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Biomedical subjects

L B Lapidus

Publications and source records attributed to L B Lapidus.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

An empirical study of object relations in adult children of depressed elderly mothers.

This study used a psychodynamic perspective on psychological functioning, object relations, for understanding coping and emotional distress in (N = 50) sons and daughters providing assistance to an elderly mother hospitalized for major depression. Hypotheses that better maternal object relations would be related to more adaptive coping and less emotional distress received partial support. The hypothesis that an elderly mother's history of depression when a son or daughter was a child would be associated with adult children's poorer object relations received support. Results indicate that object relations may be a useful framework for studying family issues in late life depression.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Attributions of responsibility in father-daughter incest in relation to gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and experiential differences in participants.

One hundred and fifty-seven state college undergraduates (84 females and 73 males) answered the Jackson Incest Blame Scale [JIBS] modified to include mother-blaming after reading one of four vignettes about father-daughter incest in high or low SES White or Black families. Responses about incest prevalence (created for this study) in families with different ethnic and SES backgrounds varied with gender and SES of participants. Gender differences include blame of offender, situation, victim, and mother on the modified JIBS. Parents blamed the offender more than non-parents. Participants who knew an incest survivor disagreed significantly more with victim-blaming statements than those who did not know a survivor of incest.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

The relationship between psychological differentiation and performance expectation in alcoholics and normals.

Sixty subjects (20 alcoholic inpatients, 20 outpatient alcoholics, and 20 surgical controls from two Veterans Administration hospitals) were tested on field independence-dependence (measured by the Rod-and-Frame Test), realistic/unrealistic self-expectations (on the Level of Aspiration Board), and degree of alcohol dependence (on the Alcohol Dependence Scale). Response bias and current intelligence were controlled. As predicted, alcoholic inpatients were more alcohol dependent than outpatients, both groups of alcoholics were found to be more field dependent and more unrealistic in their self-expectations than controls, and field dependence was related to unrealistic expectations. Patterns of differentiation and expectation were similar in both alcoholic groups. Results support the consistency of differentiation levels within clinical groups and the relationship between field dependence and unrealistic self-expectation.

Achievement↗
PubMed1989

Psychological differentiation, arousal, and lipreading efficiency in hearing-impaired and normal children.

Psychological differentiation, psychophysiological arousal, hearing capacity, and ability to lipread unrelated sentences presented in a silent technicolor film were investigated in 62 children (mean age 10 years, 4 months), classified into three hearing categories (normal, mild to moderate hearing loss, severe hearing loss) based on their average hearing threshold in the range of speech frequencies for their best ear. All subjects were administered the Rod and Frame Test, Craig Lipreading Inventory, and skin conductance measures under two conditions (pre-task and task). The results showed that the ability to lipread sentences from a film was related significantly to psychological differentiation (cognitive style) and pre-task conductance level, but was not related to hearing capacity or task conductance level. The best predictors of lipreading ability were successful performance on the Rod and Frame Test and high increases in skin conductance from pre-task to task situation.

Arousal↗
PubMed1988

Symbolization levels in communicative behaviors of children showing pervasive developmental disorders.

A total of 48 children with severe pervasive developmental disturbance were observed in their communicative behaviors across modalities of language, gesture, play, and drawing. As predicted, levels of symbolization in gesture, play, and drawing were significantly intercorrelated and most strongly correlated with the criterion variable of expressive language. Children who were echolalic showed levels of symbolization intermediate between those of mute children and those with nonecholalic language. The correlation between the expressive language measure and a standardized measure of receptive language for 22 testable children also was significant. The results are discussed in the context of earlier studies of symbol production in verbal samples of disturbed and nonhandicapped children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Patterns of symbolic expression in subgroups of the childhood psychoses.

Differential patterns of symbolic expression, through the modalities of language, gesture, play, and drawing, were investigated in 48 psychotic children: 26 with chart diagnoses of autism and 22 with chart diagnoses of schizophrenia. As predicted, autistic children tended to show an absence of symbol use, while schizophrenic children demonstrated complex or differentiated symbol use. A multiple discriminant analysis supported the hypothesized emergence of a "transitional" group of children, defined on the basis of echolalic language, who showed stereotypic or undifferentiated symbol use.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1980

A study of professed reasons for beginning and continuing heroin use.

Eighty male ex-heroin addicts were given a standardized interview to investigate Their reasons for beginning and continuing heroin use. The relative popularity of motives is presented. Changes in popularity of motives at different stages of addiction were found, and a view of the motivational development of addiction is discussed. An oblique rotation factor analysis was used to investigate relationships between motives. Seven factors were identified for "beginning" motives, and correlations between the factors suggested two contrasting motivational syndromes. Motives for continuing heroin use also yielded seven factors, but with a different hierarchy of importance. "Continuing" factors were generally more complex and more frequently correlated with each other than "beginning" factors suggesting that continuing heroin use is a more multidetermined phenomenon than beginning it, and one in which it is more difficult to identify discrete motivational syndromes. Implications for future research and treatment are suggested.

Adult↗