An idiographic approach to the person x environment interaction in support judgments /

Earliest models of perceived social support emphasized aspects of the individual\u27s social environment, proposing that perceived support is a direct function of the help one actually received. Other researchers speculated that perceived social support is a reflection of the personality of the perceiver. However, a recent series of generalizability studies suggest that the single most important determinant of support judgments is the Perceiver by Environment interaction. Thus, it appears that social support judgments are largely driven by the unique matching between the perceiver and the support provider. One potential mechanism of this matching process is that different people base their judgments of other\u27s supportiveness on different characteristics of targets. In order to investigate this possibility, a series of three studies were conducted. In the first, subjects completed measures of perceived support and personality, as well as rated the extent to which different patterns of personality profiles imply supportiveness. The results of Study 1 indicated that 1) subjects differed in the traits that they associated with support, and 2) the traits subjects associated with support were the same traits they see in themselves. This suggests a similarity between subjects\u27 mental representation of self and representations of supportive others. Because subjects made ratings of hypothetical personality profiles, Study 1 did not address whether this similarity effect applies to support judgments of actual persons. In Study 2, subjects made personality and support ratings of both themselves and a target in their own social networks. The results of Study 2 indicated that the more similar subjects and targets were in personality, the more likely subjects were to see the target as supportive. One limitation of Study 2 was that subjects each rated a different target. In Study 3 subjects all rated the support and personality of the same four characters in a popular television program. The results of Study 3 indicated that the traits subjects associated with support of the four characters were the same traits they saw in themselves. Taken together the three studies provide good evidence that when asking people what they think a good support provider is like, they will say a good support provider is someone who is like themselves

Emotional Dysregulation and Borderline Personality Disorder: Explaining the Link between Secondary Psychopathy and Alexithymia

Research explaining the overlap between psychopathy and alexithymia is in its infancy. A study by Lander, Lutz-Zois, Rye, and Goodnight (2012) revealed a significant positive correlation between secondary, but not primary, psychopathy and alexithymia. However, little is known about what accounts for this differential association. Because both alexithymia (Webb & McMurran, 2008) and secondary psychopathy (Blackburn, 1996) have been linked to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), the current study sought to determine if emotional processing deficits characteristic of BPD could explain the link between secondary psychopathy and alexithymia. The results supported the hypothesis that BPD would mediate the association between secondary psychopathy and alexithymia. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed

The influence of anxiety on judgments of risks

Thesis (B.S.) in Psychology--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 31-34)Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1992]. 2 microfiches (47 frames): negative.s 1992 ilu n

Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizotypy and the Five-Factor Model: A Domain and Facet Level Analysis

In this study, we investigated the Five-factor model in the concurrent prediction of positive symptomschizotypy as measured by the Magical Ideation (Eckblad & Chapman, 1983) and Perceptual Aberration (Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1978) scales and negative symptom schizotypy as measured by the Physical Anhedonia (Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1976) and Revised Social Anhedonia (Eckblad, Chapman, Chapman, & Mishlove, 1982; Mishlove & Chapman, 1985) scales. Previous studies suggest that these measures reflect the core symptoms found in schizotypal and schizoid personality disorder (Bailey, West, Widiger, & Freiman, 1993). Negative symptoms were significantly predicted by Neuroticism (+), Extraversion (-), Openness (-), and Agreeableness (-) domains of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Additionally, positive symptoms were significantly predicted by Neuroticism (+), Openness (+), and Agreeableness (-). In addition, we examined the validity of lower order traits in describing these symptoms of character pathology. These findings lend further support for the use of domain and facet scales of the NEO-PI-R in the identification of personality pathology

Psychopathy and the Five Factor Model in a Noninstitutionalized Sample: A Domain and Facet Level Analysis

The current study examined the relationship of the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality to primary and secondary psychopathic dispositions in a noninstitutionalized sample. Previous investigations suggest that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism are basic personality traits that characterize psychopathy. However, few studies have examined the relationship of the FFM to primary and secondary psychopathic attributes, respectively. In the current study, the relationship of the FFM using the NEO-PI-R to primary and secondary psychopathic dispositions was investigated in a sample of young adults. Previous findings were extended by (1) addressing the relationship of higher and lower order FFM traits (i.e., facet scales) to primary and secondary psychopathy in a subclinical sample and (2) examining sex differences in FFM traits in relation to these two psychopathic dispositions. Although a number of differences were found between men and women for the FFM in terms of primary psychopathy, few sex differences were noted with respect to secondary psychopathy. In addition, examination of facet scale relationships to primary and secondary psychopathy further clarify the role of the FFM in psychopathy. These findings lend further support to the use of domain and facet scales of the NEO-PI-R in the identification of personality pathology in noninstitutionalized populations

Women: The Ignored Majority

The major thrust of psychiatric rehabilitation is to provide skill development and supports enabling individuals to function in their roles of choice. The model thus contains an underlying assumption that meaningful life roles are “chosen” roles. It therefore may tend to overlook the impact on persons’ lives of the roles that they are given. These given or ascribed roles include those based on gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. Self-definitions, behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, and values are all likely to be structured within such social roles, which can also serve as important social identities (Oyserman & Markus, 1993). In spite of increased awareness of gender as an issue, in current Western culture, gendered roles are those for which there are, perhaps, the least latitude. Yet, as we shall show, the field of psychiatric rehabilitation has paid little attention to the subject of gender differences. We reviewed the 1992-93 volumes of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal and found that only 15 out of a total of 21 studies, which reported information on individuals who were recipients of psychiatric rehabilitation services, presented the gender composition 171 of the study sample at all. Furthermore, of these articles, less than half (N = 6) tested for gender differences (40%). Thus, only 28% of the articles could inform their readers about whether men and women differed on the study results. It seems likely that when differences between women and men are not even examined, the result is likely to be a service model that is theoretically androgenous, but in actuality male-biased. Again, the psychiatric rehabilitation literature on service approaches bears this out. The primary domain considered in services is vocational. There has been some consideration of the generic topic of rehabilitation in housing choices. However, those domains where women are considered to occupy primary roles, e.g., the family, parenting, and interpersonal relationships (Miller & Stiver, 1993), have received scant attention (Oyserman, Mowbray & Zemencuk, 1996). This lack of concern for possible gender differences in psychiatric rehabilitation overall and especially to those issues of primary concern to women, is not unique to this field, but may be seen to reflect the perspective of the entire psychiatric/mental health establishment. For decades, feminist scholars and advocates have decried sex bias in the treatment system. Early research by Braverman et al. (1970) established the negative perceptions of women held by clinicians and the double bind in which women were placed, in that the expected characteristics of a “healthy” adult varied markedly from those for an adult female. Similarly, Chesler (1972) contended that because gendered roles were so proscriptive of mental health, women were in double jeopardy; those who overconformed to female sex roles were likely to be viewed as mentally ill as well as those who violated “appropriate” gendered role expectations. Additionally, clinical and practice research has found gender biases in diagnosis (Loring & Powell, 1988) and in treatment, which serve to demean women (as dependent, passive, seductive, hysterical, etc.), foster traditional and limited sex roles, and respond to women patients as sex objects (Hankin, 1990). An awareness of how such biases might affect services to women with long-term psychiatric disabilities is of more recent origin. Test and Berlin (1981) were apparently the first to point out that the “chronically mentally ill are regarded as almost genderless ...” (p. 136). Although the research literature was limited, their review was able to identify the existence of significant gender differences in numerous domains of life functioning: instrumental roles, social and sexual roles, marital and family roles, and physical health. Several authors have elaborated on the problems raised in Test and Berlin’s pivotal article (e.g., Bachrach, 1984; Bachrach, 1985, Bachrach & Nadelson, 1988). However, systematic attention to gender differences is still clearly lacking. For example, a 20-year metaevaluation of published treatment effectiveness studies involving aftercare services (Feis, cited in Mowbray & Benedek, 1988) found that 22% of studies did not indicate the gender composition of their sample and another 15% contained all male subjects. Over all the studies which did report gender ratios, there was a predominance of male participants (54.8%). A more recent review of 1992 issues of the American Journal of Psychiatry found that while a large proportion ( 84%) reported on the gender composition of their samples, less than half (46/99) tested for gender differences. Considering the significance of the topic of gender differences and the state of our practice ignoring women’s special needs, more writing, discussion, and training are clearly mandated concerning psychiatric rehabilitation for women. In this article, we will review the most recent literature concerning women with long-term, severe mental illness. The review has been organized to cover the major topics earlier identified by Test and Berlin (1981) regarding role functioning. We will begin with a summary of gender differences in the target population on demographics and clinical characteristics. We end our review with a discussion of ways to improve both the treatment and knowledge bases

Female Sexual-offenders: Personality Pathology as a Mediator of the Relationship between Childhood Sexual Abuse History and Sexual Abuse Perpetration against Others

Objective: The goal was to examine, in an all-female sample, possible mechanisms for the relationship between a history of childhood sexual abuse and the likelihood of perpetrating sexual abuse as an adult. It was hypothesized that Borderline and Antisocial Personality Disorder tendencies would mediate the relationship between these two forms of abuse. Method: One hundred forty two female participants (61 sex-offenders and 81 non-sex offenders) were recruited from a women’s prison in the Midwest. The participants completed measures that included a childhood history of sexual abuse, socially desirable responding, primary and secondary psychopathy, and Borderline Personality Disorder tendencies. Results: Participants in the sexual-offender group reported more frequent instances of childhood sexual abuse (p \u3c .05, M = 16.4, SD = 7.2) than participants in the non-sex offender group (M = 12.2, SD = 7.7). Consistent with past research, childhood sexual abuse was related to Borderline Personality Disorder tendencies (r = .36, p \u3c .01). However, discriminant function analyses did not reveal support for our mediational hypotheses. Finally, the results indicated that participants in the sexual-offender group experienced childhood sexual abuse for a greater duration of time (p \u3c .05, M = 27.8, SD = 20.5 months) than participants in the non-sex offender group (M = 16.6, SD = 10.4). Conclusions: This study replicated previous research conducted on all-male samples, suggesting that the nature of the sexual abuse suffered in childhood is an important variable in predicting future sexual abuse perpetration