Early psychic disturbances in anorexic and bulimic patients as reflected in the psychoanalytic process

This presentation aims at demonstrating the emergence of a basic disturbance in the analytic material of anorexic and bulimic patients, namely, the unconscious attempt to restore the lost union with the feeding mother which is both relentlessly sought and equally feared. Food is used unconsciously to represent and control intra-psychically both the object and the affects belonging to that relationship in such a way as to avoid terror of fusion or dissolution of the self.     

On the prediction of academic performance with personality traits: A replication study

We describe a large sample study (N = 652) that had two purposes. The first was to replicate a previous study (Paunonen & Ashton, 2001a, Journal of Research in Personality) in which we showed that lower-level personality trait measures related to achievement motivation predict the academic success of university students. The second purpose was to test our earlier conclusion that such lower-level traits are frequently superior to broader personality factors for accuracy in prediction. Both purposes were met in this study, providing more evidence for our general claim that aggregating narrow personality trait measures into broad factor measures can sometimes have negative consequences regarding the prediction and understanding of important outcomes, including academic performance.     

Assessment of cognition in an adolescent Indigenous population

The assessment of cognition in Indigenous populations is often complicated by cultural and language differences and unfamiliarity with the assessment process. Cognitive tasks are being developed that reduce the impact of these factors. These processes need to be evaluated in different cultural and ethnic groups to determine whether they are appropriate. Such an assessment was recently used in two studies of cognition of 237 Indigenous Australian adolescents (age: M = 16.06 ± 2.16 years). The tasks were completed appropriately, with response times and error rates increasing for difficult tasks. Duration and error rates decreased for the round‐based tasks, in line with performance in non‐Indigenous samples. There were no gender effects. Age associations occurred in some tasks, but significant correlations were only of a small magnitude. Although the battery appeared to be completed appropriately in this study, more work needs to be conducted examining the influence of demographic factors to ensure that control data can be most appropriately matched in future studies.     

Workaholism and work–life imbalance: Does cultural origin influence the relationship?

In recent years, workaholism has become prevalent throughout organizations and has captured the attention of organizational leaders as well as the academic and scientific communities. Most research in this area has focused on the negative consequences of workaholism, specifically work–life imbalance. One area of research that has largely been ignored is the potential influence of demographic variables on the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance. Therefore, the current study focused on how cultural origin might influence the intensity of this relationship. Based on relative deprivation theory and previous empirical work, it was expected that cultural origin would moderate the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance. Specifically, it was predicted that Caucasian participants would score higher on levels of workaholism than Black participants, and that the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance would be stronger for Caucasians than for Blacks. The results revealed that high levels of workaholism were significantly correlated with high levels of work–life imbalance. However, results also indicated that cultural origin did not moderate the relationship between workaholism and work–life imbalance, and there was no significant mean difference between Caucasian and Black participants on our measure of workaholism. These findings are important in that it is essential for employers to be aware of workaholic tendencies so they can better handle the negative consequences that result for the organization, and to also help promote the well‐being of their employees.     

Cultural,contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study

Tulviste, T., Mizera, L., De Geer, B. & Tryggvason, M.‐T. (2010). Cultural, contextual, and gender differences in peer talk: A comparative study. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The study focused on cultural, contextual, and gender differences in children’s peer talk. Same‐sex dyads of Estonian (n = 38), Finnish (n = 38), and Swedish (n = 34) preschool age children were videotaped during unstructured and structured play settings. We found only one gender difference in children’s talkativeness and in the use of regulatory speech: during free play, Swedish boys used more imperatives per directives than Swedish girls. At the same time there were significant cultural and contextual differences. Estonian children were most directive and Swedish children were least directive. Finnish children were less directive than Estonian children but more directive than Swedish children. It was concluded that cultural and contextual factors strongly influence the likelihood, extent, and nature of gender differences in peer talk.     

Natural Mentors, Mental Health, and Risk Behaviors: A Longitudinal Analysis of African American Adolescents Transitioning into Adulthood

Patterns of substance use are examined in a sample of over 1,200 youth in a non-metropolitan region of New England. Self-reported history and frequency of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, pain medications, and other hard drug use was assessed for 9th and 10th grade students. Latent class analyses identified four patterns of substance use: non-users (22%), alcohol experimenters (38%), occasional polysubstance users (29%), and frequent polysubstance users (10%). Contextual risk and protective factors in the individual, family, peer, and community domains predicted substance use patterns. Youth report of peer substance use had the largest effects on substance use class membership. Other individual characteristics (e.g., gender, antisocial behavior, academic performance, perceived harm from use), family characteristics (e.g., parental drinking, parental disapproval of youth use), and community characteristics (e.g., availability of substances) demonstrated consistent effects on substance use classes. Implications for prevention are discussed from a social-ecological perspective.     

Differentiation,perceived stress and therapeutic alliance as key factors in the early stage of couple therapy

A sample of 168 couples were assessed at intake and over the first six sessions of treatment providing the opportunity to investigate not only the impact of client and common factors on initial levels of satisfaction, but also trajectories of change in satisfaction over time. The study used multi‐level modelling to examine changes in relationship satisfaction for both partners, thus enabling the couple to be maintained as the unit of analysis. We first examined changes in satisfaction and, having discovered differences there, we then investigated the impact of client factors of differentiation and stress in explaining these differences in relationship satisfaction. Finally we explored the additional influence of the common factor, therapeutic alliance, while controlling for the client factors, on relationship satisfaction.     

ON THE ROAD WITH RELIGION‐AND‐SCIENCE AND THE ROMANCE OF THE PAST

This essay responds to the question “Where Are We Going?Zygon and the Future of Religion‐and‐Science” and was first presented on 9 May 2009 at a symposium honoring Philip Hefner's editorship of Zygon. It offers four suggestions for the future of religion‐and‐science: Ask big questions; encourage cultural literacy in the public sphere; bring a critical voice to other academic disciplines; and include the history of philosophy.     

文化心理学视域下的心理治疗

近年来,心理治疗的文化取向日益为心理学界所关注。在概要分析文化心理学理论取向和传统心理治疗特点的基础上,重点对文化心理学取向下的心理病因观、医患关系、心理治疗方法、心理治疗效果评价观做了相应分析,并对未来文化取向下的心理治疗理论进行了展望,希望对我国心理治疗理论和实践有所帮助。     

2型糖尿病患者焦虑抑郁状况及影响因素研究

为探讨2型糖尿病患者焦虑、抑郁状况及影响因素,对243例患者使用SAS、SDS、DSQL量表进行横断面调查。结果显示SAS、SDS评分均高于国内常模;多元回归分析显示有并发症、文化程度低的患者更易出现焦虑情绪,并发症出现时更易出现抑郁情绪。提示糖尿病患者普遍存在焦虑、抑郁等负性情绪,因此对医护人员要进行规范系统的心理干预培训,特别对病程10年、有并发症、文化程度较低的患者更要进行一对一的心理健康教育指导。