A meta-analytic investigation of the structure of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

Converging lines of evidence have called into question the validity of conceptualizations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and suggested alternative structural models of PTSD symptomatology. We conducted a meta-analysis of 40 PTSD studies (N = 14,827 participants across studies) that used a DSM-based measure to assess PTSD severity. We aggregated correlation matrices across studies and then applied confirmatory factor analysis to the aggregated matrices to test the fit of competing models of PTSD symptomatology that have gained support in the literature. Results indicated that both prominent 4-factor models of PTSD symptomatology yielded good model fit across subsamples of studies; however, the model comprising Intrusions, Avoidance, Hyperarousal, and Dysphoria factors appeared to fit better across studies. Results also indicated that the best fitting models were not moderated by measure or sample type. Results are discussed in the context of structural models of PTSD and implications for the diagnostic nosology.     

When animals attack: The effects of mortality salience, infrahumanization of violence, and authoritarianism on support for war

Terror management theory (TMT) suggests that people are motivated to elevate themselves above other animals as a way of denying their creatureliness and mortality. Based on this reasoning, the present study assessed whether infrahumanizing violence by emphasizing its similarities to animal aggression would lead to reduced support for war, especially when mortality is salient. This hypothesis was supported among participants high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), who are especially prone to infrahumanize outgroup members and are generally more supportive of military action against outgroups. RWA was associated with greater support for war against Iran, except when primed with thoughts of death and violence as an infrahuman behavior. These data suggest that by portraying violence as something instinctual and creaturely, it may be possible to reduce inter-group hostility and aggression among individuals who tend to be more dispositionally aggressive, particularly in the context of the death awareness that often exacerbates inter-group conflict.     

Correction to: THE JUNG-FERENCZI DOSSIER

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Terror Management and Meaning: Evidence That the Opportunity to Defend the Worldview in Response to Mortality Salience Increases the Meaningfulness of Life in the Mildly Depressed

Previous terror management research has demonstrated that mildly depressed participants show a greater increase in worldview defense in response to reminders of their mortality than do nondepressed participants. Because the cultural worldview is posited to provide a meaningful conception of life, we hypothesized that mildly depressed participants who defend their worldview in response to mortality salience (MS) would increase their perception that the world is meaningful. A preliminary study first examined the Kunzendorf No Meaning Scale as a measure to assess perceptions of meaning. In the primary study, mildly depressed and nondepressed participants contemplated their own mortality or a neutral topic, evaluated two targets in a manner that either allowed them to defend their worldview or that did not, and then completed the Kunzendorf No Meaning Scale. As predicted, mildly depressed participants who had the opportunity to defend their worldview in response to mortality salience reported greater meaning in life than did mildly depressed participants who did not have the opportunity to defend their worldview, or mildly depressed participants not exposed to mortality salience. Implications for understanding and treating depression are briefly discussed.     

The development of curriculum-based measurement norms in literature-based classrooms

Few published reports exist on the appropriateness of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) procedures for literature-based reading programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe a preliminary study of the development and psychometric integrity of CBM norms for literature-based reading using children's literature books. During the 1993–1994 and 1994–1995 school years, the reading achievement of 403 first, second, and third grade students in two rural elementary schools was assessed with CBM methods modified for a literature-based curriculum. Based on the results of this study, standard CBM procedures can be modified to develop local norms for the literature-based classroom. Furthermore, these literature-based CBM norms were found to have adequate test/retest reliability and criterion-related validity. No sampling bias in the selection of individual reading passage probes was found. The extent to which these norms can be used to monitor reading progress must be determined. Further study is necessary before CBM procedures with literature-based reading programs can be used to inform policy and practice.     

DESIGNING CONFUCIAN CONSCIENCE INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS

Several scholars have argued that Internet use might be fundamentally incompatible with Confucian ethics, because the values that are embedded in the Internet might be in conflict with Confucian values. In addition, the design of various social network services (SNS) considers very little of non‐Western values in its engineering. Against this background, this article explores the philosophical question of whether Internet use, particularly social network services, is compatible with the fundamental values and norms of Confucian ethics. In addition, the article discusses the Confucian notion of tian xia (under heaven), and argues that tian xia, as a basic structuring principle of Confucian philosophy, helps to innovate a different social media.