Ted L. Rosenthal

Hospital Violence: Site, Severity, and Nurses' Preventive Training

A sample of 663 nurses was surveyed about exposure to violence at the work site; 243 (37%) had faced violence. Hospitals with low response rates to the questionnaire reported less assault, yet the violence admitted to was described as more deadly. More nurses at public than private hospitals had obtained some training to handle potentially violent situations. Serious assault was negatively related to amount of training. At the public psychiatric hospital, violent acts were most frequent, but the rate of deadly violence (e.g., rape, use of knives or guns, etc.) was lowest. The need to train staffs at general as well as psychiatric hospitals was discussed.

Substance abuse patterns reveal contrasting personal traits.

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) responses of 202 male and 95 female substance users taken during 21 months at a public-sector hospital facility were studied. Collectively, inpatients were more impulsive (high P), introverted (low E), and anxious (high N) than same-sexed normals on the main EPQ scales (p less than .001). The alcohol, cocaine, opioid, and polysubstance users and a residual mixed group differed on all EPQ scales (ps less than .05). Cocaine users were the most impulsive, with alcohol and opioid users least so. The polysubstance and residual mixed groups were the most extroverted, with opioid users least. The alcohol and residual mixed groups were the most anxious, and cocaine users least so. Alcohol users earned the highest lie (L) scores, with opioid users lowest. When the residual mixed group was excluded from analyses the results were little changed.

Doxepin in the Treatment of Nicotine Withdrawal

To examine the possibility that antidepressant medication may decrease the severity and/or frequency of nicotine withdrawal symptoms, a five-week pilot study was conducted in eight patients given doxepin (target dose, 150xa0mg/day) and 21 patients who quit smoking “cold turkey.” Dropouts were more frequent in the cold-turkey group (72% vs. 50%), although this difference was not significant. Among the completers, self-ratings of DSM-III withdrawal symptoms indicated a significant ameliorating effect of doxepin (xa0p

Similarities and differences on five inventories among mood and anxiety disorder patients

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), BAROMAS, Leisure Interests Checklist (LIC), Mental Health Inventory (MHI) and a one-page checklist of Body Problems were given to 128 outpatients with serious mood or anxiety disorders. Compared to normative data published on the first four devices, the combined patients were far sicker in nearly all comparisons (P less than or equal to 0.01). However, anxiety and mood patients did not differ on the EPQ, BAROMAS, or LIC. On Body Problems, strong contrasts emerged (P less than 0.04), especially when fringe cases were excluded (e.g. dysthymics from mood, and obsessives from anxiety disorder diagnoses). Small anxiety subtype groups also differed (P less than 0.05). On the MHI, both global and core groups of mood--especially unipolar (depressed)--patients differed from the anxiety disorders (P less than 0.04).

Personality profiles of mothers of sexual abuse victims and their daughters

Sixty-five mothers of sexual abuse victims and 25 of their daughters were compared with 65 control mothers and 32 control daughters on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Leisure Interest Checklist. Results showed both study groups to be significantly less impulsive than their control counterparts. Victim mothers also presented themselves as being more constricted than control mothers.

Students' self-ratings of stress in medical school: a replication across 20 months

We replicated the essential results of a prior study on the capacity of the BAROMAS scales to reflect stress in medical school as perceived by students. As before, subjective stress was high at the start of medical school, and when facing the exams prerequisite to entry into clinical clerkships. On most measures, stress was lowest when the second year began (i.e. after having passed the first). Once again, most test-retest reliabilities (significant rs ranged from 0.24 to 0.66 for confidence ratings at 12- and 20-months after entry) were moderate.

Students' self-ratings of subjective stress across 30 months of medical school

Abstract A first study of the capacity of the BAROMAS scales to reflect stress as perceived by normals was conducted with a large sample of medical students. Unlike individual administration with clinical patients, the data were gathered in groups. Measures obtained at entry, and after 30 months of school from the same students disclosed significant temporal stability on all scales but low to moderate in degree (rs ranged from 0.28 to 0.68 for confidence ratings). Significant changes were found on five of the nine scales, all indicating that self-efficacy was higher after surviving 2 1 2 yr of school than at entry. Measures taken at six time points from various students suggested that sequential patterns were as follows: subjective stress was highest at the start of medical school and just before exams; stress was lowest at the end of 30 months, and at the onset of the second year after successfully passing the prior year; ratings obtained immediately after the National Board Exams, 23 months past entry, were intermediate. The results appeared plausible and in reasonably good agreement with advance expectations.

Redundant clothing: A readily observable marker for schizophrenia in the psychiatric emergency room population☆

Most mental health workers have seen bizarrely dressed patients who wear multiple pieces of some item of clothing. Since many of these patients carried a schizophrenic diagnosis, we devised a study to test whether redundant clothing is a reliable indicator of schizophrenia. Of 25 patients who presented at the city psychiatric emergency room wearing redundant clothes, 18 received schizophrenic diagnoses. A Chi square analysis comparing proportions attained significance at the P < .0001 level. Although not a particularly sensitive measure, wearing redundant clothes appears to be a readily observable behavior associated with schizophrenia in the psychiatric emergency room.

Teenage Pregnancy: Predicting the Adolescent at Risk

Sums of questionnaire items that were scored as indicative of sexual experience or of arousal, and also the four scales of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), were studied in 33 adolescents who admitted to pregnancy (Pregyes) and 251 girls who denied having been pregnant (Unpreg). The EPQ P (Impulsivity) and N (Anxiety) scales each successfully predicted the sexual experience criterion (ps < 0.01), replicating our earlier results. Likewise, girls high on the EPQ L scale once again denied sexual excitement compared to peers. As hypothesized, sexual activity was a positive predictor, with scale anxiety (N score) a negative predictor, of pregnancy history (ps < 0.001). No other variables made independent contributions to Pregyes versus Unpreg status. Age related positively to both sexual experience and arousal, but the EPQ E (Extraversion or sociability) scale related only to reported arousal.

Race and Personality Traits Affect High School Senior Girls' Sexual Reports

We compared the dating and sexual attitudes and practices of 83 black and 70 white high school senior girls on a 61-item questionnaire. Generally, black girls showed more tolerance of and experience with sex; yet their views were more influenced by “romantic” and “soap opera” stereotypes drawn from the mass media than were whites. We also studied how Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) scores covaried with reported sexual experience, arousal, and permissiveness. Even with racial differences controlled, sexual activity was significantly related to the P (impulsivity) and N (proneness toward anxiety) scales (both R2s = + .23, ps ≤ .02), which jointly explained over 25% of the variance. Likewise, girls scoring higher on N and P scales expressed more liberal attitudes toward premarital coitus. In contrast, the only EPQ result for degree of reported sexual arousal was a negative relationship (R2 = −.28, p = .001) with the L scale, a measure of giving socially desirable, conventional responses. Furthermore...