Charles F. Kaiser

Hurricane Georges: A Cross-National Study Examining Preparedness, Resource Loss, and Psychological Distress in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the United States

This cross-national study examined preparation for and psychological functioning following Hurricane Georges in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the United States. Four to five weeks after the storm made landfall, 697 college students (222 men, 476 women) completed a questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics, preparation, social support, resource loss, and symptoms associated with acute stress disorder. Location, resource loss (especially personal characteristic resources) and social support accounted for a significant portion of psychological distress variance. The findings support the conservation of resources stress theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 1998). Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Predictors of Loneliness in the Gifted Adolescent.

Gifted adolescents reported degree of loneliness to be a function of anger, depression, and stressful life changes. Furthermore, the most salient aspects of depression for predicting loneliness were helplessness, social introversion, and low self-esteem. The relationship between loneliness and depression suggests further evidence of a possible success depression in certain gifted adolescents. The results help to clarify the complex relationship between loneliness and other dysphoric states in these youths.

Depression and Self-Actualization in Gifted Adolescents.

Administered the Multiscore Depression Inventory and the Personal Orientation Inventory to 248 academically gifted adolescents drawn from across the state of South Carolina to participate in a select program. Low but significant correlations were noted among several of the scales. Factor analysis of the scales of both instruments resulted in five factors for females and six for males. In both samples the first two factors accounted for more than half the variance. Gifted students who were not self-actualizing types were more depressed, and their pattern of scores revealed that guilt, low self-esteem, learned helplessness, and cognitive difficulty were important symptoms. The gifted adolescents, on the whole, tended to be more socially introverted.

Hurricane Andrew: Psychological distress among shelter victims

This study examined psychological distress and functioning among Hurricane Andrew victims who lost their homes and were living in shelters. Four and one-half weeks after Hurricane Andrew struck southern Florida, 89 (45 males, 44 females) Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire asked for information about psychological and psychophysiological symptoms, use of mental health services, coping responses, and extent of preparation for the storm. The findings suggest that loss of home and property were related to distress and depression. About one-quarter of the sample were moderately depressed. Over one-third of the sample reported experiencing psychological and psychophysiological distress. Approximately one-half of the subjects did not take the hurricane warnings seriously. White subjects began preparing earlier for the storm, and evacuated their homes more frequently than did Black subjects. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Attributional Styles for Helplessness and Depression: The Importance of Sex and Situational Context

Differences between the sexes in attributions for positive and negative outcomes in either affiliative or achievement situations were examined using the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Separate regression analyses for each sex related the ASQ to a measure of helplessness and the Beck Depression Inventory. No differences were noted for attributions to internality or stability; however, females attributed more global causality to positive outcome affiliative situations and negative outcome achievement situations. Regression analyses failed to support the helplessness attributional model of depression. No ratings on the ASQ predicted depression for males; furthermore, for females, only the internal/external dimension was relevant, moderated by both outcome and type of situation. Sex differences were discussed in light of the higher incidence of depression among females.

Self-reported depression profiles in chronic pain and family practice patients.

This study examined profiles of self-reported depressive symptoms in chronic pain patients (n - 51), family practice outpatients (n - 52), and controls (n - 53) who were receiving neither psychological nor medical treatment and were pain free. Subjects in the three groups were matched for age and sex. The short form of the Multiscore Depression Inventory (SMDI) was used. Chronic pain and family practice groups had similar SMDI profiles, with significant elevations on Low Energy. Pessimism. Sad Mood, and Low Self-Esteem subscales compared with controls. Although both groups of medical patients were depressed compared with control subjects, their SMDI profiles were different from those previously reported for psychiatric inpatients with a diagnosis of depression.

An Exploration of Some Reliability Results for the Multiscore Depression Inventory

Data from the Multiscore Depression Inventory and its 10 subscales were analyzed for test-retest and Kuder-Richardson reliabilities. The test-retest indicated that the generally adequate reliabilities obtained for the scales on the Charleston sample were comparable to those obtained in Chicago. The .71 reliability of the instrumental helplessness subscale, however, was substantially better than that in the previous study, indicating that it may yet be useful as a measure of a relatively stable rather than a transient construct. The Kuder-Richardson reliabilities increased for nine of the subscales at retest, a result which led to a post hoc analysis implicating both mortality and effects of repeated testing, e.g., memory, consistency motivation, as possible causes of increased consistency.