Multivariate Experimental Clinical Research, v.12 no.1 (2000)
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Item Journal of Multivariate Experimental Personality and Clinical Psychology, v.12 no.1 (complete version)(Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, 2000)Item Some determinants of diagnosis and neuroleptic administration among schizophrenic and mood disordered VA patients(Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, 2000) Bernstein, Ira H.; Kolodner, Robert M.; Kashner, T. MichaelThis study examined diagnostic practices and neuroleptic use at four general medical and surgical VA medical centers. Most effects were as expected, e.g., patients administered neuroleptics during a prior hospitalization and who exhibited more psychotic symptoms were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than with a mood disorder. However, the centers differed in their diagnostic practices after adjusting for such differences in symptomatology. As a result, patients were more likely to receive neuroleptic medication when treated at certain hospitals relative to others even though these differences followed directly from differences in diagnostic practices. Further research is needed to determine the extent to which these different diagnosis practices reflect variation in training, theoretical orientation, documentation, or justification for particular psychiatric practices. Regardless, they have significant legal and professional ramifications.Item Menstrual cycle moods and symptoms in young, healthy women: A heuristic model(Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, 2000) Boyle, Gregory J.There is a need for development of theoretical models in menstrual cycle research. Changes in moods and symptoms related to the menstrual cycle are problematic for a small, hut significant proportion of women, and the complexity of such interrelationships remains a barrier to more effective management. The present study provides empirical data on symptoms-mood interrelationships, using a sample of 370 healthy undergraduate women, all of whom responded to the Eight State Questionnaire, and the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire, within the context of a between-groups experimental design. Effects due to age, oral contraceptives, and menstrual cycle phase were tested using MANOVA procedures. Although age effects were not significant, physical symptoms were elevated both menstrually and premenstrually, while use of the contraceptive pill significantly reduced negative mood states. In addition, a nonrecursive heuristic model is postulated, providing hypotheses as to putative "causal influences." Overall, the empirical (LISREL) model suggests that menstrual cycle symptoms and mood states are discrete constructs, which interact reciprocally.Item A comparison of three approaches to constructing item parcels to improve subject-to-parameter ratios in confirmatory factor analysis(Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, 2000) Schallow, John R.A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the 100 items of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R) on a sample of 205 South African refugees failed to satisfactorily fit the EPQ-R's intended 4-factor structure. The lack of fit is possibly due to the low subject-to-parameter (n:k) ratio the dichotomous item responses. Three procedures were examined for combining items into parcels to alleviate these problems. Within each of the Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Lie scales, typically three items were parceled by (a) judged content, (b) highest intercorrelation, and (c) randomly, CFAs of these three methods for constructing items parcels showed equivalent, if modest, fits of the 4-factor model to the data. The Psychoticism indicated that the other three factors appeared to reasonably measure their intended constructs. Arguments related to simplicity and the a priori explication of meaning are used to advocate to application of content parcels.Item Relationship between premenstrual syndrome and postnatal depression: An exploratory study(Wichita State University, Department of Psychology, 2000) Boyle, Gregory J.; Boucher, Emma J.The present study examined the relationship between postnatal depression (PND) and premenstrual syndrome, using the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Fifty-one mothers participated in the study. A nondepressed group consisted of 25 mothers with no reported PND symptoms, while a depressed group comprised 26 mothers with clearly diagnosed PND symptomatology. The present findings provide further evidence of an association between premenstrual syndrome and the later development of postnatal depression, raising the possibility of predicting subsequent PND from pre-existing premenstrual syndrome (PMS).