Hostility on the TAT as a Function of Defensive Inhibition and Stimulus Situation

It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the aggressive imagery of inhibited and uninhibited subjects when TAT cards or instructions strongly suggested an aggressive response but not when the experimental conditions did not suggest hostile themes. This prediction was verified on a sample of women but no support was found in a sample of men. The findings were related to other studies in the literature and directions for further research suggested.     

Motivation for Parenthood

Summary: The relationships between the tendency of subjects to perceive temporal zones as interrelated or discrete and other temporal behaviors and personality factors were explored in two studies, one using 115 college students and the other 60 college students, employing the Personal Orientation Inventory the Temporal Orientation Inventory, and the Circles Test. Subjects who obtained higher time-relatedness scores were found to demonstrate greater self-actualization, evaluate the present time mode more positively, overestimate time intervals in an estimation task, and to perform less accurately in time estimation than low time relaters.     

Risk,Resilience, and the Rorschach: A Longitudinal Study of Children Who Experienced Sexual Abuse

Experiencing sexual abuse increases the risk that children will report or otherwise demonstrate problems with emotion, behavior, and health. This longitudinal study of 44 children who experienced sexual abuse examined whether information processing as assessed via the Rorschach Inkblot Test was associated with child-reported depression symptoms assessed via the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1992) concurrently and an average of 15 months later. Children whose Rorschach protocols were relatively free of scores suggesting intense distress, complex processing, and sexual content were more likely to experience remission of depression symptoms at follow-up. Findings provide incremental validity for certain Rorschach indexes to inform prognosis regarding depression symptoms and perhaps their treatment.     

Religion and Disparities: Considering the Influences of Islam on the Health of American Muslims

Both theory and data suggest that religions shape the way individuals interpret and seek help for their illnesses. Yet, health disparities research has rarely examined the influence of a shared religion on the health of individuals from distinct minority communities. In this paper, we focus on Islam and American Muslims to outline the ways in which a shared religion may impact the health of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse minority community. We use Kleinman’s “cultural construction of clinical reality” as a theoretical framework to interpret the extant literature on American Muslim health. We then propose a research agenda that would extend current disparities research to include measures of religiosity, particularly among populations that share a minority religious affiliation. The research we propose would provide a fuller understanding of the relationships between religion and health among Muslim Americans and other minority communities and would thereby undergird efforts to reduce unwarranted health disparities.     

March of the Living, a Holocaust Educational Tour: Effect on Adolescent Jewish Identity

March of the Living (MOTL) is a worldwide two-week trip for high school seniors to learn about the Holocaust by traveling to sites of concentration/death camps and Jewish historical sites in Poland and Israel. The mission statement of MOTL International states that participants will be able to “bolster their Jewish identity by acquainting them with the rich Jewish heritage in pre-war Eastern Europe.” However, this claim has never been studied quantitatively. Therefore, 152 adolescents who participated in MOTL voluntarily completed an initial background questionnaire, a Jewish Identity Survey and a Global Domains Survey pre-MOTL, end-Poland and end-Israel. Results suggest that Jewish identity did not substantially increase overall or from one time period to the next.     

Understanding the Lived Experience of Formerly Homeless Adults as They Transition to Supportive Housing

The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with formerly homeless adults who had moved to supportive housing to understand their perceived occupational needs and the factors that affected their transition. A qualitative research design with four participants who had a history of substance abuse and mental illness was used. Participant interviews that addressed categories of daily living and personal satisfaction produced data that were coded for analysis using conventional content analysis. Mega themes emerged that related to factors shaping the housing transition and maintenance experience. Occupational therapists can use these findings to create informed interventions to enhance this population's occupational performance.     

Rushton: The great theoretician and his contribution to personality

J. Philippe Rushton has been described as one of the greatest theorists in the field of personality and individual differences and social psychology. His life history theory (Differential K Theory) was said to bring unification to the scientific study of racial differences as Einstein’s theory of relativity unified the field of physics. It was maintained that Rushton’s General Factor of Personality (GFP) meshes with both general intelligence and his Differential K Theory. The present author presented a two-pillar theory of adaptive functioning that has a heavy concentration on Rushton conceptualization.     

Executive functioning moderates the relationship between motivation and adolescent depressive symptoms

We investigated the association between adolescent depressive symptoms and components of executive functioning (EF), including planning (Tower of London), set-shifting (Wisconsin Card Sorting Task), and inhibition (Stop Signal Task) in a community sample of 12–14 year olds. Further, EF was tested as a moderator of motivation (as operationalized by revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory) effects on depressive symptoms. Results suggested that planning ability was associated with depressive symptoms. Furthermore, planning ability moderated the relationship between motivation (fight-flight–freeze system; FFFS) and depressive symptoms, such that among adolescents with poor planning ability the FFFS positively predicted depressive symptoms, but among adolescents with strong planning ability the FFFS negatively predicted depressive symptoms. Neither set-shifting nor inhibition were associated with depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the need to consider multiple components of EF and to integrate motivational and executive dysfunction models to the study of depression.