Are DSM-IV-TR Borderline Personality Disorder, ICD-10 Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, and CCMD-III Impulsive Personality Disorder Analogous Diagnostic Categories Across Psychiatric Nomenclatures?

This study examined the validity of the borderline construct which encompasses diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV-TR Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), ICD-10 Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), and CCMD-III Impulsive Personality Disorder (IPD) in a sample of 1,419 Chinese psychiatric patients. Participants completed the Chinese Personality Disorder Inventory and the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory-2 assessing various disordered personality features. Adequate internal consistency was found for the borderline construct (α = .83). Exploratory factor analysis revealed two components: (1) affective and cognitive disturbances, and (2) impulse dysregulation, which were replicated by confirmatory factor analysis. Item analysis indicated that the various borderline criteria displayed similar levels of diagnostic efficiency, which does not support the elimination of fear of abandonment and transient psychotic features from the EUPD and IPD criteria set. Findings of this study suggest that BPD, EUPD, and IPD may represent analogous diagnostic categories across classification systems.     

Outcome of group cognitive-behavior therapy for bulimia nervosa: the role of core beliefs

It is hypothesized that individuals who benefit less from CBT will be those who have more pathological core beliefs (unconditional beliefs, unrelated to food, shape and weight). Twenty bulimic women were treated using 12 sessions of conventional group CBT. Eating behavior and attitudes were assessed pre- and posttreatment. Core beliefs were assessed at the beginning of the programme, and were used as predictors of change across treatment (once any effect of pretreatment psychopathology was taken into account). Group CBT was effective, with reductions of over 50% in bulimic symptoms. Outcome on most indices was associated with pretreatment levels of pathological core beliefs. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.     

Net-generation attributes and seductive properties of the internet as predictors of online activities and internet addiction.

Born between 1977 and 1997, Net-generation is the first generation to grow up surrounded by home computers, video games, and the Internet. As children of the Baby Boomers, the Internet is the medium of choice for the Net-geners. Based on the assumption that Net-generation has unique characteristics, this study examined (1) how Net-geners addicted to the Internet differ from the non-addicted and (2) how these attributes, together with the seductive properties of the Internet, are related to Internet addiction. Data were gathered from a probability sample of 699 Net-geners between the ages of 16 and 24. Results show that Net-geners addicted to the Internet tend to be young female students. Being emotionally open on the Net and a heavy user of ICQ were most influential in predicting Net-geners' problematic use of the Internet. Addicted Net-geners are also strongly linked to the pleasure of being able to control the simulated world in online games. The finding reinforces previous research that "dependents" of the Internet spend most of their time in the synchronous communication environment engaging in interactive online games, chat rooms, and ICQ for pleasure-seeking or escape, while "non-dependents" use information-gathering functions available on the Internet. Furthermore, Internet addicts tend to watch television significantly less, indicating a displacement effect on traditional media use for the Net-generation.     

A test of the hypothesis about the two-dimensional nature of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale

This paper presents the results from two related studies concerning the internal structure of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability (MD-SD) scale. Study 1 tested the hypothesis that attribution and denial are two major components of the MC-SD scale by factoring the intercorrelations among the MC-SD items using the correlated multiple-group common factor analysis, and the results supported the hypothesis. Study 2 investigated the differential validity of these components for predicting scores on the Lie scale, the K scale, and the Repression-Sensitization scale. The attribution and denial components were found to be differentially related to the K scale and the Repression-Sensitization scale but not the Lie scale. These results were also interpreted as partially supporting the hypothesis.     

The structure and prevalence of behavioral problems in Hong Kong preschool children

Nearly all 3-year-old Chinese children in Hong Kong attend preschool facilities, making it possible to study their behavior in a group learning situation based upon teachers' perception. The Preschool Behavior Checklist (PBCL), a teacher's questionnaire, was applied to a random sample of 851 Chinese children, ages 36 to 48 months. The factor structure of the PBCL was very similar to that obtained from its original British study, supporting its usage cross-culturally. Prevalence of behavior disorder was high as defined by the PBCL. This reflected specific cultural demands at school settings. Significant sex differences were also found in the overall rate of behavior disorder and symptom patterns. As in other studies, boys had more hyperactive, conduct, and speech problems. The results suggested a certain degree of universality of symptomatology for children at the preschool level.This project was funded by the Hong Kong Society for Child Health and Development. We are grateful to all the kindergartens and child care centers which participated in this project. Valuable assistance was provided by the Education Department and the Medical Health Department.     

THE MACHINE IN THE GHOST: TRANSHUMANISM AND THE ONTOLOGY OF INFORMATION

An ontology of information belies our common intuitions about reality today and animates and governs both explicit scholarly study in philosophy and the sciences as well as the ideologies that are growing out of them. Transhumanism is one such technoscientific ideology that holds to a very specific ontology of information which need not be the only one on offer. This article argues that the transhumanist ontology of information exhibits gnostic and docetic religious overtones in it and that it devalues physical existence. At the same time, despite claiming a rejection of supernature, hypothetical transhumanist practices (such as mind-uploading) posit the infosphere as a kind of supernatural realm that is often set in opposition to the natural world. This article presents a critique of transhumanist conceptions of information and offers an alternative ontology of information that more adequately accounts for the distinction between the natural and supernatural as well as the integrity of the physical world.     

The Voting Propensity of Hong Kong Christians: Individual Disposition, Church Influence, and the China Factor

Considering China's history of unfavorable treatment of mainland Chinese Christians, the authors hypothesize that Christians in Hong Kong reflected their concern over the future protection of religious freedom during the 1995 Legislative Council election, the last election before the handover of the British colony to Chinese sovereignty. We have looked at the relative contributions of individual disposition, the China factor and church influence on the presence of Hong Kong Christians at the polling booth on election day. Our analysis found that Hong Kong Christians are subjected more to the influenceof the latter two factors. The influence of socio-economic status is relatively unimportant in determining the voting propensity of Hong Kong Christians. While both Catholics and Protestants are influenced by general church teachings, this research found that Catholic voters, are more subject to their church's organizational mobilization than Protestant voters.     

Divergent consequences of success and failure in japan and north america: an investigation of self-improving motivations and malleable selves

Self-enhancing and self-improving motivations were investigated across cultures. Replicating past research, North Americans who failed on a task persisted less on a follow-up task than those who succeeded. In contrast, Japanese who failed persisted more than those who succeeded. The Japanese pattern is evidence for a self-improving orientation: Failures highlight where corrective efforts are needed. Japanese who failed also enhanced the importance and the diagnosticity of the task compared with those who succeeded, whereas North Americans did the opposite. Study 2 revealed that self-improving motivations are specific to the tasks on which one receives feedback. Study 3 unpackaged the cultural differences by demonstrating that they are due, at least in part, to divergent lay theories regarding the utility of effort. Study 4 addressed the problem of comparing cultures on subjective Likert scales and replicated the findings with a different measure.     

Social axioms and values: a cross‐cultural examination

The relationships between social axioms, general beliefs that people hold about the social world, and values, defined as desirable goals for life, were examined in five cultural groups. Results show that the correlations between social axioms and Schwartz's (1992) values are generally low, suggesting that they represent two distinct types of construct. Based on a structural equation modelling approach, results further show that generally speaking, the five axiom dimensions are related to the value types in a meaningful and interpretable manner, and that these relationships are generally similar across the five cultural groups. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.