An experimental evaluation of a prototype public access nutrition information system for supermarkets

Located the Nutrition for a Lifetime System (NLS-1), a prototype interactive information system, in a large supermarket to help users decrease high-fat food purchases and increase high-fiber food purchases. Study participants were randomly assigned to control (n = 23; used the NLS-1 to enter food purchases only) or experimental (n = 26; viewed videodisc instructional programs, received prompts, made commitments, received feedback from the NLS-1) conditions. According to data entered in the NLS-1 and actual food shopping receipts, experimental participants significantly reduced higher fat purchases. Increases in higher fiber purchases favored the experimental group but were not significant.     

Assessment of depression in patients with Alzheimer's disease: concordance among informants.

This study is an investigation of the concordance among different sources of information on ratings of depression in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Informants were 75 outpatients with diagnosed AD (22 with major depressive disorder), their caregivers, and geriatric clinicians. Clinicians rated each patient on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression on the basis of (a) the patient's report, (b) the caregiver's report, and (c) the clinician's evaluation. Overall, patients perceived themselves as less depressed than did caregivers or clinicians; for nondepressed patients, caregivers reported patients less depressed than clinicians reported; for depressed patients, no significant differences were obtained between caregiver or clinician. Certain items were more discrepant among informants and significantly differentiated depressed from nondepressed AD patients. Level of patient dementia did not affect ratings. These findings support the need for comprehensive, accurate assessment of depression in AD patients.     

The relation of formal education to ethnic prejudice: Its reliability,validity and explanation

This paper examines three issues concerning the frequently documented negative correlation between formal education and ethnic prejudice, namely its reliability, its validity and the manner in which it is mediated. Reliability is demonstrated across three indices of ethnic attitudes in seven representative samples drawn from four European countries (West Germany, Netherlands, France, Great Britain; total N=3788). The hypothesis that this correlation reflects only the tendency of more highly educated respondents to give more socially desirable answers and not true attitude differences was inconsistent with the finding from the survey data that educational level also correlated negatively with responses to an index of subtle prejudice. Results from an experiment employing the bogus pipeline procedure similarly refute this hypothesis, indicating that significant education-related differences in expressed prejudice remain under conditions in which the tendency to give socially desirable responses is reduced. Finally, path analysis based on the survey data show that part but not all of the association between low education and ethnic prejudice is mediated by social psychological variables, particularly group relative deprivation, perceived belief incongruency, political conservatism, and acceptance of inter-ethnic contact.     

Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies—A Framework for Studying Personality Change

The importance of personality for predicting life outcomes in the domains of love, work, and health is well established, as is evidence that personality traits, while relatively stable, can change. However, little is known about the sources and processes that drive changes in personality traits and how such changes might impact important life outcomes. In this paper, we make the case that the research paradigms and methodological approaches commonly used in personality psychology need to be revised to advance our understanding of the sources and processes of personality change. We propose Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies as a framework for studying personality change that can address the limitations of current methods, and we discuss strategies for overcoming some of the challenges associated with Longitudinal Experience-Wide Association Studies. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Findings on the relationship between Internet addiction and psychological symptoms in Brazilian adults

This study evaluated the prevalence of Internet addiction (IA) and its association with negative psychological symptoms in Brazilian adults. A network analysis was conducted to estimate specific variables and their expected influence on IA. In this cross-sectional study, 15,476 adults (M_age = 37.5, SD = 9.59) completed an open web-based survey. Three questionnaires were used: the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Based on IAT scores, participants were classified as No-Risk user (NRU), Low-Risk user (LRU) or High-Risk user (HRU). We observed that 4.8% of the participants were classified in the HRU group. In addition, their risk for severe symptoms of depression was 10 times higher and, for anxiety, seven times higher than that in the NRU group (p < .001). Time spent using smartphones was also significantly higher in the HRU group (M_hours = 5.1, p < .001). The main factors associated with IA were depression, gender and anxiety, but the variable “having children” was the most influential in the IA network. These findings suggest that psychiatric symptoms are the main factors associated with IA among the adult population.     

The role of self-criticism, dependency, and hassles in the course of depressive illness: a multiwave longitudinal study

The current study utilized a multiwave longitudinal design to examine whether dependency and/or self-criticism influence the course of depressive symptoms in a community sample of adults with a history of major depression. In addition, the authors examined whether self-esteem serves as a buffer against the development of depressive symptoms following increases in hassles in individuals possessing such traits. At Time 1, 102 participants completed measures assessing depressive symptoms, self-criticism, dependency, and self-esteem. Every 6 weeks for the next year, participants completed measures assessing depressive symptoms and hassles. High self-criticism was associated with greater elevations in depressive symptoms following elevations in hassles in low but not high-self-esteem individuals. Results with respect to dependency, however, were contrary to hypotheses. High dependency was associated with elevations in depressive symptoms following elevations in hassles in high-self-esteem individuals. In contrast, high dependency was associated with chronically elevated depressive symptoms in low-self-esteem individuals.     

Suicidal behavior among urban,African American young adults

The objectives of the present study were four-fold. First, to determine the lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence and demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in a defined population of urban, African American young adults. Second, to determine the degree of mental health service utilization among attempters. Third, to study the comorbidity between mental disorders and suicidal behavior, along with the variation in the numbers and types of psychiatric disorders associated with attempts versus ideation only. Fourth, to examine gender differences in the psychiatric diagnoses associated with attempts and ideation. Data relevant to each of these objectives were gathered through structured interviews of 1,157 economically disadvantaged, African American young adults. Lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence rates for attempts were 5.3%, 1.2%, and 0.4%, respectively, whereas the lifetime and 6-month prevalence of ideation were 14% and 1.9%, respectively. Approximately two thirds of those who reported lifetime ideation, and a similar proportion of those who reported lifetime attempts, had a history of at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder. There were no gender differences in terms of the degree of risk for suicidal behavior (ideation or attempts) associated with any of the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses assessed. Despite the severity of most attempts, few attempters received mental health services in their lifetime or at the time of their most recent attempt.     

Die Therapeutenrotation

For seven years, the so-called “rotation of therapists”, has been a central part of OLITA, the outpatient longterm intensive therapy for alcoholics. Thus far, the participation of several equally responsible therapists in the treatment of a patient has rarely been seen as a defined therapeutic approach. The present work discusses whether the “rotation of therapists” has any essential influence on the success of OLITA. It considers both, potential advantages and disadvantages for patients and therapists and tries to identify conditions under which this approach appears to promote therapeutic interactions. Following an overview of the present knowledge regarding the therapeutic interaction in addiction therapy, a method is described which may be seen as the precedent of the “rotation of therapists”, the multiple psychotherapy. Finally, the practical procedure in OLITA is outlined as well as its theoretical background. New areas of application for the “rotation of therapists” are discussed.     

Outcome comparison of patients receiving oral or depot neuroleptic medication.

Three outcome measures of psychiatric treatment were retrospectively compared between two groups of acutely hospitalized psychotic patients who had been prescribed either oral haloperidol (n = 58) or depot haloperidol (n = 95) as the only medication at the time of discharge. There were no significant differences between the groups on demographic variables, including sex, age, and ethnicity. There were no significant differences between the groups on keeping the initial outpatient appointment, in readmission history over a 4-yr. follow-up, or in length of time to subsequent readmission, if any. It appears that there is no benefit in choosing one form of medication over the other from a clinical perspective, as neither appears more clinically efficacious when examined on these outcome variables. However, there is a significant difference in cost of the two forms of the medication in favor of the oral form, making the oral form more favorable if cost is to be minimized.     

A semiautomatic method for adding behavioral data to videotape records in combination with the Noldus Observer system

The Observer 3.0 (Noldus, 1991) was used as the base for a time-saving fine analysis of animal behavior. A PC controlled a shuttlebox and a shuttlebox control unit. Learning behavior was recorded on videotapes by an S-VHS camcorder with vertical interval time code (VITC), which was used to generate an observational data file (ODF). The observational system was enhanced by automatically recorded status signals from the PC as event markers on the soundtrack of the videotape. These signals were used to subdivide a training session into numbered trials during generation of the ODF. They were later used for a PC-aided fine analysis of behavioral events, such as attention responses (AR) and orienting responses (OR) during shuttlebox learning. In this way, a large number of both automatically inserted PC event markers and manually inserted, key-defined behavioral events were registered and analyzed effectively in a semiautomatic fashion. The system is illustrated with an analysis of shuttlebox avoidance data from gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).