The present study is an attempt to determine the effect of anxiety, hostility, and depression on responses to the Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank when it is scored according to the manual instructions. Whether the score fluctuates or not will have implications on how psychologists should use this test as a diagnostic tool.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of (a) respondent age, (b) age and gender of perpetrator and victim, and (c) history of experienced violence on perceptions of elder abuse. Two-hundred and one (N = 201) middle-aged adults and 422 college students were assessed. Measures included adaptations of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale and Elder Abuse Attitudes and Behavioral Intentions Scale-Revised. Middle-aged respondents viewed psychological behaviors more harshly than young. Middle-aged females and young males were less tolerant of middle-aged perpetrators. While past performance of elder abuse was predictive of future elder abuse, history of childhood abuse was not. Exploratory analyses examined middle-aged respondents' judgments of abusive behaviors and perceptions based on age of perpetrator. Middle-aged and young adults' willingness to respond to dimensions of quality, severity, and reportability were also examined.

This study investigated the interactions of facially deformed infants (FD) with their mothers compared to a facially nondeformed control group (FND). All mother-infant dyads were videotaped for 10 minutes during a free play period. Mothers were instructed to spend time with their baby as they normally would. The videotaped interactions of 14 FD dyads and 14 FND dyads were rated by five raters for quality of interactions, amount of vocalization, touch, and face-to-face gaze. The infants were rated on their level of attractiveness from polaroid pictures and videotapes. Mothers also completed a questionnaire which assessed their infants' temperament. Three of the studies' four hypotheses were confirmed. First, the more attractive an infant was, the better his/her interactions with the mother were judged to be. Second, FD infant dyads were rated as significantly poorer in quality of interaction than FND dyads, although FD* dyads did not spend significantly less time vocalizing, touching, or in face-to-face gaze as predicted. A significantly higher percentage of FD infants were judged as having difficult temperament relative to FND infants. Finally, as predicted it was found that infants with difficult temperaments were more likely to exhibit poorer quality interactions than infants with less difficult temperaments. These …

Three groups of goldfish were prepared; naive, avoidance-conditioned and pseudo-conditioned animals. Five pseudo-conditioned fish were avoidance trained later and found to have no measurable acquisition of the avoidance conditioning paradigm. Several protein fractions were found to have significantly different rates of synthesis when compared across groups. The possible involvement of these proteins in the memory storage process was discussed.

Victims of racial discrimination often experience negative consequences that extend into all aspects of well-being (e.g., psychological, subjective, social). Racial microaggressions describe a series of verbal and non-verbal behaviors that cause harm, perpetuate negative stereotypes, and negate the experience of racial/ethnic minorities. Research has found a negative relationship between experiencing racial discrimination and psychological well-being, as well as a potential buffering effect of racial/ethnic identity. However, less information is available about the existence of these relationships with social well-being. The purpose of this dissertation is to fill a gap in the literature in regard to racial microaggressions, racial/ethnic identity, and social well-being in 453 racially diverse undergraduate students. Quantitative results indicated that African Americans reported higher levels of racial microaggressions and racial/ethnic identity than other groups, racial microaggressions were negatively associated with sense of belonging, racial/ethnic identity was positively associated with sense of belonging, and the association between racial microaggressions and sense of belonging was not moderated by racial/ethnic identity. Qualitative analyses using the conventional content analysis revealed two clusters of facilitative behavioral expressions of university/community inclusion: (a) interpersonal expressions of inclusion and (b) systemic expression of inclusion. I conclude by discussing limitations, areas for future research, and implications for …

In the current study, I examined the efficacy of mindful self-compassion, imagery, and goal-setting (i.e., treatment as usual) interventions on athletic identity, knee self-efficacy, subjective knee functioning, and perceived injustice, following ACL surgery. Twenty-nine adolescent and young adult athletes participated in the interventions and completed self-report measures assessing each of these constructs prior to their surgery and over seven weeks post-ACL surgery. HLM analyses demonstrated significant decreases in athletic identity and increases in subjective knee functioning from pre-surgery through seven weeks post-surgery. Intervention group further explained these decreases, though no one intervention clearly emerged as more or less beneficial. No significant changes were observed for athletes' ratings of knee self-efficacy or perceived injustice. Limitations and areas for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between and among the degree of mistrust black students hold towards Whites, the students' preferences for race of counselor, and the discussion of problems that are sexual in nature. Participants consisted of 60 black females and 51 black males recruited from a university population. All subjects completed the Terrell and Terrell Cultural Mistrust Inventory, Fischer-Turner Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale, Corrigan and Schmidt Counselor Rating Form - Short Form, Tinsley Expectations About Counseling Inventory, and the Thermometer Method Form developed specifically for this project. A multiple regression model was used to explore the hypotheses of this study. The criterion variables consisted of scores on the Expectations About Counseling Form and Counselor Rating Form. Analyses revealed that the most significant predictors of counseling expectations were race of counselor and participant gender. Black students who were asked to assume \ they would see a black counselor had more favorable expectations about counseling than those black students asked to assume they would see a white counselor. Female participants had more favorable expectations about counseling than male participants. Results also indicated that the most significant predictors of counselor ratings were race of counselor …

Since 2002, the number of veterans enrolled in universities has nearly doubled, although 30-40% of veterans fail to complete their degree. While research efforts to understand the challenges veterans face transitioning from military life to college has increased in recent years, few studies have looked beyond the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Insomnia is the most frequently reported symptom of combat veterans and can have serious implications for college students. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of insomnia and student veteran adaptation to college relative to civilian students. College students (N = 588) were administered a Background Information Questionnaire, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Deployment Risk and Resilience Inventory, and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire. Results revealed that students with insomnia reported significantly lower adaptation to college than students without insomnia. Student veterans reported better academic and personal-emotional adaptation to college than civilian students, while civilians reported better social adjustment than veterans. Although combat veterans without insomnia scored consistently higher academic adjustment than non-combat veterans and civilian students, when present insomnia seemed to have a greater negative effect on combat veterans’ academic adjustment relative to civilian students. Furthermore, insomnia mediated the relationship between combat …

Two continuous performance tests were administered to normal adult subjects. The mode of presentation (visual or auditory) and the type of task (vigilance or distractibility) were varied, and their effects on performance measured. Data were collected on eighty-two subjects, and results indicated that auditory presentation of stimuli increased the difficulty of both tasks. Results also suggest that the distractibility task administered in either mode was more difficult than the vigilance task. Intercorrelations among the four continuous performance tasks are provided. Normative data are presented on all four tasks administered. A measure of symptoms of attention-deficit disorder in adults, the Adult Behavior Checklist, was found to correlate significantly with another measure of pathology, the SCL-90-R.

Rituals are an integral part of society. The focus of research on rituals has been shifting to highlight the effect rituals may produce on individual resilience and ability to function. This study examined the relationships between participation in family rituals and several conceptually related facets of the human experience, including religiosity, openness to experience, and anxiety. Participants responded to questions on an assessment instrument (Family Ritual Questionnaire) designed to measure participation in a broad variety of identified family rituals; they were grouped according to responses on that questionnaire, and the resulting groups were compared on their responses to questionnaires addressing religiosity (Religious Background and Behavior Questionnaire), openness to experience (Revised NEO Personality Inventory Openness to Experiences scale), and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The four-group classification system did not produce significant differences on measures of religiosity, openness to experience, or trait anxiety. Nor were there any significant differences noted when the groups were examined on the basis of the demographic characteristics of age, gender, separation time from family of origin, or academic status. The demographic descriptive which was associated with specific group differences related to adult composition of family of origin: participants described the adults present in their families of origin, …

As increasing emphases are placed on the importance of a muscular male physique in Westernized culture, more men are experiencing eating, exercise, and body image (EEBI) disturbances. Clinician-researchers have identified a syndrome, termed muscle dysmorphia (MD), in which individuals, usually men, are pathologically preoccupied with their perceived lack of muscularity. The current study tested a modified version of an extant theoretical model of MD symptomatology as well as an alternative model of MD symptomatology. Over 700 adult men completed a demographic questionnaire, a symptom inventory, a self-esteem questionnaire, a measure of perfectionism, a measure of the media’s influence on EEBI disturbances, and measures of body dissatisfaction and MD symptoms. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the goodness of fit of the proposed models. Overall, the first model demonstrated poor fit with the data. Conversely, the alternative model fit the data adequately. The alternative model was cross validated with a second sample, and also fit this data adequately.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of music training on electroencephalographic (EEG) coherence of preschool children. EEG coherence is a measurement of brain wave activity that reflects anatomical and neurophysiological parameters and functional connectivity between areas of the brain. Participants were 4- to 6-year-old children divided into two groups: one received music training for 20 minutes twice a week for 10 weeks while the other group served as controls. Nineteen channels of EEG data were collected from each child pre- and post-training. Data were collected from three conditions: eyes-open resting, listening to music, and performing the Object Assembly subtest of the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - Revised (1989). The hypothesis was that the music training group would show increased EEG coherence as compared to controls. The EEG data was reduced into seven bandwidths and analyzed separately for each condition. Multiple ANCOVAs were used to factor out pre-test variability and to maximize connectivity changes between the two groups. The dependent measures were the post-QEEG electrode pairs and the covariates were the pre-QEEG electrode pairs. Results indicated the eyes-open and listening to music conditions showed more significant changes between the groups than the Object Assembly …

The current study discussed the development and validation of the Checklist for Differential Diagnosis of Attentional Problems (CDDAP), a tool for use with adults seeking diagnosis and treatment of an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Normative data are provided on three subject groups (ADHD adults, controls, and adults with other psychiatric disorders). Convergent validity was established with the SCL-90, and criterion validity established through comparing scaled scores with final diagnoses. Overall, this measure was accurate at differentiating adults with ADHD from controls and adults with other psychiatric disorders. Results indicated that the CDDAP was also able to identify other psychiatric disorders with 71 to 92% accuracy, depending on the disorder.

The purposes of the study were to examine the psychosocial variables of hostility and social support, and their independent relationships with resting physiological levels and chronic pain symptoms, and to examine the independent relationships of chronic pain chronicity and social support with hostility.

This study explored the relationship between cultural mistrust level and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. It was hypothesized that Blacks with high levels of cultural mistrust, when compared to those with low levels, would show less favorable attitudes toward seeking formal help for psychological problems. Black students were administered the Cultural Mistrust Inventory, Help-Seeking Attitude Scale, Reid-Gundlach Social Service Satisfaction Scale, and Opinions About Mental Illness Scale. Using a 2 (gender) X 2 (mistrust level) MANCOVA, a main effect for the factor of mistrust level was found along with a mistrust level by gender interaction. Students with higher levels of cultural mistrust were found to hold less favorable attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help when compared to students with lower levels of cultural mistrust.

There are conflicting data in the literature regarding the effects of mirror exposure on subjective body-image evaluation. Much of the objective self-awareness research by Duval and Wicklund concluded that the presence of a mirror leads people to evaluate themselves negatively, while other studies have reported contrary findings. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effects of mirror confrontation on individuals' body image ratings. Subjects were 88 childless, female university students. Using the Eating Disorders Inventory-Body Dissatisfaction subscale (BDS) as a screener, subjects were assigned to either a High Satisfaction group or a Low Satisfaction group. The subjects then completed the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) in either a Mirror or No Mirror condition. Results suggest that the presence of the mirror had no measurable effect on the subjects' ratings of themselves on the MBSRQ. There was a main effect for satisfaction level, and no interaction was found between the satisfaction level and the mirror condition. Possible explanations for these findings are offered.

The present study used the Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile (PRP) to assess differences in personality organization in violent and nonviolent juvenile offenders.

Fictional narratives of 68 female undergraduates classified as either high or low on sex-guilt were rated for libidinal content following subliminal exposure to either a sex-related or a neutral stimulus. Separate dependent measures were obtained for libidinal derivatives bearing either a transparently "close" or a symbolically "distant" relationship to the sex-related stimulus. Subjects in the sex-related stimulus condition expressed significantly fewer close libidinal derivatives than subjects in the neutral condition. High sex-guilt subjects' distant derivative production revealed a near-significant trend toward repression in the neutral condition, but the greatest amount of expression in the sex-related condition. Type of defenses employed are discussed as a function of subliminally perceived stimulus threat.

In this study, effects of facial self-reflection and complexity of self on physiological responses were investigated. Skin conductance levels were measured during baseline and neutral conditions, then under a self-focusing condition provided by mirror reflection of the face. Subjects completed measures of self-complexity, depressive affect, self-esteem, anxiety and body image satisfaction. Eye tracking data was collected during the mirror condition. Results showed a significant effect of mirror self-reflection on physiological reactivity as measured by differences between mirror and baseline mean responses. Pre-test depressive affect was correlated with low self-esteem but not with self-complexity. Self-complexity was negatively correlated with orientation to physical appearance and positively correlated with greater differences between baseline and mirror mean reactivity. Self-complexity and depressive affect did not significantly predict physiological reactivity, although a trend was found for the influence of each variable. Post-hoc analyses showed significant group differences for both self-complexity and depressive affect on physiological reactivity, although the influence of self-complexity was in the unexpected direction. Results of this study are consistent with general findings that negative self-esteem, anxiety and depression are strongly correlated. In addition, a strong correlation was found between negative self-esteem and dissociative symptoms. Exploratory analyses of eye tracking data found no significant …

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which several psychological and personality variables relate to anorexic and bulimic symptomatology in female undergraduates. Past research investigating the relationship between such variables and eating disorders has been contradictory for several reasons, including lack of theoretical bases, discrepant criteria, or combination of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Recent investigators have concluded that it is important to examine subdiagnostic levels of eating pathology, especially within a college population. Thus, the present investigation used a female undergraduate sample in determining the extent to which several psychological factors--obsessiveness, dependency, over-controlled hostility, assertiveness, perceived control, and self-esteem--account for anorexic and bulimic symptomatology. Regression analyses revealed that anorexic symptoms were best explained by obsessiveness and then two measures of dependency, emotional reliance on another and autonomy. Bulimic symptoms were related most strongly to lack of social self-confidence (a dependency measure) and obsessiveness. Clinical implications and directions for future research are addressed.

Two hundred twenty individuals participated in the present study from a university population. The study examined the relationship among attachment styles to caregivers, relationship with God, depressive symptomology, and depressive experiences. Attachment theorists have suggested a connection between childhood attachment to caregivers and current attachment to God through the idea that individuals have "working models" that form how they interpret present relationships. For the most part, the results of the current study supported the idea of correspondence between attachment to caregiver and attachment to God. Individual attachment styles to caregivers matched their attachment style to God. However, when caregiver religiousness was included as a moderating variable, results supported the theory of combined compensation-correspondence for those with insecure attachments to caregivers. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to compensate for their insecure attachment bonds through participation in religious activity, whereas their internal, private relationship with God corresponded with their previous insecure attachment bonds. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to endorse symptoms of depression and report introjective, but not anaclitic, depressive experiences. With respect to attachment to God, introjective depressive experiences were positively related to both anxious and avoidant attachments, whereas, anaclitic depressive experiences were …

A sample of 203 grandparents, 103 of whom were surrogate parents for their grandchildren, were assessed to construct a model of their psychological functioning. Four measures of psychological functioning (i.e., well-being, satisfaction with grandparenting, meaning of grandparenthood, and perceived relationships with grandchildren) were evaluated. Path analysis of data suggested that the resumption of the parental role negatively impacted all measures except the meaning of grandparenthood. Data also suggested a sense of isolation among those raising grandchildren, as well as a sense of role confusion. These factors may have been exacerbated by behavior difficulties of many grandchildren as a result of family conflict preceding the loss of their parents, and by a lack of parenting skills of grandparents who assumed parental responsibilities. These results reinforce other work that found a preference for fulfilling voluntary, nonparental relationships with grandchildren among grandparents.

The principal purpose of this study was the assessment of the relationships of five personality traits, achievement motive, decisiveness, need for power, initiative, and selfassurance, to a criterion of executive success in business. A second purpose of the present study was the construction of a regression equation for the prediction of executive success.

A large body of research has depicted relative arousal of the left and right cerebral hemispheres as related to utilization of particular defensive coping styles, level of anxiety, and perceptual styles. The right and left hemispheres are also presented in the literature as differing in visual-spatial and verbal-auditory short term memory abilities. The present research studied 127 right handed undergraduates' relative performance on forward spatial and digits memory spans in relation to hemispheric lateralization and other perceptual and personality variables hypothesized in the literature to be related to hemispheric arousal. It was hypothesized that the forward spatial and digit memory spans would display asymmetrical sensitivity to hemispheric arousal. That is, in a series of successive factor analyses, a hemispheric balance factor, a trait anxiety factor, and a short term memory factor would emerge. The three factors were hypothesized to be unrelated to each other. During an initial group pretesting, subjects were given pencil and paper measures of handedness, trait anxiety, and several defensive coping styles. During a second individual testing, subjects were administered measures of short term memory, field independence, and a computerized presentation of geometric designs which measured the subjects ability to detect differences which occurred at either the …