Biomedical subjects

T E Joiner

Publications and source records attributed to T E Joiner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Predicting bulimic symptoms: an interactive model of self-efficacy, perfectionism, and perceived weight status.

An interactive model of perfectionism, perceived weight status, and self-efficacy was tested on 406 women to predict the bulimic symptoms of binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors separately. This longitudinal study assessed hypothesized vulnerabilities of high perfectionism and low self-efficacy and the stressor of feeling overweight at Time 1 and then gathered weekly assessments of binge eating, vomiting, laxative use, fasting, and diet pill use for 11 weeks. As predicted, results showed that perfectionism, weight perception, and self-efficacy interacted to prospectively predict binge eating. In particular, women high in perfectionism who felt they were overweight and who had low self-efficacy reported the most number of weeks of binge eating. This interactive model did not predict inappropriate compensatory behaviors. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

A brief screening tool for suicidal symptoms in adolescents and young adults in general health settings: reliability and validity data from the Australian National General Practice Youth Suicide Prevention Project.

Using data from a nationwide project on young people in Australia aimed at assessing suicidality in general health settings, we present a brief screening tool for suicidality (the depressive symptom index suicidality subscale). Two thousand eight hundred and fifty-one (15-24 year old) patients presenting to 247 Australian general practitioners between 1996 and 1998 were assessed. In addition to the suicide screen, patients completed the general health questionnaire-12 and the Center for Epidemiological Studies depression scale. Patients' chief complaints were taken from the summary sheets completed by their general practitioners. Using inter-item correlational and factor-analytic techniques, as well as a general approach to construct validity, we show that the measure has favorable reliability and validity characteristics. We also provide results on cut-points that may facilitate its use in clinical and research settings. Because the screen is brief, easy to use, reliable, and valid, we encourage its use to combat the vexing international health problem of suicide.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Hopelessness depression as a distinct dimension of depressive symptoms among clinical and non-clinical samples.

Subtyping depression has been an interest of theorists and clinicians for at least four centuries. In this paper, we examined the validity of the symptom cluster component of the hopelessness theory of depression. We used structural equation modeling analyses on large samples of psychiatric outpatients (N=1604, 844, and 680) and Air Force cadets (N=1404) who completed the items of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Findings were supportive of the hopelessness depression cluster as a distinct depressive syndrome. Implications for the nosology of depression and for depression theory were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

On fatalism, pessimism, and depressive symptoms among Mexican-American and other adolescents attending an obstetrics-gynecology clinic.

There is growing evidence that Mexican-American adolescents may be at increased risk for depressive symptoms. We sought to replicate and explain this result in a study of adolescent girls attending an obstetric-gynecologic clinic. Three hundred and four girls of diverse ethnic backgrounds completed measures of depressive symptoms, negative attributional style, and locus of control. Consistent with predictions, we found that Mexican-American adolescent girls reported more depressive symptoms than adolescent girls from other ethnic backgrounds, and that Mexican-American adolescent girls displayed more negative cognitive styles than girls from other ethnic backgrounds. Depression differences appeared to be partly explained by differences in negative cognitive style. Implications of the results for a theory of increased Mexican-American adolescent depression, and for applied work, were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Defensiveness predicts peer rejection of depressed children.

The present study examined the ironic possibility that defensiveness, far from suppressing depression and staving off negative interpersonal consequences, is actually associated with interpersonal difficulties (e.g. peer rejection). Participants were 72 youth psychiatric inpatients (aged 7-17 years, mean+/-SD 13.18+/-2.59 years), who completed self-report measures of defensiveness and depression. Chart diagnoses were available, and peer rejection ratings were collected. Results indicated that depressed children with a defensive style obtained the highest peer rejection ratings, other children, including depressed but non-defensive children, were not as negatively rated by peers. Implications regarding self-presentation and depression, as well as regarding clinical work with depressed people, were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Negative attributional style, hopelessness depression and endogenous depression.

The hopelessness theory of depression [Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I. & Alloy, L. B. (1989). Hopelessness depression: a theory-based subtype of depression. Psychological Review, 96, 358-372.] postulates that a negative attributional style represents a risk factor for a particular constellation of depressive symptoms, termed 'hopelessness depression'. Four studies tested the relation of negative attributional style to hopelessness depression symptoms versus endogenous depression symptoms. Despite the considerable overlap of hopelessness and endogenous depression symptoms, negative attributional style was more related to the former than the latter, consistent with hopelessness theory.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Specificity of information processing styles to depressive symptoms in youth psychiatric inpatients.

Although information processing has been widely studied with depressed adults, little emphasis has been placed on the specificity of resultant findings to depression, as opposed to other psychological disorders. Analogously, even less effort has been directed toward examining the information processing styles of depressed children and adolescents. The present study investigated the specificity of information processing styles to depression and anxiety among 58 youth psychiatric inpatients. To assess information processing, we used a self-referent encoding task, in which participants were presented with positive and negative adjectives; participants were asked whether these adjectives described them or not, and were then tested on recall of the adjectives. After controlling for age and gender, lower rates of positive adjective endorsement and lower rates of positive adjective recall were found to be associated with depression, but not anxiety. Additionally, negative adjective endorsement was associated with anxiety symptoms. These results suggest specific cognitive features of depressive symptoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Evaluation of cognitive diathesis-stress models in predicting major depressive disorder in adolescents.

Diathesis-stress predictions regarding the onset of adolescent major depression and nonmood disorders were tested. Adolescents (N = 1,507) were assessed for dysfunctional attitudes and negative attributional style, as well as current depressive symptoms, current depressive and nondepressive diagnoses, and past and family histories of psychopathology. Approximately 1 year later, participants were reassessed on all measures. Analyses supported A. T. Beck's (1976) theory of depression (at the level of a trend) but not the hopelessness theory of depression. Findings were suggestive of a threshold view of vulnerability to depression; for those who experienced negative life events, depressive onset was related to dysfunctional attitudes but only when dysfunctional attitudes exceeded a certain level (low = intermediate < high). For participants who scored either very high or very low on both dysfunctional attitudes and negative attributional style, nonsignificant findings were obtained.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Psychopathy, antisocial personality, and suicide risk.

H. Cleckley (1976) maintained that psychopaths are relatively immune to suicide, but substantial evidence exists for a relationship between antisocial deviance and suicidal acts. This study was the first to explicitly examine suicidal history among psychopathic individuals as defined by R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R). Male prison inmates (N = 313) were assessed using the PCL-R and DSM-III-R and DSM-IV criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1987, 1994) for antisocial personality disorder (APD), and they completed A. Tellegen's (1982) Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Presence or absence of prior suicide attempts was coded from structured interview and prison file records. Suicide history was significantly related to PCL-R Factor 2 (which reflects chronic antisocial deviance) and to APD diagnosis but was unrelated to PCL-R Factor 1, which encompasses affective and interpersonal features of psychopathy. Higher order MPQ dimensions of Negative Emotionality and low Constraint were found to account for the relationship between history of suicidal attempts and antisocial deviance, indicating that temperament traits may represent a common vulnerability for both.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Patterns of hemispheric perceptual asymmetries: left hemispatial biases predict changes in anxiety and positive affect in undergraduate women.

Consistent with the tripartite model of anxiety and depression, hemispheric asymmetries may be differentially associated with depressive and anxious symptoms. Indeed, research has demonstrated that asymmetries do exist when examining hemispatial biases in both anxious and depressed individuals; however, the magnitude and direction of these asymmetries has been variable. The Chimeric Faces Task was used here to measure these asymmetries, along with measures for current and future levels of anxiety and depression. Results indicated that (a) increased left hemispatial biases at Time 1 predict increased anxiety (i.e., physiological hyperarousal) at Time 2 among female undergraduate students and (b) decreased left hemispatial biases at Time 1 predict decreased positive affectivity at Time 2 among the same participants. The possibility that hemispatial biases represent a vulnerability to future anxiety and depression is discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Health beliefs and illness attitudes as predictors of breast cancer screening attendance.

BACKGROUND: This paper considers the breast cancer screening programme in the autonomous community of Navarre, Northern Spain. Women from different areas of Northern, Central and Southern Navarre are involved. METHODS: A sample of 512 women participants and 196 non-participants was taken from a total of 60,908 women between 45 and 65 years of age who received an invitation to attend the breast cancer screening programme. The participants were asked to fill in an individual structured questionnaire in their local Health Centre and the non-participants in their homes. This was done retrospectively. RESULTS: The response rate was 100% for participants and 83.9% for non-participants. This study investigates the attitude profiles of the women attending mammography mass screening, with non-attending women (matched in educational and occupational levels) as controls. Subjects were assessed on dimensions such as attitudes towards health and illness. The results support Rosenstock's 1974 model that perceived severity of breast cancer and perceived susceptibility to breast cancer are related to participation in screening. Furthermore, results demonstrated that hypochondriacal beliefs, disease phobia and feared effects of symptoms were related to decreased participation levels. CONCLUSION: This study has explored the implication of health belief attitudes and the attitudes toward illness variables with women's participation in a breast cancer screening programme. It assesses the relative contribution of these variables to levels of participation, and the results of the study indicate that belief sets and attitudes are important components of women's cancer prevention behaviours.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Excessive reassurance seeking: delineating a risk factor involved in the development of depressive symptoms.

Six studies investigated (a) the construct validity of reassurance seeking and (b) reassurance seeking as a specific vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that reassurance seeking is a reasonably cohesive, replicable, and valid construct, discernible from related interpersonal variables. Study 3 demonstrated that reassurance seeking displayed diagnostic specificity to depression, whereas other interpersonal variables did not, in a sample of clinically diagnosed participants. Study 4 prospectively assessed a group of initially symptom-free participants, and showed that those who developed future depressive symptoms (as compared with those who remained symptom-free) obtained elevated reassurance-seeking scores at baseline, when all participants were symptom-free, but did not obtain elevated scores on other interpersonal variables. Studies 5 and 6 indicate that reassurance seeking predicts future depressive reactions to stress. Taken together, the six studies support the construct validity of reassurance seeking, as well as its potential role as a specific vulnerability factor for depression.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Cross-cultural examination of the tripartite model with children: data from the Barretstown studies.

The Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C) and the Physiological Hyperarousal Scale for Children (PH-C) were administered to a group of 240 children from European countries to determine their utility in examining the tripartite model of anxiety and depression in a cross-cultural sample. Most of the children (n = 196) had been diagnosed with a medical illness; the remainder were siblings of these youngsters (n = 44). Only slight variations were noted in items between this sample and samples from the United States. Despite these minor differences, 3 distinct scales measuring the positive affect, negative affect, and physiological hyperarousal constructs of the tripartite model were identified. These findings illustrate that the PH-PANAS-C provides a useful measure of the tripartite model in a cross-cultural sample of youth. The findings also demonstrate that the tripartite model is generalizable to a cross-cultural milieu.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

The course of post-crisis suicidal symptoms: how and for whom is suicide "cathartic"?

We investigated suicide "catharsis" as evidenced by decreased suicidality following a suicide attempt. Past research has examined this issue with mixed results (Bronisch, 1992; Davis, 1990; van Praag & Plutchik, 1985). In the present study, we examined Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation (MSSI) scores for 198 suicidal men during suicidal crisis, prior to entry into a treatment study, and again at 1-month and 12-month follow-ups. Patients were divided into ideators, single attempters, and multiple attempters. We found evidence for decreased suicidality, but interpreted it as the gradual action of interpersonal support, rather than as emotional catharsis. Also, multiple attempt status affected the long-term course of post-crisis suicidality.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

The interpersonal consequences of inflated self-esteem in an inpatient psychiatric youth sample.

This study tested R. F. Baumeister, L. Smart, and J. M. Boden's (1996) theory of inflated self-esteem with an inpatient psychiatric youth sample. Participants were assessed on their self-reported self-esteem, self-reported interpersonal problems, and peer rejection (measured by evaluations from 3 or 4 peers). Consistent with the hypotheses, those with low self-esteem reported the most interpersonal problems, followed consecutively by the moderate self-esteem group and then the high self-esteem group, who reported the fewest interpersonal problems. Also in line with the hypotheses, those with low and high self-esteem were rejected by their peers when compared with the moderate self-esteem group. Thus, the high self-esteem group was rejected by their peers but did not themselves report interpersonal problems. These findings provide further support for Baumeister et al.'s theory and generalize the theory to a clinical setting.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Personality features differentiate late adolescent females and males with chronic bulimic symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined gender differences in bulimia-related personality variables among late adolescents with chronic bulimic symptoms. METHOD: Ninety-seven females and 14 males were included in the study. They participated in surveys in 1982, and again in 1992, and at each session reported elevated bulimic symptoms. Each respondent completed subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory (Bulimia, Drive for Thinness, Perfectionism, and Interpersonal Distrust). RESULTS: Even compared to males with similar levels of chronic bulimic symptoms, females with chronic bulimic symptoms reported more drive for thinness; compared to females with chronic bulimic symptoms, males with chronic bulimic symptoms reported more perfectionism and interpersonal distrust. DISCUSSION: Late adolescent males and females with chronic bulimic symptoms can be distinguished on the basis of personality features. These findings have implications for theory, as well as for clinical assessment and therapeutics.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Three studies on the factorial distinctiveness of binge eating and bulimic symptoms among nonclinical men and women.

OBJECTIVE: According to DSM-IV's proposed nosology, binge eating disorder is separable from bulimia nervosa. The basis for separation rests with compensatory behaviors (e.g., induced vomiting)-people with bulimia nervosa engage in compensatory behaviors, whereas those with binge eating disorder do not. We addressed the validity of this nosology. METHODS: In three studies on 2,015 young men and women, we used factor-analytic techniques to assess whether bulimic and binge eating symptoms are separable in men and women. Results and Discussion Results of the three studies converged: Although binge eating symptoms may be distinct from bulimic symptoms among young men, the two syndromes are factorially inseparable among young women. Nosologic and sociocultural implications are noted.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

Prospective evaluation of the etiology of anxiety sensitivity: test of a scar model.

A large body of research has suggested that anxiety sensitivity (AS) acts as a specific vulnerability factor in the development of anxiety pathology. More recently, attention has turned to the etiology of AS per se. The present study represents a specific test of a Scar model of AS. A Scar model posits that the experience of distress will affect the vulnerability factor. We were specifically interested in evaluating the effects of a specific stressor (spontaneous panic) as well as general distress on changes in AS over time. A large nonclinical sample of young adults (N = 1296) was prospectively followed over a five week highly stressful period of time (i.e. military basic training). Findings were consistent with the Scar model and suggested that the specific stressor of experiencing a panic attack as well as general stressors creating significant anxiety symptoms uniquely contributed to increased levels of AS (regardless of prior history of panic). Moreover, the experience of spontaneous panic in the context of generally low levels of distress (both anxiety and depression) appeared to be particularly pernicious in terms of resulting in greater increases in AS. In sum, anxiety-related stressors appear to have the potential to 'scar' individuals in regard to this cognitive vulnerability factor.

Adult↗