Hope R. Conte

Measuring Death Anxiety: Conceptual, Psychometric, and Factor-Analytic Aspects

This study was undertaken to construct a brief, reliable, and valid questionnaire for measuring attitudes toward death and dying. In Stage 1, four groups of individuals ranging in age from 30 to 82 years completed the Death Anxiety Questionnaire (DAQ), a brief anxiety scale (MAS), and a depression scale (DP). During Stage 2, results on these scales were cross-validated on a new sample of subjects, and the Templer and Dickstein measures of death anxiety were also completed. Internal consistency of the DAQ as determined by coefficient alpha was .83 (n = 230) and test-retest reliability was .87 (n = 30). No significant sex or age differences were found for any of the groups tested. Results provided evidence for both construct and concurrent validity of the DAQ and for discriminant validity of the items. A principal-components factor analysis suggested four independent dimensions of death anxiety: Fear of the Unknown; Fear of Suffering; Fear of Loneliness; and Fear of Personal Extinction. Recommendations for future research include an investigation of the degree to which scores on these four dimensions might differentiate among different sex, age, personality, affective, and diagnostic groupings.

Suicidal behavior in latency-age children: an empirical study.

Abstract Fifty-eight children, ages 6 to 12 years, consecutively admitted to a psychiatric hospital unit were evaluated for suicide potential. A battery of specially constructed scales was utilized to assess variables that might be correlated with suicide potential. Some degree of suicidal risk was found in 72% of the children. Factors significantly correlating with suicidal behavior were depression, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, the wish to die, preoccupations with death, the concept that death is temporary and pleasant, and severe depression and suicidal behavior in the parents.

Correlates of suicide and violence risk: III. A two-stage model of countervailing forces

Questionnaires and self-report scales were administered to 100 psychiatric inpatients. The scales measured such variables as depression, hopelessness, impulsivity, mental and life problems, family violence, personality characteristics, and dyscontrol tendencies. These were correlated with indices of suicide risk and violence risk. Most variables were found to correlate significantly with both suicide and violence risk. Partial correlation analyses revealed that 10 variables correlated significantly with suicide risk but not violence risk, while four variables correlated significantly with violence risk but not suicide risk. A two-stage model of countervailing forces, incorporating concepts from both psychoanalysis and ethology, is presented as a way of interpreting the results.

Correlates of suicide and violence risk 1: The suicide risk measure

A measure of suicide risk was developed using items reported to discriminate suicidal patients from controls in various studies. The new self-report scale was administered to 82 outpatients, 157 inpatients, and 83 college students. Using total scores, significant differences were found between the college sample and the two patient samples. The scale also discriminated between patients who reported one or more past suicide attempts and those who reported none. An independent cross-validation showed that half of the items continued to discriminate between patient and control groups. Sensitivity and specificity estimates were also determined. The test does not attempt to predict a specific rare event, i.e., suicide. It attempts to describe the degree to which a given individual reveals a set of characteristics that are similar to a suicide prototype.

Psychological Mindedness as a predictor of psychotherapy outcome: A preliminary report

This study investigated the properties of a new measure of psychological mindness (PM). A 45-item self-report questionnaire was administered to consecutive admissions to a large outpatient clinic that provides primarily psychodynamically oriented individual psychotherapy. The PM scores of a sample of 44 of these patients who attended a median of 15 sessions were correlated with several outcome measures obtained from retrospective chart reviews. These measures consisted of the number of sessions attended, discharge ratings, and change scores on a Global Assessment Scale (GAS) and on a symptom checklist. Coefficient alpha for the Psychological Mindedness (PM) Scale indicated high reliability. Total PM score correlated significantly with three of the outcome measures. Twenty of the 45-items were good predictors of one or more outcome measures.

Is there a relation between the seriousness of suicidal intent and the lethality of the suicide attempt

The relation between the strength of an individuals intent to commit suicide and the nature and seriousness (lethality) of any suicide attempt has been a controversial one. Some studies suggest a positive correlation, while others report no connection. The present investigation included 60 patients, who were studied shortly after they had been admitted to a medical service after a suicide attempt. Measures of depression, impulsivity, suicidal intent, seriousness of the attempt, and efforts to prevent intervention were obtained. Results reveal that both depression and impulsivity correlate positively with the strength of the intent to commit suicide, but there appears to be almost no correlation in this population between measures of intent and seriousness of the attempt.

A Structural Theory of Ego Defenses and Emotions

The authors began their work with the assumption that defense mechanisms are related to emotion in a dynamic and regulatory fashion, and that ego defenses are interrelated and have implications for adaptation in both an evolutionary and an ontogenetic perspective. Based on their review of the literature on ego defenses and their own theoretical considerations, they conclude that (1) there is overlap among defenses as traditionally defined; (2) some defenses are polar opposites; and (3) some are more primitive than others. The authors develop a model for interrelating defense mechanisms, emotions, and diagnostic concepts. They postulate four pairs of basic bipolar emotions: fear-anger, joy-sadness, acceptance-disgust, and expectancy-surprise. These bipolar emotions vary in the degree to which they are similar to each other. They are considered basic because they are rooted in our biological-evolutionary history and were selected through evolution because of their adaptive functions.

Suicidal Behavior in Latency-Age Children: An Outpatient Population

Abstract Thirty-nine children, ages 6 to 12 years, were evaluated for suicidal behavior in a municipal hospital psychiatric outpatient clinic. Thirty-three percent of the children displayed suicidal ideas, threats, or attempts. Variables that significantly differentiated suicidal from nonsuicidal children were increased psychomotor activity, intense preoccupations with death, and parental suicidal ideation. A comparison between this outpatient population and a previously studied inpatient population revealed that the inpatients had a higher incidence of ego deficits and more serious suicidal behavior. This study demonstrated a higher incidence of childhood suicidal behavior in psychiatric outpatient care than reported previously.

Development and use of self-report techniques for assessing sexual functioning: A review and critique

This is a review and chronological perspective on the development of self-report measures designed to describe an individuals sexual functioning. It includes scales that provide data on both heterosexual and homosexual behavior. Attitude scales are also included, but only those that reflect an individuals attitudes toward his own or his partners behavior. Two classes of self-report measures are evaluated: (1) unidimensional scales that are relatively short and restricted in the information they supply; and (2) multidimensional inventories or questionnaires that elicit a wider variety of information. Available psychometric data are provided, and the measures are critically examined from both a research and a clinical point of view. It was concluded that unidimensional scales are probably more useful for research settings, while multidimensional inventories appear to have greater potential in clinical settings. All the test instruments reviewed would benefit from refinements, and recommendations are made that additional validity studies be conducted and more normative data be provided.

Ego defenses : theory and measurement

Partial table of contents: THEORY. A Theory of Ego Defenses (R. Plutchik). Good Defenses Make Good Neighbors (L. Benjamin). An Information Feedback Theory of Emotions and Defenses (H. Dahl). A Developmental View of Defenses: Empirical Approaches (A. Safyer & S. Hauser). The Evolved Function of Repression and the Adaptive Design of the Human Psyche (M. Slavin & D. Greif). MEASUREMENT. The Life Style Index: A Self-Report Measure of Ego Defenses (H. Conte & A. Apter). The Defense Mechanisms Inventory: Its Development and Clinical Applications (D. Ihilevich & G. Gleser). The Rorschach: Defense or Adaptation? (B. Ritzler). A Review of the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales (J. Perry & M. Kardos). Epilogue. Indexes.