Do High- and Low-Active Adolescents Have Different Prototypes of Physically Active Peers?

The Psychological Record - Previous studies have investigated social images in health-risk behaviors, suggesting that these images are important factors in adolescents’ health-related...     

Effects of anxiety on communication tasks for children in traditional and individualized-multiage classrooms

The effects of anxiety on concept acquisition were evaluated for first and second grade children enrolled in either a traditional or in an individualized or multiage learning program, the latter specifically designed to reduce anxiety during the learning process. Regardless of their learning environment, first graders who scored high on trait anxiety, measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, performed more poorly than those with low trait anxiety. Individualized-multiage second grade children scored lower on state anxiety than children in the traditional group. The largest reduction in anxiety occurred at the second grade, suggesting that anxiety reduction was cumulative for the individualized-multiage program children during the first two years of their primary grade education. However, the individualized-multiage environment was detrimental to performance of second graders on the easier concrete concept acquisition test, suggesting that some anxiety is needed during learning to enhance attention and facilitate performance.     

A cross-cultural study of the test anxiety levels in Iranian and Indian students

This study compared the test anxiety levels of Iranian (N = 160) and Indian (N = 160) school and college students. Significant main effects of Culture, Educational Level and Sex indicated that the Iranian students had higher Test Anxiety scores than their Indian counterparts, and females reported higher test anxiety than males. A significant Culture x Educational Level x Sex interaction revealed, however, that level of education had opposite effects within the Indian culture: Indian school females reported more test anxiety than their college counterparts; Indian college males had higher test anxiety than their school counterparts. Iranian school males and females both reported higher test anxiety than their college counterparts. Tricultural differences in the test anxiety levels of comparable student groups in Iran, India and the U.S. were interpreted as reflecting East-West cultural factors that influenced reactions to objective examinations, resulting in greater test anxiety in Eastern cultures.     

Profile of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment: comparisons between 1987 and 1990

In this study, we report the findings of a 1990 survey of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and compare these results with a similar survey conducted in 1987. A four-page questionnaire was sent to approximately 1,800 SPA members; 900 surveys were returned, for a 50% response rate. Information was obtained on professional activities, occupational setting, theoretical orientation, and various demographic characteristics. Clinical practice was reported as the primary professional activity of the vast majority of SPA members; more than 40% of the 1990 sample indicated private practice as their primary job setting, compared to 35% in I987. A larger proportion of SPA members are also now working in private/clinical practice, medical centers, and outpatient community clinics than in 1987. Although a psychodynamic-psychoanalytic orientation continues to be the dominant theoretical perspective of SPA members, the proportion of members with a cognitive-behavioral orientation has increased substantially since 1987. We concluded that SPA members are now more involved in clinical practice, and that the SPA has become more ecumenical in theoretical perspective as the membership has more than doubled over the past 3 years.     

Depression in a Cancer Patient Population

The main goal of this study was to examine depression and its components in cancer patients as compared with healthy control subjects and psychiatric inpatients. The participants were 54 cancer patients (28 females with breast cancer, 26 males with prostate cancer), 59 healthy controls (33 females, 26 males), and 75 psychiatric patients (27 females, 48 males). Participants were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State Trait Personality Inventory (STPI) Depression scales. Cancer patients had higher overall depression scores than did healthy controls as measured by BDI, but the difference was due primarily to the significantly higher scores of the cancer patients on the BDI Somatic–Performance subscale. No differences were found on the BDI Cognitive–Affective subscale. Cancer patients also scored significantly higher than healthy controls on the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI) State Depression (S-Dep) scale because of higher Euthymia subscale scores. The psychiatric inpatients scored significantly higher than the other groups on all measures of depression. The findings of this study suggest that cancer patients may be erroneously labeled as depressed because of somatic–performance difficulties they may experience, which are similar to symptoms of depressed individuals. In addition, it is essential to delineate the various components of depression in evaluating cancer patients.