The Crisis Support Scale: psychometric qualities and further validation

The objective of the present study was to provide a further validation of the Crisis Support Scale, which is a short scale for measuring social support after a crisis has occurred. The data from eleven trauma studies of 4213 subjects were used to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale and the differences that emerge due to age, gender, and type of trauma. The scale appears to be very robust. Some aspects of crisis support seem to decrease as time goes by while others increase. Women survivors report less support than men both right after the trauma and later on. The younger survivors tend to report the least support in the acute phase although this picture is reversed later on. The various types of trauma have different item profiles, which supports the concurrent validity of the scale.     

Fields and Theology: A Response to Wolfhart Pannenberg

In responding to Pannenberg's paper, "God as Spirit—and Natural Science," Polkinghorne challenges the paper's interpretation of the scientific concept of field. He insists on its physical, material nature, elaborated by quantum theory, and asserts that Pannenberg's concept of field is immaterial or even in some sense "spiritual." Polkinghorne also comments on how a physical theory may give rise to several differing, even contradictory, metaphysical interpretations.     

Beyond the molar-molecular distinction: we need multiscaled analyses.

Dinsmoor's (2001) adherence to molecular analyses may require him to assert that molar and molecular principles are mutually exclusive, but to instead analyze the phenomena of avoidance as inherently multiscaled is to follow a well-established practice in the natural sciences. Besides the issue of scale, two-factor theory, which Dinsmoor advocates, has little to say about some important and longstanding results in experiments that qualify as avoidance.     

Can competitive paradigms increase the validity of experiments on primate social cognition?

Experiments vary in their ability to distinguish between competing hypotheses. In tests on primate cognition the majority of this variation is due to an experimenter's ability to test primates in valid settings while providing the adequate amount of experimental control. While experimenters studying primate cognition can use methods of control perfected in captivity, it is still very unclear how to design and then objectively evaluate the external validity of new experimental paradigms. I recommend that more effort be allocated to specify how to create relevant test settings for primates. Primate social life is highly competitive. This means that all aspects of primates themselves, including their cognitive abilities, have likely been shaped by the need to out-compete conspecifics. Based on this hypothesis, sophisticated cognitive abilities of primates might best be demonstrated in competitive contexts. Thus, it is suggested that one possible measure of validity is whether investigators integrate a competitive component into their experimental designs. To evaluate this methodological prediction I review the literature on chimpanzee perspective-taking as a case study including several recent studies that include a competitive component in their experimental designs. Accepted after revision: 8 April 2001 Electronic Publication     

家庭居住与机构居住老年人社会支持的比较研究

以65位家庭居住和92位机构居住的老年人为样本,采用Sherbourne和Stewart的MOS社会支持问卷和自编社会支持问卷调查了老年人的社会支持现状,比较了家庭居住与机构居住老年人社会支持的不同特点。结果发现：（1）家庭居住和机构居住老年人在社会支持维度上存在显著差异：在心理支持、行为支持、活动支持等维度上,机构居住的老年人显著高于家庭居住的老年人;而在感情支持维度上家庭居住的老年人显著高于机构居住的老年人。（2）社会支持对老年人的身心健康具有显著影响。（3）性别,年龄,教育水平,职业状况,婚姻状况,子女数量,健在兄弟姐妹数量等人口统计变量对不同居住背景老年人的社会支持有显著影响。     

Exploring the Complexities of Familism and Acculturation: Central Constructs for People of Mexican Origin

We examined the relationships between three dimensions of familism: importance of family, family support, and family conflict with acculturation, assessed orthogonally (Mexican and American cultural contributions assessed independently), and the relative contribution these factors make to psychological adjustment among 248 (124 women, 124 men) adults of Mexican origin. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, positive associations were found between importance of family and the biculturalism of Mexican and American cultural identity; family support and Mexican cultural identity; but no associations between family conflict and level of acculturation. Psychological well-being was positively associated with Mexican cultural identity and family support, whereas psychological distress was associated with greater family conflict and lower family support. The greater relative contribution of Mexican cultural identity to familism and well-being, and the importance of assessing acculturation orthogonally are discussed. This research was supported in part by a Minority Supplement to National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH47193 to the Research Center on the Psychobiology of Ethnicity, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and by a research award from Pitzer College to Norma Rodriguez.     

The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: A meta-analytic review

Social support is broad term encompassing a variety of constructs, including support perceptions (perceived support) and receipt of supportive behaviors (received support). Of these constructs, only perceived support has been regarded as consistently linked to health, and researchers have offered differing assessments of the strength of the received-perceived support relationship. An overall estimate of the received-perceived support relationship would clearly further the dialogue on the relationship between received and perceived support and thus assist in the theoretical development of the field. This study evaluated all available studies using the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsey, 1981, American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 435–447) and any measure of perceived social support. Using effect sizes from 23 studies, we found an average correlation of r = .35, p < .001. Implications of this estimate for further development of models of social support as well as interventions to enhance social support are discussed.     

A systems framework for understanding social settings

In this paper, we argue that attempts to change social settings have been hindered by lack of theoretical advances in understanding key aspects of social settings and how they work in a dynamic system. We present a systems framework for understanding youths' social settings. We focus on three aspects of settings that represent intervention targets: social processes (i.e., patterns of transactions between two or more people or groups of people), resources (i.e., human, economic, physical, temporal resources), and organization of resources (i.e., how resources are arranged and allocated). We postulate that these setting aspects are in dynamic transaction with each other, resulting in setting outcomes. Discussion focuses on the implications of our theoretical framework for setting intervention.     

Community-based Practices: Integrating Dissemination Theory with Critical Theories of Power and Justice

This paper critically reviews two diverse intellectual traditions concerned with community-based interventions: the literature on dissemination of community interventions and the critical psychology literature that is concerned with systemic power inequalities and structural injustice. The dominant dissemination-of-innovations framework has shifted toward an emphasis on community, yet it does not generally take into account issues of power and inequality within the diverse community spheres into which interventions are disseminated. On the other hand, critical psychologists, who have concerned themselves with both understanding and addressing issues of power and structural injustice, have tended to eschew the possibility of standardizing and making transferable practices, programs, and even processes that address these issues in particular settings. This paper traces and critiques both sides of this divide within community psychology, positing a framework to bring these diverse intellectual resources together so that community interventions might fruitfully be examined in terms of their community-based practices, or practices that bear on structural injustice. This framework is illustrated with a case study of the community-based practices of a widely disseminated evidence-based community intervention.     

Memory for Angry Faces,Impulsivity, and Problematic Behavior in Adolescence

Research has shown that cognitive processes like the attribution of hostile intention or angry emotion to others contribute to the development and maintenance of conduct problems. However, the role of memory has been understudied in comparison with attribution biases. The aim of this study was thus to test if a memory bias for angry faces was related to conduct problems in youth. Adolescents from a junior secondary school were presented with angry and happy faces and were later asked to recognize the same faces with a neutral expression. They also completed an impulsivity questionnaire. A teacher assessed their behavior. The results showed that a better recognition of angry faces than happy faces predicted conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention as reported by the teacher. The memory bias effect was more pronounced for impulsive adolescents. It is suggested that a memory bias for angry faces favors disruptive behavior but that a good ability to control impulses may moderate the negative impact of this bias.