Damned if You Do,Damned if You Don’t: The Stigma of Weight Loss Surgery

Willpower, as demonstrated through diet and exercise, is constructed as the only acceptable strategy for losing weight. While weight loss surgery (WLS) is an option for morbidly obese individuals, like obesity itself, WLS carries stigma. Using a 40-item survey, we measured 101 participants’ experiences with WLS stigma. We examined whether WLS is stigmatizing, how that stigma is perceived by patients, and tendencies to hide their surgery status in order to manage stigma. Results indicated evidence of perceived stigma despite support from significant others as well as a tendency to hide surgery status from some people as a stigma management technique.     

Finding the Loch Ness Monster: Left‐Wing Authoritarianism in the United States

Although past research suggests authoritarianism may be a uniquely right‐wing phenomenon, the present two studies tested the hypothesis that authoritarianism exists in both right‐wing and left‐wing contexts in essentially equal degrees. Across two studies, university (n = 475) and Mechanical Turk (n = 298) participants completed either the RWA (right‐wing authoritarianism) scale or a newly developed (and parallel) LWA (left‐wing authoritarianism) scale. Participants further completed measurements of ideology and three domain‐specific scales: prejudice, dogmatism, and attitude strength. Findings from both studies lend support to an authoritarianism symmetry hypothesis: Significant positive correlations emerged between LWA and measurements of liberalism, prejudice, dogmatism, and attitude strength. These results largely paralleled those correlating RWA with identical conservative‐focused measurements, and an overall effect‐size measurement showed LWA was similarly related to those constructs (compared to RWA) in both Study 1 and Study 2. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that LWA may be a viable construct in ordinary U.S. samples.     

Effects of Acceptance and Commitment Training Plus Behavior Parent Training on Parental Implementation of Autism Treatment

The Psychological Record - The objective of this study was to examine the effects of acceptance and commitment training (ACT) plus behavior parent training (BPT), when delivered via telehealth, on...     

Prenatal Representations of Coparenting Among Unmarried First‐Time African American Mothers

Results of semistructured interviews with 45 pregnant unmarried first‐time African American mothers indicated a wide range of expectancies concerning the coparenting relationship they would develop with others once their baby arrived. Most common coparenting systems projected by respondents involved maternal grandmothers and/or the babies' fathers, though other caregivers were explicitly anticipated in a smaller number of cases. Multiperson coparenting systems were the norm, and only 2 of 45 respondents anticipated that they would be entirely on their own with no coparental system whatsoever. Qualitative analyses of mothers' narratives about postbaby coparenting systems revealed five main constructions: having thought about and anticipating coparenting, positive in outlook; having thought about and anticipating coparenting, but with mild concerns (conflict, unreliability); having thought about coparenting and anticipating limited or no support; having thought about coparenting and anticipating significant conflict and nonsupport; and having not thought much about coparenting, being neither focused on nor worried about this issue. Illustrations of each of these types are provided, and directions for family science and practice are discussed.     

The sexual responses of sexual sadists

On average, rapists show greater relative genital responses to rape stories than do nonrapists in the laboratory. It has been suggested that this robust group difference is explained by the fact that many rapists are sexually sadistic. It is not clear, however, what the critical cues underlying rapists' genital responses are, because rape stories used in previous research include a mix of sadistic cues of violence and victim injury as well as cues of victim resistance and nonconsent. The present study was conducted to identify the critical cues producing self-identified sadists' sexual responses, and thereby to test sexual sadism as an explanation of rapists' arousal pattern. The present study was also conducted to develop a new phallometric test for sexual sadism for research and clinical applications, given evidence of poor diagnostic reliability and validity. Eighteen self-identified male sadists, 22 men with some sadistic interests who did not meet all of our sadist criteria, and 23 nonsadists (all recruited from the community) were compared in their genital and subjective responses to a new set of stories that disentangle violence/injury cues from resistance/nonconsent cues. The three groups differed in both their genital and subjective responses: using indices of relative responding, sadists responded significantly more to cues of violence/injury than nonsadists and men with some sadistic interests. The group difference for cues of nonconsent was not significant. The results suggest that sexual sadism primarily involves arousal to violence/injury in a sexual context rather than resistance/nonconsent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Can spirituality be taught to health care professionals?

Although people with life-limiting conditions report a desire to have spiritual concerns addressed, there is evidence that these issues are often avoided by health care professionals in palliative care. This study reports on the longitudinal outcomes of four workshops purpose-designed to improve the spiritual knowledge and confidence of 120 palliative care staff in Australia. Findings revealed significant increases in Spirituality, Spiritual Care, Personalised Care, and Confidence in this field immediately following the workshops. Improvements in Spiritual Care and Confidence were maintained 3 month later, with Confidence continuing to grow. These findings suggest that attendance at a custom-designed workshop can significantly improve knowledge and confidence to provide spiritual care.     

Age differences in contingency judgement linked to perceptual segregation

We demonstrate large differences in judging positive and null contingencies between younger and older adults with a task commonly used to explore cue competition in both contingency and causality judgements. The one-phase blocking task uses two cues, with separate contingencies with the same outcome. The age differences persisted even when participants knew in advance which of the two contingencies to judge. The age differences disappeared, however, when the stimulus display contained markers aiding perceptual segregation. We suggest that the age differences elicited in the one-phase blocking task are linked to decrements in perceptual segregation.     

Numeracy and Algebra: A Path to Full Participation in Community and Society?

Numeracy is the understanding of the meaning and interpretation of natural phenomena and is an important skill for full participation in society. Everyday there are numerous situations that require individuals to interpret quantitative information for personal decision making and understanding of significant public issues. However, the gap between individuals’ numeracy needs and their understanding of numeracy has widened. Thus, organizations and scholars have attempted to explain the value and nature of numeracy. This article discusses how and why numeracy is important for full participation in society.     

Validation of the revised sport motivation scale (SMS-II)

ObjectivesAlthough the Sport Motivation Scale (SMS), published in 1995, has demonstrated validity and reliability in multiple studies, the scale has received some criticisms leading to revisions herein described. The objective of the present studies was to examine the construct validity and reliability of a revised scale sport motivation scale (SMS-II).DesignTwo studies were conducted using distinct samples of athletes. Study 1 examined adult athletes participating in a variety of sports and Study 2 examined youth basketball players and swimmers.MethodIn Study 1 the SMS-II was introduced and featured various item content changes, a reduced number of items per subscale, the addition of an integrated regulation subscale, and the introduction of a single intrinsic motivation subscale to replace the three intrinsic motivation subscales in the SMS. Relations of SMS-II subscales with each other and with expected outcomes supported the new scale's validity. In Study 2, the structure of the SMS-II and its relations with outcomes were further examined.ResultsResults of factor analyses, tests for internal consistency, and correlations among the different subscales and between the subscales and several outcomes of interest, supported the validity of the SMS-II.ConclusionsDiscussion focuses on the need for measurement improvement, and potential future directions for SMS-II research.