Prevalence of personality disorders among bulimics,nonbulimic binge eaters,and normal controls

We examined the comorbidity of bulimia and personality pathology among college women. Subjects included women (n=23) meeting DSM-III-R criteria for bulimia nervosa (bulimics), women (n=23) who reported binge eating but did not fulfill the criteria for bulimia nervosa (binge eaters), and women (n=23) who did not binge eat (normals). The subjects completed an assessment battery consisting of the Personality Disorders Examination and the SCID as well as the Beck Depression Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Index, and measures of impulsivity and self-defeating tendencies. Fourteen of 23 bulimics (61%) met criterion for a personality disorder using DSM-III-R Axis II criteria. In comparison, 3 of 23 (13%) binge eaters and 1 of 23 (4%) normal subjects received an Axis II diagnosis. Borderline and self-defeating diagnoses were the predominant personality disorders in 96% of the bulimics exhibiting clinically significant personality pathology. Bulimics also exhibited significantly more depression, impulsivity, and self-defeating behavior and lower self-esteem than binge eaters and normals. The findings are discussed within a conceptual framework that posits an interaction between personality pathology and restrained eating.     

Preemployment screening procedures: How human resource managers perceive them

A survey of Human Resource practitioners' perceptions of pre-employment screening procedures was conducted. The results indicated differences between tests in terms of perceived accuracy and offensiveness, as well as other attributes. Regression analyses suggested that beliefs about validity, the number of other companies using these procedures, perceived offensiveness of the test, and ease in passing the test were important factors in the willingness to use a particular test. Conversely, perceptions regarding the discriminatory impact of the test and the cost of using the test generally were not related to willingness to use the test. Limitations of this study, which was primarily exploratory, are noted.     

Extrasensory perception,near-death experiences,and the limits of scientific knowledge

If mental state can influence the external world, or if alternate dimensions of reality are accessible only in certain mental states, then important aspects of the universe are unknowable with current scientific tools. Near-death studies suggest that both those conditions may occur. Thus the exploration of NDE-like phenomena requires a radically new scientific paradigm.     

Poverty,state, and the family: A challenge for family therapy

Much family therapy writing has focused on work with discrete presenting problems in circumscribed clinical practice settings. This paper takes a broader focus of poor families which do not fit easily into the one-hour therapy schedule, in the context of the powerful forces of politics and economics. If the prevailing political attitudes and economic realities are ignored, direct practice with families may fail to meet them at their point of experience. Examples of political views, and therapeutic and research thinking which do not pay attention to these aspects, are used to highlight the author's point of view.     

Factor analysis of the revised UCLA loneliness scale

The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (R-UCLA) is described and used as a unidimensional measure of loneliness; conceptualizing and assessing loneliness as a unitary, global experience. The present study suggests that the R-UCLA is a multidimensional measure of loneliness that assesses more than one construct of the loneliness experience. Results of principal axis factor analysis suggest that the R-UCLA measures three dimensions of loneliness: loneliness related to (a) “intimate others,” (b) “social others,” and (c) the “affiliative environment.” These findings may affect the utilization of the R-UCLA in future assessment, research, and intervention. These implications are discussed. This article is based on the author’s master’s thesis, submitted for the Master of Counseling degree at Arizona State University.