When Grades Determine Self-Worth: Consequences of Contingent Self-Worth for Male and Female Engineering and Psychology Majors.

The impact of grades on daily self-esteem, affect, and identification with major was examined in a sample of 122 male and female students majoring in engineering and psychology. Self-esteem, affect, and identification with major increased on days students received good grades and decreased on days they received poor grades: basing self-esteem on academic competence moderated the effect of bad grades. Bad grades led to greater drops in self-esteem but not more disidentification with the major for women in engineering. Instability of self-esteem predicted increases in depressive symptoms for students initially more depressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health-Related Stress, Affect, and Depressive Symptoms Experienced by Caregiving Mothers of Adults With a Developmental Disability.

The interrelationships among health-related stress, positive and negative affect, and depressive symptoms patterned in the dynamic model of affect (J. Reich, A. Zautra, & M. Davis, 2003) were examined using data from 932 women having an adult child with a developmental disability. Results indicate that women experience a moderate inverse correlation between positive and negative affect under conditions of low levels of health-related stress, whereas at high levels of stress, positive and negative affect become more strongly inversely correlated. Under high-stress conditions, both negative affect and positive affect have a stronger relationship to depressive symptoms than they do under low-stress conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spiritual Transcendence as a Predictor of Psychosocial Outcome From an Outpatient Substance Abuse Program.

Does the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS; R. L. Piedmont, 1999) predict psychosocial outcomes from an outpatient substance abuse program? Self-report data on symptoms, personality, and coping resources were obtained for 73 consecutive admissions (57 men and 16 women; ages 19-66 years) at intake and again from the 56 (47 men and 9 women) who completed treatment. Controlling for relevant demographic variables, pretreatment STS scores were significantly related to self-ratings at posttreatment. The STS predicted treatment outcomes over and above the contribution of the five-factor model of personality. Significant partial correlations between pretreatment STS scores and therapist ratings of treatment outcome were also obtained. Spiritual Transcendence, especially the facets of Universality and Connectedness, appears to play a significant role in substance abuse recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of successful dietary restriction to change in bulimic symptoms: A prospective study of adolescent girls.

Recent experimental evidence that dietary restriction results in decreased bulimic and depressive symptoms seems inconsistent with findings from prospective studies and etiologic theory. However, because the dieting manipulated in these experiments may be unrepresentative of real-world weight loss dieting, the authors tested whether successful dietary restriction was associated with decreases in these outcomes by using longitudinal data from a school-based study of 496 adolescent girls. Moderately overweight participants who evidenced successful dietary restriction showed significantly greater decreases in bulimic symptoms than weight-matched participants who did not show successful dietary restriction; however, there were no effects for depressive symptoms. In conjunction with past experimental findings, results seem to imply that successful dietary restriction curbs bulimic symptoms, suggesting that current etiologic models may need revision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of violence and self-harm in mentally disordered offenders: A prospective study of the efficacy of HCR-20, PCL-R, and psychiatric symptomatology.

The efficacy of the Historical, Clinical, and Risk Management Scales (HCR-20; C. D. Webster, D. Eaves, K. S. Douglas, & A. Wintrup, 1995), Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS; A. T. Beck, A. Weissman, D. Lester, & L. Trexler, 1974), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) to predict violence and self-harm in 34 institutionalized mentally disordered offenders was assessed. Both the HCR-20 and BPRS were strong predictors of violence whereas the PCL-R had moderate predictive ability. BHS was the only variable predictive of self-harm. Although risk assessment measures were successful at predicting in-patient violence, a clinical measure of mental state was at least as effective in these mentally disordered offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking to cope and alcohol use and abuse in unipolar depression: A 10-year model.

This study examined drinking to cope with distress and drinking behavior in a baseline sample of 412 unipolar depressed patients assessed 4 times over a 10-year period. Baseline drinking to cope operated prospectively as a risk factor for more alcohol consumption at 1-, 4, and 10-year follow-ups and for more drinking problems at 1- and 4-year follow-ups. Findings elucidate a key mechanism in this process by showing that drinking to cope strengthened the link between depressive symptoms and drinking behavior. Individuals who had a stronger propensity to drink to cope at baseline showed a stronger connection between depressive symptoms and both alcohol consumption and drinking problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting Behaviors and the Occurrence and Co-Occurrence of Depressive Symptoms and Conduct Problems Among African American Children.

The occurrence and co-occurrence of depressive symptoms and conduct problems were examined in the context of parenting behaviors in a community-based sample of 897 African American children and their primary caregivers using a multi-informant, longitudinal design. Parenting behaviors and clinical symptoms were assessed in 2 waves, when the children averaged 10.5 and 12.3 years of age. Parenting behaviors differed significantly according to a child's symptomatology; (a) that is, when a child exhibited no depressive or conduct problems, (b) depressive problems only, (c) conduct problems only, or (d) co-occurring depressive and conduct problems. When parenting behaviors were examined according to changes in children's symptom levels, children whose symptoms increased over time reported increases in hostility and harsh-inconsistent parenting and decreases in warmth and nurturant-involved parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia": Correction to Brewin, MacCarthy, Duda, and Vaughn (1991).

Reports an error in "Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia" by Chris R. Brewin, Brigid MacCarthy, Karin Duda and Christine E. Vaughn (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1991[Nov], Vol 100[4], 546-554). An incorrect sentence was published. The sentence that ends the fourth paragraph on p. 547 ought to read: A more recent onset of illness would be expected to produce more unstable attributions, and more disturbed behavior (particularly involving violence toward the relative) would be expected to produce attributions that were more internal and personal to the patient but more external and uncontrollable as regards the relative. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1992-12907-001.) Indexes of expressed emotion (EE) in 58 relatives of patients with schizophrenia were related to those relatives' spontaneously expressed causal beliefs about the illness and about related symptoms and behaviors. Relatives made attributions predominantly to factors external, universal, and uncontrollable from their own perspective, and to factors internal, universal, and uncontrollable from the patient's perspective. Low-EE relatives were similar in their attributions to emotionally overinvolved relatives. Compared with these 2 groups, critical and/or hostile relatives made more attributions to factors personal to and controllable by the patient. Subsequent analyses suggested that hostile relatives were further characterized by making more attributions to factors internal to the patient and by making attributions with fewer causal elements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's about timing and change: Pubertal transition effects on symptoms of major depression among African American youths.

Effects of early physical maturation and accelerated pubertal changes on symptoms of major depression were examined in 639 African American children. Three rival hypotheses, early timing, off-time, and stressful change, were tested using 2 waves of data (mean ages = 11 and 13 years). The pubertal effect operates differently according to children's gender and age. For girls, early maturation was consistently associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms. For boys, early maturers manifested elevated levels of depression only at age 11, but these symptoms subsided by age 13. Boys who experienced accelerated pubertal growth over time displayed elevated symptom levels. Results support the early timing hypothesis for girls and the stressful change hypothesis for boys. Time at assessment is critical when examining boys' pubertal transition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Indoor Environmental Risk Factors for Respiratory Health in Children

Abstract The indoor environment of 80 houses in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia was assessed during six visits performed bi-monthly over a period of one year. Children between 7 and 14 years of age residing in the houses were included, resulting in 148 study children, 53 of whom were asthmatic. A respiratory health questionnaire was completed and skin prick tests performed. Significant risk factors for asthma were: exposure to a gas stove (OR=3.15, 95% CI 1.28-7.72), and indoor pets (OR = 2.68, 95% CI 1.07-6.70). Exposure to airborne Aspergillus spores (+10 CFU/m³, OR=1.51, 95% CI 1.05-2.18) was a risk factor for atopy, while exposure to a gas stove (OR=2.32, 95% CI 1.04-5.18) was a risk factor for respiratory symptoms. In conclusion, exposure to gas stoves, fungal spores and pets in the home were identified as statistically significant risk factors for respiratory health in children.