青少年未来取向三种测试途径的比较

考察未来取向测试新方法（作品分析法）有效性及对比已有测量方法(自陈问卷法、行为测试法)的优缺点。结果发现,问卷法测得青少年未来取向水平随年龄增长逐渐降低,行为测试法和作品分析法测得青少年未来取向水平随年龄增长逐渐提高;问卷法测得未来取向与学校投入相关密切,行为测试法测得未来取向与学业成绩相关密切,作品分析法测得未来取向与学校投入、学业成绩均相关。作品分析法是一种有效测量青少年未来取向的新途径。     

Further validation of the Penny Beliefs Scale - Weapons

The Penny Beliefs Scale - Weapons (PBS-W) comprises of 36 items that measure young people’s beliefs about carrying and using weapons. It was designed to facilitate our understanding of weapons carrying and use. The PBS-W has excellent internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha of .92), extremely good test-retest consistency (ICC = .83) and is significantly positively correlated with self-reported delinquency. In order to further demonstrate the utility of the PBS-W it was compared with other measures that would be expected to be associated with weapons carrying and use. The PBS-W, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R-SV), the Maudsley Violence Questionnaire (MVQ), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Brief Measure of Sensation Seeking (SS2) were administered to 189 school pupils in South Wales, aged between 16 and 18 years. Results demonstrated that the PBS-W is significantly positively correlated with EPQ Psychoticism (P), violent cognitions, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. Multiple regressions, controlling for gender and impression management (EPQ-Lie), showed that violent cognitions predicted beliefs about carrying and using weapons above and beyond P, sensation seeking and impulsivity. These findings suggest that violent cognitions are the single most powerful predictors of positive beliefs about carrying and using weapons.     

Grief Counseling: An Investigation of Counselors' Training,Experience, and Competencies

Grief is prevalent in counseling, but little is known about the current status of counselors’ preparation and competencies to provide effective care. This exploratory study surveyed counselors (N= 369) on grief training, personal and professional experiences with grief, and grief counseling competence. Multiple regression analyses found training and experience were statistically significant predictors of competence. The strong relationship between variables suggests these concepts may be understood as synonymous. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed.     

Parenting style and adolescent smoking cognitions and behaviour

Parenting style and smoking-related cognitions have both successfully predicted adolescent smoking behaviour. Data were collected among 482 Dutch adolescents to examine whether effects of parenting styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, rejecting, neglecting, measured by underlying dimensions support, strict control, and psychological control) on adolescent lifetime smoking were mediated by cognitions (pro-smoking attitude, social norm, self-efficacy, intention) and to study the role of gender in this process. Support was not significantly associated with smoking behaviour. The inverse relation between strict control and smoking was partly mediated by attitude and intention, both associated with increased smoking. Psychological control related directly to increased lifetime smoking. Combinations of dimensions creating the specific styles were not associated with cognitions or behaviour. Maternal and paternal parenting were equally associated with smoking cognitions and behaviour; nor were effects moderated by adolescent gender. Interventions to prevent adolescent smoking initiation should aim at increasing strict control and reducing psychological control.     

Cognitive processes in psychological adaptation to miscarriage: A preliminary report

Abstract

Twenty-two women who wished to continue their pregnancies were interviewed several months after their first miscarriage. Levels of anxiety and depression showed an extremely high degree of variability. Cognitive processes in the form of a search for meaning, mastery and self-enhancement hypothesised to be important in adaptation to negative events were assessed. Having an explanation for the miscarriage and the experience leading to a general reappraisal of values were associated with lower levels of intrusive thoughts. A belief in a medical cause was linked to lower anxiety. Women believed that neither they themselves nor their doctors could exert much influence over the outcome of future pregnancies. Stronger belief in personal control was associated with higher anxiety levels. There is a need to consider not only the emotional consequences of miscarriage but also the cognitive mediators influencing such responses and although based upon a small sample this study initiates that process.     

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire

Objective: This paper aims to systematically review the use and performance of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (Brief IPQ).

Design: Electronic databases were searched for papers administering the Brief IPQ published in peer-reviewed journals. Data were extracted from the results for meta-analysis.

Main outcome measures: Use by illness population, country, language and study design. The questionnaire’s concurrent validity, predictive validity, sensitivity to change, discriminant validity and mean scores for different populations were summarised.

Results: The review included 188 papers. The Brief IPQ has been administered to patients from age 8 to over 80, with a wide range of illnesses, in 26 languages from 36 countries. Pooled correlations between illness perceptions and depression, anxiety, blood glucose levels and quality of life were consistent with previous research and theory (range .25–.49 for consequences, identity and emotional representations; ?.12 to ?.27 for personal control). All items were able to predict some outcomes up to one-year follow-up. Each subscale demonstrated sensitivity to change after intervention in randomised controlled trials with the personal control and causal items showing most frequent change.

Conclusions: The Brief IPQ is widely used and has good psychometric properties. More studies should include and analyse the causal item.     

The effects of questionnaire length and lottery ticket inducement on the response rate in mail surveys

Abstract

As part of a study on functional gastrointestinal disorders in the Australian community, we surveyed 500 subjects to test the effects of questionnaire length and lottery inducement on the response rate in mail surveys. By random allocation, n = 124 subjects received a short form questionnaire (28 pages) with a lottery ticket, n = 126 received a short form with no lottery ticket, n= 124 received a long form (32 pages) with a lottery ticket and n= 126 received a long form with no lottery ticket. The overall response rate for the study was 74%. The response rates for the short (76.8%) versus long (71.2%) form and lottery ticket (74.2%) versus no lottery ticket (73.8%) were not significantly different. Significantly more short forms compared with longer forms were received after each stage of the follow-up protocol. A long questionnaire can however be successfully used in survey research.     

The relative role of nicotine dependence and smoking-related cognitions in adolescents’ process of smoking cessation

The present study evaluates the role of distinct components of nicotine dependence (craving, withdrawal, behavioural dependence) in comparison to smoking-related cognitions (attitudes, perceived social approval, self-efficacy) in adolescent smoking cessation. In the process towards smoking cessation, we distinguish between distinct behavioural transitions, respectively, short-term abstinence, reduction in smoking behaviour and prolonged cessation, to evaluate differences in cessation-related antecedents as a function of varying behavioural outcomes. A total of 850 adolescent smokers (age 14–16) participated in the present study. Smoking behaviour was assessed 1 year after baseline. Results showed that all dependence components had a distinct role in the prediction of behavioural change towards cessation. Furthermore, each behavioural transition was predicted by a distinct set of variables, indicating that contributions of cessation-related factors vary across the course towards cessation. Overall, our findings suggest that smoking-related cognitions are particularly relevant in the initiation of behavioural change, such as short-term abstinence, whereas nicotine dependence, craving in particular, becomes increasingly important in the prediction of maintained behavioural change, such as prolonged cessation. Implications encompass enhanced attention to the multidimensional nature of nicotine dependence and the value of comparing different behavioural outcomes in a comprehensive understanding of cessation-related factors.     

Depressive implicit associations and adults' reports of childhood abuse

Theory and research suggest that negative events in childhood (e.g., childhood abuse) may contribute to the development of a cognitive vulnerability to depression. A limitation of past research, however, is that the majority has focused on explicit cognitions (e.g., attributional style) and it remains unclear whether similar relations would be observed for more implicit measures of depressive cognitions. This study investigated the relation between young adults' reports of childhood abuse and their implicit depressive cognitions, as measured by the Implicit Association Test. As hypothesised, young adults reporting a history of childhood abuse exhibited stronger implicit associations for depression-relevant stimuli than did individuals with no abuse history. These results were maintained even after statistically controlling for the influence of current depressive symptom levels.     

Spinoza's Concept of Substance and Attribute: A Reading of the Short Treatise

ABSTRACT

In the recent secondary literature on Ockham’s philosophy of mind, it has been debated whether Ockham proposed an externalist or an internalist view of the intentional contents of intuitive cognitions. It has also been debated whether Ockham only attributes intentional content to intuitive cognitions, or rather two different properties, i.e. a likeness and an intentional content. Intuitive cognitions can be roughly understood as perceptions. In this article I propose a different perspective for analysing both debates, that is, the perspective that concerns Ockham’s theory of reflexivity. Ockham defended the idea that one can reflexively cognize two different features of intuitive cognitions; namely, their similarity or likeness, and their intentional content. Ockham proposed different degrees and modes of reflexive cognition regarding these features.