison and body appreciation, which entails holding favourable opinions towards the body, accepting the body along with its deviations from societal beauty ideals, respecting the body by engaging in healthy behaviours, and protecting the body by rejecting unrealistic media appearance ideals. This study tested whether feeling loved and accepted by God would weaken the inverse relationship between social comparison and body appreciation among a sample of 186 female undergraduates. Results showed that frequent body-related comparisons were related to lower body appreciation, but this relationship was conditional upon the quality of women's perceived relationship with God. Results suggest that future research should explore interventions designed to create improved secure attachment relationships between clients and God.     

Perceived health: a test of incremental validity in relation to smoking outcome expectancies, motivation to smoke and desire to quit smoking

This study examined the role of perceived health in predicting theoretically-relevant aspects of smoking behavior among 161 young adult regular smokers (67 females; mean age = 21.9 years (SD = 7.2), cigarettes per day (M) = 12.2 (SD = 5.7)) recruited from the general community. Consistent with prediction, results indicated that relative to anxiety sensitivity, gender, number of cigarettes smoked per day and nicotine dependence, perceived physical health uniquely and significantly predicted expectancies for negative affect reduction and expectancies that smoking would lead to negative personal consequences. Additionally, perceived health incrementally predicted motivation to smoke to reduce negative affect. In contrast to expectation, perceived health was unrelated to motivation to quit smoking. Results are discussed in relation to the role of perceived health as a cognitive vulnerability factor for specific types of smoking patterns.     

Recent experience affects the strength of structural priming

In two experiments, we explore how recent experience with particular syntactic constructions affects the strength of the structural priming observed for those constructions. The results suggest that (1) the strength of structural priming observed for double object and prepositional object constructions is affected by the relative frequency with which each construction was produced earlier in the experiment, and (2) the effects of relative frequency are not modulated by the temporal placement of the tokens of each construction within the experiment.     

Clarifying relationships among work and family social support, stressors, and work-family conflict

Although work and family social support predict role stressors and work-family conflict, there has been much ambiguity regarding the conceptual relationships among these constructs. Using path analysis on meta-analytically derived validity coefficients (528 effect sizes from 156 samples), we compare three models to address these concerns and clarify relationships. Results revealed that social support, controlling for role involvement, is best viewed as an antecedent of role stressors and subsequent work-family conflict. Controlling for work and family involvement, work and family social support were most related to same domain role conflict (β = −.46, p < .05; β = −.43, p < .05) and role ambiguity (β = −.28, p < .05; β = −.33, p < .05). Subsequently, work role conflict and time demands were most related to work-to-family conflict (β = .39, p < .05; β = .21, p < .05), while family role conflict and role ambiguity were most related to family-to-work conflict (β = .22, p < .05; β = .24, p < .05). Implications for research and practice, along with suggestions for theoretical advances, are discussed.