A rating scale for assessing dysphoria in youth

A rating scale (RSD) for children and adolescents was developed consisting of 12 items from the Peer Nomination Inventory of Depression (Lefkowitz & Tesiny, 1980) converted to a Likert- type format for obtaining self- ratings or ratings by significant others of dysphoria. The measure was administered to 784 mothers whose children's modal age was 10 years. Longitudinal data were gathered for 124 of these mother- child pairs after an interval of 2 years and for 133 mother- child pairs after an interval of 4 years. At the second interval, 82 of the 133 children's fathers also contributed RSD data. Analyses of reliability and validity indicate that the RSD possesses adequate psychometric properties and may be used for purposes of research and screening, and, experimentally, for clinical assessment.A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Los Angeles, May, 1985. This research was supported in part by grant No. 326 from the New York State Health Research Council, by grant No. R01MH29788 from the National Institute of Mental Health, by a grant from the Ittleson Foundation to Monroe M. Lefkowitz, and by a Long Island University Research Faculty Award.     

Comparability of methods of observation for global ratings of heterosexual social skill and anxiety: A generalizability study

This research examined the degree to which skill and anxiety ratings vary as a function of audio, video, or live rating conditions. The question was addressed through a generalizability analysis which indicated that ratings of skill may generalize across audio, video, or live rating modes and across judges within a mode. However, results for anxiety show that while one can generalize across modes, there is a lack of comparability across judges within modes. This finding indicates the need for more judges in order to obtain acceptable levels of reliability for anxiety. Additional validity analyses suggest that the use of videotapes for ratings of skill maximizes the information obtained from role-play techniques for the assessment of heterosexual social performance.Appreciation is expressed to Jan Wallander, Betsy Firth, Dave Ward, Susan Keane, and Judy Dygdon, without whom this project could not have been completed.     

Life stress, the "kindling" hypothesis, and the recurrence of depression: considerations from a life stress perspective

Major depression is frequently characterized by recurrent episodes over the life course. First lifetime episodes of depression, however, are typically more strongly associated with major life stress than are successive recurrences. A key theoretical issue involves how the role of major life stress changes from an initial episode over subsequent recurrences. The primary conceptual framework for research on life stress and recurrence of depression is the "kindling" hypothesis (R. M. Post, 1992). Despite the strengths of the kindling hypothesis, a review of the research literature reveals inconsistencies and confusion about life stress and its implications for the recurrence of depression. Adopting a life stress perspective, the authors introduce 3 major themes that resolve the inconsistencies in the current literature. They integrate these themes and extrapolate the ideas with available data to develop a preliminary framework for evaluating competing explanatory models and to guide research on life stress and the recurrence of depression.     

Are genetically informed designs genetically informative? Comment on McGue, Elkins, Walden, and Iacono (2005) and quantitative behavioral genetics

M. McGue, I. Elkins, B. Walden, and W. G. Iacono presented the findings from a twin study examining the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the developmental trajectories of parent-adolescent relationships. From a behavioral genetics perspective, this study is well conceptualized, is well implemented, and raises some interesting developmental questions. Yet, the classic twin methodology and heritability estimates obfuscate the dynamic gene-ecology transactions that underlie these social developmental trajectories. There is a growing divide between the findings of quantitative behavioral genetics, with its foundational estimate of a statistical genetic influence, and developmental molecular genetics. This comment provides a brief overview of this divide and its implications for the findings of McGue et al. as well as quantitative behavioral genetics more broadly.     

Investigative versus realistic Holland types and adjustment in theoretical engineering majors

This study tested the sensitivity of J. L. Holland's (Making vocational choices: A theory of careers, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) congruence method for predicting differential outcomes in the case of subtle person-environment congruence differences. This question is relevant to engineering programs, where students with adjacent Holland orientations of Investigative (I) and Realistic (R) aspire to complete theoretically oriented engineering majors, such as electrical and mechanical engineering. It was hypothesized that high congruence (e.g., I-type student in I-type engineering major) compared to moderately high congruence (e.g., R-type in I-type major) would result in more positive educational outcomes. A preliminary analysis verified that subgroups of I- and R-type students possessed similar scores on measures of general and math aptitude. Results on both outcome measures favored the high student-curriculum congruence hypothesis. I- compared to R-type subjects demonstrated greater persistence in their initial engineering major over a 2-year period and attained higher grades. Persistence findings replicated across two separate classes of entering students, but academic performance differences were not as consistent.     

Type A behavior and processing of social conflict information

Research suggests that the Type A pattern as assessed by the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) involves a number of stress-engendering cognitive/social responses. To identify potential responses responsible for social stress, the study tested the relationship between JAS Type A behavior and several cognitive/social variables relevant to assertiveness situations. Male undergraduates completed two measures of cognitive complexity and rated the reasonableness of another's request. Also, subjects were evaluated for positive content (i.e., consideration of the other) in role-played assertion responses. Type A behavior correlated with lower differentiation when sorting aspects of an assertion situation, lower integrative complexity when thinking about conflict topics, and less inclusion of consideration content.     

Anthropology,Ontology, and the Possibility of Post-Mortem Repentance

Abstract: This essay considers the question of conversion unto repentance, as an act of cognition and volition, by the separated soul in the post-mortem state. It primarily explicates and interrogates Thomas Aquinas's various attempts to rule out this possibility for the damned. Since Thomas's arguments for such impossibility feature his commitment to the radical immateriality of the human soul—and, like it, the angelic spirit—the essay highlights the ontological and moral tensions within that account. The case is thus made for the ontological, logical, and moral inconsistencies of his position, in pursuit of a more holistic anthropology across the soul's various states and a more rationally and coherent eschatology—namely, an affirmation of the irreducible mutability of the created soul on its way towards likeness to God, perhaps, if not certainly, towards universal salvation.