A Psychometric Investigation of the Suicide Status Form II with a Psychiatric Inpatient Sample

We investigated the psychometric validity and reliability of the Suicide Status Form‐II (SSF‐II) developed by Jobes, Jacoby, Cimbolic, and Hustead (1997) . Participants were 149 psychiatric inpatients (108 suicidal; 41 nonsuicidal) at the Mayo Clinic. Each participant completed assessment measures within 24 hours of admission and 48–72 hours later. Factor analyses of the SSF core assessment produced a robust two‐factor solution reflecting chronic and acute response styles. The SSF core assessment had good to excellent convergent and criterion validity; pre‐post SSF ratings also demonstrated moderate test‐retest reliability. The results replicated previous research and show that the SSF‐II is psychometrically sound with a high‐risk suicidal inpatient sample.     

Suicide Ideation and Attempts among Low‐Income African American Adolescents

We examined the impact of risk and protective factors on the odds that African American adolescents seriously think about or attempt suicide. Data from students in grades 5–12 in a mostly urban, southeastern U.S. school district were analyzed. Findings support earlier work documenting differences in gender and grades. Risk factors were uniformly significant in understanding both ideation and attempts. Protective factors were not consistent predictors; the lowering role of religious protective factors was limited, though student's belonging to or their perception of belonging to a spiritual community was a significant factor in lowering the odds of suicide ideation.     

La représentation sociale des droits de l'homme: Une recherche internationale sur l'étendue et les limites de l'universalité

La perception des violations des droits de l'homme par de jeunes individus insérés dans des contextes nationaux différents est-elle organisée selon des principes comparables à ceux d'experts ou d'institutions internationales? La présente étude contribue à élucider cette question en la situant dans le champ de la psychologie sociale. La représentation sociale des droits humains a été analysée par le biais d'un questionnaire standardisé soumis à des sujets de quatre pays (Costa Rica, France, Italie et Suisse) âgés de 13 à 20 ans. Les résultats montrent que les individus partagent dans une large mesure une conception institutionnelle des droits humains. De fortes variations à l'intérieur et entre les contextes nationaux apparaissent néanmoins, en particulier dans la délimitation des libertés individuelles et du contrôle étatique.     

The Italian Version of the Cognitive Style Indicator and its Association with Decision-Making Preferences

The Cognitive Style Indicator (CoSI) includes 3 cognitive dimensions: creating (flexible, open-ended and inventive), knowing (emphasizing facts, details, objectivity, and rationality), and planning (guided by preferences for certainty and well-structured information). The first aim of this research was to validate the 3-factor structure of the CoSI within the Italian context. The second was to verify whether cognitive styles, as measured by the CoSI, accounted for individual differences in decision-making processes. Two studies were conducted using 2 different samples (n = 549 and n = 397). Confirmatory and multigroup factor analysis corroborated the 3-factor model and the measurement invariance of the instrument across genders. Reliability indices showed good internal consistency, as well as good levels of convergent and discriminant construct validity. Results from structural equation model revealed that cognitive styles, as measured by the CoSI, predicted individual differences in intuitive and deliberative decision-making processes. Findings gave evidence for the validity of the Italian version of the CoSI and for the causal relationship between cognitive styles and decision-making processes. Further research is needed to explore a more comprehensive model that includes, for example, personality.     

The autistic moment in psychotherapy

This is a report on the author's experience in treating four autistic children and their families. The importance of making available the therapist's own autism is stressed. The difficulty in doing this and reverting defensively to an administrative approach is described. A previous paper discussed the corrective autistic experience with a focus on the autistic person. This follow-up describes the autistic moment which is a relational experience between the therapist and both the autistic person and the autistic family. The family needs to have an experience of its own autism as a continuum of normal before it can relate to an autistic child. To the extent that the therapist can bring his own autism into the therapy can the family experience its own. The patients are the person, the relationships, the family, and the therapist.The author would like to thank Richard B. Anderson, MD, Lindy T. Barnett, MSW, David V. Keith, MD, JoEllen Barnett Smith, MA, and Orion Smith for their participation as cotherapists. The comments made on an earlier draft of this paper by the members of the Atlantic Psychiatric Clinic are warmly acknowledged. Valuable editorial assistance has been extended by Robert Garfield, MD, and Stuart Sugarman, MD. Lastly, the author would like to extend his appreciation to Robert R. Haubrich, PhD, for stimulating his interest in the field of comparative ethology.Presented at the Conference Honoring the Retirement of Carl A. Whitaker, MD, in Madison, Wisconsin, June 25, 1982.     

Confrontation in the group analytic matrix: Toward a classification

This paper illustrates how confrontation is used in applying the Group Analytic model of Foulkes. Within the group, confrontation with images of the self and others provides a many-layered experience which transcends the classical psychoanalytic differentiation between confrontation, clarification and interpretation. A classification of seven types of confrontation is offered based on who confronts whom, and is linked with Foulkes's four levels of relationship within a group.Based on a paper read at the 9th Congress of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, August 1986.     

The logic of delusion

Piagetian concepts explaining normal mental development are applied to delusion, a major psychiatric disorder of thought which can result in bizarre conduct. Piaget constructed problems in which the errors of six to eight year old children fit the standard textbook definition of delusion surprisingly well. When we examined cases of delusional individuals, we concluded that their apparent irrational and bizarre conduct could be explained as problem-solving errors like those of Piaget's young children. In contradistinction to existing theories, we define delusion as a regression under stress to the logic of children of a particular age range, and that what appears bizarre and irrational is the result of an adult attempting to filter experience through a child's logic.Under a different title this paper was presented at the Biennial Congress of the World Federation for Mental Health in Mexico City in August, 1991.