Maternal ego development and mother-infant interaction in drug-abusing women

The efficacy and safety of remifentanil and alfentanil for patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were compared. Premedicated patients received a loading dose of remifentanil (1.0 microgram.kg-1; n = 116) and a continuous infusion of 0.5 microgram.kg-1.min-1, or a loading dose of alfentanil (25 micrograms.kg-1; n = 118) and a continuous infusion of 1.0 microgram.kg-1.min-1. Propofol was administered (10 mg every 10 s) until loss of consciousness. Patients' lungs were ventilated with 66% nitrous oxide and 0.5% (end-tidal) isoflurane in oxygen. The study drug infusion rate was reduced by 50% 5 min after intubation. Alfentanil was discontinued 15 min before the end of surgery, whereas remifentanil was continued in the immediate postoperative period at a reduced dose. Responses to intubation (28%) and skin incision (17%) occurred approximately twice as often in the alfentanil group (15% and 8%; p = 0.014 and p = 0.037, respectively). More patients receiving alfentanil had one or more responses to surgery (72% vs. 57%; p = 0.016). The time to spontaneous respiration, adequate respiration, response to verbal command and time to recovery room discharge were similar. However, owing to decreased variability, the time to extubation was shorter with remifentanil than with alfentanil (p = 0.048). There was a similar overall incidence of adverse events in both groups, 82% and 75% of patients, respectively. Adverse events associated with remifentanil were rapidly controlled by dose reductions. The incidence of intra-operative hypotension and bradycardia was higher in the remifentanil group (p < or = 0.033). An initial remifentanil infusion rate of 0.1 microgram.kg-1.min-1 titrated to individual need provided postoperative pain relief in the presence of adequate respiration in 71% of patients. When using remifentanil in the immediate postoperative setting, rapid administration of bolus doses and infusion rate increases resulted in a relatively high incidence of muscle rigidity, respiratory depression and apnoea. Changing the postoperative regimen to avoid rapid changes in remifentanil blood concentration resulted in more effective analgesia and dramatically reduced the incidence of adverse events during this period. In patients undergoing major abdominal surgery, remifentanil appears to offer superior intra-operative haemodynamic stability during stressful surgical events compared with alfentanil without compromising recovery from anaesthesia. Remifentanil can be administered as a postoperative analgesic agent at a starting dose of 0.1 microgram-.kg-1.min-1; however, it should only be used in the presence of adequate supervision and monitoring of the patient. Administration of bolus doses is not recommended in this setting.     

Individual differences in adult ego development: Sources of influence in twins reared apart.

A behavior genetic analysis of the personality dimension of ego development, as assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, was carried out on a sample of 45 pairs of monozygotic twins and 28 pairs of same-sex dizygotic twins. The twins ranged in age from 16 to 70 years at the time of assessment, had been separated during infancy, and had been raised apart in adoptive homes before being reunited in adulthood. Analyses indicated that reared-apart twins were similar in trait levels of ego development and that such similarity could not solely be attributed to measured similarity in cognitive ability, including verbal reasoning. Estimates of broad heritability for ego development (46%) were comparable to values reported for other major personality dimensions. Phenotypic variance in adult levels of ego development appears to have substantial genetic and environmental sources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy and ego development.

Examined the relationship between empathy and ego development to determine whether, as J. Loevinger (1976) suggested, empathy is characteristic of higher levels of ego development. 51 undergraduates (dormitory advisors) completed the Affective Sensitivity Scale (a measure of empathy) and the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (a measure of ego development). Analysis of test scores indicated that Ss at higher levels of ego development (I-? and above) had significantly higher empathy scores than did those at lower ego levels. Findings have implications for the selection and training of individuals to serve in counseling or quasi-counseling roles. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and sexual relations.

Examined the relationship between self-monitoring propensities and orientations toward sexual relations among 116 female and 139 male undergraduates, who completed the Self-Monitoring Scale, questions pertaining to previous and anticipated overt sexual behavior, and attitudinal indices regarding sex without commitment and casual sex. Factor analysis revealed that high self-monitoring Ss tended to establish an unrestricted orientation toward sexual relations (e.g., having sex with others to whom they were not necessarily psychologically close), whereas low self-monitoring Ss tended to establish a restricted orientation (e.g., they would have sex only with partners to whom they were psychologically close). At the behavioral level, high relative to low self-monitoring Ss indicated that they had a larger number of different sexual partners within the preceding year, could foresee themselves having sex with a larger number of different partners within the next 5 yrs, and were more likely to have engaged in sex with someone on only 1 occasion. At the attitudinal level, low compared to high self-monitoring Ss indicated that they would be more reluctant to have sex with someone to whom they were not committed and that they would be more uncomfortable with, and less likely to enjoy engaging in, casual sex with different partners. Possible explanations for these contrasting orientations are discussed. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent drug-use problems and adult intimate relations: Associations among community samples of young adult women and men.

Clinical and anecdotal evidence suggests that being raised by drug-abusing parents may create problems with intimacy in later life. Nearly all previous work has failed to consider other types of family dysfunction as a precursor to problems with adult intimacy. Many empirical analyses of adult children of drug users (ACDUs) have been compromised by several methodological and conceptual inadequacies, including sample biases, overly simplistic operationalization of ACDU status, and limited analytic procedures. Structural equation models were used to analyze data from a community sample of men and women to address many of these defects. For both women and men, parent drug-use problems predicted poor family support, and family support was strongly associated with good adult intimate relations. Furthermore, for men, more parent drug-use problems reduced dyadic adjustment, increased dependence, and had a specific effect on reducing dating competence. For women, parent drug-use problems had no direct effects on adult intimacy or relationship variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality variables in union-management relations.

To test the hypothesis that personalities of key figures have a significant impact upon the course of union-management relations at the plant level, quantitative data were gathered on the relationship in 33 tool-and-die shops. Each manager and each steward provided personality data (Guilford-Zimmerman) and judgments of best and poorest co-workers. A factor analysis of all possible intercorrelations showed a greater than chance expectancy of significant loadings of personality measures on the factors representing basic dimensions of the union-management relationship. Within limits set by such factors as technology and union policy, the personality of the top manager or the top union official may significantly modify the course of union-management interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Value transition and adult development in women: The instrumentality-terminality sequence hypothesis.

Tested the hypothesis that with increasing age there is a decreasing preference for values of instrumentality and a parallel increase in preference for values of terminality. 57 middle-aged and 62 old-aged females (mean ages, 43.1 and 70.4 yrs, respectively) completed the Rokeach Value Survey according to actual age or an assigned target age (middle-aged or old-aged). Data were analyzed using actual age, target age, class of values (instrumental vs terminal), and desirability (control) condition (personal vs social) as variables. Results show a main effect of Class Values and the predicted Target Age * Desirability Condition * Class of Values triple interaction. Findings support and expand previous research and also support the existence of self-acknowledged transitional or reorganizational phases in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The meaning and measurement of ego development.

Defense of research workers in clinical psychology. Ego development is "second only to intelligence in accounting for human variability [and] must become a focal construct in psychological theory and research." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Egocentrism and ego resiliency: Personality characteristics associated with perspective-taking from early childhood to adolescence.

Examined the longitudinal relation between ego resiliency and egocentrism in 58 females and 53 males who were assessed independently from 3 to 14 yrs of age. Measures of Level 1 and Level 2 egocentrism were administered to the Ss at 3 yrs of age, and personality evaluations (the California Child Q-Set) were obtained at 3, 4, 7, 11, and 14 yrs of age in the form of Q-sort ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. Ss' intelligence was measured with the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) when they were 4 yrs of age. The relation between egocentrism and ego resiliency was observed to depend on level of egocentrism and S's sex. For females, both Level 1 and Level 2 egocentrism were negatively correlated with ego resiliency concurrently at 3 yrs of age, but no long-term implications of egocentrism emerged. For males, Level 1 egocentrism was consistently negatively associated with ego resiliency from early childhood into adolescence. However, Level 2 egocentrism displayed no concurrent or any dependable longitudinal relation with ego resiliency. Findings support the usefulness of invoking personality characteristics to explain variations in cognitive-developmental levels among individuals. Possible interpretations of the relation between egocentrism and ego resiliency and the sex differences in the pattern of results are discussed. (72 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mapping conceptual to spatial relations in visual reasoning.

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the impact of goals and perceptual relations on graph interpretation when people evaluate functional dependencies between continuous variables. Participants made inferences about the relative rate of 2 continuous linear variables (altitude and temperature). The authors varied the assignments of variables to axes, the perceived cause–effect relation between the variables, and the causal status of the variable being queried. The most striking finding was that accuracy was greater when the slope-mapping constraint was honored, which requires that the variable being queried be assigned to the vertical axis, so that steeper lines map to faster changes in the queried variable. The authors propose that graphs provide external instantiations of intermediate mental representations, enabling people to move from visuospatial representations to abstractions through the use of natural mappings between perceptual and conceptual relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loevinger's model and measure of ego development: A critical review.

Reviews the approach to the conceptualization and assessment of ego development which has been proposed by J. Loevinger (1969) and her associates. Despite the fact that it is only 5 yrs since the measurement technique was linked to this model of ego development, a number of workers have used this approach to ego development in diverse studies, taken from both psychological and sociocultural perspectives. Data relevant to reliability and validity issues are presented, with major emphasis on validity problems. Evidence from published and unpublished studies is examined in terms of its bearing on further empirical understanding of this model, as well as on 2 key assumptions contained within this approach to ego development. Several unresolved conceptual problems which are generated by this model of ego development are discussed. (11/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The developmental relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge: A multimethod approach.

Interactions between conceptual and procedural knowledge influence the development of mathematical competencies. However, after decades of research, these interrelations are still under debate, and empirical results are inconclusive. The authors point out a source of these problems. Different kinds of knowledge and competencies only show up intertwined in behavior, making it hard to measure them validly and independently of each other. A multimethod approach was used to investigate the extent of these problems. A total of 289 fifth and sixth graders’ conceptual and procedural knowledge about decimal fractions was measured by 4 common hypothetical measures of each kind of knowledge. Study 1 tested whether treatments affected the 2 groups of measures in consistent ways. Study 2 assessed, across 3 measurement points, whether conceptual and procedural knowledge could be modeled as latent factors underlying the measures. The results reveal substantial problems with the validities of the measures, which might have been present but gone undetected in previous studies. A solution to these problems is essential for theoretical and practical progress in the field. The potential of the multimethod approach for this enterprise is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile: An integration of drive, ego, and object relations perspectives.

Over the last 20 years a growing number of psychoanalytic researchers have explored theoretical constructs and psychopathology through empirical investigation of object representations elicited in projective tests, particularly the Rorschach. A newly designed scoring system, the Psychoanalytic Rorschach Profile (PRP), was created to overcome the limitations of previously published scoring systems. The PRP consists of 10 scales that assess the areas of impulse, ego structure, and object relations. A pilot study to determine reliability and validity of the new scoring system was undertaken by comparing the Rorschach protocols of five borderline and five schizophrenic subjects. Analysis of data results revealed high interrater reliability and significant discrimination of the clinical groups. The potential power of an integrated profile analysis of Rorschach imagery by the PRP is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality disorders: model for conceptual approach and classification. Part I: General model

In this article we present data suggesting that one core deficit in personality represents a common dimension extending across most categories of personality disorders (PDs), whereas clinically discrete syndromes classified as PDs in DSM IIIR are categorical maladaptive types related orthogonally to the common borderline dimension. In a sample of 121 subjects with PDs and 67 controls, persons with PDs and without PDs manifested similar profiles on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) scales for various behavior styles. Conversely, the two groups consistently differed with respect to the MCMI borderline scale: in contrast to non-PD persons, those with PDs were strikingly more borderline and typically scored above 75 points (the latter has been established as the cut off for the diagnosis of Borderline PD). Likewise, persons with PDs scored significantly higher on the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines than the control group. These results suggest that: i) most symptoms usually considered typical of the borderline personality characterize other PDs as well; ii) borderline features seem to be characteristic of persons with PDs and can be used to distinguish PDs vs. non-PDs. Therefore, symptoms widely regarded as typical of the borderline personality characterize other PDs as well. This shared dimension may explain the overlap in categorical diagnoses of individual PDs. Moreover, this shared dimension may be efficiently used as the classificatory principle for PDs. In Part II of this article, we present a model that classifies deviant behaviors in a systematic way, i.e., combines three levels of functioning (normal, neurotic, and borderline) with a limited number of categories of (mal) adaptive behavior types.     

Risk mechanisms in development: Some conceptual and methodological considerations.

This commentary focuses on several issues concerning research on risk mechanisms that are raised in this special issue. First, we focus on what marks this special issue as distinctive in the ways in which risk research is conducted. Second, several general issues in research are highlighted, including sample characteristics, measurement strategies, specificity of risk factors and risk mechanisms, categorical vs. dimensional approaches to samples and measures, and definitions of development and transitions. Third, the challenges for integrating alternative models of risk are discussed, with special references to research on genetic and environmental influences on developmental psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, mood, and cognitive processing of emotional information: three conceptual frameworks

This article reviews evidence for the roles that mood states and personality traits play in the processing of emotion-congruent information across different cognitive tasks. Evidence is reviewed for 3 emotion-congruency frameworks, each summarizing a different route to emotional processing: the traditional approach, a moderation approach, and a mediation approach. Most of the traditional literature includes studies that examine the effects of moods and traits on emotional processing separately; these studies have yielded some inconsistent findings. The moderation and mediation approaches offer potential solutions to the lack of consistency obtained in the traditional literature by allowing for the combined effects of personality traits and mood states on the processing of emotional information. The moderation approach suggests that mood states interact with individual differences in emotion-relevant personality traits to influence emotion-congruent processing. The mediation approach suggests that personality traits predispose individuals to certain mood states, which then influence emotional processing. These approaches provide a framework for understanding the literature and a starting point for future research on emotion-congruent processing.     

From conceptual roles to structural relations: Bridging the syntactic cleft.

The distinction between underlying and superficial linguistic structure is a staple of modern cognitive psychology. Despite increasingly diverse conceptions of syntactic relations in linguistic theory, the received view in psycholinguistics has remained one in which the entities assigned to underlying relations may assume different surface relations. This view is examined in the context of language production and evidence is reviewed that the disposition to bind animate entities to the surface subject relation is a basic feature of language use, suggesting that mappings from conceptual categories to syntactic relations form a main support of the bridge from conception to language. Proceeding on this assumption, an evaluation of competing accounts of the mapping process in production is given. Results argue against syntactic relation-changing operations, but favor a division between meaning- and form-related mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality profiles of gifted women: Psychologists.

Compared the responses to the 16PF of 124 highly successful women psychologists with women in general, college women, and successful academic men to identify personality factors enabling these women to succeed in spite of powerful sex-role expectations to the contrary. In terms of test scores, women psychologists were significantly more intelligent, socially aloof, dominant, serious, adventuresome, sensitive, flexible, imaginative, insightful, unconventional, secure, self-sufficient, and less anxiety-prone than women in general and college girls. Despite similar test profiles of successful academic men and women, the women scored higher on intelligence, radicalism, and super-ego strength, and lower on self-sentiment. Women who published extensively were more exacting and socially aloof than less productive women psychologists. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between career indecision subtypes and ego identity development.

Four cluster groups of career-undecided college students (N?=?423) were formed from Career Factors Inventory scores. Career decision groups were compared across Erikson's first 5 stages of ego identity development as measured by the Ego Development Scale (R. Ochse & C. Plug, 1986). It was predicted that career decision groups would differ in level of ego identity resolution, with groups that experienced the most indecision reporting the least successful resolution. Using profile analysis, overall profile parallelism, level, and shape were examined, and comparisons of career decision groups within the substages were made. Results indicated that the 4 career decision groups differed in their degree of successful identity resolution in the predicted direction. Results are related to career interventions and treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)