Eye-fixation patterns during reading confirm theories of language comprehension

Eye-movement patterns during reading are consistent with proposition-by-proposition models of speech comprehension. (1) Fixation times are least affected by word length at ends of clauses: this confirms the theory based on the study of speech comprehension that, at such points, attention is directed inward to text integration. (2) Fixation time for words at the end of clauses is longer for canonical sequences which conform to the pattern, “N-V-N = actor-action-object”; this confirms the view that complete semantic integration of such sequences is routinely delayed until their completion. A two-variable model based on principles of exhaustive visual search and speech comprehension accounts for 80% of the fixation durations in a sample paragraph from Just and Carpenter (1980) and Thibodeou, Just ond Carpenter (1982). This comprehension-based model compares favorably with their models constructed within a production-system framework. This result clarifies the relationship between reading and listening.     

Investigating Correlates of Suicide Among Male Youth: Questioning the Close Affinity Between Suicide Attempts and Deaths

This study was based on a sample of male high school students who completed National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Surveys in 1994, 1995, and 2001. We studied these students prospectively, comparing those who later died by suicide (n = 21) with those who were still living (n = 10,101). We employed chi‐square and analysis of variance tests for statistical significance between suicide decedents and living respondents. Results showed suicide decedents were more likely to have experienced the suicide loss of another family member, to have been expelled from school, to have engaged in more delinquent actions including fighting, and to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Although one might have expected suicide casualties to have exhibited a greater amount of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and higher incidences of suicidality among their friends, our analyses did not find that these factors were associated with actual suicides. Should these findings be replicated, this would point to a need to refine youth suicide risk assessments. Collecting life histories, as well as identifying patterns of delinquency and fighting, may serve as more potentially fruitful means for assessing genuine suicide risk than some traditional risk assessment methods.z     

Clusters of Suicidal Events Among Young People: Do Clusters from One Time Period Predict Later Clusters?

We sought to compare clusters of suicidal events between two different time periods and examine the extent to which earlier clusters predict later clusters. We included data on suicides and suicide attempts from New South Wales between July 2001 and June 2012 and Western Australia between January 2000 and December 2011. Suicide attempts included admissions to hospital for deliberate self‐harm and suicides were deaths due to deliberate self‐harm. We combined data on suicides and suicide attempts and grouped them into two equal time periods. We detected clusters in each period using Poisson discrete scan statistics adjusted for socio‐economic status. We estimated the predictive values of earlier clusters on later clusters. The results showed that clusters from earlier time period had a moderate power (36%) in predicting later clusters. During the later time period, some additional cluster areas (14%) were found and some earlier cluster areas subsided (64%). Historical clusters predict 36% of the subsequent clusters, which is probably not sufficient for targeting interventions. Our study highlights the need for other strategies to detect emerging clusters, for example, up‐to‐date data.     

DETERMINANTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF CREATIVITY IN A COHORT OF GIFTED WOMEN

Forty women who had been selected by Lewis Terman in 1921 for his study of intellectually gifted California school children were reinterviewed in 1987 (Mean = 77 years, SE±1). These women had been prospectively followed by questionnaire over the intervening 65 years. Their capacity for creativity–putting something in the world that was not there before–was assessed by review of their prospectively gathered questionnaires and by retrospective interview. The 20 women viewed as most creative (usually for literary publication, art, music, or starting an organization) were more likely in the past to have manifested generativity, and at the present to have adjusted well to old age. Although the ego defenses of sublimation, humor, and altruism were more frequent among the creative women, no differences were noted in the happiness of their childhoods or their mental health prior to the present.     

A Trait‐Interpersonal Analysis of Suicide Proneness Among Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Community Members

Suicide remains a concerning issue for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons. The integrated effects of five‐factor model personality traits and interpersonal‐psychological theory of suicide (IPTS) constructs on suicide proneness in a community sample of 336 LGB adults were examined. Results supported a model inclusive of all five‐factor model domains predicting IPTS constructs leading to suicide proneness. Effects of neuroticism and extraversion were both mediated by perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Thwarted belongingness mediated the effect of agreeableness on suicide proneness. Identified mediation pathways build on existing trait‐interpersonal theory and may inform clinical services for sexual minority persons.     

CONSIDERATION OF THE ROLE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY IN REDUCING THE RISK OF SUICIDE IN AFFECTIVE DISORDERS – A CASE STUDY

In this paper material is presented from a patient with a diagnosis of a recurrent affective disorder and exhibiting resistance to engaging in the work of therapy alongside the emergence of active suicidal intent. Supervision can help in containing intensely disturbing feelings in the therapist and aid in identifying the underlying psychosis. Through exploration of the counter‐transference feelings, the therapist can become attuned to a playing down of the psychosis by the patient and alert other involved professionals. Technically, the challenge remains one of how to make an impact in the sessions through converting a psychotic monologue into a dialogue.