A Trait‐Interpersonal Analysis of Suicide Proneness Among Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Community Members

Suicide remains a concerning issue for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons. The integrated effects of five‐factor model personality traits and interpersonal‐psychological theory of suicide (IPTS) constructs on suicide proneness in a community sample of 336 LGB adults were examined. Results supported a model inclusive of all five‐factor model domains predicting IPTS constructs leading to suicide proneness. Effects of neuroticism and extraversion were both mediated by perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Thwarted belongingness mediated the effect of agreeableness on suicide proneness. Identified mediation pathways build on existing trait‐interpersonal theory and may inform clinical services for sexual minority persons.     

Investigating Correlates of Suicide Among Male Youth: Questioning the Close Affinity Between Suicide Attempts and Deaths

This study was based on a sample of male high school students who completed National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Surveys in 1994, 1995, and 2001. We studied these students prospectively, comparing those who later died by suicide (n = 21) with those who were still living (n = 10,101). We employed chi‐square and analysis of variance tests for statistical significance between suicide decedents and living respondents. Results showed suicide decedents were more likely to have experienced the suicide loss of another family member, to have been expelled from school, to have engaged in more delinquent actions including fighting, and to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Although one might have expected suicide casualties to have exhibited a greater amount of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and higher incidences of suicidality among their friends, our analyses did not find that these factors were associated with actual suicides. Should these findings be replicated, this would point to a need to refine youth suicide risk assessments. Collecting life histories, as well as identifying patterns of delinquency and fighting, may serve as more potentially fruitful means for assessing genuine suicide risk than some traditional risk assessment methods.z     

Impact of Remembering Childhood Sexual Abuse on Addiction Recovery for Young Adult Lesbians

This article examines the impact of childhood sexual abuse on young adult lesbians' sexual identity and their recovery from chemical dependency. The authors recommend that counselors assess for sexual orientation (past and present), sexual abuse, and possible dual diagnosis. Implications for counselors are discussed.     

Taking the watchdog off its leash: personal prejudices and situational motivations jointly predict derogation of a stigmatized source

Lower- and higher-prejudiced individuals may strategically derogate negatively stereotyped individuals. Regardless of degree of prejudice, participants with a directional goal to discredit a threatening message and its source were more likely to do so when the source belonged to a negatively stereotyped group. They also were less persuaded by that stigmatized source. When this directional goal was negated by making the message nonthreatening, lower-prejudiced individuals evaluated the stigmatized and nonstigmatized sources, and their messages, similarly and were equally persuaded by both sources. When an accuracy goal was simultaneously introduced, lower-prejudice participants again rated the stigmatized and nonstigmatized sources comparably yet continued to derogate the stigmatized speaker's message and were less persuaded by him. Removing the directional goal or adding the accuracy goal did not affect higher-prejudiced participants' evaluations. The importance of examining situational goals and individual differences when studying biased responding is discussed.     

Unique Aspects of Adolescent Sexual Victimization Experiences

This study explored females' adolescent experiences with sexual aggression using event-level data. A community sample of women, ages 18 to 30 years ( N = 319), were interviewed regarding their most recent unwanted sexual experience. Incidents were categorized as occurring during adolescence (ages 14 to 17) or adulthood (after age 18). Preliminary statistical comparison of adolescent and adult incidents revealed differences in perpetrators, type of aggression, preceding activities, and location of assault. Qualitative analytic techniques were then used to identify the contexts in which adolescent victimization occurred, as well as the factors contributing to adolescent vulnerability. Four contexts in which adolescents were sexually victimized emerged: Within Intimate Relationships, At Parties/Social Gatherings, Abuse by Authority Figures, and While Alone With a Friend. Thematic analysis revealed that inexperience with sex and dating, lack of guardianship, substance use, social and relationship concerns, and powerlessness contributed to adolescent vulnerability within these contexts.     

Transferences Toward the Co-Therapist Couple: Triadic Relationships and Selfobject Needs

This paper examines transferences toward the male/female co-therapists within a developmental context, using concepts from self psychology, intersubjectivity, and infant research. In addition, it proposes that some individuals have selfobject needs specifically related to the parental unit, so triadic relationships can influence one's development. Clinical examples elucidate the repetitive and selfobject dimensions of the transferences within the intersubjective field formed by the triad of a patient and the male and female co-therapists.     

Russellian and Wittgensteinian Atomism

One difference between Russell's logical atomism in The Philosophy of Logical Atomism and Wittgenstein's in the Tractatus is that Russell's doctrine is explicitly epistemological, whereas Wittgenstein's is not; another difference is that Wittgenstein gives an a priori argument for the doctrine of logical atomism whereas Russell gives no such argument. I argue that these two differences are instructively connected: Russell's focus on epistemology prevents him from being able to give a motivated argument for the truth of logical atomism. Furthermore, I argue that this is not just a contingent failure of Russell's system: no primarily epistemological atomism can avail itself of Wittgenstein's style of a priori argument for the truth of atomism. An important suggestion of the argument, illuminating with respect to the subsequent history of analytic philosophy, is that Russell's logical atomism already contains the seeds of verificationism in a nascent form, whereas Wittgenstein's atomism has no tendency toward verification.