Childhood physical and sexual abuse in depressed patients with single and multiple suicide attempts

Research has shown both childhood physical and sexual abuse to be associated with later suicide attempts, although some studies have not supported these findings. However, few studies have investigated differences in physical and sexual abuse histories among single and multiple suicide attempters. The goals of the current study were two-fold: (a) to replicate previous findings of associations between childhood sexual and physical abuse and suicide attempts, and (b) to explore differences in reports of childhood physical and sexual abuse among single and multiple suicide attempters. While our results supported the findings that individuals with a history of suicide attempts are more likely to report histories of childhood physical and sexual abuse, we did not find a difference in reported abuse between single and multiple suicide attempters. Implications of these findings, as well as implications for future research, are discussed.     

Estimating the effects of misleading information on witness accuracy: can experts tell jurors something they don't already know?

This study investigated potential differences between expert and lay knowledge of factors influencing witness suggestibility. Expert psychologists (N = 58), jurors (N = 157), and jury‐eligible undergraduates (N = 220) estimated the effects of misleading information on witness accuracy for three age groups in various conditions. Respondents possessed similar knowledge of age‐related trends in suggestibility, the positive effects of a pre‐misinformation warning, and the negative influence of longer delays between the event/misinformation and event/final memory test. Compared to experts, laypeople underestimated the size of suggestibility differences between age groups and lacked knowledge about how event detail centrality, witness participation, and source prestige can increase witness suggestibility. Laypeople rated themselves as being largely unfamiliar with witness suggestibility research and thought that expert testimony would be beneficial. These data shed light on the potential helpfulness of expert testimony in cases involving witness suggestibility. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding multiple dimensions of compensation satisfaction

We conducted meta-analyses of multiple dimensions of compensation satisfaction. An examination of 213 samples from 182 studies yielded several interesting findings of importance to practice and future research. We examined the relationships among four dimensions of compensation satisfaction (pay level, pay raises, benefit level, pay structure and administration satisfaction), and found that the three dimensions related to direct pay are highly related to one another. The relationships between benefits and the three direct pay dimensions were modest. We also analyzed antecedents, correlates, and consequences of the four compensation satisfaction dimensions. The antecedents of pay raise satisfaction have received the most attention, and our results indicate that both perceptual (e.g., perceptions of the basis for a pay raise) and objective (i.e., the amount of the pay raise) antecedents play roles in determining pay raise satisfaction. Previous research on the relationship between employee costs for benefits and benefit satisfaction have been inconclusive. The meta-analysis yields a modest, negative relationship between employee costs and benefit satisfaction. Additional results provide the foundation for our discussion of the current state of research in these areas, recommendations for practice, and suggestions for future research.     

Genetics, Dementia, and the Elderly

ABSTRACT— Whether or not an individual develops dementia is powerfully influenced by genes. For Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia, one susceptibility gene with major effects has been identified, but progress finding other susceptibility genes has stalled. Twin studies have revealed that nongenetic risk also plays an important role, as there are many monozygotic twin pairs in which only one individual has dementia. Scientists have argued that gene-by-environment interactions will be key to understanding vulnerability to Alzheimer's disease; but to date, few substantial gene-by-environment interactions have been replicated. Often, too, the nongenetic or lifestyle factor appears to have a protective effect only for those individuals not carrying the risky version of the gene, not for those individuals who are at genetic risk.     

Money: a therapeutic tool for couples therapy

This article addresses the therapeutic importance of discussing money at every stage of a couple's relationship, both as a concrete reality and as a metaphor for security, adequacy, competence, commitment, acceptance, and acknowledgment in a relationship. I will present a developmental schema looking at financial issues that couples confront at various stages in the adult life cycle and how these affect and reflect relationship problems. The article also presents a money questionnaire as a useful tool for exploring family-of-origin financial history, affect, and behavior.     

Two subtypes of psychopathic violent offenders that parallel primary and secondary variants

Although psychopathy usually is treated as a unitary construct, a seminal theory posits that there are 2 variants: Primary psychopathy is underpinned by an inherited affective deficit, whereas secondary psychopathy reflects an acquired affective disturbance. The authors investigated whether psychopathy phenotypically may be disaggregated into such types in a sample of 367 prison inmates convicted of violent crimes. Model-based cluster analysis of the Revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003) and trait anxiety scores in the psychopathic subgroup (n = 123; PCL-R > or = 29) revealed 2 clusters. Relative to primary psychopaths, secondary psychopaths had greater trait anxiety, fewer psychopathic traits, and comparable levels of antisocial behavior. Across validation variables, secondary psychopaths manifested more borderline personality features, poorer interpersonal functioning (e.g., irritability, withdrawal, poor assertiveness), and more symptoms of major mental disorder than primary psychopaths. When compared with the nonpsychopathic subgroup (n = 243), the 2 psychopathic variants manifested a theoretically coherent pattern of differences. Implications for etiological research and violence prevention are discussed.     

Connection,Action, and Hope: an Invitation to reclaim the “Spiritual” in Health Care

The complex process of health has, until recently, been understood devoid of a spiritual component. The present article offers a model of health inclusive of spirituality with implications for the health communication field. Amending the assumptive non-relevance of spirituality to individual health, a growing body of scholarship in various disciplines recognizes the ways in which spirituality connects to overall wellness. As a whole, this literature equates spirituality with seeking, striving, and forward movement. Given the potential for health communication scholars to make significant contributions at the forefront of this research, this article proposes a dynamic model of health inclusive not only of the physical and mental, but of the spiritual as well. Recognizing its centrality to wellbeing, the model locates the spiritual self at the center. Specifically, the spiritual self is described as engaging action, hope, and connection to self, others, and/or the universe.     

Children's self-reported coping strategies: the role of defensiveness and repressive adaptation

This study examined differences in self-reported coping strategies across children classified according to Weinberger et al.'s (1979) adaptive style paradigm. Consistent with the larger literature, it was hypothesized that repressors (i.e. characterized by high self-reported defensiveness and low self-reported distress) would endorse fewer behaviorally and cognitively avoidant coping strategies than other adaptive style groups. Participants included 134 children, ranging in age from 10 to 13 (M=11.26, sd=.59), who completed measures of defensiveness, trait anxiety, and coping. Consistent with the hypotheses, results indicated significantly lower endorsement of avoidant coping strategies, and significantly higher endorsement of approach-oriented strategies among repressors, but no significant differences across adaptive style groups for other forms of coping. Results indicate that, consistent with other indicators of psychological functioning, the measurement of coping strategies is subject to the effects of socially desirable responding. Further, results provide evidence that measures of coping may be contaminated by items reflecting adjustment problems.     

The Apartment Test: validity of a memory measure

The Memory in Reality (MIR) test, or Apartment Test, was designed as an ecologically valid alternative to word list recall measures. Participants name 10 everyday objects, place them in a scale model of an apartment and after a delay with interference, recall the objects and their placement. Two studies are reported. Study 1 included 51 older adult volunteers. Study 2 was a population-based sample of 633 older twins. The Apartment Test Recall and Placement tasks were highly correlated with word list delayed recall. Ecological validity was supported by correlations with informant reports of participants' functioning. Apartment Test Recall was not affected by education. Analysis of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) showed Apartment Test Recall performed as well as word list delayed recall in distinguishing participants with and without dementia. We conclude that the Apartment Test is a valid measure of verbal memory with evidence of ecological and concurrent validity.     

The role of information about "convention," "design," and "goal" in representing artificial kinds

In this chapter, we have considered the nature and development of our capacities for the representation of artificial kinds. We have presented a range of evidence collected using varying methods and from our own laboratories and those of others that speaks to the question of the kinds of information that might be central to knowledge of artifacts and their functions in human semantic memory. One key argument here has been that despite the fact that information about shared convention has been argued to play an important role in understanding of the "proper" uses of artifacts, just as it does in the case of the use of linguistic symbols within language communities, there are important differences between the two cases, and indeed across development, decisions about categories and functions dissociate. We have argued here that the nonarbitrary relationship between the material kind and mechanical structure of artifacts and the functions that can be supported undercuts the force of information about convention as important to determining proper artifact function. Shared convention appears less important for determining this facet of our semantic memory for artifacts than it does in supporting the proper relationship between linguistic symbols and the categories of artifact to which they refer.