Victimization and PTSD in a Faroese youth total-population sample

Petersen, T., Elklit, A. & Olesen, J. G. (2010). Victimization and PTSD in a Faroese youth total-population sample. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 56–62.
The prevalence of twenty traumatic events and negative life events in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in a Faroese total-population sample of 687 eighth-grade students with a mean age of 14.2 years. Ninety-four percent of the females and 89% of the males were directly exposed to or had witnessed at least one traumatic event or a negative life event. The odds ratios for PTSD after direct and indirect exposure to specific events are described. The lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 20%, whereas another 14% reached a subclinical level of PTSD. After exposure, females had PTSD more than twice as often as males. Being exposed to multiple traumatic events, living with a single parent, and having experienced a traumatic event or a negative life event within the last year were all associated with PTSD and its subscales.     

ON THE BORDERLINE OF FOOD AND DRUG: Constructing Credibility and Markets for a Functional Food Product

This article addresses the subject matter of functional foods by analysing commercialization and marketing of a functional food product. Functional food is an evolving hybrid concept: certain substances in a food product are claimed to have health-promoting or disease-preventing qualities (e.g. Best, 1996). Consequently, functional food advertises a food product with medical qualities, which evokes various debates and difficulties in its definition from the point of view of the medical community, regulatory authorities, food industry and consumers. Globally, the approval of functional foods is a complex matter, as it depends on national criteria and practice. For instance, functional food is not a legal term in many countries, such as the USA, but the health claims of functional foods that are used in package labelling and marketing are strictly regulated. With respect to clinical evidence, the approval criteria of health claims may even resemble the approval criteria of drugs. Through the health claims, functional foods challenge the clear distinction between food and drugs that has been incorporated into regulatory systems for a long time (Kwak and Jukes, 2000, 2001a).     

Electrodermal correlates of extraversion, trait anxiety and schitophrenisrn

Abstract.— Recording skin resistance in 34 young women it was found that extraverted subjects showed less responsiveness to moderate intensity stimuli, whereas high neuroticism or anxiety prone subjects showed more spontaneous fluctuations and better electrodermal conditioning when conditioned responses were scored relative to unconditioned responses. Further, the subjects were rated for 'schizophrenism' according to an inventory devised by the authors. The high schizophrenism subjects behaved electrodermally very much like the pre-schizophrenic sample in Mednick and Schulsinger's prospective study of schizophrenia; they exhibited faster recovery, greater response amplitude to aversive stimuli and faster initial habituation to these stimuli.     

The severity of depression in cancer patients

The Hamilton Rating Scale was used for measuring the severity of symptoms of depression in cancer patients and healthy control subjects. The rating of patients took place at the end of clinical tests carried out for determining their diagnosis. Cancer patients had elevated scores for depressed mood, loss of work and interests, agitation, general somatic symptoms, hypo-chondriasis, and loss of weight. Total depression scores indicative of moderate depression (i.e. 9–18) were found in 41% of patients, whereas 24% had scores greater than 18, indicative of severe depression. The findings suggests that the majority of cancer patients may require appropriate psychological support.     

Social Discrimination in a Personnel Selection Context: The Effects of an Authority's Instruction to Discriminate and Followers' Authoritarianism1

Social discrimination in a personnel‐selection context was studied using an in‐basket exercise. West German participants had to select personnel from an applicant pool that included West German applicants (in‐group members) and East German applicants (out‐group members). As predicted, we found a main effect for an authority's instruction to discriminate against out‐group members. This main effect was, as predicted, qualified by an Instruction Right‐Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) interaction effect. Only high scorers on RWA discriminated against out‐group members when instructed to do so.     

In search of a science‐based application: A learning tool for reading acquisition

This is a story about the fate of a psychological application: from its conception to the optimistic vision surrounding its future. We hope that this application – an enjoyable learning game (www or mobile phone‐based, available free of charge to the end users) for children – can at best help millions of children in their reading acquisition in the future. Its basis was created by following intensively the development of children with (N = 107) and without (N = 92) genetic (familial) risk for dyslexia from birth to puberty in the Jyväskylä Longitudinal study of Dyslexia (JLD)‐project. We summarize some of the major findings of the JLD in order to facilitate understanding of the reasons and logic behind the development of the game. Originally intended as a research tool for reading acquisition, its potential for prevention of reading difficulties was quickly recognized.     

Adolescents' and mothers' conflict management constellations: Links with individual and relational functioning

In the present multi‐informant study, we examined dyadic combinations of adolescent and maternal conflict management styles through stepwise latent class analysis. We investigated how these dyadic conflict classes related to adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of individual and relational functioning (depressive symptoms, self‐esteem, conflict frequency, relationship satisfaction, parenting), both concurrently and over time. Four conflict styles were investigated: positive problem solving, withdrawal, conflict engagement, and compliance. Questionnaires were completed by 526 adolescents and mothers. Findings pointed to four meaningful conflict management constellations: Dyadic Positive Management, Unbalanced Management, Adolescent Negative Management and Dyadic Negative Management. These constellations were differentially related to individual and relational factors. This study emphasized the importance of a typological dyadic approach in examining conflict management.     

The Mental Vulnerability Questionnaire: A psychometric evaluation

Eplov, L.F., Petersen, J., Jørgensen, T., Johansen, C., Birket‐Smith, M., Lyngberg, A. C. & Mortensen, E. L. (2010). The Mental Vulnerability Questionnaire: A psychometric evaluation. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 548–554. The Mental Vulnerability Questionnaire was originally a 22 item scale, later reduced to a 12 item scale. In population studies the 12 item scale has been a significant predictor of health and illness. The scale has not been psychometrically evaluated for more than 30 years, and the aim of the present study was both to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 22 and 12 item scales and of three new scales. The main study sample was a community sample comprising more than 6,000 men and women. In this sample the coefficients of homogeneity were all over 0.30 for the three new scales, but below 0.30 for the 12 and the 22 item scales. All five Mental Vulnerability scales had positively skewed score distributions which were associated significantly with both SCL‐90‐R symptom scores and NEO‐PI‐R personality scales (primarily Neuroticism and Extraversion). Coefficient alpha was highest for the 22 and 12 item scales, and the two scales also showed the highest long‐term stability. The three new scales reflect relatively independent dimensions of Psychosomatic Symptoms, Mental Symptoms, and Interpersonal Problems, but because of reliability problems it remains an open question whether they will prove useful as predictors of health and morbidity.