J A Chiles — Page 3 | Search PubMed

PubMedDate not supplied

Who smokes? Why?: Psychiatric aspects of continued cigarette usage among lawyers in Washington State.

Eight-hundred two lawyers, a random sample of the Washington State Bar, were surveyed to determine the prevalence of medical and psychological distress. Approximately 15% of this group reported current cigarette use. Greater levels of dysphoric symptoms and greater misuse of alcohol differentiated male smokers from male nonsmokers, whereas no differences were found for females. The implications of these findings for pharmacologic and counseling strategies to further promote smoking cessation are discussed.

Alcoholism↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prediction of suicide intent in hospitalized parasuicides: reasons for living, hopelessness, and depression.

This study examined the risk prediction efficiency of the Reasons for Living Inventory Survival and Coping Beliefs Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, and the Life Experiences Survey with a sample of 51 newly hospitalized parasuicides. The index of suicidal potential chosen for this study was suicide intent as measured by Beck's Suicide Intent Scale. Regression analyses indicated that the Survival and Coping Beliefs Scale emerged as the single most important predictor of suicide intent. Hopelessness and depression made secondary and nonsignificant contributions. Hopelessness was a significant predictor of suicide intent when analyzed apart from Survival and Coping Beliefs, but not among a subsample of 43 repeat parasuicides. Classification analyses showed that neither hopelessness nor survival and coping beliefs were accurate at classifying low- or high-intent parasuicides. Factors contributing to the efficacy of survival and coping beliefs as a risk prediction index are discussed, as is the false-negative dilemma in suicide risk assessment and prediction.

Adaptation, Psychological↗