The clinical utility of the Intermediate Category Test, a measure of executive functioning in children 9 to 14 years of age, is currently limited by the availability of only a Total Error score for normative interpretation. The Process Scoring System (PSS) was developed to provide a standardized method of assessing specific processing patterns and problem-solving errors. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the PSS scores to discriminate between children with and without suspected executive deficits, thereby providing evidence of criterion-related validity.

Reitan and Wolfson's General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale and Left and Right Neuropsychological Deficit Scales were applied to Halstead-Reitan test data of individuals with psychotic or substance abuse disorders with and without a head injury.

Psychologists' diagnostic choices when the specificity of child sexual abuse in a clinical vignette is varied was examined. The degree to which Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was judged to be a viable diagnostic choice among a set of diagnoses was analyzed under conditions with sexual abuse stated, implied, not stated, and excluded. PTSD was rated as more likely for the stated and implied sexual abuse vignettes than for the not stated and excluded vignettes.

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.

Predictors of institutional adjustment for juvenile offenders were examined using a sample of 120 males in a detention facility. While demographic information failed to differentiate between well and poorly adjusted juveniles, psychological measures appeared to be more effective. Several MMPI-A clinical scales were useful predictors with the overall elevation in clinical scales being one of the strongest predictors. In addition, the Psychopathy Checklist - Clinical Version (PCL-CV) was a strong predictor of adjustment. Major ethnic differences occurred in the prediction of adjustment, with the MMPI-A and PCL-CV scales predicting infraction rates for the African American group but not Anglo American or Hispanic American groups.

Psychopathic criminals commit more crimes, are more prone to recidivism, and more likely to engage in violent crimes and other aggressive behavior than nonpsychopathic criminals. Less is known about forensic patients, both with and without psychopathy, and their aggression. In the current study, patients in a maximum security hospital were examined with respect to their psychopathy and its predictive value on institutional management and dangerousness. In this regard, the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) and the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R) have proven to be valid and reliable measures of psychopathy. The present study was an attempt to establish predictive validity for a new version: the Psychopathy Checklist Screening Version (PCLSV). As such, this study examined the PCL-SV's relationship to (a) diagnoses of Antisocial Personality Disorder according to DSM-III-R criteria and (b) the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) Aggression, Drug Problems, and Antisocial Features scales. The influence of major Axis I disorders on the assessment of psychopathy with the PCLSV was also examined. Participants were 150 male forensic psychiatric patients at Vernon State Hospital who were committed for various reasons: incompetence to stand trial, initial evaluation and treatment after having been found not guilty by reason of insanity, and manifest dangerousness. Chart reviews …

Using a manufacturing setting that is organized into self-managed teams, the current study identified and measured key leadership behaviors within the teams. Questions that were asked include: are some team leadership behaviors more critical to a team's level of functioning than other behaviors? and do successful self-managed teams rely on formal leadership to a lesser extent than members of less successful teams? These questions were asked in the context of leadership as a process, not an individual.

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.

The relationship between psychological hardiness and individuals' coping with two life events, involuntary job loss and post-parental launching of adolescent children, was investigated in a sample of 146 adults, 83 of which had experienced job loss and 61 of which had experienced the empty nest. Volunteers completed questionnaires which measured hardiness, distress, coping strategies, neuroticism, and extraversion. Multivariate analyses were performed, both with and without covariates, for overall hardiness as well as the hardiness subscales of control, commitment, and challenge. Significant hardiness by life event interactions on escape-avoidance coping were found in both sets of analyses. Main effects for hardiness, however, disappeared when controls for neuroticism and extraversion were utilized. Findings underscore the necessity of employing neuroticism controls in future hardiness research.

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 extended earlier research supporting discrepancy theory by including a multidimensional conceptualization of gender including attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics. Analyses revealed that gender discrepancy when assessed multidimensionally or unidimensionally (as in past research) was not significantly related to eating disordered symptomatology.

Research has documented an association between sustained overt psychological abuse and women's self-concept and psychological distress. However, the focus on overt domination and control limits our understanding of its impact and is a weakness addressed in this study. Women in distressed relationships who had sustained severe psychological abuse from a partner and either no, moderate, or serious violence met inclusion criteria.

The purpose of this study was to examine sociocultural and psychological correlates of bulimic symptomatology and drive for thinness in a sample of nonclinical female adolescents.