Religiosity, self-control, and antisocial behavior: Religiosity as a promotive and protective factor

Three hypotheses with the potential to provide information on the role of religiosity as a promotive and protective factor in early adolescence were tested. Adolescents (N = 166, M age = 13 years, 49% female, 49% European American, 45% African American) and mothers reported their own personal importance of religion and the frequency of their attendance of religious services. Greater mother importance and attendance was associated with greater adolescent importance and attendance. Mother importance was indirectly linked to adolescent antisocial behavior through adolescent importance. Less adolescent importance and attendance were associated with low self-control and low self-control was associated with more antisocial and rule-breaking behavior. Adolescent importance also moderated the links between low self-control and antisocial and rule-breaking behavior such that low levels of self-control were more strongly associated with more antisocial and rule-breaking behavior among adolescents reporting low religious importance compared to adolescents reporting high religious importance.     

Age Differences and Similarities in Identity Distress Following the Katrina Disaster: Theoretical and Applied Implications of Erikson��s Theory

This study examined predictions from Erikson??s lifespan developmental theory in the context of severe disaster exposure. Relationships among traumatic stress exposure, age, identity distress, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms were explored among 401 individuals (age 18?C86, mean = 32.83, SD = 14.1 years) exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Traumatic exposure experiences were related to identity distress ratings, but results suggested that the association was a function of PTS symptoms. Identity distress was negatively correlated with age, but the association between identity distress and age was moderated by the level of PTS symptoms. Identity distress was associated with PTS symptoms even while controlling for general psychological symptoms. The utility of the identity distress construct and theoretical implications for identity research in the wake of disaster are discussed.     

Processing Speed and Neurodevelopment in Adolescent-Onset Psychosis: Cognitive Slowing Predicts Social Function

Onset of psychosis may be associated with abnormal adolescent neurodevelopment. Here we examined the neurocognitive profile of first-episode, adolescent onset psychosis (AOP) as compared to typically developing adolescents, and asked whether neurocognitive performance varied differentially as a function of age in the cases compared with controls. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 35 patients experiencing a first-episode of a DSM-IV psychotic disorder and to 31 matched controls. Clinicians also rated subjects’ social and role functioning, both at the time of neuropsychological assessment and 1 year later. Although patients displayed a wide range of impairments relative to controls, their most pronounced deficits included verbal memory, sensorimotor dexterity and cognitive processing speed. Among these, only processing speed showed a significant group-by-age interaction, consistent with an aberrant developmental course among AOP patients. Processing speed also accounted for substantial variance in other areas of deficit, and predicted social functioning 1 year later. AOP patients fail to show normal age-related increases in processing speed, which in turn predicts poorer functional outcomes. This pattern is consistent with the view that adolescent brain developmental processes, such as myelination, may be disrupted in these patients.     

Preferential processing of threatening facial expressions using the repetition blindness paradigm

Background: Neuroanatomical evidence suggests that the human brain has dedicated pathways to rapidly process threatening stimuli. This processing bias for threat was examined using the repetition blindness (RB) paradigm. RB (i.e., failure to report the second instance of an identical stimulus rapidly following the first) has been established for words, objects and faces but not, to date, facial expressions. Methods: 78 (Study 1) and 62 (Study 2) participants identified repeated and different, threatening and non-threatening emotional facial expressions in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams. Results: In Study 1, repeated facial expressions produced more RB than different expressions. RB was attenuated for threatening expressions. In Study 2, attenuation of RB for threatening expressions was replicated. Additionally, semantically related but non-identical threatening expressions reduced RB relative to non-threatening stimuli. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the threat bias is apparent in the temporal processing of facial expressions, and expands the RB paradigm by demonstrating that identical facial expressions are susceptible to the effect.     

The 2 × 2 Model of Goal Orientation and Burnout: The Role of Approach–Avoidance Dimensions in Predicting Burnout

Burnout is typically viewed as resulting from situational factors (e.g., workload). However, as burnout is partly a reaction to frustrated goal striving, dispositional goal orientation may also be important. We used Hobfoll's ( 1989 ) conservation of resources model to develop hypotheses for relationships between goal orientation and 3 dimensions of burnout. Self‐report questionnaire measures of the 2 × 2 model of goal orientation (Elliot & McGregor, 2001 ) and burnout were administered to undergraduate students. Structural equation modeling revealed that all 4 dimensions of goal orientation were related to burnout. Avoidance‐related dimensions were positively associated and approach‐related dimensions were negatively associated with burnout. The findings suggest the importance of considering the role of motivational dispositions in development, prediction, and prevention of burnout.     

Youth-caregiver Agreement on Clinical High-risk Symptoms of Psychosis

Early identification of individuals who will go on to develop schizophrenia is a difficult endeavor. The variety of symptoms experienced by clinical high-risk youth make it difficult to identify who will eventually develop schizophrenia in the future. Efforts are being made, therefore, to more accurately identify at-risk individuals and factors that predict conversion to psychosis. As in most assessments of children and adolescents, however, both youth and parental report of symptomatology and resulting dysfunction are important to assess. The goals of the current study were to assess the extent of cross-informant agreement on the Structured Interview for Prodromal Symptoms (SIPS), a widely-used tool employed to determine clinical high-risk status. A total of 84 youth-caregiver pairs participated. Youth and caregiver raters displayed moderate overall agreement on SIPS-rated symptoms. Both youth and caregiver ratings of youth symptomatology contributed significantly to predicting conversion to psychosis. In addition, youth age and quality of youth-caregiver relationships appear to be related to cross-informant symptom ratings. Despite differences on individual SIPS domains, the majority of dyads agreed on youth clinical high-risk status. Results highlight the potential clinical utility of using caregiver informants to determine youth psychosis risk.     

The Role of Visual Perception in the Reproduction of Bender-Gestalt Designs

Four groups (controls, organics, acute and chronic schizophrenics) of 14 Ss each were matched for age, sex and intelligence. The principal tasks involved (1) reproducing the designs and (2) matching according to similarity a series of 8 design-choices with varying degrees of distortion from most-like to least-like the stimulus designs. The results confirmed the hypotheses (1) that perception of the B-G designs does not significantly differentiate between normal subjects and subjects manifesting psychopathology while (2) there exists a significant difference regarding reproduction of the designs between the groups. These findings are considered to be in agreement with current conceptualization of perception.     

The association of forgiveness and 12-month prevalence of major depressive episode: Gender differences in a probability sample of U.S. adults

Research suggests that gender differences in interpersonal orientations may differentially predispose women and men to depression. While women tend to be more interdependent and show interpersonal depressive styles, men are more independent and show self-critical styles. Forgiveness is one religious/spiritual, interpersonal variable that has received very little attention in the literature on depression. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine forgiveness as a multidimensional, inter-relational variable that may have differential associations with depression in women and men. We measured multiple forms of forgiveness and assessed 12-month prevalence of major depressive episode using a screening version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. We controlled for religiousness/spirituality and demographic in our analyses, and used data from a nationally representative, probability sample of 1,423 adults, ages 18 years and older. Women reported higher levels of religiousness/spirituality and forgiveness than men. Among women, forgiveness of others, forgiveness of self, and feeling forgiven by God were associated with decreased odds of depression (p < 0.05), whereas seeking forgiveness was associated with increased odds (p < 0.05). For men, only forgiveness of oneself was significantly associated with decreased odds of depression (p < 0.05).