Risk of sexual revictimization: A theoretical model

Survivors of child sexual abuse suffer serious short- and long-term psychological consequences. Sexual revictimization as an adult is one of the consequences that has been reported. At present, there is no theoretical model identifying the risk factors that result in child sexual abuse survivors being at greater risk of experiencing an adult sexual assault. The proposed model is designed to integrate existing research, stimulate further empirical work, and eventually aid in the development of a program to prevent revictimization. The variables hypothesized to play a mediating role in the pathway to revictimization include: severe psychological symptoms as a consequence of the child sexual abuse, poor coping styles, an insecure attachment style, hyperfemininity, delinquent behavior, drug use, and high risk sexual behavior.     

Influence of parent,child, and contextual factors on the quality of the home environment

The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to the quality of the home environments mothers provide for their infants. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on 602 mothers with infants between 12 and 23 months of age were used for this study. Consistent with Belsky's model of the determinants of parenting, the quality of the home environment was influenced by maternal characteristics, child characteristics, and contextual factors. A positive linear relation was found between scores on a family risk index and the probability that infants were experiencing a relatively unsupportive home environment.     

Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and substitutes for leadership: a longitudinal study of research and development project team performance

Transformational leadership, initiating structure, and selected substitutes for leadership were studied as longitudinal predictors of performance in 118 research and development (R&D) project teams from 5 firms. As hypothesized, transformational leadership predicted 1-year-later technical quality, schedule performance, and cost performance and 5-year-later profitability and speed to market. Initiating structure predicted all the performance measures. The substitutes of subordinate ability and an intrinsically satisfying task each predicted technical quality and profitability, and ability predicted speed to market. Moderator effects for type of R&D work were hypothesized and found whereby transformational leadership was a stronger predictor of technical quality in research projects, whereas initiating structure was a stronger predictor of technical quality in development projects. Implications for leadership theory and research are discussed.     

Depression and Anxiety in Persons with Parkinson's Disease With and Without “On–Off” Phenomena

On–off phenomena in Parkinson's disease (PD) are unpredictable motor fluctuations associated with long-term levodopa use. Mood fluctuations have been found to coincide with the motor fluctuations in that depression and anxiety increase while the person with PD is in the off state. What has been relatively unexplored is whether those persons with PD who have on–off phenomena differ psychologically in fundamental ways from those who do not have on–off phenomena. In the present study, depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed in 36 persons with PD (n = 14 with on–off phenomena, n = 22 without on–off phenomena). All those with on–off phenomena were assessed in their on state. Those persons with PD with on–off phenomena had significantly higher levels of anxiety than those without on–off phenomena. However, both groups, regardless of on–off status, were mildly depressed. Neurobiological interpretations of the results implicate the locus coeruleus in the pathogenesis of both on–off phenomena and anxiety, whereas psychological interpretations of the results involve the issues of learned helplessness and control over health symptoms in PD.     

Managers' variance investigation decisions: an experimental examination of probabilistic and outcome ambiguity

Information ambiguity is prevalent in organizations and may influence management decisions. This study examines, given imprecise probabilities or outcomes, how managers decide which department's performance to investigate further when they are provided with performance benchmarks expressed in numerical intervals. Seventy‐nine MBA students participated in two experiments involving investigation decisions. We presented participants with interval benchmarks of a firm's expenses. Being below or above the benchmark should have been seen as equally negative. We found that, when facing outcome ambiguity, our participants consistently preferred to investigate further those departments whose performance was described as having an ambiguous outcome (when the outcome's range was centered either below or above the interval benchmark). However, when facing probabilistic ambiguity, there were two predominant choice patterns: consistently choosing to investigate the department whose performance is described with an ambiguous probability, or consistently choosing to investigate the department with unambiguous performance. To gain further insight, we conducted a follow‐up study collecting written protocols of participants' reasons for making choices involving ambiguous performance information. The results show that our participants displayed similar decision‐making processes when facing outcome ambiguity and probabilistic ambiguity. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marital Conflict and Risk for Child Maladjustment over Time: Skin Conductance Level Reactivity as a Vulnerability Factor

Skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) was examined as a longitudinal mediator and moderator of relations between parental marital conflict and psychopathology among children and young adolescents. Participants were 157 boys and girls (M age at T1 = 9.31 years; SD = 1.97); there was a 2-year lag between T1 and T2 assessments. At T1, participants' SCLR was assessed in response to lab challenges. Parents completed measures of aggressive marital conflict and child adjustment at T1 and T2. Supportive of moderation effects, T1 marital conflict interacted with T1 SCLR and gender in the prediction of changes in maladjustment. The link between marital conflict and increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms was stronger for girls with higher SCLR than girls with lower SCLR. Marital conflict predicted increased externalizing behaviors for boys with lower SCLR but not higher SCLR, although levels of externalizing behaviors were similar among boys with lower and higher SCLR especially at higher levels of marital conflict. Findings build on the literature by illustrating the importance of examinations of both family risk and youth biological vulnerability for the prediction of psychopathology.     

Pianists duet better when they play with themselves: on the possible role of action simulation in synchronization

Ensemble musicians play in synchrony despite expressively motivated irregularities in timing. We hypothesized that synchrony is achieved by each performer internally simulating the concurrent actions of other ensemble members, relying initially on how they would perform in their stead. Hence, musicians should be better at synchronizing with recordings of their own earlier performances than with others' recordings. We required pianists to record one part from each of several piano duets, and later to play the complementary part in synchrony with their own or others' recordings. The pianists were also asked to identify their own recordings. The pianists were better at synchronizing with their own than with others' performances, and they were able to recognize their own recordings. Furthermore, synchronization accuracy and recognition were correlated: Pianists who were relatively accurate at synchronizing with their own performances were also good at recognizing them. Thus, action simulation may underlie both synchronization and self-recognition.     

Validation of a Tibetan translation of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist 25 and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire

This study sought to translate and validate the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL) and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) in a Tibetan population. Translated questionnaires were administered to 57 Tibetan survivors of torture/human rights abuses living in the United States and receiving services in a torture treatment program. Participants were evaluated to determine if they met criteria for major depressive episode, generalized anxiety disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Coefficient alpha for the HSCL Anxiety subscale (.89), Depression subscale (.92), and the HTQ (.89) were high. Diagnostic accuracy using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis generated good classification accuracy for anxiety (.89), depression (.92), and PTSD (.83). However, although sensitivity and specificity for HSCL subscales were quite high, the HTQ generated low sensitivity (.33), partly because of a low rate of PTSD. Results support the reliability and validity of the HSCL but suggest further study of the HTQ with this population is required.