Conflicts of interest in Germany: A legal perspective

In spite of recent efforts to promote cooperation between universities and industry, Germany still lacks a sufficient legal framework for regulating potential conflicts of interest resulting from university-industry cooperation. Prospective regulation of conflicts of interest has to take into account specific constraints imposed by the German constitution. It has to follow stringent procedural and material requirements and carefully weigh the individual researcher’s right to academic freedom against the public demand for objectivity in research. Because of this cautious consideration of the conflicting interests constitutionally mandated in Germany, a potential regulation legitimate in this country may serve as a model for other countries facing the need of the adoption of such a regulation. The ideas presented in this paper are developed in detail in the author’s dissertation, Rechtsfragen der Kooperation zwischen Hochschulen und Wirtschaft — Ein Rechtsvergleich: Deutschland — USA, Verlag Vahlen, München, 2002. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002.     

Managing financial conflicts of interest in clinical research

Upholding public trust in clinical research necessitates that human subjects be protected from avoidable harm and that the design, interpretation and reporting of research results be shielded from avoidable bias. On both counts, managing financial conflicts of interest is critically important, especially in the modern era when the opportunities for investigators to benefit personally from the commercialization of their intellectual property are overtly encouraged and rapidly expanding. Efforts are underway in the United States to provide more useful guidance to universities and medical schools for purposes of strengthening the oversight and management of financial conflicts of interest in clinical research. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002.     

Modern medicine and biotechnology: an ethical conflict of interest?

When confronting the issues related to developments in modern medicine and biotechnology, we must repeatedly ask ourselves anew what can and cannot be justified in an ethical sense. For radically new ethical questions seem to arise through innovative techniques such as stem cell research or preimplantation diagnosis — and with them new areas of conflicting interests. If one scrutinizes the previous positions related to this subject, it becomes conspicuous that a multitude of questions has quickly piled up — however, (as in the case of Germany) comprehensive and differentiated views have mostly been lacking. An earlier version of this paper was presented at an International Conference on “Conflict of Interest and its Significance in Science and Medicine” held in Warsaw, Poland on 5–6 April, 2002.     

A high-field functional MRI study of quadri-lingual subjects

We assessed six multilingual subjects by functional MRI using a Noun Verb Generation task in four different languages. We hypothesised that the degree of proficiency in each language would be related to the extent of functional activity measured in a region of interest analysis. Proficiency in each language was quantified using two neuropsychological tests. All four languages activated overlapping brain areas, corresponding to the major language regions. The number of activated voxels correlated with proficiency, so that the activated volume increased for languages in which a subject had poorer proficiency. Activation did not appear to be dependent on the age at which the language was learnt.     

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Five Interest Inventories

This study investigated whether interest inventories that purport to measure the same constructs actually yield scores that correspond. The study examined the empirical relation of scores for similarly and same-named scales on five widely used interest inventories: the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey, the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey-Form DD, the Self-Directed Search, the Strong Interest Inventory-Skills Confidence Edition, and the Revised Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory. Comparisons were made among scores for (a) vocational interests measured by homogeneous, rationally based scales; (b) occupational interests measured by heterogeneous, criterion-based scales; and (c) self-efficacy for RIASEC tasks. The participants consisted of 80 women and 38 men employed as career counseling practitioners and professors. Results from analyses of multitrait-multimethod matrices indicated that similarly and same-named scales correlated moderately and that, with few exceptions, these matched scales demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity. These conclusions were interpreted by distinguishing between the linguistic explication and operational definition of constructs in theories of vocational and occupational interests. The implications of these interpretations were considered for both the science of vocational psychology and the practice of career counseling. Future research should investigate both the profile validity and the interpretive validity of interest inventories that yield scale scores derived from different scaling strategies.     

Medical journals' conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews

The purpose of the study was to assess medical journals’ conflicts of interest in the publication of book reviews. We examined book reviews published in 1999, 2000, and 2001 (N=1,876) in five leading medical journals: Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Lancet, and New England Journal of Medicine. The main outcome measure was journal publication of reviews of books that had been published by the journal’s own publisher, that had been edited or authored by a lead editor of the journal, or that posed another conflict of interest. We also surveyed the editors-in-chief of the five journals about their policies on these conflicts of interests. During the study period, four of the five journals published 30 book reviews presenting a conflict of interest: nineteen by the BMJ, five by the Annals, four by JAMA, and two by the Lancet. These reviews represent 5.8%, 2.7%, 0.7%, and 0.7%, respectively, of all book reviews published by the journals. These four journals, respectively, published reviews of 11.9%, 25.0%, 0.9%, and 1.0% of all medical books published by the journals’ publishers. Only one of the 30 book reviews included a disclosure statement addressing the conflict of interest. None of the journals had a written policy pertaining to the conflicts of interest assessed in this study, although four reported having unwritten policies. We recommend that scientific journals and associations representing journal editors develop policies on conflicts of interest pertaining to book reviews. Disclosure: R.M. Davis was North American editor of the BMJ from 1998 to 2001, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association, which publishes JAMA. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of any organization with which the authors have been affiliated.     

中职女生社交自卑感及其与家庭功能、心理健康的关系:一项交叉滞后研究

为探讨中职女生社交自卑感的特点及其与家庭功能、心理健康的关系,采用社交自卑感量表、家庭亲密度与适应性量表和中学生心理健康量表对来自河南省内2所中等职业学校的1066名一年级中职女生进行间隔半年的两次问卷调查。结果发现：（1）89.21%的中职女生有社交自卑感体验,中职女生的社交自卑感与家庭社会经济地位相关显著,农村生源中职女生的社交自卑感显著高于城市生源中职女生;（2）家庭适应性可以边缘预测随后的社交自卑感,心理健康可以显著预测随后的社交自卑感;（3）社交自卑感、家庭功能和心理健康的关系模式在城市生源和农村生源的中职女生中具有较强的稳定性;（4）来自再婚/离异家庭中职女生的心理健康对随后的社交自卑感的预测作用高于来自完整家庭的中职女生。本研究表明,中职女生存在比较明显的社交自卑感,社交自卑感与家庭功能、心理健康之间存在动态联系。     

叠音姓名对人际知觉和态度的影响

基于刻板印象内容模型,通过三个实验考察了叠音姓名对人际知觉和态度的影响,并检验了性别特征的调节作用。研究结果表明:(1)叠音姓名会让人们觉得评价对象更像儿童,更温暖,但也更缺乏能力。(2)叠音姓名对人际知觉的影响受到姓名性别特征的调节。对于女性化姓名,叠音姓名对温暖和能力知觉的影响会削弱。(3)叠音姓名对人际态度的作用受到工作类型的影响。人们会觉得叠音姓名的人更适合从事服务性的工作,非叠音姓名的人更适合从事技术性的工作。     

The effects of alcohol intoxication and sexual interest on men's sexual persistence and hostility in a dating simulation

Perpetrators of sexual assault are often intoxicated; however, few experimental studies evaluate alcohol's “in the moment” effects on sexual aggression. This study extends past theory and research by examining the acute effects of alcohol on men's decisions about how to respond to sexual refusals in a dating simulation. Men (N = 62) ages 21–29 were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (target breath alcohol level 0.080%) or no alcohol. Participants were encouraged to talk to a simulated woman and act as they would on an actual date. They made choices from a list which included nonsexual and sexual options. The female agent was programmed to engage in some sexual activities but refuse others. Refusals became more intense if participants persisted. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to test a path analytic model. As predicted, participants' self‐reported desire to have sex was positively associated with choosing more consensual sexual activities during the simulation (i.e., activities in which the woman willingly engaged). Consensual sexual activities were positively associated with the number of times participants persisted after the woman refused. Alcohol moderated this relationship such that it was stronger for intoxicated men than sober men. The more sexual refusals participants received, the more hostile verbal comments they made to the woman. Contrary to our predictions, this relationship was not moderated by alcohol condition. Because participants had multiple opportunities to escalate their aggression or desist, this paradigm provides new insights into the mechanisms through which intoxication enhances the likelihood of sexual aggression in dating situations.

     

The role of vocational identity development and motivational beliefs in undergraduates’ student engagement

The present study examined the role of vocational identity processes and motivational beliefs among 216 undergraduates’ level of student engagement (affective, behavioural and cognitive). Through regression analysis, in-depth career exploration was found to be positively related to the student engagement variables, while career self-doubt emerged as a negative predictor. Identification with commitment was also found to be positively associated with students’ affective and cognitive engagement, but not behavioural engagement. Furthermore, students’ perceived value in academic activities played a critical role in mediating these relationships. Despite the significant associations, other vocational identity processes (in-breadth career exploration, commitment making and career flexibility) and motivational beliefs (competence beliefs and perceived cost) failed to act as predictors and mediators, respectively, as hypothesised. Nonetheless, the current findings demonstrate the importance of vocational identity development in undergraduate students’ learning, and suggest a need for more identity interventions or career counselling services in college and pre-university contexts.