Attributional style as a diathesis in predicting depression,hopelessness, and suicide ideation in college students

Attributional style was examined as a diathesis for depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation. A naturalistic stressor—obtaining a D or F on an Introductory Psychology exam—was used in a longitudinal design to test for the effects of stress in predicting these criteria. Controlling for preexam levels of depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation, prestress attributional style was consistently related to poststress levels of each of these criteria. Both positive and negative attributional styles measured at Time 1 were predictive of these criteria at Time 2. Regression analyses revealed that exam grade, attributional style alone, and attributional style in interaction with stress predicted each of the three criteria. The results are seen as supportive of a prestress attributional style diathesis to depression, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation.     

For better or worse? The moral and policy lessons of Minnesota's HealthRight legislation

Minnesota's recently enacted HealthRight legislation places the state at the forefront of American health reform. How did the state manage to overcome the policy gridlock in evidence in other states and at the national level? And how well does the legislation fare under close ethical scrutiny? Among the most important factors that permitted Minnesota to enact reforms were the explicit linkage in the legislative debate of the goal of cost containment to the desire to expand access, the public perception that HealthRight is incremental and consistent with earlier reform efforts in Minnesota, and the lengthy public debate that preceded the enactment of HealthRight. Although it endeavors to create a fair and efficient health care system, it is not at all certain that HealthRight, in its present form, will achieve these normative goals.     

Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

The problem-solving diathesis in depression,hopelessness, and suicide ideation: A longitudinal analysis

The problem-solving deficit (PSD) diathesis-stress model of suicide behavior proposed by Clum, Patsiokas, and Luscomb (1979) and expanded by Schotte and Clum (1982, 1987) was examined in a short-term longitudinal test. The present study assessed the relationship between problem-solving deficits at Time 1—prior to the stressor (a D or F on a midterm examination)—and adjustment at Time 2—after the Stressor. Evidence was found for an additive predictive relationship for stress and problem-solving deficits to Time 2 measures of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and suicide ideation. Evidence was also found that PSD × Stress interactions uniquely predicted the three criteria. The results of this study were taken as evidence of problem-solving deficits functioning as a diathesis for depression, hopelessness, and suicide ideation.     

Extending the bases of subjective attitudinal ambivalence: interpersonal and intrapersonal antecedents of evaluative tension

Researchers have conceptualized ambivalence as resulting from the conflicting positive and negative thoughts and feelings that a person holds toward an attitude object (intrapersonal discrepancy). The authors investigated the hypothesis that perceived interpersonal attitudinal discrepancies can also contribute to feelings of subjective ambivalence beyond that determined by intrapersonal discrepancy. Study 1 revealed that the perception of attitudinal discrepancy with one's parents was associated with greater feelings of ambivalence. Studies 2 and 3 found increased ambivalence as a function of manipulated interpersonal discrepancies. Study 4 replicated and reversed the effect, revealing that interpersonal attitudinal discrepancy with a disliked other was associated with less ambivalence. Together, these studies provide support for the proposition that, because of balance processes, interpersonal relationships influence feelings of subjective ambivalence.