John R. Reddon

Normative data stratified by age and sex for 12 neuropsychological tests.

Normative data stratified by age and sex are presented for 12 neuro-psychological tests from a large neurologically intact, nonpsychiatric adult sample (127 males, 98 females, aged 15–40 years). The tests include Language Modalities Test for Aphasia, Memory-for-Designs, Coloured Progressive Matrices, Symbol-Gestalt, Minute Estimation, Controlled Word Association, Written Word Fluency, Purdue Pegboard, Williams Clinical Memory, Symbol Digit Modalities, L. J. Tactile Recognition, and Wisconsin Card Sorting.

Normative data for the Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological tests stratified by age and sex

Normative data, stratified by age and sex, are presented for the Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological tests: Name Writing, Speech-Sounds Perception, Trail Making, Halstead Category, Finger Tapping, Dynamometer, Tactual Performance, Seashore Rhythm, Tactile Form Recognition, Finger-Tip Number Writing Perception, Face-Hand, and Finger Localization. Correlations of the test variables with age, education, and WAIS-R Verbal and Performance IQ are reported. The normative sample consisted of 225 adults (127 males, 98 females) 15 to 40 years of age. The subjects who were included did not report any history of forensic involvement, head injury, neurological insult, prenatal or birth complication, psychiatric problems, or substance abuse.

Purdue Pegboard: Test-Retest Estimates

26 normal, self-reported dextral subjects (12 men, 14 women) were assessed with a Purdue Pegboard 5 times at weekly intervals to evaluate temporal stability and efficacy of lateralization with this test. There was a statistically significant increase in performance over time for men on the right- and left-hand placing subtests and for women on the assemblies subtest. For men/women the test-retest reliability over the 5 sessions averaged .63/.76 for the right-hand, .64/.79 for the left-hand, .67/.81 for both-hands, .81/.83 for assemblies, and .33/.22 for the right/left-hand ratio.

Serum testosterone in violent and nonviolent young offenders

Single morning serum testosterone samples from 194 15-17 year old male young offenders were compared between subgroups based on violent (n = 75), non-violent (n = 102), and sexual (n = 17) offenses. The violent group had the highest level of testosterone and differed significantly from both the nonviolent and sexual offender groups which were statistically equivalent. The offenders were also classified according to native/metis (n = 68) and Caucasian (n = 126) groups, and the native/metis group had significantly higher testosterone than the Caucasian group. Higher testosterone in the native/metis group may be because this group committed significantly more violent offenses than the Caucasian group. Genetic factors, such as the human leucocyte antigen system, may also be associated with higher testosterone in the native/metis group.

Accentuate the positive to mitigate the negative: Mother psychological coping resources and family adjustment in childhood disability

Abstract Background Mothers’ cognitive appraisal of the family impact of childhood disability and their positive affect as a psychological coping resource, both key elements of the process model of stress and coping, were tested as explanatory variables of family adjustment. Method In a sample of Canadian families, 195 mothers of children with intellectual and developmental disability completed telephone interviews. Results In regression modelling, 35% of the variance in family adjustment was explained by mothers’ positive cognitive appraisal of family impacts of childhood disability and by their positivity (ratio of positive to negative affect). After controlling for positivity, negative cognitive appraisal of family impacts of childhood disability was non-significant. Conclusions Family adjustment to childhood disability is associated with elements of strength in mothers’ psychological coping; namely, their ability to perceive positive family consequences of childhood disability and to maintain higher proportions of positive emotion in their daily activities. The findings of this study provide support for the broaden-and-build theory to explain the role of positivity in mothers’ coping and adjustment to childhood disability.

Sadism and other paraphilias in normal controls and aggressive and nonaggressive sex offenders

Penile circumference responses (PCRs) to a visual age/gender erotic preference battery were analyzed from 60 normal controls and 227 sexual offenders. Sixty offenders were classified as sexual aggressives on the basis of their behavior and damage to their victims. The mean PCR to sadism slides (visual portrayals of nonsexual violence against fully clothed females) was significantly larger for the sexually aggressive group compared to the sexual nonaggressive offender and normal control groups. There were no significant differences in mean victim damage scores between the sexual aggressives who responded significantly to the sadism slides and those who did not. Thus, PCRs were not useful in identifying more from less dangerous sexual aggressives. The incidence of a clinically significant PCR to any of the four paraphilic categories included in the assessment battery was 28, 60, and 65% in the normal controls, sexual nonaggressives, and sexual aggressives, respectively. For sadism, it was 5, 8, and 45% respectively, for these groups. Pedophilia had a low incidence of co-occurrence with other paraphilias whereas sadism, transvestism/fetishism, and the courtship disorder paraphilias had a high incidence of co-occurrence.

Hand dynamometer: effects of trials and sessions.

12 normal, self-reported dextral subjects (6 men, 6 women) were assessed with a hand dynamometer with 10 trials per hand for 10 consecutive wk. The test-retest reliability of the 10-trial average across the 10 sessions averaged .91 for men and .94 for women for both preferred and non-preferred hands. Fatigue effects over trials were statistically significant for both sexes and hands except for womens preferred hand. Skill acquisition effects over sessions were only statisically significant for mens nonpreferred and womens preferred hands.

A confirmatory evaluation of the profile of mood states: Convergent and discriminant item validity

The Profile of Mood States was administered to samples of 182 college males, 179 college females, and 257 prison inmates. College males and females did not differ significantly from each other in terms of scale elevation but differed from prison inmates on all scales except Fatigue-Inertia. The college samples differed from the published normative college samples, suggesting the importance of using local norms. A confirmatory item factor analysis suggested convergent item validity with the scoring key and similarity of structure across samples. Discriminant item validity, however, suggested that a smaller number of mood scales would offer a more justifiable interpretation of this inventory.

Living in History How War, Terrorism, and Natural Disaster Affect the Organization of Autobiographical Memory

Memories of war, terrorism, and natural disaster play a critical role in the construction of group identity and the persistence of group conflict. Here, we argue that personal memory and knowledge of the collective past become entwined only when public events have a direct, forceful, and prolonged impact on a population. Support for this position comes from a cross-national study in which participants thought aloud as they dated mundane autobiographical events. We found that Bosnians often mentioned their civil war and that Izmit Turks made frequent reference to the 1999 earthquake in their country. In contrast, public events were rarely mentioned by Serbs, Montenegrins, Ankara Turks, Canadians, Danes, or Israelis. Surprisingly, historical references were absent from (post–September 11) protocols collected in New York City and elsewhere in the United States. Taken together, these findings indicate that it is personal significance, not historical importance, that determines whether public events play a role in organizing autobiographical memory.

Testosterone, Sexual Offense Recidivism, and Treatment Effect Among Adult Male Sex Offenders

The relationship between serum testosterone and sexual violence was examined in a sample of 501 convicted adult male sex offenders attending an intensive in-hospital group psychotherapy treatment program. It was found that men with higher testosterone tended to have committed the most invasive sexual crimes (p < .001, two-tailed). Further, a positive partial correlation (controlling for age) between testosterone and sexual offense recidivism over a lengthy follow-up period (mean = 8.9 years) was found. When the sample was separated into one group that completed treatment and one group that did not, an important ameliorating treatment effect was observed. Although controlling for age, serum testosterone remained significantly predictive of sexual recidivism for the treatment noncompleter group (p < .05, two-tailed). For those who completed treatment testosterone was no longer predictive of sexual reoffense (p > .05, two-tailed). Among convicted sex offenders, higher serum testosterone appears to be associated with greater likelihood of further sexual violence. Effective therapy, however, appears able to intercede in the influence of testosterone on sexually deviant behavior. It is suggested that serum testosterone may be an informative static risk factor and completion of intensive treatment should be accorded significance in future actuarially based risk prediction instruments.