Externalization as a self-protective mechanism in a stigmatized group

Attitudes to depression and psychiatric medication amid the enduring financial crisis in Attica: Comparison between 2009 and 2014

BACKGROUND

Only a handful of studies have explored the effect of the financial crisis on public attitudes to mental illness.

AIMS

This study examines changes in lay attitudes to depression and psychiatric medication between 2009 and 2014 in Attica region. Furthermore, it explored a potential interaction with employment status.

METHODS

Data were drawn from two surveys conducted in 2009 and 2014 using the same sampling procedure, interview mode, and survey instrument. Specifically, a random and representative sample of 586 people was recruited in 2009 and of 604 in 2014. Attitudes to depression were measured by the Personal Stigma subscale of the Depression Stigma Scale and attitudes to psychiatric medication by a self-constructed scale with good psychometric properties. Data collection occurred via telephone.

RESULTS

There has been no overall change in lay attitudes to depression. Nonetheless, a positive change was recorded with regard to the belief that depression is a sign of personal weakness and a negative change with respect to people with depression being dangerous. Attitudes to psychiatric medication have worsened during the study period. Employment status was not found to interact with the survey year.

CONCLUSION

Anti-stigma efforts should be tailored on counteracting the dangerousness stereotype, while they should prioritize targeting attitudes to psychiatric medication.

Academic Procrastination among African-American College Students

This study examined the generality to African-American college students of previous findings regarding the prevalence of students' procrastination and their reasons for procrastinating. The Procrastination Assessment Scale—Students of Solomon and Rothblum was administered to 184 African-American college students. This scale measures the frequency of procrastination on a variety of academic tasks as well as reasons for procrastinating on writing a term paper. A high number of subjects reported nearly always or always procrastinating on studying for examinations ( n = 52), writing a term paper ( n = 55), and reading weekly assignments ( n = 66). Also, a high number of subjects reported that such procrastination was nearly always or always a problem ( n = 60 for studying for exams, n = 46 for writing a term paper, and n = 63 for reading weekly assignments). Factor analysis of the reasons for procrastinating on writing a term paper identified two primary factors, Evaluation Anxiety and Task Aversiveness. These results are very similar to those obtained in 1984 by Solomon and Rothblum who examined procrastination among Caucasian students, suggesting that self-reported procrastination patterns are quite general among college students.

The Career Locus of Control Scale for Adolescents: Further Evidence of Validity in the United States

This study examined the construct validity of the Career Locus of Control Scale (CLCS) among diverse urban youth within the United States (N = 308). Confirmatory factor analyses verified two of the three models as acceptable fits. Two new models were also explored. Model 5 (Internality, Luck, and Non-Control), which was one of the new models, was the most useful explanation of the data. Abstract and concrete educational attitudes correlated with the CLCS subscales in a manner consistent with expectations. No significant differences in the CLCS subscales were found as a function of race; male students had significantly higher levels of concrete attitudes and scored significantly higher on Powerful Others than female students. Age was not related to Internality, abstract attitudes, or concrete attitudes but was significantly associated with Luck and Non-Control.

Racial group differences in help-seeking behaviors

The authors evaluated variations in help-seeking behaviors among Blacks and Whites and the role of cognitive-affective variables as mediators of these variations. Participants were 70 Black and 66 White community college students who completed the SCL-90-R (L. R. Derogatis, 1977, 1994), the Revised Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (T. Bekhuis et al., 1995), the Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire (J. M. Robbins & L. J. Kirmayer, 1991), and a measure of help-seeking behaviors and demographic information. Relative to White college students, Black college students significantly less frequently used psychological or social services and significantly more frequently used religious services. The authors accounted for group differences in religious help-seeking behaviors by beliefs in the power of God and by normalizing symptom attributions. The cognitive-affective variables that were studied did not account for differences in psychological help-seeking behaviors. The authors inferred that to better meet the needs of Black college students, collaboration between mental health services and religious services would likely be beneficial.

Why some kids do well in bad situations: relation of parental alcohol misuse and parentification to children's self-concept

Between 1991 and 1994 a sample of high- and low-functioning 10-18-year-old children of alcohol misusing and nonalcohol misusing parents were assessed on degree of problematic parental role functioning (parentification) and global self-concept. The high functioning children had been chosen by their teachers to receive training as peer counselors, whereas the low functioning children were in either psychiatric facilities or the custody of family and children services. The parentification scores of the latter significantly exceeded those of the former. Children of alcoholic parents also scored higher on the parentification measure than did those with nonalcoholic parents. Within the high functioning group hierarchical regression analysis revealed that while parental alcohol misuse status accounted for a small but significant amount of the variance in self-concept, the effect of this variable was substantially reduced after entering level of parentification into the equation. By contrast, within the low functioning group parental alcohol misuse status was not significantly related to self-concept whereas level of parentification was. The results are discussed within a family systems framework.

Comparison of self-esteem scores: American and Indian adolescents

The Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory was administered to 112 African American adolescents who were academically at-risk for dropping out of high school. Results were similar to those of a previous study comparing a heterogeneous group of 100 American adolescents with 100 youths from India. Differences on scores of self-esteem for the two international groups were noted.

Emotional effects of plastic surgery on the adolescent with a cleft

Issues related to the emotional effects of surgery on the adolescent are reviewed in this paper. Psychological aspects of the preoperative preparation of the adolescent and family are discussed. Caution is suggested regarding overgeneralizations from the sometimes conflicting data in the literature, reviewed here, on social aspects of physical appearance. An outline of a plan for the work-up of an adolescent undergoing appearance changing surgery is presented. The importance of communication and patience in approaching the adolescent is stressed.

Three-Item Locus of Control Scale for Crime Victimization

The purpose of this research is to contribute evidence regarding the construct validity of a three-item locus-of-control measure specific to crime victimization. The scale was used to determine whether specific populations were more likely than others to agree with one of the orientations to control suggested by Levenson, these being internal, powerful others, and chance. The latter two dimensions represent distinct types of external orientations. The analysis was based on results from a telephone survey of a randomly selected sample of 666 residents, aged 18 years or older, of a midwestern city. Logistic regression using continuation logits yielded results consistent in general with expectations derived from the literature, but several interaction effects involving demographic and crime-specific variables were apparent.

Psychotherapy for persons with craniofacial deformities: can we treat without theory?

In recent years, increasing numbers of experts have recommended that psychological support be available for cleft children and their parents. Few cleft palate centers however offer comprehensive psychological services. This paper presents some conceptual factors which may contribute to the paucity of psychological treatments available to cleft children and their families. Shortcomings in current concepts of emotional dysfunction in cleft children are discussed, and the effects of conceptual confusion on options for psychotherapy are outlined. Suggested directions in psychotherapy research for cleft children are discussed.