Temperamental and environmental risk factors for borderline personality disorder among inner-city substance users in residential treatment

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is widely considered the result of biological vulnerability and environmental adversity. Despite growing evidence for the role of several temperamental and environmental risk factors in the development of BPD, the unique contribution of each to the development of this disorder remains unclear. Furthermore, the extent to which these factors are associated with BPD among underserved and diverse populations is unknown. The current study examined the temperamental and environmental factors uniquely associated with BPD among a sample of 93 inner-city individuals receiving residential substance use treatment. Results indicate that BPD was associated with higher impulsivity and emotional instability/vulnerability, lower well-being, and several interpersonal manifestations of positive and negative temperament (i.e., greater alienation and lower achievement and social closeness). BPD was also associated with several forms of childhood maltreatment, including emotional and physical abuse and neglect. However, only emotional instability or vulnerability, impulsivity, and emotional abuse emerged as unique predictors of BPD status.     

I'm sick of being me: developmental themes in a suicidal adolescent

Adolescence is a developmental transition period during which there are profound transformations in emotional, cognitive, and behavioral systems. Despite being a time of rapid development and increasing rates of suicidality, limited research has examined possible interrelationships. Through the use of a case study, this paper illustrates the role of developmental factors in a teenage girl's experience becoming and overcoming being suicidal. The processes of cognitive development, identity formation, and autonomy-seeking are discussed within the context of her story.     

Online bargaining and interpersonal trust

The presented study explores the effect of interacting over the Internet on interpersonal trust when bargaining online. Relative to face-to-face negotiations, online negotiations were characterized by (a) lower levels of pre-negotiation trust and (b) lower levels of post-negotiation trust. The reduced levels of pre-negotiation trust in online negotiations (i.e., before any interaction took place) demonstrate that negotiators bring different expectations to the electronic bargaining table than to face-to-face negotiations. These negative perceptions of trust were found to mediate another aspect of the relationship, namely, desired future interaction. Those who negotiated online reported less desire for future interactions with the other party. Online negotiators also were less satisfied with their outcome and less confident in the quality of their performance, despite the absence of observable differences in economic outcome quality.     

Interference in memory for pictorial information

Subjects studied either faces composed from visual features or verbal facts composed from concepts. Recognition times were increased for both faces and facts when they were composed of elements that occurred in multiple study items. In Experiment 1 the interfering effect of other study items was much larger for verbal facts than for faces. This difference was largely eliminated in Experiment 2 where care was taken to control the features by which the faces were encoded. Experiment 2 also showed that verbal information could interfere with pictorial information and vice versa. However, this cross-modality interference was much weaker than within-modality interference. The data are consistent with the ACT theory in which pictorial material and verbal material are stored together in an abstract propositional network. The subnode model (Anderson, Language, memory, and thought, Hillsdale, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1976) can account for the greater within- than cross-modality interference.     

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of adolescent storm and stress: relations with parenting and teaching styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents and teachers differed in their views of adolescent storm and stress, and to examine the relations of these reported perceptions with parenting and teaching behaviors. Subjects were parents and teachers of middle and high school students in three school districts in the Midwest. Storm and stress beliefs were identified as parents' and teachers' perceptions of conflict, moodiness, and risk-taking behavior. Scales assessing classic/conforming and positive adolescent behaviors also were included. Self-report assessments of parenting and teaching were administered as well. Results indicated that whereas both parents and teachers held storm and stress beliefs, teachers maintained stronger perceptions than parents. Teachers also endorsed higher classic/conforming and lower positive behaviors than did parents. The results further indicated that parents' perceptions of storm and stress were related to their degree of parental responsiveness; but teachers' perceptions were not related to their teaching style. These results suggest that stereotypic beliefs of the adolescent period continue to be maintained, and that these may influence how adults interact with adolescents.     

Social rejection and ADHD in young adults: an analogue experiment

Poor outcomes in ADHD may be related to problematic social functioning and consequences of social rejection. This study examines how ADHD symptom expression affects mood and social rejection. Working from findings in depression that describe maintenance through negative interpersonal interactions, the authors seek to examine this theory's applicability to poor outcomes in ADHD. In a completely randomized design, 130 participants are exposed to one of several videotape segments that include displays of ADHD, depression, and social anxiety. A normal control is also used. All abnormal videotapes are met with greater rejection than the control. Displays of ADHD elicit similar levels of rejection to those elicited by displays of depression. Additionally, ADHD elicits greater levels of hostile mood, whereas depression elicits high levels of depression and fatigue. Implications for an interpersonal theory of vulnerability in ADHD are discussed along with implications for future research, prevention, and intervention.     

Reproductive dysfunction in women with epilepsy: antiepileptic drug effects on sex-steroid hormones

Women with epilepsy are at risk for reproductive health dysfunction. Sex-steroid hormone abnormalities have been reported in women with epilepsy, but it has been difficult to determine whether these abnormalities are due to epilepsy-related hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction, or to pharmacokinetic actions of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Sex-steroid hormones were evaluated in 84 reproductive-aged women with epilepsy receiving an AED in monotherapy, and in 20 nonepileptic controls. Estrone, free testosterone, and androstenedione were significantly lower in subjects receiving enzyme-inducing AEDs than in nonepileptic controls. Free testosterone was significantly elevated in subjects receiving valproate compared to nonepileptic controls. Subjects with epilepsy receiving gabapentin or lamotrigine were no different from the nonepileptic controls in any of the endocrine variables. Subjects with epilepsy who are receiving AEDs that alter cytochrome P450 enzymes are at risk for significant abnormalities in sex-steroid hormones. In contrast, subjects receiving AEDs that do not alter cytochrome P450 enzymes show no differences in sex-steroid hormones compared with nonepileptic controls. With new AEDs available that do not alter cytochrome P450 enzymes, physician selection of therapy should consider not only seizure control, but also potential effects on reproductive physiology.     

A PROCESS MODEL OF CAUSAL REASONING IN COMPREHENSION

Many readers and reading theorists alike hold a "common sense" intuition that omissions and substitutions made while reading orally are caused by the reader failing to see the omitted or substituted word, or looking at it for too short a time. In this study the eye movements of college age readers were recorded while they read aloud and then analyzed to see if there is a causal relationship between "careless" eye movements and oral reading omissions and substitutions. Results indicate that, contrary to conventional wisdom, most omitted and substituted words are visually examined, and examined thoroughly, prior to being orally omitted or substituted. These findings are discussed in a context that views reading as a perceptual, interactive, and constructive process.     

Creating a Future: A Study of Resilience in Suicidal Female Adolescents

The authors designed this study to understand how adolescents overcome suicidality from the subjective perspective of 13 previously suicidal female participants. A resilience framework was used to conceptualize the process. Data analysis using basic interpretive qualitative inquiry revealed 4 domains of resilience: social processes, emotional processes, cognitive processes, and purposeful action. The domains were inextricably linked; improvements in 1 domain produced changes across others, adding momentum to the resilience process. Implications for practice are discussed.