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Biomedical subjects

J Block

Publications and source records attributed to J Block.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Overly positive self-evaluations and personality: negative implications for mental health.

The relation between overly positive self-evaluations and psychological adjustment was examined. Three studies, two based on longitudinal data and another on laboratory data, contrasted self-descriptions of personality with observer ratings (trained examiners or friends) to index self-enhancement. In the longitudinal studies, self-enhancement was associated with poor social skills and psychological maladjustment 5 years before and 5 years after the assessment of self-enhancement. In the laboratory study, individuals who exhibited a tendency to self-enhance displayed behaviors, independently judged, that seemed detrimental to positive social interaction. These results indicate there are negative short-term and long-term consequences for individuals who self-enhance and, contrary to some prior formulations, imply that accurate appraisals of self and of the social environment may be essential elements of mental health.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description.

The 5-factor approach (FFA) to personality description has been represented as a comprehensive and compelling rubric for assessment. In this article, various misgivings about the FFA are delineated. The algorithmic method of factor analysis may not provide dimensions that are incisive. The "discovery" of the five factors may be influenced by unrecognized constraints on the variable sets analyzed. Lexical analyses are based on questionable conceptual and methodological assumptions, and have achieved uncertain results. The questionnaire version of the FFA has not demonstrated the special merits and sufficiencies of the five factors settled upon. Serious uncertainties have arisen in regard to the claimed 5-factor structure and the substantive meanings of the factors. Some implications of these problems are drawn.

Factor Analysis, Statistical↗
PubMed1994

Do positive illusions foster mental health? An examination of the Taylor and Brown formulation.

The proposition recently offered by S. E. Taylor and J. D. Brown (1988) that positive illusions foster mental health has garnered considerable attention and acceptance. However, the significant theoretical and applied implications of their view for mental health require a critical evaluation of their argument. An examination of the logic and empirical evidence used to relate mental health to three key positive illusions--unrealistically positive views of the self, illusions of control, and unrealistic optimism--failed to substantiate Taylor and Brown's thesis. Further survey of more recent studies on positive illusions and mental health also failed to lend support to the Taylor and Brown generalization. Close consideration of several assumptions underlying the formulation raises further questions regarding their thesis. The present article concludes that it remains unproven that positive illusions foster mental health.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Prone scintimammography in patients with suspicion of carcinoma of the breast.

Mammography and physical examination have a sensitivity of 85 percent for detection of carcinoma of the breast. Mammography also has a positive predictive value of 15 to 30 percent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of scintimammography (SMM) as a screening technique for the detection of carcinoma of the breast and compare the test's sensitivity and specificity with that of mammography. We conducted SMM on 59 female patients in whom abnormal mammogram and physical examination warranted biopsy of the breast or fine needle aspiration cytology of the breast, or both. Each patient received 20 millicuries of 99mTc Sestamibi intravenously. Five and sixty minutes postinjection, planar breast images in lateral and posterior oblique views were obtained. In 23 patients with biopsy-confirmed carcinoma of the breast, the SMM result was positive. In 33 patients with benign breast lesions, no increased uptake of Sestamibi was noted in the breast. Five other patients with benign lesions of the breast had false-positive scans. There was one patient with an intraductal carcinoma and a cluster of microcalcifications on mammography without an associated mass, for whom the 99mTc Sestamibi scan was negative. In the group of patients studied, the sensitivity of SMM was 95.8 percent, specificity was 86.8 percent, positive predictive value was 82.1 percent and, most importantly, the negative predictive value for the detection of carcinoma of the breast was 97.1 percent. We conclude in this pilot study that SMM is a highly sensitive test that improves the specificity of conventional mammography for the detection of carcinoma of the breast and deserves further study as a screening technique to potentially reduce the number of mammographically "indicated" biopsies of the breast that yield negative results for carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Ego development and individual differences in personality.

The relation between individual differences in personality and differences in developmental maturity was studied by relating observations of personality by multiple, independent judges to level of ego development. The personality characteristics of longitudinally followed Ss (104 at age 14; 98 at age 23) were evaluated by the California Adult Q-Set (CAQ); ego level was evaluated by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development (SCT). A priori personality dimensions--consisting of CAQ items for which a common developmental pathway was expected--were constructed and related to the SCT: (a) Ego-resiliency and interpersonal integrity were associated with increasing ego development, (b) conformity was associated with the Conformist level and, unexpectedly, to the Conscientious level, (c) need regulation was associated with the Conscientious level, and (d) self-ease and expressiveness-playfulness were not associated with ego level.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

A longitudinal study of consistency and change in self-esteem from early adolescence to early adulthood.

In a longitudinal study of 47 girls and 44 boys, developmental change in self-esteem (SE) was examined from early adolescence through late adolescence to early adulthood. Males tended to increase and females tended to decrease in SE over time. There was appreciable rank-order consistency in SE over time. Within each gender, the considerable individual differences in developmental trajectories were coherently related to personality characteristics independently assessed in early adolescence. Boys and girls with high SE possessed quite different personality characteristics in early adolescence; by early adulthood, although important differences remained, the personality characteristics associated with high SE were similar for the 2 sexes. Discussion focuses on the implications of our findings for the "consistency versus change" debate, the influence of gender-role socialization on SE development, and the importance of examining normative, gender-specific, and individual developmental change in SE.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Adolescent drug use and psychological health. A longitudinal inquiry.

The relation between psychological characteristics and drug use was investigated in subjects studied longitudinally, from preschool through age 18. Adolescents who had engaged in some drug experimentation (primarily with marijuana) were the best-adjusted in the sample. Adolescents who used drugs frequently were maladjusted, showing a distinct personality syndrome marked by interpersonal alienation, poor impulse control, and manifest emotional distress. Adolescents who, by age 18, had never experimented with any drug were relatively anxious, emotionally constricted, and lacking in social skills. Psychological differences between frequent drug users, experimenters, and abstainers could be traced to the earliest years of childhood and related to the quality of parenting received. The findings indicate that (a) problem drug use is a symptom, not a cause, of personal and social maladjustment, and (b) the meaning of drug use can be understood only in the context of an individual's personality structure and developmental history. It is suggested that current efforts at drug prevention are misguided to the extent that they focus on symptoms, rather than on the psychological syndrome underlying drug abuse.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Physical and sexual abuse in adolescent girls with borderline personality disorder.

Recent investigations suggest that a history of childhood sexual abuse may be associated with borderline personality disorder. This study compares a group of female adolescents diagnosed as borderline with a control group for history of physical and sexual abuse. History of both forms of abuse, particularly sexual, distinguishes the two groups. Results point to the impact of repeated trauma on character structure, cognitive functioning, and Axis II symptomatology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Mild versus definite osteoporosis: comparison of bone densitometry techniques using different statistical models.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the ability of three bone densitometry techniques to discriminate subjects with mild vertebral deformities from those with definite compression fractures. We determined bone mineral density (BMD) in 68 postmenopausal women by quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and dual-photon absorptiometry (DPA) of the spine, as well as single-photon absorptiometry (SPA) of the radius. Forty four individuals were classified as having mild deformities of the spine and 24 were considered to have definite vertebral compressions. Several statistical approaches were used to compare these subgroups and to estimate the relative risk of vertebral fracture. Included among these were percent decrements and zeta-scores, ROC curves, odds ratio estimations, and logistic regression analysis. Individuals with definite vertebral fractures had lower bone mineral density at all sites, but measurement of radial compact bone by SPA failed to reach significance. Using ROC analysis to distinguish mild deformities from true compressions, we found that measurement of spinal trabecular bone by QCT to be the most sensitive discriminator; although measurement of spinal integral bone by DPA also gave satisfactory discrimination, whereas assessment of radial compact bone did not adequately differentiate patients with mild deformities from those with definite compressions. Likewise, we found determination of spinal trabecular bone to be the most robust predictor of relative risk of definite fracture using either odds ratios or logistic regression analysis. Measurement of BMD in the peripheral cortical skeleton offered no predictive power for true vertebral fracture. We concluded that direct assessment of the spine, particularly of the trabecular portion, offered the strongest discrimination and relative risk prediction for definite osteoporotic fractures compared with milder forms of this condition.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Critique of the act frequency approach to personality.

Evaluates the the act frequency approach (AFA), noting that retrospective self-reports rather than behavioral acts are studied; act context and meaning are not considered; the AFA self-report inventories are incompletely developed and are psychometrically unsound; the AFA claim of absolute measurement of dispositions is insupportable; many of the self-report act statements used are technically unacceptable or conceptually unwarranted; the research agenda of the AFA primarily involves only "internal analyses" of self-report "act" inventories and indices and proposes the further creation of "act" inventories to index thousands of conceptually unorderable dispositions. Were the problems involved in the current implementation of the AFA to be resolved, various large conceptual problems presently besetting the approach then would have to be confronted.

Behavior↗
PubMed1989

The role of ego-control, ego-resiliency, and IQ in delay of gratification in adolescence.

The delay-of-gratification behavior of 104 14-year-old Ss (54 girls and 50 boys) was assessed in an experiment in which each subject chose between immediate monetary payment and larger, delayed payment on 5 occasions. Personality data were obtained on these adolescents in the form of California Adult Q-Set ratings made by several research examiners who were blind to the subjects' delay behavior. The number of delayed payments chosen was strongly correlated with these personality ratings, within both sexes. Ss who exhibited the most delay of gratification tended to be independently described as responsible, productive, ethically consistent, interested in intellectual matters, and overly controlled. They tended not to be described as unable to delay gratification, rebellious, unpredictable, self-indulgent, or hostile. Delay behavior in both sexes was also correlated positively with IQ and with Q-sort-derived indexes of ego resiliency and ego control. The relationship between ego control and delay behavior was particularly strong after both IQ and ego resiliency were partialled. These results were interpreted as reflecting the fundamental importance of both cognitive skillfulness and impulse control for adaptive delay behavior in situations that contain strong motivational inducements.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Longitudinally foretelling drug usage in adolescence: early childhood personality and environmental precursors.

Drug usage in early adolescence (age 14) was related to concurrent and preschool personality characteristics for a sample of 54 girls and 51 boys. The personality concomitants and antecedents of drug use differed somewhat as a function of gender and the drug used. At age 14, for both sexes, the use of marijuana was related to ego undercontrol, while the use of harder drugs reflected an absence of ego-resiliency, with undercontrol also a contributing factor. At ages 3/4, subsequent adolescent drug usage in girls related to both undercontrol and lower ego-resiliency. In boys, adolescent drug usage related strongly, during their nursery school years, to undercontrol and with resiliency having no long-term implications. Early family environment related to adolescent drug usage in girls but not in boys. Drug usage in adolescent girls was related to homes earlier identified as unstructured and laissez-faire, where there was little pressure to achieve. Drug usage related to other substance use and, in boys, to IQ decline from age 11 to age 18. Implications of these results for contemporary views regarding adolescent drug usage are discussed.

Adolescent↗