Relationship Between Religious Coping and Suicidal Behaviors Among African American Adolescents

This study investigated whether hopelessness and depression were risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in African American adolescents and looked at whether religious participation and religious coping protected these students from suicidality. Participants were 212 African American high school students (133 females, 79 males). The results of multiple and logistic regression analyses found that hopelessness and depression were risk factors for suicidal ideation and attempts. Religious coping style was significantly related to suicidal behaviors: Self-directed coping was related to increased hopelessness, depression, and suicide attempts, and collaborative coping was related to increased reasons for living. Gender differences were found in symptoms of depression, religious coping style and religious participation. Results provide additional support for suicide interventions to target hopelessness and depressive symptoms and highlight the importance of examining the role of culturally salient variables, such as religious participation and religious coping style, when developing intervention programs for suicide.     

A FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF HAIR PULLING

We experimentally assessed the functions of hair pulling and hair manipulation of a 19-year-old woman (Kris) with moderate mental retardation and cerebral palsy. In Phase 1 a functional analysis revealed that Kris pulled and manipulated hair for the greatest amount of time in the alone condition, suggesting that the behaviors were maintained by some form of automatic reinforcement (Vaughan & Michael, 1982). In Phase 2 we assessed the nature of the sensory stimulation that maintained hair pulling by providing continuous access to previously pulled or cut hair and, thereafter, by having Kris wear a rubber glove. The results suggested that hair pulling was maintained by digital-tactile stimulation (automatic positive reinforcement). These findings are discussed, and recommendations for further analyses of automatically reinforced habit behaviors are provided.     

Developmental Personality Styles: An Attachment Theory Conceptualization of Personality Disorders

Attachment theory, as a developmentally based theory of personality formation, provides a viable framework for understanding the development and maintenance of personality disorders, or what A. E. Ivey and M. B. Ivey (1998) have referred to as “developmental personality styles.” Using K. Bartholomew's (1990) 4‐dimensional model of adult attachment as an organizational framework, 10 developmental personality styles are differentiated regarding their unique attachment experiences, working models of self and other, and feedforward beliefs. Implications of an attachment theory framework for counseling clients with problematic developmental personality styles are discussed.     

Spousal interrelations in happiness in the Seattle Longitudinal Study: considerable similarities in levels and change over time

Development does not take place in isolation and is often interrelated with close others such as marital partners. To examine interrelations in spousal happiness across midlife and old age, we used 35-year longitudinal data from both members of 178 married couples in the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Latent growth curve models revealed sizeable spousal similarities not only in levels of happiness but also in how happiness changed over time. These spousal interrelations were considerably larger in size than those found among random pairs of women and men from the same sample. Results are in line with life-span theories emphasizing an interactive minds perspective by showing that adult happiness waxes and wanes in close association with the respective spouse. Our findings also complement previous individual-level work on age-related changes in well-being by pointing to the importance of using the couple as the unit of analysis.     

Sources of Uncertainty About Daughters’ Breast Cancer Risk that Emerge During Genetic Counseling Consultations

Uncertainty is central to the experience of genetic decision making and counseling about cancer risk. Women seeking genetic counseling about their breast cancer risk may experience a great deal of uncertainty about issues related to their daughters. We used a theory of Communication and Uncertainty Management to guide analysis of sources of uncertainty about daughters that emerged during 16 video-recorded and transcribed conversations between mothers at risk for a BRCA 1/2 mutation and their genetic healthcare practitioners. An interpretive design and constant comparative method revealed three dominant patterns or themes representing sources of uncertainty mothers have relating to their daughters: disease risk, future cancer screening, and communication of related information to daughters. Both practitioners and mothers discussed these aspects of uncertainty. The findings identify the significant role uncertainty and familial concerns play in mothers’ genetic testing decision making process. To assist genetic practitioners, we highlight daughter-related concerns that mothers are uncertain about and which are vital to their genetic counseling needs.     

Nature and role of change in anxiety sensitivity during NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral smoking cessation treatment

This study evaluated the associations between change in anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of the negative consequences of anxiety and related sensations) and lapse and relapse during a 4-week group NRT-aided cognitive-behavioral Tobacco Intervention Program. Participants were 67 (44 women; M (age) = 46.2 years, SD = 10.4) adult daily smokers. Results indicated that participants who maintained high levels of AS from pretreatment to 1 month posttreatment, compared to those who demonstrated a significant reduction in AS levels during this time period, showed a significantly increased risk for lapse and relapse. Further inspection indicated that higher continuous levels of AS physical and psychological concerns, specifically among those participants who maintained elevated levels of AS from pre- to posttreatment, predicted significantly greater risk for relapse. Findings are discussed with respect to better understanding change in AS, grounded in an emergent taxonic-dimensional factor mixture model of the construct, with respect to lapse and relapse during smoking cessation.     

Informant reports add incrementally to the understanding of the perfectionism–depression connection: Evidence from a prospective longitudinal study

Perfectionism is a putative risk factor for depressive symptoms. However, most research in this area uses cross-sectional designs (which fail to address temporal precedence) and mono-source designs (which are influenced by various biases). The present study overcomes these limitations by using a novel design involving both self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism (i.e., negative reactions to perceived failures, concern over others’ criticism and expectations, doubts about performance abilities, and intense self-rebuke). It was hypothesized that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism would correlate moderately and that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism would predict increases in depressive symptoms over time. A sample of 155 target participants and 588 informants was recruited and studied using a prospective longitudinal design. All study hypotheses were supported, including evidence that self- and informant reports of self-critical perfectionism each add incrementally to the understanding of the self-critical perfectionism–depressive symptoms connection. Informant reports may provide a more complete picture of the self-critical perfectionist and her or his vulnerability to depressive symptoms.     

Extending Neuropsychological Assessments into the Primary Mental Ability Space

ABSTRACT

A battery of 17 neuropsychological tests (including the CERAD battery) and 17 psychometric ability tests were administered to a sample of 499 participants of the Seattle Longitudinal study who had been given the psychometric ability tests seven and 14 years earlier. The neuropsychological tests were projected into a 5-factor psychometric ability space by means of extension analysis. The concurrent regressions of the neuropsychology tests on the psychometric ability tests were then used to estimate neuropsychology test scores from the psychometric ability tests administered in 1984, 1991 and 1998. Neuropsychologists then rated the study participants as either normal, suspect or cognitively impaired in 1998. Changes in estimated test scores were computed over seven and fourteen years. Significant odds ratios between normal and cognitively impaired groups were found for all neuropsychological tests over the proximal period and for most tests over the 14-year period. Similar findings occurred for the odds ratios between the normal and suspect groups for the most proximal 7-year changes.