Working with Older Adults Scale: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The expanding population of older adults in the United States, coupled with provider hesitance to work with this population, is expected to result in a large service gap, particularly in the health care field. Research on provider hesitancy has largely focused on the impact of attitudes toward older adults and professional competency, with some recent explorations of social influences. There is currently no comprehensive measure that includes all of these areas. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The present study outlines the development of the Working with Older Adults Scale (WOAS), which is grounded in the theory of planned behavior as applied to working with older adults. The WOAS is composed of 20 items, rated on a 7-point Likert scale, that make up four subscales: (i) Attitude, (ii) Subjective Norm, (iii) Perceived Behavioral Control, and (iv) Intention. RESULTS: Results indicated that, for the young adult college student sample it was developed with, the measure has an excellent factor structure and good internal reliability and construct validity. Consistent with the theory of planned behavior model, intention to work with older adults was significantly predicted by attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Subjective norm accounted for the greatest amount of variance. Further analyses revealed differential effects of age, gender, and experience on the WOAS subscales. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The WOAS, and underlying theory, offers new insights and ideas for future exploration of the service gap between older adults' needs and professional availability across health service fields.

Self-objectification, feminist activism and conformity to feminine norms among female vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, and non-vegetarians.

Recent research has suggested that vegetarians may be at an increased risk for developing disordered eating or body image issues when compared to non-vegetarians. However, the results of such studies are mixed, and no research has explored potential connections between vegetarianism and self-objectification. In the current study, the authors examine factors that predicted body surveillance, body shame, and appearance control beliefs; three aspects of self-objectification. Surveys were completed by 386 women from the United States who were categorized as vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, or non-vegetarian. The three groups differed regarding dietary motivations, levels of feminist activism, and body shame, but did not differ on their conformity to feminine norms. While conformity to feminine norms predicted body surveillance and body shame levels among all three groups of women, feminist activism predicted appearance control beliefs among non-vegetarians only. These findings suggest that it is important for researchers and clinicians to distinguish among these three groups when examining the relationship between vegetarianism and self-objectification.

College students' attitudes toward their ADHD peers.

OBJECTIVE: The attitudes of college students with and without ADHD toward peers with ADHD were examined. METHOD: A total of 196 college students (30 diagnosed with ADHD) anonymously completed four attitude measures. General analyses of attitudes toward peers with ADHD as well as comparisons between those with and without ADHD are made. RESULTS: For all participants, but especially for those with ADHD, more frequent contact with peers with ADHD was associated with more positive attitudes toward individuals with ADHD. Only half of individuals with ADHD report receiving adequate accommodations, and only half of those report actually using the available accommodations. Overall, more negative than positive adjectives were endorsed as describing individuals with ADHD, and this was especially true for individuals with ADHD in comparison to those without ADHD. CONCLUSION: Contact with other individuals with ADHD may be especially important for college students with ADHD.

Driving anger and driving behavior in adults with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: This study assesses whether anger in the context of driving is associated with the negative driving outcomes experienced by individuals with ADHD. METHOD: ADHD adults (n = 56) complete measures of driving anger, driving anger expression, angry thoughts behind the wheel, and aggressive, risky, and crash-related behavior. Results are compared to two non-ADHD control groups: one from the same community as the ADHD sample (n = 106) but that did not complete all instruments and the other from college students (n = 432) who completed all instruments. RESULTS: ADHD participants report more driving anger and aggressive expression through the use of their vehicle and less adaptive and constructive anger expression than their non-ADHD peers. Adult ADHD drivers rate themselves as more angry, risky, and unsafe drivers and report experiencing more losses of concentration and vehicular control than college students. CONCLUSION: Results are discussed with regard to drivingrelated problems for drivers with ADHD.

Decoding of emotion through facial expression, prosody and verbal content in children and adolescents with Asperger's syndrome.

This study examined differences in the ability to decode emotion through facial expression, prosody, and verbal content between 14 children with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and 16 typically developing peers. The ability to decode emotion was measured by the Perception of Emotion Test (POET), which portrayed the emotions of happy, angry, sad, and neutral among the modalities of static and dynamic facial expression, prosody, verbal content, and all modalities combined. Results revealed that children with AS had more difficulty identifying emotions through static facial expression, dynamic facial expression, and prosody than typically developing children. Results are discussed in relationship to an over-reliance on verbal content as a compensatory strategy in social interactions. Treatment implications for individuals with AS are also discussed.

Self-regulation of affect in attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and non-ADHD boys: differences in empathic responding.

This study examined differences in empathy and other emotions between boys with and without attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Empathy was measured by an empathy response task (ERT) and through self- and parent reports of emotion. On the ERT, children responded verbally to 8 fictitious stories. Results from the ERT revealed that boys with ADHD were less empathic than boys without ADHD. Boys with ADHD less frequently matched the emotion they identified in the character with the one identified in themselves and gave fewer character-centered interpretations in their descriptions of the character's emotion. Parent-report data revealed that boys with ADHD exhibited more behavioral manifestations of sadness, anger, and guilt than did boys without ADHD. No differences were found, however, on measures of emotional intensity or emotional reactions to external contingencies. The results are discussed with respect to current theories of ADHD.