A cross-validation of MMPI-2 substance abuse scales.

We evaluated the efficacy of the Addiction Potential Scale (APS) and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS), two new scales designed to assess substance abuse problems with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), in samples from settings different from those used in their development. Results replicate earlier findings that both scales discriminate between psychiatric and substance abuse samples and do so more effectively than other substance abuse scales designed for use with the MMPI and carried over to the MMPI-2. Results also suggest that APS may be more resistant than AAS to response distortion.     

Children in the public eye: The functioning of Pastors' children

Pastors' children have been thought to have more behavioral problems than other children since they face high expectations and are part of families that are often under public scrutiny. The purpose of this study was to describe the social competencies and behavioral problems of a national sample of pastors' children, aged 4–16, and to compare them to age and sex standardized norms. Data were obtained on 98 children from a random sample of 62 families, using the Child Behavior Checklist. Results indicate that scores for both boys and girls at each age grouping fell within the acceptable norms for both social competencies and behavioral problems.     

ALCOVE: an exemplar-based connectionist model of category learning.

ALCOVE (attention learning covering map) is a connectionist model of category learning that incorporates an exemplar-based representation (Medin & Schaffer, 1978; Nosofsky, 1986) with error-driven learning (Gluck & Bower, 1988; Rumelhart, Hinton, & Williams, 1986). Alcove selectively attends to relevant stimulus dimensions, is sensitive to correlated dimensions, can account for a form of base-rate neglect, does not suffer catastrophic forgetting, and can exhibit 3-stage (U-shaped) learning of high-frequency exceptions to rules, whereas such effects are not easily accounted for by models using other combinations of representation and learning method.     

Primary relationships affect the psychological health of homosexual men at risk for AIDS.

Less is known about the effects of primary relationships on psychological health for homosexual men and women than for heterosexual men and women. Given the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the primary relationships of homosexual men are especially important to examine at the present time. Using questionnaire data collected from 259 homosexual men, this study examined the effects of status and quality of relationship on psychological health. Analysis indicated that homosexual men who are in primary relationships experience fewer depressive symptoms and greater well-being than other homosexual men but that being in a relationship does not predict changes in these outcomes over time. Men who report high quality of relationship show improvements over time in psychological health. These findings are discussed in light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.     

Impulsiveness, attitude to authority, and gender.

This article examined the relationship between impulsiveness and attitudes toward institutional authority among Australian secondary school students. Reliable questionnaire measures of these constructs were completed by 48 boys and 57 girls, about 14 years of age. Correlations between impulsiveness and attitude to authority differed between the sexes, with a significant negative correlation of -.43 being obtained for boys only.     

Reliability and validity of the Cognitive Slippage Scale in two populations.

Analyses of responses from a clinical sample of 120 patients (primarily schizophrenics) and from 158 college students to the Cognitive Slippage Scale, a scale designed by Miers and Raulin to identify speech deficits and confused thinking in schizophrenic and schizotypal personality disorders showed high internal reliability; Cronbach's coefficients alpha were .89 and .86 in the clinical and college student samples, respectively. The mean scale scores significantly differentiated the two samples. Also, change scores over 4 wk. showed adequate stability for both samples. Item analysis indicated Items 11, 20, 21, and 28 may not reliably discriminate between schizophrenic and college student samples. Over-all, these preliminary results are consistent with the reliability and validity of the scale.     

The evolution of Freud's theory about dreaming.

Freud revised his theory of dreams significantly. First, he discovered the role of the id in dreaming. He hypothesized that the function of dreaming is to gratify an infantile sexual wish, in accordance with the pleasure principle, and thereby to preserve sleep. However, he learned later that anxiety generated by recent events plays a greater role in stimulating dream formation than he had thought and that some dreams actually generate anxiety. These clinical observations caused him, in large part, to revise his theories of dreaming, of anxiety, and of the mental apparatus.     

Sex differences in self-disclosure: a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 205 studies involving 23,702 Ss was conducted to determine whether there are sex differences in self-disclosure. Across these studies, women disclosed slightly more than men (d = .18). This effect size was not homogeneous across studies. Several moderator variables were found. Sex of target and the interaction effect of relationship to target and measure of self-disclosure moderated the effect of sex on self-disclosure. Sex differences in self-disclosure were significantly greater to female and same-sex partners than to opposite-sex or male partners. When the target had a relationship with the discloser (i.e., friend, parent, or spouse), women disclosed more than men regardless of whether self-disclosure was measured by self-report or observation. When the target was a stranger, men reported that they disclosed similarly to women; however, studies using observational measures of self-disclosure found that women disclosed more than men.     

No counterregulation after breaking the external restraint of children.

At the present, it is unknown how restraint and binge eating/counterregulation are exactly related. Earlier studies on this relationship suffer from two main shortcomings: the studies are all correlational in nature or could not rule out the contribution of confounding variables such as weight loss. The present study investigated whether a break of restraint is a sufficient condition for the occurrence of counterregulation by studying a restrained sample which is not liable to dieting practices and weight loss. The externally imposed restraint on children with regard to eating sweets was broken. However, after breaking their external restraint the children did not counterregulate. It is discussed whether restraint of food intake is really as important for binge eating as it is claimed to be or whether it is merely a consequence or an epiphenomenon of binge eating.