The most effective and useful way to diagnose and subtype depression has been a long debated topic which even now does not have a definite answer. The biopsychosocial approach to diagnosis may be a solution to this problem by linking various etiologies to symptom presentation. The biopsychosocial model, in regard to depression, takes into account biological risk factors/contributors, psychological or cognitive risk factors/contributors, and social risk factors/contributors to depression when making diagnosis and subtyping determinations. However, the most effective way to use this model in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of depression is not yet clear. In this study, the utility of the biopsychosocial model as an effective approach to conceptualizing and treating depression was assessed by testing hypotheses that showed that etiological contributors are related to the presence and differential presentation of depression, and that these etiologically-based subtypes of depression respond differently to different forms of treatment. These hypotheses were tested using data from the National Comorbidity Survey - Replication (NCS-R). Results showed that the biopsychosocial model can effectively predict the presence, severity and chronicity of depression, and may inform specific biopsychosocially-based subtypes. No conclusions could be drawn regarding success in treatment based on the biopsychosocial model. Future directions …

Many substance users deny their substance use to avoid negative consequences, thus diluting the accuracy of assessment. To address this issue, indirect items are often included on substance use measures to identify those who deny their use. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of complete denial and partial denial on substance use measures. Partial denial, also termed denial of effects, is the denial of substance use interfering in multiple domains of a person's functioning. The study used a mixed within- and between-subjects design with participants from a dual diagnosis inpatient unit. Each participant completed the study under two different conditions which include an honest condition and an experimental condition (either complete denial or partial denial). Results show that partial denial is distinctly different from complete denial across three self-report substance use measures. Importantly, substance users engaging in these denial conditions were often undetected by these measures.

The aim of the current study was to examine how thinking about qualitatively different social network members may differentially affect cardiovascular reactivity to a subsequent stressor. Eighty-two undergraduates were asked to think and write about different types of relationships preceding a social stressor. No differences between conditions in CVR were found during social support induction phase or the stressor task. Women in the supportive condition were found to have slower SV recovery than those in the ambivalent condition. The results of this study are inconsistent with previous evidence for a relationship between mental representations of social ties and CVR. Future research should seek to rule out confounding variables and clarify this effect.

Intuitive eating assesses the degree to which individuals eat based on physiological cues rather than emotional or situational cues. The Intuitive Eating Scale was initially developed using college women. This study extends the work of Tylka and reports on the psychometric evaluation of the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES) in a sample of 515 middle school boys and girls. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered 4 factors: unconditional permission to eat, eating for physical rather than emotional reasons, trust in internal hunger/satiety cues and awareness of internal hunger/satiety cues; confirmatory factor analysis suggested that this 4-factor model adequately fit the data after 4 items with low factor loadings were deleted. Supporting its construct validity, IES scores were negatively related to body mass index, body dissatisfaction, negative affect, pressure for thinness, and internalization of the thin ideal, and were positively related to satisfaction with life, and experiencing greater positive affect.

The current study examined the role of self-reported and child-reported maternal lack of acceptance in increasing the likelihood of developing internalizing and externalizing symptoms among children with ADHD symptomatology. The effects of a social desirability bias on mother’s self-reports of rejection were controlled for. Mother-child agreement about parenting behaviors like warmth/affection, hostility/aggression and indifference/neglect was also investigated. In addition, variables with the potential to affect agreement (i.e., parents’ social desirability bias, child age, child sex) were examined. Participants included 120 boys and 90 girls, 6 to 11 years old (M = 8.25, SD = 1.18) with and without ADHD and their primary parent/guardian (N = 209). Parent and child participants completed self-report instruments separately. Results indicate that the relationship between mother-and-child-reported ADHD symptoms and internalizing symptoms is strongest when mothers exhibit low levels of rejection. Among the ADHD subsample, maternal lack of acceptance acts as a risk factor by strengthening the relationship between hyperactive/impulsive symptoms and externalizing symptoms. In addition, mothers and their children report significantly different levels of parenting behaviors. Child age and child sex were significant predictors of parent-child disagreement.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood disorder that often persists into adulthood. Among adults, ADHD is highly comorbid with addictive behaviors (e.g., substance abuse and dependence), and depressive disorders. Recently, an association between ADHD and obesity has been reported in the literature; emotional and binge eating may be “addictive behaviors” that contribute to weight gain in this population. The purpose of this study was to test competing models of the hypothesized link between ADHD symptomology and overweight. Specifically, in Model 1, symptoms of depression are expected to mediate the relationship between symptoms of impulsivity and inattention and emotional and binge eating which, in turn, leads to weight gain (i.e., increased BMI). In Model 2, however, the impulsive symptoms have direct relationships with emotional and binge eating in addition to being mediated by depressive symptoms. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test how the models fit the data of 790 college men. Both models fit the data well, with Model 2 being preferred because of its greater connection to theory. All paths were significant indicating that increased impulsive and inattentive symptoms predicted increased symptoms of depression that, in turn, predicted increased emotional/binge eating, which has a direct and positive …

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the extent to which mindfulness (observing and describing), dispositional optimism and personal meaning are associated with self-efficacy for managing a chronic disease (SEMCD) among 57 people living with HIV in the DFW Metroplex. Several statistical analyses, including a hierarchical linear regression analysis, were conducted. Results indicate, after controlling for age and gender, the overall model accounted for a significant proportion of the variance (adjusted R2 = .39) in self-efficacy for managing chronic disease, F (6, 50) = 5.80, p < .01. Both subscales of mindfulness were significantly related to self-efficacy. However, observing was negatively, associated with SEMCD (β = -0.44, p < .05), and describing was positively associated with self-efficacy (β = 0.60, p < .01). As a result, incorporating these mindfulness skills into self-efficacy based self-management programs may greatly improve self-management, thus positively influencing psychological and physiological health outcomes that are essential to the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV/AIDS. Future research should investigate methods of manipulating observing and describing, and determine what proficiency in these skills is most beneficial to improve self-efficacy.

Traditional conceptualizations of psychopathy highlight the importance of affective features of the syndrome in perpetuating social deviance. However, little research has directly investigated the callousness that psychopathic offenders display toward society and their victims. The current study investigated the roles of empathy and alexithymia in psychopathy among male and female incarcerated offenders, particularly in distinguishing psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder. Gender differences were also investigated. Regarding empathy, as predicted, group differences were largest between psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders; no reliable differences emerged between psychopathic and APD-only offenders. In contrast, alexithymia robustly distinguished between offenders with prominent psychopathic traits, those with only APD, and those with neither condition. Psychopathic females unexpectedly exhibited slightly higher levels of alexithymia than their male counterparts, while empathic deficits were relatively consistent across genders. These findings are discussed in terms of improving assessment methods for the accurate identification and treatment of offenders with prominent psychopathic features.

Researchers raise concerns that the diagnostic approach can create stigma and lead to clinical inferences that focus on dispositional characteristics at the expense of situational variables. From social cognitive theory to strict behavioral approaches there is broad agreement that situation is at least as important as disposition. The present study examined the clinical inferences of graduate student clinicians randomly presented a diagnosis (borderline PD) or no diagnosis and either randomly given context information or no context information before watching a videotaped clinical interaction of a fabricated client. Responses to a questionnaire assessing dispositional or situational attributions about the client’s behavior indicated a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder did not significantly increase dispositional attributions and did not significantly moderate the importance of contextual factors. A notable difference between the attributions made by psychodynamic and third wave behavioral respondents was observed. Conceptual and experimental limitations as well as future directions are discussed.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs between two individuals who have formerly been or are currently in an intimate relationship. IPV includes physical violence, sexual violence, threats of physical or sexual violence, and emotional abuse (Kernic, Wolf, & Holt, 2000; Rennison & Welchans, 2000). Experiencing IPV is associated with a serious impact on psychological health (Afifi, MacMillan, Cox, Asmundson, Stein, & Sareen, 2008; Calvete, Corral , & EstΘvez, 2008). Research on other forms of trauma indicates that experiential avoidance (EA) plays an important role in psychological distress and psychopathology. Thus, it was hypothesized that EA would play a key role in the impact of IPV. Using the Baron and Kenny (1986) method, the current study examined whether EA was a mediator between IPV severity and psychological distress, and whether EA was a mediator between IPV severity and PTSD symptomology, more specifically. In addition, mediational analyses were run to determine if suppression changed the relationships between IPV severity and psychological distress, or IPV severity and PTSD symptomology. Using the same methods, EA and suppression were both also examined as mediators between psychological/verbal abuse severity and psychological distress, and between psychological/verbal abuse severity and PTSD symptomology. No significant results were found in a …

First generation college students face some unique challenges in the pursuit of higher education. Aside from academic stressors, there are stressors related to social and cultural transitions which may exacerbate pre-existing emotional or psychological distress. Research suggests that acculturation influences psychological well-being and development. The current study examined the relationships between acculturation, acculturative stress, socio-economic status, and symptoms of anxiety among first-generation college students of Hispanic origin. Participants (N = 125) included those who were first in their family to attend college and were primarily female, of traditional college age, and of Mexican heritage. All measures were self-report and were completed online. Overall, this study was inconclusive as most analyses were underpowered. The present study failed to support a relationship between style of acculturation and symptoms of anxiety, although, experiencing Anglo marginality was related to high levels of acculturative stress and anxiety. Finally, regression analysis revealed that acculturative stress, age, and Anglo marginalization were significant predictors of anxiety and accounted for 31% of variance in anxiety. Implications of the present study were discussed. Further study with adequate power is highly recommended.

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) integrates symptoms common to victims of "complex" traumas, like childhood physical or sexual abuse, with the diagnostic criteria of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was hypothesized that a history of witnessing interparental violence would be related to adulthood CPTSD symptoms. Results from hierarchical multiple regressions with 287 college students showed that witnessing interparental violence and experiencing child physical abuse predicted higher levels of CPTSD, PTSD, and depression symptoms. After controlling for child abuse, witnessing interparental violence predicted higher levels of traditional PTSD symptoms, but it did not predict an increase in overall CPTSD symptom severity or depression. Results suggest that the traditional PTSD construct, rather than CPTSD, best accounts for the symptoms of those who witnessed interparental violence in childhood.