Self-perception profile in children with cancer: self vs parent report.

Self-perception about competence, behaviour, and self-worth were examined in 30 children (8 to 14 years) recently diagnosed as having cancer and were compared with that of their parents' perception. The poor agreement between parents' and children's ratings on physical appearance and social acceptance is noteworthy in that these two domains are particularly vulnerable in children with cancer, given the effect of chemotherapy on physical appearance and children's tendency to view themselves as socially undesirable or a burden to others. This finding, if replicated, can have implications for therapeutic intervention since the discrepancy score could be used to challenge children's negative views in the context of cognitive therapy to improve their self-esteem.     

Association of heart rate and heart-rate variability with scores on the emotion profile index in patients with acute coronary heart disease.

We investigated the link between the eight basic emotions named by Plutchik and heart rate, heart-rate variability in the 114 patients, 86 men and 28 women (M = 53.8 yr., SD = 8.0) with acute coronary heart disease during the initial 24-hr. stay in the coronary care unit and again at hospital discharge. Variability in heart rate was significantly positively associated with scores on Trust (the emotional state acceptance) at hospital admission and discharge in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction, on Aggression in the patients with unstable angina at hospital discharge and at hospital admission in the patients with non-Q-wave infarction. There was inverse relation on Timid (the emotional state fear) and Gregarious (joy) at hospital admission and on Distrust (disgust or rejection), Depressed (sadness), and Dyscontrol (impulsiveness) at hospital discharge in the patient with non-Q-wave infarction. There was no significant association between heart-rate variability and the scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with anterior and posterior myocardial infarction. There was no statistically significant association between heart rate and scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with acute coronary disease at hospital admission and discharge. Our results suggest psychological interventions that enhance emotional states represented by the Trust and Aggression scales and minimize those represented by Depressed, Dyscontrol, Timid, and Distrust scales could have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular function in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction in a hospital setting.     

K-ABC simultaneous processing, DAS nonverbal reasoning, and Horn's expanded fluid-crystallized theory.

Horn's distinction between--fluid intelligence (Gf) and visualization (Gv) was investigated with two Nonverbal Reasoning subtests from the Differential Ability Scales and three Simultaneous Processing subtests from the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. The sample comprised a predominantly Euro-American groups of 57 normal boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Principal factor analysis yielded clear-cut Gf and Gv dimensions. The Gf factor was composed both of Differential Ability Scales and Kaufman-ABC subtests, suggesting that the construct of simultaneous processing is not merely a measure of Gv, as researchers have hypothesized, but also measures Horn's Gf fluid intelligence to a considerable extent.     

Minor psychiatric morbidity in South African secondary school pupils

This study investigated minor psychiatric morbidity ("neurotic": anxiety and depression symptoms) in rural (Black) South African secondary school pupils. The sample included 622 Grade 11 pupils (254 boys and 368 girls) in the age range of 17 to 24 years with a mean age of 19.3 yr. The inventories used were a questionnaire on the socioeconomic and family background, a Cultural Orientation Scale, a Student Stress Scale, a General Self-efficacy Scale, a Perceived Stress Scale, and the Self-reporting Questionnaire-20. The findings are that 12.6% of the pupils had a possible clinically significant psychological disorder. Contributing factors identified were interpersonal, study, finance, illness, perceived stress, low self-efficacy, and low religious orientation.     

A sublexical locus for repetition blindness: evidence from illusory words.

Six experiments used an illusory words paradigm to demonstrate that repetition blindness (RB) in orthographically similar words affects only the words' shared letters. Rapid serial visual presentation streams of words and word fragments allowed the unique letters of the 2nd critical word to combine with a subsequent fragment to create a word, as in rock shock ell. The illusory word shell was reported 2-3 times as frequently in RB conditions as in control conditions. Further experiments ruled out letter migration, contour summation, and differences in processing load as explanations for the results. These findings are inconsistent with current proposals that orthographic RB represents similarity inhibition or lexical competition or that it reflects problems with word-level token individuation.     

The mass/count distinction: evidence from on-line psycholinguistic performance.

Under the hypothesis that the mass/count distinction in English is marked by a monovalent lexical feature, this article investigates whether features, lexical or morphosyntactic, play a role in simple lexical decision. Research findings have yet to settle how many features are accessed during lexical decision and to what extent morphosyntactic features are computed out of context. We used two on-line lexical decision experiments (simple and morphosyntactic priming). Results show that the lexical feature "mass" is computed in both experiments. However, the morphosyntactic feature "plural" is subject to task-specific effects and surfaces only where operative.     

The role of vocabulary ability during visual word recognition in younger and older adults

The role that vocabulary ability plays in adult age differences in word recognition was investigated. In Experiment 1, 44 older adults (ages 61-93 years) were compared with 44 younger adults (ages 18-39 years) on a standard lexical-decision task, with ambiguous words, unambiguous words, and pseudowords serving as stimuli. In Experiment 1, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; D. Wechsler, 1981) vocabulary performance was uncontrolled across the younger and older adults, and the older adults had higher WAIS-R scores. There was no Group x Stimulus interaction. In Experiment 2, the data from the same 44 older adults were compared with data from a new sample of 44 younger adults (ages 18-44). Both groups were then matched on WAIS-R performance. Results revealed a significant Group x Stimulus interaction. Reaction time differences between the younger and older groups on the ambiguous words and unambiguous words were identical. The differences in reaction times for words and pseudowords were greater in the older adults. The importance of vocabulary ability during word recognition and lexical processing is discussed.     

A Test of Interpersonal Theory of Depression in Youth Psychiatric Inpatients

Coyne's (1976b) interpersonal theory of depression postulated that the combination of depressive symptoms and excessive reassurance-seeking leads to interpersonal problems (e.g., loneliness, devaluation). The present study is one of the first to test this model among youth, particularly a clinical sample of youth. Sixty-eight youth psychiatric inpatients (35 girls; 33 boys; mean age = 13.34 years, SD = 2.50) completed self-report measures of excessive reassurance-seeking, depressive symptoms, and interpersonal rejection. Results conformed to the hypothesis: The statistical interaction of excessive reassurance-seeking and depressive symptoms predicted interpersonal rejection, such that high-reassurance-seeking youth with depressive symptoms reported the most interpersonal rejection. Implications of the findings for interpersonal theory of depression in youngsters are discussed.     

A Systems/Dialectical Model of Supervision: A Symbolic Process

Although there has been a proliferation of models of supervision in the marriage and family therapy literature recently, most tend to focus on methods rather than on the process of supervision. The model presented here is grounded in developmental concepts and focuses on student learning through a dialectical process of cognitive and emotional growth and incorporates three stages: 1) developing relationships; 2) breaking impasses, and 3) orchestrating changes. Students discover that supervision becomes isomorphic with relationship issues that arise in their therapy sessions. Dialectical in nature in that each stage is characterized by the resolution of contradictory emotions, the supervision process helps supervisees experience emotional shifts in their interactions with others, referred to as emotional restructuring.     

Recapturing the Person in the Therapist: An Exploration Of Personal Values, Commitments, and Beliefs

The authors encourage an approach to personal exploration that attempts to recapture the person in the therapist. Person in the therapist training is aimed at helping therapists discover or re-capture their own values, beliefs, and personal ethics. A personal approach to theory development and the practice of therapy is offered and discussed. Activities to recapture the person in the therapist focus on developing a personal theoretical orientation, exploring the values of family therapy theories, and exploring the values of the stance of the therapist in the therapy session. The authors offer their own personal beliefs throughout the article and encourage further development of these issues.Co-director of The Re-Authoring Center and a PhD student in Marriage and Family Therapy at Iowa State UniversityCo-director of The Re-Authoring Center and a PhD student in Marriage and Family Therapy at Iowa State University