Biomedical subjects

P Yelsma

Publications and source records attributed to P Yelsma.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Family-of-origin expressiveness: measurement, meaning, and relationship to alexithymia.

The need for research instruments to assess the impact of affective expressiveness within the family is evident, yet few appear to be adequately designed for this purpose. In this article, we present two studies addressing this need. In the first study, the original 40-item Family-of-Origin Scale was administered to 416 students to determine those items that constitute the factor structure. This instrument was designed to assess perceived levels of health in the family of origin but has unsubstantiated construct validity. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the instrument has one major factor, and results from five other studies provide evidence supporting the construct validity. Face validity of this 22-item construct indicates that it assesses an individual's perceived level of global expressive atmosphere within his or her family of origin. In the second study, the new Family-of-Origin Expressive Atmosphere Scale and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale were administered to 295 students. Students' self-reported expressive atmospheres in their family-of-origin scores were significantly correlated with the total scores of alexithymia and each of the three factors: impaired ability to identify feelings, impaired ability to describe feelings, and externally oriented thinking processes. No significant gender differences were found.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Self-esteem and social respect within the high school.

A sample of 596 students in a Michigan high school completed 2 measures of self-esteem (S. Coopersmith, 1967; M. Rosenberg, 1979) and the English translation of the Social Behaviors Scale (M. Loranger, M. Poirier, D. Gauthier, & J. Talon, 1982). Factor analysis of the 36-item Social Behaviors Scale revealed 5 factors appropriate for assessing social respect. Regression analyses revealed that scores for total self-esteem and global self-esteem were significant predictors of total social respect. The scores for total self-esteem were also significantly associated with respect for teachers and for appropriate language. The females reported more respect for teachers, others, appropriate language, and physical property than the males did. The seniors reported more respect for appropriate language, teachers, and others than the freshmen did. Total self-esteem was significantly and negatively associated with respect for waiting and listening. Global self-esteem was significantly and negatively associated with respect for physical property.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Clients' positive and negative expressiveness within their families and alexithymia.

49 prospective clients from a midwestern urban community, who sought counseling at a university training clinic, completed the Self-expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. As predicted, the positive self-expressiveness scores were significantly negatively correlated -.52 with scores on alexithymia, and the negative self-expressiveness scores were significantly positively correlated .34 with alexithymia. These results support the premise that mental health clients' self-reported lack of positive expressiveness and abundance of negative expressiveness within their family context may be attributes associated with their tendency to be alexithymic.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Self-esteem and alexithymia.

236 college students completed Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory and Taylor's 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. As predicted, the total scores on self-esteem and alexithymia were significantly negatively correlated-.42. Two factors of the subjects' orientations of alexithymia, difficulty recognizing and verbalizing feelings and difficulty describing feelings, explained 19% of the variance associated with self-esteem. These results suggest a negative association between difficulty in expressing emotions and college student's self-rated self-esteem.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Correlations between self-defeating personality and self-esteem.

41 men and 56 women completed Schill's self-defeating personality scale and Coopersmith's self-esteem scale. The total scores from these instruments were significantly negatively correlated (ranges, -.50 to -.77). The inverse relationship between self-defeating personality and self-esteem appears to be higher for men than for women. However, no significant differences were found between the men's and women's scores on self-esteem or self-defeating personality scales. The results indicate the two scales measure similar but inverse orientations of individuals' internalized negative affect.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Patients' and spouses' religious problem-solving styles and their physiological health.

From 55 patients after myocardial infarctions and their spouses, responses--metabolic entry and exit scores (1 to 48 mo. postinfarct) and scores on three religious problem-solving styles--showed no problem-solving styles were associated with patients' early improvement but, as time passed, scores on collaboration with God decreased as did those on deferring to God, while self-direction increased. Patients scored lower on collaboration and higher on self-direction than spouses.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1977

Self-esteem of prisoners committing directly versus indirectly destructive crimes.

62 prisoners from a county jail and a state forensic hospital, having committed 12 types of crimes, were administered the Coopersmith Self-esteem Questionnaire and a biographical form. Self-esteem scores were compared across three classifications of destructiveness of criminal acts. A significant difference was found between self-esteem scores for those prisoners who were indirectly destructive to others and those prisoners who were directly destructive to others or to themselves. Also, prisoners who were on work release and/or in psychology classes tended to have higher self-esteem. No causality was inferred between the instruction in psychology and work-release programs and higher levels of prisoners' self-esteem.

Adult↗