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Biomedical subjects

P H Blaney

Publications and source records attributed to P H Blaney.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Measures of depressive dimensions: are they interchangeable?

Several theorists have posited two focuses for depressive experience and/or vulnerability: dependency and rejection, and self-criticism and failure. In turn, three instruments have emerged, each addressing these two components, respectively: the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Dependent and Self-Critical scales), the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scales (SAS), and the Anaclitic and Introjective Dysfunctional Attitude Scales (DAS). In this study, we addressed the relations within and among these three pairs of scales in a large undergraduate sample. Generally, the DEQ-Dependent, SAS-Sociotrophy, and DAS-Anaclitic scales showed substantial convergent and discriminant validity. Although this was true also for the DEQ-Self-Critical and DAS-Introjective scales, neither scale was closely related to the SAS-Autonomy scale, which appeared instead to be a better measure of counter dependency than a measure of self-critical, introjective features.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Intrafamilial patterns reported by young type A versus type B males and their parents.

Retrospective reports regarding parent-child and parent-parent relations during the childrearing years were obtained from adult informants. Male undergraduates typed as As or Bs completed the Clarke Parent/Child Relations Questionnaire augmented with items of likely relevance to A/B. Parallel data were obtained from a subset of subjects' fathers and mothers. Type A and B groups were not different on numerous variables, including parental aggressiveness, vague or escalating standard-setting, or work orientedness. Type A sons were more inclined to view their fathers as attaching great importance to achievement, as setting hard-to-meet expectations, as being unimpressed with son's achievements, and as relating in a competitive way. Differences regarding sons' perceptions of mother were less marked. It is not yet clear to what extent these perceptions (particularly the sons' perceptions of their fathers) are accurate and may thus have played a role in the development of A/B differences, or instead represent a son's judgmental biases associated with his A/B status.

Achievement↗
PubMed1987

Predicting successful completion of an aftercare program following treatment for alcoholism: the role of dispositional optimism.

In this study we investigated several variables as potential predictors of success in completing a transition program after treatment for alcoholism. Subjects were 54 men who had completed a 30-day treatment program and who were subsequently admitted to a 90-day inpatient aftercare program. The outcome measure was successful completion of this latter program. Predictor variables were dispositional optimism, hassles, uplifts, and several demographic variables. Optimism was positively associated with successful outcome. The simple association between uplifts and outcome also approached significance, but in the opposite to expected direction. Discriminant analyses used both of these variables, as well as age and education level, as predictors of successful outcome. There was no evidence of a role for hassles. Discussion centers on the importance of dispositional optimism as a predictor of successful adaptation in a variety of behavioral domains.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Type A, marital adjustment, and life stress.

Prior research has indicated that both the Type A behavior pattern and recent life stress may increase risk for heart disease and has suggested that social (e.g., marital) support may (a) be influenced by Type A and (b) serve as a moderating influence in the stress-illness relationship. To assess relationships among these variables, both members of 101 married couples were assessed among these variables, both members of 101 married couples were assessed on self-reports of A-B status, life stress, and marital adjustment. Results indicated substantially lower adjustment in one of the four possible husband-wife pairings: A husband/B wife. The poor adjustment of this pairing may reflect the work (rather than home and marriage) orientedness of the A husband, a negative force in the marriage which may be contrasted with the wife's traditional commitment to the successful functioning of the home, a commitment which is sufficient to counter the Type A husband's negative effect only when the wife is a Type A herself.

Achievement↗
PubMed1986

Stress and hopelessness in the promotion of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.

Stress and hopelessness have been associated with the development of invasive cervical cancer by previous research. Subjects in this study were recruited from a colposcopy clinic awaiting work-up of an abnormal pap smear and from those admitted to an in-patient gynecology ward for cone biopsy of the cervix or hysterectomy to treat a symptomatic pelvic mass thought to be uterine leiomyomas. After data collection, pathology reports and colposcopic findings were used to determine group assignment independent of subjects' knowledge of their diagnosis. A modest stress-promotion correlation was derived, which was greatly enhanced by significant interactions with low levels of cooperative coping style and for high levels of premorbid pessimism, future despair, somatic anxiety, and life threat reactivity. These stress-moderator interactions are discussed in terms of immune system deficit with concomitant enhancement of promotion of CIN to invasive squamous cell cervical cancer.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Pessimistic self-preoccupation, performance deficits, and depression.

Three studies are presented testing a model of the cognitive performance deficits shown in depression. The model proposes that such deficits occur as an interaction of expectancy and focus of attention variables, that is, in the presence of both low expectancy of success and high self-focus. Study 1 was a pilot study which documented that depressed undergraduates evidence poorer anagram performance, greater self-focus, and lower pretask expectancies than do nondepressed subjects. Study 2 showed that nondepressed undergraduates evidence performance deficits only when both expectancy is lowered and self-focus is increased. Study 3 suggested that depressed undergraduates' performance deficits are overcome either by lowering self-focus or by raising expectancy. Discussed are discrepancies between self-report and performance data, the relevance of these studies to the test anxiety literature, the need to integrate literature concerning the effects of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem on performance, and how the interactive roles of positive expectancy and focus of attention may be related to effective coping in a variety of situations.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1984

Stress, externality, and depression.

Previous research has found mixed support for the possibility that locus of control moderates the effects of life stress on depression. Two methodological choices may have influenced previous findings: the use of a unidimensional rather than a multidimensional locus of control scale, and reliance on linear statistical methods using median splits. We attempted to correct these choices by using the Levenson IPC scale (1974) and multiple regression analyses in a female undergraduate population (N = 158). The results supported use of a multidimensional scale, since Stress, Internality, and Powerful Others were found to have main effects on depression whereas Chance interacted with life stress. The question of whether locus of control refers to responsibility for causing an event, i.e., self-blame, or belief in control over future events, i.e., coping behavior, was discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1979

Focus of attention, chronic expectancy, and responses to a feared stimulus.

An attentional model of fear-based behavior is proposed and a study that tested the model is reported. It was predicted that among subjects with moderate fear of snakes, heightened self-attention during an approach attempt would cause increased awareness of existing anxiety, followed by one of two courses of events: Subjects who believed that they could do the behavior in spite of their fear were expected to redirect their attention to the behavior--goal comparison and exhibit no behavioral deficit. Subjects who doubted their ability to do the behavior were expected to divert their attention from the behavior--goal comparison and to withdraw behaviorally from the approach attempt. The results of the study support this reasoning. Discussion centers on relationships between the proposed model and previous theory.

Affect↗
PubMed1978

The validity of MMPI interpretations based on the Minimult and the FAM.

In this study 29 clinicians provided Q-sort descriptions for 36 patients' MMPI profiles prepared in the standard way or prepared according to Kincannon's (1968) Minimult or Faschingbauer's (1974) FAM. For each patient, correlations between Q sorts based on the standard profile and each short form profile were computed as a measure of interpretive similarity between the long form and short form. Correlations between Q sorts by independent raters both interpreting the long form profile served as the standard for comparison. Data analyses revealed that at least for the FAM, interpretive similarity between the short form and long form MMPI may be sufficient to warrant its clinical use for individual profile interpretation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1977

The interrater reliability of the Psychotic Inpatient Profile.

The interrater reliabilities of the 12 scales of the Psychotic Inpatient Profile (PIP) were assessed in three independent samples. These reliabilities were found to be consistently low for the three samples. Several possible sources of low reliability were investigated, and evidence to support the hypothesis that consistent rater biases might have contributed to this low reliability was found. The authors make several suggestions of ways to improve PIP's reliability.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1975

Implications of the medical model and its alternatives.

The term "medical model" is often used as if it referred to a single, well-understood set of assumptions about psychiatric disorders. Actually, there are at least four different meanings that a person saying "emotional disorders are diseases" might intend to communicate. The models usually suggested as alternatives are addressed to one or another of these medical model implications. A distinction should be maintained between the virtues of these models as conceptual aids and their virtues and weakness as shapers of public opinion and professional practice.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗