Predictors of attrition and weight loss success: Results from a randomized controlled trial

Attrition is a common problem in weight loss trials. The present analysis examined several baseline and early-treatment process variables, as predictors of attrition and outcome in a clinical trial that combined pharmacotherapy and behavior therapy for weight loss. Participants were 224 obese adults who were treated with sibutramine alone, lifestyle modification alone, combined therapy, or sibutramine plus brief lifestyle modification. Predictors included baseline characteristics (e.g., demographic, weight-related, psychological, and consumption-related variables), plus attendance, adherence, and weight loss in the early weeks of treatment. Outcomes were attrition and weight loss success (i.e., ≥5% reduction in body weight) at 1 year. Multivariable models, adjusting for other relevant variables, found that younger age and greater baseline depressive symptoms were related to increased odds of attrition (ps ≤ 0.003). Greater early weight loss marginally reduced the odds of attrition (p = 0.06). Predictors of weight loss success at 1 year were Caucasian ethnicity (p = 0.04), lower baseline depressive symptoms (p = 0.04), and weight loss during the first 3 weeks of treatment (p < 0.001). Thus, depressive symptoms at baseline were a significant predictor of both attrition and weight loss success. As a process variable, early weight loss appears to have more predictive value than early attendance at treatment sessions or early adherence.     

Utility of personality measurement of clinic patients with insomnia

An assessment study examining the relationship between sleep quality and personality style in individuals presenting to a sleep clinic with symptoms of insomnia was conducted. The protocol entailed standard clinical interviews conducted by a board certified sleep physician and licensed clinical psychologist. Participants were then assessed using a standard interview and the Millon Clinical Multi-axial Inventory III (MCMI-III) A follow-up appointment was conducted to provide interpretation and treatment recommendations from the interview and testing data. The results from a review of 210 cases are presented in terms of their sleep quality and dominant MCMI-III patterns. Preliminary multivariate analyses indicated two common profiles that correspond to the presentation of insomnia symptomology. These clusters were termed "avoidant" and "anxious" profiles, accordingly. Item content analyses were conducted via the Noteworthy Item classification in the MCMI-III manual to determine the viability of a category determined by the authors called Sleep Behavior Preoccupation. Of this sample 17% fit into the category.     

Subjective Importance of Masculinity as a Factor in Understanding Risky Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors among Sexual Minority Men

Sex Roles - In the present study we evaluated relationships among internalized stigma, subjective importance of masculine gender roles, and risky sexual attitudes and behaviors among men who...     

Testing the developmental distinctiveness of male proactive and reactive aggression with a nested longitudinal experimental intervention

An experimental preventive intervention nested into a longitudinal study was used to test the developmental distinctiveness of proactive and reactive aggression. The randomized multimodal preventive intervention targeted a subsample of boys rated disruptive by their teachers. These boys were initially part of a sample of 895 boys, followed from kindergarten to 17 years of age. Semiparametric analyses of developmental trajectories for self‐reported proactive and reactive aggression (between 13 and 17 years of age) indicated three trajectories for each type of aggression that varied in size and shape (Low, Moderate, and High Peaking). Intent‐to‐treat comparisons between the boys in the prevention group and the control group confirmed that the preventive intervention between 7 and 9 years of age, which included parenting skills and social skills training, could impact the development of reactive more than proactive aggression. The intervention effect identified in reactive aggression was related to a reduction in self‐reported coercive parenting. The importance of these results for the distinction between subtypes of aggressive behaviors and the value of longitudinal‐experimental studies from early childhood onward is discussed. Aggr. Behav. 36:127–140, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Mood, source characteristics, and message processing: A mood-congruent expectancies approach

Based on two lines of research, a model is proposed to explain when individuals in a positive mood as well as individuals in a negative mood invest more or less effort in message processing. First, research has shown that moods affect likelihood estimates. That is, positive (negative) mood leads to a mood-congruent increase regarding the occurrence of positively (negatively) valenced events. Second, research has shown that mood-unrelated expectancies affect message processing. Combining both lines of research, I argue that mood-congruent expectancies also affect message scrutiny, that is, more effortful processing given expectancy disconfirmation rather than expectancy confirmation. This prediction was tested in two experiments involving initial information regarding source honesty and likability, respectively. As predicted, individuals in both positive and negative moods evinced more effortful message processing when initial information disconfirmed rather than confirmed expectancies. Thus, these results are consistent with a quite flexible view of individuals in both positive and negative moods regarding the effort invested in information processing.     

The Intergenerational Association Between Parents’ Problem Gambling and Impulsivity-Hyperactivity/Inattention Behaviors in Children

Despite the well-established association between problem gambling and ADHD core categories of impulsivity-hyperactivity and inattention, the link between parents’ problem gambling and impulsivity-hyperactivity/inattention (IH/I) behaviors in children has not been investigated. This study investigated the association between parents’ problem gambling and children’s IH/I behaviors while controlling for potential confounding variables. A population-based prospective cohort followed-up from kindergarten to age 30, the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children (QLSKC), provided data over three generations. Among 1358 participants at age 30, parents with a child aged 1 year or older (N = 468; Mean age = 4.65 years; SD = 2.70) were selected. Generalized Linear Models included measures of grandparents’ and parents’ problem gambling, parents’ IH/I behaviors in childhood, and a host of risk factors and comorbidities to predict IH/I in children. Intergenerational bivariate associations were observed between grandparents’ problem gambling, parents’ IH/I in childhood and problem gambling at age 30, and between parents’ IH/I, problem gambling, and children’s IH/I behaviors. Parents’ problem gambling predicted children’s IH/I behaviors above and beyond the effects of covariates such as family and socioeconomic characteristics, alcohol and drug use, depression symptoms and parents’ gambling involvement. Parents’ IH/I behaviors in childhood also predicted children’s IH/I and had a moderating, enhancing effect on parents’ problem gambling association with their offspring’s IH/I behaviors. Problem gambling is a characteristic of parents’ mental health that is distinctively associated with children’s IH/I behaviors, above and beyond parents’ own history of IH/I and of typically related addictive, psychopathological or socioeconomic risk factors and comorbidities.     

On Freedom’s Mystery

Philosophia - This paper argues that Peter van Inwagen’s argument for the mysteriousness of metaphysical freedom does not establish its conclusion. Van Inwagen’s argument involves the...     

Homosexuality: Sin or sickness? A dialogue

The [ollozving discussion takes place in what Bernard Shaw, in the Preface to Candida, called an oasis in a desert of unattractiveness—the study of the Executive Secretary of The George W. Henry Foundation in the Parish House of a midtown Episcopal Church. The Foundation, chartered by the State of New York to help those who by reason of their sexual maladjustment are in trouble with themselves, the law or society, was organized in 1948; its staff, board members and officers come from a variety of religious persuasions to serve all who come or are sent to it without regard to race, creed, or color. The participants in the dialogue are Canon Rend Bozarth, the founder and head of the Society of St. Paul, an Anglican monastic community, located in Oregon, and Alfred A. Gross, the Executive Officer of the Foundation, associated with Dr. Henry for more than a quarter of a century.We publish this article particularly at this time because of our selection of an outstanding book by Dr. Gross,Strangers In Our Midst: Problems of the Homosexual in American Society, on this theme—a book in which Dr. Gross deals more thoroughly and more comprehensively with the entire problem of homosexuality. The article may also be seen as a continued discussion of the article on Pastoral Counseling for Homosexuals by Dr. George W. Henry, published inPastoral Psychology, November, 1951.