Differentiating overreporting and extreme distress: MMPI-2 use with compensation-seeking veterans with PTSD

This purpose of this study was to examine overreporting on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) in compensation-seeking veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A sample of veterans tested during a V.A. hospital compensation and pension exam were given the MMPI-2 and measures of PTSD, depression, and combat exposure. Veteran's MMPI-2s were only included in the analyses if their profile was extremely exaggerated, as measured by an F scale T score above 80, did not elevate the MMPI-2 VRIN and TRIN scales, and had a primary diagnosis of PTSD (n = 127). Using the Infrequency-Psychopathology, F(p), scale to distinguish overreporting from distress, it was found that 98 veterans elevated profiles due to distress, whereas 29 elevated due to overreporting, F(p) below and above 7, respectively. Differences between groups on MMPI-2 clinical scales and the other measures were assessed. Implications of these findings for assessing veteran response style and using the MMPI-2 with a PTSD population are discussed.     

When prejudice does not pay: effects of interracial contact on executive function

Abstract - This study examined the influence of interracial interaction on the cognitive functioning of members of a dominant racial group. White participants had a brief interaction with either a White or a Black confederate, and then completed an ostensibly unrelated Stroop color-naming test. Prior to the interaction, participants' racial attitudes regarding Whites and Blacks were measured via the Implicit Association Test. Racial attitudes were predictive of impairment on the Stroop test for individuals who participated in interracial interactions, but not for those who participated in same-race interactions. The results are consistent with recently proposed resource models of self-regulation and executive control in that interracial interaction, a particularly taxing exercise of self-regulation for highly prejudiced individuals, negatively affected performance on a subsequent, yet unrelated, test of executive function.     

Cortisol Awakening Response as an Index of Mental Health and Well-Being in Adolescents

Physiological measures provide a useful complement to self-report indices of mental health and well-being. The cortisol awakening response (CAR) has been associated with mental distress, but less consistently so with positive functioning. In this study, the utility of two CAR indices as a measure of the full spectrum of mental health and well-being in a sample of healthy adolescents was explored. Forty-seven adolescents (14M, 33F; mean age 13.89, SD = .73) completed questionnaires on mental distress and positive functioning, and provided three saliva samples for cortisol analysis as well as demographic and life event information. Correlational analyses revealed that both absolute CAR (CARi) and area under the curve during awakening (CAR_AUC) indices correlated positively with measures of mental distress, and inversely with measures of positive functioning. When the significant life events score was controlled, moderate to strong effects were maintained with negative and positive affect, mental well-being, satisfaction with life and perceived social support from significant others. These findings provide the first data confirming that CAR is a reliable index of positive functioning in healthy adolescents.     

Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Infertility and Childless Couples

This study of 456 female and 205 male college students investigated knowledge and attitudes toward infertility and reactions to couples with varied fertility status. The gender and career status of the target individual also were varied. The most negative affect and stories were indicated for those described as childless by choice. The male target character also was rated more negatively than the female target character. The greatest responsibility and control were assigned to childless-by-choice and childless-no-explanation groups. The most positive affect and stories were indicated for those described as childless with no explanation given. Infertile couples were attributed less control and responsibility and elicited some degree of anger and hostility from others.     

Upsetting others and provoking ridicule: Children's reasoning about the self‐presentational consequences of rule violation

This study examined children's understanding of the distinctive ‘self‐presentational’ impacts of moral and social‐conventional rule violations. A sample of 80 children aged 7–8 and 9–10 years generated examples of interpersonal events that would upset others and events that would elicit social attention to the self. As expected, both age groups consistently identified moral violations as leading to the former, and deviations from social norms as leading to the latter. Crucially, when children were asked to identify the social‐evaluative consequences of those breaches, they exhibited a significant increase with age in recognizing the self‐presentational risks of social‐conventional deviations.