The multi-attitude suicide tendency scale: further validation with adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

The present study was designed to examine the construct validity and psychometric properties of the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale in adolescent psychiatric inpatients. This new scale has four subscales: attraction to life, repulsion by life, attraction to death, and repulsion by death. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scale items provided support for the fit of the 28-item, four-factor model. Results of logistic regression analyses revealed that high scores on the repulsion by life and the attraction to death subscales were useful in assessing the risk for suicide attempts. Results of the hierarchical regression analysis showed that high repulsion by life and low attraction to life subscale scores contributed to the prediction of scores on the suicide probability scale. We also examined gender differences on the four subscales and the psychological correlates of each subscale.

Neural network simulation of visual inspection of graphs of single-subject interventions.

Judgments of the effectiveness of single-subject behavioral interventions are often based on visual examination of graphs of response data, but previous research indicates that such judgments are often unreliable and flawed. Here it is proposed that artificial neural networks could be developed to simulate the judgments of expert judges. A prototype of such a network was designed and trained in the present study, and its use in novel experiments matched the estimates of the expert whose judgments were simulated significantly better than did a prediction equation developed using a multiple regression approach.

Verbal vs. visual categories on the Wechsler Memory Scale-revised: how meaningful a distinction?

This study investigated whether the a priori classification of Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) subtests into separate Verbal and Visual categories is warranted. Correlational and hierarchical clustering analyses found that (a) memory test performance correlated significantly with performance on subtests of Form II of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery (LNNB-II) that measure substrates of particular memory processes; and (b) subtests that appeared a priori to involve verbal skills clustered separately from those that appeared to involve nonverbal (visual) skills. However, the WMS-R Visual Paired Associates subtest did not cluster with the nonverbal scales as expected, and the LNNB-II Memory Scale appeared to be predominantly a test of verbal memory. Practical consequences of these findings were discussed.

Effects of speed vs accuracy instructions and field dependence on college students' digit-symbol matching performance.

Correct digit-symbol matches of 68 women were significantly higher than those of 26 men. Speed instructions led to higher scores than those for accuracy or a neutral approach. Field dependence (Group Embedded Figures Test scores) interacted with instructions and field independent subjects scored higher when instructed to be accurate.

Stress-related symptoms among dental hygienists.

A sample of 49 practicing dental hygienists responded to a survey which included Derogatis and Spencer's 1982 Brief Symptom Inventory, a measure of stress-related symptoms, and a list of items considered stressful based on previous research with hygienists, arranged in six content categories. As hypothesized, in comparison with national norms, hygienists displayed significantly more symptoms on the over-all inventory and also on eight of nine subscales. Also as hypothesized, on the list of stressors, items pertaining to time pressure were rated as significantly more stressful than items from other behavioral domains. However, contrary to prediction, the correlation between over-all symptom level on the inventory and self-rated stress did not reach statistical significance. A variety of implications for stress reduction in dental hygiene practice are discussed.

Effects of stimulus characteristics and sex of subject on perceived emotion.

To determine the influence of pupil size, eye size, sex of stimulus face, and sex of subject on perceived emotion, 308 college students filled in missing features on stimulus faces. Each face was independently rated by two male judges on a continuum of negative to positive emotion. Analysis indicated that sex of subject was the only variable to affect perceived emotion. Women (n = 175) tended to draw faces that were judged to be more positive than faces drawn by men (n = 133).