Excessive reassurance seeking, depression, and interpersonal rejection: A meta-analytic review.

Coyne's (1976a, 1976b) interactional theory of depression predicts positive associations between excessive reassurance seeking (ERS) and both depression and interpersonal rejection. A growing body of research has supported the ERS model, but this work has yet to be systematically reviewed. A meta-analysis of 38 studies (N = 6,973) revealed an aggregate effect size (r) of .32 between ERS and concurrent depression. Moderator analyses showed effect sizes were significantly stronger for studies with self-report measures, compared with interviews, and for samples with higher percentages of women and were marginally stronger for studies with community samples, compared with clinical samples. A second meta-analysis of 16 studies yielded a weighted mean effect size of .14 between ERS and concurrent rejection, with studies assessing target-reported rejection showing stronger effect sizes than studies assessing informant-reported rejection and studies examining romantic relationships yielding marginally stronger effect sizes than studies examining nonromantic relationships. Prospective studies are qualitatively reviewed. Results support the ERS model (with several important caveats) but underscore the need for methodological diversity in future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contagious depression: Existence, specificity to depressed symptoms, and the role of reassurance seeking.

This study prospectively examined the phenomenon of contagious depression in 96 pairs of college roommates during 2 assessment sessions separated by 3 wks. Depression, anxiety, negative and positive affect, negative life stress, and reassurance seeking were assessed. Consistent with prediction, roommates of depressed target students became more depressed themselves over the course of the 3-wk study. The effect persisted when baseline levels of roommate depression and roommate negative life events were controlled. Furthermore, these findings were specific to depressed symptoms. Finally, as predicted, reassurance seeking served as a vulnerability factor for the contagion effect: High- but not low-reassurance-seeking roommates of depressed target students became more depressed themselves. However, the moderating effects of reassurance seeking were not specific to depressed symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rapid smoking: Side effects and safeguards.

Reviews the recent literature on the riskiness and physiological effects of rapid smoking. Rapid smoking consistently produces statistically significant increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and carboxyhemoglobin levels. The absolute magnitude of these changes does not appear to be clinically significant, particularly when compared to the effects of self-paced smoking. However, rapid smoking has occasionally produced EKG abnormalities. Precautions that are indicated when using the rapid smoking procedure include informed consent, physician approval, and limits on the duration of exposure. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Admissions policies: Side effects and their implications.

Presents 3 kinds of information showing side effects of current admissions policies which appear to favor (a) students with scientific interests over those with business interests; (b) firstborn children over later-borns; and (c) students with narrow or highly focused interests over those with broader, but probably shallower, interests. These effects are probably due, at least in part, to a faculty's tendency to admit those students whom they find easiest to educate, I.e., those most closely resembling the faculty in skills and attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison information and judgments about depression and seeking counseling.

Examined the effects of social comparison information, and the interaction of this information with symptom severity and sex, on 40 male and 40 female undergraduates' evaluations of depression symptoms and their willingness to seek counseling. Ss were administered the Depression Adjective Checklist—Form E (DACL—E) and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help Scale, as well as ratings of willingness to seek counseling and manipulation checks. A significant main effect was found on DACL—E scores for social comparison information. Ss who received serious social comparison information reported the highest depression scores. In addition, a significant interaction was found between social comparison information and sex of S in DACL—E scores. A significant main effect was also found on Ss' ratings of willingness to seek counseling for social comparison information and sex of S. Ss were more willing to seek counseling help when the social comparison information was serious. Also, female Ss were more willing to seek counseling than were male Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serial and strategic effects in reading aloud.

M. Coltheart and K. Rastle (1994) reported that the size of the regularity effect on word-naming latency decreases across position of irregularity, implicating a serial process in reading aloud. In response to criticism by D. C. Plaut, J. L. McClelland, M. S. Seidenberg, and K. Patterson (1996), these results were replicated with monosyllabic words that had been controlled for consistency. In a second experiment, participants named nonword- or regular-word targets mixed with either first-position irregular fillers or third-position irregular fillers. Target naming was slowed when first-position irregular fillers were present, compared with target naming when third-position irregular fillers were present. These data suggest that participants can slow use of the nonlexical route if faced with very costly exception words. Simulations using the dual-route cascaded model (M. Coltheart, B. Curtis, P. Atkins, & M. Haller, 1993) are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From reassurance to irrelevance: Adolescent psychology and homosexuality in America.

American psychology by the 1920s contained a greater capacity for viewing some homosexual experiences as normal than most current historical literature suggests. Developmental psychologists agreed with psychiatrists that adult homosexuality was pathological, but they also agreed that adolescent sexual development included a homosexual phase. Until the late 1960s, developmental texts reassured parents and teachers that homosexual behavior among adolescents was transitory and quite normal. The psychiatric view of homosexuality as pathology came under attack after the middle of the century and eventually was abandoned. The developmental concern with a transitory homosexual phase disappeared gradually. This trend in psychology suggests underlying social and cultural changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social identity and the pursuit of possible selves: Implications for the psychological well-being of university students.

Implications for psychological adjustment of social identification as a university student were examined with reference to the notion of possible selves (i.e., desired and feared future identities; H. Markus & R. Nurius, 1986). Measures of social identification (operationalized in terms of in-group ties, centrality, and in-group affect), self-esteem, psychological well-being, and efficacy beliefs regarding possible selves were completed by 167 undergraduates. A path analysis indicated 2 routes from aspects of social identity to psychological well-being, one mediated by self-esteem and the other mediated by perceptions of group-derived efficacy (i.e., the belief that group membership will facilitate the attainment of desired outcomes). The motivational role of social identity with respect to goal-directed behavior is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal spillover effects of conflict resolution styles between adolescent-parent relationships and adolescent friendships.

This study longitudinally investigated spillover effects of conflict resolution styles in adolescent-parent relationships and adolescent friendships. Questionnaires about conflict resolution styles with parents and best friends were completed by adolescents from two age cohorts: 559 early adolescents (mean age 13.4) and 327 middle adolescents (mean age 17.7). Path analyses on two waves, with a three-year interval, indicated that in the early-to-middle adolescent group positive problem solving and conflict engagement spilled over from adolescent-parent relationships to adolescent friendships and not from adolescent friendships to adolescent-parent relationships. In the middle-to-late adolescent group, we found bidirectional spillover effects for these two conflict resolution styles. For withdrawal, we found bidirectional spillover effects in both cohorts. This study showed that both parents and friends set the stage for exercising and learning conflict resolution styles and thereby shape adolescents' future conflict behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Side effects of parent counseling on marital satisfaction.

In a study with 27 mothers and their clinic-referred children, mothers were divided into 3 groups based on their pretreatment level of marital satisfaction (Locke Marital Adjustment Test). Child compliance and deviant behavior as measured by independent observers, parent perceptions of child adjustment, and parent marital satisfaction were assessed before treatment, after treatment, and at a 2-mo follow-up. Parent counseling consisted of teaching mothers to reward appropriate behavior and use a time-out procedure for deviant behavior. All groups changed significantly from pre- to posttreatment on the child behavior measures and on parent perceptions of child adjustment. These changes were maintained at follow-up for child compliance and parent perceptions of child adjustment. The group of mothers with low marital satisfaction reported an increase in marital adjustment from pretreatment to posttreatment, but this effect was not maintained at the 2-mo follow-up. Groups with medium or high marital satisfaction reported no change in marital adjustment. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social context and sensation seeking: gender differences in college student drinking motivations

An anonymous questionnaire was administered to students at two universities. The questionnaire contained the Social Context of Drinking Scales, the Sensation Seeking Scale, and measures of alcohol use intensity, frequency of alcohol-impaired driving, as well as frequency of riding with an impaired driver. The results revealed significant gender differences in the social context of drinking as well as sensation seeking. High intensity drinkers of each gender were more likely to drink in a context of Social Facilitation and score higher on the sensation seeking subscale--Disinhibition. High intensity men drinkers were more likely to drink in a context of Sex Seeking, whereas high intensity women drinkers tended to drink in a context of Emotional Pain. In general, the Social Context of Drinking Scales were superior to the Sensation Seeking Scales at being able to discriminate high from low intensity drinkers. The implications for targeted prevention programs on college campuses are discussed.     

An examination of crossover and spillover effects of spousal and expatriate cross-cultural adjustment on expatriate outcomes.

Integrating work-family and cross-cultural adjustment literatures, the researchers proposed and tested a spillover and crossover model of expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment with reciprocal relationships. Spillover effects refer to the influence that expatriate attitudes in a particular domain (e.g., work) have on attitudes in other domains (e.g., nonwork), whereas crossover effects refer to the influence of expatriate attitudes on the spouse's attitudes (and vice versa). Data collected from Japanese expatriates, their spouses, and their superiors strongly supported both spillover and crossover effects between expatriate and spousal cross-cultural adjustment. In addition, expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment was found to be related to satisfaction, which, in turn, was found to be negatively related to expatriates' intention to return to their homeland early. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived racism and vascular reactivity in black college women: Moderating effects of seeking social support.

This quasi-experimental study explored the association of perceived racism and seeking social support to vascular reactivity in a college sample of 110 Black women. Perceived racism and seeking social support were assessed via self-report, and vascular reactivity was measured before and during a standardized speaking task. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived racism was positively related to changes in systolic blood pressure. These analyses also indicated that seeking social support moderated the relationship between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes. This interaction effect persisted after controlling for several potential confounders. Follow-up regression analyses showed that perceived racism was positively associated with reactivity among participants who were low in seeking social support. A significant relationship was not observed between perceived racism and systolic blood pressure changes among participants who were high in seeking social support. Perceived racism and seeking social support were not significantly associated with changes in diastolic blood pressure. These findings highlight the importance of examining psychosocial factors that may mitigate the hypothesized relationship between perceived racism and reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguishing institutional identification from academic goal pursuit: Interactive effects of ethnic identification and race-based rejection sensitivity.

We examined the interactive effects of ethnic identification (EI) and race-based rejection sensitivity (RS-race) on institutional outcomes among African American college students. We distinguished between effects on institutional identification on the one hand and academic goal pursuit (e.g., staying in school, grade point average [GPA]) on the other. Supporting the utility of this distinction, we found that EI and RS-race interacted to predict these outcomes differently. Higher EI in combination with higher RS-race predicted reduced identification with the institution (Studies 1, 2, and 3a). This combination, however, did not lead to decreases in GPA over time. Moreover, EI was positively related to intentions to stay in school as well as to GPA increases among those lower in RS-race (Studies 1 and 3b). Implications for understanding identity negotiation vis-à-vis performance in institutional settings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal study of the effects of information seeking on newcomer socialization.

In this study, the effects of information seeking on newcomer socialization are assessed. The results suggest that by seeking information, organizational newcomers can facilitate the socialization process. The frequency with which 135 new staff accountants sought specific types of information during their first 6 mo of employment was related to how well they mastered their job, defined their role, learned about their organization's culture, and became socially integrated. In contrast to findings from research focusing on the organization's role in socialization, these findings suggest that newcomers are proactive information seekers who take an active role in adjusting to their new environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Side effects of chiropractic treatment: a prospective study

Bleeding in factor-XI-deficient patients is mainly injury-related. Parameters influencing bleeding particularly in patients with minor factor XI deficiency have not been defined. We utilized a logistic regression model to analyze parameters influencing bleeding tendency in subjects from 45 families with factor XI deficiency. Bleeding manifestations were documented in 58% of 26 homozygous or doubly heterozygous factor-XI-deficient patients, in 20% of 46 heterozygous factor-XI-deficient patients and in 9% of 47 family members with a normal factor XI genotype. Odds ratios for bleeding in homozygotes or double heterozygotes were 13 and in heterozygotes 2.6 with 95% confidence intervals of 3.8-45 and 0.8-9.0, respectively. Bleeding correlated negatively with factor XI level (r = -0.36, P = 0.0001) with major factor XI deficiency being a strong predictor of bleeding (P = 0.011). Minor factor XI deficiency and blood group O slightly contributed to bleeding. Although factor VIII and factor XI levels were correlated (r = 0.48, P = 0.0001), levels of factor VIII and von Willebrand factor were not predictors of bleeding. Bleeding was more common following operative procedure involving mucosal membranes (P < 0.01). The designed model enabled prediction of bleeding manifestations with an overall accuracy of 78% and 82% in heterozygotes.     

Rotary pursuit apparatus: I. Survey of variables.

Sound experimentation, quantification, and theory construction depend in part upon standardized experimental apparatus and upon adequate reporting in the literature of the handing of apparatus variables. In a survey of the handling of 18 variables in each of 28 rotary pursuit studies, the handling of 9 variables was described adequately, and 2 of the studies did not specify handling of any of the variables, a situation that should not continue, "Since some of the variables have already been shown to have a significant influence on performance and others may well have… ." 39 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)