Alan S. Dewolfe

Neuropsychological patterns in uremia.

Administered the Halstead-Reitan Battery (HRB) of neuropsychological tests to 24 patients with advanced renal failure, 24 patients with neurological disorders, and 24 patients with medical and/or non-psychotic psychiatric conditions in order to assess the effects of uremic encephalopathy on human neuropsychological functioning. The groups did not differ significantly in age, education, verbal intelligence, or level of affective disturbance. Results indicated that the uremic and neurological groups were equal in overall level of neuropsychological impairment and that both were significantly more impaired than the medical-psychiatric group. However, the uremic group showed a pattern of deficits that was qualitatively different from both the neurological and medical-psychiatric groups. Results were discussed with reference to selective cortical dysfunctions in uremia and contrasted with earlier studies that did not consider differential sparing of abilities in renal patients.

Wechsler Performance IQ > Verbal IQ Index in a Forensic Sample: A Reconsideration.

Explored the relationships of the Performance IQ (PIQ) greater than Verbal IQ (VIQ) to type of crime, ethnicity, and reading disability in a corrections sample of 70 adult males incarcerated on felony charges. The PIQ greater than VIQ sign was not related to Full Scale IQ or to violent vs. nonviolent crime, per se. The PIQ greater than VIQ sign showed a trend toward association with Ethnicity (black vs. white) and was related significantly to reading disability, with the reading disabled inmates more likely to show the sign, and to type of crime, with perpetrators of sex crimes most likely (87%) to show the sign and those incarcerated for murder or attempted murder least likely (33%) to show it. The difference in the proportion of inmates who showed the sign in these two classes of violent crimes (murder and sex crimes) was significant, and further analysis showed that with murder excluded, PIQ greater than VIQ occurred significantly more frequently in those accused of violent crimes than for nonviolent crimes. The latter findings suggested that differences between studies in the relationship of PIQ greater than VIQ and violence may be the result of differences in the proportion of murderers in the violent samples. Additional analyses indicated that the significant relationships between PIQ greater than VIQ and both type of crime and reading disability were most likely independent of ethnicity and each other. Language: en

Psychological Distress among Mexican-American and Mexican Women as Related to Status on the New Immigration Law.

Psychological distress in relation to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was examined among 90 Mexican-American and Mexican women divided into three groups (n = 30 each): undocumented immigrants who did not qualify for amnesty, undocumented immigrants who qualified for amnesty, and legal residents of the United States of Mexican descent. Results indicate that the undocumented immigrants who did not qualify for amnesty obtained significantly higher scores on hostility. Contrary to prediction, undocumented immigrants who qualified for amnesty obtained lower scores in anxiety (a statistical trend) than did the other two groups. No differences in global psychological distress were found between the undocumented immigrants and the legal residents.

Future time perspective in alcoholics, process and reactive schizophrenics, and normals

Future time perspective was investigated in alcoholics, process and reactive schizophrenics, and hospitalized medical patients. The four groups, of 24 subjects each, were compared on measures of future extension, coherence, density, and directionality based on Kastenbaums model of future time perspective. Process and reactive schizophrenics differed only in future coherence, with reactives significantly more coherent. Both alcoholics and normals showed significantly greater future extension (on one of two extension measures) than both groups of schizophrenics. Future coherence for alcoholics and normals was significantly greater than for process schizophrenics but not greater than for reactives. Alcoholics had significantly greater future density than schizophrenics and normals. Alcoholics showed significantly greater future coherence than normals. The greater future density and coherence for alcoholics than normals appeared to be due to sampling and situational differences. These results suggested that future time perspective deficits are temporary for alcoholics and that long-range treatment goals can be appropriate for them.

Diagnostic accuracy of the Millon test computer reports for bipolar affective disorder

The diagnostic accuracy of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) computer reports was assessed for the sample of 48 patients reliably identified as having bipolar affective disorder. Only 13 of the 48 reports were accurate in classifying the patients as having bipolar affective disorder, and this was significantly (p < .01) less than 50% of the cases. The diagnostic accuracy clearly left much to be desired. Additional research is needed to assess the validity of MCMI diagnostic suggestions for other patient groups.

Urban Decline or Disinvestment: Uneven Development, Redlining and the Role of the Insurance Industry

The insurance redlining debate poses challenging policy issues for public officials and theoretical concerns for urban sociologists. Using disclosure laws recently enacted in a few states, researchers can now begin examining the underwriting practices of insurers by neighborhoods in selected cities. In this initial exploratory study, we review the controversy and some pertinent general conditions in the property casualty insurance industry. Then we examine the activity of property insurers in Chicago. We find that residents of neighborhoods having a high concentration of minority or low income families, or older homes, are experiencing difficulty in obtaining insurance, and for reasons that cannot be explained by those factors accounting for most insurance company losses, i.e., incidence of fire and of theft. These findings suggest—as its critics have charged and the insurance industry has generally denied—that redlining of many urban communities and discrimination against the poor and minorities are facts of insurance life, and contribute to the deterioration of those communities. We offer some policy recommendations for eliminating redlining and for stimulating reinvestment in urban neighborhoods. We also suggest that future research on issues pertaining to the uneven development of metropolitan areas will be more informative if based on the structural/disinvestment approach than on the individualistic/natural evolutionary one which has long dominated the study of urban sociology.

AUDIOMETRIC CONFIGURATION IN PATIENTS BEING TREATED FOR ALCOHOLISM

The auditory acuity of 52 alcoholic subjects showed a consistent bilateral high frequency loss. Presence of this loss was found to be related to drinking time, but independent of age, suggesting a definite relationship between length of heavy drinking time and loss of auditory acuity in the high frequencies.

Role of Method of Stimulus Presentation in Research on Recognition of Facial Affect

Previous research regarding recognition of facial affect and personality variables has produced apparently contradictory findings. One reason for these inconsistencies may be varieties of experimental methods employed by different researchers. To investigate this possibility, the relation between three personality variables, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism, and accuracy in recognition of facial affect was examined with three methods of stimulus presentation: slide presentation, photographic display, and tachistoscopic administration. The nontachistoscopic methods correlated moderately and positively. Extraversion correlated positively with the ability to recognize facial expression with the nontachistoscopic methods. Psychoticism correlated negatively with correct affect recognition, although only for tachistoscopic presentation. Neuroticism did not correlate with recognition of facial affect using any of the methods. Possible explanations and limitations are discussed.

Planning Abilities in Alcoholics, Process and Reactive Schizophrenics, and Normals

This study investigated planning abilities in alcoholics, process and reactive schizophrenics, and normals. Significant differences among the groups were found on all three planning tasks. Normals and alcoholics showed significantly greater planning ability on the picture arrangement task than the process schizophrenics. On the maze task, normals attained significantly higher scores than the process schizophrenics. On a task in which subjects predicted future effects from a present-day trend, alcoholics showed significantly greater planning ability than normals and process schizophrenics. Reactive schizophrenics did not differ significantly from any of the other groups on any task. The greater planning ability of the alcoholics in comparison with the normals on one of the tasks may be due to sampling and situational differences. The results suggest that deficits in planning abilities are temporary for alcoholics.

Level of self-actualization among process and reactive schizophrenics, alcoholics, and normals: a construct validity study of the Personal Orientation Inventory

To extend its validity, the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was administered to hospitalized patients including 24 classified as Process Schizophrenics, 24 as Reactive Schizophrenics, 22 as Alcoholics, and 24 as Normals (medical patients). Considerable support was found for the predicted order from most to least self-actualized of Normal, Alcoholic, Reactive Schizophrenic, and Process Schizophrenic. Significantly consistent patterns and frequently significant differences on individual measures were found when Normals and Alcoholics were compared with Process and Reactive Schizophrenics. A significantly consistent pattern of higher scores for Reactives than for Process Schizophrenics was found but only one significant difference in subscales occurred. Smaller differences were found among the Schizophrenics than between them and the nonpsychotic groups. No significant differences were found between the Alcoholic and Normal groups. Findings were interpreted as generally supporting the construct validity of the POI.