H. Katherine O'Neill

Alcohol expectancies and social deficits relating to problem drinking among college students.

Standardized questionnaires were administered to 116 male and female undergraduates to examine how social deficits and alcohol expectancies relate to alcohol use. Participants were classified as either problem or nonproblem drinkers based on the Rutgers Collegiate Substance Abuse Screening Test. Problem drinkers reported experiencing social anxiety, shyness, and lower self-esteem to a greater extent than nonproblem drinkers. Problem drinkers also held more positive alcohol expectancies than nonproblem drinkers. Contrary to our hypotheses, however, particular types of alcohol expectancies did not interact with specific areas of social functioning to influence problem drinking. Overall, these findings suggest that problem drinkers have positive expectations about the immediate effects of alcohol consumption even though drinking is linked to long-term impairment in social functioning.

Programming social support for smoking modification: An extention and replication☆

In an extension and replication of previous work on social support in worksite smoking programs, 29 employees were assigned to either a basic smoking control program or to a basic treatment plus significant other support condition. Within a multiple baseline across behaviors design, all subjects received a 6 week treatment program that focused on achieving sequential reductions in nicotine content of brand smoked, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and percent of the cigarette smoked. Both treatment conditions were equally successful in producing abstinence (verified by biochemical analyses) and in producing reductions in smoking behavior among nonabstinent subjects at both posttest and 6-month follow-up assessments. In contrast to previous research with this program, there was considerable relapse in both conditions by follow-up. Consistent with previous findings, supportive social interactions were not related to treatment outcome, but the level of negative (nonsupportive) social interactions was inversely correlated with treatment success. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Do nonclinical checkers exhibit deficits in cognitive control? Tests of an inhibitory control hypothesis.

We tested the hypothesis that persons who engage in compulsive checking may do so to compensate for cognitive errors produced by deficient inhibitory control. In two experiments, undergraduates were classified by scores on the MOCI checking subscale as checkers or noncheckers. On self-report measures, checkers were significantly more depressed, more anxious, more prone to cognitive slips, and more likely to engage in obsessive-compulsive behaviors. However, checkers performed similarly to noncheckers on laboratory tests of inhibitory control of cognition. Checkers and noncheckers were equally able to (1) ignore distractors in a selective attention task, (2) suppress inappropriate word meanings in a sentence comprehension task, and (3) inhibit retrieval of to-be-forgotten items in a memory task. These results suggest that compulsive checking does not arise from failures of inhibitory control of cognition.

Psychological distress during the Red River flood: Predictive utility of the Conservation of Resources model

This study examined the predictive utility of the Conservation of Resources (COR) model (Hobfoll, 1989) in an impending natural disaster. The COR model proposes that threatened or actual loss of valued resources leads to psychological distress. This study tested the hypothesis that threatened resource loss would predict distress during the early stages of a natural disaster, the Red River flood of 1997. Faculty and staff of a Midwestern university were surveyed. The questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics, perceived threat to safety and risk of being impacted by the flood, threatened loss of resources, and distress (i.e., negative mood, stress-related physical symptoms, and psychological symptoms). A total of 377 university employees completed the survey (response rate = 22%). Hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to test the relative power of demographics, potential disaster impact, and threatened resource loss in predicting distress. Across three measures of distress, demographic characteristics and disaster exposure explained a small but significant proportion of the variance (R2s = .06 to .16). Adding resource loss to the equations significantly increased the prediction of distress (R2 change = .18, .25, and .31, for physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, and negative mood, respectively). Thus, potential loss of valued resources was a useful predictor of distress for persons living in a community threatened by an impending natural disaster. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Fear, disgust, and fainting in blood–injection–injury fears: a multi-method approach

Abstract The present study investigates the relations between fear, disgust, and fainting symptoms in blood–injection–injury (BII) fears. Participants classified as BII fearful (BII) and non-BII fearful (NF) were exposed to fear relevant (body mutilation) and irrelevant (spider, contaminated food) pictorial stimuli. The participants were also presented with in vivo fear relevant (mutilation) and fear irrelevant (spider, contaminated food) stimuli. Results indicated that BII individuals reported more fear, disgust, and fainting symptoms toward fear relevant and fear irrelevant pictorial and in vivo stimuli compared with NF individuals. Fear and disgust responding on the pictorial task for mutilation stimuli did not predict fainting symptoms in the BII cohort. However, fear responses to the in vivo mutilation stimulus significantly predicted fainting symptoms when controlling for disgust, whereas disgust responding to the in vivo mutilation item did not significantly predict fainting symptoms when controlling for fear. Physiological assessment failed to consistently differentiate the BII group from the NF group. Theoretical implications of these findings for the role of fear and disgust in BII fear are discussed.

Disaster averted: Community resilience in the face of a catastrophic flood

ABSTRACT In the spring of 2009, the Fargo, North Dakota, metropolitan area had 5 days to lay millions of sandbags to avoid devastation from record flooding of the Red River of the North. The community was able to successfully mitigate the flooding and escape potentially catastrophic economic, physical, and mental health consequences. We hypothesized that Fargo flood protection efforts reflected the community resilience factors proposed by Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, et al. (2008): citizen involvement in mitigation efforts, effective organizational linkages, ongoing psychosocial support, and strong civic leadership in the face of rapidly changing circumstances. This community case report utilizes an extensive review of available sources, including news reports, government documents, research articles, and personal communication. Results demonstrate that Fargos response to the threat of catastrophic flooding was consistent with Norris et al.s (2008) factors of community resilience. Furthermore, success in 2009 carried over into future flood prevention and response efforts, as well as a structured approach to building psychological resilience. This case study contributes to the literature on community resilience by describing a communitys successful efforts to avert a potentially catastrophic disaster.