Denial, anxiety, locus of control, and discrepancy between aspirations and achievements as components of depression.

Reformulated a number of clinical observations about depression to test them empirically, using multiple regression equations. Ss were 547 men in Army basic training. Psychological measures included the Depression subscale of the Cornell Medical Index, Rotter's Internal-External Control Scale, the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing Anxiety Scale, N. Hahn's denial measure, and the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Depression was negatively correlated with denial and positively correlated with anxiety, locus of control, and the discrepancy between aspirations and achievements (discontent). Locus of control was positively correlated with discontent and anxiety and negatively correlated with denial. There were interaction effects between locus of control and discontent, between locus of control and anxiety, and between anxiety and denial when these terms were regressed on depression. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and drinking behavior in a sample of men in Army basic training.

Studied the relationship between internal-external control and drinking behavior in 517 men in basic training whose drinking behavior ranged from abstinence to problem drinking. Results show a clear pattern of increased externality with increased drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

LSD flashbacks and ego functioning.

Among 235 male LSD users (mean age 21.2 yrs), Ss experiencing flashbacks (a) were more likely to employ repression and regression, (b) were less likely to use intellectualization, (c) had less coping capacity and less tolerance of ambiguity, (d) had a more external locus of control, (e) evidenced more thought disorder, (f) were more maladjusted, (g) differed in motives for drug use, (h) used LSD more often, and (i) were more likely to have experienced acute adverse reactions while taking LSD than those Ss who did not have flashbacks. A large battery of tests, including measures of flashbacks; extent of, and motives for, drug use; acute adverse reactions to LSD use; schizophrenia; and regression, denial, coping capacity, and tolerance of ambiguity, was administered to all Ss. Multivariate analysis indicated that, with the exception of repression, differences in ego functioning did not make independent contributions to the variance in flashbacks when shared variance with acute adverse reactions was considered. Several alternative causal interpretations focusing on the significance of acute adverse reactions in the etiology of later flashbacks are discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role stress, personality, and psychopathology in a group of immigrant adolescents.

Applied a role stress-personality framework to the analysis of psychopathological symptoms in a nonclincal sample of 155 Cuban refugees in Miami, Florida. Measures included the Eysenck Personality Inventory, Cantril's self-anchoring striving scale, and Zuckerman and Lubin's depression and anxiety adjective checklist. Ambiguity regarding evaluations of performance in the dating role was more consistently related to symptoms of psychopathology than were either role conflict or ambiguity regarding role expectations. Extraversion-introversion and relative discontent were also associated with psychopathological symptoms, with some sex differences. Results suggest that high rates of mental illness among immigrant groups may be partially a function of evaluation ambiguity and the resultant problems of identity formation amid conflicting cultural patterns. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acute adverse reactions to psychoactive drugs, drug usage, and psychopathology.

Used a field survey method to examine the relationship between psychopathology and acute adverse reactions to psychoactive drugs. A paper-and-pencil measure of acute adverse reactions was developed and administered to 530 college students with drug-use experience. Acute adverse reactions were hypothesized to covary positively with regression, schizophrenia, and drug usage, and to covary negatively with adjustment and paranoia. These hypotheses were supported. The hypotheses that usage of LSD and mescaline would covary positively with regression and covary negatively with adjustment were also supported. A hypothesis that schizophrenia would positively covary with LSD and mescaline usage was not confirmed. Regression was also found to be related to marihuana usage. A recursive linear model was developed in an attempt to integrate and explain these results. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)