Biomedical subjects

W M Finlay

Publications and source records attributed to W M Finlay.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Attachment style and symptom reporting: examining the mediating effects of anger and social support.

OBJECTIVE: Attachment style has been related to symptom reporting. The aim of this research was to examine whether social support and anger expression or experience mediate this relationship. DESIGN AND METHODS: 141 women and 50 men from a Midlands university completed questionnaires examining attachment style, anger expression and experience, perceived social support, and symptom reporting. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between attachment groups on somatic, anxiety, social dysfunction, and depressive symptoms. Post hoc analysis showed differences were present between secure and preoccupied attachment styles on social dysfunction and depressed symptoms, and secure and fearful attachment styles on somatic, social dysfunction, and depressed symptoms (p < . 05). ANCOVA revealed that there were no differences between attachment styles and any of the symptom scales when perceived social support, anger-in, and trait anger were entered as covariates. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that insecure attachment styles of preoccupied and fearful were associated with increased symptom reporting. Social support and anger mediated the relationship between attachment style and symptom reporting.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Methodological issues in interviewing and using self-report questionnaires with people with mental retardation.

In this article the authors review methodological issues that arise when interviews and self-report questionnaires are used with people with mental retardation and offer suggestions for overcoming some of the difficulties described. Examples are drawn from studies that use qualitative methodology, quantitative studies assessing different question types, and studies reporting on the development of instruments measuring psychiatric symptoms, self-concept, and quality of life. Specific problems that arise with respect to item content (e.g., quantitative judgments, generalizations), question phrasing (e.g., modifiers), response format (e.g., acquiescence, multiple-choice questions), and psychometric properties (factor structure and validity) are discussed. It is argued that because many self-report questionnaires include questions that have been found to be problematic in this population, more attention needs to be paid to establishing the validity of such measures and to clearly defining the population for which the instrument is designed.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Social categorizations, social comparisons and stigma: presentations of self in people with learning difficulties.

Self-categorization theory stresses the importance of the context in which the meta-contrast principle is proposed to operate. This study is concerned with how 'the pool of psychologically relevant stimuli' (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher & Wetherell, 1987, p. 47) comprising the context is determined. Data from interviews with 33 people with learning difficulties were used to show how a positive sense of self might be constructed by members of a stigmatized social category through the social worlds that they describe, and therefore the social comparisons and categorizations that are made possible. Participants made downward comparisons which focused on people with learning difficulties who were less able or who displayed challenging behaviour, and with people who did not have learning difficulties but who, according to the participants, behaved badly, such as beggars, drunks and thieves. By selection of dimensions and comparison others, a positive sense of self and a particular set of social categorizations were presented. It is suggested that when using self-categorization theory to study real-world social categories, more attention needs to be paid to the involvement of the perceiver in determining which stimuli are psychologically relevant since this is a crucial determinant of category salience.

Adolescent↗