A comparison of treatment strategies for clients functionally impaired by extreme shyness and social avoidance.

Compared a treatment that combined graduated exposure to fear-provoking situations and training in other-focused social skills with graduated exposure alone and waiting list control conditions. Ss were 52 adults (aged 20–50 yrs) who reported impairment in their social, occupational, and heterosocial functioning due to extreme shyness. Improvement in social functioning was assessed through self-reported social activities in the community, through judges' ratings of a laboratory-based social interaction, and through therapists' ratings. Ss who received a combination of graduated exposure and interpersonal process training improved significantly more on measures of community functioning and therapist ratings than did Ss who received graduated exposure procedures alone or waiting list Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning.

Individual differences in emotionality and regulation are central to conceptions of temperament and personality. In this article, conceptions of emotionality and regulation and ways in which they predict social functioning are examined. Linear (including additive) and nonlinear effects are reviewed. In addition, data on mediational and moderational relations from a longitudinal study are presented. The effects of attention regulation on social functioning were mediated by resiliency, and this relation was moderated by negative emotionality at the first, but not second, assessment. Negative emotionality moderated the relation of behavior regulation to socially appropriate/prosocial behavior. These results highlight the importance of examining different types of regulation and the ways in which dispositional characteristics interact in predicting social outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The shyness and social anxiety workbook.

Reviews the book, The shyness and social anxiety workbook by Martin M. Antony and Richard P. Swinson (see record 2001-16563-000). Books that provide information and guidance for people with social anxiety are a much-needed resource. Unfortunately, relatively few self-help books completely meet the needs of these individuals--some books are overly academic, others overwhelm readers with details. Therefore, it was a pleasure to read this workbook by Drs. Antony and Swinson. Designed to address the concerns of people whose lives are impaired by social anxiety, the volume provides a clear, comprehensive, and sophisticated self-help guide. The volume is divided into two sections. Part 1 consists of three chapters that present information to increase readers' understanding of social anxiety. Part II focuses on strategies to overcome social anxiety. In general, the book is written at a level that will be readily understood by members of the general public but without the patronizing simplification that can characterize self-help volumes. The book manages to capture the complexity of social anxiety as a clinical condition without overwhelming the anxious reader with excessive detail. Although this book is directed primarily at people for whom social anxiety is a significant life concern, it will also be of interest to clinicians working with individuals with social phobia, avoidant personality disorder, and other conditions marked by interpersonal discomfort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From private attitude to public opinion: A dynamic theory of social impact.

A computer simulation modeled the change of attitudes in a population resulting from the interactive, reciprocal, and recursive operation of B. Latané's (see record 1982-01296-001) theory of social impact, which specifies principles underlying how individuals are affected by their social environment. Surprisingly, several macrolevel phenomena emerged from the simple operation of this microlevel theory, including an incomplete polarization of opinions reaching a stable equilibrium, with coherent minority subgroups managing to exist near the margins of the whole population. Computer simulations, neglected in group dynamics for 20 years, may, as in modern physics, help determine the extent to which group-level phenomena result from individual-level processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical considerations of social/romantic relationships with present and former clients.

The chairpersons of the state and provincial ethics committees and the executive directors of licensing boards were surveyed in regard to the frequency of complaints of sexual impropriety filed against psychologists during 1982 and 1983. The survey also concerned the disposition of the complaints and whether the psychologists alleged that the therapeutic relationship had terminated before the initiation of the sexual relationship. The findings indicated that a considerable number of complaints had been filed, that close to half had led to findings of violations by the psychologists, and that psychologists asserting that a sexual relationship had occurred only after the termination of the therapeutic relationship were more likely to be found in violation than those not making that claim. Implications of these findings are discussed, and we recommend that the American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics be modified to include a statement regarding sexual relationships with former clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resistance-skills training and onset of alcohol use: Evidence for beneficial and potentially harmful effects in public schools and in private Catholic schools.

Recent research suggests that the success of social influence prevention programs is due to enhancing an adolescent's ability to resist passive social pressure (e.g., social modeling and overestimation of peer use), and is not due to teaching refusal skills for combating active social pressure (i.e, alcohol and drug offers). Using 4 waves of longitudinal data (collected in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades) from 11,995 students participating in the Adolescent Alcohol Prevention Trial, resistance-skills training was found to be an effective strategy for preventing the onset of alcohol use when program assumptions were met. However, a counterproductive effect was found for adolescents attending public school who received a resistance training only condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of public and private self-consciousness on the public expression of personal beliefs.

Examined the joint effects of private and public self-consciousness (SC) on attitudinal consistency. 113 male undergraduates (categorized as high and low private and high and low public SC) reported their own attitudes toward punishment. Later, each S was asked to write an essay in which he restated his attitude. Immediately prior to writing the essay, S learned that he would also be discussing his opinion with either a partner who held an attitude opposite to his own or a partner whose attitude was unknown. As predicted, the attitudes expressed in the essays of high public SC Ss were more moderate than those expressed by low public SC Ss. One effect of this moderation strategy was to lower the correlation between privately held and publicly expressed beliefs among Ss high in public SC. In contrast, attitudinal consistency was substantial among Ss who were low in public and high in private SC. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medicaid's quiet revolution: Merging the public and private sectors of care.

State governments have been quietly transforming the Medicaid program in efforts to contain its runaway costs. By shifting from a fee-for-service model to managed care in Medicaid, almost every state has begun to merge the public and private sectors of care. This change raises potential problems and opportunities for psychologists and for consumers. The private sector will be challenged to treat patients it has traditionally referred to the public sector. Psychologists will be challenged to work together in new collaborations with one another and with consumers to maximize quality of care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of older brothers and social orientation: New tests and the attraction/behavior distinction in two national probability samples.

The extent to which number of older brothers or "fraternal birth order" predicted the 2 main components that researchers have traditionally used to conceptualize sexual orientation--that is, psychological attraction and sexual behavior--was examined in 2 recent national probability samples. In both studies, fraternal birth order predicted same-sex attraction in men, with each additional older brother increasing the odds of homosexual attraction by an average of 38%. Results also indicated that the fraternal birth order/same-sex attraction relationship in men was independent of sexual behavior, including early same-sex behavior. No sibling characteristics predicted sexual orientation in women. Results suggest experience-based theories (e.g., early same-sex play) of the fraternal birth order effect in men are unlikely to be correct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical issues in the treatment of weight-dissatisfied clients.

A number of ethical issues must be considered in the treatment of clients who are dissatisfied with their weight. Current societal attitudes of opprobrium toward fat affect psychologists as well as the general public, and may have deleterious effects on the ability to provide competent, responsible, and respectful help to large clients, particularly women. Psychologists should be aware that weight status has a large biogenetic component and that dieting is remarkedly ineffective in producing long-term weight loss. Professionals tend to overestimate the harmful effects of obesity and underestimate the negative impact of dieting on physical and psychological functioning. It is proposed that psychologists accept diversity of body size as a manifestation of human differences, promote overall health over thinness, and help clients become self-accepting instead of self-depriving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The social psychological basis for public acceptance of the social security system: The role for social research in public policy formation.

Examined the issue of carrying out research that meets traditional standards of quality while bearing upon significant public issues. Measures of orientation toward socal security were studied, using an opinion questionnaire administered in 615 home interviews in 3 cities. Results indicate that people are committed to social security because it is work-connected through the payroll tax. There is no dissatisfaction with the system by persons who appear to bear the brunt of its inequities. Factors related to willingness to pay into the system are noted. The question of why there has been no previous social psychological research on the social security program is considered, and ways of coping with this lack are suggested. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Descriptive characteristics and length of psychotherapy of Chinese American clients seen in private practice.

Professional psychologists often have a need for information on the patterns of service accessing and service use by ethnic groups. Demographic characteristics and psychotherapy use of 229 Chinese American clients, seen in a Southern California private practice between 1989 and 1996, are described. Diagnostic evaluations of 27 assessment requests, 77 consultations, and 125 psychotherapy cases indicated that depressive disorders, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, and relational problems were the most frequently presented problems. For the 125 treated cases, length of treatment ranged from 1–38 sessions with a median of 4 and mean of 5.98 sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of the distinction between generalized social phobia and avoidant personality disorder.

Disorders of pervasive social anxiety and inhibition are divided into 2 categories: generalized social phobia (GSP) and avoidant personality disorder (APD). The authors explored the discriminative validity of this categorization by examining the comorbidity of GSP and APD and by comparing these groups on anxiety level, social skills, dysfunctional cognitions, impairment in functioning, and presence of concurrent disorders. Results from 23 Ss showed high comorbidity of the 2 diagnoses: All Ss who met criteria for APD also met criteria for GSP. APD was associated with greater social anxiety, impairment in functioning, and comorbidity with other psychopathology, but no differences in social skills or performance on an impromptu speech. GSP and APD seem to represent quantitatively different variants of the same spectrum of psychopathology rather than qualitatively distinct disorders. The authors also investigated a proposed social phobia subtyping scheme. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unwanted thought: Age differences in the correction of social judgments.

This study used a false information paradigm to study age differences in the correction of social judgments. Younger and older adults read 2 criminal reports, with true information printed in black and false information in red. Following the reports, all participants were asked to recommend prison terms among other ratings. Age differences in baseline measures were also assessed by corresponding control groups who read only true information. Compared with younger adults under full attention, older adults under full attention and younger adults under divided attention were reliably influenced by the nature of the false statements (either extenuating or exacerbating the severity of the crimes). When contrasted with their relevant control groups, older adults under full attention and younger adults under divided attention failed to correct their social judgments. This study lends support to a processing resource explanation for age differences in the correction process for social judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wisdom-related knowledge: Age/cohort differences in response to life-planning problems.

A research framework and method are presented in which wisdom is conceived as expert knowledge about fundamental life matters. Five criteria of wisdom are specified: Rich factual and procedural knowledge, life-span contextualism, relativism, and the recognition and management of uncertainty. As illustration, discourse about normative and nonnormative life-planning problems associated with different life phases was examined. Verbal think-aloud protocols, collected from 60 Ss (25–35, 40–50 and 60–81 yrs of age), were scored on the wisdom criteria by trained raters. As expected, few (5%) responses were considered wise. These wise responses were equally distributed across age groups. In general, wisdom-related knowledge appears to be one cognitive domain in adulthood that does not show an overall advantage to one age or cohort group but rather reflects individual and specific life experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of social functioning in preschizophrenia children and adolescents: A systematic review.

Schizophrenia is associated with severe deficits in social functioning. Similar deficits may be present prior to psychosis onset, in childhood and adolescence. If so, then prepsychosis social deficits could provide clues to the development of pathological processes in preschizophrenia children and could potentially improve early identification of the disorder and suggest targets for intervention. Evidence is reviewed from birth cohort, case- control, and familial high-risk studies within distinct periods of development to clarify the nature, timing, and specificity of social deficits in preschizophrenia children and adolescents. The results indicate that poor social functioning does differentiate preschizophrenia children and adolescents from their peers and can be a sensitive and potentially specific predictor of schizophrenia, not just psychopathology in general. Furthermore, age (but not sex) appears to be an important moderator of the strength and specificity of the association between particular social deficits (e.g., externalizing, internalizing) and later schizophrenia. Results are discussed in the context of current developmental theories of timing and pathophysiology of schizophrenia involving hypothalamic- pituitary-adrenal dysregulation. Implications for the early identification and treatment of preschizophrenia individuals are also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analogue observational methods in the assessment of social functioning in adults.

This article provides a clinically oriented overview of analogue observational methods used in the assessment of problematic social functioning, specifically skill deficits and social anxiety. This article emphasizes role-play assessment methods, the predominant method used in clinical settings. An examination of the psychometric characteristics of analogue assessment methods is presented, followed by a review of procedural and structural considerations that may impact the quality of assessment data. Of special concern are the potential impacts of instructional variables, structured versus ideographic role-played situations, confederate characteristics and behavior. molar and molecular levels of assessment, self-ratings versus clinician ratings of functioning, and physical attractiveness. Finally, published and empirically evaluated analogue observation tests are critically reviewed with an emphasis on features that may impact their utility in clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital distress and the metabolic syndrome: Linking social functioning with physical health.

Mechanisms by which poor relationship functioning contributes to poor health are not fully understood. We conducted a study to evaluate the association between marital distress and the metabolic syndrome (MetS), which refers to a clustering of characteristics that have individually been shown to be associated with elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes and which collectively have been shown to increase risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and mortality. A population-based English sample of couples (N = 671 couples) in which both partners were between the ages of 52 and 79 years old completed a self-report measure of marital distress and a nurse visit that included collection of blood pressure, blood samples, and anthropometric measures. Results indicated that for women, after controlling for demographic variables, greater marital distress was significantly associated with increasing likelihood of meeting criteria for the MetS and with the individual MetS criteria of elevated blood pressure and elevated fasting glucose. The association between marital distress and the MetS remained significant for women when additionally controlling for depressive symptoms and health habits (smoking status, physical activity). Marital distress was not significantly associated with the MetS or any of the individual MetS criteria for men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Descriptive characteristics and length of psychotherapy of child and adult clients seen in private psychological practice.

Demographic and diagnostic characteristics of adult and child clients who entered psychotherapy at a given private psychological clinic during 1975 are described, and several client characteristics are related to length of psychotherapy. Data on 100 adult and 72 child clients suggest that they were well-educated, middle-class, and mildly to moderately disturbed. Length of treatment was a median of 8 sessions over 2.5 mo for adults and a median of 13 sessions over 5.5 mo for children. The client variable of having insurance coverage was related (p?p?