The Precursors Study, initiated in 1946, has focused on searching for links between psychological patterns and future disease and death. Gathering a broad spectrum of psychobiological characteristics from a large group of medical students, this study has continued year after year. This study examined the role of psychological factors on mortality,…

As a result of the Holocaust, many survivors developed long term psychosocial impairment known as the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by depression, anxiety, hypocondriasis, inability to concentrate or to express anger, nightmares, insomnia, obsessive thoughts, guilt, mistrust, and alienation. The literature in this…

This four-chapter monograph, translated from a 1977 Russian book written originally in Russian for Russians, describes methodology and results of the study of cognitive activity in children with cerebral palsy. An initial chapter reviews research on impairments in cognitive activity and speech defects in such children and on methods of…

The view that humans fail to solve certain types of problems because they are helpless and passive originated from a series of studies with animals; subsequent research attempted to replicate the findings of the learned helplessness behavior with humans. In an attempt to replicate and extend the Hiroto and Seligman (1975) study of humans exposed…

In its broadest context, play can be interpreted as any pleasurable use of discretionary time. Playfulness is an intrinsic feature of being human, and should be viewed in the light of a total lifestyle, not as an occurrence in an isolated time of life. Adult play appears to be an indefinable and controversial concept. A holistic approach should be…

Stress has been hypothesized to be both a negative and a positive prognostic factor. Stress was examined in relation to total symptomatology as rated by the patient and a significant other and to five symptom factors. This was accomplished at the time a patient was hospitalized and one year subsequently. (Author)

This article examines the idea that social norms are not permanently incorporated into a person's personality. The author presents the argument that in a group situation subjects are conditioned toward similarity while afterward, the individual's behavior gradually returns to an "operant level". Tests show this argument to be essentially true.…

This study suggests that the feelings of isolation experienced by some older people may be more likely than their actual lack of interaction. Data were collected from 163 subjects, aged 60 and older, by interview. Significant differences were obtained for the age and income variables and two of the proximity variables. (Author)

Effects of differential reinforcement of cautiousness upon intellectual performance in the elderly were investigated employing 56 females and 32 males. Systematically varied pre-test instruction conditions involving two levels of risk and of response omission when taking the PMA Test. Results suggest performance in intelligence tests is influenced…

This study tested Deiker's hypothesis that "naysaying" accounts for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Overcontrolled-Hostility (O-H) scale's ability to discriminate among criminal groups differing in their propensity for violence. It was concluded that the validity of the O-H scale is not dependent on naysaying. (Author)

Tested two hypotheses: (1) academic underachievers will have less problem solving flexibility during failure than during success; and (2) academic overachievers will have more problem solving flexibility during failure than during success. Subjects were tenth grade boys. (Author/SDH)

This book is a comprehensive review of competitive anxiety research that has used the Sport Competition Anxiety Test, or SCAT (a trait scale), and the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2). The book describes the theoretical basis and development procedures for both scales, including detailed information on reliability and validity. In…

Learned helplessness is an insidious condition involving undeveloped executive functioning, lack of persistence, and an undeveloped sense of connecting new words or concepts into a web of meanings. Remedial teaching in most small-group, diagnostic/prescriptive settings encourages continued learned helplessness because students are dependent on the…

Research has shown that siblings can experience either negative or positive mental health outcomes as a result of having a brother or sister with disabilities. When maladjustment occurs, it is frequently attributed to the stress of excessive helping. This research-based paper proposes that siblings of children with disabilities, perceiving…

In spite of general concern about the impact on women's mental health of multiple roles, most studies have examined only the impact of individual roles. This study examined the relationship between multiple-role occupancy and quality and psychological distress in a disproportionate random sample of employed female health care workers (N=403).…