Attachment Styles and Personality Disorders: Their Connections to Each Other and to Parental Divorce, Parental Death, and Perceptions of Parental Caregiving

Attachment theory was explored as a means of understanding the origins of personality disorders. We investigated whether adult attachment styles and personality disorders share a common underlying structure, and how both kinds of variables relate to family background factors, including parental death, parental divorce, and current representations of childhood relationships with parents. A nonclinical group of 1407 individuals, mostly adolescents and young adults, were surveyed about their attachment styles, parental marital status, parental mortality status, perceptions of treatment by parents in childhood, and 13 personality disorders. Results indicated substantial overlap between attachment and personality-disorder measures. Two of the personality-disorder dimensions are related to the two dimensions of the attachment space; that is, there is a two-dimensional space in which both the attachment patterns and most of the personality disorders can be arrayed. The one personality-disorder factor that is unrelated to attachment appears akin to psychopathy. Both personality disorders and attachment styles were associated with family-of-origin variables. Results are discussed in terms of encouraging further research to test the idea that insecure attachment and most of the personality disorders share similar developmental antecedents.     

Psychological Dysfunction in Southeast Asian Refugees as Mediated by Sense of Coherence

Investigated Antonovky's (1979, 1987) construct of sense of coherence (i.e., an individual's belief that the world was comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) as the internal psychological mechanism mediating the effects of external stressors (generalized resistance deficits) and resources on psychological dysfunction (measured by depression, anxiety, and psychosocial dysfunction) in 2,234 Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and Chinese-Vietnamese refugees. Generalized resistance and deficits significantly predicted sense of coherence as well as psychological dysfunction. The amount of variance accounted for increased significantly when the mediating effect of sense of coherence was tested using a path analysis. Sense of coherence significantly reduced the predictive power of generalized resistance and deficits in the psychological dysfunction models. Results support the hypothesized mediating role of sense of coherence. Thus, interventions aiming to enhance Southeast Asian refugees' functioning may gain in effectiveness by targeting and promoting their sense of coherence.     

The Effects of a PETTLEP Imagery Intervention on Learners' Coincident Anticipation Timing Performance

Little research has examined how imagery effects learners' acquisition of motor tasks requiring coincident anticipation timing (CAT). CAT is a fundamental component of hitting, passing, and receiving required in several sports. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a PETTLEP imagery intervention on learners' CAT performance using a Bassin Anticipation Timer. Fifty-six participants (M = 20.61 years, SD = 2.48) were randomly assigned into one of four training groups: physical practice (PP), imagery practice (IP), imagery practice + physical practice (IP +PP), or a control (CON) group. The study consisted of three phases: pretest, intervention, and a posttest. Results revealed that the PP and IP+PP groups had significantly lower absolute timing error compared to the CON group on the posttest. The IP+PP group was the only group to have lower variable error compared to the CON group on the posttest. Results extend prior research by demonstrating that imagery combined with physical practice can benefit the learning of a CAT task and that imagery alone may not assist learners in acquiring tasks requiring CAT. Results are congruent with prior research demonstrating that imagery is most effective when combined with physical practice.     

Healing from Moral Injury: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Impact of Killing Treatment for Combat Veterans

This paper evaluates the Impact of Killing (IOK) treatment—a psychological intervention designed to address moral injury and trauma associated with killing in war. Using qualitative data from interviews with 28 combat veterans, we examine IOK’s impact, how it differs from other trauma-focused treatments, and how it can be improved to better meet veterans’ needs. We found that many veterans processed their killing experiences for the first time in IOK, even though all had previously completed evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder. Several described killing in war as the most distressing and transformative trauma of their lives, and all affirmed the value of an intervention focused directly and explicitly on moral injury and killing. IOK helped veterans to acknowledge their grief, shame, and distress; gently but critically examine their thoughts and beliefs about killing in war; and make strides toward acceptance, reconciliation, and forgiveness.     

Effects of aging on action-intentional programming

Background: Action-intentional programs control “when” we initiate, inhibit, continue, and stop motor actions. The purpose of this study was to learn if there are changes in the action-intentional system with healthy aging, and if these changes are asymmetrical (right versus left upper limb) or related to impaired interhemispheric communication. Methods: We administered tests of action-intention to 41 middle-aged and older adults (61.9 ± 12.3 years). Results: Regression analyses revealed that older age predicted a decrement in performance for tests of crossed motor response inhibition as well as slower motor initiation with the left hand. Conclusion: Changes in action-intention with aging appear to be related to alterations of interhemispheric communication and/or age-related right hemisphere dysfunction; however, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms for age-related changes in the brain networks that mediate action-intention.     

Adopting the Objectifying Gaze: Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Music Videos and Subsequent Gazing Behavior

We investigated the effects of exposure to sexually objectifying music videos on viewers’ subsequent gazing behavior. We exposed participants (N = 129; 68 women, 61 men) to music videos either high in sexual objectification or low in sexual objectification. Next, we measured participants’ eye movements as they viewed photographs of 36 women models with various body shapes (i.e., ideal size model, plus size model) and degree of dress (i.e., fully dressed, scantily dressed, partially clad). Results indicated that sexually objectifying music videos influenced participants’ objectifying gaze upon photographs of women with an ideal size, but not plus size, body shape. Interestingly, that effect neither differed among men and women nor depended upon the models’ degree of dress. Altogether, once primed with sexually objectifying imagery, participants looked at women’s sexual body parts more than they looked at women’s faces.     

Letter Writing: A Creative Tool for School Counselors Working with Adolescents

Letter writing is a therapeutic tool used in many helping professions with many populations. In school counseling, letter writing can be a useful way for school counselors to build relationships and assess student needs. Letter writing may appeal to students who are more introspective and prefer less direct forms of communication (France, Cadieax, & Allen, 1995). Evidence to support school counselors’ use of letter writing with students is underdeveloped. Citing conceptual, empirical, and theoretical support, the authors propose prompting students to write Letters About Themselves (LAT) at the beginning, middle, and end phases of the school year. Considerations for school counselors using letter writing with adolescents are explored.     

Effects of Error Correction on Spanish Spelling Words for Students Whose Primary Language Is Spanish

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an error correction strategy on the spelling accuracy of Spanish words by elementary school students who come from a bilingual home environment, where the home language is Spanish. In the error correction strategy students wrote the word, viewed an accurate model of the word, and self-corrected any errors. In the traditional strategy students wrote each word three times on a paper after viewing an accurate model. All words and examples were presented in the student's home language (Spanish). Results showed that students spelled more words correctly under the error correction strategy.