Children's alcohol cognitions prior to drinking onset: discrepant patterns from implicit and explicit measures

Prior to drinking onset, children report stronger negative versus positive beliefs on self-report alcohol expectancy questionnaires, with some attenuation of this negativity as they transition into adolescence. Traditional alcohol expectancy assessments, however, capture endorsement of deliberative propositions about drinking outcomes. Measurement of implicit alcohol associations may elucidate automatic evaluations, clarifying the role of nondeliberative cognition in the initiation of alcohol use among youth. Few studies have assessed implicit alcohol cognition among children and younger adolescents, with inconsistent findings regarding the nature of these automatic associations within and between age groups. Eighty-nine 3rd and 4th graders and 91 7th and 8th graders completed an alcohol expectancy measure and two unipolar alcohol Implicit Association Tests (IAT) measuring positive and negative alcohol associations independently. On the explicit measure older compared with younger participants rated positive drinking outcomes as more likely and negative outcomes as less likely. Older compared with younger students were also more neutral/moderate in their evaluations of positive drinking outcomes. On the IATs, scores for the full sample indicated negative alcohol associations, and Negative IAT scores were higher for older compared with younger participants. However, the valence of implicit alcohol associations was qualified by the order of explicit versus implicit assessment; for those who completed the IATs prior to the explicit expectancy measure, alcohol associations were positive. Findings replicate and extend prior research conducted with preonset youth. Implications regarding the role of automatic and controlled processes in drinking onset and directions for future work on children's alcohol cognition are discussed.     

Psychopathic personality traits in the workplace: Implications for interpersonally- and organizationally-directed counterproductive and citizenship behaviors

Relatively little is known about the relations between psychopathic traits and interpersonally-directed versus organizationally-directed workplace behaviors despite the implications of these traits for maladaptive (e.g., bullying, harassing, white-collar crime, slacking) and adaptive (e.g., improving the workplace, supporting others) workplace behaviors. In a sample of employed US-based community members (N?=?352), we investigated the relations between the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) and an expanded version of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (E-LSRP), on the one hand, and interpersonal and organizational counterproductive behaviors and citizenship behaviors directed towards co-workers and the organization, on the other. As predicted, we found stronger positive associations between impulsive-antisocial traits (Disinhibition, Antisocial) and both interpersonal and organizational workplace deviance; however, these traits did not relate significantly to citizenship behaviors. We further found that interpersonal traits (Boldness, Egocentric) may play an adaptive role in the workplace, as demonstrated by increased citizenship behaviors. Affective traits (Callous, Meanness) were related to lesser engagement in citizenship behaviors and higher engagement in some interpersonally-directed counterproductive behaviors. In several analyses, statistical interactions among triarchic psychopathy traits, but not E-LSRP traits, predicted adaptive and maladaptive workplace behaviors. Our results suggest that employees’ psychopathic traits bear differential implications for both adaptive and maladaptive workplace behavior, and that these traits may operate in concert to increase the likelihood of such behavior.

     

Attributions in a Spiritual Healing Context: An Archival Analysis of a 1920s Healing Movement

Research on religious attributions has been limited by a preoccupation with disentangling “religious” from “naturalistic” attributions and a failure to capture the attributions that people make in response to meaningful events. Thirty years of research has shown that even under optimum conditions religious attributions are rare compared to naturalistic ones. This research draws on unique archival materials comprising letters written to the Panacea Society containing self‐reported effects of a spiritual healing treatment based on water‐taking practices. This analysis examined attributions over time among a sample of letter writers (N = 19) from the 1920s using the Leeds Attributional Coding System to examine patterns of attributions that correspondents made in response to improvement and worsening of health outcomes. In line with previous research, religious attributions were more common for positive outcomes than negative outcomes. Contrary to previous research, religious attributions accounted for the majority of attributions made compared with nonreligious attributions. We discuss the implications for future research in studying attributions in real‐life meaningful settings and in expanding the repertoire of attributions to include religious ritual and community.     

A Beta Unfolding Model for Continuous Bounded Responses

An unfolding model for continuous bounded responses is proposed, derived both from a hypothetical interpolation response mechanism and from the hypothesis of two opposite sources of item refusal being collapsed. These two sources of refusal are made explicit in a three-component Dirichlet response model and then collapsed to obtain a (two-component) beta response model. The two natural parameters of the beta are interpreted as acceptance and refusal parameters and expressed as functions of person-item distances on a latent continuum. The potentially bimodal shape of the beta is exploited to model chaotic response choices among ambivalent subjects.     

Academic achievement and behavioral health among Asian American and African American adolescents: testing the model minority and inferior minority assumptions

The present study tested the model minority and inferior minority assumptions by examining the relationship between academic performance and measures of behavioral health in a subsample of 3,008 (22 %) participants in a nationally representative, multicultural sample of 13,601 students in the 2001 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, comparing Asian Americans (N = 408) and African Americans (N = 2,600). Specifically, the study examined associations of students’ self-reported grades with suicide risk, substance abuse, and violent behaviors. The findings revealed that high academic performance is a protective factor against behavioral health problems for both ethnic groups. The results raise questions about the focus on high achievement among Asian Americans versus academic underachievement among African Americans. Implications for theory, research, training and practice in addressing the mental health implications of achievement behavior in Asian American and African American youth are discussed.     

Cancer as a defence against depressive pain

An association between object loss and the predisposition to develop physical illness is well established in the psychosomatic literature. This paper describes a psychotherapeutic consultation with a woman who developed breast cancer after the death of her father by cancer, and the loss of her mother by dementia. Her cancer was preceded by persecutory dreams which ‘predicted” the cancer, and which ceased when the cancer was diagnosed. It is argued that the cancer represented a somatic defence against intolerable guilt and despair, which constitute depressive anxiety as described by Klein and Riviere. Cancer is felt by such patients to be preferable to grief and madness. Possible unconscious meanings and functions of the dreams and the cancer are discussed, as well as the patient's inability to avail herself of psychotherapeutic help.     

False dawns,bleak sunset: the Coalition Government's policies on career guidance

ABSTRACT

The Coalition Government's policies on career guidance are analysed. Its rhetorical concern for career guidance provision is based largely on its support for social mobility, and its recognition of the role of career guidance in moving towards a demand-led skills system. Initial policy statements affirmed its intention to establish an all-age careers service, to revitalise the professional status of career guidance and to safeguard the partnership between schools and external provision. But these policies have been undermined by its commitment to school autonomy and to public expenditure cuts, exacerbated by indecision and delays due to difficulties in resolving the tensions within its policies. The result is a significant erosion of the all-age vision, and a likely major reduction in the extent and quality of careers help for young people.     

Psychologists' perspectives on the diagnostic classification of mental disorders: Results from the WHO‐IUPsyS Global Survey

This study examined psychologists' views and practices regarding diagnostic classification systems for mental and behavioral disorders so as to inform the development of the ICD‐11 by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO and the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS) conducted a multilingual survey of 2155 psychologists from 23 countries, recruited through their national psychological associations. Sixty percent of global psychologists routinely used a formal classification system, with ICD‐10 used most frequently by 51% and DSM‐IV by 44%. Psychologists viewed informing treatment decisions and facilitating communication as the most important purposes of classification, and preferred flexible diagnostic guidelines to strict criteria. Clinicians favorably evaluated most diagnostic categories, but identified a number of problematic diagnoses. Substantial percentages reported problems with crosscultural applicability and cultural bias, especially among psychologists outside the USA and Europe. Findings underscore the priority of clinical utility and professional and cultural differences in international psychology. Implications for ICD‐11 development and dissemination are discussed.     

Insomniacs' perceived lack of control over sleep

Abstract

It is widely assumed that insomniacs have poor self-efficacy for sleep and it is known that successful treatment is usually accompanied by improved self-efficacy. However, there has been little detailed investigation of insomniacs perceived lack of control over sleep. Insomniacs' perceived control over sleep itself is affected more than their perceived control over pre-sleep mental activity or physical tension. It was hypothesised that insomniacs would diverge from controls more in their sense that sleep was out of their control than that sleep was under their control, though this was not supported by the data. Also, there was no clear support for the idea that insomniacs' dissatisfaction with their control over sleep was the product of excessive aspirations for control. One factor that seems likely to contribute to insomniacs' lack of perceived control over sleep is that they do not have as lawful a pattern of expectations of sleep, based on their recent pattern of sleep, as normal sleepers do. Insomniacs, like non-insomniacs, were most likely to attribute poor sleep to external stresses and an over-active mind. Insomniacs showed a wide range of heightened emotional reactions to poor sleep. The implications of the results for self-regulation approaches to the treatment of insomnia are discussed.