Lawrence La Voie

The Social Relations Model

Publisher Summary The Social Relations Model represents one method of studying two-person relationships. It attempts to separate the effects of persons and dyad. The Social Relations Model has three potential contributions to the study of dyads. First, it provides a purely methodological-statistical solution to the analysis of dyadic data. The Social Relations Model represents a new approach to the analysis of dyadic data structures. Second, the model can provide social psychology with better procedures to resolve the theoretical issues of the discipline. Third, the model is useful because it looks at social behavior as simultaneously operating at multiple levels. Very different principles operate at these different levels and only by simultaneously examining social behavior at different levels, the complexity and simplicity of social life can be fully appreciated.

Corticosteroids as adjunctive therapy for severe Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Preliminary reports suggest that patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia may benefit from the addition of corticosteroid treatment to antibiotic therapy. METHODS We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy of adjunctive corticosteroids in patients with AIDS and severe P. carinii pneumonia. Patients with marked abnormalities in gas exchange who had been treated with antibiotics for less than 72 hours were randomly assigned to receive either methylprednisolone (40 mg) or placebo every 6 hours for 7 days, in addition to treatment for 21 days with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The primary outcome measures were survival until hospital discharge and the development of respiratory failure. RESULTS Twenty-three patients were enrolled in the study; there were no significant differences in base-line clinical or laboratory measures between the two treatment groups. Of 12 patients treated with corticosteroids, 9 (75 percent) survived until hospital discharge, as compared with only 2 of 11 placebo recipients (18 percent) (P less than 0.008). Respiratory failure developed in nine placebo recipients, as compared with only three patients treated with corticosteroids (P less than 0.008). No patient required the interruption or discontinuation of corticosteroid or antibiotic treatment because of toxicity or a complicating event. Because of the marked difference in survival, it was deemed unethical to continue the trial, and the study was terminated. CONCLUSIONS Early adjunctive corticosteroid therapy can improve survival and decrease the occurrence of respiratory failure in patients with AIDS and severe P. carinii pneumonia.

Physical abuse, sexual victimization, and illicit drug use: replication of a structural analysis among a new sample of high-risk youths

Mounting evidence of serious adverse consequences of childhood physical and sexual abuse has important implications for public health officials and care providers. Given the potential impact on social policy of this area of inquiry, programmatic research is needed for the validation of theoretical models across populations and over time. This study, based on a sample of high-risk youths, replicates a structural model that specified the influence of child physical and sexual abuse on self-derogation and drug use. Results suggest that for male and female youths, physical abuse and sexual victimization had a direct effect on self-derogation and illicit drug use, and an indirect effect on drug use that was mediated by self-derogation. Moreover, structural coefficients for the model were found to be identical across gender. Subsequent analyses demonstrated the equivalence of the structural model of child physical and sexual abuse on drug use across two study cohorts. Implications for the identification and treatment of youths in high-risk groups are discussed.

A longitudinal study of the relationships among alcohol use, marijuana/hashish use, cocaine use, and emotional/psychological functioning problems in a cohort of high-risk youths

There is increasing recognition that children involved in the justice system often have serious, multiple problems in the areas of physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and alcohol/other drug use (ADM). Using data collected in a longitudinal study of detained juveniles, we test a model of the relationships of these problems. Significant over-time interrelationships are found among these problems. Research and policy implications of these important findings are drawn.

A Longitudinal Study of the Relationships among Marijuana/Hashish Use, Cocaine Use and Delinquency in a Cohort of High Risk Youths

Study of the relationship between drug use and crime over time remains an important topic in the field. Data from a longitudinal study of detained juveniles are examined to address this issue. Results indicate that self-reported delinquent behavior and alcohol use prior to initial interview are key predictors of reported delinquent behavior during the 10- to 15-month follow-up period. However, self-reported drug use and urinalysis test results (measured at initial interview), and prior delinquent behavior are significant predictors of the use of marijuana/hashish and cocaine over time. The research and policy implications of these findings are drawn.

Reciprocity of Interpersonal Attraction: A Confirmed Hypothesis.

An increase in reciprocity of interpersonal attraction during the early acquaintance period followed by continuing social reciprocity are common sense propositions that are central principles of several social psychological theories. However, there is little empirical evidence of increasing reciprocity of interpersonal attraction over time. There are two potential reasons for this failure to find reciprocity over time. First, the reciprocity correlation contains a mixture of two correlations: reciprocity at the individual level and reciprocity at the dyadic level. Second, physical proximity may affect reciprocity, particularly during early acquaintance. The two reciprocity correlations and effects of physical proximity can be estimated from a round robin design. Correlations computed by taking all possible dyads measured at five time points show weak reciprocity effects with a decrease across the five time points. The individual level correlations were small while the dyadic correlations were positive. Partialling out roommate effects from the dyadic correlation enhances increasing reciprocity over time. Thus, reciprocity of attraction does increase over time when one accounts for two different levels of analysis and controls for roommate effects.

The influence of family relationships on marijuana use among a sample of inner city youths

This study of the etiology of drug use explores the influence of family relationship variables (parental support) on self‐identification, and alcohol and marijuana use of 258 inner‐city, male adolescents. A latent variable structural model of the effect of parental support on alcohol and drug use, mediated by self‐identification, was estimated using a maximum likelihood solution. Results support the adequacy of the model. Perceived family support and self‐identification were significantly related to reported alcohol and marijuana use. In addition, alcohol consumption functions as a mediator variable and affects the relationship for both perceived family support and self‐identification with marijuana use. Ethnic background, Black versus Puerto Rican, did not have a direct effect on these variables. Finally, the model suggests a direct relationship between youths‘ use of alcohol and marijuana. It was hypothesized that this relationship is a product of environmental and socio‐cultural contexts wherein a vari...

Reexamining the causality of causal attributions in depression: a failure to replicate

In 1981, Golin, Sweeney, and Shaeffer found an association between attributional style and subsequent depression, using a cross-lag panel design. This finding is widely viewed as showing that attributional tendencies exert a unidirectional causal influence on the development of depressed affect. This article reports a failure to obtain a comparable result from a very similar study.