Perception of normality in families: Four samples.

Explored the extent to which normative values on family assessment measures reflected perceptions of what constituted a "normal" family. Ss from 4 samples in the US and Canada were identified. 20 Canadian Ss, 65% of whom were female with a child 6 yrs and under; 172 undergraduates, approximately 60% of whom were female; 24 grandmothers (aged 51–79 yrs); and 21 therapists (aged 27–61 yrs). Ss completed the Family Environment Scale and 2 self-report measures based on family systems models. Results point out differences among Ss' ratings of normal families, perceptions of their own families, and instrument norms. Group differences highlighted the need to incorporate family developmental concerns in all family assessment, therapy, and research and raised questions about differences in perceptions between family members and therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Children's Depression Inventory: A systematic evaluation of psychometric properties.

Determined the psychometric properties of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) by administering it to 294 schoolchildren (aged 7 yrs to 13 yrs 4 mo) and to 269 psychiatric inpatients (aged 7 yrs 1 mo to 16 yrs 4 mo). Results show good internal consistency in both groups, but test–retest data were variable across populations and test–retest intervals. Validity analysis showed that the CDI distinguished Ss with general emotional distress from normal schoolchildren. However, differences between CDI scores of depressed (DSM-III) and nondepressed Ss were not significant. There was a good correspondence between the CDI and self-report measures of self-concept. It is suggested that the CDI measures a multidimensional construct that overlaps with other childhood disorders (particularly anxiety). Although the CDI may be the best researched instrument available to measure depression from the child's viewpoint, more work is needed before it can be interpreted with confidence in clinical and research settings. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing relational and item-specific information: Effects of aging and division of attention.

64 young adults (aged 18–21 yrs) and 32 older Ss (aged 65–83 yrs) encoded items from categorizable lists under incidental learning conditions. Two orienting tasks were used: a category sorting task and a pleasantness rating task. The number of items/category was varied (between 2 and 14) within each list. In addition, 24 young adults performed the orienting tasks while simultaneously engaged in an attention-demanding secondary task (divided-attention condition). Recall declined with both age and division of attention, while recall clustering was greatest for the older Ss and least for the young divided-attention Ss. The effects of category size and orienting task on recall did not vary across groups. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, gender, and individual differences in memory failure appraisal.

Young adults (22 men and 24 women) and older adults (24 men and 24 women) rated 12 gender-neutral vignettes describing short-term, long-term, and very-long-term memory failures. Vignette target persons were young (aged 21–32 yrs) or older (aged 65–75 yrs) men or women. Ss of both age and gender groups used a double standard: Failures of older targets of both genders were rated as signifying greater mental difficulty than failures of young targets; failures of young targets were attributed to lack of effort and attention. Young Ss judged very-long-term failures more harshly than did older Ss. Ss' objective memory performance, self-rated memory failure frequency, memory failure discomfort, and depression made little difference in their target person ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in predicting memory performance: The effects of normative information and task experience.

Two experiments addressed the effects of task information and experience on younger and older adults' ability to predict their memory for words. The 1st study, which involved 36 women (aged 20–30 yrs) and 36 women (aged 65–75 yrs), examined the effects of normative task information on Ss' predictions for 30-word lists across 3 trials. The 2nd study, which involved 2 groups of men and women (128 Ss total; aged 19–30 yrs and 54–77 yrs), examined the effects of making predictions and recalling either an easy or a difficult word list prior to making predictions and recalling a moderately difficult word list. Results from both studies showed that task information and experience affected Ss' predictions and that elderly adults predicted their performance more accurately than did younger adults. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Androgyny across the lifespan.

Scores on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory were obtained for 289 Ss aged 13–85 yrs. A categorical analysis of the data showed age differences in androgyny. Percentages of androgynous males were low in the 13–20 and 21–40 yrs age categories but were high in the 41–60 yrs and 61 yrs-and-over groups. Females showed the opposite trend, with high percentages of androgynous young females and low percentages for older women. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative and positive cognition in depressed and nondepressed chronic-pain patients.

Examined negative and positive automatic thoughts and attributional style in 60 men (aged 21–64 yrs) who were depressed chronic-low-back-pain (CLBP) patients, nondepressed CLBP patients, or healthy controls. Ss completed measures that included the Attribution Style Questionnaire and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (S. D. Hollon and P. C. Kendall; see record 1981-20180-001). Depressed Ss exhibited significantly more negative automatic thoughts than nondepressed Ss and controls. Nondepressed Ss reported significantly more positive automatic thoughts than did depressed Ss and controls. No significant differences were found for attributional style. Different cognitive-behavioral interventions might be considered for depressed and nondepressed CLBP Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of contextual organization on spatial memory of middle-aged and older women.

Examined the memory performance of 20 women aged 31–59 yrs and 20 aged 65–85. Ss reconstructed spatial arrays, replacing miniature objects in either a contextually organized panorama or a noncontextually organized bank of cubicles. Performance of the middle-aged Ss did not differ between the 2 tasks. Older Ss performed as well as middle-aged Ss in the panorama task, but in the cubicles task their scores were lower than in the panorama task and lower than those of the younger Ss in the cubicles task. Results support the conclusion that in a task that allows the use of existing contextual organization as a memory aid, age differences in memory performance disappear. Age differences may be limited to tasks that remove previously learned relationships between items (as in recall of lists of unrelated words), requiring Ss to invent an organizational structure to facilitate recall. Though such tasks predominate in research, they probably do not represent the memory problems met in everyday life, especially by older adults. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms among American Indian adolescents: Psychometric characteristics of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).

The psychometric characteristics of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES–D) were investigated with American Indian boarding school students (N?=?188; Grades 9–12). The CES–D showed good internal consistency (α?=?.82). Its dimensional structure was different from that described for adults, both Indian and non-Indian. Of the Indian students, 58% were classified as depressed, using the standard cutoff score of 16 or more, consistent with past studies of this age group. Alternative scoring methods were considered, based on persistence of symptoms as well as derived Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) and Research Diagnostic Criteria algorithms. Major gender differences were observed in the prevalence of reported symptoms as well as patterns of endorsement for certain CES–D items. The CES–D should be used with caution with American Indian adolescents, given the observed variation in its dimensional structure and uncertainty regarding appropriate cutoff scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation entre les satisfactions liées à trois r?les sociaux et la satisfaction de vie chez les femmes au foyer.

Determined the roles of marital satisfaction, parental satisfaction, and satisfaction with housework in the prediction of life satisfaction among housewives. 177 women (aged 22–49 yrs) completed measures including the Life Satisfaction Scale (Blais et al, 1989), and the satisfaction score of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Baillargeon et al, 1986). Ss were divided into 3 groups according to stages of the family life cycle, based on the age of the oldest child in the family. Marital satisfaction was a predictor of life satisfaction for all 3 stages of family life cycle. Parental satisfaction was predictive of life satisfaction at stage 1 (oldest child younger than 5 yrs old), while satisfaction with housework had influence at stage 2 (oldest child 6-12 yrs old). For stage 3 (oldest child in adolescence) satisfaction with housework and parental satisfaction were predictors of life satisfaction. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age at first onset for nonbipolar depression.

Examined the onset age distribution for first episodes of unipolar depression for men and women using 2,046 Ss (aged 18–88 yrs) selected for a diagnostic interview on the basis of elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. Of those Ss interviewed, 1,012 were diagnosed as having suffered from a previous episode of depression. The Life Table method (S. Anderson et al [1980]; J. D. Kalbfeisch and R. L. Prentice [1980]) was used to describe the risks associated with different ages for developing an initial episode of depression. The results indicate that the hazard rates are very low through age 14 yrs, increase during adolescence (15–29 yrs) and young adulthood (20–24 yrs), peak between 45 and 55 yrs, and then decrease with increasing age, becoming zero at 80 yrs or older. The hazard rates for men and women differed, with women between the ages of 9 and 69 yrs having higher hazard rates than men between the same ages. The average age at onset for first episodes of depression for men and women did not differ. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the Beck Depression Inventory in veterans with spinal cord injury.

Hypothesized that 7 Beck Depression Inventory items would be poor discriminators between depressed and nondepressed spinal cord injury Ss. To test this hypothesis, 124 veterans (aged 19–79 yrs) with spinal cord injury were administered the Beck Depression Inventory and evaluated for the presence of a major depressive episode. Ss were first administered the Mini-Mental Status Examination, interviewed and then administered the Beck Depression Inventory. Discriminant function analysis revealed that 3 of the 7 items were poor discriminators. Since clinicians are faced with the dilemma of deciding whether endorsement of Beck Depression Inventory items is indicative of depressive symptomatology or the sequelae of spinal cord injury, the authors derived cut scores appropriate for spinal cord injury patients. Data on the sensitivity and specificity of these cut scores are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness.

Examined 2 alternative predictions: (1) that Ss would find others similar to themselves as most attractive or (2) that men would prefer younger women and women more mature men. 22 men and 25 women (aged 17–29 yrs), 16 men and 18 women (aged 30–49 yrs) and 18 men and 32 women (aged 50+ yrs) rated the physical attractiveness of 72 photographs of faces from similar age/gender categories. For all groups of Ss, perceived attractiveness declined with age of face, particularly for women's faces. In addition, most groups rated women's faces as more attractive than those of men, the exception being men under 30 yrs, who rated men higher. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mesure de Stress Psychologique (MSP): Se sentir stressé-e.

Studied the development and validity of an instrument designed to measure stress by evaluating subjective feelings of stress without referring to "stress" or "stressors." Human subjects: 696 male and female Canadian adults, divided into 6 groups. Group I (15 Ss) were asked to provide a list of stress indicators for themselves, their spouses, and others. These indicators were used to establish the content validity of the Mesure de Stress Psychologique (MSP) ("Psychological State of Stress Measure"). Group II (98 university students) Ss were given a 95-item stress questionnaire; the results were analyzed statistically and used to select 74 items for the MSP. Group III (97 university students) Ss were given the 74-item MSP to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. Group IV (188 married couples with a primary school child) Ss were asked to answer the MSP for themselves and for their spouses. These results were analyzed statistically according to sex, family structure, and socioeconomic variables. Group V (66 adults aged 20–60 yrs) and Group VI (44 dental students) Ss were given a 53-item MSP on 2 to 4 occasions to evaluate test–retest and hypothetical-deductive validity. The results were evaluated using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shortening the CES–D to improve its ability to detect cases of depression.

Psychometric analyses evaluated how primary care patients with and without major depressive disorder endorsed individual response options on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression Scale (CES–D; L. S. Radloff, 1977). The analyses were then used to identify a subset of items that when appropriately weighted improved the efficiency with which depressed individuals were identified. Efficiency of the revised measure was evaluated relative to standard cutpoints used with the full scale. Results showed that some improvement in most indices of efficiency could be achieved with half as many items and a simplified scoring scheme, but great improvement in one measure was usually achieved only at the expense of other measures of efficiency. The efficiency of the CES–D can be improved with appropriate analytic techniques, but its limitations as a self-report screening measure persist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of the applicability of the Substance Abuse Proclivity Scale to young adult males.

The substance abuse proclivity (SAP) scale, which was derived from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) for use with young (16–21 yr old) males, was applied to samples of 69 young adult male substance abusers, 51 college students, 26 psychiatric outpatients, and 1,298 medical outpatients (all Ss aged 20–29 yrs). Analyses demonstrated that the validity shrinkage was very modest when the scale was applied to Ss of this older age range. The correlation between age and SAP scale score was both significant and negative for 363 independently identified substance abusers (aged 13–26 yrs), which suggests that the scale taps something more basic than the accumulated consequences of the chronic use of substances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life stress and depression: A test of the congruency hypothesis for life event content and depressive subtype.

Tested the hypothesis that certain personality styles may function as vulnerability factors leading to depression in the face of specific life event types. 10 dependent remitted depressed patients (aged 28–70 yrs) and 16 self-critical remitted depressed patients (aged 22–53 yrs) were followed for 6 mo and assessed for the occurrence of category-specific life events and level of depression, including clinical relapse. For dependent Ss only, congruency with life event content was associated both with self-reported levels of depression and with clinical relapse. Relapse for self-critical Ss was not differentially affected by the number of interpersonal or achievement life events experienced; however, dependent Ss relapsed more often after the experience of interpersonal rather than achievement events. No differences were reported between the total number of achievement stressors experienced by each subtype group, ruling out selective exposure as a possible explanation for these findings. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the Golden-Meehl indicators in the detection of schizoid-taxon membership.

Investigated the ability of 7 MMPI items to identify schizoid-taxon membership as identified by R. R. Golden and P. E. Meehl (see record 1979-25088-001). 113 schizophrenics (mean age 26.9 yrs), 24 acute depressives (mean age 40 yrs), and 43 remitted depressives (mean age 45.4 yrs) participated. With a cutting score of 4 or more items answered in the schizoid direction, 53.1% of schizophrenics were identified as taxon members, whereas 70.9% of acutely depressed Ss were so identified. In contrast, 9.3% of remitted depressives were identified as taxon members. Only 33.3% of a subgroup of the schizophrenics were consistently identified as taxon members on 2 testings, whereas 37.8% of this group were consistently identified as nontaxon members. The correlation of the scores from Test 1 to Test 2 was .54. The sum of the standard scores for the depression (D), Psychasthenia (Pt), Schizophrenia (Sc), and Social Introversion (Si) scales was also unsuccessful in identifying taxon members regardless of the cutting score used, although it did differentiate the 2 groups of depressives. The 7 items and the sum of the D, Pt, Sc, and Si scales may be reasonable indicators of current psychopathology and emotional distress. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparaison des modèles de préférence manuelle d'enfants aveugles et d'enfants voyants.

Studied differences in manual preferences in blind and sighted children. Ss were 55 congenitally blind children (aged 7–13 yrs) and a comparison group of 64 sighted children (aged 6–12 yrs). Ss were observed while performing 12 manual activities, including pointing and using various familiar objects. Intercorrelations among manual preferences for the different activities were analyzed, and intergroup differences were determined. Results for normally right-handed and normally left-handed Ss were compared. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le phénomène de la transformation verbale: Nouvelles modalités de fonctionnement.

Investigated the effects of an irregular presentation of the stimulus repetition on the verbal transformation effect (VTE). Ss were 48 children (aged 8–13 yrs), 48 adults (aged 19–30 yrs), and 60 aged persons (aged 65–90 yrs), and were presented 4 separate stimuli repeated either irregularly (experimental group) or regularly (control group). Results show that VTE appeared earlier and provoked more verbal transformations (VTs) on an irregular stimulus presentation. In both conditions, there was a gradual increment in the number of VTEs as listening continued. Age group comparisons showed a marked decrease in VTE as Ss' ages increased. Finally, the choice of stimuli according to their absolute frequency of occurrence in the French language showed that high frequency words produced less VT than low frequency words; however, there was no significant difference for reaction time (RT) and number of forms on that variable. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)