Low effective organizational strategies in visual memory performance of unmedicated alcoholics during early abstinence

Objective: Alcohol-dependent patients in early abstinence show an impairment of cognitive functions which can be seen in poor implementation of newly learned skills for avoiding relapse. Executive dysfunction may persist during abstinence in alcohol-dependent persons, thus mitigating long-term abstinence. This study assessed visual memory function and choice of organizational strategies in alcoholics, as these are major factors necessary to implement ongoing behavior changes which are required for maintaining abstinence

The Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) scale: review of its methodological characteristics

BACKGROUND: The current paper reviews data from different sources to get a closer impression on the psychometric and other methodological characteristics of the Aging Males' Symptoms (AMS) scale gathered recently. The scale was designed and standardized as self-administered scale to (a) to assess symptoms of aging (independent from those which are disease-related) between groups of males under different conditions, (b) to evaluate the severity of symptoms over time, and (c) to measure changes pre- and post androgen replacement therapy. The scale is in widespread use (14 languages). METHOD: Original data from different studies in many countries were centrally analysed to evaluate reliability and validity of the AMS. RESULTS: Reliability measures (consistency and test-retest stability) were found to be good across countries, although the sample size was sometimes small. Validity: The internal structure of the AMS in healthy and androgen deficient males, and across countries was sufficiently similar to conclude that the scale really measures the same phenomenon. The sub-scores and total score correlations were high (0.8–0.9) but lower among the sub-scales (0.5–0.7). This however suggests that the subscales are not fully independent. The comparison with other scales for aging males or screening instruments for androgen deficiency showed sufficiently good correlations, illustrating a good criterion-oriented validity. The same is true for the comparison with the generic quality-of-life scale SF36 where also high correlation coefficients have been shown. Methodological analyses of a treatment study of symptomatic males with testosterone demonstrated the ability of the AMS scale to measure treatment effect, irrespective of the severity of complaints before therapy. It was also shown that the AMS result can predict the independently generated (physician's) opinion about the individual treatment effect. CONCLUSION: The currently available methodological evidence points towards a high quality of the AMS scale to measure and to compare HRQoL of aging males over time or before/after treatment, it suggests a high reliability and high validity as far as the process of construct validation could be pressed ahead yet. But certainly more data will become available, particularly from ongoing clinical studies

Age differences in men: male gender-role stress, impression management and risk behaviour

0\. Titelseiten 00\. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1\. Einleitung 1 2\. Gender-Diskurs: Der Mythos um die Maskulinität 7 3\. Das Selbstkonzept in der Selbstdarstellung 29 4\. Integration des körperlichen und psychologischen Selbst 48 5\. Zusammenfassung und Hypothesen 67 6\. Die Pilotstudie 78 7\. Methoden 88 8\. Ergebnisse der Hauptstudie 108 9\. Diskussion 146 10\. Ausblick auf zukünftige Forschung 175 11\. Literatur 178 12\. Anhang 195Hintergrund: Es ist aus der Literatur hinreichend bekannt, dass Männer einen höheren Alkohol- und Zigarettenkonsum haben als Frauen, dass sie mehr Dopingmittel nehmen, dass sie eine mehr als das Doppelte so hohe Suizidrate haben als Frauen, und dass nur eine Minderheit von Männern zu Vorsorgeuntersuchungen geht (Sieverding, 2000; Brähler et al., 2001). Fragestellung: Die zentralen Fragen der vorliegenden Arbeit betreffen die Identifikation dysfunktionaler Anteile des männlichen Selbstkonzeptes und ihre möglichen Assoziationen mit gesundheitsgefährdendem Verhalten von Männern verschiedener Altersstufen. Eine mögliche Erklärung für die risikoreichen Verhaltensweisen könnte im männlichen Geschlechtsrollenstress liegen. Zudem drängte sich die Frage auf, ob der männliche Geschlechtsrollenstress das Risikoverhalten moderiert und inwiefern die intendierte Selbstdarstellung und die Einstellung zum eigenen Altern mit diesen Variablen assoziiert sind. Methode: Eine mehrschichtige Pilotstudie (N = 52) diente der Hypothesengenerierung und Absicherung der zu verwendenden Operationalisierungen. Im Allgemeinen erzielten die Instrumente gute Kennwerte. Instabile Skalen wurden für die Hauptstudie modifiziert. Bei der Hauptstudie handelte es sich um eine querschnittliche, nicht repräsentative Fragebogenerhebung an 491 Männern im Alter zwischen 18-88 Jahren. Es wurden das Selbstkonzept, Körperbild, der Geschlechtsrollenstress, der intendierte Selbstdarstellungswunsch, die Einstellung zum Altern, die Lebenszufriedenheit, die empfundene Leistungsanforderung und u.a. Risikoverhaltensweisen sowie deren Intention erhoben. Ergebnisse: Für eine bessere Veranschaulichung möglicher Altersgruppenunterschiede wurde die Stichprobe für die Analysen in fünf annähernd gleich große Gruppen eingeteilt. Für nahezu alle oben genannten Dimensionen bestanden signifikante Unterschiede in den Altersgruppen. Der männliche Geschlechtsrollenstress sowie die empfundene Leistungsanforderung waren bei jungen Probanden (18-21 Jahre) am höchsten ausgeprägt. Es zeigte sich, dass der Geschlechtsrollenstress eng mit Aspekten eines defizitären Selbstkonzeptes zusammenhing. Bezugnehmend auf das Risikoverhalten zeigten Männer im mittleren Erwachsenenalter die höchsten Ausprägungen. Überdies bestätigte sich die Annahme, dass der Geschlechtsrollenstress das Risikoverhalten von Männern moderiert. Junge wie ältere Männer mit niedrigem Geschlechtsrollenstress unterschieden sich kaum in ihrem Risikoverhalten. Hingegen zeigten junge Männer mit hohem Geschlechtsrollenstress deutlich mehr Risikoverhalten als ältere Männer. Diskussion: Die Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zu der in Deutschland sich erst entwickelnden Männergesundheitsforschung und analysiert männliches Erleben wie etwa das Selbstwertgefühl und Körpererleben und Risikoverhalten aus sozialkonstruktivistischer Perspektive. Die Ergebnisse wurden vor dem Hintergrund einer sozioökonomischen sowie entwicklungspsychologischen Perspektive diskutiert.Background: Men have a higher alcohol and cigarette consumption than women, they use more drugs, they have twice as high a suicide rate and only a minority of men attend on preventive medical checkups. Hypotheses: The central questions of the present study pertained to the identification of dysfunctional aspects of a male self concept and the possible correlations with risk behaviour of men in different age stages. One possible explanation for this high risk behaviour may be higher masculine gender-role stress. Also male gender-role stress was hypothesized to moderate the relationship between age and risk behaviour. Moreover, relationships between impression management and attitude towards own aging, with gender-role stress and risk behaviour were investigated. Method: A pilot study provided the basis for the generation of hypotheses and operationalizations. The main study was a non representative, cross-sectional questionnaire study. A total of 491 men in the age range between 18 and 88 years participated in the study. The following constructs were assessed: self concept, body image, male gender-role stress, impression management, attitude towards own aging, life satisfaction, performance requirements and among others risk behaviour. Results: The sample was divided in five age groups. For almost every of the above mentioned dimension there were significant age group differences. The male gender role stress and the performance requirements were highest in young men (18-21 yrs.). In addition the results showed that the male gender-role stress was correlated with some aspects of a deficient self concept. Middle-aged men reported the highest amounts of risk behaviour. Moreover, the hypothesized interaction between male gender-role stress and risk behaviour was confirmed. Younger and older men showed no difference in the risk behaviour at low levels of gender-role stress. However, young men with high male gender-role stress demonstrated significantly more risk behaviour than older men. Discussion: The study contributes to the developing field of men s studies in Germany and analysed male experience like self esteem or body image and risk behaviour. Results are discussed in accordance with socio-economic and developmental perspectives such as tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment

Calibrating Independence Goals and Partner Support: Couples Adjust to Functional Limitations after Tumor Surgery.

BackgroundWhen patients recover from disease-related functional limitations, support received from partners may not always match patients' changing independence goals. The lines of defense (LoD) model proposes a hierarchy of independence goals (LoDs), ranging from minimising discomfort by disengagement (lowest LoD) to protection of self-reliance (highest LoD). Prostate cancer patients' LoDs were examined as moderators of the association between partner support and patients' and partners' affect during patients' recovery from postsurgical functional limitations.MethodsData from 169 couples were assessed four times within 7 months following patients' surgery. Patients reported on post-surgery functional limitations (i.e. incontinence), LoDs, affect, and received partner support. Partners reported on affect and support provided to patients.ResultsIn patients endorsing lower LoDs, more received support was associated with less negative affect. Also, not endorsing high LoDs while receiving strong partner support was related to patients' lower negative and higher positive affect. Partners' support provision to patients tended to be associated with increases in partners' negative affect when patients had endorsed higher LoDs and with increases in positive affect when patients had endorsed lower LoDs.ConclusionsMatching patients' independence goals or LoDs with partners' support may be beneficial for patients' and partners' affect