Appreciation of humor is generally accepted as being a unique aspect of human personality. Yet, despite its prominence in everyday situations, it remains a relatively unexplored area of scientific investigation. The present study has a twofold purpose: (1) an examination of the relationship of "sense of humor" to neurosis in a relatively normal population and, (2) an exploratory investigation of the type of parent-child relationship which fosters a particular mode of response to humor. As a result of the methods used to explore these areas, a third area for study was available to the investigator. That was the examination of the type of parent-child relationship perceived by the subject and the subsequent development or absence of neurosis.

Middle childhood is the least understood developmental period in the attachment literature, likely due to active reorganization of the attachment system during this stage. Coinciding with increased cognitive and socioemotional competencies, middle childhood attachment begins to transition from relationship-specific attachment to general attachment representations. While parents continue serving as the primary attachment figure used as a secure base and safe haven, noticeable shifts occur in terms of the need for availability over proximity to attachment figures and the child's involvement in maintaining the attachment relationship. Currently, there is no dominant conceptual or methodological approach for studying attachment in middle childhood. The present study sought to develop and validate an observational coding system examining middle childhood attachment using a dimensional approach. The Middle Childhood Behavioral Attachment Dimensions (MCBAD) system demonstrated mixed reliability and validity compared to other established attachment measures. Compared to traditional categorical attachment measures, this study provides evidence for the utility of an anxiety-avoidance dimensional attachment scale in childhood. Additionally, the MCBAD is the first observational system that examines both nonverbal and verbal attachment behaviors in an unstructured separation-reunion episode, and findings suggest a need for further examination of verbal attachment during this developmental stage.

It is the basic assumption of this study that a relationship exists between the interpersonal needs of inclusion, control, and affection and occupational choice as indicated by college major. Studies in the area of vocational choice have largely dealt with people who are practicing the vocation, leaving doubt as to whether people are attracted to the vocation as a result of need-satisfaction behavior, or whether the people determine their orientation by practicing the occupation. The need for further clarification of these questions was recognized, and this study was an effort to add to the evidence for or against the validity of the concept of interpersonal need satisfaction as a factor in vocational choice.

The purpose of this study was to compare pre- and post-treatment differences in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in male adolescents with conduct disorder. The Children's PTSD Inventory and the PTSD Reaction Index were used to diagnose PTSD and determine trauma type (Type I single trauma or Type II recurring trauma). Pre- and post-treatment measures included the PTSD Reaction Index, the Children's Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, and the Youth Self-Report. The six-week, biweekly group treatment included education, exposure, and cognitive elements. Primary hypotheses that the abused group would statistically differ from the non-abused group in terms of pre- and post-treatment levels of avoidance, dissociation, anger/aggression, self-destructiveness, social problems, and overall levels of PTSD symptoms, were not confirmed. Overall, group therapy participants experienced statistically significant decreases in PTSD symptoms over the course of therapy. Results are discussed in light of clinical implications, recommended cautions given the lack of a robust control group, and directions for future research.

Prior research has established a relationship between playing video games containing stereotyped representations of traditionally marginalized groups and resulting negative attitudes towards those groups. Yet, very little work has examined video games containing more positive, non-stereotyped representations and whether these diverse casts have inverse effects resulting in positive attitudes following exposure, an effect demonstrated in television media. The current study makes use of two paradigms, one based on short-term priming theory concerning immediate exposure to media, and one on long-term cultivation theory dealing with the overall media diet, and the relation to attitudes towards Blacks including symbolic racism, colorblindness, and implicit bias. In Study 1 (n = 31), Black and White participants reported how much time weekly they spent playing a popular game with positive representations of People of Color before completing measures. In Study 2 (n = 91), Black and White participants were exposed to one of three games, one with positive representation, one with negative representation, and a control game before completing study measures. Findings suggested that participant race was related to pro-Black attitudes (p = .009), but that direct exposure to a game with positive representation (p = .13) as well as playing the game during the …

To assess psychologically unhealthy Protestant beliefs a Religious Sentence Completion Inventory (RSCI), and scoring Manual, were developed from a pilot study. In the main study 103 undergraduate students were subjects. Interscorer reliability for the RSCI was .83. Results revealed significant positive correlations between the RSCI, and maladjustment validity criteria: a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) total weighted score; and MPI clinical scales 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8; but not validity scale F; for females. Only MMPI scale 6 correlated with the RSCI for males. These data appear to partially support the proposition that whether Protestant beliefs hinder or do not hinder mental health depends upon the particular kind of beliefs a Protestant holds.

The work group in charge of editing the trauma disorders in the upcoming edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) made several changes to the trauma criteria. Specifically, they simplified the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and added a new trauma disorder called complex PTSD (CPTSD). To assess the new and newly defined trauma disorders, Litvin, Kaminski and Riggs developed a self-report trauma measure called the Complex Trauma Inventory (CTI). Although the reliability and validity of the CTI has been supported, no empirically-derived cutoff scores exist. We determined the optimal CTI cutoff scores using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses in a diverse sample of 82 participants who experienced trauma and were recruited from an inpatient trauma unit, student veteran organizations, and university classrooms. We used the Clinician-Administered Interview for Trauma Disorders (CAIT) to diagnose the presence of an ICD-11 trauma disorder, and we correlated the results of the CAIT with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for the DSM-5 to establish the convergent validity of the CAIT, r = .945, p < .001. For the ROC analyses, the CTI was used as the index test and the CAIT was used as the criterion test. The area under the curve (AUC) …