Psychological Reports

In the vast majority of psychological research utilizing multiple regression analysis, asymptotic probability values are reported. This paper demonstrates that asymptotic estimates of standard errors provided by multiple regression are not always accurate. A resampling permutation procedure is used to estimate the standard errors. In some cases the results differ substantially from the traditional least squares regression estimates.

Medical students are subject to stress from sources related to medical training in addition to personal problems, resulting in significant mental distress. This study evaluates the scope of the problem in Tehran medical schools and sheds light on some of its associations. Students (604) of medicine from four medical schools in the city of Tehran responded to the Persian version of 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) in conjunction with a data collection sheet asking about age, sex, marital status, current training level, living place, grade point average in previous semester, and perceptions of their financial status. Of 602 students, 40.7% had mental distress (45.7% of female and 36.7% of male students). Distress was associated with being a woman (female to male odds ratio: 1.55) and very poor financial status (OR: 18.0).

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Specific Interpersonal Trust scale of Johnson-George and Swap in Korean samples as a part of the process of providing an exemplary tool for intercultural studies of trust. A translated version of the original scale was administered to 337 university students (157 males, 180 females) in Seoul, Korea. Data were subjected to a principal components analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis. In principal components analysis for the Korean sample (n = 167), three factors were identified and labeled: Overall Trust (Cronbach α=.89), Emotional Trust (Cronbach α = .88), and Reliableness (Cronbach α=.84). A confirmatory factor analysis (n=170) showed that the three-factor model was valid for the sample (χ²/df= 1.78, RMR=.06, RMSEA = .07, TLI=.92, CFI=.93). Internal consistency reliability and factorial validity were satisfactory in the case of the Korean sample. The Korean version of the Specific Interpersonal Trust Scale made good use of three factors of trust and appeared to be valid without sex differences, while the original scale distinguished the Males subscale from the Females subscale. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed.

The purpose of present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of counseling provided by nurses on depression and coping strategies of infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization (N = 67). Of the 84 women who were interviewed, 30 were accepted as a comparison group, and 37 were included in the study group. The study group women were given counseling in addition to routine nursing care services, including group education and individual interviews about treatment and coping strategies. The nurses also provided support by accompanying the women during the invasive procedures. The Beck Depression Inventory and Jalowiec's Coping Strategies Form were used for measurements. All the women were using emotional coping and had moderate depression prior to the study. There was no statistically significant difference between the comparison and study groups before or after the counseling with respect to depression and coping strategies. Parameters to evaluate the efficacy of counseling are discussed.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Hopelessness Scale in a sample of 340 Italian students did not support the 3-factor model reported for previous samples of psychiatric patients. A follow-up principal axis factor analysis yielded two interpretable correlated factors, suggesting that the structure of the scale may differ across clinical and nonclinical groups and as a function of nationality.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contexts on cheating attitudes and behavior among Brazilian undergraduates. Participants were 77 Previous Choice Engineering and 70 Late Choice Engineering students. Previous Choice students enter the desired field chosen by examination, whereas Late Choice students' grades during the two first college years give them preference to choose the field. Their self-reported attitudes and behaviors were compared with those of 82 chemistry undergraduates from two universities (UNI-C and USP-C). The Late Choice students reported significant negative opinion about cheating, whereas Previous Choice students, especially women, reported significant favorable opinion. Furthermore, Previous Choice students reported colleagues more frequently gave them answers on examinations than Late Choice students. The two university groups in chemistry had intermediate scores. Deterrents of cheating strongly embedded in the student culture were found among Late Choice engineering undergraduates which may be explained by social learning theory.

The utilization of professional help is affected by individual factors such as help-seeking attitudes and self-concealment as well as the availability of mental health services. The present study examined the role of cultural self-construal and self-concealment on attitudes toward professional psychological services. A survey was conducted with 214 Japanese college students. Multiple regression analyses found that interdependent self-construal significantly predicted the Recognition of Need for Psychological Services. Self-concealment was predictive of two different facets of help-seeking attitudes: Interpersonal Openness and Stigma Tolerance. Future studies are recommended to refine the model that was tested.

The present cross-sectional study assessed the attitude of Japanese undergraduates towards mental health services and investigated whether mental distress is associated with reluctance to use, and a decreased perceived need for, mental health services. A convenience sample of 194 students (98 men and 96 women) completed the 28-item Japanese version of the General Health Questionnaire and questions regarding reluctance to use and perceived need for mental health services. Participants were in the second to fourth years of undergraduate work and their majors were psychology and technology. Analyses showed that approximately 70% of students were reluctant to use mental health services and this reluctance was less in the group scoring high on anxiety and insomnia than the group scoring lower. Also, perceived need for mental health services was higher for those scoring high on depression. There were some discrepancies in the results and previous studies. Implications of these findings for clinical and preventive practice and for direction for research are discussed.

Investigation of individual inmates' characteristics are almost entirely absent from research of prison riots. The current study sought to fill this void using official infraction records and prison dossiers of 831 male inmates selected from the southwestern USA. Logistic regression models indicated that inmates who were cited for criminal infractions, such as theft, possession of weapons or drugs, threatening staff, and social risk factors were significantly more likely to engage in prison rioting. In fact, the model which contained criminal career, demographic information, infraction, and other social risk factors explained 40% of the variation in prison rioting. Suggestions for research on prison riots that included inmates' criminal history and characteristics of infraction are offered.

This paper presents an alternative measure for scoring the recognition memory task in the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS), which is one of the most common screening tests. Memory studies routinely take into account not only correct responses to old items (Hits) but also incorrect responses to new items (False Alarms). Here, a bias-corrected measure of recognition memory, Hits minus False Alarms (called Pr), is computed and its significance evaluated against the original measure, Hits. 28 male and 40 female healthy elderly people (M age = 68.5 yr., SD = 3.5) recruited from the neighborhood community participated in this study. Multiple stepwise regression analyses first with Hit Rate then False Alarm Rate showed that False Alarm Rate significantly improved R² in the two subscale scores of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised and scores of the Mini-Mental State Exam. Thus, this new measure taking into account false responses may be more sensitive and useful to detect early stages of cognitive dysfunction.

People tend to believe that their inner thoughts are readily apparent to others. This study was conducted to examine effects, related to the difficulty of making decisions of personal preference, on the illusion of transparency, that is, the tendency people have to regard their own preference as more apparent to others when they have made their decision easily as opposed to situations in which they felt their decision to be difficult. In three studies in which the customary “transparency” experimental paradigm was used, university students were asked to rank choices of wedding dresses (Studies 1 and 3) or Korean movie stars (Study 2). Analysis suggested that the less difficulty participants felt in making their judgments (the first and last preference vs mid-ranking preference), the more they expected judgments to be transparent, especially when they had the clear intent to convey their thoughts to others. However, observers discerned first preferences no better than mid-ranking preferences. How inner subjective information contributes to the illusion of transparency is also discussed.

This study is a validation of the Spanish version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory using a nonclinical sample (198 participants) and a clinical sample (72 participants with social phobia). The factor structure and concurrent validity with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress scales were analyzed. The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory demonstrated good concurrent validity, showing statistically significant relationships with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress. Results confirmed the rationale for the division of the SPAI into two subscales. Results also demonstrated the utility of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for differentiating between a nonclinical sample and participants with a social phobia, and its adequate reliability.

This study examined relationships of self-reported Mysticism with dispositional Depression and Anxiety in Iranian Muslims. The sample contained 80 women and 51 men undergraduates who volunteered to participate (M age = 20.5 yr., SD = 2.0). Participants responded to the Hood Mysticism Scale and to the Costello and Comrey Depression and Anxiety Scales. Scores on the Religious Interpretation dimension of mystical experience correlated negatively with those on Depression, explained a similar relationship observed for Extrovertive Mysticism, and moderated the otherwise positive relationship between Introvertive Mysticism and Anxiety. Moderation occurred when Introvertive Mysticism correlated negatively rather than positively with Anxiety in those who scored high on Religious Interpretation and very high on the Introvertive factor. These data suggested possibilities for reconciling conflicts that have appeared between philosophical interpretations of Introvertive Mysticism and previous self-report data.

The Situational Outlook Questionnaire has been in use for many years as an assessment of the climate that supports change, innovation, and creativity. This study reports the descriptive statistics, internal consistency, factor structure, and other psychometric results from a sample of 4,730 respondents. Further areas for improvement of the questionnaire and assessment approach are identified.

This research is an extension of earlier studies that examined Assertiveness and Aggressiveness as potential moderators of verbal intentions. A sample of 127 women and 137 men participated in the survey which used random residential telephone numbers. Respondents ranged in age from 18 to 71 years (M = 33.2, SD= 12.4), with men making up 51.9% of the total sample. Those respondents classified as having an Aggressive interaction style were least likely to have discussed their unsatisfactory service encounters. The nature of the verbal communications was negative for all four interaction styles investigated. Similar to previous findings, men and women were equally Assertive, but men were more likely to be Aggressive when engaging in marketplace interactions.

Recent findings concerning mathematics assessment indicate that students in Japan consistently score above international averages. Researchers have examined specific mathematics beliefs and instructional strategies associated with mathematics achievement for students in Japan. This study examined relationships among self-beliefs, classroom instructional strategies, and mathematics achievement for a large national sample of students (N = 4,207) from the TIMSS 2003 international sample of fourth graders in Japan. Several significant relationships between mathematics beliefs and test scores were found; a number of classroom teaching strategies were also significantly associated with test scores. However, multiple regression using the complete set of five mathematics beliefs and five instructional strategies explained only 25.1% of the variance in mathematics achievement test scores.

A program of Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale research is described, focusing on the distinction between positively keyed and negatively keyed items. Balanced short forms exist for the measurement of an overall social desirability construct, but evidence suggests the use as well of separate subscales. These subscales are seen to correlate differentially with the substantive personality variable neuroticism, with content-free measures of semantic style, and with self-peer agreement. A simple procedure for the concomitant measurement of possible tendency to acquiesce is also described.

Prior research indicates that Black South Africans are generally less satisfied with their lives and neighborhoods than White South Africans. 375 Black and 358 White adult residents of a multiracial, middle-class suburb of Johannesburg rated, from 0 to 10, their satisfaction with 9 personal and 9 environmental quality of life domains. Two items, also rated from 0 to 10, assessed satisfaction with life and the neighborhood. Although there were no differences between Black and White suburbanites on life satisfaction scores, the Black group reported being more satisfied with the neighborhood than the White group. Stepwise multiple regression indicated that health and personal safety explained the highest variance in life (29% for the Black group and 43% for the White group) and neighborhood (26% for the Black group and 18% for the White group) satisfaction.

Prior findings suggest presence of psychopathic personality traits may be prevalent outside of the criminal sphere, such as in the business world. It is possible that particular work environments are attractive to individuals with higher psychopathic personality traits. To test this hypothesis, the current study investigated whether psychopathic personality scores could predict students' choices between two university majors, criminal justice or nursing (N= 174; 53 men, 121 women). Nursing education espouses nurturance and care, while criminal justice education teaches students informal and formal social control. Given these two educational mandates, it was predicted that students who scored higher on a scale of psychopathy would tend to enter criminal justice rather than nursing. Using logistic regression, results showed students with higher overall scores on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory, specifically higher scores on the subscale Machiavellian Egocentricity, were more likely to have chosen to major in criminal justice than nursing. Effects were generally weak but significant, accounting for between 5% to 25% of the variance in choice of major. Furthermore, this finding was not due to sex differences.

The aim of this study was to evaluate perception of body image and anxiety of 221 university students presenting to the dermatology outpatient clinic with a skin disease and 205 students without skin disease. Analysis of anxiety and body image scores yielded differences by sex and age in both groups. The group with skin disease had lower scores on body image. Acne vulgaris seems to be the most disturbing among the skin diseases, and this was more prominent in younger patients.

The present cross-cultural study examined the relationship between deductive reasoning and creativity among college students (M age = 20.4 yr., SD=.6) from Hong Kong (n = 39) and the United States (n = 38). Participants performed tasks designed to measure deductive reasoning, creative writing, and insight problem-solving, all in verbal form. No correlation was found between the performance for deductive reasoning and creativity as measured by creative writing. Insight problem-solving performance correlated significantly with that for both reasoning and creativity. Significant cultural differences favoring the American participants were only found on the creative writing and insight problem-solving tasks, both of which supposedly involve creative thinking. There seems to be cultural dependence for creativity but not for deductive reasoning which suggests a qualification of a strong cultural-relevance view positing pervasive cultural influences on human thinking processes.

Presence of depression in cocaine-dependent users is relevant for treatment of these persons. This study assessed the presence of depressive symptomatology with a published Spanish translation of the Beck Depression Inventory for a sample of 115 Spanish cocaine-dependent users who were in outpatient treatment at Centers of Drug Dependence of Galicia, Spain. The mean score was 13.7 (SD=10.3), with 24.3% of the sample having scores which indicate clinical depression (cut off ≥ 21). These data underscore the need to assess the presence of depression in cocaine-dependent users who require treatment.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship among Effort, Reward, and Overcommitment dimensions of Siegrist's Effort-Reward Imbalance Model and Psychological Distress in a sample of 78 Canadian police officers. Ages of respondents ranged between 24 and 56 years (M = 36.1, SD=8.0). 30% of respondents had been in policing for 16 years or more, 24% between 6 and 15 years, and 44% for 5 years or less. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to evaluate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. After adjusting for age, sex, education, and marital status, higher levels of Effort-Reward Imbalance and Overcommitment were associated with greater Psychological Distress. Present findings support the utility of the model in this particular occupational group and add to the increasing literature suggesting association of Effort-Reward Imbalance, Overcommitment, and reduced mental health.

This study describes qualitatively a psychoeducational assertiveness intervention for 20 women's perceptions of positive and negative experiences, undertaken to identify whether therapeutic mechanisms operating in group therapy as described by Yalom might be inferred. There were 14 90-min. weekly sessions organized around educational material. Two groups were conducted with 10 university women each (M = 20.9 yr., SD= 1.9). Qualitative analysis of the 20 interviews identified five of Yalom's therapeutic mechanisms, namely, self-understanding, universality, acceptance, catharsis, and self-disclosure. The positive experiences were group cohesiveness, self-understanding, self-disclosure, positive views about the self and learning, and cognitive benefits. Self-disclosing at the early stages of group development was the most frequently reported negative experience or difficulty in the group. Although participants stated they improved interpersonal communication skills, analysis suggested the cultural context was an important mediator of assertive behavior.

Studies have found that Wechsler scale administration and scoring proficiency is not easily attained during graduate training. These findings may be related to methodological issues. Using a single-group repeated measures design, this study documents statistically significant, though modest, error reduction on the WAIS-III and WISC-III during a graduate course in assessment. The study design does not permit the isolation of training factors related to error reduction, or assessment of whether error reduction is a function of mere practice. However, the results do indicate that previous study findings of no or inconsistent improvement in scoring proficiency may have been the result of methodological factors. Implications for teaching individual intelligence testing and further research are discussed.

The present study examined the relations among sex, work-family conflict, and psychological distress in 78 Canadian police officers (50 men and 28 women). The average age of the officers was 36.1 yr. (SD= 8.0), and nearly one-third of the respondents had been in policing 16 years or more. Ordinary least-squares regression was conducted to examine the association of Psychological Distress scores, as measured by the K6, with four types of work-family conflict: Time-based Work-to-Family Conflict, Time-based Family-to-Work Conflict, Strain-based Work-to-Family Conflict, and Strain-based Family-to-Work Conflict. Being single and having higher perceived Strain-based Work-to-Family Conflict were associated with greater scores on Psychological Distress. No statistically significant sex differences emerged in the self-reported type or direction of work-family conflict or in the factors associated with Psychological Distress.

Evidence obtained through the process of interrogation is frequently undermined by what can be perceived as overzealous interrogation tactics. Although the majority of psychologically oriented tactics are legally permissible, they nonetheless contribute to innocent suspects confessing to crimes they did not commit. The present study examined the effect of expert testimony and interrogation tactics on perceptions of a confession. 182 undergraduates read a transcript of a homicide trial that varied based on interrogation tactic: implicit threat of punishment (maximization) or leniency (minimization) and expert witness testimony (presence or absence of expert testimony). Analysis indicated that the type of interrogation tactic used in obtaining the confession affected participants' perceptions of the coerciveness of the interrogation process.

Although the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale is a widely utilized instrument, little data on construct validity is available about its use with clients having schizophrenia. This study compared point-specific GAF scores with concurrent ratings of symptomatology and social and occupational impairments using the Functional Assessment Rating Scale (Ward & Dow, 1994). A linear multiple regression analysis of empirical data from investigations of clients' global functioning showed that increased work and school-related problems, danger to others, and psychotic symptoms predicted lower GAF scores. In general, GAF scores seem to reflect the construct of global psychological, social, and occupational functioning that the scale was designed to measure.

This study examined the associations among 210 college students' alexithymia scores and three emotional orientation scores. Students completed the following three self-report instruments: 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and 24-item Self-defeating Personality Scale. As predicted, a linear regression model indicated that alexithymia was associated with negative emotional activation, self-defeating personality, and inversely associated with positive emotional activation. These three affect orientations accounted for 27% of the variance associated with subjects' cognitive-affective communication difficulties expressing their emotions. A second linear regression model indicated that negative emotion activation was significantly associated with self-defeating personality, and positive emotion activation was significantly inversely associated with self-defeating personality.

A study of perception of affective pictures from the International Affective Photo System, using the Self Assessment Manikin scale, was conducted. It was hypothesized that participants' affective ratings could be moderated by a subjective experience of success or failure. Analysis, based on a sample of 36 university students, showed an approach tendency for women when they were exposed to positive pictures in the success condition. This approach tendency was associated with relatively shorter processing times and high affective ratings. Men showed relatively shorter processing times and high affective ratings when exposed to negative pictures. For memory-related measures, the highest scores were observed in the success condition for exposure to pleasant pictures. The results are discussed in terms of affective-related self-regulatory tendencies moderated by sex.

This study tested the prediction that individual differences in self-actualization would be associated with six academic orientations which influence college students' adjustment to their studies. Volunteer undergraduates, solicited from courses in the sciences and liberal arts and invited to complete internet measures of the academic orientations and self-actualization were 137 men and 311 women (M age = 21.1, SD = 4.8). Statistically significant bivariate correlations obtained between scores on self-actualization with all six orientations: creative expression, reading for pleasure, academic efficacy, and, inversely, structure dependence, academic apathy, and mistrust of instructors. Regression analysis showed that four orientations were independently related to self-actualization scores. The role of these four orientations in actualizing students' adjustment was discussed, and implications were drawn about the interpretation of scores on the four orientations.

Individuals differ along a continuum of preference for diurnal activity level, known as Morningness-Eveningness. Individuals low in Morningness traits, i.e., preferring later awakening and bed times, have been shown to score higher on personality traits of impulsiveness and novelty-seeking. No studies have yet examined the association between Morningness-Eveningness and the related construct of risk-taking. Therefore, the present study examined (1) whether Morningness was correlated with self-reported and behavioral measures of risk-taking, and (2) whether one night of sleep deprivation would produce changes in risk-taking and sensation-seeking. 54 healthy adults were administered the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire at intake, and administered the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, Evaluation of Risks Scale, and Balloon Analog Risk Task at rested baseline, again following 23 hr. of sleep deprivation, and finally after a 12-hr. period of recovery sleep. Lower Morningness scores were associated with higher self-reported total risk-taking propensity when rested (p< .05) and sleep deprived (p<.005), but correlations were not significant for sensation seeking or actual risk-taking behavior. Relative to baseline and postrecovery periods, sleep deprivation significantly reduced risk-taking propensity, including self-report indices of self-control, danger-seeking, energy level, and sensation-seeking, and behaviorally measured risk-taking. Chronotype did not interact with sleep condition for any of the dependent variables, although Evening Types scored higher on several indices of risk-propensity. Findings suggest that Morningness traits are inversely related to greater risk-taking propensity, while sleep deprivation significantly reduces self-reported and behaviorally demonstrated willingness to engage in high-risk and sensational activities under conditions of uncertainty, regardless of chronotype.

The Physical Self-attribute Questionnaire was developed for use in conjunction with the Physical Self-perception Profile to model cognitive facets of perceived competence, certainty, importance, and discrepancy from ideal to each of the physical subdomains measured by the latter (Strength, Attractive Body, Condition, and Sport). To this end, two studies were conducted. Study 1 examined the factor structure, test-retest reliability, and validity of the questionnaire in a sample of 154 (28 men, 126 women) undergraduate health students. Reliability and validity were acceptable, and confirmatory factor analysis indicated good fit for a four-factor solution. In Study 2, the reliability, validity, and factor structure was again confirmed in a sample of 120 (83 men, 37 women) undergraduate students recruited from exercise classes. Results of these two studies suggest that the Physical Self-attribute Questionnaire is a viable tool to measure the underlying cognitive facets of subdomain-specific physical self-esteem.

When adjusting product prices, marketers wish information concerning consumers' price perceptions. The present study aimed to develop an optimal pricing framework for food products by applying Weber's Law and Stevens' Power Law in psychophysics. The first phase attempted to measure the differential thresholds when magnitudes of prices were raised and lowered. The second phase was conducted to establish the psychophysical function representing perceived changes. Analysis showed consumers' differential thresholds were positively correlated with the initial price, consistent with Weber's Law. Further, participants' perceived change differed for increased and decreased prices. Products were perceived as cheaper only when medium-and low-priced products dropped dramatically in price. However, small reductions for the high-priced products were perceived as cheaper. Regardless of price changes, participants perceived products were more expensive when prices dropped by a small amount.

Studies on temporal discounting typically involve choosing between two outcomes of the same sign, i.e., positive or negative. For example, participants often are given a choice between a smaller, sooner gain and a larger, but later gain, or (less commonly) the options may be a sooner, larger loss and a later, but smaller loss. In contrast, participants in this study (N= 129; 66 women and 63 men, volunteers from Warsaw, Poland, all employed, with college education, ranging in age from 23 to 50 years, M = 32.3 yr., SD = 7.4) had to make a yes-or-no decision as to whether they would accept a financial offer involving a combination of a gain and a loss. This offer could be either an immediate gain to be followed later by a larger loss or an immediate loss followed later by a larger gain. Despite the substantial differences between the options in the present study and those in typical discounting studies, the same hyper-boloid discounting function that describes choice between immediate and delayed gains also accurately described choice in the substantially different situations presented in the present study. In addition, steeper discounting was observed with a smaller delayed outcome than with a larger delayed outcome.

This study used a community sample of 192 intact families to examine two issues related to conceptualization and measurement of family functioning. First, a confirmatory factor model supported the adequacy of using dyadic-level self-report measures (e.g., mother-child, child-father) to identify three family level constructs of Family Affect, Family Control, and Family Shared Activity. Second, data derived from behavioral observations during dyadic interactions identified two factors, Family Positivity and Family Negativity. Correlations among the self-report and behavioral observation factors indicated high Family Positivity was significantly associated with higher Family Affect and lower Family Control, and Family Negativity was significantly associated with lower Family Affect and with lower Family Shared Activity. Findings are discussed in terms of limitations and directions for research.

Associations between the Big Five personality traits of siblings and the quality of sibling relationships were examined in a sample of 115 college students and one of their older siblings. Big Five traits, as assessed by Goldberg's 100 adjective markers, predicted a large amount of the variability in sibling Warmth and Conflict. Agreeableness was the most consistent predictor of positive sibling outcomes.

This review aims to show the potential of using virtual environments in developmental spatial cognition research to advance empirical knowledge and theoretical insight. The facility for easy and economic variations of environmental features, the active, self-determined exploration, and the reliable registration of the navigation behavior using virtual environments allow investigating the development of spatial behavior and spatial knowledge in more detail. As a consequence, a dissociation between spatial behavior and spatial knowledge was observed, leading to the conclusion that spatial context has to be integrated further in any theoretical model regarding development of spatial cognition.