The relationship between psychopathy and the Full Range Leadership Model

While emerging research suggests psychopathic traits and leadership behaviors may be linked, this proposition requires further empirical investigation. This study aims to examine the relationship between psychopathic traits and the Full Range Leadership Model which includes transformational, transactional, and passive leadership styles. Using a cross-sectional design, survey data was collected from 115 students who reported having management experience. Measures included the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Revised. A four-factor structure of psychopathy positively correlated with passive leadership behavior, namely passive-management-by-exception and laissez-faire, but negatively correlated with individual consideration. This study addresses a research need, and is one of the first to empirically examine the relationship between psychopathic traits and the Full Range Leadership Model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Predicting Improvement in Depression Across Therapies Using Indicators of Romantic Relationship Functioning: A Preliminary Investigation

The purpose of this preliminary study is to expand research on the effects of relational processes on depression treatment outcomes. We tested whether initiator tendency, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and marital satisfaction predicted improvement in depression for women with Major Depressive Disorder enrolled in a depression treatment clinical trial (n = 17). We found that higher baseline levels of partner initiator tendency resulted in less change in depression (worse outcomes), regardless of treatment type; higher baseline levels of attachment avoidance predicted better depression outcomes in treatment. Initiator tendency is discussed as a critical romantic relationship factor for depression treatment outcomes.     

The economics of paradox: a response to armour-garb

‘Those ice cubes melted because by melting total entropy increased and entropy increase has a very high objective chance.’ What role does the chance in this explanation play? I argue that it contributes to the explanation by entailing that the melting was almost necessary, and defend the claim that the fact that some event was almost necessary can, in the right circumstances, constitute a causal explanation of that event.     

Evaluation of dominance‐based ordinal multiple regression for variables with few categories

Dominance‐based ordinal multiple regression (DOR) is designed to answer ordinal questions about relationships among ordinal variables. Only one parameter per predictor is estimated, and the number of parameters is constant for any number of outcome levels. The majority of existing simulation evaluations of DOR use predictors that are continuous or ordinal with many categories, so the performance of the method is not well understood for ordinal variables with few categories. This research evaluates DOR in simulations using three‐category ordinal variables for the outcome and predictors, with a comparison to the cumulative logits proportional odds model (POC). Although ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is inapplicable for theoretical reasons, it was also included in the simulations because of its popularity in the social sciences. Most simulation outcomes indicated that DOR performs well for variables with few categories, and is preferable to the POC for smaller samples and when the proportional odds assumption is violated. Nevertheless, confidence interval coverage for DOR was not flawless and possibilities for improvement are suggested.     

PTSD, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in African American Women: A Mediated Model

Although research has shown positive associations among post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation, the nature of these relations is unclear, especially in African American women. This study examined the associations among these comorbid psychological difficulties in a sample of 136 low-income, African American women. Specifically, the goal of this investigation was to ascertain if overall depressive symptoms, as well as both the cognitive-affective and somatic components of depression, mediated the PTSD-suicidal ideation link. Results from bootstrapping analyses revealed that overall depressive symptoms and the cognitive-affective components of depression, but not the somatic components, mediated the PTSD-suicidal ideation link.     

The internal world of the juvenile sex offender

This paper explores the consequences of the therapist's two successive pregnancies on a female patient. The second pregnancy was felt to be particularly difficult and disturbing. One of the central reasons was that after the patient's birth, the mother had a disabled child, followed by a stillbirth and soon after that the father left to marry another woman. Using Freud's concept of deferred action I will argue that my second pregnancy revised these earlier traumatic experiences.

The patient seemed to have incorporated and identified with a damaged maternal object that at the time of the original trauma was left husbandless, depressed and suffering from panic attacks. Although the therapist's healthy pregnancies seemed to reassure temporarily, it was difficult for the patient to hold onto a view of a helpful and productive therapist, one separate from this damaged internal mother. This was particularly so during and after the second pregnancy, where there was a marked absence of an idea of a third object, a father or a husband, who could help the patient deal with this pregnancy, her only escape was to retreat and act out.

The acting out was in part identification with a fleeing father and in part a defence against the absence of such a third object, so that it was used as a way of avoiding claustrophobic feelings of being trapped with the damaged mother. Her feelings of triumph then produced much guilt, and impeded reparation.

Another important issue that two successive pregnancies bring, are feelings of guilt in the therapist for exposing the patient to two major disruptions. In this patient's case it exacerbated the internal reality of a damaged maternal figure.     

Creating tic suppression: comparing the effects of verbal instruction to differential reinforcement

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods designed to produce tic reduction in 4 children with Tourette's syndrome. Specifically, a verbal instruction not to engage in tics was compared to a verbal instruction plus differential reinforcement of zero-rate behavior (DRO). Results showed that the DRO-enhanced procedure yielded greater reductions in tic frequency.     

The factor structure and screening utility of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale

The widely used Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; R. P. Mattick & J. C. Clarke, 1998) possesses favorable psychometric properties, but questions remain concerning its factor structure and item properties. Analyses included 445 people with social anxiety disorder and 1,689 undergraduates. Simple unifactorial models fit poorly, and models that accounted for differences due to item wording (i.e., reverse scoring) provided superior fit. It was further found that clients and undergraduates approached some items differently, and the SIAS may be somewhat overly conservative in selecting analogue participants from an undergraduate sample. Overall, this study provides support for the excellent properties of the SIAS's straightforwardly worded items, although questions remain regarding its reverse-scored items.