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Biomedical subjects

I C Siegler

Publications and source records attributed to I C Siegler.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Predictors of adoption of mammography in women under age 50.

Women in the University of North Carolina Alumni Heart Study reported their knowledge of and attitudes toward mammography as well as their adoption of mammography by 1991. Personality measured in 1988-1989 at the age of 42 was associated with the pattern of adoption of mammography reported 2 years later. Adoption of regular mammograms was predicted by conscientiousness, extraversion, and lower depression but not by anxiety. After adjusting for 8 traditional predictors of mammography shown to be significant in this population, the previous personality factors did not maintain their significance. When the women were divided into those who reported breast problems and those who did not, the same set of adjustment factors reduced, but did not eliminate, the association of conscientiousness with adoption of mammography for women without breast problems.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Do comparative self-appraisals during young adulthood predict adult personality?

Archival data from the University of North Carolina Alumni Heart Study were used to assess whether positive, neutral, and negative social comparisons assessed during college predicted the expression of personality during adulthood. College students in 1966 rated themselves relative to peers on several personal attributes. For men and women, these attributes produced 3 similar yet distinct variables reflecting gregariousness, achievement striving, and expressiveness. These students were contacted 20 years later and completed the NEO Personality Inventory and M. Rosenberg's (1965) self-esteem measure. In general, persons with comparatively positive self-evaluations during college viewed themselves as possessing more positive and less negative personality traits during adulthood and were also less likely to report poorer self-esteem during middle adulthood. The implications of social comparison processes for personality development are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Personality measures as predictors of smoking initiation and cessation in the UNC Alumni Heart Study.

MMPI data collected from a sample of college men and women during 1964-1967 were used to predict smoking initiation and cessation over a 20-year follow-up period. People who subsequently began smoking were more rebellious, impulsive, sensation seeking, and hostile; were less likely to present a positive self-image; and were socially extraverted while in college. People who continued to smoke 20 years later were more hostile and sensation seeking. The personality variables that predicted smoking initiation and cessation were the same for men and women. Discussion centers on the potential role of hostility as a predictor of smoking cessation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Caregiver ratings of personality change in Alzheimer's disease patients: a replication.

Caregivers of 26 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) rated current and premorbid personality patterns with the NEO Personality Inventory. Results replicated previous findings on the degree of change reported in a previous group of patients with mixed memory disorder diagnoses. After a diagnosis of AD, the patients were rated as significantly more neurotic, less extraverted, less open, and less conscientious. There were no rated differences of changes in the personality domain of Agreeableness. These results strengthen the usefulness of caregiver ratings of personality change of patients with memory problems who cannot be useful informants on their own behalf.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

A short MMPI scale to identify people likely to begin smoking.

An item analysis of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was conducted to develop questionnaires that best discriminated (a) individuals who ever smoked versus those who never smoked and (b) ex-smokers from current smokers. The analyses were based on a sample of subjects who took the MMPI during 1964-1967 and reported their smoking status during 1987. Although no items distinguished individuals who quit versus continued to smoke, several items discriminated people who ever smoked from nonsmokers. These items formed two factors: Extraversion and Unconventionalism. These results provide support for the importance of extraversion, impulsivity, and antisocial tendencies as personality predictors of smoking initiation. The utility of this MMPI scale is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Age differences in hostility among middle-aged and older adults.

Multiple measures of hostility were administered to middle-aged and older volunteers. There was a positive association between age and self-report measures reflecting hostile beliefs about others, including cynicism and suspiciousness. There was a weak inverse relationship between age and self-report measures of the overt expression of anger and aggression, but no association between age and measures of covert hostility was found. There was a positive relationship between age and an assessment of hostile behavior that was based on the respondent's interaction style during an interview. The magnitude of these age trends did not differ between men (n = 50) and women (n = 75). These findings illustrate the multidimensional nature of hostility. They also have practical implications for older people because hostility is associated with psychological well-being and has been shown to have consequences for health and longevity.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The belief in a just world and perceptions of discrimination.

We examined the relationship between the belief in a just world and frequency of self-reported acts of personal discrimination. American adults with a strong belief in a just world reported fewer acts of personal discrimination against themselves than those with a weak belief in a just world. Among the various domains of discrimination, the belief in a just world correlated most strongly with religious discrimination. People with a strong belief in a just world felt that they would be less likely to provide special programs and funding based solely on a person's age; they did not feel that age discrimination was prevalent in American society.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Hostility during late adolescence predicts coronary risk factors at mid-life.

Hostility, as measured by the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, has been found to predict higher rates of both coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. To evaluate one mechanism whereby hostility might contribute to health problems, the authors used regression models to determine whether hostility measured in college (1964-1966) predicted coronary risk factors assessed 21-23 years later (1987-1990) in 4,710 men and women. Of this group, 828 had lipids measured (1988-1991). Persons with higher hostility scores in college were significantly more likely at follow-up to consume more caffeine (r = 0.043), to have a larger body mass index (r = 0.055), to have higher lipid ratios (r = 0.092), and to be current smokers (r = 0.069) than those with lower hostility scores during college. Cross-sectional analyses found significant associations of contemporaneous hostility scores with the same four risk factors, as well as with alcohol consumption and hypertension (rs ranging from 0.043 to 0.117). These associations are large enough to have possible public health significance. We conclude that hostility may contribute to health problems through its influences on several coronary risk factors across the adult life span.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Using college alumni populations in epidemiologic research: the UNC Alumni Heart Study.

The UNC Alumni Heart Study (UNCAHS) is a prospective study of the role of psychosocial factors, in particular hostility, in the development of coronary heart disease. The target population is composed of persons who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory while attending the University of North Carolina in the mid-1960s. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine whether hostility, demographic and other variables were significant determinants of the subjects' locatability and participation. It was found that MMPI hostility scores at initial testing were unrelated to either potential or actual locatability or participation. Thus there is no evidence that hostility is the source of selection bias in the UNCAHS. Selection into the study was predicted by age, sex, degree status and variables concerned with the conditions under which the MMPI was administered. It is concluded that follow-up studies of college cohorts may have study-specific sources of selection bias.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Hostility patterns and health implications: correlates of Cook-Medley Hostility Scale scores in a national survey.

Correlated Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (Ho) scores with sociodemographic variables in a national survey of 2,536 adults. Multiple regression models revealed that Ho scores were associated with race (p less than .0001), years of education (p less than .001), sex (p less than .001), occupation (p = .0002), and income (p = .0025). Higher scores were found in non-Whites, men, and those of lower socioeconomic status. There was a Race x Income interaction (p less than .005), such that the greatest Ho score differences between the races occurred among those with the lowest incomes. Age was related to Ho scores in a curvilinear fashion: higher scores in the youngest and oldest age groups than in the middle-aged groups (p = .025). Marital status was unrelated to Ho scores. These patterns of hostility are similar to the patterns of health indicators in the population. Because hostility has been found to be associated with adverse health outcomes, hostility may account for some of the demographic variations in health status. However, it is argued that research must first establish the generality of the hostility-health relationship across subgroups of the population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Ratings of personality change in patients being evaluated for memory disorders.

Caregivers of 35 mildly to moderately memory-impaired patients rated current and premorbid personalities with the NEO Personality Inventory. We then examined changes in the five domains of personality tapped by the NEO. There were significant changes in four of the five domains of normal personality functioning toward less conscientiousness, lower extraversion, higher neuroticism, and lower openness. The difference toward lower agreeableness was not significant when controlling for multiple comparisons. Spearman rank correlation coefficients indicated that changes in conscientiousness and vulnerability were not related to rated premorbid personality patterns and thus appear to describe shifts for all patients evaluated for memory disorders. These data suggest that personality inventories may be helpful in characterizing caregivers' observations of memory-impaired patients and thus represent a critical source of information for the clinician in charge of care.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Paradigms in developmental health psychology--from theory to application: introduction to a special issue.

This brief introduction sets the background for, describes, and reviews the eight manuscripts that comprise this special issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. Given the topic of health, behavior, and aging it is noteworthy that these papers speak to concerns shared by all members of The Gerontological Society of America--from the very definition of aging itself to how older persons live their lives.

Aging↗
PubMed1989

Type A behavior and survival: a follow-up study of 1,467 patients with coronary artery disease.

Patients with documented coronary artery disease, admitted to Duke Medical Center between 1974 and 1980, were assessed for type A behavior pattern and were followed until 1984. The relation of type A behavior to survival was tested using data from coronary angiography to control for disease severity. Cox model regression analyses demonstrated an interaction (p less than 0.01) between type A behavior and an index of disease severity in the prediction of cardiovascular death. Among those with relatively poor left ventricular function, type A patients had better survival than type B. This difference was not present among patients with better prognoses. Type A behavior did not predict the subsequent incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarctions. Differential risk modification and differential selection into postinfarction status are possible explanations for the findings. These results need not conflict with the proposition that type A behavior plays a role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Patterns of intellectual development in later life.

Temporal changes in 16 measures of cognitive and intellectual functioning (11 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale subtests, 3 Wechsler Memory Test subscales, 2 measures of reaction time) were studied in the full data set from the First Duke Longitudinal Study of Aging. Patterns of change in these 16 measures were identified through a 'grade-of-membership' analysis -- a general model for identifying patterns in temporal variation that does not require parametric assumptions about the trajectory of change or assumptions about the homogeneity of the sampled population. The analyses showed that the temporal variation of the 16 measures could be described by five latent patterns that reflected the complex patterning of intellectual functioning in extreme late life. The relation of these five patterns of intellectual ability to age was examined, as were the relationships to measures of mental and physical health. These results underline the needs for comprehensive models of health and functioning in later life that describe changes in a multidimensional form.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Fuzzy and crisp set-theoretic-based classification of health and disease. A qualitative and quantitative comparison.

Conventional cluster analyses of patient populations are intended to assist in the identification and characterization of groups that may represent etiological or pathological subtypes within a particular disease class. These methods have been criticized as being insensitive to subtle patient differences, which may be masked as a result of the all-or-nothing concept of cluster membership intrinsic to crisp set-theoretic-based grouping algorithms. As an alternative to conventional clustering procedures, several investigators have studied the use of fuzzy classification methods. In general, these measure a patient's clinical status in terms of a real number defined on the closed unit interval, reflecting the extent or degree to which a particular grouping entity characterizes the patient. This paper compares and contrasts the applications of crisp and fuzzy set-theoretic-based clustering procedures to a set of data describing the cognitive and intellectual functioning of a group of subjects participating in a longitudinal study of aging. Emphasis is placed on both qualitative and quantitative aspects corresponding, respectively, to the clinical interpretation of cluster definitions, and the robustness or sensitivity of the classification procedures to changes in patient profiles over time. The fuzzy set-theoretic-based model was found to be more sensitive to changes in subject level of functioning over time, to provide superior quantitative protrayals of patterns of aging, and to reflect properties of the aging process derived from other research.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Sex differences in coping and perceptions of life events.

These data illustrate some important methodological considerations about the study of life events and the study of developmental data. As the data on the distribution of life events indicate, when individuals retell their life stories, events are rarely discrete. Psychologically, an event expands to include those predictors that later became apparent and the time taken to put the event into perspective. This calls into question the interpretation given to many life event questionnaires that seek to consider an event within a narrow time framework. Positive and negative events appear to have differential consequences. Our exploration of coping with positive events was an interesting one. Most of our respondents did not perceive that they had a coping task to accomplish when the event was perceived as a positive one. Many of the events reported by our respondents were events in the lives of others. Although this was more often the case for women than for men, interpersonal events and events in which the major impact fell on a family member were quite common in later life. In attempting to understand the impact of sociohistorical events as a context for development, it has often been assumed that overall negative events such as wars and economic depressions will have predominantly negative impacts. Our data suggest that sociohistorical events form the context for events in the family life cycle that happen independently of what is happening in the larger society. Events related to family formation happened against different backgrounds of sociohistorical events. These data also suggest that we look for cohort effects in nonlinear ways that would reflect generational communality of an event. This study also has limits. Our sample was small, and as the respondents had maximum freedom to pick the events to be discussed, we only know that we had a sample of three positive and three negative event contexts. We did not ask individuals 500 many positive and negative events they had during their lives and how the events mentioned fit into that ranking. The interviews were rich in the individuals' perceptions of the important aspects of their lives and indicated a realistic group of persons who had managed to cope reasonably well with the events in their lives. The cohorts in the study are of the age that traditional gender differences are founded on. Looking at the content of the issues to be coped with and the requirements of the situation suggest that life experience is what is predictive of coping skills.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adaptation, Psychological↗