Author Index

Authors Index

Author Index     

Searching for a normal life: personal accounts of adults with schizophrenia, their parents and well-siblings

Using a life course perspective, the research examines personal accounts of adults with schizophrenia, and their parents and well-siblings from six families. Accounts of multiple members of the same family, including the family member with schizophrenia, are used to describe how families understand and accommodate life changes that result from the illness. Families describe the loss of a normal life as one of the most devastating aspects of schizophrenia. We present the personal and social losses described by adults with schizophrenia and their well family members, and document families' search for ways that their ill family member can achieve or maintain valued social roles. The concerns of well family members for the future of the ill family member and ways families contemplate transfer of care issues are described. Implications of the study for community research and action are discussed.     

Beyond a stereotyped view of older adults' traditional family values

Structural equation models for predictors of traditional family values regarding relationships were examined in 2 samples: undergraduate students and adults ranging widely in age (23-86 years). Predictor variables included verbal ability, need for cognition, need for closure, intolerance for ambiguity, religiosity, and gender orientation. The models accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in traditional family values (64% for students, 63% for adults). Findings provide little support for common stereotypes regarding age and gender differences in traditionalism. Instead, 3 individual-differences variables predicted traditional family values: need for closure, religiosity, and verbal ability. Outcomes argue for the need to identify multiple mechanisms by which personal characteristics such as need for closure and religiosity influence traditionalism in social belief systems and argue against reliance on status variables such as age and gender as explanatory variables for these beliefs.     

Gender differences in susceptibility to posttraumatic stress disorder

We examined data from a community survey of trauma exposure and DSM-IV PTSD in Winnipeg, Canada to explore factors associated with the higher rate of PTSD in women than men. Women were found to be at significantly increased risk for PTSD following exposure to serious trauma (odds ratio approximately 5), even when sexual trauma--which predominates in women--was excluded (odds ratio approximately 3). Adjusting for gender differences in the number of lifetime traumata, or in the likelihood of the trauma being associated with particular reactions to or consequences of the event (i.e. thinking that one would be killed or seriously injured; sustaining a serious physical injury; seeing someone else seriously injured or killed) did not result in a lessening of the PTSD risk in women. Women were found to be at increased risk for PTSD following nonsexual assaultive violence (e.g. mugging or other physical attack) but not following non-assaultive trauma (e.g. fire, witnessing injury to others). Understanding the basis of (and parameters for) this increased susceptibility to PTSD in women compared to men following trauma exposure should be a priority for future traumatic stress research.     

Understanding inference as a source of knowledge: children's ability to evaluate the certainty of deduction, perception, and guessing

Three experiments investigated children's understanding of inference as a source of knowledge. Children observed a puppet make a statement about the color of one of two hidden toys after the puppet (a) looked directly at the toy (looking), (b) looked at the other toy (inference), or (c) looked at neither toy (guessing). Most 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds did not rate the puppet as being more certain of the toy's color after the puppet looked directly at it or inferred its color than they did after the puppet guessed its color. Most 8 and 9-year-olds distinguished inference and looking from guessing. The tendency to explain the puppet's knowledge by referring to inference increased with age. Children who referred to inference in their explanations were more likely to judge deductive inference as more certain than guessing.