Factor Structure of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in Adult Outpatients Receiving Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer in Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 41–54, 2004) is a widely used measure of emotion regulation, however, few studies have examined the scale’s psychometric properties in clinical samples. The current study examined the latent factor structure of the scale, in addition to other psychometric properties, in a naturalistic sample of adult outpatients (n = 344) receiving dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). A number of models were fitted, including a bifactor model, which has not previously been examined with the DERS, but which may be more appropriate for addressing the study’s two primary aims. These aims were to: (1) investigate some of the prior concerns raised about the Awareness subscale items; and (2) evaluate the appropriateness of using DERS total vs. subscale scores. Results indicated that a modified bifactor model which excluded the Awareness items from the general factor fit the data best. Additional findings suggested that the DERS total score (excluding Awareness items) was reliable and had good criterion-related validity in this sample. However, the findings related to the DERS subscales were mixed. This study extends prior research on the DERS by demonstrating the utility of the scale with individuals receiving DBT for problems with emotion regulation, as well as by clarifying some of the prior questions about the scale’s latent structure.     

Father Knows Best: Parishes, Priests, and American Catholic Parishioners' Attitudes Toward Capital Punishment

Public opinion has important implications for capital punishment in the United States. Such opinion formation involves moral judgments irreducible to processing information on the administration of capital punishment or sentencing alternatives. Religious communities play a crucial role in resolving such moral dilemmas and giving meaning to available information. The Catholic Church strongly opposes capital punishment and strives to instruct lay Catholics on this issue. Accordingly, church attendance is associated with less support of the death penalty among Catholics but not among non-Catholics in the general population. Politically and socially conservative Catholic parishioners are more supportive of such punishment, while more religious parishioners report less such support. Parish priests significantly influence death penalty attitudes, in particular among more spiritual parishioners. Black Catholics are more supportive of the death penalty than their non-Catholic counterparts, in part because of a convergence in death penalty attitudes between blacks and whites in predominantly black parishes.     

Global VOR gain adaptation during near fixation to foveal targets

Long-term rotational vestibulo-ocular (VOR) adaptation occurs during systematic dysmetria between visual and vestibular afferents, adjusting eye-rotation angular velocity to re-establish retinal stability of the visual field. Due to translational motion of the eyes during head rotation, VOR gain is higher when fixating near objects. The current study measures VOR in humans before and after 6 min of exposure to a foveal near-target during sinusoidal whole-body rotation at 0.45 Hz. All of six participants showed post-exposure increases in open-loop VOR gain after fixating near targets, demonstrating a mean modulation increase of open-loop VOR gain from 0.86 before adaptation to 1.2 after adaptation. We discuss a number of theoretical and applied implications.     

The role of attentional biases in PTSD: is it interference or facilitation?

Although attentional biases have been demonstrated in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the cognitive methodologies used have not allowed for disambiguation of two types of attentional biases. It remains unclear if PTSD involves difficulty disengaging attention from threatening stimuli (interference) or facilitated detection. To differentiate between attentional interference and facilitation, 57 male Vietnam-era veterans (30 High PTSD and 27 Low PTSD) completed a visual search task with a lexical decision component. High PTSD veterans who engaged in the interference task first showed increased interference to threat-relevant words relative to Low PTSD veterans. However, no evidence was found for facilitated detection of threatening stimuli in PTSD.     

Accuracy and adaptation of reaching and pointing in pitched visual environments

Visually perceived eye level (VPEL) and the ability of subjects to reach with an unseen limb to targets placed at VPEL were measured in a statically pitched visual surround (pitchroom). VPEL was shifted upward and downward by upward and downward room pitch, respectively. Accuracy in reaching to VPEL represented a compromise between VPEL and actual eye level. This indicates that VPEL shifts reflect in part a change in perceived location of objects. When subjects were provided with terminal visual feedback about their reaching, accuracy improved rapidly. Subsequent reaching, with the room vertical, revealed a negative aftereffect (i.e., reaching errors that were opposite those made initially in the pitched room). In a second study, pointing accuracy was assessed for targets located both at VPEL and at other positions. Errors were similar for targets whether located at VPEL or elsewhere. Additionally, pointing responses were restricted to a narrower range than that of the actual target locations. The small size of reaching and pointing errors in both studies suggests that factors other than a change in perceived location are also involved in VPEL shifts.     

Trust and Missed Opportunities in International Relations

With the end of the Cold War, we must wonder whether there were missed opportunities to regulate the arms race and global competition, which nearly bankrupted the United States and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. A missed opportunity for agreement is a situation where there was at least one alternative that the parties to a conflict preferred or would have preferred to nonagreement. Hard-core Realists argue that states compete for territory, arms, and influence because they have conflicting national interests. Soft-core Realists maintain that such conflicts are effects of international anarchy and uncertainty, and that states can cooperate contingent on reciprocity. I argue that states often fail to cooperate even when they have compatible preferences because policy-makers make incorrect inferences about the opponent's motives and intentions, a process that can be illuminated by social psychology. I present three alternative explanations of trust and distrust in international relations—rational choice, domestic structures, and social psychology. If policy-makers are prudent, they will assess the other's interests in observing an agreement as well as its reputation. Often, domestic political structures encourage leaders to promote distrust of an external enemy to legitimize their internal rule or foreign policy. Finally, distrust may lead policy-makers to dismiss the other side's cooperative signals or proposals. Distrust can be overcome by making a series of step-by-step agreements in which each side can test the other's good faith at limited cost, or through unilateral concessions as part of a consistent policy.