Self-perception profile in children with cancer: self vs parent report.

Self-perception about competence, behaviour, and self-worth were examined in 30 children (8 to 14 years) recently diagnosed as having cancer and were compared with that of their parents' perception. The poor agreement between parents' and children's ratings on physical appearance and social acceptance is noteworthy in that these two domains are particularly vulnerable in children with cancer, given the effect of chemotherapy on physical appearance and children's tendency to view themselves as socially undesirable or a burden to others. This finding, if replicated, can have implications for therapeutic intervention since the discrepancy score could be used to challenge children's negative views in the context of cognitive therapy to improve their self-esteem.     

Association of heart rate and heart-rate variability with scores on the emotion profile index in patients with acute coronary heart disease.

We investigated the link between the eight basic emotions named by Plutchik and heart rate, heart-rate variability in the 114 patients, 86 men and 28 women (M = 53.8 yr., SD = 8.0) with acute coronary heart disease during the initial 24-hr. stay in the coronary care unit and again at hospital discharge. Variability in heart rate was significantly positively associated with scores on Trust (the emotional state acceptance) at hospital admission and discharge in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction, on Aggression in the patients with unstable angina at hospital discharge and at hospital admission in the patients with non-Q-wave infarction. There was inverse relation on Timid (the emotional state fear) and Gregarious (joy) at hospital admission and on Distrust (disgust or rejection), Depressed (sadness), and Dyscontrol (impulsiveness) at hospital discharge in the patient with non-Q-wave infarction. There was no significant association between heart-rate variability and the scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with anterior and posterior myocardial infarction. There was no statistically significant association between heart rate and scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with acute coronary disease at hospital admission and discharge. Our results suggest psychological interventions that enhance emotional states represented by the Trust and Aggression scales and minimize those represented by Depressed, Dyscontrol, Timid, and Distrust scales could have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular function in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction in a hospital setting.     

K-ABC simultaneous processing, DAS nonverbal reasoning, and Horn's expanded fluid-crystallized theory.

Horn's distinction between--fluid intelligence (Gf) and visualization (Gv) was investigated with two Nonverbal Reasoning subtests from the Differential Ability Scales and three Simultaneous Processing subtests from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. The sample comprised a predominantly Euro-American groups of 57 normal boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Principal factor analysis yielded clear-cut Gf and Gv dimensions. The Gf factor was composed both of Differential Ability Scales and Kaufman-ABC subtests, suggesting that the construct of simultaneous processing is not merely a measure of Gv, as researchers have hypothesized, but also measures Horn's Gf fluid intelligence to a considerable extent.     

Minor psychiatric morbidity in South African secondary school pupils

This study investigated minor psychiatric morbidity ("neurotic": anxiety and depression symptoms) in rural (Black) South African secondary school pupils. The sample included 622 Grade 11 pupils (254 boys and 368 girls) in the age range of 17 to 24 years with a mean age of 19.3 yr. The inventories used were a questionnaire on the socioeconomic and family background, a Cultural Orientation Scale, a Student Stress Scale, a General Self-efficacy Scale, a Perceived Stress Scale, and the Self-reporting Questionnaire-20. The findings are that 12.6% of the pupils had a possible clinically significant psychological disorder. Contributing factors identified were interpersonal, study, finance, illness, perceived stress, low self-efficacy, and low religious orientation.     

The mass/count distinction: evidence from on-line psycholinguistic performance.

Under the hypothesis that the mass/count distinction in English is marked by a monovalent lexical feature, this article investigates whether features, lexical or morphosyntactic, play a role in simple lexical decision. Research findings have yet to settle how many features are accessed during lexical decision and to what extent morphosyntactic features are computed out of context. We used two on-line lexical decision experiments (simple and morphosyntactic priming). Results show that the lexical feature "mass" is computed in both experiments. However, the morphosyntactic feature "plural" is subject to task-specific effects and surfaces only where operative.     

The role of vocabulary ability during visual word recognition in younger and older adults

The role that vocabulary ability plays in adult age differences in word recognition was investigated. In Experiment 1, 44 older adults (ages 61-93 years) were compared with 44 younger adults (ages 18-39 years) on a standard lexical-decision task, with ambiguous words, unambiguous words, and pseudowords serving as stimuli. In Experiment 1, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; D. Wechsler, 1981) vocabulary performance was uncontrolled across the younger and older adults, and the older adults had higher WAIS-R scores. There was no Group x Stimulus interaction. In Experiment 2, the data from the same 44 older adults were compared with data from a new sample of 44 younger adults (ages 18-44). Both groups were then matched on WAIS-R performance. Results revealed a significant Group x Stimulus interaction. Reaction time differences between the younger and older groups on the ambiguous words and unambiguous words were identical. The differences in reaction times for words and pseudowords were greater in the older adults. The importance of vocabulary ability during word recognition and lexical processing is discussed.     

Adolescent Substance Use: Preliminary Examinations of School and Neighborhood Context

In considering the influences of microsystems on adolescent substance use, familial and peer contexts have received the most extensive attention in the research literature. School and neighborhood settings, however, are other developmental contexts that may exert specific influences on adolescent substance use. In many instances, school settings are organized to provide educational services to students who share similar educational abilities and behavioral repertoires. The resulting segregation of students into these settings may result in different school norms for substance use. Similarly, neighborhood resources, including models for substance use and drug sales involvement, may play an important role in adolescent substance use. We briefly review literature examining contextual influences on adolescent substance use, and present results from two preliminary studies examining the contribution of school and neighborhood context to adolescent substance use. In the first investigation, we examine the impact of familial, peer, and school contexts on adolescent substance use. Respondents were 283 students (ages 13 to 18) from regular and special education classrooms in six schools. Although peer and parental contexts were important predictors of substance use, school norms for drug use accounted for variance in adolescent use beyond that explained by peer and parental norms. Data from a second study of 114 adolescents (mean age = 15) examines neighborhood contributions to adolescent substance use. In this sample, neighborhood indices did not contribute to our understanding of adolescent substance use. Implications for prevention are presented.     

Impairments of attention following childhood traumatic brain injury.

Attentional deficits are commonly reported following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adults, although the occurrence of such problems is less well documented in young children. This study aimed to investigate residual attentional abilities associated with TBI during childhood, by examining a number of aspects of attention including sustained, focussed, and divided attention, attentional shift, and response inhibition. Eighteen children with a history of TBI, aged between 8 and 14 years and 18 non-injured matched controls participated in the study. Results show that attentional skills may be differentially impaired after TBI, with children who have sustained moderate-to-severe TBI exhibiting significant deficits on the following attentional domains: sustain, focus, and response inhibition. These findings support the view that attentional impairments following pediatric TBI, while not global, may be more generalized than those reported for adult samples, perhaps reflecting the relative immaturity of attentional skills at the time of injury.     

The role of memory in the Tower of London task

The Tower of London (TOL) task is widely used as a neuropsychological test of planning. Relatively little is known of the cognitive components of the task, and in particular the role of memory in performance. The current studies on normal adults looked at the role of verbal and spatial working memory in the TOL. The effects of verbal and visuospatial dual-task manipulations on TOL performance were examined in an experiment with 36 participants. Both verbal and visuospatial executive secondary tasks caused poorer performance on the TOL; however, concurrent articulatory suppression enhanced performance. The results suggest that executive and spatial components are important in the task, and raise questions about the role of preplanning in the TOL.     

Odogenic change of blood coagulation in humans.

The blood coagulation time as an integral sign of human homeostasis is revealed to be influenced by conscious or unconscious olfactory stimuli through autonomic mechanisms. The hemostasis of subjects with predominance of sympathetic activity is more sensitive to the olfactory stimuli than that of subjects with vagal prevalence. The effects of the olfactory stimuli upon hemostasis in humans support the viewpoint that simultaneous information and physico-chemical processes act together in parallel to play and important role in life activities of human organism (Simonov, 1981; Sudakov, 1995). Emotions, therefore, are essential in the transfer of information from the environment (Anokhin, 1966; Miltner et al., 1994). It is not excluded that even very weak stimuli which are subthreshold for conscious perception might be informational for the organism as those engaging emotional response.