Heart rate increase to alcohol administration and video lottery terminal play among probable pathological gamblers and nonpathological gamblers.

The authors examined heart-rate responses to alcohol consumption and video lottery terminal (VLT) play. Regular VLT players (30 probable pathological gamblers [PPGs]; 30 nonpathological gamblers [NPGs]) were randomized to an alcohol (mean postdrinking blood alcohol concentration = 0.056%) or placebo condition. Heart rate was recorded at pre- and postdrinking baselines and during VLT play. Consistent with an earlier study (S. H. Stewart, P. Collins, J. R. Blackburn, M. Ellery, & R. Klein, 2005), alcohol-condition participants displayed elevated heart rates relative to placebo-condition participants only at postdrinking and VLT play. Moreover, alcohol-condition participants showed a greater heart rate increase to VLT play than did placebo-condition participants. However, PPGs were not more susceptible to alcohol- and/or VLT play-induced heart rate accelerations than were NPGs. Implications for gambling/alcohol-disorder comorbidity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue-specific reactivity in experienced gamblers.

To examine whether gambling cue reactivity is cue-specific, 47 scratch-off lottery players and 47 horse race gamblers were presented with video clips of their preferred and nonpreferred modes of gambling, and two control stimuli including an exciting car race and a mental stressor task while heart rates, excitement, and urge to gamble were being measured. Heart rates for both groups of gamblers were highest to the mental stressor and did not differ in response to the other three cues. Excitement for both groups was highest in response to the action cues (horse race and car chase). Urge to gamble was significantly higher for each group to their preferred mode of gambling. A post hoc exploratory analysis comparing social gamblers (n = 54) and probable pathological gamblers (n = 40) revealed a similar pattern of responses. However, pathological gamblers reported overall significantly higher urges to gamble than social gamblers. As urges have been shown to play a pivotal role in addictive behaviors and relapse, the current findings may have implications for the development of gambling problems and relapse after successful treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Types of dissociation and dissociative types: A taxometric analysis of dissociative experiences.

This article examined evidence for dimensional and typological models of dissociation. The authors reviewed previous research with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; E. B. Bernstein-Carlson & F. W. Putnam; see record 1987-14407-001) and note that this scale, like other dissociation questionnaires, was developed to measure that so called dissociative continuum. Next, recently developed taxometric methods for distinguishing typological from dimensional constructs are described and applied to DES item-response data from 228 adults with diagnosed multiple personality disorder and 228 normal controls. The taxometric findings empirically justify the distinction between two types of dissociative experiences. Nonpathological dissociative experiences are manifestations of a dissociative trait, whereas pathological dissociative experiences are manifestations of a latent class variable. The taxometric findings also indicate that there are two types of dissociators. Individuals in the pathological dissociative class (taxon) can be identified with a brief, 8-item questionnaire called the DES-T. Scores on the DES-T and DES are compared in 11 clinical and nonclinical samples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency and correlates of diary-measured hangoverlike experiences in a college sample.

A sample of college students, oversampled for smoking (N = 127, 43% smokers), monitored their daily experiences using electronic diaries over 14 days. We examined the frequency and correlates of liberally defined hangoverlike experiences (HLEs) using data from 1,595 person-days (1,325 after abstention from drinking and 270 after drinking, including 125 HLEs). More than 40% of the sample reported at least one HLE, and nearly half of all drinking episodes were followed by HLE. Endorsement of HLE was more likely as the number of drinks increased and was associated with modest elevations of hangover symptoms. Gender did not predict rates of overall HLE endorsement, but male students were less likely than female students to report an HLE after a drinking episode and showed a weaker relation between number of drinks and HLE. Smokers were more likely to report HLE, but there was no evidence that smoking status was associated with increased HLE susceptibility. Self-reported parental alcohol problems were associated with more frequent HLE and incrementally predicted HLE endorsement when number of drinks was covaried. The findings suggest that HLE is a common outcome of college drinking and attest to the feasibility of using electronic diaries to assess its episode- and person-level correlates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disordered eating, weight dissatisfaction and dieting in relation to unwanted childhood sexual experiences in a community sample

A study was conducted to examine the relationships among eating pathology, weight dissatisfaction and dieting, and unwanted sexual experiences in childhood. An unselected community sample of 201 young and 268 middle-aged women were administered questionnaires assessing eating behaviors and attitudes, and past and current sexual abuse. Results showed differential relationships among these factors for the two age cohorts: for young women, past sexual abuse predicted weight dissatisfaction, but not dieting or disordered eating behaviors, whereas for middle-aged women, past abuse was predictive of disordered eating, but not dieting or weight dissatisfaction. Current physical or sexual abuse was also found to be predictive of disordered eating for the young women. These findings underscore the complexity of the relationships among unwanted sexual experiences and eating and weight pathology, and suggest that the timing of sexual abuse, and the age of the woman, are important mediating factors.     

Clinical depression and day-to-day social interaction in a community sample.

Adult participants recruited from the community, one half of whom met criteria for clinical depression, described their day-to-day social interactions using a variant of the Rochester Interaction Record. Compared with the nondepressed participants, depressed participants found their interactions to be less enjoyable and less intimate, and they felt less influence over their interactions. Differences between the two groups in intimacy occurred only in interactions with close relations and not in interactions with nonintimates, and differences in influence were more pronounced for those who were cohabiting than for those who were not. There were no differences in how socially active depressed and nondepressed people were or in the amount of contact they had with different relational partners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurocognitive influences on health behavior in a community sample.

Context: Dominant models of individual health behavior omit biological variables entirely and are composed almost exclusively of social-cognitive and conative variables. Research from the neurosciences suggests a role for brain function in explaining behaviors that require active self-regulation for consistent performance. However, the association between brain function and health behavior is underexplored. Objective: To examine the predictive power of executive function for 2 health risk behaviors and 2 health protective behaviors in healthy adults. Design: A cross-sectional community sample (N = 216) of adults 20-100 years of age were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests and completed self-report questionnaires regarding their health practices. It was hypothesized that poor performance on neuropsychological tests tapping executive function would be associated with poor health behavior tendencies. Results: Errors on the Stroop task were positively associated with health risk behavior and negatively associated with health protective behavior after controlling for demographics, education, and IQ. Conclusion: Executive function is associated with health behavior tendencies. If the association is causal, explanatory models of individual health behavior should be revised to account for individual differences in biologically imbued self-regulatory abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Frequency and predictors of relationship dissolution in a community sample in England.

The frequency and predictors of separation were examined in a large community sample in the United Kingdom. Over an approximately 2-year time span, from pregnancy to 21 months postnatal, the rates of change varied greatly among different family types, from 5% in families with 2 biological parents and no stepchildren to 38% in complex stepfamilies and 43% in stepmother families. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that separation in 2-parent families was predicted by a complex combination of individual and life-course history variables, including number of previous relationships, cohabiting status, poor relationship quality, low socioeconomic status and younger age. The findings are discussed in the context of previous psychological and sociological studies, and the substantial overlap among identified risk factors is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities in a community sample.

Objective: Sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress were examined as mediators of the associations between adherence to different male gender norms and aggression toward sexual minorities. This study also sought to extend past research to a community sample and use multiple methods to assess aggression. Method: Participants were 199 heterosexual men between the ages of 18 and 30 who were recruited from a large southeastern U.S. city. Participants completed measures of adherence to male gender role norms, sexual prejudice, masculine gender role stress, and aggression toward sexual minorities. Results: Associations between adherence to the status and antifemininity norms and aggression toward sexual minorities were mediated by sexual prejudice but not masculine gender role stress. The portion of unique association between adherence to the antifemininity norm and aggression toward sexual minorities was about three times larger than the portion mediated by sexual prejudice and masculine gender role stress. Conclusion: Findings provide the first multivariate evidence from a community-based sample for determinants of aggression toward sexual minorities motivated by gender role enforcement. These data support intervention programming and preventative intervention studies aimed at reducing sexual prejudice and facilitating less stereotypic attitudes about the male gender role, particularly surrounding the antifemininity norm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identifying clinical syndromes in a community sample of elderly persons.

By a strategy suggested by E. H. Uhlenhuth et al (1983), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) referenced syndrome classifications were derived on the basis of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist—42 scores of 1,131 elderly community residents. Overall syndrome prevalence rates were consistent with other epidemiologic data: 3.9% for depression, 1.0% for agoraphobia-panic, 2.6% for other phobia, and 6.9% for anxiety. Prevalence rates reflected expected sex differences and showed an age trend for other phobias. Considerable comorbidity among syndromes was observed. The association of the syndromes with patterns of psychosocial risk factors, prior diagnoses, and medication suggests that some but not all of the identified syndromes reflect clinically relevant classifications. If further developed, syndrome classifications based on self-report scales can provide inexpensive and clinically relevant measures of caseness. Required refinements of this approach are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A naturalistic study of dissociative identity disorder and dissociative disorder not otherwise specified patients treated by community clinicians.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 1(3) of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy (see record 2009-18612-003). Author Ruth Lanius’s name was misspelled as Ruth Lanins; author Scot McNary’s name was misspelled Scott McNary; author Clare Pain’s name was misspelled Claire Pain; and the affiliation for Richard Loewenstein should have read Sheppard Pratt Health System.] The goals of this naturalistic, cross-sectional study were to describe the patient, therapist, and therapeutic conditions of an international sample of dissociative disorder (DD) patients treated by community therapists and to determine if community treatment for DD appears to be as effective as treatment for chronic PTSD and conditions comorbid with DD. Analyses found that across both patient (N = 280) and therapist (N = 292) reports, patients in the later stages of treatment engaged in fewer self-injurious behaviors, had fewer hospitalizations, and showed higher levels of various measures of adaptive functioning (e.g., GAF) than those in the initial stage of treatment. Additionally, patients in the later stages of treatment reported lower symptoms of dissociation, posttraumatic stress disorder, and distress than patients in the initial stage of treatment. The effect sizes for Stage 5 versus Stage 1 differences in DD treatment were comparable to those published for chronic PTSD associated with childhood trauma and depression comorbid with borderline personality disorder. Given the prevalence, severity, chronicity, and high health care costs associated with DD, these results suggest that extended treatment for DD may be beneficial and merits further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and the fragmented self: longitudinal study of dissociative symptomatology in a nonclinical sample

Dissociative behaviors and their relation to both the self and self-organization were examined using the developmental psychopathology perspective in a prospective longitudinal study of high-risk children. Participants were 168 young adults (n = 79 females, n = 89 males, age = 18-19 years) considered high-risk for poor developmental outcomes at birth due to poverty. The present study investigated whether trauma, sense of self, quality of early mother-child relationship, temperament, and intelligence were related to dissociative symptomatology measured at four times across 19 years. Findings were (a) age of onset, chronicity and severity of trauma were highly correlated and predicted level of dissociation; (b) both the avoidant and disorganized patterns of attachment were strong predictors of dissociation; (c) dissociation in childhood may be a more normative response to disruption and stress, while dissociation in adolescence and young adulthood may be more indicative of psychopathology; (d) preliminary support was found for a model proposed by G. Liotti that links disorganized attachment, later trauma, and dissociation in adulthood; and (e) strong support was found for N. Waller, F. W. Putnam, and E. B. Carlson's contention that psychopathological dissociation should not be viewed as the top end of a continuum of dissociative symptomatology, but as a separate taxon that represents an extreme deviation from normal development.     

Dissociative experiences and eating disorders in a female college sample

OBJECTIVES: Perioperative ischaemic stroke is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality associated with carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The aim was to test the hypotheses that the detection of microembolic ultrasonic signals (MES) with transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) during and after the operation may be of value in identifying patients at increased perioperative stroke risk. DESIGN: Open prospective case series. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-one consecutive patients undergoing CEA with TCD monitoring. Preoperative, intraoperative and interval postoperative TCD monitoring of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) ipsilateral to the operated carotid artery. On-line pre- and intraoperative MES counting and blinded off-line analysis of postoperative MES counts. End-points were any focal neurological deficit and death at 30 days postoperatively. RESULTS: MES were detected in 94% of patients intraoperatively and 71% of cases during the first postoperative hour. MES counts ranged from 0 to 25 per operative phase (range of median counts 0-8) and from 0 to 212 per hour postoperatively (range of median counts 0-4). Eight cases (10%) developed postoperative MES counts greater than 50/h. Five of these eight cases evolved ischaemic neurological deficits in the territory of the insonated MCA, indicating a strong association between frequent postoperative microembolism and the development of early cerebral ischaemia (chi 2 = 34.2, p < 0.0001). Intraoperative MES were not associated with clinical outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: MES counts of greater than 50/h in the early postoperative phase of carotid endarterectomy are predictive of the development of ipsilateral focal cerebral ischaemia.     

Marital dissatisfaction and incidence of major depressive episode in a community sample.

The association between marital dissatisfaction at baseline and 12-month incidence of major depressive episode (MDE) was examined in a community sample of married individuals from the New Haven Epidemiologic Catchment Area program (N?=?904) who did not meet criteria for MDE at baseline. Results indicate that marital dissatisfaction was associated with increased incidence of MDE, with a significant risk ratio of 2.7 and an attributable risk of 29.5%. Thus, dissatisfied spouses were nearly 3 times more likely than nondissatisfied spouses to develop an MDE during the year, and nearly 30% of the new occurrences of MDE were associated with marital dissatisfaction. The association between marital dissatisfaction and risk of MDE (a) remained significant when controlling for demographics and depression history and (b) was not moderated by sex or by depression history. Findings suggest that marital dissatisfaction may be etiologically related to major depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor analysis of the Children's Depression Inventory in a community sample.

The factor structure of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; M. Kovacs, 1992) was evaluated in a large community sample of 1,777 children and 924 adolescents. There were 5 first-order factors (Externalizing, Dysphoria, Self-Deprecation, School Problems, and Social Problems) for the child group; the adolescent group yielded the same 5 factors plus a 6th factor (Biological Dysregulation). Confirmatory factor analyses supported the stability and replicability of the obtained factor structures. Both samples yielded 2 higher order factors—Internalizing and Externalizing. The factors were compared with previous CDI factors identified for clinical (B. Weiss et al., 1991) and community (M. Kovacs, 1992) samples. Other notable findings included more boys reporting high scores (17 and above) on the CDI among the child sample, whereas, among adolescents more girls reported high scores (17 and above) on the total CDI as well as higher scores on the biological dysregulation factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Graduate training and employment experiences of community psychologists.

We surveyed the graduate training and employment experiences of 177 current students and 152 recent graduates from 39 psychology programs. Of interest were differences among applied social, community and community-clinical programs. Results suggested that these training programs represented a continuum of research, community, and clinical interests. Applied social and community programs had a stronger community and research emphasis, whereas community-clinical programs had a stronger orientation toward clinical skills. Similarly, the job skills used by recent graduates suggested that persons from applied social programs went into administrative and organizational consulting jobs, graduates of community-clinical programs were employed in areas demanding more human services skills, and community graduates found jobs requiring the use of research skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bidimensional measurement of acculturation in a multiethnic community sample of first-generation immigrants.

Despite the rapid growth of the acculturation research literature in recent years, few studies have examined acculturation among community samples of immigrants in Canada. The present study used a bidimensional approach to examine acculturation among Anglophone Caribbean (n = 109), Vietnamese (n = 97), and Filipino (n = 109) first-generation immigrant adults living in a diverse urban community in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Heritage and mainstream cultural orientations were independently assessed in 3 domains of acculturation: loyalty, behaviour, and situated identity. Across the 3 domains and the 3 groups, the 2 cultural orientations were largely independent, though in the Vietnamese and Filipino samples heritage group loyalty was positively related to mainstream group loyalty. Overall, results support a bidimensional model of acculturation and suggest the value of separately assessing different acculturation domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal association between marital dissatisfaction and alcohol use disorders in a community sample.

The prospective association between marital dissatisfaction and alcohol use disorders (abuse and/or dependence) was evaluated in a randomly selected community sample. Married individuals (N=1,675) from the New Haven Epidemiologic Catchment Area project who did not have a current alcohol use disorder at baseline were followed prospectively for 12 months. Results indicated that baseline marital dissatisfaction was significantly associated with alcohol use disorder diagnosis during follow-up, with dissatisfied spouses being 3.7 times more likely than satisfied spouses to have a diagnosis of current alcohol use disorder at follow-up. The longitudinal association between baseline marital dissatisfaction and current alcohol use disorder diagnosis at follow-up remained significant when controlling for baseline demographic variables and history of alcohol use disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple dimensions of affective and cognitive disturbance: Latent-variable models in a community sample.

A clear understanding and confirmation of the structure of psychological distress has been hampered by different theoretical perspectives, ranges of measures, and methodologies. This study examined the latent construct structure of psychological distress as reflected in 27 self-report measures of psychological functioning from a community sample of 614 young adults. Models that hypothesized a single dimension of distress or 2 first-order factors (positive and negative affect) poorly fit the data. A model that fit well contained 9 first-order latent constructs, including Emotional Distress, Self-Derogation, Purpose in Life, Psychoticism, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Suicide Ideation, and Disorganized Thinking. Second and third higher order models achieved greater parsimony but were statistically inferior to the 9-factor model. Models are contrasted and discussed in terms of prior theory and current conceptualizations of mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective relationships between drug problems and work adjustment in a community sample of adults.

The prospective relationships between drug problems and work adjustment (e.g., job instability, job satisfaction) were examined in a community sample of 470 adults. Polydrug problems (alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine problem drug use) were both predictors and consequences of work adjustment. In partial support of the impaired functioning theory, polydrug problems predicted reduced job satisfaction 4 years later. Supporting the work-related strain theory, early job instability predicted polydrug problems 4 years later. In support of the theory of general deviance, low social conformity predicted later job instability. Finally, supporting social support theory, early support for drug problems reduced polydrug problems and increased job satisfaction 4 years later. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)