Telling losses: Personality correlates and functions of bereavement narratives

How and why do bereaved individuals talk about their loss? What are the personality correlates and social consequences of different kinds of bereavement narratives? Two studies were conducted to answer these questions. In Study 1, participants from online bereavement support groups and memorial websites wrote bereavement narratives. Participants high in Conscientiousness told brief, factual narratives; participants high in Neuroticism told self-focused contamination narratives; and participants high in Extraversion told narratives for social reasons. In Study 2, undergraduate participants responded to twelve narratives from Study 1. Participants felt more sympathetic concern but more social awkwardness and less acceptance towards contamination narrators compared to redemption narrators. The role of personality in the telling and reception of bereavement stories, and social support after loss, is discussed.     

Daydreaming, Consciousness, and Self-Representations: Empirical Approaches to Theories of William James and Sigmund Freud

In honor of Saul Rosenzweig's lifelong efforts to provide empirical tests of psychoanalytic theories, this paper has focused on a series of research approaches to examining the concepts of William James and Sigmund Freud relating to waking fantasy, ongoing thought, and beliefs about the self. Studies involving projective methods, psychometric analyses of self-report questionnaires, laboratory tests of daydreaming during signal-detection tasks, thought-sampling during natural daily activities and psychological correlates of actual-self and ideal-self discrepancies are described. Clinical applications of these methods are also presented. The findings in general point to the value of James's conception of conscious thought as an important basis along with cognitive unconscious processes for studying clinical phenomena, personality, and even the metaphors of dreams. Rosenzweig's emphasis on formal research testing of psychoanalytic processes is supported.     

Development and validation of a measure of an individual’s lateness attitude

The authors developed and validated a measure of employees’ attitudes toward lateness at work. Analyses provided clear evidence of the reliability and validity of the new measure. Specifically, high reliabilities were observed in both student (α = .82) and employee (α = .84) samples. Using objective lateness data from organizations, the measure significantly predicted two lateness behaviors, lateness frequency (r = .25, p < .01) and duration (r = .24, p. < .01), over a six-month period. Most importantly, lateness attitude improved prediction of lateness behavior above and beyond prediction made with only general job attitudes and conscientiousness.     

Some Historical Conditions of Narrative Work

Written to honor the immense contribution of Michael White as a leader in the development of narrative therapy, this historical essay contrasts the origins of psychoanalysis, family therapy and narrative therapy. Changes in the understanding of therapeutic strategies, methods of training and supervision, styles of leadership, the involvement of audiences in the therapeutic and training processes, and conceptions of the nature of the mind are described. A style of direct demonstration of methods, especially of the formulation of questions, is important in narrative work. The central master-role of the therapist in analysis and family therapy is replaced in narrative work by eliciting local knowledge, and the recruitment of audiences to the work. This is consistent with narrative therapy's "de-centered" image of the therapist.     

Interpersonal violence and its relationship to some personality measures

One hundred and fifteen patients in a psychiatric hospital for criminal offenders volunteered to be tested with the overcontrolled hostility scale, the self focus sentence completion, and an emotional empathy measure. The subjects were divided into five groups on the basis of criminal offenses (murder, assault with a deadly weapon, rape, pedophilia, and nonviolent property offenses). It was also possible to divide the sample on the basis of diagnostic features (psychosis, personality disorder, and brain syndrome). The results failed to support the hypothesis that more violent (by nature of their offense) individuals would-as a group-score higher on the overcontrolled hostility scale than less aggressive counterparts. There was some evidence that psychotics showed more self focus at the expense of external focus. The empathy measure failed to reveal any meaningful differences. It is suggested that more validation data are called for to establish the generality of the overcontrolled hostility scale and that, in view of the therapeutic importance which empathy training may have for violent individuals, further effort should be expanded to find a generally valid empathy measure.     

The Effects of a Mental Health Video on the Social Skills Knowledge and Attitudes of Mexican Immigrants1

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Spanish mental health video, “Cuida Su Salud Mental”, on the relationship attitudes and social skills knowledge of a Mexican immigrant sample. Subjects consisted of 72 Spanish speaking English as a second language (ESL) students recruited from the Paramount Adult School, in the county of Los Angeles. The Solomon (1949) Four Group Design was used. Half of the subjects were pretested on knowledge and attitudes about effective communication skills and relationships, respectively. All subjects view either the mental health video or a control video, and then were posttested on knowledge and attitudes. Results indicated that the mental healthy video (MHV) group exhibited more knowledge, F(1, 62) = 10.61, p= 0.002, and less risky attitudes, F(1, 62) = 4.29, p= 0.043, than the control video group. The MHV group also showed an increase in knowledge from the pretest to the posttest, F(1, 35) = 7.36, p= 0.01. Finally, both video groups reported a decrease in risky attitudes from pretest to posttest, F(1, 34) = 18.21, p= 0.001. These results support the use of “Cuida Su Salud Mental” as a productive and cost-effective mental health intervention that can be used to reach a large segment of the Spanish speaking community.     

The impact of family and peer differentiation levels on adolescent psychosocial development and problematic behaviors

This study examined the impact of family differentiation and peer differentiation levels on adolescent problematic behaviors and psychosocial maturity. Differentiation levels were assessed dyadically in both the family and peer systems. Results revealed family differentiation to be the sole predictor of adolescent problematic behavior. Additional regression analysis indicated that peer differentiation was a significant predictor of psychosocial maturity, along with the significant impact of adolescent gender and age. Family X Peer interaction terms were not significant predictors of either adolescent personal adjustment variable. Results, whichdisplay both consistencies and variations with the findings of previous research, are discussed in terms of their clinical implications.Salary and support provided in part by grants from The Kettering Fund (OSURF #727033) and by The Ohio State University (OSURF #221424 and OSURF #241501).     

Beyond home-based family intervention: A multi-family approach toward change

A growing specialty area in the mental health field involves working with emotionally disturbed youth and families-at-risk by providing services in the context of the home environment. A review of the literature provides documentation for family systems, social learning, and ecological interventions with at-risk families receiving home-based intervention but there is an absence of material on the use of multi-family groups with this population. The purpose of this article is to outline the implementation of a multi-family therapy (MFT) component for home-based programs serving at-risk families. Advantages and disadvantages when using MFT are also addressed.The authors are grateful to Linda Pannell for her helpful comments on drafts of this article.