PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Adrian Furnham

Publications and source records attributed to Adrian Furnham.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Medical students' attitudes about complementary and alternative medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the attitudes about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) of medical students from two different medical schools and at different stages of their medical training (first and third years). DESIGN: Four-group, cross-sectional, self-administered survey study. SETTINGS AND SUBJECTS: Three hundred and eleven (311) students from two British medical schools (Newcastle and London). OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-reported knowledge of, attitudes about, and beliefs about CAM. RESULTS: Third-year students thought CAM overall was less effective than first-year students and also were significantly less interested in training in CAM techniques. The 43 attitude statements factored into six interpretable factors. A medical school x year ANOVA on the factor scores showed many results consistent with the first part of the study. First-year students seemed more eager to be taught CAM than third-year students, and students at Newcastle were more positive about CAM than those at University College London. CONCLUSIONS: Education at medical school does influence attitudes to CAM. As their orthodox medical training proceeds, medical students seem to increase their skepticism about CAM.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

A comparison of lay-beliefs about autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The purpose of the two studies was to compare lay beliefs regarding the aetiology and treatment of autism (study 1) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (study 2). It was hypothesised that beliefs about autism would be based primarily on a biomedical theory while beliefs regarding OCD primarily on psychological notions of cause and cure. Parents' interviews were conducted in study 1 and revealed that, as hypothesised, parents hold predominantly biomedical views about autism. Participants (n = 92) completed both questionnaires that involved rating a range of theories of aetiology and treatment approaches for each disorder. Statistical analysis confirmed that lay beliefs about autism were primarily biomedical and beliefs about OCD were primarily psychological. Multiple regression analyses indicated that a range of individual difference factors (religiousness, interest in mental illness, age and knowledge of autism) predicted beliefs about the importance of some of the five factors derived from factor analysis of belief statements. The relevance of investigating lay beliefs of aetiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders for clinical practice is also highlighted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Exploring issues of personality measurement and structure through the development of a short form of the Eysenck Personality Profiler .

In this article, we develop a revised short form of the original Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP; H. J. Eysenck & Wilson, 1991). In addition, we address topics of broad theoretical importance such as the recurrent empirical finding of correlations between conceptually orthogonal personality dimensions and the possibility that gender differences in these dimensions are partly spurious. In Study 1 (N = 227), we demonstrate that the existing short form of the EPP (EPP-SF; H. J. Eysenck, Wilson, & Jackson, 1996) provides a poor fit to the data and we develop a revised well-fitting version. In Study 2, we retest this version on an independent new sample (N = 3,374) where it is again found to fit the data well. We show that most of the structural and measurement parameters of the revised EPP-SF are invariant across genders. Structured means analysis indicated a significant gender difference in Psychoticism, with men scoring higher than women, but no differences in Extraversion or Neuroticism. Our discussion focuses on issues concerning personality measurement and structure, including an examination of the role of confirmatory factor analysis in personality research.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Repressive coping style and positive self-presentation.

OBJECTIVE: This paper reviews 59 studies looking at cognitive, individual differences and physiological correlates of the repressive coping style, as defined by Weinberger, Schwartz, and Davidson (1979). A central aim is to evaluate the relative importance of the anxiety and social desirability components of repression. Thus, the empirical study investigates the relationships between repression and a number of relevant, but hitherto unexamined, constructs, including trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), self-estimated intelligence, functional and dysfunctional impulsivity, and stoicism. It was hypothesized that repressors would score higher than the other three groups on trait EI, self-estimated IQ and functional impulsivity, but lower on dysfunctional impulsivity. METHOD: In total, 259 (174 females) participants from three British universities completed questionnaires measuring the dependent and independent variables. Participants were divided into four groups (truly low anxious, non-defensive/high anxious, defensive/high anxious and repressors) based on their scores on anxiety and social desirability. Analyses (moderated multiple regressions and ANOVAs) were conducted both on the total sample as well as on 'extreme-scoring' individuals. RESULTS: Where there were significant differences, the hypotheses were supported, particularly with respect to trait EI, self-estimated IQ and impulsivity. Using 'extreme-scoring' groups did not effectively change the results. The regressions revealed an absence of significant interactions between anxiety and social desirability. CONCLUSION: Results are discussed in terms of the now replicated effect that repressors present a highly positive and optimistic self-image, despite cognitive and behavioural data suggesting that their coping style is psychologically unhealthy. In addition, it is argued that many findings in the repressive coping style literature can be parsimoniously explained through main effects of anxiety or social desirability alone (i.e., without invoking a construct that combines the two).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Music is as distracting as noise: the differential distraction of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts.

Previous research has found that introverts' performance on complex cognitive tasks is more negatively affected by distracters, e.g. music and background television, than extraverts' performance. This study extended previous research by examining whether background noise would be as distracting as music. In the presence of silence, background garage music and office noise, 38 introverts and 38 extraverts carried out a reading comprehension task, a prose recall task and a mental arithmetic task. It was predicted that there would be an interaction between personality and background sound on all three tasks: introverts would do less well on all of the tasks than extraverts in the presence of music and noise but in silence performance would be the same. A significant interaction was found on the reading comprehension task only, although a trend for this effect was clearly present on the other two tasks. It was also predicted that there would be a main effect for background sound: performance would be worse in the presence of music and noise than silence. Results confirmed this prediction. These findings support the Eysenckian hypothesis of the difference in optimum cortical arousal in introverts and extraverts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Personality, peer relations, and self-confidence as predictors of happiness and loneliness.

This study is set out to examine to what extent peer relations, self-confidence, and school performance correlated with self-rated happiness (OHI) and loneliness (UCLA LS) in adolescents. Personality traits (EPQ), self-confidence (PEI), friendship and school grades were all significantly oppositely correlated with happiness and loneliness. Regressional analysis revealed that extraversion and neuroticism were direct predictors of happiness and self-confidence, while psychoticism and extraversion were direct predictors of loneliness. The effect of sex on happiness and loneliness was moderated by friendship and neuroticism, and by neuroticism and psychoticism, respectively. Extraversion was also a significant predictor of general confidence and social interactions which directly influenced loneliness whilst psychoticism was a direct predictor of loneliness. Self-rated school performance was the only direct predictor of happiness whereas general confidence and social interactions were related to adolescents' self-reported loneliness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Exploring attitudes toward, and knowledge of, homeopathy and CAM through focus groups.

Five focus groups (five female non-users; five male non-users; seven males, both users and non-users; seven female users; six male and female users) were conducted to get an idea of lay people's knowledge and attitudes to CAM. In each group, run by the same experienced moderator, various topics were systematically explored: knowledge of CAM treatments; attitudes towards CAM; personal experience of CAM; suggestions for bringing CAM into wider use. Results showed participants had self-confessed ignorance about homeopathy and also that their ideas and beliefs were not internally coherent. Suggestions about using this methodology are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Parents think their sons are brighter than their daughters: sex differences in parental self-estimations and estimations of their children's multiple intelligences.

In this study, 156 participants, predominantly White British adults (M age = 44.3 years) rated themselves on overall IQ and on H. Gardner's (1983) 7 intelligence subtypes. Parents (n = 120) also estimated the intelligence of their children. Men's self-estimates were significantly higher than women's (110.15 vs. 104.84). Participants thought their verbal, mathematical, and spatial intelligence scores were the best indicators of their own overall intelligence. Parents estimated that their sons had significantly higher IQs than their daughters (115.21 vs. 107.49). Self-estimates and estimates of children's multiple intelligences were higher for men and sons, significantly so for logical-mathematical and spatial intelligence. Parents rated 2nd-born daughters as having significantly higher verbal and musical intelligence than their male counterparts. Higher parental IQ self-estimates corresponded with higher IQ estimates for children. Results for 1st-born children were clearest and showed the most significant differences. The findings are interpreted in terms of sociocultural and familial influences and the possibility of actual sex differences in particular abilities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Body image dissatisfaction: gender differences in eating attitudes, self-esteem, and reasons for exercise.

Two hundred and thirty-five adolescents completed a questionnaire on the subject of eating attitudes, self-esteem, reasons for exercise, and their ideal versus current body size and shape. As predicted, boys were as likely to want to be heavier as lighter, whereas very few girls desired to be heavier. Only girls associated body dissatisfaction with the concept of self-esteem. Male self-esteem was not affected by body dissatisfaction. Specific reasons for exercise were found to correlate with low self-esteem and disordered eating, regardless of sex. The results are discussed in relation to burgeoning published research in this area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

The allocation of scarce medical resources across medical conditions.

This study aimed to determine if the criteria participants use to make decisions concerning scarce medical resources differ across medical conditions - from life-saving to life-enhancing surgery (heart transplant, in vitro fertilization treatment and cosmetic surgery). Participants completed three questionnaires requiring them to rank order 16 hypothetical patients in order of priority for each medical condition. Demographic information about the hypothetical patients varied on four dimensions: age, annual income, smoking behaviour and whether or not the patient had children. There were significant main effects of age, smoking behaviour and income across all three medical conditions, with young people, non-smokers and those on a low income being given the highest priority for each treatment. Whether or not a patient had children influenced allocation decisions only on the IVF and heart transplant cases with very large effect sizes. This study supports previous research in the kidney dialysis and organ transplant areas of the allocation of resources. Most importantly, the results show that such effects are not restricted to life-saving resources but also to life-enhancing resources--IVF and cosmetic surgery.

Adolescent↗