Browsing by Subject "Behavioral assessment"
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Item A longitudinal idiographic investigation of the relationship of self-schema to depressive and anxious symptoms(Texas Tech University, 1999-12) LaBrie, David WalterNomothetic approaches have identified the variables and the relationships of variables for diatheses-stressor models of anxiety and depression. The strength of findings is somewhat unclear, and meaning has potentially been clouded by methodological problems (Coyne & Whiffen, 1995; L. A. Clark, Watson & Mineka, 1994). At the individual level, detailed understanding of the interactions of processes resulting in depressive or anxious symptoms remains relatively unexamined. The present study employed a series of single-subject designs to clarify the relationship between schema activation, negative cognitions, and behaviors and symptoms, while accounting for the effects of coping. Results suggest facets of the tripartite model (L. A. Clark and Watson, 1991) may be repHcated at the level of the individual. Idiographic symptom items were often associated with tripartite model factors; however, these items also loaded on unique factors in addition to the factors of the tripartite model. P-technique factor analysis of coping strategies suggested similarity across individuals' patterns of coping. In all participants, limhed concurrent and/or lagged relationships between symptoms and coping strategies and schema activation were detected. Additionally, associations of symptom severity at various lags with symptom severity at lag zero were detected in three participants.Item Behavioral reciprocity in marriage: a study of within-day similarity in affection and negativity(2002) Smith, Shanna Elise; Huston, Ted L.The current study uses behavioral data gathered from marital partners across a sample of days to estimate the extent of each couple’s reciprocity in both affectionate and negative behavior, as measured via an index of within-day similarity. Analyses explore the extent of within-day similarity in both positive and negative behavior for a sample of married couples, describe the degree to which within-day similarity changes over the first two years of marriage, and investigate how those patterns relate to both concurrent and long-term marital satisfaction and stability. Results indicate that within-day similarity in neither affection nor negativity is a strong predictor of concurrent satisfaction or long-term marital quality or stability. Furthermore, neither class of within-day similarity systematically increases or decreases over the first two years of marriage (neither across the entire sample of couples nor within specific long-term marital outcome groups). Some marginal effects for within-day similarity on marital satisfaction, however, indicate that: (1) affectionate within-day similarity tends to have little or no positive relationship with marital satisfaction across the first several years of marriage, but gains an inverse relationship with marital satisfaction after thirteen years of marriage; and (2) within-day similarity in negativity has a direct but weak relationship with marital satisfaction for wives who have been married for two years. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of assessing marital reciprocity using a variety of temporal frames.Item Cognitive-existential characteristics and their relationship to suicide ideation in college students and the elderly(Texas Tech University, 1990-12) Vannice, Jeff LEfforts to prevent suicidal behavior might be enhanced by performing research that focuses on increasing the understanding of suicidal ideation. This study sought to predict suicide ideation from, and to establish its relationship with, various cognitive factors that might comprise a "cognitive profile" of suicide ideation. Subjects consisted of 340 college students and 42 elderly persons--two groups that have been identified as sharing a high risk for suicide. Both samples completed a questionnaire assessing suicide acceptance, religiosity, and degree of suicide ideation. In addition, subjects completed the Purpose in Life Test, the Reasons for Living Inventory, the Rational Behavior Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Edwards Social Desirability Scale (SD). Analyses using the elderly data were limited by low sample size. Results indicated that college students were able to significantly distinguish between the frequency and seriousness of their suicidal ideation and among lifetime, past year, and past month time-frames, but not when SD was controlled. The college students were more accepting of suicide, less religious, had less purpose in life, endorsed fewer rational beliefs, and were more lonely than the elderly. Many of these differences became nonsignificant, however, when SD (on which the elderly scored significantly higher than the college students) was controlled. Among college students, the linear combination of purpose in life, suicide acceptance, survival and coping beliefs, and the fear of suicide accounted for 28H of the variance in a "general frequency" (OF) measure of suicide ideation when SD was controlled, and these cognitive variables predicted 43% of the variance in GF when covariation with SD was not controlled. Also among college students, suicide ideation was directly related to suicide acceptance, fear of suicide, and loneliness, and it was inversely related to purpose in life, survival and coping beliefs, responsibility to family, child-related concerns, and to overall reasons for living. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are discussed.Item Effects of preobservational information on adaptive behavior ratings of a mentally retarded child(Texas Tech University, 1983-12) Terraciano, Thomas LPreobservational bias is a phenomenon whereby factors present prior to an observation incline an observer to have preconceived notions about what is to be observed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the magnitude and direction that preobservational information and different job assignments affected observers' ratings of a young mentally retarded boy viewed on a videotape. Prior to a five-minute videotape observation session the subjects were given a description of a mentally retarded boy. Different treatment groups received information about the boy's behavior. This information varied for each treatment group and was either positive [favorable), neutral, or negative (unfavorable) in content. At the conclusion of the observation the subjects rated the child's eating skills using a modified version of the Balthazar Scales of Adaptive Behavior. Subjects also responded to various adjective descriptors about the boy on a 12 item semantic differential scale. No statistically significant differences were noted on the dependent variable, adaptive behavior rating, for either of the independent variables, valence of preooservationa1 information or job assignment. Significant differences between treatment conditions were noted when semantic differential items were analyzed. Significant differences between subjects in the neutral and positive and neutral and negative information groups were noted, as subjects receiving neutral information tended to rate the child more favorably on a factor reflecting evaluative judgments about some of the chill's personality characteristics- On a factor rating the child's potency [i.e., strength or health) subjects who worked with lower-functioning clients and who received negative preobservational reports about the child rated him the highest. A suspected "sympathy effect" was hypothesized for this finling.