Olof Rydén

The short-EMBU in East-Germany and Sweden: A cross-national factorial validity extension

The factorial stability and reliability of the 23-item s(hort)-EMBU previously demonstrated to be satisfactory in samples of students from Greece, Guatemala, Hungary and Italy, were extended with 791 students from East-Germany and Sweden. Previous findings on factorial validity, internal reliability and correlations among scales were replicated. The 23-item form thus continues to be recommended as a reliable functional equivalent to the early 81-item EMBU, when the clinical and/or research context does not adequately permit application of time-consuming test batteries.

Family therapy in poorly controlled juvenile IDDM: effects on diabetic control, self‐evaluation and behavioural symptoms

Diabetic control, behavioural symptoms and self‐evaluation were assessed in 25 children with IDDM who were in poor metabolic control (P group), before and subsequent to one of two treatment conditions: family therapy and conventional treatment (C). In addition, data were collected from 12 patients in optimal control (O group). Prior to treatment the patients in poor control were rated higher than those in the O group for symptoms indicating somatization and internalization of conflict and showed a gloomier self‐image. The O group patients had fewer behavioural symptoms and a more positive self‐image than non‐diabetic reference groups. Diabetic control improved after family therapy only. Furthermore, the family therapy group improved on a combined measure of behavioural symptoms and one aspect of self‐evaluation (relations to parents and family). The results suggest that IDDM may either interfere with or foster the childs development towards autonomy, depending on family interaction patterns which affect the childs behaviour and self‐esteem. Family therapy is a treatment option which can mediate improved diabetic control by changing family relationships to allow for a better balance between parental and self‐care of the child with poorly controlled IDDM.

Disease perception and social behaviour in persistent rhinitis: a comparison between patients with allergic and nonallergic rhinitis.

Background:  Although the understanding of the pathophysiology and pharmacology of rhinitis has increased within recent years, few studies have examined the impact of rhinitis on patients’ behaviour.

FIELD-DEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE: ABILITY IN RELATION TO MOBILITY-FIXITY

Previous authors have pointed out that, while the classic Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT) yields a measure of ability to perform field-independently, it is unsuitable for identifying stylistic preference, such as mobility-fixity within the field-dependence/independence dimension. To relate mobility-fixity and ability aspects of field-dependence/independence, we compared data obtained from two versions of the test: one with a “free” instruction, on which the subjects were invited to adjust the rod to any position(s) they preferred on each of 10 trials and a process-oriented version (RFT-P), involving 20 trials with the standard instruction but with a constant rod-and-frame configuration, making possible analysis of the process of adaptation. Mobility versus fixity was defined in terms of more or less frequent changes of rod positions and choice of a high or a low proportion of nongeometrical positions in the RFT-Free. 38 female and 23 male university students completed first the RFT-Free and thereafter the RFT-Process. Women were more field-dependent than men throughout the RFT-Process trials; there were no differences between the sexes over trials or in choice of positions in the RFT-Free. Compared with field-dependent subjects, field-independent subjects mote often changed rod positions in the RFT-Free and preferred nongeometrical positions somewhat more. Among field-independent subjects, those with consistently low deviations in RFT-Process more often preferred a variety of nongeometrical positions in RFT-Free than did those with gradually increasing deviations. We conclude that field-independence is associated with mobility and field-dependence with fixity, as defined by the RFT-Free variables, and that a prerequisite for high mobility is a relative stability of field-independence as reflected on the RFT-Process. Theoretical implications of this conclusion are discussed.

Diabetic Children and Their Parents: Personality Correlates of Metabolic Control

ABSTRACT. Test measures of field‐dependence‐independence and impulsiveness‐control were obtained from two groups of diabetic children and their parents, the children being in optimal (O, n=12) or poor (P, n=27) metabolic control and, according to the judgment of clinicians, showing optimal or poor psychological adaptation. Children of the O‐group scored lower in impulsiveness and higher in realistic functioning than those of the P‐group. Differences which parallelled these were found between the two groups of fathers. The P‐group fathers were decidedly more field‐dependent than their wives, while the opposite was found for the O‐group. Group differences of the kind obtained were seen as possible determinants of disturbed family interaction or emotional stress in the child in the P‐group and of autonomy and self‐reliance in the child in the O‐group. It is concluded that the role of fathers of diabetic children has been underestimated.

Gender affects self‐evaluation in children with cystic fibrosis and their healthy siblings

Aim: To determine whether self‐esteem among children with cystic fibrosis (CF) and their healthy siblings differs from that of a healthy reference group and whether there are differences within and between sibling pairs. Methods: All Swedish CF children 6–14 y old with a healthy sibling in the same age range (n=65) were invited to participate, 55 sibling pairs and their parents taking part in the study. Five aspects of the childrens self‐concept—physical characteristics, skills and talents, mental well‐being, relations to parents and family, and relations to others—were assessed by the “I think I am” self‐evaluation questionnaire. Severity of illness was assessed by means of the Shwachman Clinical Evaluation System. Results: Whereas self‐evaluation did not differ between groups at a general level, healthy girls as well as those with CF scored lower than girls in the reference group on the “mental well‐being” and “relations to parents and family” subscales. Comparison of gender combinations (sick girl/healthy boy, sick girl/healthy girl, sick boy/healthy boy, sick boy/healthy girl) suggested that girls pay a cost of a lesser sense of psychological well‐being and feelings of inadequacy in relation to their parents and family. The Shwachman score of the sick child was not related to the level of self‐esteem.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENTIATION AND INTEGRATION OF SELF AND NONSELF: AN INVESTIGATION IN TERMS OF MODES OF PERCEPTUAL ADAPTATION

Differentiation and integration of self- and nonself-aspects of perception were investigated as features of the process of adapting to a spiral aftereffect (SAE) induced with massed trials. The cessation of the SAE at each trial was assumed to indicate that self-aspects of perception had been differentiated from nonself-aspects, changes in SAE duration over trials being considered to represent the integration of these aspects. Degree and stability of self-nonself-differentiation, reflected in the level and persistence of field-dependence measured on a serial version of the Rod and Frame Test, varied between individuals (N = 129). The results suggest that persistent field-independence requires both self- and nonself-aspects of perception to be adequately and continuously represented in an integrative process which is oriented towards stimulus-proximity, self-aspects of perception being successively replaced by nonself-aspects.

From children to young adults: cystic fibrosis and siblingship A longitudinal study

Aim:  To compare the results from our previous study in 1994/95 of children with cystic fibrosis (CF) at the age of 6–14 years and their healthy siblings with data from the same participants as young adults in regard to their self‐esteem, life satisfaction and attitudes towards the CF siblingship situation.

Relation of Mobility-Fixity to the Interpretation of Pictorial Stimuli

A group of 61 students who had previously (in 1986) been classified by Hansson, Rydén, and Johnsson in terms of perceptual fixity-mobility using a “free” Rod-and-Frame Test, were investigated regarding their interpretations of a nonfigurative stimulus shown repetitively at short exposure-times, and their characterization of two pictures each portraying two soldiers in intensive interaction—one man apparently attacking the other in the first picture and apparently rescuing or taking care of the other man in the second. Mobile subjects on the free Rod-and-Frame Test reported a larger number of different interpretations of the nonfigurative stimulus and construed it more frequently in terms of human themes than did the fixed subjects; in rating the pictures of soldiers, they used more extreme and complex characteristics. It appeared that, when confronted with ambiguous stimuli, the mobile individual moves both “horizontally”, as it were, along the surface of objective reality, and “vertically”, from present to past realities, thus conjoining subjective-emotional and objective-analytic aspects of perception. This interpretation agrees with Werners model of mobility-fixity which implies that the mobile individual operates on different developmental levels of perceptual functioning.