Body image may be defined as the perception or attitude one has regarding the appearance of his or her body. Body image concerns are not only central to the diagnostic criteria of eating disorders, but also create distress for nonclinical populations. Females (n = 167) from three universities participated in a study by completing the Eating Disorder Inventory - 2 (Garner, 1991) and the Figure Rating Scale (Stunkard, Sorenson, & Schulsinger, 1983); watching a video; and then completing the instruments again. Subjects in the treatment group (n = 89) viewed a video designed to increase awareness of unrealistic body sizes and shapes seen in the media (Kilbourne, 1995). Subjects in the comparison group (n = 77) viewed a video unrelated to female body image.

The influence of theoretically prominent family processes on late adolescent college student identity development was the focus of this study. The primary purpose was to test a model of adolescent identity development. This model proposed that family health variables would predict identity development, and that attachment and separation-individuation would each make unique and additive contributions to identity development. The second purpose was to identify instruments which discretely measured the family processes. The third purpose was to better understand family influences by measuring the processes of exploration and commitment. Participants were 150 male and 150 female college students, between the ages of 18 and 23, and from intact families. Questionnaires completed measured family functioning and identity development. Family functioning measures covered three domains (family health, attachment to parents, and separation-individuation) which formed the set of independent variables. The identity measures (ego identity status and identity process) comprised the dependent variables. A hierarchical regression design was employed where family health variables were entered first, followed by attachment variables, then separation-individuation variables. The results indicated mixed support of the model. First, the proposed model was statistically supported for females as all domains predicted identity achievement and diffusion. For males, only family health predicted identity achievement, and only separation-individuation predicted identity diffusion. Other important findings were that the attachment and separation-individuation domains both assessed forms of connectedness, suggesting only one domain. Thus, the separation-individuation component of the model was not supported. Second, similarity of attitudes consistently predicted identity achievement, diffusion, exploration, and commitment. Third, despite the use of rigorous criteria to obtain discrete scales representative of the theoretical constructs, overlap was discovered within and across domains. The roles of similarity of attitudes between adolescent and parent, and the family environments associated with identity achievement, diffusion, exploration, and commitment are discussed. In addition, methodological and measurement issues, limitations of the study, and implications for future research are examined.

This purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Gender Role Conflict upon college men's scores of psychological well-being, substance usage, and attitudes toward psychological help-seeking. It was found that the Success, Power, and Competition variable of Gender Role Conflict was the one variable that was consistently related to the measures of interest. Moreover, it was found to be significantly related to a decrease in psychological well-being, including Trait Anger, Angry Reaction subtype of trait anger, Angry Temperament subtype of trait anger, and Trait Anxiety. It was also found that this same variable was significantly related to increased reports of alcohol usage. Where as four of the possible five Gender Role Conflict variables were related to a negative attitude toward help-seeking, the Success, Power, and Competition variable was most heavily weighted.

Considering the explanations of schizophrenia that presume schizophrenia spectrum disorders (e.g., schizotypal personality disorder, schizoaffective disorder, etc.) to be genetically related to schizophrenia, the purpose of this study was to investigate the attention and information processing abilities of individuals who have been identified as schizotypal or psychosis-prone (i.e., schizophrenia spectrum functioning in individuals who do not have schizophrenia). Research indicates that persons identified as psychosis-prone may show attention and information processing deficits similar to individuals with schizophrenia. The identification and description of individuals who later decompensate into schizophrenia would advance the understanding of schizophrenia and its causes. The Chapman's PER-MAG scale (Perceptual Aberration-Magical Ideation) was used to identify 35 hypothetically psychosis-prone college students (schizotypy group) and 42 normal college students (nonschizotypy group) out of the 806 volunteer subjects. Their attention and information processing abilities were measured by COGLAB (a multiparadigmatic cognitive test battery that represents a continuum of cognitive functions, from preattentional to attentional, to conceptual). Their social adjustment was measured by the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS). The hypotheses of the study were that the hypothetically psychosis-prone subjects would perform poorer than controls on COGLAB measures and that COGLAB measures of a more molar nature would better predict social adjustment than would the more molecular tasks. The results of the study did not support the hypotheses as there were no significant differences between the schizotypy group and the nonschizotypy group and the measures of a more molar nature did not better predict social adjustment. Further research might consider increasing the sample size, applying more stringent cut-off criteria for the schizotypy group, and verifying the validity of using PER-MAG, COGLAB, and PAS with this population. Further research also needs to clarify the ways in which those identified as psychosis-prone process information like (or unlike) nonschizotypes and how their current social functioning might be related to their deficiencies.

The primary purpose of the present study was to investigate factors associated with childhood sexual abuse which mediate long-term effects. Of particular interest were the mediators of disclosure and its perceived impact, as well as variables related to the severity of the abuse. Also of interest were impact areas related to a history of molestation which have received little attention in the literature. Five hundred and seventy-five female undergraduates completed an extensive questionnaire with measures of family background, childhood and adult sexual experiences, health status, and psychological variables. Of these subjects, 286 reported at least one incident of child sexual abuse. It was hypothesized that those females with histories of sexual abuse who received a positive response to their disclosure of abuse would demonstrate more adaptive adult functioning as compared to those victims receiving a negative response, or those who never disclosed. Significant differences were not detected among the three groups on the outcome measures. A number of reasons were explored for why these differences may not have been detected in the present investigation. Although differences were not detected for disclosure status, significant differences were detected between females reporting a history of child sexual abuse and those reporting no abuse on all of the outcome measures. Specifically, sexual abuse victims were more likely than nonvictims to be sexually revictimized in adulthood. Potential explanations for this finding were explored in a discriminant function analysis predicting revictimization status. Further, abused females had significantly higher levels of depression, dissociation, and perceptual disturbances when compared to their nonabused peers. Sexual abuse victims also reported more health symptoms across various bodily systems and had more negative attributions about their physical health status. Differences between the abused and nonabused groups on levels of perceptual disturbance and perceived physical health status are particularly noteworthy since previous research has detected these symptoms only through clinical samples.

This study investigated the emotionally disruptive effects of double binding communication, as compared with overtly punitive, and warm, accepting interactions. Forty-two college undergraduates scoring above the mean on the Neuroticism Subscale of Eysenck's Personality Questionaire were each directed to play the part of a small child in a spontaneous role-played family interaction. A pre-post mood test (Multiple Adjective Affect Check List), sensitive to changes in depression, hostility, and anxiety was administered. It was found that subjects in the double-bind and punitive conditions evidenced significant mood disturbance while subjects in the control group did not (all ps < .05). Implications for Double Bind Theory were discussed.

Two teachers with two classes each participated in the research, which used a modified Campbell and Stanley equivalent time series design. Each class was randomly assigned four of eight filmstrips. Both experimental and control classes heard lectures on a module, the experimental group viewed the filmstrip, and both were posttested. Independent variables controlling for student differences, module difficulty, student attitudes, and the critical independent variable, viewing of the filmstrip (View), were regressed on student cognition. In the analysis, significant at the .001 level, View exerted a significant positive influence on cognition scores. No relation was discovered between student attitudes toward filmstrips and increased cognition.

This study related college students' remembered early relationships with parents to their depression symptoms and to dependent and self-critical subjective feelings. Undergraduates (N = 217, 118 female, 99 male) provided information regarding their current level of depression, overall functioning, subjective feelings of depression (Depressive Experiences Questionnaire), negative thoughts, interpersonal functioning, and recollections of their parents' behavior and attitudes. Depression symptoms were related to dependent and self-critical feelings and to recalled low parental care and high parental control. However, for women, paternal affection and, for men, paternal control, were unrelated to depression symptoms. Other results are inconclusive but, overall, provide evidence for the usefulness of Blatt's theory in assessing depression via dependent and self-critical subjective feelings.

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Counselling Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract