Relationship between schizotypal and borderline traits in college students

The main objective of the present investigation was to analyze the relationship between self-reported schizotypal and borderline personality traits in a sample of 759 college students (M = 19.63 years; SD = 2.03). For this purpose, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B; Raine and Benishay, 1995) and Borderline Personality Questionnaire (BPQ; Poreh et al., 2006) were administered. The results showed that schizotypal and borderline features are partially related at subclinical level. The exploratory factor analysis conducted on the subscales revealed a three-factor solution comprised of the following factors: Identity/Interpersonal, Lack of Control and Schizotypal. The canonical correlation analysis showed that schizotypal features and borderline personality traits shared 34.8% of the variance. The data highlight the overlap between schizotypal and borderline personality traits in nonclinical young adults. Future studies should continue to examine the relationship and the degree of overlap between these traits in community samples.     

The erosive effects of racism: reduced self-control mediates the relation between perceived racial discrimination and substance use in African American adolescents

Perceived racial discrimination, self-control, anger, and either substance use or use cognitions were assessed in 2 studies conducted with samples of African American adolescents. The primary goal was to examine the relation between discrimination and self-control over time; a 2nd goal was to determine whether that relation mediates the link between discrimination and substance use found in previous research. Study 1, which included a latent growth curve analysis with 3 waves of data, indicated that experience with discrimination (from age 10 years to age 18 years) was associated with reduced self-control, which then predicted increased substance use. Additional analyses indicated anger was also a mediator of this discrimination to use relation. Study 2, which was experimental, showed that envisioning an experience involving discrimination was associated with an increase in substance-related responses to double entendre words (e.g., pot, roach) in a word association task, especially for participants who were low in dispositional self-control. The effect was again mediated by reports of anger. Thus, the "double mediation" pattern was discrimination → more anger and reduced self-control → increased substance use and/or substance cognitions. Results are discussed in terms of the long-term impact of discrimination on self-control and health behavior. Implications for interventions aimed at ameliorating the negative effects of discrimination and low self-control on health are also discussed.     

Development and initial validation of the Self-harm Behavior Questionnaire.

Evaluation of suicide-related behaviors and thoughts about suicide with a newly developed self-report instrument is described. The Self-Harm Behavior Questionnaire (SHBQ; Gutierrez, 1998) generates detailed clinical information from an easy to administer and score self-report form. A sample of 342 participants were drawn from university undergraduate students enrolled in various psychology courses. Participants were then divided into a severe suicidal ideation group (n = 20) and a nonsuicidal control group (n = 20) to conduct subgroup and criterion-related validity analyses. Preliminary analyses indicate this new questionnaire is both valid and reliable when used with young adults drawn from a nonclinical population. The questionnaire should be of use to both clinicians and researchers due to the flexibility of the data generated.     

Suicide notes of Chinese youth.

Examination of 17 suicide notes from youthful Chinese suicides indicated the common appearance of anger, self-criticism, and interpersonal friction as precipitant.     

Recurrence analysis of sensorimotor trajectories in a minimalist perceptual task using sonification

Cognitive Processing - Active Perception perspectives claim that action is closely related to perception. An empirical approach that supports these theories is the minimalist, in which participants...     

Esquizofrenia y lenguaje: una aproximación psicolingüística

Resumen

En el presente trabajo se revisan las investigaciones experimentales sobre las alteraciones esquizofrénicas con un doble objetivo: 1) comprobar hasta qué punto existe evidencia favorable a la idea de que estas alteraciones son específicas de la esquizofrenia, y 2) analizar la conexión existente entre tales investigaciones y algunos modelos psicológicos de producción verbal. La constatación de que los distintos modos de operativizar la noción de «lenguaje esquizofrénico» no hace sino reflejar los distintos modos en que los psicólogos del lenguaje han interpretado las nociones de «incoherencia», «ininteligibilidad» o «habla desviada» así como el reconocimiento del papel nuclear que estas nociones desempeñan en los modelos de producción verbal de discursos permiten considerar el estudio experimental del lenguaje esquizofrénico como una especie de «experimento natural» del que la Psicolingüística actual no parece poder prescindir todavía.