Alcoholism and the family in peru: The impact of an alcoholic on teenagers' perceptions of the family

Abstract

We studied Peruvian high school students' perceptions of their family environment when a member of their household had a significant problem with alcohol using specialized forms of both the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (SMAST). Of our sample of 218 high school students in Lima, Peru, 91.7% lived in a household in which a member had a significant problem with alcohol as defined by the family form of the SMAST. Also, when the alcoholic individual was a member of the nuclear family, the high school students perceived their families as less cohesive, less well organized, and with a lesser ability to express themselves. These family perceptions are similar to those found in American high school students who live with an alcoholic family member. Possible epidemiologic and family implications of these findings are discussed.     

Biased processing of sad faces: An ERP marker candidate for depression susceptibility

Depression has been associated with task-relevant increased attention toward negative information, reduced attention toward positive information, or reduced inhibition of task-irrelevant negative information. This study employed behavioural and psychophysiological measures (event-related potentials; ERP) to examine whether groups with risk factors for depression (past depression, current dysphoria) would show attentional biases or inhibitory deficits related to viewing facial expressions. In oddball task blocks, young adult participants responded to an infrequently presented target emotion (e.g., sad) and inhibited responses to an infrequently presented distracter emotion (e.g., happy) in the context of frequently presented neutral stimuli. Previous depression was uniquely associated with greater P3 ERP amplitude following sad targets, reflecting a selective attention bias. Also, dysphoric individuals less effectively inhibited responses to sad distracters than non-dysphoric individuals according to behavioural data, but not psychophysiological data. Results suggest that depression risk may be most reliably characterised by increased attention toward others' depressive facial emotion.     

Lesbianism: Some Developmental and Psychodynamic Considerations

In order to further our understanding of lesbianism the newer ideas of female development and of sexual object choice must be integrated into psychoanalytic theory. This includes such concepts as primary femininity, the girl's primary wish for a baby, and female genital sensations leading to a gradual understanding of female anatomy. Ties to each parent develop in tandem, not sequentially. Boys and girls have different attachment and separation experiences. Genital release, a major organizer of male psychological development, may not be as important as intimacy in the girl's development. Multitudes of environmental influences play a role in establishing gender identity, gender role and sexual object choice. Nature and nurture interact. Homosexuality and psychopathology are not connected and psychodynamics is not the same as etiology. A case presentation focuses on the role of aggression in female development. The importance of ambivalence is considered in its impact on maternal identification and sexual object choice.     

The Relationship of Suicidal Ideation to Objective and Subjective Executive Functioning

Prior research on executive ability and suicidal ideation (SI) has frequently failed to account for either symptom or performance validity. Similarly, studies have not adequately examined both objective performance on executive tests and subjective report of executive deficits in relationship to SI. The purpose of this study was to address these gaps in research by accounting for performance validity, symptom validity, and considering self-reported executive complaints with objective performance. We hypothesized that (a) increases in self-reported SI on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991 Morey, L. C. (1991). Personality Assessment Inventory: Professional manual. Tampa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. [Google Scholar]) Suicidal Ideation subscale would be related to poorer performance on objective and subjective tests of executive function and (b) level of self-reported depressive symptoms would moderate the relationship between SI and measures of executive function, such that individuals with higher levels of both depressive symptoms and executive dysfunction would be more likely to experience higher levels of SI. No measure of executive function was related to SI when accounting for demographic variables and depressive symptoms. Wisconsin Card Sort Test categories completed was the only measure of executive function to interact significantly with depressive symptoms to predict SI (β = .43). Of particular note, self-reported executive dysfunction was highly correlated with Beck Depression Inventory?II ( Beck, Steer, &; Brown, 1996 Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., &; Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory (2nd ed.). San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation. [Google Scholar]) scores (r = .78). Clinical implications and future directions for research are discussed.     

A Developmental Investigation of Prospective Memory: Effects of Interruption

The effects of interrupting an event-based prospective memory (PM) task and its associated ongoing task were compared for two groups of children: 8- to 9-year-olds (n?=?35) and 12- to 13-year-olds (n?=?28). Additionally, PM performance was examined as a function of attainment on a battery of tests of executive functioning (viz., Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Letter Number Sequencing Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Trail Making Test). A significant main effect of age indicated that the older children correctly carried out intended actions more often than the younger children. Consistent with the prefrontal model of PM, interruption had no impact on PM accuracy in the older group but produced reliable decrements to the accuracy of the younger group. Whereas IQ showed no association with PM performance, reliable relations between PM skills and aspects of their executive functioning were found.     

Mood Swings and Creativity

ABSTRACT:

This article evaluates recent evidence for an association between creativity and bipolar mood disorders. Eminent creativity and everyday creativity are distinguished, with high rates of major mood disorders‐particularly bipolar disorders— appearing among eminent creators in the arts. However, among everyday persons, including the 4–5% of the population that may develop a bipolar “spectrum”; disorder and their relatives, it is those with relatively milder mood disorders and normalcy who may show the greatest creative advantage. These seemingly conflicting results are reconciled through comparison of research designs and the creativity and diagnostic variables studied. Evidence regarding mood states that enhance creativity is also considered, both for eminent and everyday creators, and some preliminary results from a study of patients are presented. Here, milder mood elevations were tied most closely to the experience of creativity, although other patterns can exist. Three patterns are examined in terms of 23 mood, cognitive, and behavioral features that Jamison (1989) studied in eminent creators.     

The relationship between anxiety and stuttering: a multidimensional approach

The relationship between anxiety and stuttering is equivocal from both clinical and empirical perspectives. This study examined the relationship within the framework of the multidimensional interaction model of anxiety that includes an approach to general anxiety in specific situations [J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 60 (1991) 919]. Ninety-four males aged 18-43, half disfluent speakers and half fluent speakers completed two questionnaires: The Trait Anxiety Inventory [C.D. Spielberger, R.L. Gorsuch, R.E. Lushene, Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Self Evaluation Questionnaire), Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA, 1970] and the Speech Situation Checklist [G.J. Brutten, Neurolinguistic Approaches to Stuttering, Mouton, The Hague; G.J. Brutten, Stuttering: A Second Symposium, Harper and Row, New York, 1973; G.J. Brutten, P. Janssen, Proceedings 18th Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrists, Washington, DC, 1975; M. Vanryckeghem, Proceedings of the XXIVth Congress of the International Association of Logopedists and Phoniatrists, Nijmegen University Press, Nijmegen, 1981]. In addition, after performing speech and non-speech tasks, participants evaluated their level of anxiety on a subjective scale, labeled Task-Related Anxiety--TRA. The stuttering group also evaluated the level of severity of their stuttering. Findings indicate that trait anxiety is higher among people who stutter compared to fluent speakers, thus indicating that anxiety is a personality trait of people who stutter. State anxiety in social communication is higher among severe stutterers as compared to mild stutterers and fluent speakers. Thus, state anxiety is related to stuttering severity. The results are discussed in the frame of the multidimensional model of anxiety. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to: (1) describe the multidimensional anxiety model; (2) extend the model to the relations between stuttering and anxiety; (3) describe stuttering severity in relation to the levels of anxiety within the model.     

The sociology of the sacred: A conversation with Jeffrey Alexander

Over the past 20 years, Jeffrey C. Alexander has been a leading social theorist and a pioneer of the ‘strong program’ in cultural sociology, which emphasises the significance of cultural structures of meaning for social life. Following an introductory overview of his work, this article records a public conversation with Alexander about the role and significance of the concept of the sacred in his sociological work. Issues addressed in this conversation include situating Alexander's interest in the sacred in his intellectual biography (including his significant intellectual influences), the mistrust of the concept of the sacred within the wider sociological community, the universality of cultural structures of sacred meaning, the limitations of sociological analysis focused on sacred meaning and methodological approaches to the study of the sacred.     

Instructional Practices in Fifth-through Eighth-grade Science Classrooms of a Selected Seventh-day Adventist Conference

This investigation focused on instructional practices within fifth- through eighth-grade science classes of selected Seventh-day Adventist schools. Teachers reported regular use of discussion, student projects, and tests or quizzes. Most respondents said they did not feel prepared or had “never heard of” inquiry, the learning cycle, or constructivism. Over half the respondents felt discussion, student-projects, and hands-on laboratory work were effective instructional practices in science classrooms. Learning cycle and constructivism were described by most respondents as “not at all” effective; many respondents had “never heard of” these same two instructional approaches.