Bipolar disorder is associated with significant social and occupational impairments, as well as increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. More research is needed to identify potential mechanisms associated with vulnerability to the disorder. Previous research has identified altered processing of emotional information in bipolar and bipolar-prone individuals, including attentional biases which appear to differ based on the current affective state of the individual. The current study applied a sensitive measure of attention (i.e., eye-tracking) to assess whether vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as indexed by hypomanic personality traits, would be correlated with biases in attention to emotional facial stimuli, independent of mood state. Hypomanic personality traits were hypothesized to be associated with greater attention to happy and angry faces, as indexed by faster initial orientation, more frequent gazes, and longer gaze duration for these stimuli. Participants completed self-report measures assessing current mood symptoms, positive and negative affect, and hypomanic personality traits. They then completed two tasks assessing attention for emotional faces. The first was an eye-tracking task, which measured latency to first fixation, total gaze duration and total number of gazes for each emotional face category. The second was a spatial cueing task which assessed both attentional engagement with emotional …

This study explored psychopathic personality traits among a non-criminal, college undergraduate sample. Much research has been done on conceptualizing the construct of psychopathy, but this work has been conducted primarily with incarcerated individuals using a structured interview, The Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991, 2003). The goal of the current study was to assess psychopathic traits among non-criminal individuals using The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale - Version Four (SRP-IV; Paulhus, Neumann, & Hare, in press), and compare how SRP-IV scores were associated with a well recognized semi-structured interview for psychopathy, The Psychopathy Checklist – Screening Version (PCL: SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). The study also examined whether psychopathic personality traits could be predicted using a measure of normal-range personality, based on the five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990), and a measure developed by Loevinger (1976) related to ego development. Five-Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF; Mullins-Sweat, Jamerson, Samuel, Olson, & Widiger, 2006) scores and Total Protocol Ratings (TPR score) on the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) were used to predict psychopathy scores. Correlations of SRP-IV scores and PCL: SV scores with FFMRF scores and WUSCT TPR scores were also examined for their uniformity. As predicted, there …

Miranda understanding, appreciation, and reasoning abilities are essential to courts' determinations of knowing and intelligent Miranda rights waivers. Despite the remarkable development of Miranda research in recent decades, studies have generally focused on understanding and appreciation of Miranda rights, but have not examined Miranda reasoning and waiver decisions. Therefore, examining the nature of defendants' decisional capacities constitutes a critical step in further developing theoretical and clinical models for competent Miranda waiver decisions. The current study evaluated Miranda waiver decisions for 80 pretrial defendants from two Tulsa-area Oklahoma jails. Previously untested, the current study examined systematically how rational decision abilities affect defendants' personal waiver decisions. Components from general models of legal decision making, such as decisional competence and judgment models, were examined to determine their applicability to Miranda waiver decisions.

Given the high rates of premature termination in training clinics, research aimed at understanding client attrition is urgently needed. Recent investigations in this area have implicated expectations of psychotherapy as a strong predictor of premature termination; however, this phenomenon has only been studied from the perspective of client expectations to date. There is reason to believe clinician expectations for the duration and effectiveness of psychotherapy may further impact the likelihood of their clients terminating prematurely. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the association of clinicians' expectations to clients' psychotherapy outcomes and termination status in a training clinic setting. Clinicians were found to hold significantly higher expectations for client improvement than would be expected, and these high expectations were found to be positively correlated with clinically significant change in clients. Implications for improving client retention and treatment outcome in training clinics are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to confirm the original factor structure of the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML) utilizing a non-clinical adolescent population. Additional analysis examined the relationship between SAT-M scores and spatial relations ability. Exploratory analyses were conducted to determine ethnic and gender differences on the WRAML and subtests from the DAT. Sixty-four academically talented adolescents completed the WRAML and the mechanical reasoning and spatial relations subtests from the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT). The confirmatory factor analysis found the data obtained to not be a good fit for the factor structure of the WRAML (Sheslow & Adams, 1990). Additional confirmatory analyses were conducted which examined data fit of a three factor model found by reanalyzing the standardization data (Burton et al., 1996; Wasserman & Cambias, 1991) as well as two null models. The data failed to fit any of these three models. No support was found for the second hypothesis that predicted a positive relationship between SAT-M scores and spatial relations ability. Ethnic and gender differences on the WRAML and two DAT subtests were examined and discussed. Limitations of this study were reviewed which may have accounted for the overall lack of results.

This study compared perceived levels of parenting stress between mothers and fathers of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), children with developmental disabilities, and normally developing children. The relationship of certain demographic variables, such as Socio-economic Status (SES), number of children, years married, parent age, and child age, as well as social support with parenting stress was also examined for mothers and fathers of these three groups. Identification of factors related to parenting stress in fathers was of particular importance for this study, as fathers are often an underrepresented group within parenting research. Identifying effective methods for predicting high levels of parenting stress is important, as stress has been linked to psychological well-being, potential for abuse, and a greater likelihood of poor adjustment for both parent and child. Results from the present study comparing reported stress levels between groups of parents were supportive of previous studies indicating that parents of children with ADHD and developmentally disabilities experience significantly greater parenting stress, specifically with respect to child characteristics. Significant gender differences were also found between mothers and fathers in terms of parent characteristics related to stress. Fathers reported greater stress in the areas of attachment, while mothers reported more parent role …

This purpose of this study was to combine two bodies of literature on relationships, attachment and violence. Given the impact of men's physical aggression and emotional abuse on women, it is likely that these behaviors would also affect attachment. A model proposing that women's attachment style mediated and moderated the relationship between partners' physical and emotional abuse and the stability of women's relationships was tested. Archival data were used from two waves of interviews with a sample of lowincome, ethnically diverse community women. Most (89%) of the initial 835 participants of Project HOW: Health Outcomes of Women completed at least one additional interview providing information on the status of their initial relationships. Of these women, 39% were African American, 30% were Euro-American, and 31% were Mexican American. The effects of men's psychological abuse and physical violence on women's attachment style were tested with regression analyses. The interrelationships between partners' abuse, attachment and relational stability were tested with SEM. Attachment style was expected to moderate the associations among variables and mediate the impact of partners' negative behavior on relational stability. In regression analyses, partners' psychological abuse predicted avoidant and anxious, but not secure attachment ratings. Violence, although significant, explained less variance …

Children's response to a resistance-to-temptation (RTT) task was investigated under three punishment threat conditions: negative consequence, removing an anticipated reward, and no explicit punishment. Ninety first and second graders participated in the RTT task and seventy-three parents completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children and the Psychopathy Screening Device. As only 4% of children transgressed, results are unclear. Hypotheses tested using approximations of transgression showed no differences in RTT. Children with temperaments characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, attention problems, and conduct problems (HIA-CP) had the highest levels of psychopathic traits compared to all others. In addition, spanked children were rated as having significantly more behavioral problems than non-spanked children. Limitations of the current study and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Older adults' attitudes toward mental health services have received little research attention. Overall, older adults are thought to hold relatively negative attitudes. In this study, Analysis 1 investigated historical shifts in attitudes toward mental health services among three independent samples of older adults, separated by 14-year and 9-year intervals (1977 sample, N = 90; 1991 sample, N = 101; 2000 sample, N = 99). Analysis 2 compared two samples of older and younger adults, each separated by a 9-year interval (Older Adults: 1991 sample, N = 93; 2000 sample, N = 91 and Younger Adults: 1991 sample, N = 131; 2000 sample, N = 147). Participants completed a questionnaire containing five, internally consistent scales assessing multiple dimensions of mental health attitudes (Openness, Biases, Range of Knowledge, Breadth, Help Seeking Attitudes). Analyses suggested that the 1991 and 2000 samples of older adults had more positive attitudes than did the 1977 sample. However, a sustained trend for more positive attitudes beyond 1991 was not seen. In fact, no differences existed between 1991 and 2000 samples with exception of two. Older and younger adults together had lower Biases and Breadth scores in 2000 than in 1991. Age effects, gender effects, and interactions were …

Semantic clustering has been used as a measure of learning strategies in a number of clinical populations and has been found to be deficient in individuals with Schizophrenia, but less attention has been paid to the dynamic use of this strategy over the course of fixed-order learning trials. In the current study, we examined this pattern of clustering use over trials in a sample of individuals with Schizophrenia, and explored whether the addition of this dynamic information would help us to better predict specific executive deficits. Results suggested that a decrease in semantic clustering across trials was associated with some executive deficits in the predicted manner. Nonetheless, the overall semantic clustering index generally proved more effective for the purposes, suggesting that in this population, the addition of dynamic information in strategy use is not likely to add considerably to clinical prediction and understanding.

The relationship between an individual's level of spirituality, health locus of control, and participating in wellness activity was investigated. The relationship between spirituality, health locus of control on physical health was also investigated. The research question was based on prior studies that reported people who are more spiritual are healthier. Does their spirituality lead to increased levels of health, or are individual's who are more spiritual more likely to proactively take control of their health and engage in health promoting behaviors? One hundred and fifteen male and female employees completed The Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS), a spirituality measure, The Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, a measure of locus of control related to health and healthcare, and The Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Health Risk Appraisal, a self-report measure of participation in health behaviors. Physical measures of health were obtained by obtaining Body Mass Index, blood pressure readings, and a cholesterol screening. The current study looked at level of spirituality (internal, external), level of health locus of control (internal, powerful other, chance) and participation in wellness/health promoting behaviors and health. Correlational analyses were performed on the relationship between spirituality and health locus of control. Hierarchical multiple regressions were …

By the year 2000 women will constitute more than 50 percent of the workforce in the United States, yet their representation in top management and executive-level positions continues to hover in the single digits. This “glass ceiling,” which is conceptualized as limiting women's advancement into these roles, has been the subject of much debate and research over the last fifteen years. As both an equal rights and key competitive issue, the topic of women and leadership is gaining ever-increasing emphasis and momentum in American corporations. Although leadership skills have been advocated as a key human capital/person-centered variable leading to managerial ascendancy for women, the empirical research directly investigating this link is virtually non-existent. This longitudinal study proposed to measure the strength of this relationship using a matched sample of male and female managers. Eighty-five subjects, from the same U.S. based health-care products corporation, had previously participated in a multirater assessment process where seven different facets of their leadership skills were evaluated. Time two data were collected on four objective measures of ascendancy: percent change in salary, number of promotions (job moves) either offered or accepted, change in number of direct reports, and change in number of indirect reports. Multivariate analysis …

The establishment of physiological norms for psychologically hardy vs. non-hardy individuals was attempted by examination of levels of salivary cortisol and urinary norepinephrine before and after a mid-term examination stressor. Normative data was collected on the reported frequency of stressors and their severity one week prior to the examination, and self-reported ratings of stress immediately prior to the examination. Performance on the examination as a function of hardiness was explored. Associations between demographic variables and psychological hardiness were also studied. Results from this study were inconclusive in establishing physiological norms for psychologically hardy individuals. Associations were found between: 1) hardiness and frequency of stressors; 2) hardiness and age; and 3) self-reported ratings of stress and anxiety as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

Psychopaths constitute only an estimated 1% of the population, yet they are responsible for a disproportionately large number of violent and nonviolent crimes. The literature addressing this syndrome among male offenders is quite extensive. In contrast, psychopathy and its underlying factor structure remains understudied among female offenders. Research has suggested marked gender differences in the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and underlying dimensions of psychopathy. This study examined the dimensions of psychopathy in a female offender sample. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised and the Self Report Psychopathy-II (SRP-II) were administered to 119 female inmates at Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, TX. Confirmatory factor analyses of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) did not support the use of the traditional two factor male model or a recently proposed two- factor female model. This thesis also addressed females' self-appraisal of PCL-R Factor 1 characteristics as well as the usefulness of the self-administered Self-Report Psychopathy-II as a screen for psychopathy.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is surrounded by confusion and controversy regarding its definition, course, etiology and treatment. Among adults, ADHD is rarely considered a diagnostic reality of primary importance and is often overlooked. This study provides descriptive validity for adult ADHD in distinguishing it from controls, and identifying both a pure condition and one wrought with comorbidity.

The McCarron-Dial System (MDS) has successfully predicted vocational and independent living outcomes with neuropsychologically disabled individuals receiving rehabilitation services. In addition, preliminary validation studies suggest that the abbreviated MDS is useful for clinical neuropsychological diagnosis. The present study represents part of an ongoing research project aimed at validating the expanded version of the MDS for diagnosis of neuropsychological dysfunction. Specifically, it was hypothesized that the expanded MDS would be able to accurately discriminate between brain-damaged and non-brain-damaged individuals. Accurate diagnosis facilitates rehabilitation efforts for individuals with neuropsychological disabilities and the data profile provided by the expanded version of the MDS can consequently form the basis from which more complete individual treatment and rehabilitation plans can be conceptualized.

Depressive symptomology was examined in this study as a function of conflict and intimate support with parents, friends, and siblings among a non-clinical sample of 223 predominately white sixth-grade early adolescents. Moreover, sixth-graders' depressive symptomology was examined as a function of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. The purpose of the present study was twofold: 1) to explore the effects of intimate support and conflict in family and friend relationships on sixth-grade early adolescent depressive symptomology, 2) to determine whether poor conflict management skills self-efficacy and poor intimate support self-efficacy are linked with depressive symptomology in sixth-grade early adolescents. Friend relationship qualities had little impact on depression in sixth-graders. However, the presence of conflict and deficits in family intimate support, especially from parents, was associated with increased depression. Increased levels of depression also corresponded with lower ratings of conflict management self-efficacy and intimate support self-efficacy. Moreover, relationship difficulties combined with self-efficacy deficits to affect depression.

Thirty one students with learning disabilities (LD) and/or with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) completed a combined Academic Attributional Style and Coping with Academic Failures Questionnaire. The reformulated learned helplessness model (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) predicted that students with negative attributional styles (i.e., internal-stable-global attributions) experienced motivational, cognitive, and emotional deficits. The present study examined college achievement (grade point average) of students with LD and/or ADHD. The Prediction that students with LD and/or ADHD with negative attributional styles would achieve less academic success than comparable students with positive attributional styles (i.e., extenal-unstable-specific attributions) was supported by the research results.

Competency to stand trial cases constitute the largest percentage of forensic referrals for clinical psychologists. Furthermore, research suggests that the use of forensic measures facilitates the decisions of competency made by forensic examiners. This study investigated the construct validity of three competency measures: (a) the GCCT-MSH, (b) the MacCAT-CA, and (c) the ECST with 100 adult males incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, TX. Construct validity was investigated via the use of a multitrait-multimethod research design for the three-prong conceptualization of the Dusky standard. Results indicated that current competency measures do an adequate job of assessing for factual understanding, but lack construct validity for two prongs: rational understanding and the ability to consult with counsel. In addition, the atypical presentation scales of the both GCCT and the ECST performed well at screening individuals for feigning. Finally, prediction of competency from clinical variables was also investigated. Psychotic symptoms and overall impairment were the strongest predictors of incompetency.

The present study examined age cohort differences in older and younger adults as they relate to perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. The present study also assessed whether previous help-seeking behavior influences perceptions of what counselor characteristics would be helpful. The social influence model is used as basis for predictions. The first research hypothesis for the present study was that there would be an age by cohort interaction in perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics at both Time 1 (1991) and Time 2 (2001). The second research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for cohort, with more recently born cohorts preferring more interpersonal counselor characteristics. The third research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for age in endorsement of the social influence model. The fourth research hypothesis was that there would be a significant difference between the perceptions of those individuals who had previously sought help from a mental health professional and those individuals who had not sought help, regardless of age and cohort. A revised Adjective Check List (Gough, 1965; Gough & Heilbrum, 1983) was used to assess perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. Chi-square analyses, MANOVA/supplementary ANOVAs, and exploratory factor analyses were used to test …

Psychopathy, as conceptualized by Cleckley (1941), describes a constellation of psychological and behavioral correlates including superficial charm, untruthfulness, lack of remorse or shame, poor judgment, and failure to learn from experience. Based on Cleckley's initial work, Hare (1991) developed a two-factor model of psychopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles that sensation seeking, impulsivity, ADHD, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder have on adolescents classified as psychopaths. The participants consisted of 79 adjudicated male adolescents in a maximum-security facility. As hypothesized, adolescent male psychopaths had higher levels of sensation seeking, impulsivity, conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. A discriminant function analysis found that sensation seeking, impulsivity, ADHD, Conduct Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder was moderately useful in classifying adolescent psychopathy. The results suggest that behavioral dysregulation is an important aspect of adolescent psychopathy. The relationship of these data to theories of adolescent psychopathy is discussed.

The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of juvenile offender assessments. Data from 104 juvenile offender assessments were analyzed and followed up with placement, subsequent offending, and outcome data from the juvenile and adult systems. Constructs consistently assessed included intellectual functioning, academic achievement, and personality functioning; however, under-diagnosis of intellectual deficits, learning disabilities, and personality disorders was found. Results indicated the assessment of family functioning, substance use, and social functioning should be included in comprehensive assessments, as they may result in alternative placement and treatment options of benefit to the juvenile offender. A juvenile offender typology proposed by DiCataldo and Grisso (1995) was successfully utilized and proved predictive of recidivism, future harm to others, and outcome.

A biodata based personnel selection measure was created to improve the retention rate of Catalog Telemarketing Representatives at a major U.S. retail company. Five separate empirical biodata scoring methods were compared to examine their usefulness in predicting retention and reducing adverse impact. The Mean Standardized Criterion Method, the Option Criterion Correlation Method, Horizontal Percentage Method, Vertical Percentage Method, and Weighted Application Blank Method using England's (1971) Assigned Weights were employed. The study showed that when using generalizable biodata items, all methods, except the Weighted Application Blank Method, were similar in their ability to discriminate between low and high retention employees and produced similar low adverse impact effects. The Weighted Application Blank Method did not discriminate between the low and high retention employees.

The relationships among self-labeled sexual orientation, sexual preferences, and sexual behaviors were examined in samples from Taiwan and the USA. Subsamples matched on gender, age, and marital status were created to reduce sexual orientation cell size discrepancies and demographic differences. Sexual orientation self-label, the Kinsey Scale of Sexual Orientation, and a modified version for preference were used to assess participants' sexual orientation, behavior, and preference, respectively. Additional measures included an adaptation of the Early Sexual Experiences Checklist, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist for psychological distress. For both Taiwan and USA subsamples, heterosexual participants reported significantly greater congruence between sexual orientation identity and preference than did nonheterosexual participants. A high proportion of the Taiwan sample were celibate, precluding analyses of congruence between sexual orientation identity and sexual behavior. Congruence between sexual behavior and preference in the USA sample was negatively correlated with psychological distress. In a cross-cultural comparison between the Taiwan and USA women (n = 176), the two samples reported similar congruence between sexual orientation identity and preference. Exploratory analyses revealed that heterosexual participants' sexual orientation label was more “public, ” (more categories of people who knew the participants' sexual orientation), than was nonheterosexuals' in both Taiwan and the USA. …