bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MLPA as a screening method of aneuploidy and unbalanced chromosomal rearrangements in spontaneous miscarriages
Authors: Diego‐Alvarez Dan , de Alba Marta Rodriguez , Cardero‐Merlo Rocio , Diaz‐Recasens Joaquin , Ayuso Carmen , Ramos Carmen , Lorda‐Sanchez Isabel
Published: June 2007

Objective

The present study aims to validate multiplex ligation‐dependent probe amplification (MLPA) technique with subtelomeric probe mixes as a screening method to detect aneuploidy and unbalanced terminal chromosomal rearrangements in spontaneous abortions (SAs).

Methods

MLPA with P036B and P070 probe mixes was performed on 221 miscarriage DNA samples between the 5th and 24th week of gestation. Cytogenetic culture was attempted on 178 miscarriages. Karyotyped miscarriages served as controls in this blinded study. Results were confirmed by quantitative fluorescent‐PCR (QF–PCR).

Results

Among the karyotyped miscarriages, MLPA was able to detect all the expected aneuploidies, as well as an unbalanced product from a reciprocal translocation, and revealed cryptic deletions and duplications not visible at the 550‐band resolution level. In addition, chromosomal anomalies were found in ∼37% of cases that failed to grow or could not be cultivated. As expected, ploidy changes were not detected. Copy number variation was found for target sequences of P036B (CYFIP1, MRPL41, CAB45) and P070 (DECR2, TNFRSF18) probe mixes.

Conclusions

We propose the use of MLPA with subtelomeric probe mixes as a reliable, rapid and economical first approach to detect aneuploidy and unbalanced terminal chromosomal rearrangements in SAs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Erratum: Patterns of drug use during a 15 year period: data from a Swedish county, 1988–2002
Authors: Silwer Louise , Lundborg Cecilia Stålsby
Published: June 2007

On page 819, the ATC‐code C10 was placed among antihypertensive treatments, but should not have been included there.

‘The prevalence of antihypertensive treatments in table 2, C03, C07, C09 and C10…’ should have been

‘The prevalence of antihypertensive treatments in table 2, C03, C07, C08 and C09…’
Variations on a theme
Authors: Endler Norman S. , Edwards Jean M.
Published: June 2007

Epstein (1986) has demonstrated that aggregation leads to high correlations which are not spurious but which reflect only stability. He claims that there is no distinction between a demonstration of test‐retest reliability and behavioral stability. It is suggested that Epstein has confused personality theory and measurement models and has made the logical fallacy of claiming that high correlation coefficients uniquely reflect stability. Epstein has failed to distinguish clearly between reaction variables and mediating variables and between temporal stability and cross‐situational consistency. While high correlation coefficients may reflect stability there is no necessary one‐to‐one relationship between personality theories and their measurement models nor between reaction variables and mediating variables. The interaction model recognizes that behavior is consistent in the sense of coherence, i.e. a lawful idiographically predictable pattern of behavior. This pattern involves personsituation interactions, and changes over time. Aggregation may obscure these patterns.
Goal‐based and situation‐based expectation of behaviour
Authors: Pervin Lawrence A. , Furnham Adrian
Published: June 2007

In a study of the effects of situation characteristics and person goal (motive) characteristics on perceived probability of behavior, subjects rated the probabilities of sixteen behaviors for each of sixteen situations (representing all combinations of four situation categories and four goal categories). Ratings were completed for both Self and Other. Both situation and goal characteristics were found to influence expected behavior with the effect of the latter being greater. An exception to this was ratings associated with facial behaviors and affect, which were more influenced by situation characteristics. Generally other ratings were more influenced by situation characteristics than were Self ratings, a reversal of the effect known as the ‘actorobserver bias’. The study emphasizes the utility of the goal concept as a personality construct and as a construct useful in the study of social cognition.
Endogenous opioid functions and personality
Authors: Kulcsar Zsuzsanna , Frecska Ede , Varga Izabella
Published: June 2007

According to our proposal the endogenous opioid functions, activated mainly by social interactions in early childhood and by stress later in life, serve multiple roles both in early ontogenesis and in adulthood. First, they might insure social cohesion. Second, they can mediate a special kind of homeostatic regulation, and third, they seem to determine characteristic cognitive functions: primary process thinking, primitive forms of defense mechanisms and basic conceptual structures guiding prosocial behavior. We propose that an alternation of two biological states, one with and one without the involvement of the endogenous opioid mechanisms, characterizes the normal course of life. These two states are supposed to represent different forms of homeostatic regulation and different kinds of cognition. Physical and psychological health seems to be dependent on the relative part each takes in the life of an individual. On the basis of some considerations discussed in this paper the endogenous opioid functions seem to be relevant factors of human cognition. The conceptual scheme of psychoanalysis, worked out on the basis of empirical data, could be Led to describe the cognitive characteristics which, in our proposal, were suggested to ensue on the endogenous opioid activity.
Self‐presentation: Social skills and inconsistency as independent facets of self‐monitoring
Authors: Nowack Wolf , Kammer Daniele
Published: June 2007

Using a German adaption of Snyder's (1974) Self‐Monitoring scale, we show that the scale has two independent facets, which encompass different aspects that are central to the original theoretical concept. Replicated factor analyses of the SM item pool suggest two uncorrelated subscales of equal length. Compared to the total scale, these two subscales are not only more economical and more reliable, but also provide more conceptual clarity, as demonstrated in three validity studies. In particular, the Social Skills subscale taps various self‐perceived social and acting skills and is related to uninhibited and spontaneous self‐expressions in interpersonal situations. The Inconsistency subscale measures discrepancies between the overt expression of one's feelings, attitudes, and beliefs and the way the person actually experiences them. This scale relates to social anxiety, sensitivity to situational cues, and self‐reported situational inconsistency. The two subscales are similar to factors recently identified for the original American scale. Based on this cross‐cultural convergence the validity of the current Self‐Monitoring research is discussed.
Predicting protestant work ethic beliefs
Authors: Furnham Adrian
Published: June 2007

Two correlational studies attempt to determine the aetiology of Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) beliefs by looking at the relationship between it and various theoretically related variables. In the first study, three demographic and seven psychographic variables were regressed onto the PWE using step‐wise multiple regression. Five of the ten predictors were significant indicating that people with high internal and powerful other locus of control beliefs, limited educaztion, conservativel free‐enterprise economic beliefs, and strong postponement of gratification beliefs and practices were most likely to endorse the PWE. In the second study parents and college‐age children completed the same questionnaire to indicate family resemblances in PWE beliefs. Using a within‐family analysis it was found that there were family resemblances in PWE, economic and voting beliefs and that sons were less similar to their parents than were daughters. Results provide partial support for both McClelland's and Weber's theses, and underline other results suggesting the role of psychological conservatism in the development of PWE beliefs.
The concept of temperament in personality research
Authors: Strelau Jan
Published: June 2007

The place of temperament in personality research has been broadly discussed taking into account different understandings of both concepts ‐ temperament and personality. Temperament may be regarded as (a) one of the elements of personality, (b) as a synonym of personality, and (c) as a phenomenon with its own specificity, not belonging to the structure of personality. Taking the latter position as a starting point, the author discusses five aspects in which temperament and personality differ: (a) the determinants of development, (6) the developmental stage in which temperament and personality are thought to be shaped, (c) the populations to which they refer, (d) the degree to which they are saturated with contents of behaviour, and (e) the role both personality and temperament play in integrating behaviour. It is concluded that the phenomena in which both concepts differ are not as strongly opposed as they are complementary.
Conceptualizations of responses to stress
Authors: Thomae Hans
Published: June 2007

The article presents the concepts and methodologies used in a series of studies on responses to stress in different areas of life and in different age and social groups. The studies described include findings of the Bonn Longitudinal Study of Aging and several studies on reactions to stress, e.g. coping with chronic disease and other distressing life situations. The discussion of the empirical findings presented focuses on the concept of ‘response hierarchy’ and its possibilities for examining consistency in reactions to stress across time and different situations. The data presented emphasize the need for a process‐centred view on stress and responding to stress in the context of a cognitive theory of personality comprehending the individual and her/his world as an undivisible dynamic unit.
Morningness–eveningness as a dimension of personality: Trait, state, and psychophysiological correlates
Authors: Matthews Gerald
Published: June 2007

Personality, mood, and psychophysiological correlates of Home and östberg's (1976) Morningness‐Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) are reported. State data were collected at both morning and evening times of day. MEQ score was related to personality traits associated with psychopathology—trait anxiety in males and psychoticism in females. The best explanation of these correlations is that personality and subject sex affect attention to zeitgebers or time of day cues. MEQ score was related to extroversion only in female subjects. A between‐subjects study showed that morningness was positively associated with high energetic arousal in the morning, as predicted, but the MEQ did not predict physiological arousal measures reliably. A subsequent within‐subjects study demonstrated sex differences in interactive effects of time of day and morningness‐eveningness in mood states related to psychological disorder. The MEQ predicted two somewhat independent circadian rhythms—one related to arousal, and one to depression. It is concluded that personality may be linked to morningness‐eveningness through associations between personality traits and cognitive and social factors affecting the entrainment of circadian rhythms to the sleep‐wake cycle.
Type A behaviour pattern and assertive behaviour
Authors: Lobel Thalma E. , Bar‐Nof Lili , Winch Guy L.
Published: June 2007

The assertiveness patterns of Type A coronary‐prone subjects were compared with those of Type B subjects in negative and positive situations. Type As were found to exhibit high assertiveness in both negative and positive situations. Type Bs responded as assertively as Type As in positive situations but less assertively in negative situations. The implications of the results are discussed.
In search of explanations: A rejoinder to Borkenau
Authors: Krahé Barbara , Semin Gün R.
Published: June 2007

The main points raised by Borkenau against our challenge of the 'intuitive psychometrics' view of personality judgements are discussed, in particular his example of the link between school grades and intelligence. It is argued that the semantic similarity interpretation advanced in our paper is more adequate and more parsimonious than explanations in terms of psychometric reasoning.
Style and substance in social desirability scales
Authors: Birenbaum Menucha , Montag Itzhak
Published: June 2007

The purpose of the present study was to examine the nature of a social desirability measure under two different types of instructions for filling out personality questionnaires in an occupational selection setting. 1230 male applicants for public vehicle driving licences were administered Cattett's 16PF and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). The subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. One was given standard instructions for filling out these questionnaires; the second was given special instructions designed to reduce social desirability response bias. Social desirability was indexed by the Lie scale of the EPQ. Based on Eysenck's theorizing concerning the meaning of the Lie scale, the following hypothesis was tested: the factorial location of the Lie scale in the personality domain will differ under the two forms of instructions. It should appear separately from other personality factors under the standard instructions, whereas under the special instructions it should be subsumed under the personality factor which measures conformity. The results supported this hypothesis. The discussion focuses on the meaning of the Lie scale under conditions that elicit social desirability bias and on the role of special instructions in reducing this bias.
Cognitive orientation and the prediction of decisions in a medical examination context
Authors: Westhoff Karl , Halbach‐Suarez Christine
Published: June 2007

From the theory of cognitive orientation (Kreitler and Kreitler 1976, 1982) we derived that scores of cognitive orientation would predict the decision of women to go or not to go to a medical examination for cancer. We tested three alternative methods in addition to the standard method recommended by Kreitler and Kreitler. These four methods represent different assumptions which one can derive from the theory. On the basis of 25 interviews we developed the preliminary questionnaire of beliefs associated with the examination for early detection of cancer. The data of Study 1(N = 72) were used for item analysis as well as testing retest reliability and predicting decisions. In Study 2 (N = 142) the results could be replicated. The Likert‐scales for assessing the four components of cognitive orientation proved to be highly retest reliable. Predictions of decisions could be made nearly equally well by each of the four methods derived from the theory of cognitive orientation.
Individual differences and the trait of aggression
Authors: Rowell Huesmann L. , Eron Leonard D.
Published: June 2007

Aggression, as a variable of psychological study, has the hallmarks of a deeply ingrained personality trait. It is related to genetic and physiological factors; it emerges early in life but is influenced and shaped by a chilďs life experiences; it is consistently associated with gender and is stable or predictable over time and across situations. However, it does not follow that aggression must be viewed as a drive. On the contrary, in this article we argue that aggression is best represented internally as a collection of specific 'scripts' for social behaviour, emphasizing aggressive responding, and the associative structure relating these scripts to each other, to external cues, and to outcome expectancies. The construction and maintenance of these scripts obey well‐understood principles of human information processing. Once established, these networks of scripts may be extremely resistant to change. The result is a set of cognitive structures that promote consistent forms of instrumental and hostile aggression over time and across situations.
The development of antisocial behaviour patterns in childhood and adolescence
Authors: Reid John B. , Patterson Gerald R.
Published: June 2007

A developmental model of antisocial behaviour is presented in this paper. Arguments and evidence are presented for the position that although many factors such as parent criminality, social and economic disadvantage, child temperament, and marital discord systematically affect the development of antisocial child behaviour, their influence is mediated by the extent to which they disrupt day‐to‐day parenting practices. Particularly, it is argued that irritable, ineffective discipline and poor parental monitoring are the most proximal determinants of the early development and maintenance of antisocial behaviour. The implications of this model for prevention and intervention in child conduct problems are discussed, using examples of promising clinical work that focuses on direct parent training.
Feeling rules: Testing a model of appraisal—affect relations
Authors: Hoekstra Hans A. , Stoop Bert A. M.
Published: June 2007

The aim of this study was to test a model specifying the relations between appraisals and affects. A theory of the appraisal—affect relation is proposed in terms of general feeling rules differentiating between affects. A taxonomy of ten appraisals is presented, each defined by a specific profile of scores on four appraisal variables: desirability, controllability, responsibility, and the kind of value being at stake in an event. The appraisals are related to nine affect dimensions, resulting from earlier taxonomic research on the structure of affect (Hoekstra, 1986). All predictions following from the theory were tested in two independent samples by structural analysis. The model showed a good fit in both data sets.
Type A behaviour and psychological androgyny among Greek college students
Authors: Yarnold Paul R. , Bryant Fred B. , Litsas Fotios
Published: June 2007

Research conducted primarily in the United States suggests that the combination of Type A behaviour, high instrumentality, and low expressiveness may place individuals at relatively high risk for coronary‐artery and heart disease. The present research investigates the trans‐societal generalizability of the structure, reliability, relationships among, and distributional characteristics of these measures for 117 college students in Athens, Greece. As hypothesized, the Greek students were significantly less instrumental and less expressive than the American students, and scored significantly higher on the measure of Type A. Although there were significant mean differences between these samples, the results suggest that many of the interscale relationships are comparable, supporting an etic (universal) interpretation of the findings. Nevertheless, the results suggested several emic (unique) characteristics of these measures and their interrelationships.
Trait congruence in the study of the cognitive consequences of emotional arousal
Authors: Caprara Gian Vittorio , Spizzichino Claudio , Romeo Clelia
Published: June 2007

This study investigated the possible influence of mood and emotional vulnerability on recall. Mood was induced by projecting highly emotionally laden slides. In the first experiment, 64 female subjects, rated low or high on emotional vulnerability, were tested on recall of mood‐congruent, mood‐incongruent and neutral words, under mood induction and non‐mood induction conditions. Emotionally low‐vulnerable subjects recalled more mood‐congruent than mood‐incongruent words in the mood induction condition, whereas the opposite was the case in the non‐mood induction condition. Highly vulnerable subjects recalled more mood‐congruent than mood‐incongruent words in the non‐mood induction condition and fewer mood‐congruent words in the mood induction compared with non‐mood induction condition. The results are discussed in terms of ‘mood congruence’ (to explain low‐vulnerable (LV) subjects' performance) and in terms of ‘trait congruence’ (to explain highly‐vulnerable (HV) subjects' performance). In a second experiment, which investigated LV and HV subjects' galvanic skin responses to highly‐ and low‐emotionally laden slides, the highest values were those for HV subjects when exposed to emotional slides. The different activation of LV and HV subjects led us to reconsider previous reasoning regarding mood congruence and trait congruence in the light of the inverted U theory.
Personality in the context of conversation: Person‐talk scenarios replicated
Authors: De Raad Boele , Caljé Hans
Published: June 2007

In this study 90 pairs of subjects (N=180) were requested to describe a recent situation in which they had said something about a person. The pairs of subjects were randomly assigned to three conditions differing on the main question, namely whether the subjects had said something about themselves, about their partner, or about a third person. Each person‐talk situation was described from two perspectives, namely from that of the speaker and from that of the addressee. The descriptions of the talk situations were judged separately for the content of the utterances about the persons, and for the intentional activities of the two interlocutors with respect to each other. Redundancy analysis followed by a rotation to the canonical correlation solution was applied on two sets of variables, namely the one describing the speaker's role in the talk situation and the one describing the addressee's role. For each of the two perspectives this analysis produced seven canonical components. Each of the components identifed a person‐talk scenario such as an entertainment scenario, a flirtation scenario, and a gossip scenario. A comparison of the two canonical structures indicated that the person‐talk scenarios obtained under the perspective of the speaker were well replicated in the data obtained under the perspective of the addressee, and vice versa.
Traits and trait names: How well is Openness represented in natural languages?
Authors: McCrae Robert R.
Published: June 2007

The five‐factor model of personality has repeatedly emerged from lexical studies of natural languages. When adjective‐based factor scales are correlated with other personality measures, the adequacy and comprehensiveness of the five‐factor model are demonstrated at a broad level. However, English language adjectives do not necessarily capture more subtle distinctions within the five factors. In particular, of several facets of the Openness factor, only Openness to Ideas and Values are well represented in single terms. Openness to Fantasy, Aesthetics, Feelings, and Actions can be expressed in phrases, sentences, and literary passages—as excerpts from Bunin's ‘Lika’ illustrate— but not in single words. To maintain its relevance to personality psychology, the study of personality language must continue to examine empirical links to other personality systems and must move beyond the dictionary to analyses of natural language speech and writing.
Personality‐descriptive nouns
Authors: De Raad Boele , Hoskens Machteld
Published: June 2007

In this article we describe the derivation of a taxonomy of personality descriptive nouns. We argue that, contrary to traditional statements, nouns deserve their own special place in the domain of personality language. The ultimate aim is to provide a sound basis for the development of a representative and efective instrument for registering judgements on personality. Study 1 describes the steps that were followed to arrive at a list of personality descriptive nouns. Fourteen subjects took part, with different numbers of subjects at the various stages of selecting the nouns. Seven hundred and fifty‐five nouns resulted from this study. Study 2 (N= 400) describes the determination of the internal structure of the domain of nouns through factor analysis of both self and partner ratings obtained from 200 Dutch‐speaking Belgian subjects and 200 Dutch subjects. By applying a method of rotation to perfectly congruent weights the noun structure turned out to be invariant under self and partner conditions and under the diferent groups of subjects. The results show the existence of a well‐delineated multidimensional noun structure comparable to that of adjectives and of verbs.
The person as co‐investigator in personality research
Authors: Hermans Hubert J. M. , Bonarius Han
Published: June 2007

In this paper, arguments are presented for considering the subject as co‐investigator in personality research. A review of current research methods suggests that personality psychology is well on its way to recognizing the individual as an expert on his or her own self and situation. This means that the subject should also be allowed to take a much more active role in psychological research. It is argued that the ideal methodology for accomplishing this integration of the individual into psychological research is to establish a dialogue between psychologist and subject, allowing each to contribute to the scientific process from his or her own perspective and on the basis of his or her own expertise. The present approach calls for greater emphasis on the organization and coherence of personality as a system, greater openness and sensitivity to the particular world of the individual, and an even more dynamic conception of individuality than is currently found in our field. An important implication of the open system approach advocated in this article, the reduced role of prediction in personality research, is discussed and, finally, a preliminary list of expected gains and losses is presented.
Static laws in a dynamic psychology?
Authors: Hermans Hubert J. M. , Bonarius Han
Published: June 2007

In reply to Lamiell's (1991) criticism, we argue that his notion of nomothesis reflects a Newtonian, mechanistic notion of lawfulness and that his otherwise justified attack on the individual differences paradigm is an overreaction to an era that is dominated by this paradigm.
Epistemic needs and learned helplessness
Authors: Mikulincer Mario , Yinon Abigail , Kabili Dorit
Published: June 2007

This study assesses the impact of non‐specific epistemic needs—the need for structure and the fear of invalidity—on expectancy of control and performance following unsolvable problems. Subjects answered a questionnaire tapping their non‐specific epistemic needs and were exposed to either no feedback or failure in unsolvable problems. Then their expectancies of control and performance were assessed. The results showed that a high need for structure was associated with a transfer of the expectancy of uncontrollability and worse performance following failure. The results are discussed in terms of Kruglanski's lay epistemic theory.
The Strelau Temperament Inventory—Revised (STI‐R): Validity studies
Authors: Ruch Willibald , Angleitner Alois , Strelau Jan
Published: June 2007

This study examines the construct validity of the revised version of the Strelau Temperament Inventory (STI‐R) and the short scale (STI‐RS), which were introduced by Strelau, Angleitner, Bantelmann and Ruch (1990). Hypotheses about the relationship between the content scales of the STI‐R, viz. Strength of Excitation (SE), Strength of Inhibition (SI), and Mobility (MO) of CNS properties, and (a) other personality/temperament dimensions referring to the level of arousal, (b) selected temperament inventories, and (c) selected personality scales are derived and tested in a total of four samples with altogether 420 Ss. The inventories investigated include, among others, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire—Revised (EPQ‐R), Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), the I.7 Impulsiveness Questionnaire (I.7), the Affect‐Intensity‐Measure (AIM), the EASI, the Structure of Temperament Questionnaire (STQ), and the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS‐R). In general, the hypotheses regarding the place of the STI‐R in the temperament and personality domain were confirmed. A factor analysis of the STI‐R, EASI, and DOTS‐R yielded five factors: Emotional Stability, Rhythmicity, Activity/Tempo, Sociability, and Impulsivity versus Impulse Control.
Are psychophysiological/psychophysical scores good candidates for diagnosing temperament/personality traits and for a demonstration of the construct validity of psychometrically measured traits?
Authors: Strelau Jan
Published: June 2007

The aim of this paper is to examine the use of psychophysiological and/or psychophysical measures employed as (a) tools aimed at diagnosing personality/temperament traits and (b) criteria for estimating the construct validity of personality/temperament inventories. The exploration is based on three diferent sources: (1) data collected mainly within the neo‐Pavlovian approach on CNS properties; (2) selected examples of studies in the domain of sensation‐seeking, neuroticism, and extraversion; and (3) theoretical considerations regarding the specificity of phenomena being measured by means of psychometric and psychophysiological/psychophysical scores. It is concluded that psychophysiological and psychophysical measures may be used for the assessment of personality/temperament traits or for estimating the construct validity of psychometric tools applied in personality (temperament) research under very strict requirements and limited circumstances only. In most of the studies conducted up to now, these circumstances and requirements have not been fulfilled.
Social desirability scales as moderator and suppressor variables
Authors: Borkenau Peter , Ostendorf Fritz
Published: June 2007

This study concerned the effectiveness of social desirability (SD) as a moderator or suppressor variable. Three SD scales were employed: the Edwards SDS, the Marlowe‐Crowne SDS, and a new scale that uses sets of four trait‐descriptive terms such that highly desirable responses are inconsistent at the descriptive level (e.g. firm, lenient, severe, and lax). Moreover, factor‐analytically derived measures of self‐deception and impression management were used. The 300 subjects were administered measures of the five major factors of personality. They were also judged by three peers on these dimensions. To examine moderator effects, the sample of 300 subjects was dichotomized at the median of the SD measures, and self‐peer correlations were calculated for each group separately. Saunders s moderated regression technique was also used. Partial correlations controlling for SD were computed to test for suppressor effects. Moderator effects were present only for Neuroticism, whereas no suppressor effects were found for any of the SD measures. It is argued that researchers and subjects may hold different perspectives on the meaning of responses to SD scales.
Personality and psychopathy of males with a history of early criminal behaviour
Authors: Klinteberg Britt Af , Hum Kristina , Schalling Daisy
Published: June 2007

Data from three personality inventories—the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) including an Impulsivity scale from the IVE inventory, a short version of two Chapman scales, and the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP)—were studied for a group of 199 male subjects (age range 32–40 years) subdivided ( 1 ) according to the level of Psychopathy Check List (PCL) scores at adult age and (2) according to criminal activity during the age period of 11–14 years. Intelligence scores from the age of 11–14 and ratings of mental health, both from age 11–14 and from adult life, were examined in relation to the PCL and early criminal groupings, respectively. Furthermore, a dimensional description of the PCL was performed on the total sample. Subjects with high PCL scores formed a risk group for developing ‘disinhibitory psychopathology’. They manifested a personality pattern of markedly high impulsivity, monotony avoidance, and psychoticism, and low socialization in combination with high proneness to somatic anxiety. A significant quadratic trend was found for PCL group on the IVE Impulsiveness scale. The early ‘high criminal’ and early ‘low criminal’ groups had significantly lower socialization scores and higher PCL impulsivity item scores than the control group indicating ‘vulnerability’ for developing psychosocial disorders. Furthermore, the early ‘high criminal’ group displayed higher scores on the three PCL factors obtained, denoted ‘Sensation seeking and impulsivity’, ‘Callousness/lack of deep emotions’, and ‘Narcissistic appearance/manipulative’. The results are discussed in terms of usefulness of a classification according to PCL scores, as compared with early criminal activity, when focusing on risk subjects for disinhibitory tendencies.
The development of general competence and domain‐specific competencies
Authors: van Aken Marcel A. G.
Published: June 2007

The development of competence was studied in a longitudinal sample of 98 children, with measurement points when the children were 7, 10, and 12 years old. Competence was defined in terms of adequate adaptation to developmental tasks, both on a general and on a domain‐specijic level. The general form of competence was measured by ego‐resiliency, reflecting fexibility and ability to solve developmental problems Domain‐specific competencies were measured by school achievement and social preference. The results showed that ego‐resiliency was related to the two domain‐specific competencies, although the hypothesized causal direction from general competence to specific competencies was not supported. Both domain‐specific competencies were found to have a feedback effect on ego‐resiliency. This feedback effect was stronger for social preference. These results suggest a transactional relationship between general and domain‐specific competencies, and point to the importance of domain‐specific competencies (especially social preference by the peer group) in the development of general competence in the child.
Coping with coping assessment: A critical review
Authors: Parker James D. A. , Endler Norman S.
Published: June 2007

The recent literature on self‐report measures of coping reactions and strategies is reviewed and critically evaluated. Most of the coping research has focused on assessing several basic coping behaviours or reactions. These include dimensions such as task‐oriented coping, emotion‐oriented coping, and avoidance‐oriented coping. In general, most of the coping scales that have been developed have a variety of psychometric inadequacies. This state of affairs has created at least two major problems in the coping literature: (1) The proliferation of problematic coping scales, sometimes measuring different constructs, makes it difficult to generalize from one population and/or one health problem to another. (2) Since psychometrically sound instruments are a precondition for studying the relationships among coping, personality, and health, scales with psychometric problems preclude obtaining valid and generalizable information about coping behaviour. Methodological problems in the area have seriously restricted the development of a systematic body of theory and empirical knowledge about coping.
Reflections on the recent history and the present challenges of personality psychology
Authors: Caprara Gian Vittorio
Published: June 2007

The recent history of personality psychology is rapidly reviewed with the aim of indicating significant cues of the progress which has taken place and of the problems which are still pending. In this regard, a three‐stage model of progress provides the arguments which introduce personality psychology into the domain of ‘complexity’. Readmission of individual differences in the investigation of basic processes, attention to marginal perturbances in between non‐significant deviations, and use of circumplex models to make sense of multiple facets of phenomena are indicated as viable avenues to the complexity of personality psychology.
Confidence in expectations: A test of the triangle hypothesis
Authors: van Lange Paul A. M.
Published: June 2007

Kelley and Stahelski's (1970) triangle hypothesis states that competitors hold homogeneous views of others by assuming that most others are competitive, whereas cooperators or pro‐social people hold more heterogeneous views by assuming that others are either cooperative or competitive. To evaluate the triangle hypothesis, this study examines differences between pro‐socials, individualists, and competitors not only in their expectations about others' choice behaviour, but also in the confidence with which such expectations are held. It was found that pro‐social subjects expected more cooperation than individualists and competitors. More importantly, as predicted on the basis of the triangle hypothesis, pro‐socials were less confident about their expectations than competitors, with individualists holding intermediate levels of confidence.
Openness versus intellect: Much ado about nothing?
Authors: Saucier Gerard
Published: June 2007

McCrae (1990) has argued that Openness to Experience is a fundamental dimension of personality that is not well represented among English‐language trait adjectives. Presumably, then, studies of personality adjectives will inevitably fail to capture at least one fundamental personality dimension. I argue that the language does contain many adjectives referring to Openness, and that recent studies of the language of personality reveal a large factor clearly related to both Openness and Intellect. These studies support both the Openness construct and the questionnaire version of the five basic factors. Lexical and questionnaire methods appear to converge on a single structural framework for basic personality traits.
Children's need for approval and achievement motivation: An interactional approach
Authors: Lobel Thalma E. , Bempechat Janine
Published: June 2007

This study examined the effects of children's need for approval (nApp) and a situational variable‐frequency of expectancy statements‐on children's achievement cognitions and behaviour. We replicated the Dweck and Gilliard (1975) paradigm, but also mea sured children's nApp. Ninety fifth grade boys and girls stated expectancies either prior to each trial, prior to the first and last trials, or prior to the last trial only. We found that although high and low nApp children lowered their expectancies after failure, high nApp children lowered them less than low nApp children. In contrast, persistence was influenced only by the frequency of expectancy statements and not by children's nApp. The results are discussed in the context of the interactional point of view in personality psychology.
Impulsivity in the eye of the beholder: an analysis of teachers' concepts of impulsive and reflective behaviour
Authors: Visser Mechteld R. M. , Das‐Smaal Edith A. , Feij Jan A.
Published: June 2007

The aim of this research was to investigate teachers' perception of the concept of impulsivity and its relation to the concept of reflectivity. Teacher rating scales for both concepts were constructed by means of the prototype method (Study 1). It appeared that impulsivity refers to social behaviour, whereas reflectivity is more cognitive in character. A Principal Components Analysis (Study 2) showed that the item pools for impulsive and reflective behaviour account for separate components. It is concluded that impulsivity and reflectivity as perceived by teachers are not two extremes of one dimension, but refer to different behavioural domains: social and cognitive.
The 3DPT dimensions S, E, and N: A critical evaluation of Eysenck's Psychoticism model
Authors: Van Kampen Dick
Published: June 2007

In this article a critical evaluation is given of Eysenck's Psychoticism model. It is argued that in this model two sub‐models can be distinguished, which, contrary to Eysenck's presentation, cannot be regarded as true extensions of each other. With respect to one of these models, the ‚genotypic’︁ P‐model, the theory is criticized in that both schizophrenia and affective psychosis are determined by a common genetic predisposition which can phenotypically manifest itself in variations of P. Instead of this theory, the likelihood is put forward that a high EPQ‐P score, albeit in combination with a high N and a low E score (and notwithstanding the fact that criminals or psychopaths can also obtain high P scores), is (only) related to the schizoid state, and hence, that P seems to be relevant either as a predisposing factor contributing to the development of schizophrenic psychosis, or as a factor on which biological relatives of schizophrenics obtain higher scores on average than normals do. In this respect, Eysenck's theory that the non‐schizoid form of psychopathy can also be found among first‐degree relatives of schizophrenics, and hence, that psychopathy and schizoidia are genetically related, is also criticized. Furthermore, it is argued that Eysenck's EPQ‐P scale is not optimal for measuring those traits of the schizoid personality which are independent of N and/or E. Both arguments regarding the contents of this scale and arguments with respect to the demonstrated lack of invariance of the EPQ‐P factor are adduced to support this statement. Thus, an alternative scale for measuring ‚P’︁ (labelled S or Insensitivity) was designed by us. The S‐scale is based on literature concerning the schizoid state and reflects the results of a series of principal components analyses of (potential) S items, together with N and E items, put into execution with the intention of investigating the invariance of the S factor (and of E and N) with respect to six sample and other parameters. These investigations were carried out on a large, representative sample of the Dutch population. Additional investigations were carried out concerning the reliability and validity of the three newly formed scales. The results of these investigations turned out to be very satisfactory or, in some respects, at least promising. Finally, in this article, comments are made on the nature of the S factor, comparing this dimension with both Eysenck's P factor and the dimensions Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, as proposed, for instance, in McCrae and Costa's version of Nor‐man's 5‐factor model. As against P, the S or Insensitivity factor seems to be only (negatively) related to Agreeableness and not to Conscientiousness. It is also argued that this finding seems to be in accord with the supposed schizoid nature of S and the criticisms levelled at Eysenck's EPQ‐P scale.
Personal and environmental factors contributing to parenting stress among employed and nonemployed women
Authors: Forgays Deborah Kirby , Forgays Donald G.
Published: June 2007

Over the past 20 years, significantly more women have returned to the workforce after the birth of their child. Despite gains made by the second women's movement and attendant socio‐political changes, women continue to bear the major parenting responsibilities in addition to household chores. Does this additional role of workforce member result in a more highly stressed mother? This study recruited 120 mothers of infants and toddlers from a range of occupations who provided information on their adjustment to parenting as well as individual difference factors such as maternal self‐confidence, somatic complaints, and Type A behaviour. The results suggest that the level of parenting stress is not related to employment status alone. However, the factors contributing to reported parenting stress do vary by employment status. These results highlight the need to examine the interaction of personal and environmental dimensions when studying this complex area.
Psychological correlates of the three variables in the Strelau Temperament Inventory
Authors: Kreitler Shulamith , Kreitler Hans , Weissler Kineret
Published: June 2007

Most of the validational studies concerning the Strelau Temperament Inventory (STI) have focused on the Strength of Excitation scale and on a limited number of domains. This study was designed to examine the STI validity in new domains or with new tools, emphasizing the contribution of each of the three STI scales. We focused on health orientation and behaviour, stress susceptibility, emotional reactions, life events, and personal problems. The subjects were 91 healthy adults of both genders. Also information about smoking (health behaviour), white blood cell count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (physiological stress measures) was available. Regression and discriminant analyses showed that the STI scales were related neither to smoking nor to the Cognitive Orientation of Health but only to three of its components. Furthermore, the STI scales were related to the verbal but not to the physiological stress measures; and to the negative emotions but hardly to the positive ones. Finally, they were related to measures of life events and personal problems. The relations were mostly modest but broadened the validational basis of the STI, indicating that, although all three scales have to be considered, each has a unique contribution.
Cognitive strategies in coping with expedition stress
Authors: Watts Fraser N. , Webster Shernaaz M. , Morley Colin J. , Cohen John
Published: June 2007

Expeditions provide a valuable opportunity for studying processes of coping with a stressful situation. An expedition to India organized by the British Schools Exploring Society has already been reported as being accompanied by positive changes on self‐report personality scales. This paper is concerned with detailed cognitive coping measures completed throughout the 6 weeks of the expedition. It needs to be noted that the results relate to young adults and to those who provided detailed coping information; the generalizability of the result is a matter for future research. The expedition presented a mixture of physical and social stresses. Men enjoyed the physical experience more than women, but women enjoyed the social experience more than men. There was generally greater reliance on personal resources than on social support in coping with stress. This was particularly true for men in coping with physical stress and women in coping with social stress. In general, the physical stresses had been better anticipated than the social ones. Positive reformulations were much more widely used as coping strategies than avoidance/resignation strategies, especially so for physical stresses. However, use of avoidance/resignation strategies was the better predictor of outcome, with those who used them being least likely to show positive personality change as a result of the expedition. The results are related to current research on stress and coping.
Factors in teachers' ratings of schoolchildren: Heymans' data reconstructed by modern standards
Authors: Doddema‐Winsemius Mien , De Raad Boele
Published: June 2007

In this article we re‐analyse the data that Heymans and Wiersma collected on pupils from secondary schools, about 80 years ago. The main interest is in the structure of the adolescence data set in terms of modern standards and understood against the background of recent findings. More specifically, one question is whether the Heymans data can be understood in terms of the framework of the Big Five structure of personality traits. To that end, principal components analysis and multiple group analysis were performed. The general conclusion from these analyses is that the adolescence data are best described by a two‐dimensional structure. Another more specific research question is to what extent Heymans' own three dimensions can be detected in the data set. With emphasis on a small number of criterion items, used by Heymans to identify the three dimensions, a three‐factor solution was inspected for this purpose. The conclusion from this analysis is that the three Heymans dimensions cannot unequivocally be identified in the adolescence data set.