The relationship among the transtheoretical model of behavioral change,psychological distress,and diet attitudes in obesity: Implications for primary care intervention

Obesity is prevalent but undertreated in primary care. Family practice volunteer outpatients (N=454) were administered the Stage of Change for Weight (URICA), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Diet Readiness Test (DRT) to assess the relationship between these variables and obesity. The body mass index (BMI) was used to classify obesity revealing 197 patients with elevated BMI's. There was no significant difference between the obese and the nonobese on any of the psychological measures. The obese reported significantly more difficulty setting diet goals and less control over their eating, ate more to emotional situations, and exercised less than the nonobese. The obese sample (46.7%) reported being in the Action stage of change for weight management. Implications for intervention in primary care include targeting attitudes (DRT) and dispelling physician attitudes that obese individuals have increased levels of psychological distress. Addressing Stage of Change for weight management can facilitate tailoring the appropriate intervention when used in concert with the DRT variables.     

Health,social comparisons,and psychological well-being: Their cross-time relationships

The purposes of this short-term longitudinal study were to investigate (a) stability and change in social comparisons across time; (b) the relationship between physical health and the use of social comparisons across time; (c) whether psychological well-being is best predicted by prior or concurrent social comparisons; and (d) the moderating effects of social comparisons. Community-dwelling elderly women (N=149) completed self-report instruments designed to measure social comparisons, psychological well-being, and physical health at two times, 2 years apart. Worse health at Time 1 predicted more frequent and less positive social comparisons at Time 2. Concurrent, but not prior, social comparisons contributed to a number of domains of psychological well-being. Further, the effects of prior health status on subsequent psychological functioning (Time 2) were moderated by social comparison processes. Women in poorest health who engaged in positive social comparisons showed less depression and anxiety and more positive relations with others at Time 2. Little support was found for the influence of prior psychological functioning on subsequent physical health.     

Occupational violence: Armed holdup—A risk management approach

Workplace violence covers a wide spectrum of incidents of aggression that may occur at work. One area of particular concern relates to holdups. This study reviewed all incidents of robbery (holdups and bag snatches) occurring in a quasi-government wagering organization throughout Queensland, Australia between 1990 and August 1993. The study covered 30 robberies, at 28 sites with 34 subjects, 22 of whom consented to complete a questionnaire related to the stressfulness and impact of the event. Most robberies occurred at opening or closing time, at sites situated on a main thoroughfare, predominantly on a Monday. Single males (n =15) or a pair (n =15) mostly carrying a gun were the perpetrators. Nineteen of the 22 victims attended critical incident debriefing and most found this valuable. Only one subject interviewed lost time for stress (and this was the fourth time she had been robbed). One subject not interviewed was hospitalized. Other subjects had minor physical injuries, but suffered emotionally for up to a year after the incident. Recommendations focused on the hierarchy of control (environmental and engineering controls in preference to people-focused change). Additionally training in the normal processes of grief and trauma was recommended.     

Psychological distance to reward: Segmentation of aperiodic schedules of reinforcement

College students responded for monetary rewards in two experiments on choice between differentially segmented aperiodic schedules of reinforcement. On a microcomputer, the concurrent chains were simulated as an air-defense video game in which subjects used two radars for detecting and destroying enemy aircraft. To earn more cash-exchangeable points, subjects had to shoot down as many planes as possible within a given period of time. For both experiments, access to one of two radar systems (terminal link) was controlled by a pair of independent concurrent variable-interval 60-s schedules (initial link) with a 4-s changeover delay always in effect. In Experiment 1, the appearance of an enemy aircraft in the terminal link was determined by a variable-interval (15 s or 60 s) schedule or a two-component chained variable-interval schedule of equal duration. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1 except for the segmented schedule, which had three components. Subjects preferred the unsegmented schedule over its segmented counterpart in the conditions with variable-interval 60 s, and preference tended to be more pronounced with more components in the segmented schedule. These findings are compatible with those from previous studies of periodic and aperiodic schedules with pigeons or humans as subjects.     

一种新的统计方法和研究思路——结构方程建模述评

结构方程建模(SEM)是一种新的统计方法和研究思路,近年来在心理学和社会科学领域的应用日益增多。本文在非数学化的基础上,结合心理学研究实例介绍了SEM的渊源、发展、基本概念、分析过程以及相应的计算机统计软件LI-SREL。本文认为SEM有四大优点:①引进潜变量使研究更为深入,②遵循一般线性模式进行验证型分析,使研究更有意义,③妥善处理多变量间的复杂关系,④模型具有参数不变性。SEM应该引起国内心理学界的重视。     

A dynamic generalization of the Rasch model

In the present paper a model for describing dynamic processes is constructed by combining the common Rasch model with the concept of structurally incomplete designs. This is accomplished by mapping each item on a collection of virtual items, one of which is assumed to be presented to the respondent dependent on the preceding responses and/or the feedback obtained. It is shown that, in the case of subject control, no unique conditional maximum likelihood (CML) estimates exist, whereas marginal maximum likelihood (MML) proves a suitable estimation procedure. A hierarchical family of dynamic models is presented, and it is shown how to test special cases against more general ones. Furthermore, it is shown that the model presented is a generalization of a class of mathematical learning models, known as Luce's beta-model.     

Body Image Testing System: A microcomputer program for assessing body image

An interactive computer program, the Body Image Testing System (BITS), was developed to assess different components of the body image construct. The BITS program displays a frontal and side view of a human body. Subjects can change the size of each of nine body parts independently (face, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, breasts, stomach, hips, and thighs). Subjects interact with the program until satisfied that the image created matches the instructions. Subjects also provide satisfaction ratings for the nine body segments. To validate BITS, a variety of body image and eating disturbance measures was obtained from over 500 subjects. A factor analysis of actual-ideal differences and a perceptual distortion measure, derived using multiple regression, resulted in five orthogonal factors. Factor 1 measured actual-ideal discrepancy for weight-sensitive body parts. Factor 2 measured the perceptual distortion of weight-sensitive body parts. Additional factors measured perception of face and neck, shoulders, and breasts. The five factor scores plus the satisfaction ratings were strongly associated with actual body size, body fat percentage, and circumference of specific body parts. In addition, there were strong associations between the BITS and other measures of body image. Finally, BITS scores accounted for between 15 and 60% of the variance in measures of eating disturbance.     

Living alone,marital status,gender and health

Non-married people have generally been found to be less healthy than the married. It has been suggested that this difference may be brought about by the greater lack of social integration of those living alone. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the health of those living alone with those living with another person in the four non-married categories of never married, separated, divorced and widowed for women and men separately, initially controlling for age, education and income and subsequently adding five proximate indices of social integration. The person lived with was further categorized as an adult, cohabitee, child aged 4 or under, child aged 5 to 17, adult child, parent, relative or non-relative. The three indices of health were the 30-item General Health Questionnaire of psychological distress. a 15-item checklist of common physical symptoms and alcohol intake. The main differences obtained were that women living alone drank more alcohol than those cohabiting or living with a child aged 4 or under, and that widowers living alone were more psychologically distressed than those living with an adult child, even when social integration was controlled. The results suggested that living alone was not generally associated with poor health and so could not account for the difference between the married and non-married.     

Organized youth sports and the psychological development of nine-year-old males

Two hundred thirty-two 9-year-old males were administered the Harter Self-Perception Profile before and after a season of participation in organized youth sports to assess changes in their self-perceptions of competence and self-worth. The children were participating in either soccer or baseball, and the levels of competition were either tryout or recreation. Harter's cognitive-developmental formulations suggested that soccer players and/or the recreation league players in both sports would show greater increases in self-perceptions than those involved in baseball and/or the tryout leagues. Additionally, parents and coaches rated the players on several dimensions hypothesized to be influenced by participation in youth sports. Across all groups, children's perceptions of their athletic and scholastic competence, physical appearance, and global self-worth increased from pre- to post-season. Although there were no differential changes by group, the results suggest that these activities at best promoted children's psychological development, and at worst, did not decrease their self-perceptions.     

社会心理服务体系的多视角反思与整合构建策略

社会心理服务体系是一个复杂的系统，构建社会心理服务体系是一项复杂的系统工程。基于历史、管理、哲学、心理、社会等多个视角来看，社会心理服务是心理健康教育发展的必然结果，也是社会治理的现实需要，归根结底是基于人、为了人、服务人的一种社会活动，既要遵照心理学的一般原理，也要观照复杂社会及人的社会属性。社会心理服务不等同于心理健康服务、社会风险防控或是心理咨询服务，社会心理服务也不仅仅是消解心理问题，不能过度依赖心理学专业人员。科学构建社会心理服务体系需要基于整合的思想，围绕理念、目标、对象、内容、方法、组织、制度、人员、技术、评价等要素全面展开，并体现本土文化特色。